Dataset Viewer
text
stringlengths 579
265k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 9
values | url
stringlengths 24
221
| file_path
stringlengths 125
142
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.85
0.99
| token_count
int64 134
56.7k
| score
float64 2.53
4.19
| int_score
int64 3
4
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shiga is an inland prefecture appropriately known as the ‘Lake Country’ in both senses of the word. Shiga prefecture completely encompasses Lake Biwa (Biwako) which covers about one-sixth of the prefecture’s total area. It is also sparsely populated, with only 1.35 million people spread over the prefecture’s 4,000 square kilometers, many of whom are engaged in a rural lifestyle. Some are truly unique, such as the few hundred people who live on the small fishing village on Okishima – an island on the lake. The region’s natural setting, historical attractions and culture draw more than 40 million visitors every year, but the pace remains laid back.
Despite it’s inland position and sparse population, Shiga has always been an important location throughout Japan’s history. Lake Biwa and the Tokaido, Nakasendo, and Tokuriku roads comprised a vital transport network between Western and Eastern Japan, all going through Shiga. The region’s fertile grounds and rich natural resources also helped to provide for the imperial courts in nearby Kyoto and Nara.
These attributes were all important in the development of the Omi Shonin, or Omi Merchants who were traders who developed a base in Omi Hachiman during the Edo Period from where they organized a branch location product distribution system in major centers such as Kyoto, Osaka and Edo (now Tokyo). These merchants were the forefathers of many of today’s major Japanese trading houses, department stores and other businesses.
In addition to the strategic advantages, the beauty of the region’s natural environment may have been the reason why the prefecture has been able to attract some very important historical figures:
*For a brief period (567 to 572), the city of Otsu located on the southwestern shore of Biwako was Japan’s capital during the reign of Emperor Tenchi and is currently the capital of Shiga Prefecture.
*Oda Nobunaga built his grand castle in Azuchi from where he had intended to rule the country. The man who would follow him in that title, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, built his first castle in Nagahama and was the lord over three provinces in the northeastern region of Biwako.
*Ishida Mitsunari, the man who lost his bid for control of Japan to Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara, was based in Sawayama, now known as Hikone. Hikone Castle, one the country’s oldest and most beautiful, was built in the battle’s aftermath. It is now listed and protected as a national treasure.
While its natural resources and transport networks made the region important from a military standpoint, Shiga’s natural beauty and proximity to Kyoto and Nara also inspired many outstanding cultural achievements. There are many famous temples and treasure in the prefecture, so much so that Shiga possesses the fourth highest number of designated cultural assets in the nation. Chikubu Island, inside the northern waters of Biwako, is a fine example of the impressive and unique religious destinations in the region. The island is home to several ancient buildings including Hougonji Temple and Tsukubusuma Shrine set on a hill overlooking Lake Biwa. The island is one of the 33 stops on the Temple Pilgrimage route of the western country as is Ishiyama Dera near the Seta River.
Ishiyama-dera was also where Murasaki Shikibu created the plot of the literary masterpiece Genji Monogatari (the Tale of Genji) which is now recognized by many to be the world’s first novel. Nearby Otsu city was a favourite of haiku master, Matsuo Basho, who chose to be buried at Gichu-ji, one of its historic temples. At the other end of the vast lake, is the beautiful town of Nagahama.
Of course, the natural setting offers many recreational opportunities, from cruising Biwako, to hiking the surrounding shore and mountains, or skiing in winter at resorts such as Mount Ibuki. Shiga is bordered by mountainous areas in every direction: Nosaka Mountains form its northern border with Fukui, Ibuki Mountains constitute the eastern border with Gifu, the Suzuka Mountains (including Gozaisho-dake) form the south-eastern border with Mie, and the Hira and Hiei Mountains constitute the western border with Kyoto. Shiga prefecture also shares a border with Nara.
Eastern Lake Biwa area – Hikone, Hikone Castle and Genkyu-en, Chikubu Island, Mount Ibuki, Mount Ibuki Skiing, Nagahama, Daitsuji, Hakodate-yama Skiing, Kunizakai Skiing
Ohmi Hachiman area – Choumeiji, Okishima, Suigo Meguri, Azuchi Castle Ruins, Taga Taisha
Western Otsu area – Ishiyama-dera, Hiei-zan
Disclaimer and Request:
Do you have good photographs or a story to share about this destination? If so, please share it with us, our community and our many visitors. Aichi and Central Japan have so many beautiful places, and culturally and historically important destinations. We hope that as many people as possible can enjoy and experience what it has to offer. Japan Discovery and the weekend field trips visit this destination regularly.
For visitors and independent travelers, please note that opening hours, prices, booking procedures, schedules etc are subject to changes beyond our control. This site is just a guide, and we advise that you always check and confirm in advance.
Also, please note that suggestions, additions and correction of errors are always welcome. Please contact us. | <urn:uuid:a150e18d-03e9-4af5-a99d-adbcb6b9b456> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://www.nihongo.cc/guide/shiga | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479967.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20190216065107-20190216091107-00557.warc.gz | en | 0.959858 | 1,219 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Myth of Honno-ji no hen is history learning App of Oda Nobunaga(Famous Samurai) who were killed in Incident at Honno-ji in June 21, 1582.
This app include history and background of [Incident at Honno-ji] which is most mysterious incident occur in Japan History.
The Incident at Honno-ji (Honno-ji no Hen) refers to the forced suicide on June 21, 1582 of Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at the hands of his samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide. This occurred in Honno-ji, a temple in Kyoto, ending Nobunaga's quest to consolidate centralized power in Japan under his authority.
This app include photo gallery of World Heritage Sites in Kyoto with 105 photos and movies.
Honno-ji is a temple of the Nichiren branch of Buddhism located in Kyoto, Japan. Its honzon is mandara-honzon from Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
Honno-ji is most famous for the Incident at Honno-ji. Oda Nobunaga lodged there before his invasion of the west. However on the morning of June 21, 1582, the traitorous forces of Akechi Mitsuhide surrounded the temple and set it on fire. Knowing there was no way out for him, Nobunaga committed seppuku along with his attendant Mori Ranmaru. Ranmaru's brothers also perished at Honno-ji.
The rebuilt Honno-ji stands on a different site in Kyoto, near Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station.
You can also enjoy World Heritage Sites in Kyoto with photos and YouTube movies.
(Language:text is Japanese only. )
You can also view pictures with Slide show function!
Please enjoy Traditional Kyoto Photo and YouTube gallery!!
Photo data include various pictures of Kyoto.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are said to "represent a masterpiece of human creative genius" and have "outstanding universal value." The variety, historical span and sheer number of World Heritage Sites in Kyoto is unrivaled in Japan. Nijo-jo Castle and the sixteen temples and shrines below were selected as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1994. For over thirty five years the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has sought to name, catalog, and preserve the natural and man-made treasures of humanity.
8)Mt.Hiei-zan Enryaku-ji Temple
9)Saiho-ji Temple (Koke-dera Temple)
14)Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion)
This photo gallery app is good for learning history and background of [Incident at Honno-ji]
and World Heritage Sites in Kyoto.
Please enjoy Myth of Honno-ji no hen(Japan), the photo gallery of Kyoto with 105 photos and movies.
Tags: battle at kiyomizu temple mitsuhide oda nobunaga , nam myoho renge kyoto , samurai armor nam myoho renge kyo pic , mitsuhide akechi photos , nobunaga myths | <urn:uuid:e289f573-619f-4dd3-b6f4-92b4da1f1775> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/photography/myth-of-honno-ji-no-hen_bzbne.html?nav=related | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257827791.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071027-00079-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.882143 | 656 | 2.96875 | 3 |
|Lord of Kaga|
|Succeeded by||Maeda Toshinaga|
January 15, 1538|
|Died||April 27, 1599 61)(aged|
|Parents||Maeda Toshimasa (father), Nagayowai-in (ja) (mother)|
Maeda Toshiie (前田 利家, January 15, 1538 – April 27, 1599) was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. His father was Maeda Toshimasa. He was the fourth of seven brothers. His childhood name was "Inuchiyo" (犬千代). His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as "Yari no Mataza" (槍の又左), Matazaemon (又左衛門) being his common name. The highest rank from the court that he received is the Great Counselor Dainagon (大納言).
Toshiie was born in the village of Arako (present-day Nakagawa-ku, Nagoya), the fourth son of Maeda Toshimasa, who held Arako Castle. Toshiie served Oda Nobunaga from childhood (first as a page) and his loyalty was rewarded by being allowed to be the head of the Maeda clan, very unusual for a fourth son with no apparent failures among his elder brothers. Just like Nobunaga, Toshiie was also a delinquent, usually dressed in the outlandish style of a kabukimono. It is believed he also became a friend to Kinoshita Tokichiro (later Toyotomi Hideyoshi) in their youth. Just as Hideyoshi was known as Saru, 猴 or "monkey," it is believed that Toshiie was called Inu, 犬 or "dog" by Nobunaga. Due to a long-standing belief that dogs and monkeys are never friendly to each other, Toshiie is often depicted as reserved and stern, in contrast to Hideyoshi's talkative and easy-going nature.
Toshiie began his career as a member of the akahoro-shū (赤母衣衆), the unit under Oda Nobunaga's personal command. He later became an infantry captain (ashigaru taishō 足軽大将) in the Oda army. During his military career, Toshiie made the acquaintance of many important figures, such as Hashiba Hideyoshi, Sassa Narimasa, Akechi Mitsuhide, Takayama Ukon, and others. Toshiie also was a lifelong rival of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After defeating the Asakura clan, Maeda fought under Shibata Katsuie in the Hokuriku area. He was eventually granted a han (Kaga Domain) spanning Noto and Kaga Provinces. Despite its small size, Kaga was a highly productive province which would eventually develop into the wealthiest han in Edo period Japan, with a net worth of 1 million koku (百万石); thus, it was nicknamed Kaga Hyaku-man-goku (加賀百万石).
Toshiie benefited from a core group of very capable senior vassals. Some, like Murai Nagayori and Okumura Nagatomi, were retainers of long standing with the Maeda.
After Nobunaga's assassination at Honnō-ji (本能寺) by Akechi Mitsuhide and Mitsuhide's subsequent defeat by Hideyoshi, he battled Hideyoshi under Shibata's command in the Battle of Shizugatake. After Shibata's defeat, Toshiie worked for Hideyoshi and became one of his leading generals. Later somewhere during this time he was forced to fight another of his friends, Sassa Narimasa. Narimasa was greatly outnumbered and felled by Toshiie, following the major Maeda victory at the Battle of Suemori Castle. Before dying in 1598, Hideyoshi named Toshiie to the council of Five Elders to support Toyotomi Hideyori until he was old enough to take control on his own. However, Toshiie himself was ailing, and could manage to support Hideyori for only a year before he died as well.
Toshiie was succeeded by his son Toshinaga.
- Father: Maeda Toshimasa (d. 1560)
- Maeda Toshihisa (d. 1583)
- Maeda Yasukatsu (d. 1594)
- Maeda Toshifusa
- Sawaki Yoshiyuki (d. 1572)
- Maeda Hidetsugu (d. 1585)
- Maeda Masa (given in marriage to Takabatake Sadayoshi)
Toshiie's wife, Maeda Matsu, was famous in her own right. Strong-willed from childhood, she was well-versed in the martial arts and was instrumental in Toshiie's rise to success. After her husband died, Matsu, then known by her Buddhist nun name of Hoshun-in, assured the safety of the Maeda clan after the year 1600 by voluntarily going as a hostage to Edo, capital of the new shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, whom she loathed throughout her life as she watched him, her husband, and Hideyoshi compete for power.
Their sons all became daimyo in their own right. Their daughters married into prestigious families; the eldest, Kō, married Maeda Nagatane, a distant relative of Toshiie who became a senior Kaga retainer; Ma'a, was a concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Gō was adopted by Hideyoshi and became the wife of Ukita Hideie, and Chise, who was first wedded to Hosokawa Tadaoki's son Tadataka, later married Murai Nagayori's son Nagatsugu.
In popular culture
He is a playable character in video game Sengoku Basara 2 (PS2) and an unplayable character in video game Sengoku Basara 4 (PS3). He wields a large Nodachi. He is a playable character in the video game "Samurai warriors 2 Extreme legends " (ps2) and appears in every major samurai warriors title following his first appearance . He wields a single sword and twin spears.
- Junior First Rank (24 March 1599; posthumously)
- Hanagasaki Moriaki 花ケ前盛明, ed. Maeda Toshiie no Subete 前田利家のすべて. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社, 2001.
- Iwasawa Yoshihiko 岩沢愿彥. Maeda Toshiie 前田利家. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan 吉川弘文館, 1966.
- Kitamura Saburō 北村三郎. Maeda Toshiie monogatari: Kaga hyakumangoku no so 前田利家物語:加賀百万石の祖. Kanazawa: Hokkoku Shuppansha 北国出版社, 1978.
- Maeda Toshiyasu 前田利祐. Omatsu to Toshiie: Kaga hyakumangoku wo tsukutta hitobito おまつと利家:加賀百万石を創った人びと. Tokyo: Shūeisha 集英社, 2001.
- Tsumoto Yō 津本陽. Maeda Toshiie 前田利家. Tokyo: Kōdansha 講談社, 1994.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2005). Samurai Commanders (2). Osprey Publishing. pp. 23–27. ISBN 9781841767444. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- Frédéric, Louis (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press. p. 601. ISBN 9780674017535. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- Women in the Lusophone World in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Baywolf Press. 2007. p. 434. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- Buke-kaden page on the Maeda clan (in Japanese)
- Maeda Genealogy (in Japanese)
- Genealogy of Kanazawa-han daimyo, including Toshiie (in Japanese)
- Biography (in Japanese)
|Lord of Kanazawa
| Succeeded by| | <urn:uuid:1233c07f-55c7-4991-8d13-d86dec91b3fb> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Maeda_Toshiie.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363659.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20211209030858-20211209060858-00499.warc.gz | en | 0.955638 | 2,097 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Niwa Nagahide (October 16, 1535 – May 15, 1585)
Nagahide participated in most of the major battles of his time, except for the Battle of Nagakute, (1584) when illness kept him from the fighting.
Nagahide was well considered by Nobunaga. He was married to Nobunaga’s adopted daughter, while his son, Nagashige, married Nobunaga’s fourth daughter. As such, he was granted Wakasa Province (now southern Fukui Prefecture) and Sawayama Castle in Omi (Shiga Prefecture). Nobunaga had recognized his leadership abilities, and entrusted him with the construction of Azuchi Castle.
As a further honor, Niwa Nagahide was chosen to lead a grand military parade staged by Nobunaga in 1581 as both a show of authority and as a public entertainment for the Emperor, the Imperial Court, foreign missionaries and the people of Kyoto.
In 1582, Nagahide accompanied Oda Nobutaka as second in command on a campaign to quell Shikoku as ordered by Nobunaga, however just after commencing the campaign, Nobunaga was felled by Akechi Mitsuhide in the Honno-ji Incident. Nagahide quickly abandoned the campaign and joined the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in avenging their fallen master. Nagahide further supported Hideyoshi at the Kiyosu Kaigi, a meeting held at Kiyosu Castle to decide the future of the Oda clan.
He later fought against Shibata Katsuie at Shizugatake under Hideyoshi’s command, and was awarded Echizen and Kaga Provinces (Fukui and Ishikawa Prefectures) bringing him to daimyo status and an income of 1,230,000 koku.
Unfortunately, Niwa Nagahide died not long after on May 15, 1585. According to some records, he died of illness. Other reports claim he committed seppuku, from guilt that he had unwittingly been a major part of Hideyoshi’s usurping of Oda clan power.
Stone marker at Niwa Nagahide’s birthsite in Nishi-ku, Nagoya City | <urn:uuid:409ad609-3055-408d-bb02-7bbbed3e7422> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://samurai-world.com/niwa-nagahide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303385.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220121131830-20220121161830-00491.warc.gz | en | 0.981316 | 480 | 2.875 | 3 |
H: 14cm D: 18cm
By Nishimura Dōnin (1504-1555)
Muromachi period, Early to middle 16th century
Nishimura Dōnin (Kuniji) lived in Sanjō Kaman-za, Kyoto. Oda Nobunaga – a powerful samurai daimyo who initiated the unification of Japan - gave him the title of tenka-ichi (best in the world). It is said that he was one of the kamashi (kettle master) served to Oda Nobunaga and the famous tea ceremony master Takeno Jōō. He was the first to establish the Kyōgama (Kyoto iron kettle).
This kettle is certified by Ōnishi Jōju (1808-1876) who succeeded the name of the kamashi family, Ōnishi Seiwemon the eleventh.
It has rough skin and there are paulownia patterns. This crest, originally used by the imperial family, was given to Oda Nobunaga by Ashikaga Yoshinori, the 6th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate in the Muromachi period, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi used it as his family crest.
The body shape is hiramaru, the ears for ring handle are shell shaped. The lid is emyō-buta, made of karakane (copper alloy) which gives this beautiful rusty vermilion colour. | <urn:uuid:8c3cb1d2-d2d5-4444-9e43-69e3afeb35de> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://mingei-arts-gallery.com/works/metal/gama | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304798.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20220125070039-20220125100039-00646.warc.gz | en | 0.930392 | 325 | 3.109375 | 3 |
“His name was Yasuke. His height was 6 shaku 2 sun” — roughly six feet, two inches — “he was black, and his skin was like charcoal.” Those words come from the 16th-century samurai Matsudaira Ietada, and they describe one of his colleagues. Though we don’t know much detail about his life itself, we do know that there once lived a black samurai called Yasuke, a version of the name he had in Africa, probably the then Portuguese Mozambique. Brought to Japan in 1579 by an Italian Jesuit named Alessandro Valignano on a mission-inspection tour, Yasuke’s appearance in the capital drew so much attention that thrilled onlookers clambered over one another to get so much as a glimpse at this strange visitor with his unfathomable stature and skin tone.
“His celebrity status soon piqued the curiosity of Oda Nobunaga, a medieval Japanese warlord who was striving to unify Japan and bring peace to a country racked by civil war,” writes Ozy’s Leslie Nguyen-Okwu. “Nobunaga praised Yasuke’s strength and stature, describing ‘his might as that of 10 men,’ and brought him on as his feudal bodyguard.”
As many foreigners in Japan still discover today, the foreigner’s outsider status there also has its benefits: “Nobunaga grew fond of Yasuke and treated him like family as he earned his worth on the battlefield and on patrol at Azuchi Castle. In less than a year, Yasuke went from being a lowly page to joining the upper echelons of Japan’s warrior class, the samurai. Before long, Yasuke was speaking Japanese fluently and riding alongside Nobunaga in battle.”
The legend of Yasuke ends soon after, in 1582, with Nobunaga’s fall at the hands of one of his own generals. That resulted in the first and only black samurai’s exile, probably to a Jesuit mission in Kyoto, but Yasuke has lived on in the imaginations of the last few generations of Japanese readers, all of whom grew up with the award-winning children’s book Kuro-suke (kuro meaning “black” in Japanese) by Kurusu Yoshio. This illustrated version of Yasuke’s life story, though told with humor, ends, according to a site about the book, on a bittersweet note: the defeated “Nobunaga kills himself, and Kuro-suke is saved and sent to Namban temple. When he sleeps that night, he dreams of his parents in Africa. Kuro-suke cries silently.”
What the story of Yasuke lacks in thorough historical documentation (though you can see a fair few pieces briefly cited on the site of this documentary project) it more than makes up in fascination, and somehow Hollywood, nearly fifteen years after Tom Cruise’s high-profile turn as a white samurai, has only just awoken to its potential. In March, Hollywood Reporter announced that the film studio Lionsgate “has tapped Highlander creator Gregory Widen to script Black Samurai,” a “period action drama” based on the Yasuke legend. Widen’s considerable experience in the outsider-with-sword genre makes him an understandable choice, but one has to wonder — shouldn’t Quentin Tarantino’s phone be ringing off the hook right about now?
Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities and culture. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer, the video series The City in Cinema, the crowdfunded journalism project Where Is the City of the Future?, and the Los Angeles Review of Books’ Korea Blog. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook. | <urn:uuid:f695b74f-2044-4292-a3a3-f830374227ba> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.openculture.com/2017/05/meet-yasuke-japans-first-black-samurai-warrior.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303779.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122073422-20220122103422-00218.warc.gz | en | 0.961789 | 825 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506). Landed in the eastern Bahamas in 1492 and thought he was in the East Indies and thought he was on an outer island of Japan.
German monk. father of the Reformation. posted the ninety-five theses on the door of a church, protesting the selling of indulgences. proclaimed the idea of justification by faith alone.
wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion. believed in predestination (God knew if you were going to heaven or hell the day you were born). started Calvinism.
Married Catherine of Aragon, but could only have a girl. He fell in love with Anne Boleyn, but couldn't divorce Catherine without the consent of the pope Charles V. So he started the Reformation Parliament and so had control of all spiritual matters along with temporal matters. Married Anne.
Catherine of Aragon's nephew. The Holy Roman Emperor that called for the Diet of Worms. He was a supporter of Catholicism and tried to crush the Reformation by use of the Counter-Reformation. Also known as Charles I of Spain.
Spanish explorer and conquistador who took over the Aztec empire (including Tenochtitlan) and captured Moctezuma. Wanted the gold. Proclaimed the Aztec empire the New Spain.
inspired by Cortés's conquest, he went to South America to capture and conquer the Inca empire.
Bartolome de Las Casas
a Dominican who said that conquest was not necessary for conversion for the Native Americans. his ideas inspired the Black Legend.
Aztec emperor who orginally thought Cortés was a god. Welcomed Cortés (a little wary) and offered him gold. Taken prisoner by Cortés and died in unexplainable circumstances
a Muslim from Yunnan and the third Ming emperor in China. Commanded maritime expeditions that sailed to Southeast Asia, India, the Arabian Gulf, and East Africa between 1405 and 1433. The expeditions ended abruptly.
General under Nobunaga; succeeded as leading military power in Japan; continued efforts to break power of daimyos; constructed a series of military alliances that made him the military master of Japan in 1590; died in 1598. froze social classes:
samurai were prohibited from quitting the service of their lord, peasants were barred from abandoning their fields to become townspeople.
emperor during Tokugawa Japan. He was very patient. established his headquarters in Edo (todays Tokyo), took title of shogun and called his government the bakufu. confiscated lands of defeated enemies & gave it to vassals & allies as rewards. shuffled domains. imposed legal codes, hostage system, and national policy of seclusion.
monarch in Korea during Choson era. He reformed land taxes, made loans of grain to farmers during spring planting, and encouraged the spread of better agricultural technology. Established Hall of Worthies. Created hangul (alphabetic script).
Also known as James VI of Scotland, he took over the English throne when Elizabeth I died without children and passed it onto him. The first of the Stuart dynasty.
King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1625-1649). His power struggles with Parliament resulted in the English Civil War (1642-1648) in which Charles was defeated. He was tried for treason and beheaded in 1649
Habsburg ruler. Had no male heir, and didn't want the throne and king to be taken away from his daughter Maria Teresa, so he created the Pragmatic Sanction.
Frederick II (the Great)
King of Prussia. He followed his father, Frederick William's military policies when he came to power. However, he also softened some of his father's laws. With regard to domestic affairs, he encouraged religious toleration and legal reform. According to his theory of government, he believed that a ruler should be like a father to his people. Supported religious freedom, reduced censorship, promoted education, challenged the powers of the junkers (Russian nobility), called himself the "first servant of the state"
Peter the Great
Became the ruler of Russia and known for Westernzing the country in order to be successful. He made Russia come out of their isolation and created the first navy. He soon moved his capital to St. Petersburg, where he expanded the size of Russia.
"the Conqueror", who conquered Constantinople in 1453, and opened it to citizens of many religions and backgrounds. True founder of the Ottoman order.
ruled for 46 years, spread the empire, many cultural interests, expanded military, millet system, devshirme system. known as "the lawgiver" and the Ottomans best ruler
ruler of Safavid empire; tolerant of other religions/ groups; ruled during "Golden Age of the Safavids"
The son of Shah Jahan who did not have such religious toleration as his father or Akbar the Great. He persecute non-Muslims, destroyed Hindu temples, reimposed the poll tax and alienated Rajput leaders.
the spiritual father of the Sikh movement. Preached faith and devotion to one loving and merciful God. Opposed narrow allegiance to particular creeds or rites and excessive pride in external religious observance
Italian astronomer and mathematician who was the first to use a telescope to study the stars
English mathematician and scientist who invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion. His treatise on gravitation, presented in "Principia Mathematica" (also known as "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (1687), was supposedly inspired by the sight of a falling apple.
French philosophe who wrote Candide., Wrote Philosophic Letters on the English & Treatise on Toleration. He admired the English freedom of the press, and religious toleration. He criticized France because of its royal absolutism and lack of freedom of thought.
Baron de Montesquieu
wrote The Spirit of the Laws : developed the idea of the separation of powers into three branches of government
This was the ruler of the Habsburgs that controlled the Catholic Church closely, granted religious toleration and civic rights to Protestants and Jews, and abolished serfdom
King of England during the American Revolution; wished to keep the Americans as a loyal colony; instituted many taxes on the colonists to boost revenue for England
This French king ruled for the longest time ever in Europe. He issued several economic policies and costly wars. He was the prime example of absolutism in France. Ruled during the French Revolution. "divine right of kings"
A French general, political leader, and emperor of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He rose swiftly through the ranks of army and government during and after the French Revolution and crowned himself emperor in 1804. He conquered much of Europe but lost two-thirds of his army in a disastrous invasion of Russia. After his final loss to Britain and Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean.
was an important leader of the Haïtian Revolution and the first leader of a free Haiti. In a long struggle again the institution of slavery, he led the blacks to victory over the whites and free coloreds and secured native control over the colony in 1797, calling himself a dictator.
aka the "Liberator of Venezuela"; a member of the Creole elite. The most important military leader in the struggle for independence in South America. Born in Venezuela, he led military forces there and in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Italian nationalist and patriot who defined nationalism. Said that the nation is derived from God and is part of God's will. Heart of Italian unification.
He replaced Charles X. His reign was known as the July Monarchy. He was called the king of the French rather than king of France. Had to cooperate with the Chamber of Deputies.
leader of the movement for home rule (more Irish control of local government) in Ireland.
Otto von Bismark
Prussian prime minister, he led the unification of Germany and the creation of the German empire. hated the German Social Democratic party
emperor of Austria and King of Hungary; he helps create and reform new type of country called Austria-Hungary
wrote a Vindication of the Rights of Man and then wrote a Vindication of the Rights of Women. wanted equality for women. one of the first feminists.
lead of group of radical (violent) British feminists. Founded the Women's Social and Political Union.
Georgii Plekhanov's chief disciple. Also known as Vladimir Illich Ulyanov. Wrote "What Is to Be Done?". Russian founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the Russian Revolution and first head of the USSR (1870-1924)
wrote "On the Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man". He and Russel Wallace explained how evolution could occur. Discovered the principle of natural selection (survival of the fittest). said natural selection applied to humans and that's why we are who we are, not because of God. (he still believed in God though). | <urn:uuid:405db94d-f413-4386-97fd-0d3a95dc333b> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://quizlet.com/3797673/world-history-since-1500-final-1-important-people-flash-cards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257832939.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071032-00195-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961922 | 1,942 | 3.5 | 4 |
Nara Prefecture region is considered one of the oldest regions in Japan spanning thousands of years. The present-day Nara Prefecture as it exists now officially was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture.
Historically, Nara Prefecture was also known as Yamato-no-kuni or Yamato Province.
Up to Nara Period
It is certain that there was a political force established at the foot of Mount Miwa in the east of Nara Basin, seeking unification of most parts in Japan from the third century until the fourth century, though the process was not well documented. At the dawn of history, Yamato was clearly the political center of Japan.
Ancient capitals of Japan were built on the land of Nara, namely Asuka-kyō, Fujiwara-kyō (694–710) and Heijō-kyō (most of 710–784). The capital cities of Fujiwara and Heijō are believed to have been modeled after Chinese capitals at the time, incorporating grid layout patterns. The royal court also established relations with Sui and then Tang Dynasty China and sent students to the Middle Kingdom to learn high civilization. By 7th century, Nara accepted the many immigrants including refugees of Baekje who had escaped from war disturbances of the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The first high civilization with royal patronage of Buddhism flourished in today's Nara city (710–784 AD).
Nara in the Heian period
In 784, Emperor Kammu decided to relocate the capital to Nagaoka-kyō in Yamashiro Province, followed by another move in 794 to Heian-kyō, marking the start of the Heian period. The temples in Nara remained powerful beyond the move of political capital, thus giving Nara a synonym of "Nanto" (meaning "South Capital") as opposed to Heian-kyō, situated in the north. Close at the end of Heian period, Taira no Shigehira, a son of Taira no Kiyomori, was ordered by his father to depress the power of mainly Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji, who were backing up an opposition group headed by Prince Mochihito. The movement has led into a collision between the Taira and the Nara temples in 1180, when eventually Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji were set on fire, resulting in the vast loss of its architectures.
At the rise of the Minamoto to its ruling seat and the opening of Kamakura Shogunate, Nara enjoyed the support of Minamoto no Yoritomo toward restoration. Kōfuku-ji, being the "home temple" to the Fujiwara since its foundation, not only regained the power it had before but became a de facto regional chief of Yamato Province. With the recovery of Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji, there was a town growing near the two temples.
The Nanboku-chō period, starting in 1336, brought more instability to Nara. As Emperor Go-Daigo chose Yoshino as his base, a power struggle arose in Kōfuku-ji with a group supporting the South and another siding the North court. Likewise, local clans were split into two. Kōfuku-ji recovered its control over the province for a short time at the surrender of the South Court in 1392, while the internal power game of the temple itself opened a way for the local samurai clans to spring up and fight with each other, gradually acquiring their own territories, thus diminishing the influence of Kōfuku-ji overall.
The Sengoku and Edo periods to present
Later the whole province of Yamato got drawn into the confusion of the Sengoku period. Tōdai-ji was once again set on fire in 1567, when Matsunaga Hisahide, who was later appointed by Oda Nobunaga to the lord of Yamato Province, fought for supremacy against his former master Miyoshi family. Followed by short appointments of Tsutsui Junkei and Toyotomi Hidenaga by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the lord, the Tokugawa Shogunate ultimately ruled the city of Nara directly, and most parts of Yamato province with a few feudal lords allocated at Kōriyama, Takatori and other places. With industry and commerce developing in the 18th century, the economy of the province was incorporated into prosperous Osaka, the commercial capital of Japan at the time.
The economic dependency to Osaka even characterizes today's Nara Prefecture, for many inhabitants commute to Osaka to work or study there. | <urn:uuid:d88df748-20cb-409c-a789-6456c5e2d0b9> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Place:Nara%2C_Japan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824226.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00151-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964531 | 975 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Takatori ware and the Kuroda Domain
I admit, it may look like a rather dry subject to start with, but this book on the Takatori kiln by Andrew Maske weaves together many of the most importance themes of Japanese ceramic production. It touches on history, economics, the tea ceremony, aesthetics and technical aspects of ceramic production in clear and lucid prose.
The Takatori family is a fine example of a traditional potting dynasty in Japan and a few peculiarities means that it makes for a rewarding study. For example, the Raku family and the senke tea houses still guard a lot of their sources (although Pitelka’s book on Raku Culture is an equally absorbing and fascinating read), whereas the Takatori family is still unattached to a particular senke and there has been slightly less mythologizing around the family name. Even so, part of the fun is following the author as he gently questions many of the assumptions and stories that have built up over the years around some of the stories and attributions.
Many of the basic components of the story are well-known: the family was ‘encouraged’ to move to Japan from Korea; they produced fine tea ceremony wares, especially tea caddies for the Kuroda domain; and they became one of the seven kilns of Kobori Enshu.
The Move to Japan
But there is more nuance to all these parts of the story. Kuroda Nagamasa returned with the founders of the Takatori family, father and son Hachizou and Shinkurou, from the disastrous Korean campaign around 1598. It is unclear whether the Takatori family was compelled to go to Japan with him or not. It is also unclear in general why so many Korean craftsmen and women were brought back to Japan. After all, as Maske points out, it would perhaps have been easier to bring Japanese potters from Seto or Bizen. This question isn’t answered in the book, but presumably the daimyo (feudal lords) may have been unwilling to share expertise from a potentially lucrative revenue source in their domain. Maske also suggests that Koreans kidnapped by Japanese pirates had proven to be useful craftsmen which could have inspired the daimyo to kidnap their own during the campaign. Whatever the situation in Japan, even Hideyoshi himself ordered that his commanders return with suitable craftspeople. The Takatori family have asserted that it was a voluntary relocation to Japan, but all other evidence suggests otherwise. And, no matter the benefits of employment with a Japanese feudal lord, after a brutal campaign of occupation it seems unlikely that a Korean family would voluntarily leave for Japan. So why would a family record not record the truth of their arrival in Japan?
Kuroda Nagamasa, the founder of the Kuroda clan
About 25 years after coming to Japan, in around 1624 the Takatori family applied to the new daimyo, Kuroda Tadayuki, to return to Korea. Tadayuki was notorious for his temper and he immediately banished the Takatori family to an unproductive part of his domain and cut their stipend. Whether or not it was intended as such, this perceived challenge to Tadayuki’s authority was a major faux pas. It is no stretch to believe that the family record was created to assuage any accusations of disloyalty from their employer.
More so than the Raku family for example, where the mythology exists to create a brand, the Takataori founding myths speak to the human cost of the disastrous Korean invasion and as a result is more poignant and more relevant today given continuing diplomatic conflict between Japan and South Korea.
Production of High Quality Ware
Maske takes us through all the iterations of kiln locations, styles and techniques, and the different heads of families and collaborators. Throughout nearly all phases of production, the Takatori kiln was renowned for “delicate construction, fine clay and vibrant glazes”, as it still is today! But what is interesting is the extent to which definitive attribution of some pieces to the Takatori kiln is so tricky. This seems to be for two reasons: both the Takatori and the Kuroda family collection have been widely dispersed after the Meiji Restoration; and such a wide variety of styles and shapes were attempted through the lifetime of the Takatori kilns. News about popular techniques, shapes and styles flowed across Japan, from the old potteries at Seto, Mino and Bizen through Kyoto to the newer centres on Kyushu and vice versa. Maske finds evidence of Oribe style kutsugata wares and celadon and porcelain alongside the traditional finely glazed Takatori ware. The commonly-held theory is that agents would design and commission specific kilns across Japan to make new wares to market in Kyoto. These marks have been found on Takatori, but only on Oribe style items produced at the kiln. This flow of information and techniques makes identification and attribution for items without a cast-iron provenance extremely difficult.
Oribe style Kutsugata tea bowl with a warped rim and split foot made by at the Takatori kiln.
(Fukuoka Art Museum, Photo by Fujimoto Kenpachi, From: Potters and Patrons)
As the quality of Takatori got better, the Kuroda reserved the wares only for their use: either for personal use, or for use as gifts outside the domain, but also for use as gifts within the domain too. The importance of gift giving in the long 16th Century should not be under-estimated and for the Kuroda this represented not only an aesthetic and economic achievement, but also a political achievement. The warlords who united Japan: Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa, all used the tea ceremony and associated utensils to bolster their claim to legitimacy and to reinforce social, hierarchical bonds across elite samurai society. The exchange of gifts and participation in the tea ceremony was more than a side-effect of this process, in many ways it embodied and created these hierarchies of power and the accompanying alliances. For the Kuroda to have developed a source of tea ceremony utensils which could play into this ecosystem was of great value to them.
Interestingly, by 1779 the Kuroda launched an investigation into why older Takatori ware was of a better quality that recent pieces. The potters agreed, and it was all down to economics. Cost-saving had increased the quantity of ‘good’ wares to roughly sixty to seventy percent of each firing but had decreased the amount of excellent pieces. By making each firing more predictable and not taking risks with kiln construction and the amount of fuel used for example, the domain had reduced the unexpected contingencies which produced some of the most unusual effects. Then in the later Tokugawa period and into the Meiji era, lineage and heritage became even more important within Japanese society as a whole and quality again suffered as bloodlines supplanted skill as the arbiter of quality.
Takatori Hassen realised some of these problems and built a special wood-fired Tangama: a single chamber wood-fired kiln which had deliberate asymmetries in its design to encourage unusual heat and air currents. Although it is more expensive and time-consuming to fire, with a relatively high failure rate, it produces some of the most interesting and sophisticated effects.
The long 16th Century was both a time of turmoil and conflict, but also of huge artistic awakening as a national aesthetic language came to prominence through the wabi style tea ceremony. Takatori has always been associated with the tea master Kobori Enshu as one of the Seven Kilns of Enshu (Zeze, Shidoro, Asahi, Akahada, Kosobe, Agano, & Takatori), but we had always assumed that Kobori Enshu had chosen Takatori ware. Maske reveals the very opposite! The Kuroda family wanted the endorsement of a famous tea master and Kuroda Tadayuki asked Kobori Enshu to contribute by naming some tea caddies which had yet to be made.
Two tea caddies both named Somekawa by Kobori Enshu, which started the Takatori rise to fame
(L: Idemitsu Museum, Photo by Fujimoto Kenpachi R: Private Collection, Photo by Takaku Ryouichi From: Potters and Patrons)
This seems to be breath-taking chutzpah from Kuroda Tadayuki. Why would Kobori Enshu participate without ever having seen these tea caddies? Or any Takatori ware for that matter? And seemingly with no regular correspondence between him and the Kuroda daimyos? What matters is that he agreed and the Kuroda were a further step on the way to promoting their ceramics. Maske’s hypothesis is that it was only when Takatori Hachizou and his son Hachirouemon presented works to Kobori Enshu in Kyoto that Takatori ware even came to be called Takatori ware rather than Chikuzen ware (Chikuzen was the name of the Kuroda domain). It is entirely believable that up until that point these wares had been more associated with the Kuroda domain in Enshu’s mind rather than the actual makers. At a stroke, the Kuroda had transformed their ceramics from a regional brand, to a named brand restricted to one family, admired and promoted by the pre-eminent tea master of the day. As an aside, it also shows how the tea masters had already started to monetize their positions as arbiters of taste.
The Takatori brand was later identified with the Marutaka mark, still in use today
However, by the Meiji Restoration, large family domains were less lucrative and many families had had to sell off their collections. Once the modern prefectural system was established and the age of the samurai family was over, nearly every high-quality craft across Japan felt this decline in patronage. Without the bureaucrats of the domain, the workshops were pushed into the market with little to no experience in marketing their wares.
As a whole, this engaging book is measured and extremely well-researched presenting balanced conclusions and gently trying to separate myth from fact. But as a vivid portrayal of the ebb and flow of relations between a major craft family and their daimyo through the 17th century it is unrivalled. Add to this our interest in the Takatori family specifically and it is a treasure trove! | <urn:uuid:6f3cc513-d0be-45ce-839e-ebdb2695cfe1> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://sansho.com/blogs/news/book-review-takatori-ware-and-the-kuroda-domain | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304570.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20220124124654-20220124154654-00038.warc.gz | en | 0.972443 | 2,211 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Sumo Wrestling Museum Kehayaza
2 Mar 2020
The historic Katsuragi City, is the birthplace of the Japanese spirit
In the midwest region of Nara Prefecture, Katsuragi City lies at the base of Mt. Nijo and its impressive double-peaks. Japan's oldest road Takenouchi Kaido has ancient myths connected and legends related to the Emperor of Japan, is home to historic Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. There is a historical enchantment to the area that shows Nara used to be the capital. It is also said to be the region where Japan-specific cultural elements, such as sumo wrestling and the Tanabata festival, originated, making it the birthplace of the Japanese spirit.
Experience Japan's national sport, sumo wrestling, where it was created
In one section of the city, you will find the Sumo wrestling Museum Kehayaza, a rarity even in Japan. Inside, you will find valuable exhibits, as well as a full-scale sumo wrestling ring, which you can enter. Everyone gets a chance to enjoy what it feels like to be a sumo wrestler.
Taima no Kehaya, an ancient, local strong man, invented sumo wrestling
The history behind Katsuragi City being where sumo wrestling originated is in the "Nihon Shoki," Japan's oldest history book. It states that at the start of the 4th century, the local strong man Taima no Kehaya was known for his superhuman strength, and he competed in a strength competition in front of the Emperor with Nomi no Sukune, who similarly boasted great strength. This is the first account of sumo wrestling, as well as that of sumo wrestling being performed in the presence of the Emperor, and has been handed down to later generations. At the end of a long struggle with neither man backing down, Taima no Kehaya was defeated, and died. Later, the Taima no Kehaya-zuka memorial tower was constructed in remembrance of him as a local hero; his name is etched in history as the originator of sumo wrestling. It is in front of the Sumo Wrestling Museum Kehayaza, so please visit it and offer a prayer.
Taima no Kehaya-zuka. It is still cherished and maintained by the locals.
See exhibits and videos to learn about the history and culture of sumo wrestling
Head inside while thinking about Taima no Kehaya, the local who invented sumo wrestling. They have about 12,000 items in their exhibits on sumo wrestling. On the second floor, there are a lot of valuable exhibits centered around its history and local sumo wrestlers. There are sure to fascinate anyone who comes inside. Sit in one of the box seats around the sumo ring, and relax while you watch the jumbotron. There are guide tablet computers with support for six languages that include explanations for the exhibits, an overview of the facility, and explanations on the history and culture of sumo wrestling, to help you get an in-depth understanding.
A drawing of a sumo wrestling match that took place in front of Oda Nobunaga, a wartime general representative of Japan.
You can sit in one of the box seats, which are unique to professional sumo wrestling, and watch a video about sumo wrestling.
The guide tablet computers support six languages: Japanese, English, French, Chinese (simplified, and traditional), and Korean.
Stepping onto a real sumo ring for an unforgettable experience
After learning about sumo wrestling from the exhibits and videos, it's finally time to head to the ring. This is a real sumo wrestling ring with an usher who calls out the names of the wrestlers at tournaments, and this is faithfully reenacted here. In the world of sumo, the ring is seen as a sacred place, and normally only people involved with a match such as the referee and sumo wrestlers are allowed to set foot on one. But this ring was constructed as an "exhibit ring," so anyone can enter it. Once you have actually gotten into it, you will probably feel that it is smaller than you expected. It's easy to get excited here when you imagine sumo wrestlers, who are much larger than you, fighting each other here.
The sumo wrestling ring was made to the same specifications as an actual ring.
Anyone can enter it, shoes and all.
Feel what it's like to be a sumo referee and judge a match by taking hold of the referee's fan!
Putt on a costume and transform. Enjoy what it's like to become a sumo wrestler
Since you're stepping in a sumo wrestling ring, there are sure to be a lot of people who want to feel what it's like to be a sumo wrestler. Look no further! Actually tying a genuine loincloth may be setting the bar a little too high, but with a costume, anyone, man or woman, can easily try it out over their clothes. Putting on a loincloth-style costume and wearing a topknot wig transforms you into a sumo wrestler. Scatter the salt, stomp your legs, and step firmly into the ring like a yokozuna making his entrance. You'll definitely have fun if you compete with friends or family. This is sure to be an exciting sumo wrestling experience that you can't do anywhere else.
Scatter a bunch of salt clasped in your hand to purify the ring.
Try moving like a sumo wrestler by raising and stomping your legs one at a time.
While you're at it, fully embody a sumo wrestler by moving like a yokozuna making his entrance.
You can experience these things here!
Name of facility | Katsuragi City Sumo Wrestling Museum Kehayaza
Name of experience | Be a sumo wrestler and enter the ring in the birthplace of sumo wrestling, Japan's national sport
Address | 83-1 Taima, Katsuragi City, Nara 639-0276
Business Hours |10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Closed | Tuesdays and Wednesdays (open on national holidays), New Year's holiday
Price | Starts at 300 yen (may vary depending on the content)
Payment methods | Cash only
Number of guests accepted (groups)| From 1 person
Telephone number| 0745-48-4611
Multilingual support | Guide tablet computers with support for English, French, Chinese (simplified, and traditional), and Korean
Official Website (Japanese)| http://www.city.katsuragi.nara.jp/index.cfm/17,2985,80,html
Notes | None
Written by GOOD LUCK TRIP | <urn:uuid:cfdda1c4-eb81-46f1-87fa-20e8160061db> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.the-kansai-guide.com/en/article/item/16297/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320302715.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220121010736-20220121040736-00568.warc.gz | en | 0.950497 | 1,425 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Lizard Rock clings to the steep cliff to the northwest of Mt. Washigamine (563 m) in the eastern part of Oki-Dogo Island in the offing of Shimane Prefecture. Clearly, the rock looks like a giant lizard climbing the precipice.
You can get a first view of the rock from the point on the Shizenkaiki-no-mori walking trail, 50 m away from the parking lot located at the end of Nakabayashi Forest Road. The best viewing point is the observation deck further 100 m ahead from there, where a bower and the description board are built.
Lizard Rock was formed by the erosion occurred onto the rock surface of different properties. As the result of such erosion, the lizard-shaped part, about 30 m in total length, remained on the cliff. It is a scientifically precious natural phenomenon.
It is said that one of the forepaws dropped off due to an earthquake some years ago. The lizard will continue changing its shape with the course of time from now on.
Hacchoike is the caldera lake located in a height of 1,180 meters on the south ridge of Mt. Amagi. It was named so because the circumference is 8 cho in the Japanese length units, which is about 870 meters. From its mysterious atmosphere, it is called “the Eye of Izu.” As the lake is surrounded with Suzu-take bamboo trees (Sasamorpha borealis), it is also called “Aosuzu-no-ike (Green Bamboo Pond).”
The lake is also known as the habitat of Forest Green Tree Frogs (Rhacophorus arboreus). This frog is designated as a Natural Monument. Although they are rarely seen in recent years, they have been gradually increasing in number as the result of the efforts for environmental conservation.
The nearby observatory, about 10 minutes’ walk from the lake, offers a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji, the South Alps, the Hakone Mountain Range and Izu Peninsula.
Ono Castle, also called Miyayama Castle, was located at the top of Mt. Seikai in Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture. The castle was resided first by the Ono clan, the descendant of the Owari-Genji family, then the Isshiki clan, and finally the four generations of the Saji clan.
The Saji clan built up Chita Suigun (the naval forces) and played an important role in promoting maritime trade and controlling marine transportation in Ise Bay. Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi placed great importance on their naval power and Nobunaga’s sister and niece were married off to the Saji clan.
Nobunaga’s niece, Ogo (or Oeyo), whose mother is Nobunaga’s sister Oichi, was married to Saji Kazunari, the 4th head of the Saji clan, by the order of Hideyoshi. However, when Kazunari sided with the Tokugawa and Oda allied forces later, Hideyoshi got angry and made the couple get divorced in 1584. Later in 1595, she remarried Tokugawa Hidetada, the 3rd son of Ieyasu and later the 2nd Tokugawa Shogun, and became the mother of his successor, Iemitsu.
The castle ruins site has been arranged into the park, where the two-story donjon and the castle gate were newly constructed. You can command a wonderful view of Ise Bay from the observatory deck on the donjon. The Saji clan is enshrined at Saji Shrine in the ruins site of the watch tower.
The Kakita River, a tributary of the Kano River, flows in a southerly direction in the centre of Shimizu Town in Shizuoka Prefecture. This river rises about 40 km away from the southeastern base of Mt. Fuji and fed by springs from the underground water table which is maintained by rain and melting snow that was discharged from Mt. Fuji into Mishima Stream of lava formed about 8,500 years ago.
There are several dozen springs which supply the Kakita River with 1 million tons of water each day. The water temperature in the Kakita River is about 15℃ throughout the year. The quality of the spring water is extremely good and it is called “the Last Clear Stream in Japan” or “the Finest Spring Water in the Orient.” It is counted as one of Japan’s 100 Fine Waters selected by the Ministry of Environment.
In 1986, Shimizu Town built the Kakita River Park, where visitors can see the water springs all through the year from the observatory deck.
Momo (Peach) Rock is located in the southern part of longish Rebun Island in the northern part of Hokkaido. The place where the rock is located was on ancient battle field referred to in an Ainu legend.
The rounded huge rock with sharply wringed top really looks like a peach. The green grass that is covering the rock surface looks velvety as if they were real peach skin. The soft feel of peach skin will come to your mind. It stands magnificently against the blue sky.
The area around this huge rock is covered with colonies of alpine plants peculiar to this island such as Rebun-kozakura (Primula modesta var. matsumurae）and Rebun-kinbaiso (Trollius ledebourii var. polysepalus). You can enjoy viewing these cute flowers from the observatory as well as from the promenade. It will be really refreshing to command this exquisite view in the wind from the Sea of Japan.
Choshikei Gorge extends along the upstream of the Denpo River running through Shodoshima Island. Shodoshima Skyline (Prefectural Road 27) connects it with Kankakei Gorge, which is counted as one of Japan’s Three Fine Gorges. Shodoshima Island is famous for wild monkeys, and Choshikei Gorge is also a home to hundreds of monkeys. You could visit Choshikei Monkey Park at the foot of Mt. Sentakubo, where the mode of life of wild monkeys can be observed nearby. Some of them are friendly to human beings because of the food handouts.
Following the trail up the mountain, you will pass by Onote-hime Shrine, a tiny shrine, which enshrines Princess Onote, the founder of Shodoshima Island. At the top of the mountain is the observatory, where you can have a calm and peaceful moment, viewing the panoramic landscape of the Seto Inland Sea.
In fall, trees with crimson foliage beautifully add colors to the clear stream of the gorge.
Heiwa Kannon located in Ohya-machi, Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Pref. is a huge statue of Kannon carved into a wall of Ohya Stone in the old Ohya stone quarry. It was made in hope for world peace and in memory of Japan and U.S. war dead soldiers in the World War II. The statue is 26.93-meter in height and 20-centimeter in circumference of waist. It was made in 1954 by a stone mason, Ryozo Ueno, who did its foundation work, and a sculptor, Asajiro Hida, who hand-carved its calm expression. From the top of the stairs beside the statue, you can command a wide view of the Utsunomiya plain over its shoulder.
On the left side of the Kannon was a tunnel leading to Ohyaji Temple, but it is currently closed for the danger of falling. Ohyaji Temple is also famous for its rock-cut Kannon known as Ohya Kannon. Heiwa Kannon is a symbol of the stone town of Ohya.
Ichigoyama Castle is located at the eastern peak of Mt. Ushibuse (491 m) in Yoshii-cho, Gunma Pref. It is said that the castle was built in the late Muromachi period (1336-1573) as an attached castle of Hirai Castle, which was resided by the Uesugi clan. Located at the top of such a high peak, the castle is thought to have been used as a base to send smoke signals during the Warring States period (1493-1573). The castle fell in 1563 by the attack of Takeda Shingen. It is presumed that several outer compounds separated by dry moats were constructed but there are almost no ruins remaining now. The area was arranged into Ushibuseyama Natural Park to provide citizens with recreation and relaxation. On the castle ruin stands a three-story mock donjon with a commercial museum of Yoshii-cho on the 1st floor, a historical museum on the 2nd floor, and an observatory on the 3rd floor, from which visitors can command a 360°panoramic view. | <urn:uuid:7a7375e6-0303-4de6-b0d6-fb50940bc1fc> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://nippon-kichi.jp/article_list.do?kwd=1985&ml_lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247512461.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20190222013546-20190222035546-00489.warc.gz | en | 0.966677 | 1,903 | 2.625 | 3 |
Politics and Religion: Politics and Japanese Religions
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
One of the most striking photographs of the twentieth century—a kamikaze plane crashing headlong into an Allied ship during the last year of the Pacific war—illustrates dramatically an extreme version of the collusion of religion and politics in Japan. The ideal of dying valiantly to defend or preserve one's sacred homeland is of course found in societies all over the world. However, few societies have combined diverse religious traditions, political will, educational curricula, and coercive social controls to elevate and sustain an ideology of personal self-sacrifice to the extent once found in Japan. Moreover all of these twentieth-century characteristics can be traced to earlier precedents within Japanese social and political history.
The practice of using religious traditions to enhance political power in Japan has a momentum of over eighteen hundred years. And yet the concepts of religion and politics have only recently begun to acquire in Japan some of the same semantic and legalistic meanings with which they are regarded in Europe or North America. The Japanese Supreme Court ruled in 1997 on a case that for the first time clearly upheld a 1947 constitutional distinction between religious and political activities.
The term for religion in Japanese, shukyō, consists of two characters: shu, meaning "sect," and kyō, or "teaching." Originally used in Chinese Buddhism, it was first employed in a treaty in 1869 to translate the German word Religionsübung (religious exercise). This conception of the word is adequate for religions such as Buddhism or Confucianism—both with thousands of texts, teachings, and commentaries—but less appropriate for Japan's premodern oral traditions that venerate local deities connected with healing, agriculture, fertility, defense, and control of the weather.
The earliest recorded period in Japanese history shows clearly a symbiotic interaction of religion and politics. Starting around the sixth century ce, correct governmental administration was based upon the principle of saisei-itchi (a Chinese reading of the Japanese term matsurigoto ), or "unity of ritual and government." Any ruler wanting his or her realm to prosper was obligated to formulate policies reflecting the will of the deities (kami), delivered through oracles at certain ancient, powerful shrines (such as Mount Miwa in the central region or at Usa Hachiman on the island of Kyushu) and manifest also through omens and natural phenomena. There is considerable but not conclusive evidence that powerful women shamans, one identified in Chinese chronicles as Himiko, channeled the will of the kami as the basis of their rule in the second and third centuries ce.
When Buddhism first arrived in Japan in 538, it too became a valuable resource in building a stable political and social order. The emperor Kinmei received a Buddha statue and several volumes of scriptures from King Songmyong of Paekche (Korean Peninsula), who advised him that not only did great people of the past have full knowledge of the Buddhist doctrine but also it had benefited those who built strong states. Some of Kinmei's vassals, who had been displaced and then immigrated from the Korean Peninsula some two to three centuries earlier, were supportive of this new religion, whereas native clans warned that its adoption would anger local kami.
Soon, with religious differences serving to focus other conflicts over title and territory, these two opposing forces met in battle in 587 ce. After the immigrant Soga clan defeated the native Mononobe, religious and political development centered on Buddhism flourished during the seventh century. Some of the patterns established at that time have continued throughout Japanese history: the emperor system, the idea of Japan as a sacred country, state support of Buddhism (and vice versa), regional temples and shrines (as well as the rituals conducted there) designed to protect the state, and venerating (in order to pacify and control) the spirits of the dead.
Shortly after the temporary setback for the native clans mentioned earlier, court nobles were commanded in 593 ce by Suiko, the first of a series of powerful empresses, to support Buddhism. Two important precedents associated with the religion in China and Korea were now to be established in Japan. The first was the Golden Light Sūtra (Suvarna-prabhasa ) and its message of protection for kings, their families, and countries. The other sūtra was the Benevolent Kings' Sūtra (Kārunikā-rāja-prajñāpāramitā ), which in a similar vein assured rulers that by reading and explaining the sūtra they would enact the "Rite of Protecting the Country." Thus the reign of Buddhist law and that of a local king were seen to coincide, benefit, and legitimate each other.
At the same time the regional deities and myths of conquered clans from the recent past were being consolidated into a systematic account, the Kojiki (712 ce), to legitimate what has since become the world's oldest extant imperial system. King Tenmu (r. 673–686 ce) bolstered his imperial position as emperor by co-opting the kind of authority traditionally reserved for clan priests. A four-layered system of kami worship developed: imperial kami were superior to all others, the emperor as a "manifest kami " (akitsukami ) directly descended from the sun deity (Amaterasu) outranked clan chiefs, the most important rituals were conducted by the emperor, and finally the imperial shrine at Ise stood above all other shrines. Tenmu also stationed an imperial princess at Ise to worship on his behalf and created the Council of Kami Affairs to supervise ritual activities of benefit to the state at shrines. The concept of Japan as a "divine nation" (shinkoku ) first appeared in a subsequent chronicle of 720 ce (the Nihonshoki ) and then, as will be evident in a moment, emerges again at various critical moments in Japan's history.
Tenmu's grandson Shōmu further developed Buddhism as a tool of the state. In 741 ce he issued an edict requiring every province to build both a monastery and a nunnery, where rituals aimed at protecting the regime (chingo kokka ) could be held on a regular basis, conducted by priests and nuns certified by the state. "Protect the country [through Buddhism] against all calamity, prevent sorrow and pestilence, and cause the hearts of believers to be filled with joy" (Kōjiro, 1993, p. 255). At the center of power in what is now Nara in central Japan, Shōmu first consulted a kami oracle (at Usa Hachiman in Kyushu) for approval, then constructed the Tōdaiji temple, housing what was at that time the largest seated Buddha in the largest wooden building in the world, dedicated to the peace and prosperity of the state.
In many ways this early period of interactive religious and political development created institutional precedents for subsequent eras. Although the political power of emperors was soon usurped by regional clan chiefs, the structure of the imperial system, though buffeted by centuries of political wrangling, would remain essentially unchanged until 1868. When the capital moved from Nara to nearby Kyoto in 793 ce (in part to escape the meddling influence of powerful Buddhist priests in Nara), its placement followed established "religious" designs strongly influenced by Chinese Daoist principles that now are identified (with varying accuracy) as feng-shui, or geomancy. Before moving into the Kyoto Plain, the court had to negotiate with powerful local shrines (such as Matsuo, Fushimi, and Kamo) and gain the protection of their deities for the stability of the realm. It also established temples (Tōji, Saiji, Enryakuji) located at key directional quadrants of the capital (east, west, northeast, respectively) that would further enhance the court's spiritual defenses.
It would be safe to say that those in power during this time saw political and social change as well as calamities as originating from the willful agency of meddlesome spirits, divine beings, and transhuman forces. For example, a belief in the power of departed spirits (goryō) gained considerable influence during the Heian period (794–1192). These spirits were thought to be responsible for everything from epidemics to earthquakes, as droughts, famines, stillbirths, pestilence, ominous dreams, and so on were "imbued with a strong political coloration: disasters of all kinds were a barometer of political injustices" (McMullin, 1988, p. 272).
When the Fujiwara clan rose to power through intrigue, assassinations, and exile, these moves left in their wake a number of departed and potentially vengeful spirits. The first rite to propitiate six of these spirits in particular, believed responsible for an epidemic of tuberculosis, was held in 863 ce, later developing into one of the nation's three most famous festivals, Kyoto's midsummer Gion Festival. Likewise a court official exiled to Kyushu around this same time, Sugawara Michizane (845–903 ce), was later believed to have returned as a vengeful spirit to wreak havoc via lightning, flooding, and fires upon the city and court. Shrines dedicated to his spirit, known as Tenjin or Tenmangū shrines, are still prevalent in Japan and are thought to be propitious for academic success. Another vivid example of goryō belief will be encountered in the contemporary period.
Following a major battle between supporters of the court (Taira) and a rival faction (Minamoto) in 1185, political power again shifted both to a new clan and location. Not only had the infant emperor drowned in the climactic sea battle at Dan-no-ura, but also one of three imperial regalia—a sword supposedly plucked from the tail of a dragon and given by the kami to the imperial lineage—had also been lost at sea. Although the court held fast to the other two relics (a mirror and a magical jewel) and remained in Kyoto with a newly installed emperor, political power moved to Kamakura, far to the north. New and innovative alignments between religion and politics also ensued.
The turmoil of clan warfare as well as the instability of establishing military and administrative control provided an opening for radically different and highly popular religious movements—Pure Land, True Pure Land, Nichiren—to develop centers of political power during what was considered a time of "degeneration of the Buddhist doctrine" (mappō). Though differing in religious emphasis (Amida's Pure Land paradise versus the magical effects of chanting the Lotus Sūtra ), all three movements were founded by charismatic monks (Hōnen, Shinran, and Nichiren, respectively) whose methods to reach salvation through chanting special prayers appealed to all social classes.
Nichiren in particular promoted his version of the Lotus Sūtra as an exclusive truth that, if adopted by the government, would save the nation from threats he predicted were immanent. Soon after this warning came the first Mongol invasion of 1274. Even though vastly outmanned by the Mongol and Korean forces, a typhoon wrecked their fleet and forced a withdrawal in the first "divine wind" (kamikaze ) intervention, attributed to the deity Hachiman. Incredibly the second Mongol attack in 1281 also met the same fate, but this was not enough to convince the state that Nichiren's theocracy was correct.
Although the new rulers of Japan were from the warrior class, many of their religious affiliations followed established patterns. They rebuilt the clan shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachiman, dedicated to the kami of military power and swift intervention. Also just as King Tenmu had done in the Nara period, the next generation of rulers, the Hōjō, established a ranking system of regional temples as well as "temples for the peace of the nation" (ankokuji). An influential text by Kitabatake (1293–1354) titled Chronicle of the Direct Descent of Gods and Sovereigns argued that Japan is a "divine country" (shinkoku ) and helped to develop further a national consciousness among ruling elites.
The Kamakura government promoted and patronized both Zen and Pure Land Buddhism as favored institutions. Major Zen temples, many of which had head abbots from China or who had studied in China, were organized by the state into the gozan or "five mountain temple" system around 1298. Samurai warriors and their feudal lords found in Zen Buddhism the discipline, self-negation, and nonostentatious aesthetics amenable to their code of loyalty and service (bushidō). Should samurai die in service to their lord, the saints of Pure Land Buddhism (particularly one noted for compassion, Kannon) were ready to usher their souls into the western paradise of the Amida Buddha.
The regional nation-protecting temples established earlier had become centers of enormous wealth and territory, some of which rivaled the central government before and during the Kamakura period. Because of ongoing political conflict, these religious estates (shōen ) became even more autonomous and powerful. Fearful of losing territory to rival estates, shōen administrators began a practice of turning low-ranking monks into security personnel to defend their territorial interests and policies. Over time, these "priest soldiers" (sōhei ) developed into fierce fighting units dressed in the garb of mountain monks.
In Kyoto sōhei monks at Enryakuji temple atop Mount Hiei, home to the Tendai sect of Buddhism, were notorious for descending into the city with sacred regalia at the front of their procession and intimidating the imperial court or battling rival factions. They fought with and burned to the ground at least six times a temple (Mii-dera) north of Mount Hiei whose founder had split from Enryakuji in the tenth century. They clashed with the great Nara temples (in particular Kōfukuji), battled against new Pure Land sects (including destroying the tomb of the founder of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, Hōnen), burned the headquarters of the Higashi Honganji Pure Land sect in 1465, and destroyed twenty-one Nichiren temples in Kyoto in 1536.
For nearly five hundred years neither the military government in faraway Kamakura, nor the imperial court in Kyoto, nor fragile alliances of regional warlords could control the Enryakuji militias. But in 1571 they finally met their match. Having angered Oda Nobunaga (who was soon to become Japan's first leader of a centralized state after nearly three hundred years of internal wars) by siding with his opponents, he led twenty-five thousand samurai against the mountain monks. His forces not only killed over three thousand priests and monks of all ranks but burned to ashes one of the most sacred religious sites in Japan. After all, the temple was established in 788 ce first as a hermitage and later was reconsecrated for protecting the city from malevolent spirit forces issuing from the northeast. Shortly after Nobunaga was assassinated in 1582, the Enryakuji complex was slowly rebuilt in the same location.
The Modern Period
Despite Nobunaga's razing of the Mount Hiei temples, he was not antireligious and contributed to many important temples and shrines during his short rule. He also permitted contact with foreign Jesuit Catholic missionaries who had first appeared in southern Japan in 1549. They followed three Portuguese adventurers who had traveled aboard a Chinese ship and landed in 1543, making a favorable impression with their matchlock rifles, a technology that would revolutionize clan warfare in Japan. Trade ensued over the next decade, although it was closely linked to the missionaries as translators and middlemen. Through these relations, Christianity established a foundation in western Japan for roughly sixty years, bringing with it European-born missionaries who also conveyed to Japanese scholars ideas about science, engineering, cartography, anatomy, and medicine.
Nobunaga's successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was still quelling rebellions against his rule and so had less tolerance for a faith thought to shift allegiance away from the shogun toward a foreign notion of transcendent divinity. What had been a system of lucrative trade (as "Black Ships" traveled from Europe to Asia and back again) and a permissive attitude (allowing the building of churches in local fiefs) was now curtailed in 1587 as Hideyoshi accused the missionaries of preaching a "devilish law in the land of the kami," again evoking the sacred nation concept. Throughout the coming decades and after the Tokugawa clan seized firm control of the country in 1600 after Hideyoshi's death, Christianity was both tolerated and reviled, with a final persecution and expulsion of missionaries occurring in 1639. The military government then closed itself off from Western trade and diplomacy for over two hundred years.
The rise of the Tokugawa was credited to the cunning brilliance of its founder, Ieyasu, but he (as well as subsequent Tokugawa leaders) was ably assisted by several Buddhist priests (such as Hayashi Raizan and the abbot of Nanzenji temple, Sūden) as well as by neo-Confucian scholars. After his death in 1615, he was deified (as had been all previous military leaders) and later enshrined in the mountains at Nikkō in a temple-shrine complex (the Tōshōgū) unsurpassed for its ostentatious extravagance.
As their predecessors had done, the Tokugawa used Buddhist temples throughout the land to promote the stability of their regime. Not only were rituals held, but the temples themselves were organized into the terauke system to serve as extensions of state administration: all those residing within a temple's traditional precincts had to register as members of that temple. By doing so the populace entered into a system of religiously based surveillance and moni-toring.
Shrines were also part of the Tokugawa government's system of control. Fearing a resurgence of Christian sentiments in the major port city of Nagasaki, the military government sponsored a revitalization of kami -based rites and institutions. The city's main Shintō shrine, Suwa Jinja, dates from 1614 and enshrines a deity known for its military prowess and vigilance. Like many others, the shrine also hosts on its grounds a subsidiary of the main shrine to the deified Tokugawa founder.
Beginning around 1825, more than two centuries after the Tokugawa clan gained control of the state, serious fissures in their administrative competence were becoming apparent. Critics of the inward-looking and increasingly corrupt feudal system feared Japan would be invaded and colonized by more technologically advanced European and American powers. To avoid a fate shared by China and India, samurai scholars and administrators began a discourse on reform, often at the cost of their careers and sometimes their lives. Klaus Antoni noted in Religion and National Identity in the Japanese Context (2003) that this ideology of a national polity, or kokutai, began to emerge among scholars of "national" (rather than foreign) learning (kokugaku ) who promoted a reexamination and revitalization of Japan's ancient myths and the imperial system they legitimized. National learning scholars developed a "postulated common ethnicity" that promoted a strong and unified imagined community under the emperor's rule.
In ways similar to the formative period of civilization in the early fourth and fifth centuries, Japan was once again exalted as a "land of the kami " whose emperor provided a direct link to the nation's founding deities. By extension the Japanese people, like one big extended family, were also privileged to have something termed the "soul of Japan" (yamato-damashi) running through their blood. Sharing so many commonalities—language, race, culture, ethnicity, respect for kami and buddhas, veneration of ancestors—and with the emperor as both father figure and "deity visible as a human being" (arahitogami), the national learning scholars attempted to influence political policy toward the establishment of a state that could defend itself against colonizing predators.
Over a decade after American gunboat diplomacy forced open Japan's ports beginning in 1853, troops allied with samurai reformers (who wanted a modern state based on European parliamentary models but headed by an emperor) clashed with those of the feudal Tokugawa government, with the former emerging victorious in 1868. This major transition in Japanese history ushered in an age of radical change and innovation in many areas but none more striking than the interaction of religion and politics. One of Japan's founding fathers, Fukuzawa Yukichi, observed, "There is only a government in Japan, but still no nation." It would take a new and oftentimes coercive alignment of religion and politics to produce the national consciousness he sought.
First, the new government legitimated the kokutai ideology described earlier as central to their agendas of modernization, industrialization, education, and socialization. Similar to King Tenmu in the seventh century, the emperor's divinity was emphasized even as the country embarked on an ambitious race to catch up with other industrialized world powers. Because of its association with the feudal regime, Buddhism suffered through a brief but destructive persecution in the 1870s and 1880s but recovered state patronage and influence in the early twentieth century. As in the past Buddhist leaders once again promoted the "unity of royal law and the Buddha-dharma " (ōbō Buppō furi ) and actively participated in Japan's territorial and militaristic expansion.
Of far more utility to the state was the ancient religious and ritual tradition of venerating local and regional kami, known to scholars as Shintō (way of the kami ). Every village had at least one Shintō shrine that could be linked to the state cult of the emperor and the sun goddess. Since Shintō had no sacred texts or a centralized, organizational structure, the Meiji government used shrines in much the same way the Tokugawa had used local Buddhist temples: to register and monitor residents but also to involve them with festivals and rituals that promoted state ideologies. Only two years after the revolution ended, an 1870 attempt to create a codified national religion based on kami worship failed. Nonetheless schools began teaching imperial and national mythology as if it were history, effectively sidestepping the contentious issue of freedom of religion. Domestic and foreign critics of this policy were told that Shintō was not a religion but a matter of social etiquette and long-established custom.
By the late 1880s the Japanese state had the necessary ideologies, laws, and infrastructure to establish itself as a modern nation—which meant in part exploiting political weakness in surrounding countries (China, Formosa, and Korea) in order to appropriate their natural and human resources. With a war almost every ten years, soldiers killed in service to the nation were honored at a special Shintō shrine built by the government—Yasukuni—where their spirits could be propitiated, calmed, and then employed as guardians of the empire. Like the goryō belief established in the tenth century, the "peaceful nation shrine" incorporated potentially vengeful spirits and transformed them via pacifying rituals. Outside Tokyo large upright stones (chukonhi ) served as memorials to the military dead after the Russo-Japanese War (1906–1907) and were likewise sanctified through both Shintō and Buddhist rituals. Community officials, school administrators, and citizen leaders were constantly engaged in these and other plans to promote national ideologies and agendas. Helen Hardacre has shown in her important work Shintō and the State, 1868–1988 (1989) that alternate versions, espoused by new religious movements such as Tenrikyō, Kurozumikyo, Konkōkyō, Sōka Gakkai, and Ōmotokyō, were seen as subversive "pseudo-religions," with some headquarters destroyed and founders harassed and imprisoned.
Even after the Pacific war ended with Japan's defeat in 1945, Yasukuni shrine (and the regional "nation-protecting" shrines established in 1939) were permitted to continue venerating over 2.466 million spirits of the military dead, including (after 1978) officers deemed "class-A" war criminals by the Tokyo War Crimes tribunal. Although the Japanese constitution's Article 20 specifically prohibits any governmental sponsorship of religious activity or institutions, several postwar prime ministers (Miki, Nakasone, Hashimoto, Koizumi) have made official visits to the shrine to pay their respects and to appease political supporters. As might be expected after these visits, both public and diplomatic protests erupt in countries once occupied and ravaged by Japan's military. In 2000 a prime minister used the phrase "kami no kuni," or "land of the kami," to describe Japan and set off a similar furor because of prewar associations fusing religion and politics as the ideology of a nation fighting a divinely sanctioned war.
There is less ambiguity regarding the government's attitude toward religious organizations, especially after the Aum Shinrikyō group's sarin gas attack on Tokyo subways in 1995. With twelve deaths and over five thousand injuries, the Japanese government moved quickly to revise laws on religious organizations. Increased reporting requirements and monitoring, more financial transparency, and greater governmental powers to restrict activities were the result. Taking this case and state reaction as a precedent, one can surmise that the coming years will increasingly reflect worldwide standards among highly industrialized nations in treating religious activity as a private, civil right but that religious organizations must be carefully monitored for antistate activities. At the same time one should not underestimate the historic appeal of religious movements in Japan that promote within a rhetoric of democracy and peace both state stability and a veneration of the imperial household.
Adolphson, Mikael S. Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan. Honolulu, 2000.
Antoni, Klaus, et al., eds. Religion and National Identity in the Japanese Context. Münster, 2003.
Brown, Delmer, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan. New York, 1993.
Collcutt, Martin. Five Mountains: The Rinzai Zen Monastic Institution in Medieval Japan. Cambridge, Mass., 1984.
Ebersole, Gary L. Ritual Poetry and the Politics of Death in Early Japan. Princeton, N.J., 1989.
Friday, Karl. Samurai, Warfare, and the State in Early Medieval Japan. New York, 2004.
Hardacre, Helen. Shintō and the State, 1868–1988. Princeton, N.J., 1989.
Hardacre, Helen. Religion and Society in Nineteenth-Century Japan. Ann Arbor, Mich., 2002.
Heisig, James, and John Maraldo. Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Question of Nationalism. Honolulu, 1994.
Ketelaar, James. Of Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan. Princeton, N.J., 1990.
Kisala, Robert, and Mark Mulllins. Religion and Social Crisis in Japan. New York, 2001.
Kōjiro, Naoki. "The Nara State." Translated by Felicia Bock. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan, edited by Delmer Brown, pp. 222–267. New York, 1993.
McMullin, Neil. "On Placating the Gods and Pacifying the Populace: The Case of the Gion Goryo Cult." History of Religions 27 (1988): 270–293.
Nakano, T., T. Iida, and H. Yamanaka, eds. Shūkyō to Nationalism (Religion and Nationalism). Kyoto, Japan, 1997.
Nelson, John. A Year in the Life of a Shintō Shrine. Seattle, Wash., 1996.
Nelson, John. Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shintō in Contemporary Japan. Honolulu, 2000.
Nelson, John. "Social Memory as Ritual Practice: Commemorating Spirits of the Military Dead at Yasukuni Shinto Shrine." Journal of Asian Studies 62 (2003): 443–468.
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms. Chicago, 2002.
Reader, Ian. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyō. Honolulu, 2000.
Shimazono, Susumu. Posuto-modan no Shin Shūkyō (Post-Modern New Religions). Tokyo, 2001.
Stone, Jacqueline. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Honolulu, 1999.
Stronach, Bruce. Beyond the Rising Sun: Nationalism in Contemporary Japan. Westport, Conn., 1995.
John K. Nelson (2005) | <urn:uuid:d1abcd67-6024-4734-8292-d26c2624b5f0> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/politics-and-religion-politics-and-japanese-religions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320300934.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220118152809-20220118182809-00252.warc.gz | en | 0.958756 | 6,064 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Black History Month has always been a mixed bag of feelings as a black man in the western world. Throughout my schooling experience, the education of black history was often centered on the civil rights movement and the history of slavery in America and Canada.
Thankfully, my mother of Ghanaian descent did a great job of educating my siblings and I about other historical figures and African contributions. I vividly remember her volunteering to teach children in my school about black history. To this day many of them make it a point to remind me of the day they learned that history and how much fun it was.
With the rise of social media, more knowledge has become readily available and it’s important to shine light on black figures that made major contributions to the modern world.
1) Violet King
Violent King became the first black female lawyer in Canadian history. She was born on October 18th, 1929 in Calgary and from a young age King knew she wanted to be a lawyer and she strived to make that dream a reality. She was so confident in her belief that her grade 12 year book featured a caption that read: “Violet wants to be a criminal lawyer.”
She moved on to attend the University of Alberta in 1948. King was the only black female lawyer in her class, and one of three women to enroll in the faculty of Law. During her time as a student she became one of four students to receive an Executive “A” gold ring during an annual event titled “Colour Night”, which celebrated the contributions made by students to the University of Alberta.
King graduated and became the first black person to graduate from law school in Alberta and the only woman in her class to do so. After graduation, she passed the bar in 1954 and became the first black female lawyer to practice law in Canada; a huge milestone for the country.
2) Granville T. Woods
Granville T. Woods was one of the most prominent inventors in American history. Born on April 23rd, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, Woods took up several engineering jobs as a young man with very little schooling. He eventually moved to New York City in 1876, and took courses in engineering and electricity, realizing they would be the key to a better future.
Woods moved back to Ohio in the summer of 1878 where he worked for the Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy Railroad Company for eight months, and later as an engineer for the Dayton and Southeastern Railway Company for 13 months. He then moved to Cincinnati to set up his own company to create and sell electronic apparatuses.
His most significant patent was the multiplex telegraph/induction telegraph that allowed men to communicate by voice over telegraph wires, speeding up communication and preventing errors that led to train wrecks. This patent was purchased by Alexander Graham Bell.
Woods also faced a lawsuit filed by Edison in which Woods won, and earned him the title of “Black Edison”. He would go on to invent what was later known as the trolley as well. Woods died on January 30, 1910 in New York City.
3) Yasuke The Samurai
Yasuke was the first African samurai in Japanese history. His birthplace is unknown, but he arrived in Kyoto Japan in 1579. He stood tall at 6 feet and 2 inches (1.88m) at a time where the average height for a Japanese male was 5 feet, 2 inches. His sighting caused such a sensation that onlookers risked their safety to catch a glimpse, according to Lawrence Winkler a historian.
Nobunaga the Warlord was intrigued by his arrival and Yasuke surprised the Warlord with the little bit of Japanese he knew, which granted him favour. Yasuke entertained Nobunaga with his travels across Africa and India.
He was a fan of martial arts and had practiced them for years and was described as an eccentric man with a “warrior’s spirit”. Nobunaga treated Yasuke favourably and grew to liken him as family. Eventually Yasuke was bestowed the title of Samurai.
Courtesy: BBC News
4) Tina Bell
Known as the Queen of grunge, Tina Bell was described as a brilliant song writer, lyricist, and performer and she had a significant presence in the punk and rock scenes. She was the lead singer in a Seattle band called Bam Bam and pioneered grunge music.
She was born on February 5th, 1957 in Seattle Washington and began singing at a young age, first joining the Mt. Zion Choir and had a take charge attitude according to her mother.
Bam Bam was created by combining the initials of Bell and guitarist Tommy Martin’s last names. They, along with other members, performed from 1983-1990. Bell and her band recorded one of the first grunge songs on vinyl in 1984.
Despite having packed out shows and innovating a whole new genre, the lack of major recognition took its toll on Bell and she retired in 1990. She married Martin and had a son TJ Martin, born in 1979. TJ became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary for his documentary Undefeated.
On October 10, 2012, Bell passed away.
5) Lonnie Johnson
A former NASA engineer who went on to invent one of the most popular toys in the Super Soaker. Lonnie was born on October 6, 1949, in Mobile Alabama. Jonhson’s father was a handyman who taught Lonnie and five other children how to build their own toys.
One of his most fun creations was a go-kart that he built at the age of 13 from junkyard scraps which had a lawnmower engine attached to it. He rode it along the highway until police pulled him over. Jonhson knew he wanted to be an inventor and spent a lot of his time tearing things apart and learning about them.
In high school, Johnson represented his high school in a 1968 science fair as the only black student. He spent a year creating a robot that he entered into the competition and took home first prize.
After graduating he attended Tuskegee University on a scholarship for mechanical engineering. Two year’s later he received his master’s degree in nuclear engineering.
Johnson first joined the U.S. Air Force and helped develop the stealth bomber program. Eventually he moved on to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1979 working as a system’s engineer before moving back to the Air Force in 1982.
He spent his spare time working on his own projects and created a heat pump that used water to fire a jet stream. After seven years of tinkering and sales pitching he decided to go into the business. He sold his invention to the Larami corporation and the Super Soaker became a huge success gaining $200M in sales in 1991, and ranked among the Top 20 best-selling toys.
Featured Image via: Womensinitiativeedmonton.ca | <urn:uuid:3fdde9be-7723-4d9f-a5a0-f25276954ec2> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://popsculture.ca/2021/02/21/5-people-to-know-this-black-history-month/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320300253.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20220117000754-20220117030754-00629.warc.gz | en | 0.986699 | 1,450 | 3.75 | 4 |
Prefectures of Japan Nara
Nara Prefecture (奈良県, Nara-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. As of 2020, Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of 3,691 square kilometres (1,425 sq mi). Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama Prefecture to the southwest, and Mie Prefecture to the east.
Nara is the capital and largest city of Nara Prefecture, with other major cities including Kashihara, Ikoma, and Yamatokōriyama. Nara Prefecture is located in the center of the Kii Peninsula on Japan’s Pacific Ocean coast, and is one of only eight landlocked prefectures. Nara Prefecture has the distinction of having more UNESCO World Heritage listings than any other prefecture in Japan.
Nara Prefecture region is considered one of the oldest regions in Japan, having been in existence for thousands of years, and is widely viewed as the Japanese cradle of civilization. Like Kyoto, Nara was one of Imperial Japan’s earliest capital cities. The current form of Nara Prefecture was officially created in 1887 when it became independent of Osaka Prefecture.
Historically, Nara Prefecture was also known as Yamato-no-kuni or Yamato Province.
Up to Nara Period
From the third century to the fourth century, a poorly documented political force existed at the foot of Mount Miwa, east of Nara Basin. It sought unification of most parts in Japan. Since the historical beginning of Japan, Yamato was its political center.
Ancient capitals of Japan were built on the land of Nara, namely Asuka-kyō, Fujiwara-kyō (694–710) and Heijō-kyō (most of 710–784). The capital cities of Fujiwara and Heijō are believed to have been modeled after Chinese capitals at the time, incorporating grid layout patterns. The royal court also established relations with Sui and then Tang dynasty China and sent students to the Middle Kingdom to learn high civilization. By 7th century, Nara accepted the many immigrants including refugees of Baekje who had escaped from war disturbances of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The first high civilization with royal patronage of Buddhism flourished in today’s Nara city (710–784 AD).
Nara in the Heian period
In 784, Emperor Kanmu decided to relocate the capital to Nagaoka-kyō in Yamashiro Province, followed by another move in 794 to Heian-kyō, marking the start of the Heian period. The temples in Nara remained powerful beyond the move of political capital, thus giving Nara a synonym of “Nanto” (meaning “South Capital”) as opposed to Heian-kyō, situated in the north. Close to the end of Heian period, Taira no Shigehira, a son of Taira no Kiyomori, was ordered by his father to depress the power of various parties, mainly Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji, who were backing up an opposition group headed by Prince Mochihito. The movement led to a collision between the Taira and the Nara temples in 1180. This clash eventually led to Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji being set on fire, resulting in vast destruction of architectural heritage.
At the rise of the Minamoto to its ruling seat and the opening of Kamakura shogunate, Nara enjoyed the support of Minamoto no Yoritomo toward restoration. Kōfuku-ji, being the “home temple” to the Fujiwara since its foundation, not only regained the power it had before but became a de facto regional chief of Yamato Province. With the reconstruction of Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji, a town was growing again near the two temples.
The Nanboku-chō period, starting in 1336, brought more instability to Nara. As Emperor Go-Daigo chose Yoshino as his base, a power struggle arose in Kōfuku-ji with a group supporting the South and another siding the North court. Likewise, local clans were split into two. Kōfuku-ji recovered its control over the province for a short time at the surrender of the South Court in 1392, while the internal power game of the temple itself opened a way for the local samurai clans to spring up and fight with each other, gradually acquiring their own territories, thus diminishing the influence of Kōfuku-ji overall.
The Sengoku and Edo periods to present
Later, the whole province of Yamato got drawn into the confusion of the Sengoku period. Tōdai-ji was once again set on fire in 1567, when Matsunaga Hisahide, who was later appointed by Oda Nobunaga to the lord of Yamato Province, fought for supremacy against his former master Miyoshi family. Followed by short appointments of Tsutsui Junkei and Toyotomi Hidenaga by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the lord, the Tokugawa shogunate ultimately ruled the city of Nara directly, and most parts of Yamato province with a few feudal lords allocated at Kōriyama, Takatori and other places. With industry and commerce developing in the 18th century, the economy of the province was incorporated into prosperous Osaka, the commercial capital of Japan at the time.
The economic dependency to Osaka even characterizes today’s Nara Prefecture, for many inhabitants commute to Osaka to work or study there.
The establishment of Nara Prefecture
A first prefecture (briefly -fu in 1868, but -ken for most of the time) named Nara was established in the Meiji Restoration in 1868 as successor to the shogunate administration of the shogunate city and shogunate lands in Yamato. After the 1871 Abolition of the han system, Nara was merged with other prefectures (from former han, see List of Han#Yamato Province) and cleared of ex-/enclaves to encompass all of Yamato province. In 1876, Nara was merged into Sakai which in turn became part of Osaka in 1881. In 1887, Nara became independent again. The first prefectural assembly of Nara was elected in the same year and opened its first session in 1888 in the gallery of the main hall of Tōdai temple.
In the 1889 Great Meiji mergers which subdivided all (then 45) prefectures into modern municipalities, Nara prefecture’s 16 districts were subdivided into 154 municipalities: 10 towns and 144 villages. The first city in Nara was only established in 1898 when Nara Town from Soekami District was made district-independent to become Nara City (see List of mergers in Nara Prefecture and List of mergers in Osaka Prefecture).
Nara Prefecture is part of the Kansai, or Kinki, region of Japan, and is located in the middle of the Kii Peninsula on the western half of Honshu. Nara Prefecture is landlocked. It is bordered to the west by Wakayama Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture; on the north by Kyoto Prefecture and on the east by Mie Prefecture.
Nara Prefecture is 78.5 kilometres (48.8 mi) from east to west and 103.6 kilometres (64.4 mi) from north to south.
Most of the prefecture is covered by mountains and forests, leaving an inhabitable area of only 851 square kilometres (329 sq mi). The ratio of inhabitable area to total area is 23%, ranked 43rd among the 47 prefectures in Japan.
Nara Prefecture is bisected by the Japan Median Tectonic Line (MTL) running through its territory east to west, along the Yoshino River. On the northern side of the MTL is the so-called Inner Zone, where active faults running north to south are still shaping the landscape. The Ikoma Mountains in the northwest form the border with Osaka Prefecture. The Nara Basin, which lies to the east of these mountains, contains the highest concentration of population in Nara Prefecture. Further east are the Kasagi Mountains, which separate the Basin from the Yamato Highlands.
South of the MTL is the Outer Zone, comprising the Kii Mountains, which occupy about 60% of the land area of the prefecture. The Ōmine Range is in the center of the Kii Mountains, running north to south, with steep valleys on both sides. The tallest mountain in Nara Prefecture, and indeed in the Kansai region, is Mount Hakkyō. To the west, separating Nara Prefecture from Wakayama Prefecture, is the Obako Range, with peaks around 1,300 metres (4,300 ft). To the east, bordering Mie Prefecture, is the Daikō Range, including Mount Ōdaigahara. This mountainous region is also home to a World Heritage Site, the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range”.
About 17% of the total land area of the prefecture is designated as National Park land, comprising the Yoshino-Kumano National Park, Kongō-Ikoma-Kisen, Kōya-Ryūjin, Murō-Akame-Aoyama, and Yamato-Aogaki Quasi-National Parks; and the Tsukigase-Kōnoyama, Yata, and Yoshinogawa-Tsuboro Prefectural Natural Parks.
In the Nara Basin, the climate has inland characteristics, as represented in the bigger temperature variance within the same day, and the difference of summer and winter temperatures. Winter temperatures average about 3 to 5 °C (37 to 41 °F), and 25 to 28 °C (77 to 82 °F) in the summer with highest reaching close to 35 °C (95 °F). There is not a single year over the last decade (since 1990, up to 2007) with more than 10 days of snowfall recorded by Nara Local Meteorological Observatory.
The climate in the rest of the prefecture are mountainous, and especially in the south, with below −5 °C (23 °F) being the extreme minimum in winter. Heavy rainfall is observed in summer. The annual accumulated rainfall ranges as much as 3,000 to 5,000 millimetres (120 to 200 in), which is among the heaviest in Japan.
Spring and fall are temperate. The mountainous region of Yoshino has been popular both historically and presently for its cherry blossoms in the spring. In the fall, the southern mountains are equally striking with the changing of the oak trees.
There are twelve cities in Nara Prefecture:
Towns and villages
There are seven districts in Nara, which are further divided into 15 towns and 12 villages as follows:
According to the 2005 Census of Japan, Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,421,310, which is a decrease of 1.5%, since the year 2000.
The decline continued in 2006, with another decrease of 4,987 people compared to 2005. This includes a natural decrease from previous year of 288 people (11,404 births minus 11,692 deaths) and a decrease due to net domestic migration of 4,627 people outbound from the prefecture, and a decrease of 72 registered foreigners. Net domestic migration has turned into a continuous outbound trend since 1998. The largest destinations of migration in 2005 were the prefectures of Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hyōgo, with respectively a net of 1,130,982 and 451 people moving over. The largest inbound migration was from Niigata Prefecture, contributing to a net increase of 39 people. 13.7% of its population were reported as under 15, 65.9% between 15 and 64, and 20.4% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 52.5% of the population.
As of 2004, the average density of the prefecture is 387 people per km2. By districts, the so-called Yamato flat inland plain holds as much as about 90% of total population within the approximately 23% size of area in the north-west, including the Nara Basin, representing a density of 1,531 people per km2. To the contrast, the combined district Gojō and Yoshino District occupies almost 64% of the land, while only 6% of people lives there, resulting in a density of 39 people km2.
Nara prefecture had the highest rate in Japan of people commuting outbound for work, at 30.9% in 2000. A similar tendency is seen in prefectures such as Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa, all three of them having over 20% of people commuting for other prefectures.
A governor and members of prefectural assembly is elected by citizens in accordance with the Local Autonomy Law.
Shōgo Arai has been governor since 2007, a former LDP member of the national House of Councillors. In the April 2019 gubernatorial election, he was re-elected to a fourth term with major party support (LDP, DPFP, Kōmeitō) with 47.5% of the vote against former Democratic Diet member and vice-minister Kiyoshige Maekawa (32.3%) and independent physician Minoru Kawashima (20.2%).
As of 2019, there are 43 seats in the Nara Prefectural Assembly, elected in 16 constituencies (4 single-member, 12 multi-member). After the April 2019 assembly election, the LDP is by far the largest party with 21 members while no other party won more than four seats, but its members are split between several parliamentary groups; by group, the composition as of May 2019 was: LDP 10, LDP Nara 9, Sōsei Nara [of independents] 5, Shinsei Nara [mainly DPFP] 5, JCP 4, Nippon Ishin no Kai 4, Kōmeitō 3, LDP Kizuna 2.
There was a clear tendency seen through the results of Lower House election in 2005, that the younger generation executes its voting right much less compared to the older. Only 48.8% of citizens age 20–29 voted, whereas all older generations (grouped by decades) votes more than its younger, reaching the highest voting rate of 86.3% at ages 60–69. The only exception was the 72.1% voting right executed by citizens of 70 or older. The overall average of the prefecture who voted was yet higher, at 70.3%, than that of nationwide average, 67.5%.
As of October 2019, Nara’s directly elected delegation to the National Diet is all-LDP, namely:
in the House of Representatives where Nara has lost one district in a 2017 reapportionment
for the 1st district in the North consisting of most of Nara City and Ikoma City: Shigeki Kobayashi (LDP, 2nd term) who narrowly defeated long-time incumbent Sumio Mabuchi in the 2017 House of Representatives election,
for the 2nd district with southern suburbs (and a small part) of the capital: Sanae Takaichi (LDP, 8th term) who has served as minister in several cabinets and was re-elected with 60% of the vote in 2017,
for the 3rd district which covers the less urbanized, central and Southern parts of Nara: Taidō Tanose (LDP, 3rd term), member for the now-abolished 4th district before 2017,
in the House of Councillors where the Nara district is one of the often decisive FPTP single-member districts
in the 2016–2022 class: Kei Satō (LDP, 1st term) who defeated incumbent Kiyoshige Maekawa in 2016 by a twelve-point-margin in a three-way contest with an Osaka Ishin no Kai challenger,
in the 2019–2025 class: Iwao Horii (LDP, 2nd term) who defended the seat 55% to 40% against an “independent”, joint centre-left (CDP, DPFP, SDP) challenger in 2019.
The 2004 total gross prefecture product (GPP) for Nara was ¥3.8 trillion, an 0.1% growth over previous year. The per capita income was ¥2.6 million, which is a 1.3% decrease from previous year. The 2004 total gross prefecture product (GPP) for Nara was ¥3.8 trillion, an 0.1% growth over previous year. Manufacturing has the biggest share in the GPP of Nara with 20.2% of share, followed by services (19.1%) and real estates (16.3%). The share of agriculture including forestry and fishery was a mere 1.0%, only above mining, which is quasi-inexistent in Nara.
Tourism is treated by the prefectural government as one of the most important features of Nara, because of its natural environment and historical significance.
Nara is famed for its Kaki persimmon. Strawberry and tea are some other popular products of the prefecture, while rice and vegetables, including spinach, tomato, eggplants, and others are the dominant in terms of amount of production.
Nara is a center for the production of instruments used in conducting traditional Japanese artforms. Brush and ink (sumi) are the best known products from Nara for calligraphy. Wooden or bamboo instruments, especially from Takayama area (in Ikoma city) are famous products for tea ceremony.
Goldfish from Yamatokōriyama in Nara have been a traditional aquacultural product since the 18th century.
Due to its rich history, Nara is also the location of many archeological digs, with many famous ones being located in the village of Asuka.
The culture of Nara is tied to the Kansai region in which it is located. However, like each of the other prefectures of Kansai, Nara has unique aspects to its culture, parts of which stem from its long history dating back to the Nara period.
There are large differences in dialect between the north/central region of the prefecture, where Nara city is located, and the Okunoya district in the south. The north/central dialect is close to Osaka’s dialect, whilst Okunoya’s dialect favours a Tokyo-style accent. The lengthening of vowels sounds in the Okunoya dialect is not seen in other dialects of the Kinki region, making it a special feature.
Foods particular to Nara Prefecture include:
Narazuke, a method of pickling vegetables
Miwa sōmen, a type of wheat noodle
Chagayu, a rice porridge made with green tea
Kakinoha zushi, sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves
Meharizushi, rice balls wrapped in pickled takana leaves
The following are recognized by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry as being traditional arts of Nara:
Takayama Tea Whisk (Bamboo item category, recognized in 1975)
Nara Calligraphy Brush (Stationery category, recognized in 1977)
Nara National Museum
Heijō Palace Museum
Nara Prefectural Museum of Art
Kashihara Archaeological Institute Museum
Nara Women’s University
Nara Medical University
Nara University of Education
Nara Prefectural University
Nara Sangyo University (Nara Industrial University)
Nara Institute of Science and Technology
The sports teams listed below are based in Nara.
Nara Club (Nara)
Bambitious Nara (Nara)
Many jinja (Shinto shrines), Buddhist temples, and kofun exist in Nara Prefecture, making it is a centre for tourism. Moreover, many world heritage sites, such as the temple Tōdai-ji and Kasuga Shrine, exist in the capital city of Nara.
World Heritage sites
Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area Hōryū-ji 法隆寺
Hokki-ji (Hōki-ji) 法起寺
Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara Tōdai-ji 東大寺
Kasuga Shrine 春日大社
Heijō Palace remains 平城宮跡
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range Area
Mt. Yoshino Kinpusen-ji
Yoshino Mikumari Shrine
Mount Omine Ominesan-ji
Buddhist temples Asuka-dera 飛鳥寺
Southern Hokke-ji 南法華寺
Shinto shrines Isonokami Shrine 石上神宮
Kashihara Shrine 橿原神宮
Danzan Shrine 談山神社
Ōmiwa Shrine 大神神社
Ōyamato Shrine 大和神社
Kofun and heritage Monuments of Asuka-Fujiwara, proposed for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List
Ishibutai Tomb 石舞台古墳
Kitora Tomb キトラ古墳
Takamatsuzuka Tomb 高松塚古墳
Hashihaka Tomb 箸墓古墳
Umami Kofun Group 馬見古墳群
Sakafuneishi Heritage 酒船石遺跡
Hot springs Dorogawa 洞川温泉
Mountains Yamato Sanzan* 大和三山
Mount Wakakusa 若草山
* “Three Mountains of Yamato”
Other attractions Nara Park 奈良公園
Yoshino-Kumano National Park 吉野熊野国立公園
Kongō-Ikoma-Kisen Quasi-National Park 金剛生駒紀泉国定公園
Kōya-Ryūjin Quasi-National Park 高野龍神国定公園
Murō-Akame-Aoyama Quasi-National Park 室生赤目青山国定公園
Yamato-Aogaki Quasi-National Park 大和青垣国定公園
Manyo Mahoroba Line
Ikoma Cable Line
Minami Osaka Line
from Nara and Tenri
Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu
Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture
Osaka International Airport
Kansai International Airport
from Yamato Yagi and Gose
Expressways and toll roads
Second Hanna(Osaka-Nara) Road
South Hanna Road
Route 25 (Osaka-Tenri-Nabari-Yokkaichi)
Route 168 (Hirakata-Ikoma-Kashiba-Gojo-Totsukawa-Shingu)
Route 169 (Nara-Tenri-Oyodo-Yoshino-Shingu)
- Japanese Accommodation
- Japanese Anime
- Japanese Cosplay
- Japanese Culture
- Japanese Events
- Japanese Food
- Japanese Images
- Japanese Jobs
- Japanese Movies
- Japanese Music
- Japanese News
- Japanese Recipes
- Japanese Sport
- Japanese TV
- Japanese Weather
- United Kingdom Accommodation
- United Kingdom Anime
- United Kingdom Cosplay
- United Kingdom Culture
- United Kingdom Events
- United Kingdom Food
- United Kingdom Images
- United Kingdom Jobs
- United Kingdom Movies
- United Kingdom Music
- United Kingdom News
- United Kingdom Recipes
- United Kingdom Sport
- United Kingdom TV
- United Kingdom Weather
Prefectures of Japan Nara
• Japanese 奈良県
• Rōmaji Nara-ken
Prefectures of Japan Nara
Subdivisions Districts: 7, Municipalities: 39
• Governor Shōgo Arai
• Total 3,691.09 km2 (1,425.14 sq mi)
Area rank 40th
Population (December 1st, 2020)http://www.pref.nara.jp/6265.htm
• Total 1,321,805
• Rank 30th
• Density 358.10/km2 (927.5/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code JP-29
Bird Japanese robin (Erithacus akahige)
Fish Goldfish ( Carassius auratus auratus )
Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis)
Amago (Oncorhynchus masou ishikawae)
Flower Nara yae zakura
(Prunus verecunda cultivar)
Tree Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) | <urn:uuid:7b2af37e-4e31-4c07-a6de-5b2596c853fb> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://banzaijapan.jp/prefectures-of-japan-nara/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303884.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122194730-20220122224730-00509.warc.gz | en | 0.930347 | 6,072 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Good questions from a reader -
There are some questions I want to ask you about the shogun era.
Why didn't the generals around Tokugawa Ieyasu aim for more power?
What were their end game?
Can a follower also be great, if so how?
So, we're talking about the Sengoku and post-Sengoku era of Japanese history.
Some really quick background we get to these excellent questions -
From the early 1300's to late 1500's, the Ashikaga family controlled Japan's Shogunate. The "Shogun" was the head of the shogunate and responsible for taxation and military affairs, but was officially the chief servant of the Emperor. In reality, power went back and forth in a number of ways, but the Emperor usually was more of a symbolic figure, with the Shogun ruling. After all, the Shogun had the revenue from taxes and the military authority.
The Ashikaga shogunate slowly declined in power, and like Britain after WWII, once you start closing one military base, you lose all your military bases. It was a tough cycle for the Ashikaga - lower tax revenues due to local feudal lords starting to rebel. When they couldn't reassert authority, they now had to live with less revenues - and thus, less soldiers and officials and equipment. Thus, more rebellion. Thus, less revenues. Thus, less authority. Thus, more rebellion. Thus, less revenues...
It was ugly, and so began "The Warring States" era of Japanese history - Sengoku.
I already wrote a long-ish piece on Sengoku, it's here if you're interested. But do an ultra-quick recap, a civil war broke out with 30+ sides fighting. The Ashikaga were one faction. There were 2 or 3 strong groups of warrior monks that had their own factions. There were 20-30 local warlords or coalitions that fought for territory.
Massive land grab, fighting, chaos. Assassination. Betrayal. Just like the chaos and fighting from the Era of the Italian City-States contributed in part to the Renaissance, Sengoku contributed to massive advances in Japanese art, culture, governance, trade, language. A lot of great people came out of the era.
Out of this came three "Great Unifiers" -
The short version is - Ieyasu won. Want to know why? I wrote about it in the article "Studying Patience" - worth reading if you want to learn more about Tokugawa.
But to answer your question, "Why didn't the generals around Tokugawa Ieyasu aim for more power?" - the answer is the actions of his predecessor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
I think it's fair to say that Hideyoshi is the greatest general in Japanese history. There's 2-3 other generals in the conversation, but none of them had the complimentary ability as lawmakers, diplomats, and statesmen that Hideyoshi. Incredible ability. One of the strongest and most talented men in Japanese history.
Hideyoshi won, conquered and unified all of Japan, and took the title of "Kampaku" - Grand Regent. Because he wasn't of high birth, he wasn't able the take the title of Shogun.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Domestic Consolidation, Crackdown, and Over-Expansion
Hideyoshi was the classical "expansionary leader" - like Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan. The major flaw of an expansionary leader is that they frequently don't know how to stop - thus, they expand broadly, but frequently their empire is built on weak supports and a weak foundation. If the succession to the next leader goes smoothly and the next leader consolidates, then the empire could hold.
He consolidated domestic power quite heavily during his rule - Hideyoshi cracked down on weapons outside of samurai hands, ordering a "katanagari" - a sword hunt.
This disarmed all non-samurai, making it harder for a merchant company or village to lead an uprising. Christianity was starting to spread through Japan at the time, and Hideyoshi cracked down on it too. He made Christianity officially illegal and limited foreign trade to a small number of ports.
Toyotomi made a number of treaties, and arranged it so his most dangerous threat to him - Tokugawa Ieyasu - was sent to provinces far away from the capital. The two strongest men in Japan at the time who weren't Toyotomi loyalists - Date Masamune and Tokugawa Ieyasu - also were rather far away from the most important and wealthiest areas in Japan. Masamune's capital, Sendai, and Ieyasu's capital, Edo (modern day Tokyo) were both small and relatively non-wealthy at the time, especially compared to Osaka, Kyoto, and the south/southwestern ports where the foreign trade occurred. Masamune and Ieyasu were north/northeast, considerably away from the important parts of Toyotomi's power base.
Hideyoshi had effectively consolidated domestic power, but then he declared war on China and Korea which... seems insane to me. Classic over-expansion. You know, I'm not such an admirer of Alexander the Great - yeah, he had some impressive accomplishments in his short life, but what did it amount to in the end?
If I have any major beef with history, it's that totally stable, peaceful, excellent consolidation leaders don't get much credit. Calvin Coolidge was an exceptionally good American President, but who remembers him? Not many people. Bill Clinton was an exceptionally good American President, but will he be remembered much in the year 2111?
I think we should celebrate consolidation leaders who refine the legal code, govern in prosperity, and are good stewards... but we don't, we lionize expansion-minded leaders - Alexander types. Well, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, for all his brilliance, had the over-expansion flaw. This is perhaps because he was low born. Very successful low born people frequently over-expand - my theory is that because they've done it all themselves with minimal help from those that came before them, they don't trust their descendants to carry on their work. Whereas someone groomed to lead from a young age trusts that he can groom one of his children to do the same.
Anyways, Hideyoshi declares war on Korea and China, and it's a disaster. Hideyoshi dies while his forces are deployed in Korea, and many of his generals don't hear about his death until months afterwards - thus really ticking them off at the wasted resources, death, and lack of respect that entails.
Tokugawa Triumphs, Keeps Most of the Toyotomi System, and Fully Consolidates
We won't go through the full set of conflicts and battles here, but Hideyoshi's Governor-General of Korea - Ishida Mitsunari - winds up commanding the Toyotomi loyalist forces against the Tokugawa forces.
Interestingly, Mitsunari was captured by Tokugawa forces and released... Ieyasu guessed, correctly, that there was lingering hostility against Mitsunari over the failed Korean campaign. He was right - a number of Toyotomi generals defected to the Tokugawa side, including a couple defecting during the decisive battle, leading to Tokugawa victory.
Ieyasu was named Shogun, but then immediately went into consolidation mode.
He kept the basic Toyotomi legal code - Hideyoshi had already disarmed and destroyed many of the most dangerous factions in Japan, and otherwise put limits and constraints against others.
Ieyasu's brilliance was in his ability to consolidate - he only officially reigned as Shogun for three years before retiring and passing the position to his son Hidetada. He lived for 11 years longer - so when he finally died, there was no need for a transition. People were used to listening to Hidetada.
This also free him up from day to day administration to work on further consolidating the legal code. He worked on and released the Buke Shohatto, "Various Points of Laws for Warrior Houses." Here's a partial list from Wikipedia:
1. The samurai class should devote itself to pursuits appropriate to the warrior aristocracy, such as archery, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and classical literature.
2. Amusements and entertainments are to be kept within reasonable bounds and expenses for such activities are not to be excessive.
3. The han (feudal domains) are not to harbor fugitives and outlaws.
4. Domains must expel rebels and murderers from their service and from their lands.
5. Daimyō are not to engage in social interactions with the people (neither samurai nor commoners) of other domains.
6. Castles may be repaired, but such activity must be reported to the shogunate. Structural innovations and expansions are forbidden.
7. The formation of cliques for scheming or conspiracy in neighboring domains must be reported to the shogunate without delay, as must the expansion of defenses, fortifications, or military forces.
8. Marriages among daimyō and related persons of power or importance must not be arranged privately.
9. Daimyō must present themselves at Edo for service to the shogunate.
10. Conventions regarding formal uniform must be followed.
11. Miscellaneous persons are not to ride in palanquins.
12. Samurai throughout the realm are to practice frugality.
13. Daimyō must select men of ability to serve as administrators and bureaucrats.
You'll see a number of consolidation points in there - the traditional ways to arm for war or build alliances are all either forbidden or must be reported to the Shogunate, including marriages and building new fortifications. Interestingly, the code also appeals to samurai honor, by requiring things that samurai held in high esteem anyways - training, being able administrators, and so on. Thus, the code looks less like a set of restrictions only, and more like a way of life... at first there might've been discontent at some of the clauses (especially no expansion of castles or fortifications). But over time, in any nation, the law becomes "the way things are" - the Tokugawa legal codes here aren't too repressive, and mix restrictions with practical good governance and appeal to samurai culture.
Tokugawa also established the sankin kotai policy - every ruling family must spend half their time in the capital and half the time in their home province, and the key family members had to stay in the capital all the time. This did a few things - it limited the ability for a local lord to fight any extended border skirmishes or oversee a buildup, guaranteed instant death/retribution against his family if he rebelled, and cost a significant amount of money for both the travel and maintenance of two residences.
To answer your question, though, I think history could've gone differently. The decisive battle - Sekigahara - was by no means guaranteed to be a Tokugawa success. If Tokugawa Ieyasu had been killed, a number of things could have happened. The Toyotomi clan might've kept power, multi-sided civil war might've broken out again, or someone else might have come to power.
I'm personally of the belief that Date Masamune was exceptionally strong, and if history had gone differently, perhaps he becomes the ruler of Japan. There were a number of other strong clans that could have come to power, but Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi systematically destroyed or constrained all opposition... it would be fair to say that after the Toyotomi bloodlines were extinct after the final Osaka campaign, there weren't many candidates left who could oppose the Tokugawa.
Ieyasu was diligent about consolidating though - how many men could come battle and persist their whole lives, come to an illustrious title such as Shogun, but then give it up after only three years? Yes, he was the power behind his son even after that, but most people have far too much arrogance to do such a thing - he officially retired after only three years in the highest office.
Can a follower also be great, if so how?
Obviously I think so, yes - my desired role and profession in life is as a strategist, which is a servant's role, not a ruler's role.
But before I could fully answer that question, you'd have to define what "great" means to you. It's much less likely you'll be famous if you're a follower, unless your cause is exceptionally successful or you personally achieve some incredible feats that also make good stories.
But if you want to be famous, it's less likely you'll be so if you're not at the head of the organization or movement... I don't know, I personally am pretty averse to fame, and see it as an unfortunate requirement for the things I want to do. Ah well, I've come around on it - fame is useful to the extent that it helps me bring the world I want to live in into existence.
It comes with a cost - I haven't written about this yet very much, but there is definitely a burden to command and leadership. When the final decision is yours and yours alone, you take much more control of your destiny, but it induces neurosis like nothing else. It's paradoxical - you're truly free, but once you are truly free and in full command, you see that it's not all it's cracked up to be.
I'd advise anyone who has the slightest, tiniest sliver of an idea that they could lead to try. Even the slightest little twinkle of a thought in the back of your mind... try. But having your own ethics is lonely.
Can a follower become great? Oh, absolutely. My standard baseline for a successfully lived life is having two children and raising them to have more opportunities than you did. If you do that, you've moved humanity forwards. Anything on top of that - any innovation, any excellent service, any creation, any more children - that's just gravy.
Additionally, there's other ways to a successful life, though I'm personally of the opinion that raising a strong and successful family is truly underrated these days. Raising and grooming your kids to be excellent servants of humanity goes a long way in my book, and I respect anyone who does that.
I can't define greatness for you - it's something you define personally. If you want your name in the history books, it becomes harder to do as a follower, but still very possible. Either pick a cause that's headed for immense greatness (if you can predict such a thing) or do exceptional things that also make good stories.
But that's just for the history books, which isn't necessarily true greatness. Depends on your definitions. But it's certainly possible. Leadership and command are exceptionally harder and more burdensome than anyone could imagine and crafting your own ethics is extraordinary lonely... I wouldn't hold it against anyone who decides that it's not for them. But I'd encourage anyone who has the slightest tiniest sliver of a feeling that more is possible - to go for it, and see if you can.
Very good questions. Thanks.
It comes with a cost – I haven’t written about this yet very much, but there is definitely a burden to command and leadership. When the final decision is yours and yours alone, you take much more control of your destiny, but it induces neurosis like nothing else. It’s paradoxical – you’re truly free, but once you are truly free and in full command, you see that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Sorry, one last comment. Thought you might like this quote, from Ursula K. LeGuin's "A Wizard of Earthsea":
As a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower; until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly, what he _must_ do...
I should add that a fundamental reason why Alexander had such an influence was that, unlike many other conquerers, Alexander was extremely good at consolidating, at least in a cultural way. He encouraged his officers to marry, did not decapitate the local leadership but instead integrated them, and thus his empire, on a cultural level, lasted long after his death. The fact that it was broken up into a number of sub-empires does not mean that it was not a lasting legacy.
I encourage you to read more about Alexander :-)
Ok, well, the quotes didn't come out right... each time there are two paragraphs being quoted... it seems the
is not multiline in these comments :-)
You know, I’m not such an admirer of Alexander the Great – yeah, he had some impressive accomplishments in his short life, but what did it amount to in the end?
Woah woah, wait a second here. Alexander, amount to nothing? Alexander pretty much ended the time of the "hellenic period", when greek culture was largely localised in Greece, and instead smeared Greek culture all over the place, where it helped all those nations to thrive for centuries before they were conquered by the Romans (themselves largely a product of Greek culture).
See http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Hellenic+period for a description:
The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Hellenism immediately over the Middle East and far into Asia. After his death in 323 B.C., the influence of Greek civilization continued to expand over the Mediterranean world and W Asia. The wars of the Diadochi marked, it is true, the breakup of Alexander's brief empire, but the establishment of Macedonian dynasties in Egypt, Syria, and Persia (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae) helped to mold the world of that day into a wider unity of trade and learning.
While the city-states of Greece itself tended to stagnate, elsewhere cities and states grew and flourished. Of these the chief was Alexandria. So great a force did Alexandria exert in commerce, letters, and art that this period is occasionally called the Alexandrian Age, and the end of Hellenistic civilization is generally set at the final triumph of Roman power in Alexandria in the 1st cent. B.C. Pergamum was also prominent, and there were other cities of influence (e.g., Dura).
Basically, Alexander exploded greek culture, which was the most advanced of the time, all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It is fair to say that we are all descendants of Greek culture, which has shaped the culture of Europe and then the world in fundamental ways. And we owe that, in great part, to Alexander.
Amount to nothing indeed ;-)
"The strong manly ones in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means restraining one's inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, love, grief, fear, and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called patient. I am not as strong as I might be, but I have long known and practiced patience. And if my descendants wish to be as I am, they must study patience." -Tokugawa Ieyasu
In the late 1400's, the ruling Ashikaga Shogunate of Japan became weak and lost its hold over the country. A many-sided civil war broke out, thus beginning the "Sengoku Period" - known as one of the most bloody and lawless periods in Japanese history, but also an era of some incredibly most heroic leadership.
Eventually, "Three Great Unifiers" came to power and ended the conflict through victory. These three were Oda Nobugana, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In the end, Tokugawa Ieyasu won, and his family ruled Japan for the next 250 years. However, he's probably the least popular of the three great unifiers in Japan.
Nobunaga is popular for having an incredibly fierce, martial, masculine spirit. At one point, the warrior-monks of the Honganji allied themselves against Nobunaga and harried, harassed, and ambushed his armies. The Honganji provided supplies, spies, and information for Nobunaga's enemies and sometimes faced them in direct combat.
Happy new year!
I am hoping you would share your resources for your reading on Japanese history. Book titles and/or urls would be very helpful.
I got that a week ago, and I kind of sat there staring at the email. Japanese history is some of the most confusing to start to learn, because different elements of Japanese history and culture all play on and influence each other. I could run you through the military history of Japan from The Battle of Okehazama to Sekigahara to the Boshin War, from there into Dai Nippon Tekoku Era, from there into defeat and the Occupation under McArthur, and then we could do a little post-war history. | <urn:uuid:37c46c98-ce06-46bc-bdb4-81eeec0b0fe1> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://sebastianmarshall.com/tokugawas-generals-and-being-a-great-follower | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982292608.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823195812-00144-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972173 | 4,428 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A preeminent force behind the artistic flowering of 17th-century Japan, Hon'ami Koetsu was born in Kyoto in 1558. In his youth he witnessed the near-destruction of his native city by the invading forces of the warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), who would consolidate his power over Japan and bring an end to a prolonged period of civil strife. Koetsu's father, Kataoka Koji (1524-1603), was a sword specialist, a vital occupation during times of war, and he trained Koetsu in the skills of sword polishing and appraising.
At that time, Kyoto was Japan's only major city, and by the late 16th century it was again a secure and thriving commercial and cultural center, and entered an era marked by experimentation and creative freedom. Like Florence during the Renaissance and Paris in the 1920s, Kyoto was a magnet for a group of extraordinarily talented individuals, and Koetsu was the catalyst for numerous collaborative efforts that redefined Japanese artistic creation. An amateur participant in No theater (a traditional Japanese art form that combines dance, drama, music and poetry), Koetsu became involved in the design of No texts, featuring bold mica-printed covers and his own calligraphy.
Although he would now be considered an art director par excellence, it was his calligraphy that brought Koetsu greatest acclaim in his own day. Collaborating with the painter Tawaraya Sotatsu (died c. 1640) and the papermaker Kamishi Soji (dates unknown) to produce beautiful fans, poetry cards, and handscrolls, Koetsu found inspiration in the classical poetry of the 9th through 12th centuries, which he reinterpreted in striking ways. He produced classical texts as luxury-edition printed books for members of the newly prosperous Kyoto mercantile elite who were eager to share in classical culture. Celebrated by his contemporaries, Koetsu's reputation as a calligrapher was assured soon after his death, when he was designated one of the "Three Brushes of Kan'ei"--that is, one of the three best calligraphers of his era.
So highly esteemed was Koetsu's calligraphy that even his shortest letters were saved for posterity by those eager to have a sample of his work. These letters--more than 300 of which are still preserved--reflect a man of action and intense focus: "Send me enough white and red clay for four teabowls. Please hurry." Many of his letters attest to Koetsu's active participation in tea gatherings, which were the literary and cultural salons of his day.
Koetsu in 1615 received a grant of land in Takagamine, north of Kyoto, where he moved with a group of family and friends who shared religious and artistic ties (the relationship between art and religion in Japan at this time was one of mutual interaction and inspiration, and not a matter of secular versus sacred). A deeply devoted Buddhist, four of his calligraphies of Buddhist texts featured in The Arts of Hon'ami Koetsu, Japanese Renaissance Master (on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from July 29 through October 29, 2000) have been designated Important Cultural Properties.
A life of religious devotion, art, tea and reclusion at Takagamine continued for Koetsu until his death in 1637, at the age of 79 (in his native country, where an individual's first year is counted from birth, he would have been considered 80 years of age at the time of death). Miraculously, many of his works--which are distinguished by lasting beauty and spectacular quality--have survived the nearly four centuries since Koetsu played so vital a role in creating them. An imagined portrait of Koetsu painted in 1915 shows him as an august figure in Buddhist robes. This reverential image of the artist contentedly retired after a lifetime of creative endeavor conveys the high esteem and affection in which Koetsu continues to be held. | <urn:uuid:13cac6d3-c9a1-4a40-8871-06e690aeb903> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | https://www.philamuseum.org/press/releases/2000/191.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982925602.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823200845-00226-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984588 | 816 | 2.625 | 3 |
His restructuring of the state would establish the social and political norms which endured in Japan until the 19th century CE.
By Mark Cartwright
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598 CE) was a Japanese military leader who, along with his predecessor Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582 CE) and his successor Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616 CE), is credited with unifying Japan in the 16th century CE. Hideyoshi rose from a humble background to become the country’s military supremo, and he then reorganised the class system, instigated tax reforms, built castles, restored temples, and launched two invasions of Korea. Hideyoshi’s foreign ambitions may have met with disaster but his restructuring of the state would establish the social and political norms which endured in Japan until the 19th century CE.
Nobunaga and Taking Power
Hideyoshi, originally named Kinoshita Hiyoshimaru, was born into a peasant family in 1537 CE. As a young man, he joined the army of the military leader/warlord Oda Nobunaga and rose through the ranks to eventually become a general and the most important military commander in Nobunaga’s endeavour to conquer rival feudal lords and so unify Japan. Hideyoshi might have gained his overlord’s respect as a commander but his small physique resulted in Nobunaga giving him the unflattering nickname of Saru or ‘monkey.’
In 1582 CE Nobunaga was betrayed by one of his vassals, Akechi Mitsuhide, and obliged to commit suicide to avoid being handed over to his rivals. Hideyoshi, first killing Mitsuhide, then manoeuvred to gain the support of Nobunaga’s relations and other important daimyo or feudal lords. He was thus able to install himself as the new military supremo in Japan, as yet, still only half of which was unified.
Hideyoshi, now commanding a force of some 200,000 men, successfully combined military campaigns with diplomacy amongst his rival daimyo to establish himself as the ruler of most of Japan in 1590 CE. In a five-year period beginning in 1585 CE, Hideyoshi had attacked western Japan, Kyushu and Shikoku. Success followed success, but there were some troublesome battles, notably the 100-day siege needed to take the castle of Odawara, the seat of the powerful Hojo family. The castle finally fell in 1590 CE and with it the last obstacle to Hideyoshi’s rule. Other enemies had proved more amenable to negotiation and were offered to keep some of their lands. Notable amongst these were the Shimazu of Satsuma and the Mori of Choshu.
As with other military leaders before and after, Hideyoshi might have dominated the field of battle but he still sought legitimacy from the monarchy. To gain royal favour from the emperor who had no real power of his own, he gave money for court ceremonies and rebuilt the palace at the capital Heiankyo (Kyoto). Hideyoshi added another, much more bizarre claim to his legitimacy to rule by stating his belief that he was descended from the Shinto sun god. There were even performances of Noh theatre telling this story which Hideyoshi himself performed in. The cherry on the cake came when Hideyoshi adopted the prestigious family name of Fujiwara, began to call himself Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and ultimately awarded himself the title of Taiko (‘retired regent’), which was higher than that of the shogun, the title his military predecessors had taken.
Castles and Fortifications
To secure his gains and maintain his grip on power, Hideyoshi built several important fortifications and ordered the destruction of any secondary castles that might be used by any rival. Hideyoshi built the first version of Himeji Castle (Hyogo Prefecture) in 1581 CE, which included a three-story keep. The famous castle as it is seen today belongs to the remodelling done by Ikeda Terumasa (1564-1613 CE) in the first decade of the 17th century CE. A second famous castle that Hideyoshi had built was the picturesquely named Momoyama (‘Peach Mountain’) in Heiankyo which gave its name to the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600 CE). The capital was also given a massive surrounding defensive wall, the Odoi (‘Great rampart’), in 1591 CE. Reaching a total length of some 22.5 km (14 miles), certain stretches of the earth and bamboo wall were 6 metres (20 ft) high and 9 metres (30 ft) thick while the whole was protected by a moat.
A third great castle credited to Hideyoshi’s building mania is Osaka castle in 1586 CE, which was built by the Kiso river and given a seven-storey castle keep and massive stone defensive walls. Finally, a fourth castle was built at Fushimi outside the capital in 1594 CE which was, alas, destroyed by an earthquake a mere two years later but then rebuilt. Fushimi was so lavishly decorated it became known as the ‘golden palace.’ The modern reconstructed version of this castle, built in 1964 CE, today houses a museum dedicated entirely to Hideyoshi.
Hideyoshi is noted for his policies and reforms when he governed Japan. To fund the state he extracted taxes from the peasantry and the commercial activities in Osaka and Sakai. Regional feudal lords were expected to build their own fortifications and assemble their warriors for national service when required. As an added precaution against any rival warlord becoming too powerful, Hideyoshi relocated the estates of some to be more distant from the capital and imposed on them certain restrictions such as forbidding marriages of alliance and collecting hostages to be kept at Heiankyo.
Between 1582 and 1598 CE Hideyoshi, continuing the policies of his predecessor, undertook an extensive land survey and compiled statistics of how much rice was produced and where in order to determine more accurately everybody’s tax liabilities. He also supported greater use of transportation to boost the economy.
In 1591 CE Hideyoshi developed a rigid class system with different levels for a warrior (shi), farmer (no), artisan (ko), and merchant (sho), the often-called shi-no-ko-sho system. Each class was given an importance based on its production value, and no movement between the levels was permitted, meaning that, for example, only a young man born into a samurai family could become a samurai. The other side of the coin was that samurai could not leave the profession either. Another consequence was that samurai could not be both warriors and part-time farmers as they had been in the past and so now had to choose one way of life over the other, making them wholly dependent for their pay on their lord if they did choose to serve as samurai. The system, although a little confused in actual practice and certainly not rigidly imposed everywhere, would remain in place right through the Edo period (1603-1868 CE).
In 1587 CE Hideyoshi passed an edict to expel all Christian missionaries from Japan but it was only half-heartedly enforced. Concerned that the Jesuits were encouraging the persecution of Buddhist and Shinto believers and that Portuguese traders were selling Japanese as slaves, another edict was passed in 1597 CE. This time a more serious intent was established with the mutilation and execution by crucifixion of 26 Christians in Nagasaki which included priests who had defied the first edict. Still, after this brutal beginning, the campaign to rid Japan of this foreign religion was largely abandoned as impractical and, in any case, Hideyoshi did not want to jeopardise the lucrative silk-for-silver trade with Portuguese-controlled Macao. The Japanese leader’s preoccupation with trade is evidenced in his determined campaign to wipe out the wako pirates that plagued East Asian seas. Putting them to his own use, Hideyoshi permitted pirate ships to legitimately trade, provided they carried his own personal red seal, hence their common name of shuin-sen or‘red seal ships.’
Besides the traditional Japanese religious beliefs, Hideyoshi was also a promoter and great patron of the arts, albeit largely to furnish his own impressive collection of castles and palaces. The Taiko even found time and money to help out the odd religious site, notably adding the Senjokaku assembly hall, the largest building at the Itsukushima shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture, and restoring the Buddhist Daigoji temple in Heiankyo.
In 1588 CE Hideyoshi promoted a lasting peace by forbidding anyone but members of the warrior class from carrying weapons, a strategy used by his predecessors. ‘Sword hunts’ ensured that nobody outside his own army possessed swords, bows, spears, or muskets. The confiscated weapons were melted down and cast into a giant Buddha for Heiankyo and several bells to adorn temples. Despite these measures and because of the rigid class system of samurai and the general militarization of Japan, Hideyoshi could still call upon an impressively large army when required, and it was equipped with muskets and cannons. The question was, what to do with it?
In 1592 and 1597 CE Hideyoshi twice attempted to conquer Korea (and so from there move into Chinese territory), neither of which resulted in success. Hideyoshi amassed a huge fighting force which consisted of 158,000 samurai and a navy with 9,200 mariners. In reserve, he had another 100,000 armed men. This army was sent to Korea, but Hideyoshi himself remained in Japan.
Initially, things went well for the Japanese as they met a totally unprepared Korean army, and they captured Pyongyang and got to within 20 days of Seoul, but then logistics became decisive and supplies dwindled. Eventually, the defenders rallied as the Korean navy, thanks to their gifted admiral Yi Sun-sin, won several important engagements. The invaders were reduced to defending a line of coastal forts (wajo), but even these were ultimately abandoned following Hideyoshi’s death.
The failures in Korea meant that mutually beneficial trade relations between the two countries became impossible. The Ming Dynasty of China (1368-1644 CE) had, crucially for the invasion’s outcome, sent military aid to the Koreans, no doubt seeing the longer-term threat to their own borders. Emperor Wanli (r. 1573-1620 CE) had massively overspent on the campaign, though, and it would contribute to the fall of the Ming regime in the middle of the 17th century CE, first when a rebel army took over Beijing and then when the Manchus established the Qing dynasty (1644-1911 CE). The wars had not done Korean agriculture any favours either; production levels would take two centuries to recover. There was one fortunate side effect of the whole debacle which resulted in Hideyoshi’s forcible relocation of Korean potters to the Kyushu region of Japan. The Koreans were world-class experts in ceramics, and this transfer of knowledge helped kick off the Japanese porcelain industry from the 17th century CE.
Besides helping the ceramics industry, Hideyoshi also helped develop the definitive form of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. This was done through his appointment of Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591 CE) as official tea master, and he would establish the tone and setting for the ceremony which was followed thereafter. Unfortunately for Rikyu, he fell out of favour with Hideyoshi for unknown reasons and was obliged to commit suicide. Hideyoshi himself had two teahouses for the ceremony which perhaps illustrate the complexity of the man – one was a traditional rustic house of plain materials and the other a gilded monument to bling and bad taste within Fushimi castle.
Hideyoshi died of natural causes on 18 September 1598 CE but with no viable heir to his position as his son was but 5 years old at the time. Before his son had been born, Hideyoshi had selected his nephew, Hidetsugu, as his official heir, but on the news of his son’s birth, the nephew was cast aside. As a symptom perhaps of the aged leader’s growing paranoia that rivals were conspiring against him, Hidetsugu was compelled to commit ritual suicide and his wife, three young children, and his retainers were all executed.
Hideyoshi arranged for five senior ministers (tairo) to share the role of regent for his young son, but in the end, these men only fought amongst themselves for supremacy. Instead, the new supremo of Japan would be Tokugawa Ieyasu (r. 1603-1605 CE) who won the Battle of Skeigahara against those generals who supported Hideyoshi’s son. Ieyasu thus established the Tokugawa Shogunate which finally saw the complete unification of Japan and which then enjoyed some 250 years of peace. As the old Japanese saying goes, “Nobunaga mixed the cake, Hideyoshi baked it, and Ieyasu ate it” (Beasley, 117).
- Beasley, W.G. The Japanese Experience. (University of California Press, 1999).
- Deal, W.E. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. (Oxford University Press, 2007).
- Ebrey, P.B. Pre-Modern East Asia. (Cengage Learning, 2008).
- Henshall, K. Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945. (Scarecrow Press, 2013).
- Huffman, J.L. Japan in World History. (Oxford University Press, 2010).
- Mason, R.H.P. A History of Japan. (Tuttle Publishing, 1997).
- Turnbull, S. Japanese Castles 1540–1640. (Osprey Publishing, 2003).
- Turnbull, S. Japanese Castles AD 250-1540. (Osprey Publishing, 2008).
- Yamamura, K. (ed). The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3. (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Originally published by the Ancient History Encyclopedia, 06.05.2019, under a Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. | <urn:uuid:4dd174c7-922c-437c-bc23-e6d8232b46b9> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://brewminate.com/toyotomi-hideyoshi-and-medieval-japanese-unification/?shared=email&msg=fail | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304471.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20220124023407-20220124053407-00369.warc.gz | en | 0.975315 | 3,045 | 4.125 | 4 |
GATE WITHOUT GATE, THE MILITARY STRATEGY OF IEYASU TOKUGAWA
By the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Ashikaga shogunate collapsed, the Japanese resembled a giant battlefield. Warlords fight over power, but out of their midst three great figures appear, as meteors pass through the night sky. The three men were equally aspiring to master and unite Japan, but their attributes striking one another: Nobunaga, rash, firm, brutal; Hideyoshi, simple, smooth, clever, complex; Ieyasu, calm, patient-minded. Their different philosophies had always been immortalized by the Japanese in a poem.
What if a bird does not want to sing?
Nobunaga replied, “Kill it!”
Hideyoshi replied, “Make the bird want to sing.”
Ieyasu replied, “Wait.”
This story is the story of a man who “waits” birds chirping.
Ieyasu is now thirty years old and in its heyday. His province was filled with the hope of prosperity and the desire to expand the region, so great that the followers, both old and young, the peasants, the townspeople were very excited. Mikawa (Ieyasu Tokugawa Province) may not be a match for Kai (Takeda Shingen Province) in terms of wealth but in terms of determination, the province is not in the slightest.
Shingen “The Legs Long” yesterday still fought against the Uesugi clan of Echigo provincial ruler on the northern border of Kai, today he threatens Mikawa. When Kai and Echigo’s borders are covered with snow, his 30,000-strong force is urged to immediately embody his dream of entering the capital. The easiest way is to grind Mikawa.
As threats drew closer. The Tokugawa ally, the head of the Oda family sent a letter to Ieyasu:
“It would be better if you did not have a frontal confrontation with Kai’s army. I hope you are still strong if the situation is critical and you are forced to withdraw from Hamamatsu to Okazaki. Even if we have to wait another day, I’m sure the day will not be long.”
Ieyasu replied, “before leaving Hamamatsu fort, we better break our bow and get out of the samurai group!” Receiving Oda Nobunaga’s courier response and Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s advisory muttering about Ieyasu’s stubbornness. One of the three unknowable friends. In the view of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, Ieyasu province is a line of defense territory. He can be retaken in the future, or adventure trying to reach a new territory. But for Ieyasu, Mikawa is home. Home matters are a matter of the heart, and the heart, especially Ieyasu’s heart, can not be changed as easily as the cloth re-coloring. Ieyasu challenged! Despite the disagreed alliance, Ieyasu does not expect help, no compassion even by a companion!
Ieyasu continued his preparations and set out for the battlefield, without back-line support. “Sometimes I feel too hard on myself, to get rid of guilt for what I do. And this is the saddest of this story.” Ieyasu thought.
One by one, as a comb is broken, reports of defeat come. The Shingen had attacked Totomi, while at the same time the fortresses in Tadaki and Lida had no choice but to surrender, at the forefront of the battle, there was not a piece of land that the Kai troops did not trample on. Things got worse, when Ieyasu’s Heihachiro Honda troop was caught by enemies around the Senryu River, the Tokugawa troops suffered a total defeat and forcibly retreated to Hamamatsu. Reports that make everyone pale in the castle, but not Tokugawa. In the wake of misfortune and suffering at a young age, he becomes a man who does not exaggerate the trivial defeat, (even) assumes it is nothing.
Ieyasu led troops out of Hamamatsu fortress, advanced up to Kanmashi village on the banks of the Tenryu River, and found Kai’s troop camp. Each position corresponds to Shingen’s headquarters, as the fingers surround the nap. Ieyasu stood on the hill with his arms folded and let out a sigh of admiration. Even from the distance, the banners at Shingen’s main camp were clearly visible, the famous words of Sun Tzu’s utterance, known to friends and foes.
“Fast as the wind, the silence of a forest, as passionate as fire, silent as a mountain”
Silent as a mountain, neither Shingen nor Ieyasu took action for several days. With the Tenryu River between the camps, the winter of the twelfth month is getting colder.
Ieyasu is not a mild opponent, though he intends to show it so. But in the ensuing battle, all the forces of the Takeda clan will encounter all the Tokugawa clan forces, they pound each other in a decisive battle throughout the war. The shadow of the battle actually spurred the morale of Kai people, as they did. Shingen ordered his son, Katsuyori to move their troops against Futamata Castle (across the river Tenryu) with a firm order not to waste time. Ieyasu himself oversaw the rearguard, but Takeda’s ever-changing army of formations again formed a new arrangement and began to push from all sides. It seems that once Ieyasu took a wrong step, he was cut off from his Hamamatsu headquarters.
One of the Takeda warriors raised an insult, the Tokugawa army was defeated and raging. Futurama Citadel crashed, Tokugawa troops led by Honda Heihachiro retreat. Thereafter Shingen’s main army crossed the Litani plain and began to enter the eastern part of Mikawa.
“To Litani!” Thus the order of commands that led to differences of opinion in between.
Shingen generals. Some feel anxious that Oda forces have arrived at Hamamatsu, and no one knows their number. Shingen sat among the Generals. His eyes closed, he nodded when he heard the opinions of his men, then said cautiously, “all your words make sense. But I’m sure the reinforcements of the Oda clan will not be greater than four thousand. Even if most of Oda’s troops headed for Hamamatsu, the Asai and Asakura people I had contacted earlier would attack Nobunaga from behind. In addition, the Shogun in Kyoto sent a message to the monk-warrior, urging them to immediately take up arms. The Oda people are not a threat to us.”
He paused, then proceeded calmly, “From the beginning, my desire was to enter Kyoto. But if I pass Ieyasu away now, when we turn to Gifu, Ieyasu will help the people of Oda by blocking us behind us. Would not it be best if Ieyasu was destroyed in Hamamatsu fortress before the Oda people could send enough reinforcements?”
At night, reports about the turn of Kai’s army reach the Hamamatsu fortress. Just as Shingen predicted, there were only three thousand people under Takigawa Kazumasu and Sakuma Nobumori reinforcements from Nobunaga. “The number is meaningless,” disappointed comments by the Tokugawa Generals, Ieyasu shows no joy or dissatisfaction, as report after report arrives, a war meeting begins. Not a few General Ieyasu advocated temporarily retreating to Okazaki, and they had the support of Oda’s commanders.
Only Ieyasu is unmoved, stubbornly hard to fight. “Do we retreat without releasing an arrow while the enemy insulted my province?” Ieyasu understood enough that he could not rely on allies altogether, he could only risk his fate on his own strength, not others.
In the Hamamatsu area, there is a land higher than the surrounding area, more than two miles wide, three miles long-Mitagahara. At dawn Ieyasu’s troops leave Hamamatsu and take the position to the north, a steep cliff. There they are waiting for Takeda’s troops.
The Tokugawa Forces form a wing formation of cranes, at first glance they look like big troops, but in reality, the second and third lines have no power. Ieyasu was escorted by a handful of soldiers who barely meant anything. Their regiment looks chaotic, plus clearly visible reinforcements Oda did not want to fight. Opponents know it! Shingen’s voice thundered, unmoved by Tokugawa’s bluff forming a fish-like formation, and moving forward toward the Tokugawa army, accompanied by a war drum.
Ieyasu was amazed to see the Shingen troop movement, and how the troops reacted to every word given, pinched in his condition, “if I had reached the age of as old as Shingen, I wished to be able to move a large army as skilled as he once was. After seeing his talent as a troop leader, I was reluctant to see him killed, even though someone offered to poison him.”
Dust flown by enemies and their people reach the sky. Only the sun’s reflections at the ends of the spears are visible. Mikawa and Kai’s armies have advanced, facing each other. Fighting broke out and chaos. Within minutes alone Sakai Tadatsugu’s defense line was destroyed by Kai’s forces. Proudly Kai’s troops released the triumphant shouts. Ieyasu stood on a hill, watching his troops. We lose, he realizes a crushing defeat.
“Sakuma Nobumori from the Oda clan is rolled out. Takigawa Kazumazu was forced to retreat, and Hirate Kazumasa was wounded. Stay Sakai Tadatsugu who still fought valiantly. Takeda Katsuyori combines his forces with the Yamagata corps and surrounds our left wing. Ishikawa Kazumasa was injured and Nakane Masateru and Aoki Hirotsugu were killed. Matsudaira Yasuzumi spurred his horse into the midst of the enemy and met his death there. Honda Tadamasa and Naruse Masayoshi forces targeted Shingen followers and successfully penetrated deep into enemy lines. But then they were surrounded by several thousand soldiers, and none of them returned alive.”
Suddenly Tadahiro grabbed Ieyasu’s arm, and with the help of the other generals, raised him on the horse. “Get out of here,” after Ieyasu sat in the saddle and the horse ran away, Tadahiro and the other followers on their horses, then followed their lord. The snow began to fall, making it difficult for the troops to retreat. Kai troops aimed at escaping enemy soldiers, firing a shot amid falling snow. Like a tidal wave, the Tokugawa forces retreated to the North. But because they lost their way, their victims fell back. Eventually, everyone began to push in one direction, to the South.
Ieyasu, who had just escaped the danger of looking back, and suddenly stopped the horse. “Fling the banner. Raise the banners and gather people,” he ordered. The night began to close, and the snow was heavier. The Ieyasu followers crowded around him and rang the trumpet. Waving, slowly the defeated soldiers began to gather.
But the corps under Baba Nobufusa and Obata Kazusa from Kai knew the main enemy troops were there, then pushed with arrows on one side and shotgun on the other. They were about to cut off Ieyasu’s retreat.
“This place is dangerous, my lord. You should retreat immediately, “Mizuno Sakon urges Ieyasu, then turns to the people, he orders,” protect the noble, I will attack the enemy. Anyone who wants to sacrifice life for the noble, follow me.”
Sakon immediately hit the enemy, without turning around. About thirty soldiers followed, spurring their horses to challenge death. Almost instantly the lament, the shouts, the clash of swords and spears mixed with the roar of the wind that blew snow, formed a gigantic vortex.
“Sakon can not die!” Ieyasu shouted. His attitude was unusual. The followers tried to prevent him and grabbed his horse’s bridle, but he shook off them and as they rose, Ieyasu had plunged into the center of the vortex. His appearance resembles a demon.
Bearing the burden of defeat, Ieyasu’s troops marched and returned to the snow-covered city of the fort. One rider entered, one after another, then the next and Ieyasu’s own eighth man. When their Lord has seen the troops inside the castle jumped up and down for joy.
Ieyasu blood stuck to his cheek, and his hair was disheveled. He ordered the ladies to prepare the food, after the food presented he immediately grabbed the chopsticks but did not immediately eat instead said, “Open all doors to the porch.” After the room opened, vaguely visible figures of soldiers who were unwilling to be at the porch, so Ieyasu finished He ordered Amano Yasukage and Uemura Masakatsu to get ready for the enemy’s attack. The other commanders started the main gate until the main door into the living room, Ieyasu’s mind branched off. He lacks experience with Shingen, as well as strength. Usually, he overcame his limitations by making a conspiracy. And Shingen is a mature general, will not work.
On the verge of Ieyasu’s death remembering that since I was five years old, Ieyasu lived with the Oda clan, then with the Imagawa people, moved in exile in the enemy provinces. As a hostage, he had never known freedom at that time. The eyes, ears, and soul of the hostage are closed, and if he does not work alone, there is nothing to reprove or encourage him. Nevertheless, or precisely because of being confined since childhood, Ieyasu became very ambitious. He does not understand the feelings of affection that people often talk about. She tries to find her feelings of empathy, and only finds that feeling not just a bit, but really thin. When Oda Nobunaga defeated Yoshimoto Imagawa, he felt the moment had come. Break away from Imagawa and fellowship with Oda, today Takeda Shingen is coming, he can not afford to flee again, not wanting him to repeat the bitter journey of life and suffering as before. But how? “If I do not get what I want, then I’d better not have anything.”
Ieyasu came out, the commanders though with a tense voice trying to calm Ieyasu and encourage him. He understood and nodded vigorously. But when they were about to hurry back to their posts, he called them, “Let every door from the main gate to the sitting room open.”
What kind of reckless strategy is this? The command is contrary to the most basic principles of defense, the iron doors at all gates have been closed tightly. Enemy troops have approached the fortress city, urging forward to destroy them. Ieyasu added with a laugh, “and I do not just want the gate of the castle to be opened. I want five or six fires to be lit in front of the gate. In addition, the fire also must be blazed inside the wall. But make sure we stay fully alert. Do not sound and watch the enemy’s advance.”
They run the order as Ieyasu wishes. After observing the scene, Ieyasu went back inside.
Shortly thereafter, Kai’s troops under the leadership of Baba Nobufusa and Yamagata Masakage arrived near the sewer, ready to launch the night raid. Yamagata looked astonished. Baba was suspicious and stared at the enemy gate. There, in the distance, he saw the flame of the fire, both inside and outside. And all the gates are wide open. They face a gate without a gate. This situation raises a nagging question.
Yamagata said. “Let’s just kill them. The enemy is so confused, so they do not have time to close the gate.”
“No, wait,” Baba interrupted. “Ieyasu is a man full of tactics, of course, he is waiting for us to attack in haste. All his attention was only on this fort, and he was sure of his victory. He was young, lacking experience, but he was Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is better that we do not act recklessly, so as not to bring disgrace to the Takeda clan and instead become a laughingstock in the future.”
They had pushed so far, but eventually, the two generals withdrew their troops.
Inside the castle Ieyasu’s dream was broken by one of his assistants. He stood up immediately. “I’m not dead!” He exclaimed and jumped happily. Instantly he sends troops to chase the enemy. But, in keeping with their reputation, Yamagata and Baba remain self-controlled amidst the chaos. They staged resistance, lit a fire around Naguri, and ran a number of brilliant maneuvers.
The Tokugawa suffered great losses, but it is not wrong to say that they have shown courage. Not only that, they managed to thwart Shingen’s plans to advance to the capital, and force him to retreat to Kai. Many are victims. Compared to the four hundred casualties on Takeda’s side, the Tokugawa forces lost far more troops. The victims on their side numbered one thousand and eighty souls.
The wise man who cultivates wisdom can drown in it. Having many traces (would) be more vulnerable than those with many weaknesses, scattered traces will be mapped, re-traced. Yet the great trailer might have forgotten what was left behind. Urge so much, but in the end (forced) to withdraw everything. Gate without gate.
Translated from Istana Kosong | <urn:uuid:6426a773-eb3a-469c-b997-dad6561f12f8> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://tengkuputeh.com/2017/06/10/gate-without-gate-the-military-strategy-of-ieyasu-tokugawa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247481428.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20190217010854-20190217032854-00352.warc.gz | en | 0.971275 | 3,953 | 3.171875 | 3 |
* DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIND BODY SPIRIT *
Sekiguchiryu originated & was developed over 458 years ago.
Around the 1560 era Thus, it was "born in a baptism of fire" during the peak of the bloodiest Wars
known as The Age of Warring States period "Sengoku Jidai".
SEKIGUCHI FAMILY NAME
RYU MEANING FLOW OF THE TRADITIONAL SYSTEM
This system was developed by a man named Sekiguchi
He was more widely known as Sekiguchi, same person as above picture
Sekiguchi Family was part of the famous Seiwa Genji
descendants from the Minamoto's bloodline 12th Century
Sekiguchi that served Imagawa Clan during the Sengoku Jidai 1467-1603
Age of Warring states. When the once powerful Imagawa family fell to the conquests of Oda Nobunaga at the Battle of Okehazama in June 1560.
Sekiguchi devoted his life to martial arts.
He left the castle of his lord for the Atago Mountains located just outside of Kyoto region, where he underwent intense physical and spiritual training in Shugendo religion, A form of Esoteric Buddhist practice's and nature worship. The result of that training became known as Sekiguchiryu = Rumours of this wanderer and his unique art rang out throughout the country.
Therefore Sekiguchiryu remains close in connection to the Tokugawa regime.
When Tokugawa Yorinobu, head of the Kishu Han
(modern day Wakayama Prefecture) heard about Sekiguchi and after meeting him,
he was asked to become a permanent guest at Wakayama castle and to teach his Sekiguchiryu
to the Samurai-retainers there. Even the 8th Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684–1751)
was a practitioner of Sekiguchiryu he had attained (Menkyo -Kaiden) in the system.
Sekiguchiryu is most known for its Ju-Jutsu; Jujutsu focus is on perfection of effortless technique, over brute strength thus allowing for a smaller and weaker person to control a physically stronger person.
According to scrolls the word Jujutsu and fighting skills -
was the invention of Sekiguchi himself, before this unarmed techniques were referred to as Yawara or Kumi-uchi or Taijutsu also the term and concept "Ukemi" evasion / reversal of techniques when applied all involved from Sekiguchi observations of a cat falling down from a roof
the cat always seems to land safely on its feet, because of its ability to tumble in mid air.
Today the word Ju-Jutsu is widely used as a name for "unarmed fighting methods"
for many systems of the Martial Arts.
At its peak Sekiguchiryu contained all aspects of Samurai Warfare, however now a lot of Sekiguchiryu fighting methods are contained only within handed-down historical scrolls.
SEKIGUCHIRYU - RANK STRUCTURE
Shoden Menjo Certification / Entry Foundation Level
Chuden Menjo Certification / Intermediate Level
Okuden Menjo Certification / Inner Secrets Level
Menkyo Kaiden Certification / Full Transmission
Complete flow of knowledge transmitted directly to student from Shihan
Menkyo is a Japanese term meaning " License " it refers to the permission level of education & dates as far back as the 8th Century.
The "Hanko" signature seals is the proof and recognition from the Shihan = Head of Family for a Monjin member to represent that level of competency,
for it is the formal recognition & approval for a "Mon-jin" member to pass on the knowledge to another person with the consent and support of the Shihan.
Traditional Japanese culture for other arts such as (Sumi-e) painting, (Chado) tea ceremony, (Ikebana) flower arranging and (Shodo) calligraphy all share this Menkyo system although this Menkyo Kaiden system is commonly associated with the study of Martial Arts in Japan, for various Classical Japanese Koryu Bujutsu Traditions = This ancient system is a way to maintain the order of skill sets within the tradition, 'Quality control" of Each individual
Menjo Certification / licence is a portion of knowledge contained within the overall curriculum.
A Special document Presented to me directly from 17th Shihan Yamada
This my Authority & License to teach Sekiguchiryu Battoujutsu -
which is a unique system of Koryu Bujutsu this supporting document has been Signed & formally sealed with custom Historical Hanko signature seals. | <urn:uuid:185a1448-243c-4426-bd52-3f77cb48d0f2> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://www.fukurou-dojo-sgr.com/what-is-sekiguchi-ryu | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247495001.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20190220125916-20190220151916-00135.warc.gz | en | 0.946603 | 1,008 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Located in the middle of Japan, Aichi is known for its rather healthy economy. Its capital city – Nagoya is one of the three major cities in Japan. Aichi is also home to Toyota Motor Corporation. Hence, it has had the highest export value of manufactured products for more than 40 years! The importance of Aichi is not just recent, many military rulers of Japan in the Muromachi and Edo periods came from Aichi, including Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu etc. Nagoya castle, constructed in that time, was one of the most important castles too. All of Japans castles are so much more beautiful and opulent than the ones we have here in England. Nagoya Castle was destroyed in 1945 during the bombing of Nagoya in World War II and the reconstruction and repair of the castle has been undergoing since 1957.
Looking at the cultural importance, Aichi is the origin of a pottery style called Tokonameyaki. Tokoname is one of the ancient kilns of Japan and presently Tokonameyaki is known for Japanese teapots – Kyusu being the most well known.
Aichi also has a long history of tea cultivation. The main story is that in 1271 a Buddhist monk Seiichi Kokushi brought tea seeds from Japan to China and planted them around Jissoji temple. Then in 1872 the chief priest of Kojuin temple introduced tea making technology from Uji, and that gave the start to matcha production in the region. In 2020, Aichi produced 744t of tea and currently ranks No. 11 in tea production in Japan. The largest tea producing area in the prefecture is Shinshiro city, but Nishio city and Toyota city are quite well known too.
The main tea made in Aichi is Matcha, and about 90% of it is used for food production (I never knew this and it’s so interesting to learn these little facts about each prefecture, it give you a little bit more of an insight into the decisions made within the tea industry doesn’t it). Most of the Matcha comes from Nishio city and in 2009 Nishio Matcha was registered as a trademark – the first trademark in Japan to apply specifically for Matcha. In addition to Matcha, Aichi also makes some Sencha and Kabusecha.
The first tea producer we spoke to today was Masamitsu Akahori is a 5th generation tea farmer and president of Akabori Seicha, a tea farm in Nishio region of Aichi prefecture. The Akahori family started tea farming in Meiji period about 150 years ago. Now they manage a tea farm, tea factory and cafe. All of their tea is cultivated organically, and they use driven farming machines; Their Matcha however is handpicked.
The main product of Akahori Seicha is Matcha, but they produce other popular Japanese teas as well. This tea producer provided a Matcha for this session and this is the process it goes through in their factory. Light steamed, blown up and down in big nets, conveyer with 5 layers inside furnace, then the leaves go through a machine that separates the leaves from the stems (becoming Tencha), it is then ground and becomes Matcha. Their organic Tsuyuhikari Matcha is what was prepared during during this session, they prepared this tea in the following way: 1g of Matcha, water 10ml at 20c and then 50ml at 100C, whisk until prepared to your liking.
Tea lovers in today’s session described the aroma and taste of this matcha in the following ways: Strong pistachio aroma like a chocolate pistachio cake or rocky road bars. No bitterness at all, creamy like milk, spinach, nutty, with clean astringency. Vanilla undertones, naturally very sweet and soft. Light, smooth, sweet lingering gentle finish. It is surprisingly light, no plant taste at all until perhaps the last drop. Sounds like a fantastic matcha to me. This matcha is shaded for 45 days making it a triple shaded Matcha which is something I have personally never heard of before, triple shading achieve a better aroma and a bright color, but it can not be done with all bushes and all cultivars. It takes them a lot of hard work and effort but it is clear from what the people in today’s session has to say that it definitely paid off.
The second producer we spoke with today was Yoshimasa Yamauchi is the 5th generation tea farmer and president of Hekien Ocha no Junpei, a small family tea farm in Toyota region of Aichi prefecture. The Yamauchi family started tea production in 1870, Yamauchi-san worked at an established specialty tea shop for some time before returning to take over the family business. The main teas made by the Yamauchi family include Matcha, Kabusecha and Hojicha. They have a tea farm size is about 4ha and they use conventional and organic methods. His great grandfather Junpei Yamauchi invented the Mikawa style Tencha furnace in 1920. Before then everything was done by hand, even in other regions as well. A lot of their tea is still hand picked including the Kabusecha provided by them for today’s session.
When hand picking they use Shigoki picking method which is unique to Aichi which involves bending the stem and trying to make sure that only the leaves come off, but Yamauchi-san did say that sometimes the younger newer stems can break off because they are not as hard as the lower parts where the darker leaves are. Their tea leaves are sorted by hand in the traditional way rather than by machine. The leaves are then also inspected and sorted by hand simply using tweezers to make sure any contaminated or bent leaves that are not the correct shape are removed. Double layer shading for 32 days takes place, which is long for Kabusecha as it’s normally 14 days. This makes the tea very similar to gyokuro. Yamauchi-san says that a lot of people who try his tea end up falling in love with it and then they want to become a part of producing it so they will often come and volunteer at his farm to help them produce the teas.
The Yabukita (the king cultivar of Japanese tea) Kabusecha provided for today’s session was processed in the following way in their factory: hand picked, steamed, rolled by a machine, sorted by hand, final sorting by two people using tweezers to remove anything that may have been missed previously. 5g 50ml of water at 40C, steeped for 2 minutes in a flat Kyusu, the reason for using a kysus like this is that because the leaves are flat and needle like, it gives them more chance to open up.
Tea lovers in today’s chat had the following things to say about this teas aroma and taste: aroma notes of nori, edamame, thick umami, round, zucchini and melon. rich in umami, fresh broad beans, dry leaf smells like seaweed cookies. Taste notes: sweet with a touch of astringency, velvety, very viscous texture, smooth, velvety, umami bomb, almost salty, very sweet, zucchini braised in butter, later on honeydew melon, salted butter, vegetable stock, garlic fried in butter (not browned). very long after taste and sweet, chestnut sweetness. The empty cup aroma is like sweet milky rock melon.
Such different notes compared to yesterday Kabusecha, lots of people in the chat said they didn’t expect such a punch of flavor from this tea and were quite taken back by how complex it was. That’s because this tea was produced to taste like Gyokuro but look like Kabusecha. I’m seriously going to have the longest tea wish list by the time this marathon is over because almost everything that has been features bar one or two that were only made for the marathon is now on my wish list. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on them and feature them further on my blog in the future.
Another fantastic session today filled with opportunities to learn new things about Japan, Japanese tea and just how much work goes into producing the teas that we all love so much. To me it’s so interesting learning all the in’s and out of the tea world and just how different production methods change dependent on location, knowing that just slight differences in picking methods and fertilizers and enlivenment really can effect the tea so much. Tomorrow will be day 12 of the marathon and for that session we will be travelling to and learning more about Saitama prefecture.
Until tomorrow, Happy Steeping – Kimberley | <urn:uuid:ee289b29-fecc-4798-ae48-534bd1a17ca3> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://kimberleyskyusu.com/2021/08/05/the-global-japanese-tea-association-japanese-tea-marathon-day-12-aichi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320301341.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20220119125003-20220119155003-00346.warc.gz | en | 0.965537 | 1,859 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The red circle iabove ndicate the time we discuss in this section
The Muromachi period began after Ashikaga Takauji (足利尊氏) and several other prominent leaders ended the Nanboku-cho period. (discussed in 17|Nanboku-cho Period History (1333-1393).
The grandson of Ashikaga Takauji, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (足利義満：often called Shogun Yoshimitsu), built a new beautiful palace at Muromachi (室町) area in Kyoto. The palace became the center of the government called the Muromachi Bakufu (室町幕府: Muromachi Government). This is the beginning of the Muromachi period. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu built the famous “Kinkaku-ji Temple* (Golden Pavilion)” in Kyoto as his second house.
Kinkaku-ji Temple* (金閣寺: Golden Pavillion) ————- Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (足利義満) built Kinkaku-Ji Temple in 1397. Later, it became Rinzai-shu (臨済宗) school Buddhist temple, but it was initially built as the second house for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as well as a state guesthouse. Today, it is designated as a world heritage site. This temple was burnt down by an arsonist in 1950 but was rebuilt in 1955. The novelist Mishima Yukio wrote the novel “Kinkaku-ji” related to the Golden Pavillion and the arsonist. The famous quote in the book is, “The Ho-oh (A mythic golden bird, a Chinese version phoenix) on the roof of the Kinkaku-ji Temple is stationary, but it flies through the time eternally.”
In the Muromachi period, the emperor’s power became declined. The Shogun (将軍) held all the political power. Little by little, several groups of Samurai who were officially appointed as a Shugo Daimyo (守護大名: high-ranking officials) started to gain political and economic power by holding the critical positions in the Muromachi Bakufu. They also owned a large land. A couple of powerful Shugo Daimyo were the Hosokawa (細川) family and the Yamana (山名) family.
The Ashikaga family made a great effort to make the Muromachi Bakufu sound and powerful through politics. The beginning of the Muromachi period was peaceful and prosperous. Yet by the time Ashikaga Yoshimasa (足利義政) became the 8th Shogun, the Muromachi Bakufu was corrupted very severely. Shogun Yoshimasa did not pay much attention to his job, governing the country as a shogun. Instead, he was chasing women (his mother had to scold him for that), spent a large amount of money on building the Silver Pavilion called “Ginkaku-ji Temple (銀閣寺),“ and retreated himself there. Shogun Yoshimasa did not have an heir. Therefore, his brother, Yoshimi (義視), was named to the next Shogun.
However, later, Yoshimasa’s wife Hino Tomiko (日野富子)* had a son, Yoshihisa (義尚). Now, brother Yoshimi (義視) allied with a family of a high-ranking official, the Hosokawa’s (細川) while the son, Yoshihisa, tied with another powerful family, the Yamana’s (山名), and several other smaller groups of Samurai allied with either side and the war broke out. This war is called Onin-no-Ran (応仁の乱) in 1467. It spread out all over the country and continued for 11years.
Hino Tomiko (日野富子)*——————The wife of Shogun Yoshimasa. She took advantage of her political privileges to make a large amount of money by investing in the rice commodity market to control rice prices and sold with a high profit. Then she loans the money to the high ranking officials at a high-interest. The corruption reached an uncontrollable level.
As a result of Onin-no-Ran, beautiful Kyoto was burnt down to ashes. The authority of the Muromachi Bakufu only reached the vicinity of the small surrounding area of Kyoto. Onin-no-Ran caused the next period called the Sengoku period (戦国時代), that is the Warring States period. During the Sengoku period, Japan was divided into 30 or so small independent countries and fought each other until Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Iyeyasu united Japan as one country.
The photo was taken in May 2019, a family trip to Kyoto | <urn:uuid:54939cde-832a-4e00-a8ef-98bc3c1f6952> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://studyingjapaneseswords.com/2018/04/07/21muromachi-period/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320305494.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20220128104113-20220128134113-00018.warc.gz | en | 0.96534 | 1,102 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Duplicity must be decried when used to justify the attainment and exercise of power. However, sometimes, even principled leaders must put on an act to realize noble ends—infuse optimism to surmount hopelessness, win followers’ devotion to audacious new ideas, for example.
In the Zen parable that follows, a warrior motivates his followers in the face of desperate odds. He persuades his outnumbered army by flipping an unfair coin and proclaiming that they are fated to win the battle.
A great Japanese warrior named Nobunaga decided to attack the enemy although he had only one-tenth the number of men the opposition commanded. He knew that he would win, but his soldiers were in doubt.
On the way he stopped at a Shinto shrine and told his men: “After I visit the shrine I will toss a coin. If heads comes, we will win; if tails, we will lose. Destiny holds us in her hand.”
Nobunaga entered the shrine and offered a silent prayer. He came forth and tossed a coin. Heads appeared. His soldiers were so eager to fight that they won their battle easily.
“No one can change the hand of destiny,” his attendant told him after the battle.
“Indeed not,” said Nobunaga, showing a coin which had been doubled, with heads facing either way.
Idea for Impact: Moral Leadership Relates to the Integrity of Leaders and Their Intentions
A wise leader must be open to bringing deception into play to smooth the way to sound decisions and noble results.
As long as leaders use these methods to respectable purposes, and until people wise up to their methods, certain ends can justify certain means.
Postscript: The quoted Zen parable is sourced from the celebrated compilation Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings, Shambhala Edition (1961) by Paul Reps. This book traces its roots to the thirteenth-century Japanese anthology of Buddhist parables Shasekishū (Sand and Pebbles) compiled by the Kamakura-era monk Mujū. | <urn:uuid:644fcbc1-b0aa-4763-91f1-d02d5016e15a> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.rightattitudes.com/2018/04/12/shrewd-leadership-deception/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304810.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20220125100035-20220125130035-00339.warc.gz | en | 0.970539 | 442 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Azuchi Castle was a castle, like no other in Japanese history. It was built by one of Japan’s most powerful warlords, and first conqueror of Japan, Oda Nobunaga. This castle was the perfect representation of Nobunaga himself, grandiose, ambitious, larger-than-life, and sadly doomed.
Azuchi castle was built on the shores of Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, just outside of Kyoto in 1579. Nobunaga chose to build it outside of Kyoto, the then capital so that he could keep an eye on the goings on of the royalty. Also, were Kyoto to be attacked the whole city might go up in flames, so he wanted to keep his own palace safe.
Azuchi was more than a regular castle. Most castles in Japan were purely military buildings, efficient and beautiful in their own right. But Nobunaga wanted something more. Most probably influenced by the retinue of European priests he kept with him, he chose to create a castle that would serve a military function, as well as being a palace worthy of the most powerful man in the country.
Three things set Azuchi Castle apart from other castles at the time. First was the sheer scale of the construction. The walls of the castle alone were anywhere from 18 feet (5.4 meters) to 21 feet (6.4 meters) thick! Secondly, the castle used a lot more stone than was normal for construction at the time. Huge blocks of granite were carefully arranged and built without using any mortar! And finally, while most castles were dark and gray, the main keep of Azuchi castle was brightly colored with gold and red, and pictures of tigers and dragons. Also the top floor was octagonal.
Like Nobunaga himself, Azuchi would fall before its time. After Nobunaga’s death in 1582, the castle was attacked by one of Nobunaga’s chief rivals. In the ensuing sacking, the castle burned to the ground. All that remains today are the original base stones.
While we can’t see the original palace in its splendor, there are a few places we can see reconstructions at. Ise Azuchi Momoyama Bunka Mura in Ise, Mie prefecture has a full reproduction of the castle, with different shows and fun tours.
Furthermore, you can find a to-scale reproduction of the top level of the keep in Omi, Shiga prefecture. Seeing this will give you an insight to the actual size of the castle.
You can also visit the foundations of the castle. | <urn:uuid:219c8a1e-d1ea-4d1b-b3ee-6865929ff7e9> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://jpninfo.com/8053 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912201922.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20190319073140-20190319095140-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.973917 | 542 | 3.609375 | 4 |
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
No dataset card yet
- Downloads last month
- 4