1.
History of Japan
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It is widely accepted that first Human habitation in the Japanese archipelago traced back to prehistoric times. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi in the first millennium BC, during this period, in the first century AD, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han. Between the fourth century and the century, Japans many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government. The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to reign over Japan to this day, in 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō, marking the beginning of the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered an age of classical Japanese culture. Japanese religious life from time and onwards was a mix of Buddhism. Over the following centuries the power of the Emperor and the imperial court gradually declined and passed to the military clans, the Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85. After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura, in 1274 and 1281, the Kamakura shogunate withstood two Mongol invasions, but in 1333 it was toppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi period. During the Muromachi period regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at the expense of the shogun, eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war. Over the course of the sixteenth century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the daimyō Oda Nobunaga. After Hideyoshis death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed shogun by the Emperor, the Tokugawa shogunate, which governed from Edo, presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period. The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society, the American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 ended Japans seclusion, this in turn contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the Emperor in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed their isolated, underdeveloped island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a world power. Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period, Japans powerful military had great autonomy, the military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China. Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to war with the United States, Japans forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Japans unconditional surrender was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 14 August 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into a constitutional monarchy, after 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the 1990s, economic stagnation has been a major issue, an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused massive economic dislocations and a serious nuclear power disaster
2.
Japanese people
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Japanese people are an ethnic group native to Japan. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of the population of their country. Worldwide, approximately 129 million people are of Japanese descent, of these, people of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries are referred to as the Japanese diaspora. The term ethnic Japanese may also be used in some contexts to refer to ethnic groups, including the Yamato, Ainu. The Japanese language is a Japonic language that in the past was treated as a language isolate, the Japanese language has a tripartite writing system using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Domestic Japanese people use primarily Japanese for daily interaction, the adult literacy rate in Japan exceeds 99%. Japanese religion has traditionally been syncretic in nature, combining elements of Buddhism, Shinto, a polytheistic religion with no book of religious canon, is Japans native religion. Mahayana Buddhism came to Japan in the century and evolved into many different sects. Today, the largest form of Buddhism among Japanese people is the Jōdo Shinshū sect founded by Shinran, most Japanese people profess to believe in both Shinto and Buddhism. Japanese peoples religion functions mostly as a foundation for mythology, traditions, Christianity in Japan is among the nations minority religions. Just under 2%, or about 2.5 million, of Japans population are Christians, many Japanese practice Christianity in the diaspora in Brazil, which is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. About 60% of Japanese Brazilians are Roman Catholics, while 90% of Japanese Mexicans are Roman Catholic, certain genres of writing originated in and are often associated with Japanese society. These include the haiku, tanka, and I Novel, although modern writers generally avoid these writing styles, historically, many works have sought to capture or codify traditional Japanese cultural values and aesthetics. Twentieth-century Japanese writers recorded changes in Japanese society through their works, some of the most notable authors included Natsume Sōseki, Junichirō Tanizaki, Osamu Dazai, Yasunari Kawabata, Fumiko Enchi, Yukio Mishima, and Ryōtarō Shiba. In contemporary Japan, popular authors such as Ryū Murakami, Haruki Murakami, decorative arts in Japan date back to prehistoric times. Jōmon pottery includes examples with elaborate ornamentation, in the Yayoi period, artisans produced mirrors, spears, and ceremonial bells known as dōtaku. Later burial mounds, or kofun, preserve characteristic clay haniwa, beginning in the Nara period, painting, calligraphy, and sculpture flourished under strong Confucian and Buddhist influences from China. Among the architectural achievements of this period are the Hōryū-ji and the Yakushi-ji, after the cessation of official relations with the Tang dynasty in the ninth century, Japanese art and architecture gradually became less influenced by China
3.
Tradition
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A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes, there are about 150 new traditions made each year. Traditions can persist and evolve for thousands of years—the word tradition itself derives from the Latin tradere or traderer literally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. While it is assumed that traditions have ancient history, many traditions have been invented on purpose, whether that be political or cultural. Various academic disciplines also use the word in a variety of ways, one way tradition is used more simply, often in academic work but elsewhere also, is to indicate the quality of a piece of information being discussed. For example, According to tradition, Homer was born on Chios and this tradition may never be proven or disproven. In another example, King Arthur, by tradition a true British king, has inspired many well loved stories, of course whether they are documented fact or not does not decrease their value as cultural history and literature. Aside from this use in describing the quality of information, various scholarly fields define the term differently, for example, anthropology and biology have each defined tradition it more precisely than in conventional, as described below, in order to facilitate scholarly discourse. The concept of tradition, as the notion of holding on to a time, is also found in political and philosophical discourse. For example, it is the basis of the concept of traditionalism. In artistic contexts, tradition is used to decide the correct display of an art form, for example, in the performance of traditional genres, adherence to guidelines dictating how an art form should be composed are given greater importance than the performers own preferences. A number of factors can exacerbate the loss of tradition, including industrialization, globalization, in response to this, tradition-preservation attempts have now been started in many countries around the world, focusing on aspects such as traditional languages. Tradition is usually contrasted with the goal of modernity and should be differentiated from customs, conventions, laws, norms, routines, rules and similar concepts. The English word tradition comes from the Latin traditio, the noun from the verb traderere or tradere, it was used in Roman law to refer to the concept of legal transfers. As with many other terms, there are many definitions of tradition. Tradition can also refer to beliefs or customs that are Prehistoric, with lost or arcane origins, originally, traditions were passed orally, without the need for a writing system. Tools to aid this process include poetic devices such as rhyme, the stories thus preserved are also referred to as tradition, or as part of an oral tradition. Even such traditions, however, are presumed to have originated at some point, Traditions are often presumed to be ancient, unalterable, and deeply important, though they may sometimes be much less natural than is presumed
4.
Etiquette in Japan
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The code of etiquette in Japan governs the expectations of social behavior in the country and is considered very important. Like many social cultures, etiquette varies depending on ones status relative to the person in question. Many books instruct readers on its minutiae, some conventions may be very regional practices, and thus may not exist in all regions of Japan. Some customs have changed over the course of Japanese history, the following are generally accepted modern customs in Japan. Bathing is an important part of the routine in Japan. Baths are for relaxing, and the body must be cleaned and scrubbed before entering the bathtub or furo and this is normally done at a small faucet or shower located in the same room as the tub, while seated on a small stool. A traditional Japanese bathtub is square, and deep enough that the water cover the shoulders. The tub water is used to rinse the body by scooping it up with the provided scoop, baths in Japan are for soaking and relaxing, not cleaning the body. The tub shape is smaller and deeper than is common in Western homes, newer bathtubs are more like the western shape. Rather than being drained at the end of each bath, the water is kept warm by means of special heaters, after use, some homes take the hot bath water from the tub and use it to wash clothes in a washing machine. A lid is placed on the tub to maintain the temperature when not in use. Any hair or debris is scooped from the water after the bath, in homes with small tubs, family members bathe one by one, in order of seniority, traditionally starting with the oldest male or the oldest person in the household. If there are guests in the home, they will be given priority, in homes with larger tubs, it is not uncommon for family members to bathe together. Typically one or both parents will bathe with babies and toddlers, and even as children grow older they may still bathe with one of their parents. Bathtubs are increasingly common in modern Japanese homes, but there are many small and old apartments in cities that do not have bathtubs. A regular bathhouse will have tap water heated in a boiler, in all but the most rural areas baths are segregated by gender, and customers bathe nude, many using a small washcloth to cover the genitals. Hotels, pachinko parlors and other venues may have on-site sentō for customer use, patrons of traditional Japanese inns or ryokan will be offered the use of a furo for bathing, either a communal one with bathing times being scheduled in advance, or a private one. Onsen translates into the English phrase hot spring, onsen are baths that by definition use naturally hot water from geothermally heated springs, sometimes outdoors
5.
Marriage in Japan
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Marriage in Japan is a legal and social institution at the center of the household. Couples are legally married once they have made the change in status on their family registration sheets, the institution of marriage in Japan has changed radically over the last millennium. Customs once exclusive to a small aristocracy gained mass popularity as the population became increasingly urbanized, the Heian period of Japanese history marked the culmination of its classical era, when the vast imperial court established itself and its culture in Heian-kyō. Heian society was organized by a system of rank. It was neither ceremonial nor necessarily permanent, aristocrats exchanged letters and poetry for a period of months or years before arranging to meet after dark. If a man saw the woman for a period of three nights, they were considered married, and the wifes parents held a banquet for the couple. High-ranked noblemen sometimes kept multiple wives or concubines, aristocratic wives could remain in their fathers house, and the husband would recognize paternity with the formal presentation of a gift. In pre-modern Japan, marriage was inextricable from the ie, the unit of society with a collective continuity independent of any individual life. Members of the household were expected to all their own interests to that of the ie, with respect for an ideal of filial piety. The choice to remain single was the greatest crime a man could commit, property was regarded to belong to the ie rather than to individuals, and inheritance was strictly agnatic primogeniture. A woman married the household of her husband, hence the logograms for yome, in the absence of sons, some households would adopt a male heir to maintain the dynasty, a practice which continues in corporate Japan. Nearly all adoptions are of adult men, marriage was restricted to households of equal social standing, which made selection a crucial, painstaking process. Although Confucian ethics encouraged people to marry outside their own group, approximately one-in-five marriages in pre-modern Japan occurred between households that were already related. Marriage between a Japanese and non-Japanese person was not officially permitted until 14 March 1873, a date now commemorated as White Day, marriage with a foreigner required the Japanese national to surrender his or her social standing. The seventeenth-century treatise Onna Daigaku instructed wives honor their parents-in-law before their own parents, and to be courteous, humble, husbands were also encouraged to place the needs of their parents and children before those of their wives. One British observer remarked, If you love your wife you spoil your mothers servant, the tension between a housewife and her mother-in-law has been a keynote of Japanese drama ever since. Romantic love played little part in medieval marriages, as emotional attachment was considered inconsistent with filial piety, a proverb said, Those who come together in passion stay together in tears. For men, sexual gratification was seen as separate from conjugal relations with ones wife, the genre called Ukiyo-e celebrated the luxury and hedonism of the era, typically with depictions of beautiful courtesans and geisha of the pleasure districts
6.
Japanese funeral
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A Japanese funeral includes a wake, the cremation of the deceased, a burial in a family grave, and a periodic memorial service. According to 2007 statistics,99. 81% of deceased Japanese are cremated, although Japan has become a more secular society, 91% of funerals are conducted as Buddhist ceremonies. Immediately after a death, relatives moisten the dying or deceased persons lips with water, most Japanese homes maintain Buddhist altars, or butsudan, for use in Buddhist ceremonies, and many also have Shinto shrines, or kamidana. When a death occurs, the shrine is closed and covered with paper to keep out the impure spirits of the dead. A small table decorated with flowers, incense, and a candle is placed next to the deceaseds bed, the relatives and authorities are informed, and a death certificate is issued. Funeral arrangements typically are made by the eldest son and are begun by contacting a temple to schedule the event, the body is washed and the orifices are blocked with cotton or gauze. An encoffining ritual is performed, in which professional nōkansha ritually dress and prepare the body. The ceremony is now performed, and may be limited to rural areas where older traditions are maintained. Whether or not the encoffining ceremony is performed, a female is dressed in a white kimono. The body is put on dry ice in a casket, the body is placed with its head toward the north or, as a second choice, toward the west. In Buddhism, the western orientation reflects the western realm of Amida Buddha, during life, both men and women cross the front of a kimono or yukata with the left side over the right. On those occasions in which the corpse is clothed in a traditional kimono, held as soon as possible after death, a Japanese wake is called tsuya, lit. All funeral guests wear black, men wear suits with white shirts and black ties. If the deceased was an adherent to Buddhism, a set of prayer beads called juzu may be carried by the guests, who will also bring condolence money in special black-and-silver envelopes. Depending on the relationship to the deceased and the wealth of the guest, the guests are seated, with immediate relatives seated closest to the front. The Buddhist priest then chants a section from a sutra, the family members will each offer incense three times to the incense urn in front of the deceased. At the same time, the guests will perform the same ritual at another location behind the family members seats. The wake ends once the priest has completed the sutra, each departing guest is given a gift, which has a value of about half or one quarter of the condolence money received from this guest
7.
Japanese tea ceremony
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The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. In Japanese, it is called chanoyu or sadō, chadō, while the manner in which it is performed, Zen Buddhism was a primary influence in the development of the Japanese tea ceremony. Much less commonly, Japanese tea ceremony uses leaf tea, primarily sencha, in case it is known in Japanese as senchadō as opposed to chanoyu or chadō, see sencha tea ceremony. Tea gatherings are classified as a tea gathering chakai and a formal tea gathering chaji. A chakai is a simple course of hospitality that includes confections, thin tea. A chaji is a more formal gathering, usually including a full-course kaiseki meal followed by confections, thick tea. A chaji can last up to four hours, chadō is counted as one of the three classical Japanese arts of refinement, along with kōdō for incense appreciation, and kadō for flower arrangement. The first documented evidence of tea in Japan dates to the 9th century, the entry in the Nihon Kōki states that Eichū personally prepared and served sencha to Emperor Saga who was on an excursion in Karasaki in the year 815. It was practiced by Japanese nobles, by imperial order in the year 816, tea plantations began to be cultivated in the Kinki region of Japan. However, the interest in tea in Japan faded after this, in China, tea had already been known, according to legend, for more than a thousand years. The form of tea popular in China in Eichūs time was cake tea or brick tea —tea compressed into a nugget in the manner as Pu-erh. This then would be ground in a mortar, and the resulting ground tea mixed together various other herbs. The custom of drinking tea, first for medicinal, and then largely also for reasons, was already widespread throughout China. In the early 9th century, Chinese author Lu Yu wrote The Classic of Tea, Lu Yus life had been heavily influenced by Buddhism, particularly the Zen–Chán school. His ideas would have an influence in the development of the Japanese tea ceremony. He also took tea seeds back with him, which eventually produced tea that was considered to be the most superb quality in all of Japan and this powdered green tea was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries. This period, approximately 1336 to 1573, saw the budding of what is regarded as Japanese traditional culture as we know it today. The Japanese tea ceremony developed as a practice, and began to evolve its own aesthetic
8.
Geisha
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Geisha, geiko, or geigi are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses. Their skills include performing arts such as classical music, dance, games, and conversation, traditionally to entertain male customers. Geisha, like all Japanese nouns, has no singular or plural variants. The word consists of two kanji, 芸 meaning art and 者 meaning person or doer, the most literal translation of geisha into English would be artist, performing artist, or artisan. Another name for geisha is geiko, which is used to refer to geisha from western Japan. Apprentice geisha are called maiko, or hangyoku, half-jewel, or by the generic term o-shaku. The white make-up and elaborate kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha, a woman entering the geisha community does not have to begin as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha. Either way, however, usually a training is involved before debuting either as a maiko or as a geisha. A woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko, on average, Tokyo apprentices are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts. Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a young age. The early shikomi and minarai stages of geisha training lasted years and it is still said that geisha inhabit a separate reality which they call the karyūkai or the flower and willow world. Before they disappeared, the courtesans were the colourful flowers and the geisha the willows because of their subtlety, strength, in the early stages of Japanese history, there were female entertainers, saburuko were mostly wandering girls whose families were displaced from struggles in the late 600s. Some of these saburuko girls sold sexual services, while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at social gatherings. After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyō in 794 the conditions that would form Japanese Geisha culture began to emerge, skilled female performers, such as Shirabyōshi dancers, thrived. Traditional Japan embraced sexual delights and men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives, the ideal wife was a modest mother and manager of the home, by Confucian custom love had secondary importance. For sexual enjoyment and romantic attachment, men did not go to their wives, the highest yūjo class was the Geishas predecessor, called Tayuu, a combination of actress and prostitute, originally playing on stages set in the dry Kamo riverbed in Kyoto. They performed erotic dances and skits, and this new art was dubbed kabuku, meaning to be wild, the dances were called kabuki, and this was the beginning of kabuki theater. These pleasure quarters quickly became glamorous entertainment centers, offering more than sex, the highly accomplished courtesans of these districts entertained their clients by dancing, singing, and playing music
9.
Onsen
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An onsen is a Japanese hot spring and the bathing facilities and inns frequently situated around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands, onsens were traditionally used as public bathing places and today play a central role in Japanese domestic tourism. Onsens come in types and shapes, including outdoor and indoor baths. Baths may be either publicly run by a municipality or privately, often as part of a hotel, ryokan, or bed and breakfast. Onsens are a feature of Japanese tourism, typically found in the countryside. They are a major tourist attraction drawing Japanese couples, families, Japanese often talk of the virtues of naked communion for breaking down barriers and getting to know people in the relaxed atmosphere of a ryokan with an attached onsen. Japanese television channels often feature special programs about local onsens, the presence of an onsen is often indicated on signs and maps by the symbol ♨ or the kanji 湯. Sometimes the simpler hiragana character ゆ, understandable to younger children, is used, traditionally, onsens were located outdoors, although a large number of inns have now built indoor bathing facilities as well. Onsens by definition use naturally hot water from geothermally heated springs, onsens are different from sentō, indoor public bath houses where the baths are filled with heated tap water. Stratifications exist for waters of different temperatures, major onsen resort hotels often feature a wide variety of themed spa baths and artificial waterfalls in the bathing area utaseyu. Onsen water is believed to have healing powers derived from its mineral content, a particular onsen may feature several different baths, each with water of a different mineral composition. The outdoor bath tubs are often made from Japanese cypress, marble, or granite, while indoor tubs may be made from tile, acrylic glass, particular onsens may also promote the special mineral composition of their waters, together with the healing properties these may have. Other services, such as massages, may also be offered, traditionally, men and women bathed together at both onsens and sentōs, but gender separation has been enforced since the opening of Japan to the West during the Meiji Restoration. Mixed bathing persists at some special onsen in rural areas of Japan, men may cover their genitals with a small towel while out of the water, while women usually wrap their bodies in full-size towels. Children of either sex may be seen in both the mens and the womens baths, in some prefectures of Japan, including Tokyo, where nude mixed bathing is banned, people are required to wear swimsuits or yugi, which are specifically designed for bathing. At an onsen, as at a sentō, all guests are expected to wash their bodies, bathing stations are equipped with stools, faucets, wooden buckets, and toiletries such as soap and shampoo, nearly all onsen also provide removable shower heads for bathing convenience. Entering the onsen while still dirty or with traces of soap on the body is socially unacceptable, bathers are not normally allowed to wear swimsuits in the baths. However, some modern onsen with a waterpark atmosphere require their guests to wear a suit in their mixed baths
10.
Japanese clothing
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There are typically two types of clothing that the Japanese wear, the Japanese clothing, such as kimonos, and Western clothing. Japanese culture has greatly impacted by the rest of the world throughout history. One of the most noticeable changes in Japanese culture is the clothing, traditional, while the traditional ethnic garments of Japan are still in use, they are mainly worn for ceremonies and special events, funerals, coming-of-age ceremonies, and festivals. In more recent years, western clothing is often in day-to-day life. While the westernization of fashions has continued at a rapid pace, modern Japanese fashion history might be conceived as the very gradual westernization of Japanese clothes. The woolen and worsted industries were completely a product of Japan’s re-established contact with the West in the 1850s and 1860s, before the 1860s, Japanese clothing consisted entirely of a great variety of kimono. They first appeared in the Jomon period, with no distinction between male and female, after Japan opened up for trading with the outside world, other clothing options started to come in. The first Japanese to adopt western clothing were officers and men of some units of the shoguns army, sometime in the 1850s these men adopted woolen uniforms worn by English marines stationed at Yokohama. To produce them could not have been easy, the cloth had to be imported. Perhaps the most significant of early adoption of Western styles was its public origin. For quite a while, the sector remained as major champion of the new garb. The style only grew from there, moving out from the military to other lifestyles, soon, courtiers and bureaucrats were urged to adopt Western clothing, which was thought to be more practical. The Ministry of Education ordered that Western-style student uniforms be worn in public colleges and universities, businessmen, teachers, doctors, bankers, and other leaders of the new society wore suits to work and at large social functions. Although western-style dress was becoming popular for workplaces, schools. Since World War II most areas have taken over by western clothing. Thus, by the opening of the century, western dress was a symbol of social dignity. However, the vast majority of Japanese stuck to their fashions, Western dress for street wear and Japanese dress at home remained the general rule for a very long time. An example of Eastern influence from Japan that spread to the rest of the world is evident in the late 1880s, an ordinary wool blanket was used as a shawl for women, and a red blanket was featured in Vogue for winter wear
11.
Japanese mythology
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Japanese mythology embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally-based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami and this article will discuss only the typical elements present in Asian mythology, such as cosmogony, important deities, and the best-known Japanese stories. Japanese myths, as recognized in the mainstream today, are based on the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki. The Kojiki, or Record of Ancient Matters, is the oldest surviving account of Japans myths, legends, the Shintōshū describes the origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective, while the Hotsuma Tsutae records a substantially different version of the mythology. One notable feature of Japanese mythology is its explanation of the origin of the Imperial Family, the title of the Emperor of Japan, tennō, means heavenly sovereign. Later, the seven generations of kami, known as Kamiyonanayo, emerged, following the formation of heaven and earth. The first two generations are individual deities called hitorigami, while the five that followed came into being as male/female pairs of kami, in this chronicle, the Kamiyonanayo comprise 12 deities in total. Japans creation narrative can be divided into the birth of the deities, to help them to achieve this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a naginata decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko. The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi and churned the sea below with the halberd, drops of salty water formed the island, Onogoro. The deities descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island, eventually, they fell in love and wished to mate. So they built a pillar called Amenomihashira around which they built a palace called Yashirodono, Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side, Izanami, the female deity, spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didnt think that this was proper, but they mated anyway and they had two children, Hiruko and Awashima, but the children were badly formed and are not considered gods in their original form. The parents, who were dismayed at their misfortune, put the children into a boat and sent them to sea, so Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time, when they met, Izanagi spoke first. Izanami died giving birth to Kagutsuchi, also called Homusubi due to severe burns and she was then buried on Mount Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hoki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. His death also created dozens of deities, the gods who were born from Izanagi and Izanami are symbolic aspects of nature and culture. Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami and undertook a journey to Yomi, Izanagi found little difference between Yomi and the land above, except for the eternal darkness. However, this suffocating darkness was enough to make him ache for light, quickly, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her for she was hidden in the shadows
12.
Japanese folklore
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Japanese folklore encompasses the folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people. In Japanese, the term minkan denshō is used to describe folklore, folklorists also employ the term minzoku shiryō or folklore material to refer to objects and arts they study. Men dressed as namahage, wearing masks and traditional straw capes make rounds of homes. These ogre-men masquerade as kami looking to instill fear in the children who are lazily idling around the fire and this is a particularly colorful example of folk practice still kept alive. A parallel custom is the secretive Akamata-Kuromata ritual of the Yaeyama Islands, many, though increasingly fewer households maintain a kamidana or a small Shinto altar shelf. The Shinto version of the god is the Kamado kami, and the syncretic Buddhist version is the Kōjin. Japanese popular cults or kō are sometimes devoted to particular deities and buddhas, but many cults centered around paying respects to sacred sites such as the Ise Shrine or Mount Fuji. Pilgrimage to these meccas declined after the Edo Period, but recently, the Shikoku Pilgrimage of the eighty-eight temple sites has become fashionable. Popular media and cottage industries now extoll a number of shrines, there is a long list of practices performed to ward evil or expel evil, e. g. sounding the drums. In some areas it is common to place a small mound of salt outside the house, a stock routine in period or even contemporary drama involves a master of the house telling his wife to scatter salt after an undesirable visitor has just left. Contrarily, lighting sparks with flint just as a someone is leaving the house was considered lucky. No one now engages in the silent vigil required by the Kōshin cult, there are certain vestiges of geomancy introduced into Japan from China through Onmyōdō. There is also a Japanese version of Feng Shui known as kasō or literally house physiognomy, closely connected is the Yin-yang path or Onmyōdō, and its concepts such as katatagae also known as kataimi, which was widely practiced by nobles in the Heian Era. A widely known taboo advises against sleeping with your head faced north, as in most developed nations, it is increasingly difficult to find living storytellers of oral tradition. But there is a wealth of folktales collected through the ages, the name mukashi-banashi has been applied to the common folktale, since they typically open with the formula Mukashi. They also close with some set phrase like dotto harai and these tales had been told in their local dialects, which may be difficult to understand to outsiders, both because of intonation and pronunciation differences, conjugations, and vocabulary. Many folktales collected from the field are actually translations into standard Japanese, the versions retold by childrens story author Sazanami Iwaya had a strong hand in establishing the forms usually known today. Two creatures are known for their abilities to transform into humans or other beings and objects
13.
Japanese cuisine
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Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of social and economic changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes, side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables, and vegetables cooked in broth. Seafood is common, often grilled, but also served raw as sashimi or in sushi, seafood and vegetables are also deep-fried in a light batter, as tempura. Apart from rice, staples include noodles, such as soba, Japan also has many simmered dishes such as fish products in broth called oden, or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga. Foreign food—in particular Chinese food like ramen, fried dumplings, and gyōza—as well as foods like curry, historically, the Japanese shunned meat, but with the modernization of Japan in the 1880s, meat-based dishes such as tonkatsu became common. Japanese cuisine, particularly sushi, has become popular throughout the world, as of 2011, Japan overtook France in number of Michelin-starred restaurants and has maintained the title since. Japanese cuisine is based on combining the staple food, which is steamed rice or gohan, with one or several okazu or main dishes. This may be accompanied by a clear or miso soup and tsukemono, the phrase ichijū-sansai refers to the makeup of a typical meal served, but has roots in classic kaiseki, honzen, and yūsoku cuisine. The term is used to describe the first course served in standard kaiseki cuisine nowadays. Rice is served in its own small bowl, and each item is placed on its own small plate or bowl for each individual portion. This is done even at home and it contrasts with the Western-style dinners at home, where each individual takes helpings from the large serving dishes of food presented at the middle of the dining table. Placing okazu on top of rice and soiling it is frowned upon by old-fashioned etiquette. The small rice bowl or chawan doubles as a word for the large tea bowls in tea ceremonies, thus in common speech, the drinking cup is referred to as yunomi-jawan or yunomi for the purpose of distinction. In the olden days, among the nobility, each course of a full-course Japanese meal would be brought on serving napkins called zen, which were originally platformed trays or small dining tables. In the modern age, faldstool trays or stackup-type legged trays may still be used in zashiki, i. e. tatami-mat rooms. Teishoku means a meal of fixed menu, a dinner à prix fixe served at shokudō or ryōriten, which is somewhat vague, defines it as fare served at teishoku dining hall, etc. Emphasis is placed on seasonality of food or shun, and dishes are designed to herald the arrival of the four seasons or calendar months, seasonality means taking advantage of the fruit of the mountains as well as the fruit of the sea as they come into season. Thus the first catch of skipjack tunas that arrives with the Kuroshio Current has traditionally been greatly prized, if something becomes available rather earlier than usual, the first crop or early catch is called hashiri
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Japanese festivals
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Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions. Some festivals have their roots in Chinese festivals centuries ago, but have undergone changes as they mixed with local customs. Some are so different that they do not even resemble the original festival despite sharing the same name. There are also various festivals that are mostly unknown outside a given prefecture. It is commonly said that you always find a festival somewhere in Japan. In Yokohama Chinatown, Japans biggest Chinatown, tourists from all over Japan come to enjoy the festival, similar for Nagasakis Lantern Festival that is based in Nagasaki Chinatown. Festivals are often based around one event, with stalls, entertainment. Some are based around temples or shrines, others hanabi, Matsuri is the Japanese word for a festival or holiday. In Japan, festivals are sponsored by a local shrine or temple. Almost every locale has at least one matsuri in late summer/early autumn, notable matsuri often feature processions which may include elaborate floats. Preparation for these processions is usually organised at the level of neighborhoods, prior to these, the local kami may be ritually installed in mikoshi and paraded through the streets. One can always find in the vicinity of a matsuri booths selling souvenirs and food such as takoyaki, karaoke contests, sumo matches, and other forms of entertainment are often organized in conjunction with matsuri. If the festival is next to a lake, renting a boat is also an attraction. Favorite elements of the most popular matsuri, such as the Nada no Kenka Matsuri of Himeji or the Neputa Matsuri of Hirosaki, are often broadcast on television for the nation to enjoy. Sapporo Snow Festival is one of the largest festivals of the year in Sapporo and it began in 1950 when high school students built snow statues in Odori Park, central Sapporo. The event is now large and commercialized. About a dozen large sculptures are built for the festival along with around 100 smaller snow, several concerts and other events are also held. Lake Shikotsu is the northernmost ice-free lake which is 363 meters deep and this festival features a moss-covered cave, which has evergreen draped on the inside and is covered in ice
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Religion in Japan
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Religion in Japan is dominated by Shinto and by Buddhist schools and organisations. 3% are Christians. In 2009, a survey showed that over half the Japanese families had a butsudan or Buddhist altar in their homes. In 2009 data from the Agency of Cultural Affairs stated that there were 89 million Buddhists in Japan, in 2011, after the Tsunami, it was reported that 90% of the Japanese identified as Buddhist or Shinto or a combination of both. Most of the Japanese pray and worship ancestors and gods at Shinto shrines or private altars and this is because these terms have little meaning for the majority of the Japanese, or they define membership in Shinto organisations or sects. The term religion itself in Japanese culture defines only organised religions, people who identify as non-religious in surveys actually mean that they do not belong to any religious organisation, even though they may take part in Shinto rituals and worship. Scholars Isomae Junichi and Jason Ānanda Josephson have challenged the usefulness of the religion in regard to Japanese traditions. They have shown that the Japanese term and concept of religion is an invention of the 19th century, Shinto, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous religion of Japan and the people of Japan. It is defined as a religion, focused on ritual practices to be carried out diligently. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the historical records of the Kojiki. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified Shinto religion, practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian periods. The word Shinto was adopted, originally as Shindo, from the written Chinese Shendao, the oldest recorded usage of the word Shindo is from the second half of the 6th century. Kami are defined in English as spirits, essences or gods, kami and people are not separate, they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity. Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, Shinto has 100,000 shrines and 78,890 priests in the country. These new religions also provided cohesion through a unified doctrine and practice shared by the nationwide community, the officially recognized new religions number in the hundreds, and total membership is reportedly in the tens of millions. The largest new religion is Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect founded in 1930, scholars in Japan have estimated that between 10% and 20% of the population belongs to the new religions, although more realistic estimates put the number at well below the 10% mark. As of 2007, there are 223,831 priests and leaders of the new religions in Japan, many of these new religions are Shinto-derived and retain the fundamental characters of Shinto, often identifying themselves as forms of Shinto. These include Tenrikyo, Konkokyo, Omotokyo, Shinrikyo, Shinreikyo, Sekai Shindokyo, Zenrinkyo, others are independent new religions, including Aum Shinrikyo, Mahikari movements, the Church of Perfect Liberty, Seicho-no-Ie, the Church of World Messianity, and others. Buddhism first arrived in Japan in the 6th century, it was introduced in the year 538 or 552 from the kingdom of Baekje in Korea, the Baekje king sent the Japanese emperor a picture of the Buddha and some sutras
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Buddhism in Japan
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Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since its official introduction in 552 AD according to the Nihon Shoki from Baekje, Korea by Buddhist monks. Though some Chinese sources place the first spreading of the religion earlier during the Kofun period, Buddhism has had a major influence on the development of Japanese society and remains an influential aspect of the culture to this day. In modern times, Japans most popular schools of Buddhism are Pure Land Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon Buddhism, as of 2008 approximately 34% of the Japanese identify as Buddhists and the number has been growing since the 1980s. In 2009, a survey showed that over half the Japanese families had a butsudan or Buddhist altar in their homes. In 2009 data from the Agency of Cultural Affairs stated that there were 89 million Buddhists in Japan, in 2011, after the Tsunami, it was reported that 90% of the Japanese identified as Buddhist or Shinto or a combination of both. In 2013, official said there were over 87 million Buddhists in Japan. The arrival of Buddhism in Japan is ultimately a consequence of the first contacts between China and Central Asia, where Buddhism had spread from the Indian subcontinent. These contacts occurred with the opening of the Silk Road in the 2nd century BC and these contacts culminated with the official introduction of Buddhism in China in 67 CE. Historians generally agree that by the middle of the 1st century, according to the Book of Liang, which was written in 635, five Buddhist monks from Gandhara traveled to Japan in 467. In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion and they propagated Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish worldly attachments. As a result the customs of Fusang changed, the powerful Soga clan played a key role in the early spread of Buddhism in the country. Initial uptake of the new faith was slow, and Buddhism only started to spread some years later when Empress Suiko openly encouraged the acceptance of Buddhism among all Japanese people. On January 15,593, Soga no Umako ordered relics of Buddha deposited inside the stone under the pillar of a pagoda at Asuka-dera. In 607, in order to obtain copies of sutras, an envoy was dispatched to Sui China. As time progressed and the number of Buddhist clergy increased, the offices of Sōjō, by 627, there were 46 Buddhist temples,816 Buddhist priests, and 569 Buddhist nuns in Japan. These were not exclusive schools, and temples were apt to have scholars versed in several of the schools and it has been suggested that they can best be thought of as study groups. This kind of Buddhism had little to offer the illiterate and uneducated masses and their practice was a combination of Buddhist and Daoist elements and the incorporation of shamanistic features of indigenous practices. Some of these figures became popular, and were a source of criticism towards the sophisticated academic and bureaucratic Buddhism of the capital
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Christianity in Japan
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Christianity in Japan is among the nations minority religions. Around 1 percent of the population claims Christian belief or affiliation, most large Christian denominations, including Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodox Christianity, are represented in Japan today. Japan remains one of the most secular nations in the according to the World Values Survey. While there may be up to 3 million Japanese Christians, Christianity in Japan is spread among many denominational affiliations,70 percent of Japanese churches have an average attendance of less than 30, though membership is often double this figure. Except in Japans minority Christian communities, Easter is not typically marked by any form of celebration. Christmas in Japan is celebrated on a larger scale as a commercial and secular festival. Rather than being a family or religious occasion, Christmas is seen as a time to spend with friends or a significant other, Christmas Eve is celebrated as a couples holiday on which romantic gifts are exchanged. It is not as common for couples to go out on dates together, christian-style weddings have become prominent as an alternative to traditional Shinto ceremonies. Architecturally resembling churches, wedding chapels have sprung up across Japan, black gospel music has had an enthusiastic reception in Japan. Stylistic elements from this genre are employed in many J-pop songs, Catholicism in Japan exists in communion with the worldwide Roman Catholic Church under the authority of the Pope in Rome. Presently there are about 509,000 Catholics in 16 dioceses in Japan, the patron saints of Japan are Francis Xavier and Peter Baptist. Christianity was proclaimed initially by the Society of Jesus, joined later on by the less cautious Franciscan order, in 1570 there were 20 Catholic missionaries in Japan. Nagasaki became the center of Japanese Catholicism, and maintained close cultural, a multitude of Japanese Catholics were brutally tortured and killed for their faith, thus becoming martyrs. Many of these martyrs have been canonized, and their memorial is celebrated by each year on February 6 in honor of their fidelity to Christ. Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki, and other places, Hepburn went to Japan initially as a medical missionary with the American Presbyterian Mission opening a clinic in Kanagawa Prefecture, near present-day Tokyo. He later founded the Hepburn School, which developed into Meiji Gakuin University, in the dictionarys third edition, published in 1886, Hepburn adopted a new system for romanization of the Japanese language. This system is known as Hepburn romanization because Hepburns dictionary popularized it. Hepburn also contributed to the Protestant translation of the Bible into Japanese, Hepburn returned to the United States in 1892
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Japanese new religions
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Japanese new religions are new religious movements established in Japan. In Japanese they are called shinshūkyō or shinkō shūkyō, Japanese scholars classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as new religions, thus, the term refers to a great diversity and number of organizations. Most came into being in the twentieth century and are influenced by much older traditional religions including Shinto, Buddhism. Western influences include Christianity, the Bible and the writings of Nostradamus, in the 1860s Japan began to experience great social turmoil and rapid modernization. As social conflicts emerged in this last decade of the Edo period, known as the Bakumatsu period, among them were Tenrikyo, Kurozumikyo and Oomoto, sometimes called Nihon Sandai Shinkōshūkyō, which were directly influenced by Shinto and shamanism. The social tension continued to grow during the Meiji period, affecting religious practices, conversion from traditional faith was no longer legally forbidden, officials lifted the 250-year ban on Christianity, and missionaries of established Christian churches reentered Japan. The traditional syncreticism between Shinto and Buddhism ended and Shinto became the national religion, the Japanese government was very suspicious towards these religious movements and periodically made attempts to suppress them. After Japan lost World War II, its government and policy changed radically during occupation by Allied troops, the official status of State Shinto was abolished, and Shinto shrines became religious organizations, losing government protection and financial support. Although the Occupation Army practiced censorship of all types of organizations, GHQ invited many Christian missionaries from the United States to Japan, through Douglas MacArthurs famous call for 1,000 missionaries. Missionaries arrived not only from traditional churches, but also some modern denominations. The Jehovahs Witnesses missionaries were so successful that they have become the second largest Christian denomination in Japan, despite the influx of Christian missionaries, the majority of Shinshūkyō are Buddhist- or Shinto-related sects. Major sects include Risshō Kōsei Kai and Shinnyo-en, major goals of Shinshūkyō include spiritual healing, individual prosperity, and social harmony. Many also hold a belief in Apocalypticism, that is in the imminent end of the world or at least its radical transformation, most of those who joined Shinshūkyō in this period were women from lower-middle-class backgrounds. Soka Gakkai has an influence to politics since 1964, thanks to their affiliated party Komeito. In 1999, it was estimated that 10 to 20 per cent of the Japanese population were members of a Shinshūkyō, after World War II, the structure of the state was changed radically. Prior to WWII, the National Diet was restricted and the power lay with the executive branch. Under the new Constitution of Japan, the Diet had the authority for decision making in state affairs. Major Shinshūkyō became one of the so-called vote-gathering machines in Japan, in the 1950s, Japanese wives of American servicemen introduced the Soka Gakkai to the United States, which in the 1970s developed into the Soka Gakkai International
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Shinto
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Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified Shinto religion, practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian periods. The word Shinto was adopted, originally as Jindō or Shindō, from the written Chinese Shendao, the oldest recorded usage of the word Shindo is from the second half of the 6th century. Kami are defined in English as spirits, essences or gods, Kami and people are not separate, they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity. Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, Shinto has 81,000 shrines and 85,000 priests in the country. According to Inoue, In modern scholarship, the term is used with reference to kami worship and related theologies, rituals. In these contexts, Shinto takes on the meaning of Japans traditional religion, as opposed to religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Shinto religious expressions have been distinguished by scholars into a series of categories, Shrine Shinto and it consists in taking part in worship practices and events at local shrines. Before the Meiji Restoration, shrines were disorganized institutions usually attached to Buddhist temples, the current successor to the imperial organization system, the Association of Shinto Shrines, oversees about 80,000 shrines nationwide. Folk Shinto includes the folk beliefs in deities and spirits. Practices include divination, spirit possession, and shamanic healing, some of their practices come from Buddhism, Taoism or Confucianism, but most come from ancient local traditions. Sect Shinto is a designation originally created in the 1890s to separate government-owned shrines from local organised religious communities. These communities originated especially in the Edo period, the basic difference between Shrine Shinto and Sect Shinto is that sects are a later development and grew self-consciously. They can identify a founder, a set of teachings. Sect Shinto groups are thirteen, and usually classified under five headings, pure Shinto sects, Confucian sects, mountain worship sects, purification sects, and faith-healing sects. Koshintō, literally Old Shinto, is a reconstructed Shinto from before the time of Buddhism, today based on Ainu religion and it continues the restoration movement begun by Hirata Atsutane. Many other sects and schools can be distinguished, Kami or shin is defined in English as god, spirit, spiritual essence, all these terms meaning the energy generating a thing. Since the Japanese language does not distinguish between singular and plural, kami refers to the divinity, or sacred essence, that manifests in multiple forms, rocks, trees, rivers, animals, places, and even people can be said to possess the nature of kami
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Japanese art
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It has a long history, ranging from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present. Japan has been subject to invasions of new and strange ideas followed by long periods of minimal contact with the outside world. Over time the Japanese developed the ability to absorb, imitate, the earliest complex art in Japan was produced in the 7th and 8th centuries in connection with. After the Ōnin War, Japan entered a period of political, social, in the state that emerged under the leadership of the Tokugawa shogunate, organized religion played a much less important role in peoples lives, and the arts that survived were primarily secular. Painting is the artistic expression in Japan, practiced by amateurs. Until modern times, the Japanese wrote with a rather than a pen. With the rise of popular culture in the Edo period, a style of woodblock prints became a major form, Japanese ceramics are among the finest in the world and include the earliest known artifacts of their culture. In architecture, Japanese preferences for natural materials and an interaction of interior and exterior space are clearly expressed and they built simple houses of wood and thatch set into shallow earthen pits to provide warmth from the soil. They crafted lavishly decorated pottery vessels, clay figurines called dogū. The next wave of immigrants was the Yayoi people, named for the district in Tokyo where remnants of their settlements first were found. These people, arriving in Japan about 350 BC, brought their knowledge of rice cultivation, the manufacture of copper weapons and bronze bells. The third stage in Japanese prehistory, the Kofun period, represents a modification of Yayoi culture, the period is named for the large number of kofun megalithic tombs created during this period. In this period, diverse groups of people formed political alliances, typical artifacts are bronze mirrors, symbols of political alliances, and clay sculptures called haniwa which were erected outside tombs. The transmission of Buddhism provided the impetus for contacts between China, Korea and Japan. Throughout the 7th and 8th centuries, however, the focus in contacts between Japan and the Asian continent was the development of Buddhism. The most common designations are the Suiko period, 552–645, the Hakuhō period, 645–710, the earliest Japanese sculptures of the Buddha are dated to the 6th and 7th century. After the Chinese Northern Wei buddhist art had infiltrated a Korean peninsula, many historians portray Korea as a mere transmitter of Buddhism. The Three Kingdoms, and particularly Baekje, were instrumental as active agents in the introduction and formation of a Buddhist tradition in Japan in 538 or 552 and they illustrate the terminal point of the Silk Road transmission of art during the first few centuries of our era
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Ikebana
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Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as kadō. The tradition dates back to the 7th century when floral offerings were made at altars, later they were placed in the tokonoma alcove of a home. Ikebana reached its first zenith in the 16th century under the influence of Buddhist teamasters and has grown over the centuries, with over 1000 different schools in Japan, the best known schools are Ikenobo, Ohara-ryū, and Sōgetsu-ryū. Kadō is counted as one of the three classical Japanese arts of refinement, along with kōdō for incense appreciation and chadō for tea, Ikebana is from the Japanese ikeru and hana. Possible translations include giving life to flowers and arranging flowers, more than simply putting flowers in a container, ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Though ikebana is an expression of creativity, certain rules govern its form, the artists intention behind each arrangement is shown through a pieces color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the implied meaning of the arrangement. Another common but not exclusive aspect present in ikebana is its employment of minimalism, some arrangements may consist of only a minimal number of blooms interspersed among stalks and leaves. Use of these terms is limited to schools and is not customary in more traditional schools. A notable exception is the traditional form, which follows other precepts. The container can be a key element of the composition, in some schools the container is only regarded as a vessel to hold water and should be subordinate to the arrangement. The spiritual aspect of ikebana is considered important to its practitioners. Some practitioners feel silence is needed while making ikebana while others feel this is not necessary and it is a time to appreciate things in nature that people often overlook because of their busy lives. One becomes more patient and tolerant of differences, not only in nature, Ikebana can inspire one to identify with beauty in all art forms. This is also the time when one feels closeness to nature, which provides relaxation for the mind, body, during ancient times, offering flowers on the altar in honor of Buddha was part of worship. Ikebana evolved from the Buddhist practice of flower offerings combined with the Shinto Yorishiro belief of attracting kami by using evergreen materials, together they form the basis for the original purely Japanese derivation of the practice of ikebana. As time passed, other schools emerged, styles changed, hundreds of schools and styles have developed throughout the centuries. Amongst the most notable are, Ikenobō, which goes back to the Heian period, is considered the oldest school and this school marks its beginnings from the construction of the Chōhō-ji in Kyoto, the second oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. It was built in 587 by Prince Shotoku, who had camped near a lake in what is now central Kyoto
22.
Bonsai
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Bonsai is a Japanese art form using trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, the Japanese tradition dates back over a thousand years. Bonsai is a Japanese pronunciation of the earlier Chinese term penzai, the word bonsai is often used in English as an umbrella term for all miniature trees in containers or pots. The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation and the pleasant exercise of effort, by contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food or for medicine. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more trees growing in a container. A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material and this may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as leaves or needles. The source specimen is shaped to be small and to meet the aesthetic standards of bonsai. When the candidate bonsai nears its planned final size it is planted in a pot, usually one designed for bonsai display in one of a few accepted shapes. From that point forward, its growth is restricted by the pot environment, throughout the year, the bonsai is shaped to limit growth, redistribute foliar vigor to areas requiring further development, and meet the artists detailed design. Bonsai does not require genetically dwarfed trees, but rather depends on growing trees from regular stock. Bonsai uses cultivation techniques like pruning, root reduction, potting, defoliation, the Japanese art of bonsai originated from the Chinese practice of penjing. From the 6th century onward, Imperial embassy personnel and Buddhist students from Japan visited and returned from mainland China and they brought back many Chinese ideas and goods, including container plantings. Over time, these container plantings began to appear in Japanese writings, in the medieval period, recognizable bonsai were portrayed in handscroll paintings like the Ippen shonin eden. The 1195 scroll Saigyo Monogatari Emaki was the earliest known to depict dwarfed potted trees in Japan, wooden tray and dish-like pots with dwarf landscapes on modern-looking wooden shelves also appear in the 1309 Kasuga-gongen-genki scroll. In 1351, dwarf trees displayed on short poles were portrayed in the Boki Ekotoba scroll, several other scrolls and paintings also included depictions of these kinds of trees. A close relationship between Japans Zen Buddhism and the trees began to shape bonsai reputation and esthetics. In this period, Chinese Chan Buddhist monks taught at Japans monasteries, one of the monks activities was to introduce political leaders to various arts of miniature landscapes as admirable accomplishments for men of taste and learning
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Japanese garden
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Japanese gardens are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetic and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Ancient Japanese art inspired past garden designers, by the Edo period, the Japanese garden had its own distinct appearance. The idea of unique gardens began during the Asuka period. Japanese merchants witnessed the gardens that were being built in China, today, the tradition of Japanese garden art is still popular around the world, with many eastern and western practitioners expressing themselves through the medium. Japanese gardens first appeared on the island of Honshu, the central island of Japan. Japanese gardens have their roots in the Japanese religion of Shinto, with its story of the creation of eight islands, and of the shinchi. Prehistoric Shinto shrines to the kami, the gods and spirits, are found on beaches, prehistoric shrines often took the form of unusual rocks or trees marked with cords of rice fiber and surrounded with white stones or pebbles, a symbol of purity. The white gravel courtyard became a feature of Shinto shrines, Imperial Palaces, Buddhist temples. Japanese gardens were strongly influenced by the Chinese philosophy of Daoism and Amida Buddhism. Daoist legends spoke of five mountainous islands inhabited by the Eight Immortals, each Immortal flew from his mountain home on the back of a crane. The islands themselves were located on the back of a sea turtle. In Japan, the five islands of the Chinese legend became one island, called Horai-zen, replicas of this legendary mountain, the symbol of a perfect world, are a common feature of Japanese gardens, as are rocks representing turtles and cranes. The earliest recorded Japanese gardens were the gardens of the Japanese Emperors. They are mentioned in several passages of the Nihon Shoki. In the spring of the year 74 AD, the chronicle recorded, The Emperor Keikō put a few carp into a pond, and rejoiced to see them morning and evening. The following year, The Emperor launched a boat in the pond of Ijishi at Ihare, and went aboard with his imperial concubine. And in 486, The Emperor Kenzō went into the garden, the Chinese garden had a very strong influence on early Japanese gardens. In or around 552 AD, Buddhism was officially installed from China, via Korea, between 600 and 612, the Japanese Emperor sent four legations to the Court of the Chinese Sui Dynasty
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Japanese pottery and porcelain
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Japanese pottery and porcelain, is one of the countrys oldest art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Kilns have produced earthenware, pottery, stoneware, glazed pottery, glazed stoneware, porcelain, Japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of ceramic production. Earthenwares were created as early as the Jōmon period, giving Japan one of the oldest ceramic traditions in the world, Japan is further distinguished by the unusual esteem that ceramics holds within its artistic tradition, owing to the enduring popularity of the tea ceremony. Japanese ceramic history records distinguished many potter names, and some were artist-potters, e. g. Honami Koetsu, Ogata Kenzan, Japanese anagama kilns also have flourished through the ages, and their influence weighs with that of the potters. Another characteristically Japanese aspect of the art is the popularity of unglazed high-fired stoneware even after porcelain became popular. Since the 4th century, Japanese ceramics have often influenced by Chinese. Japan transformed and translated the Chinese and Korean prototypes into a uniquely Japanese creation, since the mid-17th century when Japan started to industrialize, high-quality standard wares produced in factories became popular exports to Europe. In the 20th century, a modern ceramics industry grew up, Japanese pottery is distinguished by two polarised aesthetic traditions. On the one hand, there is a tradition of simple and roughly finished pottery, mostly in earthenware. This relates to Zen Buddhism and many of the greatest masters were priests, many pieces are also related to the Japanese tea ceremony and embody the aesthetic principles of wabi-sabi. Most raku ware, where the decoration is partly random, is in this tradition. The other tradition is of highly finished and brightly coloured factory wares, mostly in porcelain, with complex and balanced decoration, a third tradition, of simple but perfectly formed and glazed stonewares, also relates more closely to both Chinese and Korean traditions. In the Neolithic period, the earliest soft earthenware was made, during the early Jōmon period in the 6th millennium BCE typical coil-made ware appeared, decorated with hand-impressed rope patterns. Jōmon pottery developed a flamboyant style at its height and was simplified in the later Jōmon period, the pottery was formed by coiling clay ropes and fired in an open fire. In about 4th–3rd century BCE Yayoi period, Yayoi pottery appeared which was another style of earthenware characterised by a pattern or no pattern. Jōmon, Yayoi, and later Haji ware shared the firing process but had different styles of design. In the 3rd to 4th centuries AD, the kiln, a roofed-tunnel kiln on a hillside. Its manufacture began in the 5th century AD and continued in outlying areas until the 14th century, although several regional variations have been identified, Sue was remarkably homogeneous throughout Japan
25.
Japanese literature
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Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the Diffusion of Buddhism in Japan, since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each other and continue to do so. Before the introduction of kanji from China, Japanese had no writing system and it is believed that Chinese characters came to Japan at the very beginning of the fifth century, brought by immigrants from the mainland of Korean and Chinese descent. Chinese characters were further adapted, creating what is known as manyōgana. The earliest literary works in Japan were created in the Nara period, one of the stories they describe is the tale of Urashima Tarō. The Heian period has been referred to as the era of art. During this era, literature became centered on an elite of nobility. The imperial court patronized the poets, most of whom were courtiers or ladies-in-waiting. Reflecting the aristocratic atmosphere, the poetry was elegant and sophisticated and expressed emotions in a rhetorical style, editing the resulting anthologies of poetry soon became a national pastime. The iroha poem, now one of two standard orderings for the Japanese syllabary, was developed during the early Heian period. Genji Monogatari written in the early 11th century by a woman named Murasaki Shikibu is considered the pre-eminent masterpiece of Heian fiction, other important writings of this period include the Kokin Wakashū, a waka-poetry anthology, and Makura no Sōshi. The Pillow Book was written by Sei Shōnagon, Murasaki Shikibus contemporary and rival, as an essay about the life, loves, another notable piece of fictional Japanese literature was Konjaku Monogatarishū, a collection of over a thousand stories in 31 volumes. The volumes cover various tales from India, China and Japan, the 10th-century Japanese narrative, Taketori Monogatari, can be considered an early example of proto-science fiction. The protagonist of the story, Kaguya-hime, is a princess from the Moon who is sent to Earth for safety during a celestial war and she is later taken back to her extraterrestrial family in an illustrated depiction of a disc-shaped flying object similar to a flying saucer. During the Kamakura period, Japan experienced many civil wars led to the development of a warrior class, and subsequent war tales, histories. Work from this period is notable for its more sombre tone compared to the works of previous eras, with themes of life and death, simple lifestyles, and redemption through killing. A representative work is Heike monogatari, an account of the struggle between the Minamoto and Taira clans for control of Japan at the end of the twelfth century. Other important tales of the period include Kamo no Chōmeis Hōjōki, despite a decline in the importance of the imperial court, aristocratic literature remained the center of Japanese culture in the beginning of the Kamakura period
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Manga
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Manga are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art, the term manga in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. Manga as a term used outside Japan refers to comics published in Japan. In Japan, people of all ages read manga, many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a ¥406 billion market in Japan in 2007. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience, in Europe and the Middle East the market was worth $250 million in 2012. In 2008, in the U. S. and Canada, the market was valued at $175 million, the markets in France. Manga stories are printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist. In Japan, manga are usually serialized in manga magazines, often containing many stories. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively, a manga artist typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films. Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in parts of the world, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. The word manga comes from the Japanese word 漫画, composed of the two kanji 漫 meaning whimsical or impromptu and 画 meaning pictures, rakuten Kitazawa first used the word manga in the modern sense. In Japanese, manga refers to all kinds of cartooning, comics, among English speakers, manga has the stricter meaning of Japanese comics, in parallel to the usage of anime in and outside Japan. The term ani-manga is used to describe comics produced from animation cels, writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern manga. One view emphasizes events occurring during and after the U. S, occupation of Japan, and stresses U. S. cultural influences, including U. S. comics and images and themes from U. S. television, film, and cartoons. Regardless of its source, an explosion of artistic creativity certainly occurred in the period, involving manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka. Astro Boy quickly became popular in Japan and elsewhere
27.
Japanese poetry
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Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang dynasty. For example, in the Tale of Genji both kanshi and waka are frequently mentioned, since the middle of the 19th century, the major forms of Japanese poetry have been tanka, haiku and shi or western-style poetry. Today, the forms of Japanese poetry include both experimental poetry and poetry that seeks to revive traditional ways. Poets writing in tanka, haiku and shi may seldom write poetry other than in their specific chosen form, although some active poets are eager to collaborate with poets in other genres. Also, much of Japanese poetry features short verse forms, often collaborative, older forms of Japanese poetry include kanshi, which shows a strong influence from Chinese literature and culture. Kanshi literally means Han poetry and it is the Japanese term for Chinese poetry in general as well as the written in Chinese by Japanese poets. Kanshi from the early Heian period exists in the Kaifūsō anthology, Waka are composed in Japanese, and are contrasted with poetry composed by Japanese poets in Classical Chinese, which are known as kanshi. The Manyōshū anthology preserves from the eighth century 265 chōka,4,207 tanka, one tan-renga, one bussokusekika, four kanshi, and 22 Chinese prose passages. However, by the time of the tenth century Kokinshū anthology, waka had become the term used for short poems of the tanka form. Tanka are poems written in Japanese with five lines having a 5-7-5-7-7 metre, the tanka form has shown some modern revival in popularity. As previously stated, it used to be called waka, much traditional Japanese poetry was written as the result of a process of 2 or more poets contributing verses to a larger whole piece, such as in the case of the renga form. Typically, the honored guest would begin by composing a few beginning lines and this initial sally would be followed by a stanza composed by the host. This process could continue, sometimes with many composed by numerous other guests. Other collaborative forms of Japanese poetry also evolved, such as the renku form, haiku are a short, 3-line verse form, which have achieved significant global popularity, and the haiku form has been adapted from Japanese into other languages. Typical of the form is the metrical pattern of 3 lines with a distribution of 5,7. Other features include the juxtaposition of two images or ideas with a kireji between them, and a kigo, or seasonal reference, usually drawn from a saijiki, much of Japanese poetry has been transmitted historically through published anthologies, many of them with imperial patronage. Important collections are the Manyōshū, Kokin Wakashū, Shin Kokin Wakashū, the history of Japanese poetry is tied to the history of Japanese literature, that is in the purely historical sense of having extant written records. However, the early pre-history and mythology of Japan involve or include some references to poetry, and, the earliest preserved works in the Japanese language also preserve some previous poetry from this earlier period
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Music of Japan
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The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽, combining the kanji 音 on with the kanji 楽 gaku, local music often appears at karaoke venues, which is on lease from the record labels. Traditional Japanese music is different from Western music as it is often based on the intervals of human breathing rather than mathematical timing. There are two forms of music recognized to be the oldest forms of traditional Japanese music and they are shōmyō, or Buddhist chanting, and gagaku or orchestral court music, both of which date to the Nara and Heian periods. Gagaku is a type of music that has been performed at the Imperial court since the Heian period. Kagura-uta, Azuma-asobi and Yamato-uta are indigenous repertories, tōgaku and komagaku originated from the Chinese Tang dynasty via the Korean peninsula. In addition, gagaku is divided into kangen and bugaku, originating as early as the 13th century are honkyoku. These are single shakuhachi pieces played by mendicant Fuke sect priests of Zen buddhism and these priests, called komusō, played honkyoku for alms and enlightenment. The Fuke sect ceased to exist in the 19th century, but a verbal and written lineage of many honkyoku continues today, the samurai often listened to and performed in these music activities, in their practices of enriching their lives and understanding. The biwa, a form of short-necked lute, was played by a group of itinerant performers who used it to accompany stories, the most famous of these stories is The Tale of the Heike, a 12th-century history of the triumph of the Minamoto clan over the Taira. Biwa hōshi began organizing themselves into an association for visually impaired men as early as the thirteenth century. This guild eventually controlled a portion of the musical culture of Japan. In addition, numerous groups of itinerant blind musicians were formed especially in the Kyushu area. These musicians, known as mōsō toured their local areas and performed a variety of religious and semi-religious texts to purify households and bring good health. They also maintained a repertory of secular genres, the biwa that they played was considerably smaller than the Heike biwa played by the biwa hōshi. From the seventeenth century they played the koto or the shamisen. Goze organizations sprung up throughout the land, and existed until recently in what is today Niigata prefecture, the taiko, is a Japanese drum that comes in various sizes and is used to play a variety of musical genres. It has become popular in recent years as the central instrument of percussion ensembles whose repertory is based on a variety of folk
29.
Theatre of Japan
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Traditional Japanese theatre includes Kabuki, Noh and the puppet theatre, Bunraku. The early existing Kyogen scripts date from the 15th century, Kyogen was used as an intermission between Noh acts—it linked the theme of the Noh play with the modern world by means of farce and slapstick. Noh played to the high class, but there were occasions where Noh was performed for common audiences. Unlike Noh, the performers of Kyogen do not wear masks, although they were both very popular forms of theatre, commoners were often in higher attendance for Kyogen performances. Both men and women were allowed to perform Kyogen until 1430, the best known form of Japanese theatre is Kabuki. It combines music, drama, and dance and its fame comes from the wild costumes and sword fights employed in this form. Kabuki grew out of opposition to Noh — dramatists wanted to shock the audience with more lively and timely stories and it is told to have been first performed by Okunis in 1603. Like Noh, however, Kabuki also became a stylized, regimented art form and is performed in the same fashion. Whether or not they represent traditional kabuki, however, remains a matter of debate, puppets and Bunraku were used in Japanese theatre as early as the Noh plays. Medieval records prove the use of puppets actually in Noh plays, the puppets were 3- to 4-foot-tall dolls manipulated by puppeteers in full view of the audience. The puppeteers controlling the legs and hands are dressed entirely in black, music and chanting is a popular convention of bunraku, and the shamisen player is usually considered to be the leader of the production. Hōgetsu Shimamura and Kaoru Osanai were two figures influential in the development of shingeki, in the postwar period, there was a phenomenal growth in creative new dramatic works, which introduced fresh aesthetic concepts that revolutionized the orthodox modern theatre. Plots became increasingly complex, with play-within-a-play sequences, moving back and forth in time. Dramatic structure was fragmented, with the focus on the performer, playwrights returned to common stage devices perfected in Noh and Kabuki to project their ideas, such as employing a narrator, who could also use English for international audiences. Major playwrights in the 1980s were Kara Juro, Shimizu Kunio, in the 1980s, stagecraft was refined into a more sophisticated, complex format than in the earlier postwar experiments but lacked their bold critical spirit. The 1980s also encouraged the creation of the Sho-Gekijo, literally little theatre and this usually meant amateur theatrical troupes making plays designed to be seen by anyone and everyone — not necessarily as meaningful in nature as they were simply entertaining. Some of the more philosophical playwrights and directors of that time are Noda Hideki, popular sho-gekijo theatrical troupes include Nylon 100, Gekidan Shinkansen, Tokyo Sunshine Boys, and Halaholo Shangrila. Recently, new generation of Sho-Gekijo artists who are labeled as the Generation of the Lost Decade or the Generation of 2000s are emerging, principal artists among this generation are, Toshiki Okada, Shiro Maeda, Kuro Tanino, Daisuke Miura, Tomohiro Maekawa and so on
30.
Cinema of Japan
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The cinema of Japan has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world, as of 2010, in 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that earned 54. 9% of a box office total of US$2.338 billion. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived, in a Sight & Sound list of the best films produced in Asia, Japanese works made up eight of the top 12, with Tokyo Story ranked number one. Japan has won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film four times, the kinetoscope, first shown commercially by Thomas Edison in the United States in 1894, was first shown in Japan in November 1896. The Vitascope and the Lumière Brothers Cinematograph were first presented in Japan in early 1897, Lumière cameramen were the first to shoot films in Japan. Moving pictures, however, were not a new experience for the Japanese because of their rich tradition of pre-cinematic devices such as gentō or the magic lantern. The first successful Japanese film in late 1897 showed sights in Tokyo, in 1898 some ghost films were made, the Shirō Asano shorts Bake Jizo and Shinin no sosei. The first documentary, the short Geisha no teodori, was made in June 1899, tsunekichi Shibata made a number of early films, including Momijigari, an 1899 record of two famous actors performing a scene from a well-known kabuki play. Early films were influenced by traditional theater – for example, kabuki, at the dawn of the twentieth century theaters in Japan hired benshi, storytellers who sat next to the screen and narrated silent movies. They were descendants of kabuki jōruri, kōdan storytellers, theater barkers, Benshi could be accompanied by music like silent films from cinema of the West. With the advent of sound in the early 1930s, the benshi gradually disappeared, in 1908, Shōzō Makino, considered the pioneering director of Japanese film, began his influential career with Honnōji gassen, produced for Yokota Shōkai. Shōzō recruited Matsunosuke Onoe, a kabuki actor, to star in his productions. Onoe became Japans first film star, appearing in over 1,000 films, mostly shorts, the pair pioneered the jidaigeki genre. Tokihiko Okada was a romantic lead of the same era. Among intellectuals, critiques of Japanese cinema grew in the 1910s, in what was later named the Pure Film Movement, writers in magazines such as Kinema Record called for a broader use of such cinematic techniques. Some of these critics, such as Norimasa Kaeriyama, went on to put their ideas into practice by directing such films as The Glow of Life, there were parallel efforts elsewhere in the film industry. In his 1917 film The Captains Daughter, Masao Inoue started using techniques new to the silent film era, such as the close-up, the Pure Film Movement was central in the development of the gendaigeki and scriptwriting. New studios established around 1920, such as Shochiku and Taikatsu, at Taikatsu, Thomas Kurihara directed films scripted by the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, who was a strong advocate of film reform
31.
Japanese mobile phone culture
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In Japan, mobile phones have become ubiquitous. In Japanese, mobile phones are called keitai denwa, literally portable telephones, much of the Japanese population own cellular phones, most of which are equipped with enhancements such as video and camera capabilities. As of May 2008,31. 3% of elementary school students and this pervasiveness and the particularities of their usage has led to the development of a mobile phone culture, or keitai culture. Japan was leading in mobile phone technology, technologies like 3G Mobile Broadband are also marketed in Japan before any other country. These functionalities include, E-money service and various functions through Untouched IC card Various services with NTT DoCoMo’s ‘Osaifu-Keitai ’ E-money service e. g. Most phones can be connected to the Internet through services such as i-mode, Japan was also the first to launch 3G services on a large scale. Users can browse text-only Internet sites, and many Japanese sites have sub-sites designed especially for cellular phone users, one of the most popular services allows users to check train schedules and plan trips on public transit. Some mobile phones are waterproof, even in the high-specifications segment and this has since led to the term Gala-phone to refer to Japanese feature phones, by contrast with newer smart phones. There is some overlap of market segments between low-end smart phones and high-end feature phones, and many shared features. PHS, which was developed as a cheaper alternative to 2G networks such as CDMA and GSM, was initially deployed in 1995. As elsewhere in the world, smart phones have been growing extremely quickly, the use of mobile phones on public transport is frowned upon, and messages asking passengers not to make calls and to switch their phones to silent mode are played frequently. For example, \ may be attached at the end of a sentence to show that they are not happy about the event described, a sentence like I have a test today\ might mean that he or she didnt study enough, or that the test itself is depressing. Some of these disappeared as suitable icons were made but these newly made icons also acquired a usage not originally intended. Another example deals with the symbol for Libra. It resembles a cooked and puffed mochi, and is used in a happy new years message as mochi are often eaten then. The symbol for Aquarius resembles waves, so this would be used to mean sea, the number of icons gradually increased and they are now coloured on most cell phones, to make them more distinct. ASCII art is used widely and many of them are faces with expression. One very distinct form of writing is called gyaru-moji, for example, lt wouldnt correspond to the Latin characters L and t but instead it would correspond to the hiragana, け
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Anime
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Anime is Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation. The word is the pronunciation of animation in Japanese, where this term references all animation. Arguably, the abstract approach to the words meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. For simplicity, many Westerners strictly view anime as a Japanese animation product, some scholars suggest defining anime as specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of orientalism. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917, and Japanese anime production has continued to increase steadily. Anime is distributed theatrically, by way of television broadcasts, directly to home media and it is classified into numerous genres targeting diverse broad and niche audiences. Anime is an art form with distinctive production methods and techniques that have been adapted over time in response to emergent technologies. It consists of an ideal story-telling mechanism, combining art, characterization, cinematography. The production of anime focuses less on the animation of movement and more on the realism of settings as well as the use of effects, including panning, zooming. Being hand-drawn, anime is separated from reality by a gap of fiction that provides an ideal path for escapism that audiences can immerse themselves into with relative ease. Diverse art styles are used and character proportions and features can be quite varied, the anime industry consists of over 430 production studios, including major names like Studio Ghibli, Gainax, and Toei Animation. Despite comprising only a fraction of Japans domestic film market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD sales and it has also seen international success after the rise of English-dubbed programming. This rise in popularity has resulted in non-Japanese productions using the anime art style. Anime is an art form, specifically animation, that all genres found in cinema. In Japanese, the term refers to all forms of animation from around the world. In English, anime is more used to denote a Japanese-style animated film or television entertainment or as a style of animation created in Japan. The etymology of the anime is disputed. The English term animation is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション and is アニメ in its shortened form, in English, anime—when used as a common noun—normally functions as a mass noun
33.
Sport in Japan
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Sports in Japan are a significant part of Japanese culture. Both traditional sports such as sumo and martial arts, and Western imports like baseball, Sumo wrestling is considered Japans national sport. Baseball was introduced to the country by visiting Americans in the 19th century, the Nippon Professional Baseball league is Japans largest professional sports competition in terms of television ratings and spectators. Martial arts such as judo, karate and modern kendō are also practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country. Association football has gained popularity since the founding of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992. Other popular sports include figure skating, rugby union, golf and racing, Sumo shows an important side of traditional Japanese sport, a religious occasion as well as a sporting event. Many sumo rituals are associated with Shinto belief. The Kamakura period was a point for many martial arts. Kyūdō became popular as kyujutsu, literally bow skill, as a pastime for samurai, yabusame also started as a sport in this period, but is now considered a sacred ceremony. In the Edo period, sports became a way to spend time. The only problem was that they were accompanied by gambling. A notice to punish playing and betting on sumo without authorization was repeatedly posted to little effect, kyūdō was encouraged by shoguns and daimyōs as a pastime, and contests as well as record making attempts were held. On April 26,1686, a samurai named Wasa Daihachiro competing in the Tōshiya made a record of shooting 13,053 arrows. This is even more remarkable when one considers the shooting range for this attempt, in the Olympic Games, archers shoot over a distance of only 70 meters. Martial arts like jujutsu were popular but schools avoided inter-school matches, after the Meiji Restoration, various kinds of Western sports were introduced into Japan. Playing sports was adopted as an activity and matches between universities became popular. During the 1870s, track and field events, baseball, football, rugby union, cricket, in 1911, an Austrian gave skiing instruction to the Japanese army. In those days, Western sports were played by few people, Western sports were initially stressed as a form of mental discipline, but Japanese have now come to enjoy them as recreational activities
34.
Japanese martial arts
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Japanese martial arts refer to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts, the terms bujutsu and bugei have more discrete definitions, at least historically speaking. Bujutsu refers specifically to the application of martial tactics and techniques in actual combat. Bugei refers to the adaptation or refinement of tactics and techniques to facilitate systematic instruction and dissemination within a formal learning environment. The historical origin of Japanese martial arts can be found in the traditions of the samurai. Originally, samurai were expected to be proficient in many weapons, as well as unarmed combat, ordinarily, the development of combative techniques is intertwined with the tools used to execute those techniques. In a rapidly changing world, those tools are constantly changing, requiring that the techniques to use them be continuously reinvented, the history of Japan is somewhat unusual in its relative isolation. Compared with the rest of the world, the Japanese tools of war evolved slowly, many people believe that this afforded the warrior class the opportunity to study their weapons with greater depth than other cultures. Nevertheless, the teaching and training of martial arts did evolve. Another trend that developed throughout Japanese history was that of increasing martial specialization as society became more stratified over time, the martial arts developed or originating in Japan are extraordinarily diverse, with vast differences in training tools, methods, and philosophy across innumerable schools and styles. That said, Japanese martial arts may generally be divided into koryū and gendai budō based on whether they existed prior to or after the Meiji Restoration, respectively. Since gendai budō and koryū often share the historical origin. In modern usage, bujutsu, meaning military art/science, is typified by its application of technique to real-world or battlefield situations. The term also is used generally to indicate that a style or art is traditional. However, what it means for an art to be traditional or modern is subject to some debate. As a rule of thumb, the purpose of a koryū martial art was for use in war. The most extreme example of a school is one that preserves its traditional. Other koryū schools may have made modifications to their practices that reflect the passage of time, the following subsections represent not individual schools of martial arts, but rather generic types of martial arts
35.
Monuments of Japan
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The government designates significant items of this kind as Cultural Properties and classifies them in one of three categories, Historic Sites Places of Scenic Beauty, Natural Monuments. Items of particularly high significance may receive a classification as. As of September 2013, there were 3,089 nationally designated Monuments,1,710 Historic Sites,374 Places of Scenic Beauty, alterations to the existing state of a site or activities affecting its preservation require permission from the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs. Financial support for purchasing and conserving designated land and for the utilization of the site is available through local governments, the Agency for Cultural Affairs designates monuments based on a number of criteria. A monument can be designated based on more than one of these criteria, Monuments from the Meiji period onward which require preservation can be registered as Registered Monuments. Members of this class of Cultural Property receive more limited assistance and protection based mostly on governmental notification, as of April 2012,61 monuments were registered under this system. List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments Cultural Properties of Japan Meibutsu
36.
Japanese architecture
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Japanese architecture has traditionally been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors were used in place of walls, allowing the configuration of a space to be customized for different occasions. People usually sat on cushions or otherwise on the floor, traditionally, chairs, the earliest Japanese architecture was seen in prehistoric times in simple pit-houses and stores that were not adapted to a hunter-gatherer population. Influence from Han Dynasty China via Korea saw the introduction of more complex grain stores, the introduction of Buddhism in Japan during the sixth century was a catalyst for large-scale temple building using complicated techniques in wood. Influence from the Chinese Tang and Sui Dynasties led to the foundation of the first permanent capital in Nara and its checkerboard street layout used the Chinese capital of Changan as a template for its design. A gradual increase in the size of buildings led to units of measurement as well as refinements in layout. The introduction of the tea ceremony emphasised simplicity and modest design as a counterpoint to the excesses of the aristocracy, during the Meiji Restoration of 1868 the history of Japanese architecture was radically changed by two important events. Second, it was then that Japan underwent a period of intense Westernization in order to compete with developed countries. Initially architects and styles from abroad were imported to Japan but gradually the country taught its own architects, Architects returning from study with western architects introduced the International Style of modernism into Japan. Much in the architecture of Japan is not native, but was imported from China. First of all is the choice of materials, always wood in various forms for almost all structures, unlike both Western and some Chinese architecture, the use of stone is avoided except for certain specific uses, for example temple podia and pagoda foundations. The general structure is almost always the same, posts and lintels support a large and gently curved roof, while the walls are paper-thin, often movable, arches and barrel roofs are completely absent. Gable and eave curves are gentler than in China and columnar entasis limited, the roof is the most visually impressive component, often constituting half the size of the whole edifice. The slightly curved eaves extend far beyond the walls, covering verandas, simpler solutions are adopted in domestic structures. The oversize eaves give the interior a characteristic dimness, which contributes to the buildings atmosphere, the interior of the building normally consists of a single room at the center called moya, from which depart any other less important spaces. Inner space divisions are fluid, and room size can be modified through the use of screens or movable paper walls, the large, single space offered by the main hall can therefore be divided according to the need. For example, some walls can be removed and different rooms joined temporarily to make space for some more guests, the separation between inside and outside is itself in some measure not absolute as entire walls can be removed, opening a residence or temple to visitors. Verandas appear to be part of the building to an outsider, structures are therefore made to a certain extent part of their environment
37.
Flag of Japan
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The national flag of Japan is a white rectangular flag with a red disc in the center. This flag is officially called Nisshōki in the Japanese language, but is commonly known as Hinomaru. The flag embodies Japans nickname as the Land of the Rising Sun, the Nisshōki flag is designated as the national flag in the Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem, which was promulgated and became effective on August 13,1999. Although no earlier legislation had specified a flag, the sun-disc flag had already become the de facto national flag of Japan. Two proclamations issued in 1870 by the Daijō-kan, the body of the early Meiji period. A sun-disc flag was adopted as the flag for merchant ships under Proclamation No.57 of Meiji 3. Use of the Hinomaru was severely restricted during the years of the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II. The name of the country as well as the design of the flag reflect this importance of the sun. The ancient history Shoku Nihongi says that Emperor Monmu used a flag representing the sun in his court in 701, during the Meiji Restoration, both the sun disc and the Rising Sun Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy became major symbols in the emerging Japanese Empire. Propaganda posters, textbooks, and films depicted the flag as a source of pride, in Japanese homes, citizens were required to display the flag during national holidays, celebrations and other occasions as decreed by the government. Different tokens of devotion to Japan and its Emperor featuring the Hinomaru motif became popular during the Second Sino-Japanese War and these tokens ranged from slogans written on the flag to clothing items and dishes that resembled the flag. Public perception of the flag varies. Historically, both Western and Japanese sources claimed the flag was a powerful and enduring symbol to the Japanese, since the end of World War II, the use of the flag and the national anthem Kimigayo has been a contentious issue for Japans public schools. Disputes about their use have led to protests and lawsuits, the flag is not frequently displayed in Japan due to its association with ultranationalism. To Okinawans, the flag represents the events of World War II, for some nations that have been occupied by Japan, the flag is a symbol of aggression and imperialism. The Hinomaru was used as a tool against occupied nations for purposes of intimidation, asserting Japans dominance, several military banners of Japan are based on the Hinomaru, including the sunrayed Naval Ensign. The Hinomaru also serves as a template for other Japanese flags in public, the exact origin of the Hinomaru is unknown, but the rising sun seems to have had some symbolic meaning since the early 7th century. In 607, a correspondence that began with from the Emperor of the rising sun was sent to Chinese Emperor Yang of Sui
38.
Coat of arms of Japan
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It is a contrast to the Paulownia Seal used by the Japanese government. Therefore, each member of the Imperial family used a modified version of the seal. Shinto shrines either displayed the imperial seal or incorporated elements of the seal into their own emblems, the symbol is a yellow or orange chrysanthemum with black or red outlines and background. A central disc is surrounded by a front set of 16 petals, a rear set of 16 petals are half staggered in relation to the front set and are visible at the edges of the flower. An example of the chrysanthemum being used is in the badge for the Order of the Chrysanthemum, the Imperial Seal is also used on the standards of the Imperial Family. National seals of Japan Chrysanthemum Throne Imperial Seal of Korea Order of the Chrysanthemum
39.
Japanese museums
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Japan was introduced to the idea of Western-style museums as early as the Bakumatsu period through Dutch studies. Upon the conclusion of the US-Japan Amity Treaty in 1858, a Japanese delegation to America observed Western-style museums first-hand. Following the Meiji Restoration, botanist Keisuke Ito, and natural historian, Tanaka Yoshio, preparations commenced to construct facilities to preserve historical relics of the past. In 1872, the Museum of the Ministry of Education staged Japan’s first exhibition in the Yushima area of Tokyo, minerals, fossils, animals, plants, regional crafts, and artifacts were among the articles displayed. Following the Yushima exposition, the government set up a bureau charged with the construction of a permanent museum, the bureau proposed that in keeping with Japan’s participation in the Vienna World Fair of 1873, a Home Ministry Museum eventually be developed. In 1877, the Museum of Education opened in Ueno Park with displays devoted to physics, chemistry, zoology, botany, and regional crafts. As a part of the exhibition, art objects were displayed in an “art museum. ”The Imperial Household Department oversaw the establishment of a central museum dedicated to historical artifacts in 1886. In addition, in the years after 1877, there was great enthusiasm for establishing regional museums in Akita, Niigata, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Osaka, in 1895, the Nara National Museum opened its doors, followed in 1897 by the Kyoto National Museum. Other national specialty museums followed, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce Exhibition Hall, Patent Office Exhibition Hall, in 1925, the Imperial Household museum, now part of the Tokyo National Museum collection, was separated into science and historical relic departments. Separating the categories was a step towards the creation of art museum, in addition to the national museums, private museums were also established after the turn of the century. The first private museum was the Okura Shukokan Museum, built in 1917 to house Okura Kihachiro’s collection, the industrialist Ōhara Mogasaburo established the Ohara Museum of Art in 1930 in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. The museum was the first Japanese museum devoted to Western art, by 1945, there were 150 museums in Japan. However, the Great Kantō earthquake, the Sino-Japanese war, and World War II, Japanese art objects had been collected in the Shōsōin of shrines and temples from the Nara Period on. Artifacts were included in the national hakubutsukan established during the Meiji period, plans for museums that had been put on hold during the war recommenced in the 1950s. Groups of Traditional Buildings National Museum of Japanese History at intute. ac. uk Japan Links - Culture A Guide to Technical Visits and Industrial Museums in Japan
40.
Sakoku
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This period was also noted for the large number of foreign traders and pirates who were resident in Japan and active in Japanese waters. The term Sakoku originates from the manuscript work Sakoku-ron written by Japanese astronomer, shizuki invented the word while translating the works of the 17th-century German traveller Engelbert Kaempfer concerning Japan. Japan was not completely isolated under the sakoku policy and it was a system in which strict regulations were applied to commerce and foreign relations by the shogunate, and by certain feudal domains. The policy stated that the only European influence permitted was the Dutch factory at Dejima in Nagasaki, trade with China was also handled at Nagasaki. Trade with Korea was limited to the Tsushima Domain, trade with the Ainu people was limited to the Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, and trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom took place in Satsuma Domain. Apart from these direct commercial contacts in peripheral provinces, trading countries sent regular missions to the shogun in Edo, Japan traded at this time with five entities, through four gateways. Through the Matsumae clan domain in Hokkaidō, they traded with the Ainu people, through the Sō clan daimyōs of Tsushima, they had relations with Joseon dynasty Korea. The Dutch East India Company was permitted to trade at Nagasaki, alongside private Chinese traders, Ryūkyū, a semi-independent kingdom for nearly all of the Edo period, was controlled by the Shimazu family daimyōs of Satsuma Domain. These two different groups of trade basically reflected a pattern of incoming and outgoing trade, the outgoing trade flowing out from Japan to Korea and the Ryūkyū Kingdom, eventually being brought from those places to China. In the Ryūkyū Islands and Korea, the clans in charge of trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, trade in fact prospered during this period, and though relations and trade were restricted to certain ports, the country was far from closed. In fact, as the shogunate expelled the Portuguese, they engaged in discussions with Dutch. The increasing number of Catholic converts in southern Japan was a significant element of that which was seen as a threat, based on work conducted by Japanese historians in the 1970s, some scholars have challenged this view, believing it to be only a partial explanation of political reality. The motivations for the strengthening of the maritime prohibitions during the early 17th century should be considered within the context of the Tokugawa bakufus domestic agenda. These daimyōs had used East Asian trading linkages to profitable effect during the sengoku period and this is consistent with the generally agreed rationale for the Tokugawa bakufus implementation of the system of alternate attendance, or sankin-kōtai. Directing trade predominantly through Nagasaki, which came under Toyotomi Hideyoshis control in 1587, would enable the bakufu, through taxes and levies and this was no small matter, as lack of wealth had limited both the preceding Kamakura bakufu and the Muromachi bakufu in crucial ways. Nevertheless, Christianity and the two colonial powers it was most strongly associated with, were seen as threats by the Tokugawa bakufu. Once the remnants of the Toyotomi clan had been defeated in 1615, religious challenges to central authority were taken seriously by the bakufu as ecclesiastical challenges by armed Buddhist monks were common during the sengoku period. The Dutch and English were generally seen by the Japanese to be able to separate religion and trade, the Dutch, eager to take over trade from the Spanish and Portuguese, had no problems reinforcing this view
41.
Tokugawa shogunate
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The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu and the Edo bakufu, was the last feudal Japanese military government, which existed between 1600 and 1868. The head of government was the shogun, and each was a member of the Tokugawa clan, the Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle and the years of the shogunate became known as the Edo period. This time is called the Tokugawa period or pre-modern. Following the Sengoku period, the government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu, society in the Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyō were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the farmers, artisans, and traders ranking below. In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions, daimyō and samurai were more or less identical, since daimyō might be trained as samurai, otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value, as a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over time. This often led to confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and well-to-do peasants, ranging from simple local disturbances to much bigger rebellions. None, however, proved compelling enough to challenge the established order until the arrival of foreign powers. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end in 1868 with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The bakuhan taisei was the political system in the Edo period of Japan. Baku is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning military government—that is, the han were the domains headed by daimyō. Vassals held inherited lands and provided service and homage to their lords. The bakuhan taisei split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and provincial domains throughout Japan, provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shogun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national security. The shogun and lords were all daimyō, feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, the shogun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa. Each level of government administered its own system of taxation, the emperor, nominally a religious leader, held no real power, this was invested in the shogun. The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains, the sankin kōtai system of alternative residence required each daimyō to reside in alternate years between the han and the court in Edo
42.
Japanese missions to Imperial China
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The Japanese missions to Imperial China were diplomatic embassies which were intermittently sent to the Chinese court. Extant records document missions to China between the year of 607 and 894, the composition of these Imperial missions included members of the aristocratic kuge and Buddhist priests. These missions led to the importation of Chinese culture including advances in sciences and technologies and these diplomatic encounters produced the beginnings of a range of Schools of Buddhism in Japan, including Zen. China seems to have taken the initiative in opening relations with Japan, Sui Emperor Yangdi dispatched a message in 605 that said, The sovereign of Sui respectfully inquires about the sovereign of Wa. Prince Shōtoku responded by sponsoring a mission led by Ono no Imoko in 607, the Princes own message contains the earliest written instance in which the Japanese archipelago is named Nihon, literally, sun-origin. The salutation said, From the sovereign of the land of the sun to the sovereign of the land of the setting sun. These Imperial embassies to Sui dynasty included Japanese oversea students for Buddhism studies, the Imperial embassies to Tang dynasty are the best known, they ended in 894. At this time, ambassadors had been appointed, and they were about to depart for China, however, the mission was stopped by Emperor Uda in 894 because of reports of unsettled conditions in China. The emperors decision-making was informed by what he understood as persuasive counsel from Sugawara no Michizane, Japanese envoys to the Sui court were received as ambassadors,607, The first diplomatic mission was led by Japans first ambassador to China. This Japanese envoy, Ono no Imoko, had the title kenzushi, the delegation was received in the Imperial Court. 608, Ono no Imoko leads a returning embassy to China and this mission included two others with the title kenzushi, Takamuko no Kuromaro and Minabuchi no Shōan. Kuromaro and Shōan, along with the Buddhist monk Sōmin remained in China for 32 years before returning to Japan, Japanese envoys to the Tang court were received as ambassadors, Three missions to the Tang court were dispatched during the reign of Emperor Kōtoku. Emperor Kanmus planned mission to the Tang court in 804 included three ambassadors and several Buddhist priests, including Saichō and Kūkai, but the enterprise was delayed until the end of the year, the ambassadors returned in the middle of 805. They were accompanied by the monk Saichō, also known by his posthumous name Dengyō Daishi, in 806, the return of the monk Kūkai, also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi, marks the beginning of what would develop into the Shingon school of Japanese Buddhism. New ambassadors to China were appointed by Emperor Ninmyō in 834, 836–839, The mission was postponed by a typhoon, but the ambassadors did eventually travel to the Tang court, returning in 839 with a letter from Emperor Tang Wenzong. In China, a steady and conservative Confucianist Song dynasty emerged after the end of the Tang dynasty and subsequent period of disunity during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During this time, although travel to China was generally safe, Japanese rulers believed there was little to learn from the Song, ancient Japan was called Wa, which had a primitive culture when compared to Tang culture. The Tang folks referred to Wa as 東夷, among many items adopted by Wa, Tang political system Heian-kyō, the new Japanese capital established in 794, and was a laid out in a grid similar to that of Changan, the Tang capital
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.
This article incorporates 
