1.
Erhai Lake
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Er Lake or Erhai Lake, Chinese Erhai, is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Its name means Ear-shaped Sea, due to its shape as seen by locals, er Lake was also known as Yeyuze or Kunming Lake in ancient times. Erhai is situated at 1,972 metres above sea level, in size, the North-South length of the lake is 40 kilometres and the East-West width is roughly 7–8 kilometres. Its area is 250 square kilometres, making it the second largest highland lake of China and its circumference reaches 116 kilometres, its average depth is of 11 metres and the total storage capacity of 2.5 billion cubic metres. The lake serves as a backdrop to all of Dali City, the lakes head is at Shangguan Town, its northern extremity, and its southernmost point is at Xiaguan Town. The lake receives water from the Miju and Mici Rivers in the north, the Bolou River in the east, yangbi River, to the south, is the lakes outlet and eventually flows into the Lancang River. The lakeshore can be explored by hiking, highlights include Erhai Lake Park and the Butterfly Springs on the Western bank. Islands on the lake – including Guanyin Ge, Jinsuo Island, Nanzhao Folklore Island, the lake is an important food source for the local people, who are famous for their fishing method, their trained cormorants catch fish and return them to fishmongers. The birds are prevented from swallowing their fish by rings fixed around their neck, there is, or was, a rich biodiversity in Erhai Lake. It is one of three major Yunnan lakes with a number of endemics, the two other being Fuxian and Dian. Among these, only C. barbatus and C. longipectoralis have been recorded since the year 2000, a few of the non-endemic natives have also been extirpated from the lake. In contrast, the lake is now home to more than 10 introduced fish species, a few native hydrophytes have also disappeared from the lake. The lake used to be a royal deer ranch for the Nanzhao Kingdom
2.
Dali City
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Dali City, formerly known as Tali, is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. Dali City is administered through through 12 township-level districts, two of which are commonly referred to as Dali. Xiaguan is the city centre and usually conflated with Dali City by virtue of being its seat. This town is the destination of most long-distance transportation heading to Dali and is referred to as Dali New Town to avoid confusion. Dali Town is another division of Dali City, located 10km to the north of Xiaguan and this town, commonly referred to as Dali Old Town to distinguish it from the city seat in Xiaguan, is usually the Dali referred to in tourist publications. The old town is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Yunnan, known for its scenery, historical and cultural heritage. The Dali area was known as Jumie. The old town was the capital of both the Bai kingdom Nanzhao and the Kingdom of Dali. That city was razed and its records burnt during its conquest by Chinas Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, the present old town was organized in the late 14th century under the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The area became significantly Muslim under the Yuan and Ming and was the center of the Panthay Rebellion against the Qing from 1856–1863 and it was severely damaged during a massive earthquake in 1925. Rail and then air transport have permitted the area to become accessible to tourists in the 20th century and it is now one of Chinas official tourist cities and, along with nearby Lijiang, one of the most popular towns. In order to preserve the appeal of the old town, industrial development is restricted to newer townships such as Xiaguan. Building codes mandate that new construction in the old town and surrounding countryside must conform to the traditional Chinese style, with tiled roofs and bricks, plaster, Dali City is located in western Yunnan, approximately 250km northwest of the provincial capital of Kunming. Dali is situated in the area between the dramatic valleys of the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the distinctive mountains of the western Yungui Plateau. The county-level city surrounds Erhai Lake between the Cang Mountains to the west and Mount Jizu to the east, the county seat at Xiaguan is located at the outlet of the lake into the Yangbi River. Dali Old Town is situated on a plain between the Cang Range and Erhai. This plain has traditionally been settled by the Bai and Yi minorities and its low latitude tempered by its high elevation, Dali has a mild subtropical highland climate with short, mild, dry winters and warm, rainy summers. Frost may occur in winter but the days still generally warm up to 15 °C or more, during summer, a majority of the days features some rainfall and daytime temperatures rise to 24 °C
3.
Cormorant
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Phalacrocoracidae is a family of some 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, there is no consistent distinction between cormorants and shags as these appellations have been assigned to different species randomly. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with weight in the range of 0. 35–5 kilograms. The majority of species have dark feathers, the bill is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes, all species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings and they have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have the highest flight costs of any bird. Cormorants nest in colonies around the shore, on trees, islets or cliffs and they are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters – indeed, the original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands, no consistent distinction exists between cormorants and shags. The names cormorant and shag were originally the names of the two species of the family found in Great Britain, Phalacrocorax carbo and P. aristotelis. Shag refers to the birds crest, which the British forms of the great cormorant lack, as other species were discovered by English-speaking sailors and explorers elsewhere in the world, some were called cormorants and some shags, depending on whether they had crests or not. Sometimes the same species is called a cormorant in one part of the world and a shag in another, e. g. the great cormorant is called the black shag in New Zealand. Van Tets proposed to divide the family into two genera and attach the name cormorant to one and shag to the other, but this flies in the face of common usage and has not been widely adopted. The scientific genus name is Latinised Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός, Cormorant is a contraction derived either directly from Latin corvus marinus, sea raven or through Brythonic Celtic. Cormoran is the Cornish name of the sea giant in the tale of Jack the Giant Killer, indeed, sea raven or analogous terms were the usual terms for cormorants in Germanic languages until after the Middle Ages. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large seabirds and they range in size from the pygmy cormorant, at as little as 45 cm and 340 g, to the flightless cormorant, at a maximum size 100 cm and 5 kg. The recently extinct spectacled cormorant was rather larger, at a size of 6.3 kg. The majority, including nearly all Northern Hemisphere species, have dark plumage, but some Southern Hemisphere species are black and white. Many species have areas of coloured skin on the face which can be blue, orange, red or yellow
4.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
5.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
6.
Korea
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Korea is a historical state in East Asia, since 1945 divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and it is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. Korea emerged as a political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Later Silla divided into three states during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which had succeeded Goguryeo, defeated the two states and united the Korean Peninsula. Around the same time, Balhae collapsed and its last crown prince fled south to Goryeo, Goryeo, whose name developed into the modern exonym Korea, was a highly cultured state that created the worlds first metal movable type in 1234. However, multiple invasions by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th century greatly weakened the nation, following the Yuan Dynastys collapse, severe political strife followed, and Goryeo eventually fell to a coup led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388. The first 200 years of Joseon were marked by peace and saw the creation of the Korean alphabet by Sejong the Great in the 14th century. During the later part of the dynasty, however, Koreas isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname of the Hermit Kingdom, by the late 19th century, the country became the object of imperial design by the Empire of Japan. Despite attempts at modernization by the Korean Empire, in 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and these circumstances soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their incapability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. To date, both continue to compete with each other as the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Korea is the spelling of Corea, a name attested in English as early as 1614. It is a derived from Cauli, Marco Polos transcription of the Chinese 高麗. This was the Hanja for the Korean kingdom of Goryeo or Koryŏ, Goryeos name was a continuation of the earlier Goguryeo or Koguryŏ, the northernmost of the Samguk, which was officially known by the shortened form Goryeo after the 5th-century reign of King Jangsu. The original name was a combination of the go with the name of a local Yemaek tribe. The name Korea is now used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as Hanguk, the name references the Samhan—Ma, Jin, and Byeon—who preceded the Three Kingdoms in the southern and central end of the peninsula during the 1st centuries BC and AD. It has been linked with the title khan used by the nomads of Manchuria
7.
Wa (Japan)
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Japanese Wa is the oldest recorded name of Japan. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scribes regularly wrote Wa or Yamato Japan with the Chinese character 倭 until the 8th century, the earliest textual references to Japan are in Chinese classic texts. Within the official Chinese dynastic Twenty-Four Histories, Japan is mentioned among the so-called Dongyi 東夷 Eastern Barbarians, note that the following texts are chronologically ordered by date of compilation, which does not always correspond with the sequence of Dynasties in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese units of measurement, distance is recorded in lǐ 里, ryūsaku Tsunoda cautions that great distances in thousands of lǐ are, of course, not to be taken literally. The historian Wang Zhenping summarizes Wo contacts with the Han State, in A. D.57, the first Wo ambassador arrived at the capital of the Eastern Han court, the second came in 107. Wo diplomats, however, never called on China on a regular basis, a chronology of Japan-China relations from the first to the ninth centuries reveals this irregularity in the visits of Japanese ambassadors to China. There were periods of frequent contacts as well as of lengthy intervals between contacts and this irregularity clearly indicated that, in its diplomacy with China, Japan set its own agenda and acted on self-interest to satisfy its own needs. No Wo ambassador, for example, came to China during the second century and this interval continued well past the third century. Then within merely nine years, the female Wo ruler Himiko sent four ambassadors to the Wei court in 238,243,245, after the death of Himiko, diplomatic contacts with China slowed. Iyo, the successor to Himiko, contacted the Wei court only once. The fourth century was another period in China-Wo relations except for the Wo delegation dispatched to the Western Jin court in 306. With the arrival of a Wo ambassador at the Eastern Jin court in 413, over the next sixty years, ten Wo ambassadors called on the Southern Song court, and a Wo delegation also visited the Southern Qi court in 479. The sixth century, however, saw only one Wo ambassador pay respect to the Southern Liang court in 502, possibly the earliest record of Wō 倭 Japan occurs in the Shan Hai Jing 山海經 Classic of Mountains and Seas. The textual dating of this collection of geographic and mythological legends is uncertain, the Haineibei jing 海內北經 Classic of Regions within the North Seas chapter includes Wō 倭 Japan among foreign places both real, such as Korea, and legendary. Kai Land is south of Chü Yen and north of Wo, ch’ao-hsien is east of Lieh Yang, south of Hai Pei Mountain. Nakagawa notes that Zhuyan 鉅燕 refers to the kingdom of Yan, 70-80 CE Lunheng 論衡 Discourses weighed in the balance is a compendium of essays on subjects including philosophy, religion, and natural sciences. The Rŭzēng 儒増 Exaggerations of the Literati chapter mentions Wōrén 倭人 Japanese people, in disputing legends that ancient Zhou bronze ding tripods had magic powers to ward off evil spirits, Wang says. During the Chou time there was universal peace, the Yuèshāng offered white pheasants to the court, the Japanese odoriferous plants
8.
Sui dynasty
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The Sui Dynasty was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China of pivotal significance. It was succeeded by the Tang dynasty, which inherited its foundation. Founded by Emperor Wen of Sui, the Sui dynasty capital was Changan and they also spread and encouraged Buddhism throughout the empire. By the middle of the dynasty, the unified empire entered a golden age of prosperity with vast agricultural surplus that supported rapid population growth. A lasting legacy of the Sui dynasty was the Grand Canal, the dynasty, which lasted only thirty-seven years, was undermined by ambitious wars and construction projects, which overstretched its resources. Particularly, under Emperor Yang, heavy taxation and compulsory labor duties would eventually induce widespread revolts, the dynasty is often compared to the earlier Qin dynasty for unifying China after prolonged division. Wide-ranging reforms and construction projects were undertaken to consolidate the newly unified state, after crushing an army in the eastern provinces, Yang Jian usurped the throne to become Emperor Wen of Sui. In a bloody purge, he had fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal family eliminated, Emperor Wen abolished the anti-Han policies of Zhou and reclaimed his Han surname of Yang. In his campaign for southern conquest, Emperor Wen assembled thousands of boats to confront the forces of the Chen dynasty on the Yangtze River. The largest of ships were very tall, having five layered decks. They were outfitted with six 50-foot-long booms that were used to swing and damage enemy ships, besides employing Xianbei and other Chinese ethnic groups for the fight against Chen, Emperor Wen also employed the service of people from southeastern Sichuan, which Sui had recently conquered. In 588, the Sui had amassed 518,000 troops along the bank of the Yangtze River. The Chen dynasty could not withstand such an assault, by 589, Sui troops entered Jiankang and the last emperor of Chen surrendered. Although Emperor Wen was famous for bankrupting the treasury with warfare and construction projects. He established granaries as sources of food and as a means to market prices from the taxation of crops. The large agricultural surplus supported rapid growth of population to historical peak, the state capital of Changan, while situated in a military-secured heartland of Guanzhong, was remote from the economic centers to the east and south of the empire. Emperor Wen initiated the construction of the Grand Canal, with completion of the first route that directly linked Changan to the Yellow River, Later Emperor Yang would enormously enlarge the scale of the Grand Canal construction. Externally, the emerging nomadic Turkic Khaganate in the north posed a threat to the newly founded dynasty
9.
Gifu
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Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japans history because of its location in the middle of the country, during the Sengoku period, various warlords, including Oda Nobunaga, used the area as a base in an attempt to unify and control Japan. Gifu continued to flourish even after Japans unification as both an important shukuba along the Edo period Nakasendō and, later, as one of Japans fashion centers. Before becoming a city, it was part of the former Atsumi District. Mount Kinka, one of the major symbols, is home to a nationally designated forest and Gifu Castle. Gifu also hosts festivals and events throughout the year. Two major rail lines connect Gifu to Japans national and international transportation infrastructure, JR Centrals Tōkaidō Main Line runs through the city, connecting it with Nagoya, one of Japans largest cities, and the surrounding area. The city has a train route to Chūbu Centrair International Airport. Gifu has active relationships with six sister cities, as of July 2011, the city has an estimated population of 412,895 and a population density of about 2,000 persons per km2. The total area is 202.89 km², two archaeological sites in the city of Gifu have shown that the area around modern-day Gifu has had residents since pre-history because of Gifus location in the fertile Nōbi Plain. The Ryomonji and Kotozuka sites have produced large burial mounds that are representative of the late-Yayoi period, as civilization in Japan grew, permanent settlements began to appear and, eventually, the village of Inokuchi was established, which would eventually become the modern city of Gifu. Control Gifu and you control Japan was a common phrase during the Sengoku period, for over 200 years, the Mino Province was under control of the Toki Clan, a powerful regional clan. However, it would be Nobunaga that eventually absorbed Dōsans Saitō clan in the mid-sixteenth century and it was during Nobunagas reign of power that the area finally received its modern name. After consulting with a Buddhist priest, Nobunaga renamed the village and he took the first character from Qishan, the legendary mountain from which most of ancient China was unified. The second character means base of the mountain and comes from Qufu, though he was not originally from the area, Nobunaga chose to use Dōsans castle and mountain as his base of operations, which he renamed Gifu Castle and Mount Kinka, respectively. Gifus economy grew immensely during this period, primarily due to its location at the center of Nobunagas expanding empire, additionally, Nobunaga established Rakuichi Rakuza, a free market for his citizens to use, in direct response to the commercial monopoly of the areas temples and shrines. The liveliness of the town caused Louis Frois, a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary and guest of Nobunaga, following the death of Nobunaga, Gifus growth continued through the Edo period with the establishment of the Nakasendō as one of Tokugawas five routes. Although the route did not pass directly through Gifu, the nearby post towns of Kanō-juku and Gōdo-juku provided traffic and were amalgamated into the modern city of Gifu
10.
Japanese cormorant
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The Japanese cormorant, also known as Temmincks cormorant, is a cormorant native to East Asia. It lives from Taiwan north through Korea and Japan to the Russian Far East, the Japanese cormorant has a black body with a white throat and cheeks and a partially yellow bill. It is one of the species of cormorant that has been domesticated by fishermen in a known in Japan as ukai. It is called umiu in Japanese, the Nagara Rivers well-known fishing masters work with this particular species to catch ayu
11.
Great cormorant
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The genus name is Latinised Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός and κόραξ, and carbo is Latin for charcoal. It breeds in much of the Old World and the Atlantic coast of North America, the great cormorant is a large black bird, but there is a wide variation in size in the species wide range. Weight is reported to vary from 1.5 kg to 5.3 kg, males are typically larger and heavier than females, with the nominate race averaging about 10% larger in linear measurements than the smallest race in Europe. The lightest average weights cited are in Germany, where 36 males averaged 2.28 kg and 17 females averaged 1.94 kg. The highest come from Prince Edward Island in Canada, where 11 males averaged 3.68 kg and 11 females averaged 2.94 kg, length can vary from 70 to 102 cm and wingspan from 121 to 160 cm. They are tied as the second largest extant species of cormorant after the flightless cormorant, in bulk if not in linear dimensions, the Blue-eyed shag species complex of the Southern Oceans are scarcely smaller at average. It has a tail and yellow throat-patch. Adults have white patches on the thighs and on the throat in the breeding season, in European waters it can be distinguished from the common shag by its larger size, heavier build, thicker bill, lack of a crest and plumage without any green tinge. Great cormorants are mostly silent, but they make various noises at their breeding colonies. A very rare variation of the great cormorant is caused by albinism, the Phalacrocorax carbo albino suffers from loss of eyesight and/or hearing, thus it rarely manages to survive in the wild. This is a common and widespread bird species. It feeds on the sea, in estuaries, and on freshwater lakes, northern birds migrate south and winter along any coast that is well-supplied with fish. The subspecies found in Australasian waters, P. c. novaehollandiae, has a crest, in New Zealand, it is known as the black shag or by its Māori name, kawau. The syntype is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the 80–100 cm long white-breasted cormorant P. c. lucidus found in sub-Saharan Africa, has a white neck and breast. It is often treated as a species, Phalacrocorax lucidus. Some authors treat all these as allospecies of a P. carbo superspecies group, the great cormorant breeds mainly on coasts, nesting on cliffs or in trees, but also increasingly inland. Three or four eggs are laid in a nest of seaweed or twigs, the great cormorant can dive to considerable depths, but often feeds in shallow water. It frequently brings prey to the surface, in British waters, dive times of 20–30 seconds are common, with a recovery time on the surface around a third of the dive time
12.
Darter
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The darters or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae having a single genus Anhinga. There are four living species, three of which are common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term snakebird is usually used without any additions to signify whichever of the completely allopatric species occurs in any one region. It refers to their long neck, which has a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged. Darter is used with a term when referring to particular species. It alludes to their manner of procuring food, as they impale fishes with their thin, the American darter is more commonly known as the anhinga. Anhinga is derived from the Tupi ajíŋa, which in local mythology refers to a malevolent demonic forest spirit, it is translated as devil bird. The name changed to anhingá or anhangá as it was transferred to the Tupi–Portuguese Língua Geral, however, in its first documented use as an English term in 1818, it referred to an Old World darter. Ever since, it has also used for the modern genus Anhinga as a whole. Anhingidae are large birds with sexually dimorphic plumage and they measure about 80 to 100 cm in length, with a wingspan around 120 cm, and weigh some 1,050 to 1,350 grams. The males have black and dark-brown plumage, an erectile crest on the nape. The females have much paler plumage, especially on the neck and underparts, both have grey stippling on long scapulars and upper wing coverts. The sharply pointed bill has serrated edges, a desmognathous palate, the darters have completely webbed feet, and their legs are short and set far back on the body. There is no eclipse plumage, but the bare parts vary in color around the year, during breeding, however, their small gular sac changes from pink or yellow to black, and the bare facial skin, otherwise yellow or yellow-green, turns turquoise. The iris changes in color yellow, red or brown seasonally. The young hatch naked, but soon grow white or tan down, Darter vocalizations include a clicking or rattling when flying or perching. In the nesting colonies, adults communicate with croaks, grunts or rattles, during breeding, adults sometimes give a caw or sighing or hissing calls. Nestlings communicate with squealing or squawking calls, darters are mostly tropical in distribution, ranging into subtropical and barely into warm temperate regions
13.
Fishing industry in China
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China, with one-fifth of the worlds population, accounts for one-third of the worlds reported fish production and two-thirds of the worlds reported aquaculture production. Aquaculture, the farming of fish in ponds, lakes and tanks, Chinas 2005 reported harvest was 32.4 million tonnes, more than 10 times that of the second-ranked nation, India, which reported 2.8 million tonnes. Chinas 2005 reported catch of fish, caught in rivers, lakes, and the sea, was 17.1 million tonnes, far ahead of the second-ranked nation, the United States. The principal aquaculture-producing regions are close to urban markets in middle and lower Yangtze valley, since 2002, China has been the world largest exporter of fish and fish products. In 2005, exports, including plants, were valued at US$7.7 billion, with Japan, the United States. In 2005, China was the sixth largest importer of fish and fish products in the world, in 2003, the global per capita consumption of fish was estimated at 16.5 kg, with Chinese consumption, based on her reported returns, at 25.8 kg. In 2010, China accounted for 60% of global production and had ~14 million people engaged as fishers. In 2009, China produced approximately 21 million metric tons of fish or 48% of global output. China has a coastline of 14,500 kilometres, and an economic zone of 877,019 square kilometres. The fishing grounds range from sub-tropical to temperate zones and include 431,000 square kilometres of continental shelves, there are ongoing disputes with several neighbouring nations over the exact extent of the EEZ in the South China Sea. The China seas contain about 3,000 marine species, of more than 150 species are fished commercially. Some major marine fishing species in recent times are hairtail, chub mackerel, black scraper, anchovy and some species of shrimps, crabs, Chinese distant water fishing activities started in 1985 when China gained access to new fishing grounds through agreements with foreign countries. By 1996, these fisheries had extended to 60 regions around the world, employing 21,200 fishermen,1381 fishing vessels, the China National Fishery Corporation is the major operator in the distant water fisheries. It sent the first Chinese fishing fleet to West African waters in 1985, the following year, with other Chinese partners, CNFC started trawling operations in the North Pacific. Tuna longlining followed in the South Pacific, and in 1989, squid longlining in the Japan Sea, inland China has 176,000 square km of inland waters. Eighty thousand reservoirs contribute another 20,000 km2, China reputably has 709 freshwater fish species and 58 subspecies, with another 64 species migrating between sea and inland waters. Carp are an important species, particularly silver carp, bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, common carp. Other commercially important species are bream, reeves shad, eel, cat fish, rainbow trout, salmon, whitebait, mullet, mandarin fish, perch, sturgeon, murrel, commercial shellfish include freshwater shrimp and river crabs, molluscs include freshwater mussels, clams and freshwater snails
14.
Guilin
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Guilin, formerly romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and its name means Forest of Sweet Osmanthus, owing to the large number of fragrant sweet osmanthus trees located in the city. The city has long been renowned for its scenery of karst topography and is one of Chinas most popular tourist destinations, in 314 BC, a small settlement was established along the banks of the Li River. During the Qin Dynastys campaigns against the state of Nanyue, the first administration was set up in the area around Guilin. In 111 BC, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Shi An County was established, in AD507, the town was renamed Guizhou. Guilin prospered in the Tang and Song dynasties but remained a county, the city was also a nexus between the central government and the southwest border, and it was where regular armies were placed to guard that border. Canals were built through the city so that supplies could be directly transported from the food-productive Yangtze plain to the farthest southwestern point of the empire. In 1921, Guilin became one of the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, in 1940, the city acquired its present name. Guilin administers seventeen county-level divisions, including six districts, nine counties and it has a total area of 27,809 square kilometres. The topography of the area is marked by karst formations, the Li River flows through the city. Winter begins dry but becomes progressively wetter and cloudier, spring is generally overcast and often rainy, while summer continues to be rainy though is the sunniest time of year. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from 7.9 °C in January to 28.0 °C in July, and the annual mean is 18.84 °C. The annual rainfall is just above 1,900 mm, and is delivered in bulk from April to June, with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 14% in March to 53% in September, the city receives 1,487 hours of bright sunshine annually. Population,4,747,963 Urban population,975,638 Ethnic groups, Zhuang, Yao, Hui, Miao, Han and Dong The GDP per capita was ¥19435 in 2009, ranked no.125 among 659 Chinese cities. However, since the 1950s Guilin has electronics, engineering and agricultural equipment, medicine, rubber, and buses, food processing, including the processing of local agricultural produce, remains the most important industry. More recent and modern industry feature high technology and the tertiary industry characterized by tourism trading, the airport is Guilin Liangjiang International Airport. Arriving to North Station, high-speed trains between Guilin and Changsha and Beijing came into operation in December 2013, in December 2014, high-speed operations began connecting Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Guiyang, and Shanghai. It will bring much convenience for people come to Guilin and it takes only about 2 or 3 hours from Guangzhou to Guilin,7 hours from Shanghai to Guilin and 11 hours from Beijing to Guilin
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Li River
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The Li River is a river in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. It flows 83 kilometres from Guilin to Yangshuo, where the karst mountains, the Li River originates in the Maoer Mountains in Xingan County and flows in the general southern direction through Guilin, Yangshuo and Pingle. In Pingle the Li River merges with the Lipu River and the Gongcheng River and continues south as the Gui River, which falls into the Xi Jiang, the 437-kilometre course of the Li and Gui Rivers is flanked by green hills. Cormorant fishing is often associated with the Lijiang, tourist cruises in different boats are offered on the Li River throughout the year and are one of the major attractions of Guilin. Reed Flute Cave, a cave with a large number of stalactites, stalagmites, stalacto-stalagmites, rocky curtains. Seven-Star Park, the largest park in Guilin, mountain of Splendid Hues, a mountain consisting of many layers of variously colored rocks. Elephant-Trunk Hill, a hill looks like a giant elephant drinking water with its trunk. It is symbol of the city of Guilin, lingqu Canal, dug in 214 BC, is one of the three big water conservation projects of ancient China and the oldest existing canal in the world. Other attractions include, Duxiu Peak, Nanxi Park, the Taohua River, the Giant Banyan, the imagery of the Li River is featured on the fifth series of the 20 yuan note. Geography of China List of rivers in China Guilin Li River Facts Guilin Tours Geographic data related to Li River at OpenStreetMap
16.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Republic of Macedonia
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Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the states of the former Yugoslavia. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, the countrys geography is defined primarily by mountains, valleys, and rivers. The capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to roughly a quarter of the nations 2.06 million inhabitants, the majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25 percent, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Macedonias history dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia, a Thracian polity. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine Empire, and was raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Byzantine empires, it came under Ottoman dominion from the 14th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a distinct Macedonian identity emerged, although following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Macedonia remained a constituent socialist republic within Yugoslavia until its peaceful secession in 1991. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe, since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Although one of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, the countrys name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία, a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones. However, Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, the Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia, the Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian, and it fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the part of the Roman empire. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD, during the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of the Keramisian plain, presians reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia
18.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
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Falconry
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Falconry is the hunting of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. There are two terms used to describe a person involved in falconry, a falconer flies a falcon. In modern falconry, the hawk, the Harriss hawk. Many contemporary practitioners still use words in their original meaning. In early English falconry literature, the word referred to a female falcon only. A male hawk or falcon was referred to as a tiercel as it was one third less than the female in size. Evidence suggests that the art of falconry may have begun in Mesopotamia, There are also some raptor representations in the northern Altai, western Mongolia. The falcon was a bird of ancient Mongol tribes. There is some disagreement about whether such early accounts document the practice of falconry or are misinterpreted depictions of humans with birds of prey, during the Turkic Period of Central Asia, concrete figures of falconer on horseback were described on the rocks in Kyrgyz. Falconry was probably introduced to Europe around AD400, when the Huns and Alans invaded from the East, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen is generally acknowledged as the most significant wellspring of traditional falconry knowledge. He is believed to have obtained firsthand knowledge of Arabic falconry during wars in the region and he obtained a copy of Moamyns manual on falconry and had it translated into Latin by Theodore of Antioch. Frederick II himself made corrections to the translation in 1241 resulting in De Scientia Venandi per Aves, King Frederick II is most recognized for his falconry treatise, De arte venandi cum avibus. Written himself toward the end of his life, it is accepted as the first comprehensive book of falconry. De arte venandi cum avibus incorporated a diversity of traditions from east to west. Historically, falconry was a sport and status symbol among the nobles of medieval Europe, the Middle East. Many historical illustrations left in Rashid al Dins Compendium chronicles book described falconry of the centuries with Mongol images. Falconry was largely restricted to the classes due to the prerequisite commitment of time, money. In art and in aspects of culture such as literature
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Japanese language
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Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
22.
Gifu Prefecture
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Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of central Japan. Its capital is the city of Gifu, located in the center of Japan, it has long played an important part as the crossroads of Japan, connecting the east to the west through such routes as the Nakasendō. During the Sengoku period, many referred to Gifu by saying, control Gifu. The land area makes up modern-day Gifu became part of the Yamato Court around the middle of the fourth century. The area of Gifu Prefecture consists of the old provinces of Hida and Mino, as well as parts of Echizen. The name of the prefecture derives from its city, Gifu. The first character used comes from Qishan, a mountain from which most of China was unified, whereas the second character comes from Qufu. Nobunaga chose those characters because he wanted to unify all of Japan, historically, the prefecture served as the center of swordmaking in all of Japan, with Seki being known for making the best swords in Japan. More recently, its strengths have been in fashion and aerospace engineering, on October 28,1891, the present-day city of Motosu was the epicenter for the Mino–Owari earthquake, the second largest earthquake to ever hit Japan. The earthquake, estimated at 8.0, left a fault scarp that can still be seen today, one of the few landlocked prefectures in Japan, Gifu shares borders with seven other prefectures, Aichi, Fukui, Ishikawa, Mie, Nagano, Shiga and Toyama. Japans postal codes all start with a number, ranging from 001 to 999. Part of Gifu has the 500 prefix, reflecting its location in the center of Japan, the center of Japanese population is currently located in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture. The center of population is a point at which a country is perfectly balanced assuming each person has a uniform weight. The spot was calculated using the 2005 census, Gifu has five unofficial regions, which allows local municipalities to work together to promote the surrounding area. The five regions are Seinō, Gifu, Chūnō, Tōnō, the borders of the regions are loosely defined, but they are usually delineated among major cities. The northern Hida region is dominated by mountains, including parts of the Japanese Alps. The southern Mino region is mostly parts of the fertile Nōbi Plain, most of the prefectures population lives in the southern part of the prefecture, near the designated city of Nagoya. The mountainous Hida region contains both the Hida Mountains, which are referred to as the Northern Alps, and the Kiso Mountains, the Ryōhaku Mountains are also in the Hida region
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Cormorant fishing on the Nagara River
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Cormorant fishing on the Nagara River has played a vital role in the history of the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Throughout its long history, it evolved from a means to live, to a profitable industry and it runs from May 11 to October 15 of each year. Cormorant fishing on the Nagara River is a 1, 300-year-old tradition where fishing masters use Japanese cormorants to catch fish and it takes ten years even at least to become a cormorant fishing master. The use of cormorants for fishing on the Nagara River began over 1,300 years ago, when cormorant fishing came under the auspices of the Imperial Household Agency, the first fish caught each year were sent to the capital. Because cormorant fishing is part of the Imperial Household, the Nagara River has become a protected river, as the techniques improved and enough fish were caught, it turned into an industry. The fish were processed in factories, allowing the fish to be sold over great distances. Eventually, the number of caught by cormorants began to decrease. The advent of other fishing methods and modern transportation decreased the need for large-scale cormorant fishing, throughout the years, many famous individuals have come to view cormorant fishing on the Nagara River, including such world-renowned individuals as Charlie Chaplin and Matsuo Bashō. Chaplin came to view cormorant fishing twice and remarked that he was moved by the event and that the skills of the fishing masters were “wonderful. ”Bashō was so enamored with the activity that he wrote two haikus about it, ”Exciting to see / but soon after, comes sadness / the cormorant boats. ””Once more to describe / the Nagara River’s own / sweetfish namasu. ”Because cormorant fishing is a daily activity for nearly five months of the year. When the birds are selected and the boats are prepared, the six fishing masters draw ropes to determine the order in which they will fish, when the cormorants catch the fish, they are brought back to the boat using ropes attached to their bodies. When they are back in the boat, the fishing masters remove the fish from the birds’ throats, each bird can hold up to six fish in its throat. The birds are prevented from swallowing the fish because of a ring tied around their necks, the cormorants, however, are still able to swallow smaller fish. Though the ropes are strong, the masters are able to quickly break them if a bird’s rope gets caught beneath rocks. Each night, cormorant fishing officially begins when three fireworks are set off in the evening sky, at first, the boats come down the river, one by one, catching fish. They use a fire attached to the front of the boat to attract the fish, as the night draws to a close, the six boats will line up side-by-side and descend the river in a process called sougarami. Those who come to view cormorant fishing are able to view the night’s catch. On the boat, in addition to the master, there is also his helper, the pilot and, occasionally. These three people work in unison to control the boats and the birds, creating a harmony on the river
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Seki, Gifu
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Seki is a city located in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on October 15,1950, on February 7,2005, the towns of Mugegawa and Mugi, and the villages of Horado, Itadori and Kaminoho were merged into Seki. As of July 2011, the city has an population of 91,239. The total area is 472.84 km2 and he is also known as Kaneshige using the Japanese pronunciation of his name. He and Kaneuji are founders of the Mino style, considered to be one of the Juttetsu or Ten Famous Students or 10 Great Disciples of Masamune. Moving to Mino Province around the time of Ryakuo creating the Seki tradition, Enkū was a Buddhist monk, poet and sculptor during the early Edo period. He was born in Mino, traveled extensively and died in Seki and is celebrated at the Enkū Museum. The major cutlery making companies are based in Seki, and they produce the highest quality kitchen knives in the traditional Japanese style and the style, like the gyuto
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Nagara River
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The Nagara River has its source in the city of Gujō, Gifu Prefecture, and its mouth in the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Along with the Kiso River and Ibi River, the Nagara River is one of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain, previously, the river was named Sunomata River. With a length of 166 km, it drains an area of 1,985 square kilometres in the Chūbu region, the government of Japan classifies it as a Class 1 river. In 1985, the section of the Nagara River was named to Japans 100 Famous Waters. Also, it was included among Japans top bathing areas in both 1988 and 2001, the river is also a popular tourist destination because of Nagaragawa Onsen, a collection of natural hot springs that are known for their high iron content. Downstream, the Nagara River converges and diverges with the Kiso, though the Nagara River is considered part of the Kiso River system, various construction projects over the years have kept the two rivers separate all the way to the mouth of the river. Other construction projects had previously changed the flow of the river, up until the Showa period, two minor rivers diverged from the Nagara River in the heart of the city of Gifu, but construction in 1939 created the current path of the river through the system. As a result of construction, about 160 ha of land was recovered, upon which the Gifu Memorial Center, schools. Cormorant fishing is an ancient tradition in which cormorants are used to various fish in lakes. Cormorant fishing takes place in two cities, Gifu, where it is called Cormorant Fishing on the Nagara River, and Seki, though eleven other places in Japan also host cormorant fishing, only the fishing masters on the Nagara River are Imperial Fishermen of the Household Agency
26.
Keisai Eisen
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Keisai Eisen was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who specialised in bijin-ga. His best works, including his ōkubi-e, are considered to be masterpieces of the decadent Bunsei Era and he was also known as Ikeda Eisen, and wrote under the name of Ippitsuan. Eisen was born in Edo into the Ikeda family, the son of a noted calligrapher and he was apprenticed to Kanō Hakkeisai, from whom he took the name Keisai, and after the death of his father he studied under Kikugawa Eizan. His initial works reflected the influence of his mentor, but he developed his own style. He produced a number of surimono, erotic prints, and landscapes, including The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, which he started and which was completed by Hiroshige. However, his most famous works are the bijin-ga which portrayed the subjects as more worldly than those depicted by earlier artists and he produced many portraits and full-length studies depicting the fashions of the time. His supplement is known as Notes of a Nameless Old Man and he describes himself as a dissolute hard-drinker and claims to have been the owner of a brothel in Nezu in the 1830s which had burned down. Keisai Eisen by Honolulu Museum of Art Dan McKee, rasch, Carsten, Keisai Eisen, Berlin 2015
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Edo period
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The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
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Fuefuki
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Fuefuki is a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. As of November 2015, the city had an population of 69,037. The total area was 201.92 square kilometres, Fuefuki is located in central Yamanashi Prefecture. Just over 50% of the area of the city is covered in forest, the Fuefuki River flows through the city. The following municipalities surrounding the city starting from Kōfu. During the cadastral reform of the early Meiji period in April 1,1889, the rural districts of Higashiyatsushiro and Higashiyamanashi Districts were formed. The modern city of Fuefuki was established on October 12,2004, from the merger of the towns of Ichinomiya, Isawa, Misaka and Yatsushiro, the village of Sakaigawa, the name refers to the Fuefuki River that flows through the city. The city hall is located at the former Isawa Town Hall, Higashiyatsushiro District was dissolved as a result of this merger. The economy of Fuefuki is based on agriculture, seasonal tourism, Fuefuki has 14 elementary schools, five junior high schools, and one high school
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Yamanashi Prefecture
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Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the main island of Honshu. The capital of the prefecture is the city of Kōfu, the Maruyama and Choshizuka Kofun located on Sone Hill of Nakamichi Town are believed to have been built from the end of the 4th century. From these remains it can be assumed that the people of Sone Hill had great influence, during the Heian period, Kai Province was created in this area. Among the many Kaigenji generations, those of the Takeda, Ogasawara, during the Sengoku period of the 16th century, Takeda Shingen attained the status of daimyō and built Tsuzuji Mansion and the Yōgai Castle in Kōfu. From this base, he attempted to unify and control Japan, after Takeda’s death in 1582, Kai-no-Kuni came under the control of the Oda and Toyotomi clans before being subsumed into the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period. Beneath the Edo shogunate, the Kofu clan and the Yamura clan were formed, with the development of the Kōshū Kaidō and Fuji River transport, goods, materials and culture flowed into the region. By the mid-19th century, the contradictions of military government and clan system caused stability to erode and resistance to erupt across Japan, preceding the Kōshū-Katsunuma battle, Kofu Castle had been captured by troops loyal to the Emperor Meiji. The province was renamed Kōfu Prefecture in 1869 and then Yamanashi Prefecture in 1871, the anniversary of this event on November 20,1872, is now celebrated as Prefectural Citizen’s Day in Yamanashi. In the early part of the Meiji period, industrial promotion policies furthered sericulture, silk textile production and wine making industries. In 1903, after seven years of construction, including the building of a three mile long tunnel at the Sasago Pass, the Chūō Railway Line from Hachiōji and central Tokyo finally reached Kōfu. The reduced journey times to the capital and the port of Yokohama brought significant change to local industry, agricultural production in farming communities was still on a small scale at the turn of the century and land reforms had yet to be introduced. From the 1920s however, tenancy and contract disputes between landowners and farmers in Yamanashi grew increasingly common, in 1926, the Minobu Railway Line connecting Kōfu with Shizuoka Prefecture opened, bringing an end to Fuji River transportation. The capital city, Kōfu, suffered damage during a major air raid on the night of 6 July 1945. Small scale manufacturing industries and commerce grew at rapid speed during the expansion of the post-war Japanese economy, the maglev line is designed to ultimately connect Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka with a station also planned to the South of Kofu. Central Government permission to proceed with an extension to the existing test track was granted on May 27,2011, at the end of 2013 construction was already well advanced as far as Fuefuki. Yamanashi Prefecture is bordered by Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture, the prefecture is landlocked, with high mountains surrounding the central Kōfu Basin. Mount Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes region is located on the border with Shizuoka. Mt. Fuji provides rain shadow effects, and as a result, 78% of the prefecture is covered by forests, making it one of the most densely wooded prefectures in Japan
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Inuyama
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Inuyama is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, north of the Nagoya Metropolis. As of May 2015, the city had an population of 74,200. The total area was 74.90 square kilometres, Inuyama lies along the edge of Aichi Prefecture, separated from neighboring Gifu Prefecture by the Kiso River. Immediately following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, it was established as an independent feudal han, with the cadastral reforms of October 1,1889, the town of Inuyama was created. Inuyama was elevated to city status in 1954, the most famous attraction is Inuyama Castle on a 40-meter rise overlooking the Kiso River. This Japanese castle was designated as a Japanese national treasure in 1935, the castle in its current form was built in 1537 by Oda Nobuyasu, uncle of the great warlord Oda Nobunaga. The castle is the privately owned castle in Japan, and has remained unchanged since it was built. Another famous attraction is the Urakuen tea garden used for tea ceremonies and this garden contains the Jo-an tea house, built in 1618 by Oda Uraku, younger brother of Oda Nobunaga. Tea master Oda Uraku was a student of the tea master Sen no Rikyū. While the Joan tea house was built in Kyoto, it was moved to its current location in 1972. The building is considered one of the finest examples of tea house architecture, the Kiso River also has some very picturesque rapids upstream of Inuyama Castle. These rapids and the formations are called the Nihon Rhine after the Rhine river in Germany. Cormorant fishing on the Kiso River is also done, although nowadays almost exclusively for tourists, near Inuyama is the Meiji Mura open-air architectural museum for preserving and exhibiting structures of the Meiji and Taishō eras. As of 2005,67 historical buildings are preserved on an area of 1,000,000 m2, the most famous one is the main entrance and lobby of Tokyos old Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1923. Another former open-air museum near Inuyama is also an amusement park called Little World Museum of Man and this anthropological museum contained a large number of buildings built according to the native style of over 22 countries. Another amusement park is the Japan Monkey Park, with different species of monkeys, Inuyama is also the site of the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, one of the worlds foremost centers for research in non-human primate biology and behavior. The chimpanzee Ai and her son Ayumu live there, Inuyama ware is a type of Japanese pottery made in the town in a number of kilns
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Aichi Prefecture
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Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region and it is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area. Originally, the region was divided into the two provinces of Owari and Mikawa, after the Meiji Restoration, Owari and Mikawa were united into a single entity. Nagoya Prefecture was renamed to Aichi Prefecture in April 1872, and was united with Nukata Prefecture on November 27 of the same year, the government of Aichi Prefecture is located in the Aichi Prefectural Government Office in Nagoya, which is the old capital of Owari. The Expo 2005 World Exposition was held in Seto and Nagakute, ayuchi is the original form of the name Aichi, and the Fujimae tidal flat is all that remains of the earlier Ayuchi-gata. It is now a protected area and it measures 106 km east to west and 94 km south to north and forms a major portion of the Nōbi Plain. With an area of 5,153.81 km2 it accounts for approximately 1. 36% of the surface area of Japan. The highest spot is Chausuyama at 1,415 m above sea level, due to its robust economy, for the period from October 2005 to October 2006, Aichi was the fastest growing prefecture in terms of population, beating Tokyo, at 7.4 per cent. Thirty-eight cities are located in Aichi Prefecture and these are the towns and villages in each district, Companies headquartered in Aichi include the following. Companies such as Fuji Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Motors, Pfizer, Sony, Suzuki, Bodycote, as of 2001, Aichi Prefectures population was 50. 03% male and 49. 97% female. 139,540 residents are of foreign nationality, the sports teams listed below are based in Aichi. Other popular sites in Aichi include the tour of the Toyota car factory in the city by the name, the monkey park in Inuyama, and the castles in Nagoya, Okazaki, Toyohashi. Most attractions are man-made destinations, dealing with the history or modern marvels. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Aichi travel guide from Wikivoyage Official website Aichi Now-Official Site for Tourism Aichi Aichi, HOME of the Samurai Spirit Oda, Nobunaga Tokugawa, Ieyasu
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Kiso River
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The Kiso River is a river in Japan roughly 229 km long, flowing through the prefectures of Nagano, Gifu, Aichi, and Mie before emptying into Ise Bay a short distance away from the city of Nagoya. It is the river of the Kiso Three Rivers and forms a major part of the Nōbi Plain. The valley around the portion of the river forms the Kiso Valley. Parts of the Kiso River are sometimes referred to as the Japan Rhine because of its similarities to the Rhine in Europe, japanese cruiser Kiso Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC48943301 Kisogawa River Sand Data — a Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology−JAMSTEC]] website 35°02′04″N 136°44′43″E
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Kyoto Prefecture
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Kyoto Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto, until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Kyoto Prefecture was known as Yamashiro. For most of its history, the city of Kyoto was Japans Imperial capital, the citys history can be traced back as far as the 6th century. In 544, the Aoi Matsuri was held in Kyoto to pray for good harvest, Kyoto did not start out as Japans capital. A noteworthy earlier capital was Nara, in 741, Emperor Shōmu moved the capital briefly to Kuni-kyo, between the cities of Nara and Kyoto, in present-day Kyoto Prefecture. In 784, the capital was moved to Nagaokakyō, also in present-day Kyoto Prefecture, in 794, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyo, and this was the beginning of the current-day city of Kyoto. Even today, almost all of the streets, houses, stores, temples and shrines in Kyoto exist where they were placed in this year, Imperial rule was briefly restored in 1333, but another samurai clan established a new shogunate in Kyoto three years later. In 1467, a civil war, the Ōnin no Ran, took place inside Kyoto. Japan plunged into the age of warring feudal lords, a new strong man, Tokugawa Ieyasu, established the shogunate at Edo in 1603. In the 15th century AD, tea-jars were brought by the shoguns to Uji in Kyoto from the Philippines which was used in the Japanese tea ceremony, the Meiji Restoration returned Japan to imperial rule in 1868. Emperor Meiji, who was now the absolute sovereign, went to stay in Tokyo during the next year, the imperial court has not returned to Kyoto since then. During the instigation of Fuhanken Sanchisei in 1868, the received its suffix fu. The subsequent reorganization of the old provincial system merged the former Tango Province, Yamashiro Province, although many Japanese major cities were heavily bombed by U. S. bombers during World War II, the old capital escaped such devastating bombing. Sixth Army was headquartered in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture is almost in the center of Honshu and of Japan. It covers an area of 4,612.71 square kilometres, to the north, it faces the Sea of Japan and Fukui Prefecture. To the south, it faces Osaka and Nara Prefectures, to the east, it faces Mie and Shiga Prefectures. To the west, it faces Hyōgo Prefecture, the prefecture is separated in the middle by the Tanba Mountains. This makes its climate very different in the north and south, fifteen cities are located in Kyoto Prefecture, These are the towns and villages in each district, The city of Kyoto is famous for tourism
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Yodo River
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The Yodo River, also called the Seta River and the Uji River at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshū, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture to the north, the Yodo River, usually called the Seta River in Shiga Prefecture, begins at the southern outlet of the lake in Ōtsu. There is a dam there to regulate the lake level, further downstream, the Seta flows into Kyoto Prefecture and changes its name to the Uji River, and then merges with two other rivers, namely the Katsura River and the Kizu River in Kyoto Prefecture. The Katsura has its headwaters in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, from the three-river confluence, the river is called the Yodo River, which flows south, through Osaka, and on into Osaka Bay. In Osaka, part of the river has been diverted into an artificial channel and it serves as a source of water for irrigation and also powers hydroelectric generators. The Uji River, or the Yodo River in Kyoto Prefecture, is a fishing spot during the summer. The Uji River has a prominent place in the so-called Uji chapters of the Tale of Genji, a novel written by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century
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Kyoto
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Kyoto is a city located in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan. It has a close to 1.5 million. Kyoto is also known as the thousand-year capital, in Japanese, the city has been called Kyō, Miyako, or Kyō no Miyako. In the 11th century, the city was renamed Kyoto, after the Chinese word for capital city, after the city of Edo was renamed Tokyo in 1868, and the seat of the Emperor was transferred there, Kyoto was known for a short time as Saikyō. Obsolete spellings for the name include Kioto, Miaco and Meaco. Another term commonly used to refer to the city in the period was Keishi. His last choice for the site was the village of Uda, the new city, Heian-kyō, a scaled replica of the then Tang capital Changan, became the seat of Japans imperial court in 794, beginning the Heian period of Japanese history. The city suffered destruction in the Ōnin War of 1467–1477. Battles between samurai factions spilled into the streets, and came to involve the court nobility and religious factions as well, nobles mansions were transformed into fortresses, deep trenches dug throughout the city for defense and as firebreaks, and numerous buildings burned. The city has not seen such widespread destruction since, Hideyoshi also built earthwork walls called odoi encircling the city. Teramachi Street in central Kyoto is a Buddhist temple quarter where Hideyoshi gathered temples in the city, throughout the Edo period, the economy of the city flourished as one of three major cities in Japan, the others being Osaka and Edo. The Hamaguri rebellion of 1864 burnt down 28,000 houses in the city, the modern city of Kyoto was formed on April 1,1889. The construction of Lake Biwa Canal in 1890 is one taken to revive the city. The population of the city exceeded one million in 1932, stimson, Secretary of War in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the city was removed from the list of targets and replaced by Nagasaki. The city was spared from conventional bombing as well, although small-scale air raids did result in casualties. As a result, the Imperial City of Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities that still have an abundance of prewar buildings, however, modernization is continually breaking down the traditional Kyoto in favor of newer architecture, such as the Kyōto Station complex. Kyoto became a city designated by government ordinance on September 1,1956, in 1997, Kyoto hosted the conference that resulted in the protocol on greenhouse gas emissions that bears the citys name. Kyoto is located in a valley, part of the Yamashiro Basin, in the part of the mountainous region known as the Tamba highlands
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Arida, Wakayama
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Arida is a city in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1,2016, the city had an population of 27,963. The total area is 36.91 km², Arida was founded on May 1,1956, when the neighbouring four towns of Minoshima, Miyazaki, Yasuda and Miahara merged to form a single city. The main industries in Arida and the areas are oil refining and fishing. It is famous as one of the largest producers of mikan or Japanese mandarins in Wakayama Prefecture, aridas sister city in the US is Delano, California. Jun Toba, actor and musician Media related to Arida, Wakayama at Wikimedia Commons Arida City official website
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Wakayama Prefecture
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Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan on the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Wakayama, present-day Wakayama is mostly the western part of the province of Kii. On July 17–18,1953, a heavy rain occurred, followed by collapse of levees, river flooding. Many bridges and houses were destroyed, according to an officially confirmed Japanese Government report,1,015 people died, with 5,709 injured and 7,115 houses lost. Nine cities are in Wakayama Prefecture, These are the towns and villages in each district, Wakayama is ranked 39th by population in Japan with a population of 989,983. It is the least populated prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan, mount Kōya in the Ito District is the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. The Sacred sites and pilgrimage routes in the Kii Mountain Range extend for miles throughout the prefecture, the Kumano Shrines are on the southern tip of the prefecture. Tomogashima is part of the prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture has hot springs such as Shirahama, Kawayu, and Yunomine Onsen. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official Wakayama Prefecture homepage Wakayama Tourist Guide Nanki Sightseeing Guide
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Miyoshi, Hiroshima
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Miyoshi is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on March 31,1954, as of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 58,170 and a population density of 74.8 persons per km2. The total area is 778 km2, on April 1,2004, Miyoshi absorbed the towns of Kisa, Mirasaka and Miwa, the villages of Funo, Kimita and Sakugi, and the town of Kōnu to create the new and expanded city of Miyoshi. Futami District was dissolved as a result of this merger
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Hiroshima Prefecture
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Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Hiroshima and it has a population of around 2.8 million. The area around Hiroshima was formerly divided into Bingo Province and Aki Province and this location has been a center of trade and culture since the beginning of Japans recorded history. Hiroshima is a center of the Chūgoku region and was the seat of the Mōri clan until the Battle of Sekigahara. Hiroshima prefecture lies in the middle of Chūgoku, most of the prefecture consists of mountains leading towards Shimane Prefecture, and rivers produce rich plains near the coast. The province faces Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea, Hiroshima Bay opens on the Inland Sea. The prefecture also includes small islands. The sheltered nature of the Inland Sea makes Hiroshimas climate very mild, fourteen cities are located in Hiroshima Prefecture, These are the towns in each district, Hiroshimas main industries include automobiles and shipbuilding. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official Hiroshima Prefecture homepage Life in Hiroshima, Hiroshima map National Archives of Japan, Itsukushima kakei, illustrated scroll describing Itsukushima, text by Kaibara Ekiken
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Masuda, Shimane
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Masuda is a city located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on August 1,1952, as of March 2017, the city has an population of 46,892 and a population density of 64 persons per km². The total area is 733.16 km², at the end of September 2010, the city had a population of 51,118. At the end of August 2009, the city had a population of 51,599, at the end of September 2008, the city had a population of 52,022. On November 1,2004, the towns of Mito and Hikimi were merged into Masuda, therefore, Mino District was dissolved as a result of this merger. Iwami Airport is located in Masuda, ningbo, China Queenstown, New Zealand Media related to Masuda, Shimane at Wikimedia Commons Masuda City official website Masuda City official website
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Shimane Prefecture
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Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on the main Honshu island. It is the second least populous prefecture in Japan, after its eastern neighbor Tottori, the prefecture has an area elongated from east to west facing the Chūgoku Mountain Range on the south side and to the Sea of Japan on the north side. It is divided into the Izumo Region in the East, the Iwami Region in the West and the Oki Region, most of the cities are near the shoreline of the Sea of Japan. Izumo Taisha in Izumo City is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan, the Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan are also part of Shimane Prefecture, which also claims to have jurisdiction over the South Korea-controlled island of Liancourt Rocks. The history of Shimane starts with Japanese mythology, the Shinto god Ōkuninushi was believed to live in Izumo, an old province in Shimane. Izumo Shrine, which is in the city of Izumo, honors the god. At that time and that lasted until the abolition of the han system took place in 1871. During the Nara period, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro read a poem on Shimanes nature when he was sent as the Royal governor, later on in the Kamakura period, Kamakura Shogunate forced emperors Gotoba and Godaigo into exile in Oki. Emperor Godaigo later escaped away from Oki and began rallying supporters against the shogunate, during the Muromachi period, Izumo and Oki were controlled by the Kyogoku clan. However, after the Ōnin War, the Amago clan expanded power based in Gassantoda Castle, the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was located between Amago territory and Masuda territory, so there were many battles between these clans for the silver. However, in 1566 Mori Motonari conquered Izumo, Iwami, after over 30 years of Mori control, in 1600 Horio Yoshiharu entered Izumo and Oki as the result of Battle of Sekigahara, which Mori lost. Following the change, Horio Yoshiharu decided to move to build Matsue Castle instead of Gassan-Toda, later in 1638, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Matsudaira Naomasa became the ruler because the Horio clan had no heir, and his family ruled until the abolition of the han system. The Iwami area was split into three regions, the district, under the direct control of the Shogunate, the Hamada clan region. The Iwami Ginzan, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site produced silver and was one of the nations largest silver mine by the early 17th century, the Hamada clan was on the shogunates side in the Meiji Restoration, and the castle was burned down. The Tsuwano clan, despite then being ruled by the Matsudaira, was on the side in the restoration. In 1871, the abolition of the han system placed the old Shimane, later that year, Oki became part of Tottori. In 1876, Hamada Prefecture was merged into the Shimane Prefecture, also, Tottori Prefecture was added in the same year. However, five years later, in 1881, the current portion of Tottori Prefecture was separated, Shimane Prefecture is situated on the Sea of Japan side of the Chugoku region. Because of its mountainous landscape, rice farming is mostly in the Izumo plain where the city of Izumo is located
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Iwakuni
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Iwakuni is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Iwakuni was formerly the town of the Iwakuni han, which was formed by Lord Hiroie Kikkawa after he was banished there for supporting the defeated shogun. The Kikkawa clan ruled the han during the Edo period, the han was originally assessed at 30 thousand koku, and later,60 thousand. Iwakuni han prospered for 300 years up until the Meiji Restoration, before being re-founded with the same name following the mergers in 2006, the city was first founded on April 1,1940. On March 20,2006, Iwakuni absorbed the towns of Kuga, Mikawa, Miwa, Nishiki, Shūtō and Yū, located at 34° N, 132° E, Iwakuni is in the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture, bordering the Seto Inland Sea. As of August 1,2016, the city has an population of 137,128. The total area is 873.72 km², Iwakuni is part of the Seto Inland Sea industrial area. Petroleum is an industry with Nippon Oil’s Marifu refinery producing 127,000 barrels per day. Pulp is also produced in Nippon Paper’s Iwakuni mill using a new process called “methane fermentation treatment” which requires almost no energy. Other main industries include fibers and spinning, petrochemicals, and paper, the renkon is the principal agricultural product and is cultivated in the Hasuda field which is in the Ozu area, located near Minami Iwakuni station. Shin-Iwakuni Station on the Sanyo Shinkansen provides access to high-speed rail transportation, Iwakuni Station on the Sanyo Main Line is about 45 minutes from Hiroshima Station, and is in the center of the city. Other stations on that line are Minami Iwakuni, Fuju, the JR Gantoku Line links Iwakuni Station to Tokuyama and points beyond, and serves Nishi Iwakuni, Kawanishi and Hashirano stations within the Iwakuni. The Nishikigawa Railway Seiryu Line has six stations in Iwakuni, including Kawanishi Station, the Sanyo Highway carries automobile traffic to and from Iwakuni. National highways 2,187,188 and 189 bring local traffic to nearby cities, a civilian passenger terminal was built at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and completed in 2012. Scheduled daily commercial flights to Tokyo started December 13,2012, the city of Iwakuni has 39 elementary schools,19 junior high schools, and nine high schools. One high school, Iwakuni-Kogyo, is the alma mater of Shinji Mori who is a Major League Baseball player with the Tampa Bay Rays, Iwakuni also has two vocational schools, a junior college, and no universities. Tourists from both Japan and overseas who visit Hiroshima and Miyajima often extend their travels to include Iwakuni, the famous Kintai Bridge is the citys most popular sightseeing spot. The Kintai Bridge spans the Nishiki River and was first constructed in 1673 by Hiroyoshi Kikkawa, the bridge stood until September 14,1950 when it was destroyed by the typhoon “Kijiya”
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Yamaguchi Prefecture
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Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Chūgoku region of the main island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Yamaguchi, in the center of the prefecture, the largest city, however, is Shimonoseki. Yamaguchi Prefecture was created by the merger of the provinces of Suō, during the rise of the samurai class during the Heian and Kamakura Periods, the Ouchi family of Suō Province and the Koto family of Nagato Province gained influence as powerful warrior clans. In the Muromachi Period, Ouchi Hiroyo, the 24th ruler of the Ouchi family conquered both areas of Yamaguchi Prefecture, the Ouchi clan imitated the city planning of Kyoto. They gained great wealth through cultural imports from the continent and trade with Korea, as a result, Yamaguchi came to be known as the Kyoto of the West, and Ouchi culture flourished. Sue Harutaka defeated the 31st ruler of the Ouchi clan, the Sue clan was then defeated by Mōri Motonari, and the Mōri family gained control of the Chugoku region. Yamaguchi was ruled as part of the Mōri clan domain during the Sengoku period, Mōri Terumoto was then defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He was forced to give up all his land except for the Suō and Nagato areas, Mōri sought to strengthen the economic base of the region and increase local production with his Three Whites campaign. After Commodore Matthew Perrys opening of Japan, clans from Nagato played a key role in the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, four years after the Edo Shogunate was overthrown and the Meiji government formed in 1868, the present Yamaguchi Prefecture was established. The Meiji government brought in new systems and modern policies. In the Taisho period, from 1912 to 1926, shipbuilding, chemical, machinery, during the post-World War II Shōwa Period, Yamaguchi developed into one of the most industrialized prefectures in the country due to the establishment of petrochemical complexes. Thirteen cities are located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, These are the towns in each district, For the purposes of development analysis, although Yamaguchi is not part of the island of Kyushu, it has become a functional satellite of the Kanmon Straits metropolitan area. The most popular place for tourism is Shimonoseki, for example Karato Fish Market, there is a large fireworks festival in summer. Another attraction is the Kintai Bridge in the town of Iwakuni and this five-arched wooden structure is considered a symbol of Western Honshū. Hagi City is in the north of Yamaguchi and it is a very traditional city. The usual color of Japanese post boxes is red, but in Hagi they are painted green or brown, the Hagi Museum is modeled after a traditional samurai residence. The exhibits are detailed and realistic, and are changed every year, the permanent collection is data about Hagis history and collections about Takasugi Shinsaku. Hagi also contains a reverberatory furnace which has designated a World Heritage Site
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Nishiki River
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The Nishiki River is a 110 km long river, the longest in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The Nishiki is the river in a larger system measuring 331.8 km in total. The government of Japan classifies it as a river system. The Nishiki River system drains an area of 884.2 km², the Nishiki River has its source in the city of Shūnan. At its mouth in the part of the city of Iwakuni that was formerly the town of Nishiki. Dams on the Nishiki include the Kōdō and the Sugano and this article incorporates material from the article 錦川 in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on December 11,2008
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Ehime Prefecture
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Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture in northwestern Shikoku, Japan. Until the Meiji Restoration, Ehime Prefecture was known as Iyo Province, since before the Heian period, the area was dominated by fishermen and sailors who played an important role in defending Japan against pirates and Mongolian invasions. After the Battle of Sekigahara, the Tokugawa shogun gave the area to his allies, including Kato Yoshiaki who built Matsuyama Castle, the name Ehime comes from the kuniumi part of the Kojiki where Iyo Province is mythologically named Ehime lovely princess. In 2012, a group from the University of Tokyo. Located in the part of Shikoku, Ehime faces the Seto Inland Sea to the north and is bordered by Kagawa and Tokushima in the east. The prefecture includes both high mountains in the region and a long coastline, with many islands in the Seto Inland Sea. The westernmost arm of Ehime, the Sadamisaki Peninsula, is the narrowest peninsula in Japan, chemical industries, oil refining, paper and cotton textile products also are a feature of the prefecture. Rural areas mostly engage in agricultural and fishing industries, and are known for citrus fruits such as mikan and iyokan. Ikatas nuclear power plant produces a portion of Shikokus electricity. Ehime University Ehime Prefectural University of Health Science St. Catherine University Matsuyama University Matsuyama Shinonome College The sports teams listed below are based in Ehime, baseball Ehime Mandarin Pirates The oldest extant hot spring in Japan, Dogo Onsen, is located in Matsuyama. It has been used for two thousand years. Iyo dialect, one of the Shikoku dialects, is the dialect spoken in Ehime Prefecture, ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official website
