1.
Ise Grand Shrine
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The Ise Grand Shrine, located in the city of Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as Jingū, Ise Jingū is a complex composed of a large number of Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, Naikū and Gekū. The Inner Shrine, Naikū, is located in the town of Uji-tachi, south of central Ise, and is dedicated to the worship of Amaterasu, the shrine buildings are made of solid cypress wood and use no nails but instead joined wood. The Outer Shrine, Gekū, is located six kilometers from Naikū and dedicated to Toyouke-Ōmikami. Besides Naikū and Gekū, there are an additional 123 Shinto shrines in Ise City, purportedly the home of the Sacred Mirror, the shrine is one of Shintos holiest and most important sites. Access to both sites is limited, with the common public not allowed beyond sight of the thatched roofs of the central structures. However, tourists are free to roam the forest, including its ornamental walkways, during the Edo period, it is estimated that one out of ten Japanese conducted an Okage Mai-Ri pilgrimage to the shrine. Accordingly, pilgrimage to the shrine flourished in both commercial and religious frequency, because the shrine is considered sanctuary, no security checkpoints were conducted, as it was considered sacrilege by the faithful. The two main shrines of Ise are joined by a road that passes through the old entertainment district of Furuichi. The chief priest or priestess of Ise Shrine must come from the Imperial House of Japan and is responsible for watching over the Shrine, the current high priestess of the shrine is Atsuko Ikeda, assisted by former imperial princess Sayako Kuroda. Her search eventually brought her to Ise, in modern Mie Prefecture, in this land I wish to dwell. Before Yamatohime-no-mikotos journey, Amaterasu had been worshiped at the residence in Yamato. Besides the traditional establishment date of 4 BCE, other dates of the 3rd, the first shrine building at Naikū was erected by Emperor Tenmu, with the first ceremonial rebuilding being carried out by his wife, Empress Jitō, in 692. The shrine was foremost among a group of shrines which became objects of imperial patronage in the early Heian period, in 965, Emperor Murakami ordered imperial messengers to be sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were presented to 16 shrines including the Ise Shrine. From the late 7th century until the 14th century, the role of priestess of Ise Shrine was carried out by a female member of the Imperial House of Japan known as a saiō. According to the Manyōshū, the first saiō to serve at the shrine was Princess Ōku, daughter of Emperor Tenmu, during the Asuka period. Mention of Ise Shrines saiō is also made in the Aoi, Sakaki, the saiō system ended during the turmoil of the Nanboku-chō period
2.
Gregorian calendar
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The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, the calendar was a refinement to the Julian calendar involving a 0. 002% correction in the length of the year. The motivation for the reform was to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes and solstices—particularly the northern vernal equinox, transition to the Gregorian calendar would restore the holiday to the time of the year in which it was celebrated when introduced by the early Church. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, the last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923. Many countries that have used the Islamic and other religious calendars have come to adopt this calendar for civil purposes. The reform was a modification of a made by Aloysius Lilius. His proposal included reducing the number of years in four centuries from 100 to 97. Lilius also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the date of Easter. For example, the years 1700,1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are. The canonical Easter tables were devised at the end of the third century, when the vernal equinox fell either on 20 March or 21 March depending on the years position in the leap year cycle. As the rule was that the full moon preceding Easter was not to precede the equinox, the date was fixed at 21 March for computational purposes, the Gregorian calendar reproduced these conditions by removing ten days. To unambiguously specify a date, dual dating or Old Style, dual dating gives two consecutive years for a given date, because of differences in the starting date of the year, and/or to give both the Julian and the Gregorian dates. The Gregorian calendar continued to use the calendar era, which counts years from the traditional date of the nativity. This year-numbering system, also known as Dionysian era or Common Era, is the predominant international standard today, the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. A regular Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but as in the Julian calendar, in a leap year, in the Julian calendar a leap year occurs every 4 years, but the Gregorian calendar omits 3 leap days every 400 years. In the Julian calendar, this day was inserted by doubling 24 February. In the modern period, it has become customary to number the days from the beginning of the month, some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, delay February festivals after the 23rd by one day in leap years. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers, the cycles repeat completely every 146,097 days, which equals 400 years
3.
Lunisolar calendar
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A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months there is a requirement that the year have a whole number of months. In this case ordinary years consist of twelve months but every second or third year is an embolismic year, also, some of the ancient pre-Islamic calendars in south Arabia followed a lunisolar system. The Chinese, Coligny and Hebrew lunisolar calendars track more or less the tropical year whereas the Buddhist, therefore, the first three give an idea of the seasons whereas the last two give an idea of the position among the constellations of the full moon. The Tibetan calendar was influenced by both the Chinese and Hindu calendars, the Germanic peoples also used a lunisolar calendar before their conversion to Christianity. The Metonic cycle, used in the Hebrew calendar and the Julian and Gregorian ecclesiastical calendars, the classic Metonic cycle can be reproduced by assigning an initial epact value of 1 to the last year of the cycle and incrementing by 11 each year. Between the last year of one cycle and the first year of the next the increment is 12 and this adjustment, the saltus lunae, causes the epacts to repeat every 19 years. When the epact goes above 29 an intercalary month is added and 30 is subtracted, the intercalary years are numbers 3,6,8,11,14,17 and 19. Both the Hebrew calendar and the Julian calendar use this sequence, the Buddhist and Hebrew calendars restrict the leap month to a single month of the year, the number of common months between leap months is, therefore, usually 36, but occasionally only 24 months. An alternative way of dealing with the fact that a year does not contain an integer number of months is by including uncounted time in the year that does not belong to any month. Some Coast Salish peoples used a calendar of this kind, for instance, the Chehalis began their count of lunar months from the arrival of spawning chinook salmon, and counted 10 months, leaving an uncounted period until the next chinook salmon run. The Gregorian calendar has a calendar, which is used to determine the date of Easter. The rules are in the Computus, Hebrew calendar Jain calendar Hindu calendar Computus Easter rule for Julian and Gregorian calendars. Lunisolar calendar year 2014 Lunisolar Calendar Calendar studies Model of lunisolar calendar based on observation of the sun and moon position
4.
Chinese calendar
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Traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar which reckons years, months and days according to astronomical phenomena. It is used for activities in China and overseas Chinese communities. It depictures and lists the dates of traditional Chinese holidays, and guides Chinese people in selecting the most auspicious days for weddings, funerals, moving, in the Chinese calendar, the days begin and end at midnight. The months begin on the day with the dark moon, the years begin with the dark moon near the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. The solar terms are the important components of the Chinese calendar, in a month, there are one to three solar terms. The currently used traditional Chinese calendar is the end result of centuries of evolution, many astronomical and seasonal factors were added by ancient scientists, and people can reckon the date of natural phenomena such as the moon phase and tide upon the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar has over 100 variants, whose characteristics reflect the evolutionary path. As with Chinese characters, different variants are used in different parts of the Chinese cultural sphere, calendars in Mongolia and Tibet have absorbed elements from the Chinese calendar and elements from other systems, but they are not direct descendants of the Chinese calendar. The official calendar in China is the Gregorian calendar, but the traditional Chinese calendar still plays an important role there. The Chinese calendar is known officially as the Rural Calendar, but is referred to by other names, such as the Former Calendar. The Chinese calendar preserves traditional East Asian culture, although the month sequences of Chinese calendar is decided by the solar term, the Chinese calendar is not an agriculture calendar. The Chinese calendar has greatly influenced the traditional calendars around Asia, the calendar has a year, month and date frame. The key elements are the day, synodic month and solar year, the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, similar to the Hindu and Hebrew calendars. The concepts in the Chinese, Hindu, and Hebrew calendars, day, in the Chinese calendar, a day starts from the midnight, in the Hindu calendars, a day starts from sunrise, and in the Hebrew calendar, a day starts from sunset. Month, the time is based on the obliquity of the moon path, a month is about 29 17/32 days. Phase, 1/30 month, 12° obliquity of the moon path, a unique concept of dating method in the Hindu calendar, a phase is about 63/64 day, which derived out the 64 divinatory symbols. Date, the day number in a month, in the Chinese and Hebrew calendars, days are numbered in sequence from 1 to 29 or 30, and in the Hindu calendars, the days are numbered according to the number of the phase in the days. In the Hindu calendars, some dates may be vacant, Year, the time based on the earths revolution
5.
Meiji period
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The Meiji period, also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from October 23,1868 through July 30,1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being a feudal society to its modern form. Fundamental changes affected its structure, internal politics, economy, military. The period corresponded with the reign of Emperor Meiji after 1868 and it was succeeded by the Taishō period upon the accession of Emperor Taishō to the throne. On February 3,1867, the 14-year-old Prince Mutsuhito succeeded his father, Emperor Kōmei, on November 9,1867, then-Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor, and formally stepped down ten days later. Imperial restoration occurred the year on January 3,1868. The fall of Edo in the summer of 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, and a new era, Meiji, was proclaimed. The first reform was the promulgation of the Five Charter Oath in 1868, implicit in the Charter Oath was an end to exclusive political rule by the bakufu, and a move toward more democratic participation in government. To implement the Charter Oath, a rather short-lived constitution with eleven articles was drawn up in June 1868, the Meiji government assured the foreign powers that it would follow the old treaties negotiated by the bakufu and announced that it would act in accordance with international law. Mutsuhito, who was to reign until 1912, selected a new reign title—Meiji, to further dramatize the new order, the capital was relocated from Kyoto, where it had been situated since 794, to Tokyo, the new name for Edo. Confirmed in their positions, the daimyo became governors. The han were replaced with prefectures in 1871, and authority continued to flow to the national government, officials from the favored former han, such as Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen staffed the new ministries. Formerly old court nobles, and lower-ranking but more radical samurai, replaced bakufu appointees, in as much as the Meiji Restoration had sought to return the Emperor to a preeminent position, efforts were made to establish a Shinto-oriented state much like it was 1,000 years earlier. Furthermore, a new State Shinto had to be constructed for the purpose, in 1871, the Office of Shinto Worship was established, ranking even above the Council of State in importance. The kokutai ideas of the Mito school were embraced, and the ancestry of the Imperial House was emphasized. The government supported Shinto teachers, a small but important move, although the Office of Shinto Worship was demoted in 1872, by 1877 the Home Ministry controlled all Shinto shrines and certain Shinto sects were given state recognition. Shinto was released from Buddhist administration and its properties restored, although Buddhism suffered from state sponsorship of Shinto, it had its own resurgence. Christianity also was legalized, and Confucianism remained an important ethical doctrine, increasingly, however, Japanese thinkers identified with Western ideology and methods
6.
Chinese people in Japan
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Chinese people in Japan consist of migrants from the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of China, and the previous imperial dynasties to Japan and their descendants. They have a going back for centuries. Before this, there had been a number of Chinese communities in the west of the country, made up of pirates, merchants. The communities are served by Chinese schools that teach the Chinese language, a study that was conducted in 1995 estimated that the Chinese population of Japan numbered 150,000, among whom between 50,000 and 100,000 could speak Chinese. In 2000, Japanese governmental statistics revealed that there were 335,575 Chinese people in Japan, a significant number of Chinese people take Japanese citizenship each year and therefore disappear from these figures. Therefore, the numbers of Japanese people who are of Chinese descent is unclear, the original immigrants to the Japanese isles probably came from the south, but around 2300 years ago, increasing numbers came from what is now China and Korea. Xu could not find any elixir of life and was reluctant to return to China because he knew he would be sentenced to death, other immigrants are also thought to include major population movements such as that of the Hata clan. According to the Shinsen Shōjiroku,176 Chinese aristocratic families lived in Japan, during the Meiji and Taisho eras, it is estimated that up to 100000 Chinese students came to study in Japan. Japan was both closer to China culturally and in distance than the American and European alternatives, in 1906 alone, more than six thousand Chinese students were in Japan. Most of them resided in the district of Kanda in Tokyo, the term shin-kakyō refers to people of Chinese descent who immigrated to Japan from Taiwan and Mainland China. Many famous Chinese intellectuals have studied in Japan, among them Sun Yat-sen, Lu Xun, the Industrial training scheme used to bring Chinese workers to Japan has been criticized by lawyers as exploitation, after several deaths. Many Japanese war orphans left behind in China after World War II have migrated to Japan with the assistance of the Japanese government, bringing along their Chinese spouses, Chinese restaurants in Japan serve a fairly distinct style of Chinese cuisine. As of 2008 there are five Chinese day schools in Japan, three are oriented towards the Republic of China on Taiwan while two are oriented towards Mainland China. In Japanese the PRC-oriented schools are called tairiku-kei, and the ROC-oriented schools are taiwan-kei, the Taiwan-oriented schools teach Traditional Chinese and Bopomofo while the Mainland-oriented schools teach Simplified Chinese and Hanyu Pinyin. The Taiwan-oriented schools, by 2008, also began teaching Simplified Chinese, as of 1995 most teachers at these schools are ethnic Chinese persons who were born in Japan. By that year there were increasing numbers of Japanese families sending their children to Chinese schools, other students at Chinese schools are Japanese with mixed Chinese-Japanese parentage, Japanese children with Chinese parents, and returnees from abroad. Sun Yat-sen established the Yokohama Chinese School in 1898, in 1952 it split into the Mainland-aligned Yokohama Yamate Chinese School and the Taiwan-aligned Yokohama Overseas Chinese School. The Kobe Chinese School is also oriented towards Mainland China, the Osaka Chinese School is located in Naniwa-ku, Osaka
7.
Emperor Jimmu
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Emperor Jimmu, (original birth name of Shinto, Kamu-Yamato-Iware-Biko no Mikoto, was the first Emperor of Japan, according to legend. His accession is dated as 660 BC. According to Japanese mythology, he is a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, through her grandson Ninigi and he launched a military expedition from Hyuga near the Inland Sea, captured Yamato, and established this as his center of power. In modern Japan, Jimmus accession is marked as National Foundation Day on February 11, Jimmu is recorded as Japans first ruler in two early chronicles, Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Nihon Shoki gives the dates of his reign as 660–585 BC, prior to this time, these rulers had been known as sumera no mikoto/ōkimi. This practice had begun under Empress Suiko, and took root after the Taika Reforms with the ascendancy of the Nakatomi clan. According to the account in the Kojiki, Emperor Jimmu was born on February 13,711 BC. Both the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki give Jimmus name as Kamu-yamato Iware-biko no mikoto, iware indicates a toponym whose precise purport is unclear. The Imperial House of Japan traditionally based its claim to the throne on its descent from the sun-goddess Amaterasu via Jimmus great grandfather Ninigi. In Japanese mythology, the Age of the Gods is the period before Jimmus accession, Jimmu figures as a direct descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu via the side of his father, Ugayafukiaezu. Amaterasu had a son called Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto and through him a grandson named Ninigi-no-Mikoto and she sent her grandson to the Japanese islands where he eventually married Konohana-Sakuya-hime. Among their three sons was Hikohohodemi no Mikoto, also called Yamasachi-hiko, who married Toyotama-hime and she was the daughter of Ryūjin, the Japanese sea god. They had a son called Hikonagisa Takeugaya Fukiaezu no Mikoto. The boy was abandoned by his parents at birth and consequently raised by Tamayori-hime and they eventually married and had four sons. The last of these, Kanyamato Iwarebiko, became Emperor Jimmu, according to the chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Jimmus brothers were born in Takachiho, the southern part of Kyūshū in modern-day Miyazaki Prefecture. They moved eastward to find a more appropriate for administering the entire country. Jimmus older brother, Itsuse no Mikoto, originally led the migration, as they reached Naniwa, they encountered another local chieftain, Nagasunehiko, and Itsuse was killed in the ensuing battle. Jimmu realized that they had been defeated because they battled eastward against the sun, so he decided to land on the east side of Kii Peninsula and they reached Kumano, and, with the guidance of a three-legged crow, Yatagarasu, they moved to Yamato
8.
Common Era
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Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
9.
Anno Domini
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The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
10.
Man'en
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Manen was a Japanese era name after Ansei and before Bunkyū. This period spanned the years from March 1860 through February 1861, March 18,1860, The new era name was created to mark the destruction caused by a fire at Edo Castle and the assassination of Ii Naosuke. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Ansei 7, the new era name is derived from an hortatory aphorism to be found in The Book of the Later Han, With 100,000,000,000 descendants, your name will forever be recorded. 1860, First Western professional photographer to establish residence in Japan, Orrin Freeman began living in Yokohama 1860, sesquicentennial of Japanese Embassy to the United States Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC48943301 Satow, Ernest Mason and Baba Bunyei, Japan 1853-1864, Or, Genji Yume Monogatari. OCLC1384148 National Diet Library, The Japanese Calendar Link to historical overview plus illustrative images from librarys collection
11.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
12.
1940 Summer Olympics
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The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from 21 September to 6 October 1940, in Tokyo, Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from July 20 to August 4,1940, the campaign to choose a city for 1940 began in 1932, with Barcelona, Rome, Helsinki, and Tokyo participating. Tokyo city officials suggested a campaign as a means of international diplomacy following Japans alienation from the League of Nations due to the Mukden Incident, in 1936, Tokyo was chosen in a surprise move, making it the first non-Western city to win an Olympic bid. During the 1930 Far Eastern Games in Tokyo, Indian participants were spotted flying the flag of their independence movement rather than the flag of British India and this caused a complaint from the British Olympic Association. In 1934 Japan attempted to invite European colonies to the Far Eastern Games, the main stadium was to be Meiji Jingu Stadium, later used at the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Olympic Village was to be built on the present sites of Kinuta Park or Todoroki Gorge, a schedule was drawn up, and guidelines were printed in four languages. Monthly magazines and posters were printed and distributed internationally, construction began on some buildings, and arrangements were made with hotels, travel agents, and airlines for easy access. When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out on July 7,1937, Kono Ichiro, the 1938 Far Eastern Games were also cancelled, but Japans IOC delegates persisted under a belief that the war would soon be over. In March 1938, the Japanese provided reassurances to the IOC at the organizations Cairo conference that Tokyo would still be able to serve as the host city. In July, a session was held to decide the matters of the Summer and Winter Olympics. The Worlds Fair was only postponed, under a belief that Japan would be able to wrap up the war, kōichi Kido, who would later be instrumental in the surrender of Japan in 1945, announced the forfeiture on July 16,1938. He closed his speech saying, When peace reigns again in the Far East, we can then invite the Games to Tokyo and this would come to pass in 1964. Despite the cancellation of the 1940 Olympics, the Tokyo organizing committee released its budget for the Games, in a departure from standard practice, the budget included all capital outlays as well as direct organizing costs. The total budget was ¥20.1 million, one-third of which would have been paid by the Tokyo metropolitan government, the IOC then awarded the Games to Helsinki, Finland, the city that had been the runner-up in the original bidding process. The Games were then scheduled to be staged from July 20 to August 4,1940, the Olympic Games were suspended indefinitely following the outbreak of World War II and did not resume until the London Games of 1948. Gliding was due to be an Olympic sport in the 1940 Games after a demonstration at the Berlin Games in 1936. The sport has not been featured in any Games since, though the glider designed for it, meanwhile, Japan hosted the 1940 East Asian Games in Tokyo, with six participating nations. Helsinki eventually held the 1952 Summer Olympics, while Tokyo held the 1964 Summer Olympics, during August 1940, prisoners of war celebrated a special Olympics called International Prisoner-of-War Olympic Games
13.
Second Sino-Japanese War
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The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7,1937 to September 9,1945. The First Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1894 to 1895, China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War. Many scholars consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to have been the beginning of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to access to raw material reserves, food. The period after World War One brought about increasing stress on the Japanese polity, leftists sought universal suffrage and greater rights for workers. Increasing textile production from Chinese mills was adversely affecting Japanese production, the Depression brought about a large slowdown in exports. All of this contributed to militant nationalism, culminating in the rise to power of a militarist fascist faction and this faction was led at its height by the Imperial Rule Assistance Associations Hideki Tojo cabinet under the edict from Emperor Shōwa. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, the last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is traditionally seen as the beginning of total war between the two countries. Since 2017 the Chinese Government has regarded the invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931, initially the Japanese scored major victories, such as the Battle of Shanghai, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior, by 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japans lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, on December 7,1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States began to aid China via airlift matériel over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road, in 1944 Japan launched the invasion, Operation Ichi-Go, that conquered Henan and Changsha. However, this failed to bring about the surrender of Chinese forces, in 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. At the same time, China launched large counteroffensives in South China and retook the west Hunan, the remaining Japanese occupation forces formally surrendered on September 9,1945 with the following International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened on April 29,1946. China was recognized as one of the Big Four of Allies during the war, in the Chinese language, the war is most commonly known as the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also known as the Eight Years War of Resistance, simply War of Resistance. It is also referred to as part of the Global Anti-Fascist War, which is how World War 2 is perceived by the Communist Party of China, in Japan, nowadays, the name Japan–China War is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. In Japan today, it is written as 日中戦争 in shinjitai, the word incident was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war
14.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero
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The Mitsubishi A6M Zero is a long-range fighter aircraft, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter, the A6M was usually referred to by its pilots as the Reisen,0 being the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 when it entered service with the Imperial Navy. The official Allied reporting name was Zeke, although the use of the name Zero was later adopted by the Allies as well. When it was introduced early in World War II, the Zero was considered the most capable carrier-based fighter in the world, combining excellent maneuverability, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service also frequently used the type as a land-based fighter. During the final year of the War in the Pacific, the Zero was also adapted for use in kamikaze operations, during the course of the war, Japan produced more Zeros than any other model of combat aircraft. The Mitsubishi A5M fighter was just entering service in early 1937, on October 5,1937, they issued Planning Requirements for the Prototype 12-shi Carrier-based Fighter, sending it to Nakajima and Mitsubishi. Both firms started preliminary design work while they awaited more definitive requirements to be handed over in a few months. Based on the experiences of the A5M in China, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent out updated requirements in October calling for a speed of 600 km/h and a climb to 3,000 m in 3.5 min. With drop tanks, they wanted an endurance of two hours at normal power, or six to eight hours at cruising speed. Armament was to consist of two 20 mm cannons, two 7.7 mm machine guns and two 30 kg or 60 kg bombs, a complete radio set was to be mounted in all aircraft, along with a radio direction finder for long-range navigation. The maneuverability was to be at least equal to that of the A5M, all this was to be achieved with available engines, a significant design limitation. Nakajimas team considered the new requirements unachievable and pulled out of the competition in January, mitsubishis chief designer, Jiro Horikoshi, thought that the requirements could be met, but only if the aircraft could be made as light as possible. Every possible weight-saving measure was incorporated into the design, most of the aircraft was built of a new top-secret aluminium alloy developed by Sumitomo Metal Industries in 1936. Called Extra Super Duralumin, it was lighter, stronger and more ductile than other alloys used at the time, but was prone to corrosive attack and this detrimental effect was countered with an anti-corrosion coating applied after fabrication. No armor was provided for the pilot, engine or other points of the aircraft, and self-sealing fuel tanks. However, that tradeoff in weight and construction made it prone to catching fire. It had a fairly high-lift, low-speed wing with a low wing loading. This, combined with its weight, resulted in a very low stalling speed of well below 60 kn
15.
Shin-Ochanomizu Station
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Shin-ochanomizu Station is a subway station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tokyo Metro. Adjacent stations on the Chiyoda Line are Otemachi and Yushima Station, transfers are also possible to Awajicho Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line and Ogawamachi Station on the Toei Shinjuku Line. East Japan Railway Company Ochanomizu Station on the Chūō and the Chūō-Sōbu Lines lies above it at ground level, the station consists of one island platform serving two tracks. The station opened on December 20,1969
16.
Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line
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The Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line is a rapid transit line owned and operated by Tokyo Metro in Tokyo, Japan. The 21.9 km main line serves the wards of Adachi, Arakawa, Bunkyō, Chiyoda, Minato and Shibuya, a 2.1 km branch line between Ayase and Kita-Ayase is located in Adachi. Its official name, rarely used, is Line 9 Chiyoda Line, on maps, diagrams and signboards, the line is shown using the color green, and its stations are given numbers using the letter C. Trains have through running onto other lines on both ends. More than half of these are trains to the northeast beyond Ayase onto the East Japan Railway Company Joban Line to Toride, the rest run to the southwest beyond Yoyogi-Uehara onto the Odakyū Odawara Line to Hon-Atsugi and to Karakida on the Odakyu Tama Line. Distance,24.0 km Main line,21.9 km Branch line,2.1 km Double-tracking, Entire line Railway signalling, stopping patterns, Local trains stop at every station. Odakyū Romancecar limited express stop at stations marked ● and does not stop at those marked ｜. The Odakyū Bay Resort limited express service does not stop at stations marked ▲, both stations are located in Adachi, Tokyo. Listed below are used, all are 10-car formations unless otherwise indicated. Numbers in parentheses are of formations currently in service, in 1964, the plan was changed slightly so that through service would be offered on the Joban Line north of Tokyo, and the number was changed to Line 9. Line 9 was designed to pass through areas in Chiyoda, and also intended to relieve the busy Ginza Line and Hibiya Line. The first stretch was opened on December 20,1969 between Kita-Senju and Ōtemachi, the line was almost completed by October 10,1972 when it reached Yoyogi-Kōen, although the 1 km section to Yoyogi-Uehara was not completed until March 31,1978. The branch line to Kita-Ayase was opened on December 20,1979 and this branch primarily serves as a connection to Ayase Depot, but also serves Kita-Ayase station constructed in the area. A three-car shuttle service operates between Ayase and Kita-Ayase, the Chiyoda Line was one of the lines targeted in the Aum sarin gas attack on 20 March 1995. On May 15,2006, women-only cars were introduced on early-morning trains from Toride on the Joban Line to Yoyogi-Uehara, trains also run from/to Shin-Kiba using tracks connecting to the Yurakucho Line
17.
Poetry
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Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotles Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on such as repetition, verse form and rhyme. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are specific to cultures and genres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition, playing with and testing, among other things, in todays increasingly globalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and languages. Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate literacy, others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing. The oldest surviving poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, comes from the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumer. An example of Egyptian epic poetry is The Story of Sinuhe, other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, the efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in poetics—the study of the aesthetics of poetry. Some ancient societies, such as Chinas through her Shijing, developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance, Classical thinkers employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Later aestheticians identified three major genres, epic poetry, lyric poetry, and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of dramatic poetry, Aristotles work was influential throughout the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, as well as in Europe during the Renaissance. English Romantic poet John Keats termed this escape from logic Negative Capability and this romantic approach views form as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic
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Given name
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A given name is a part of a persons personal name. It identifies a person, and differentiates that person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan. The term given name refers to the fact that the name usually is bestowed upon a person and this contrasts with a surname, which is normally inherited, and shared with other members of the childs immediate family. Given names are used in a familiar and friendly manner in informal situations. In more formal situations the surname is commonly used, unless it is necessary to distinguish between people with the same surname. The idioms on a basis and being on first-name terms allude to the familiarity of addressing another by a given name. The order given name – family name, commonly known as the Western order, is used throughout most European countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by Western Europe. The order family name – given name, commonly known as the Eastern order, is used in East Asia, as well as in Southern and North-Eastern parts of India. The order given name - fathers family name - mothers family name is used in Spanish-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents. Today the order can also be changed legally in Spain using given name - mothers family name - fathers family name, under the common Western naming convention, people may have one or more forenames. If more than one, there is usually a main forename for everyday use, sometimes however two or more forenames may carry equal weight. There is no particular ordering rule for forenames – often the main forename is at the beginning, a childs given name or names are usually chosen by the parents soon after birth. If a name is not assigned at birth, one may be given at a ceremony, with family. In most jurisdictions, a name at birth is a matter of public record, inscribed on a birth certificate. In western cultures, people normally retain the same name throughout their lives. However, in some cases names may be changed by petitioning a court of law. People may also change their names when immigrating from one country to another with different naming conventions, in France, the agency can refer the case to a local judge. Some jurisdictions, like in Sweden, restrict the spelling of names, parents may choose a name because of its meaning
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Jidaigeki
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Jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning period dramas, they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular setting. Jidaigeki show the lives of the samurai, farmers, craftsmen, Jidaigeki films are sometimes referred to as chambara movies, a word meaning sword fight, though chambara is more accurately a subgenre of jidaigeki. Jidaigeki rely on a set of dramatic conventions including the use of makeup, language, catchphrases. Many jidaigeki take place in Edo, the military capital, others show the adventures of people wandering from place to place. The long-running television series Zenigata Heiji and Abarenbō Shōgun typify the Edo jidaigeki, Mito Kōmon, the fictitious story of the travels of the historical daimyo Tokugawa Mitsukuni, and the Zatoichi movies and television series, exemplify the traveling style. Another way to categorize jidaigeki is according to the status of the principal characters. The title character of Abarenbō Shogun is Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun, the head of the samurai class, Yoshimune assumes the disguise of a low-ranking hatamoto, a samurai in the service of the shogun. Similarly, Mito Kōmon is the retired vice-shogun, masquerading as a merchant, in contrast, the coin-throwing Heiji of Zenigata Heiji is a commoner, working for the police, while Ichi, a blind masseur, is an outcast, as were many disabled people in that era. In fact, masseurs, who typically were at the bottom of the food chain, was one of the few vocational positions available to the blind in that era. Gokenin Zankurō is a samurai but, due to his low rank and income, whether the lead role is samurai or commoner, jidaigeki usually reach a climax in an immense sword fight just before the end. The title character of a series always wins, whether using a sword or a jutte, sengoku-jidai is a Japanese genre that has been used as the setting for novels, films, video games, anime and manga. It bears some parallels with the Western, Akira Kurosawas Seven Samurai, among the characters in jidaigeki are a parade of people with occupations unfamiliar to modern Japanese, and especially to foreigners. The warrior class included samurai, hereditary members in the service of a daimyo or the shogun. Ronin, samurai without masters, were warriors, and like samurai. Bugeisha were men, or in some women, who aimed to perfect their martial arts. Ninja were the service, specializing in stealth, the use of disguises, explosives. Craftsmen in jidaigeki included metalworkers, bucket-makers, carpenters and plasterers, in addition to the owners of businesses large and small, the jidaigeki often portray the employees
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Edo period
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The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
21.
Deutzia
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Deutzia is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the family Hydrangeaceae, native to eastern and central Asia, and Central America and also Europe. By far the highest species diversity is in China, where 50 species occur, the species are shrubs ranging from 1–4 m in height. Most are deciduous, but a few species are evergreen. The leaves are opposite, simple, with a serrated margin, the flowers are produced in panicles or corymbs, they are white in most species, sometimes pink or reddish. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous small seeds, identification of the species is very difficult, requiring often microscopic detail of the leaf hairs and seed capsule structure. Deutzia is named after the 18th century Dutch patron of botany, dictionary were gathered in from the wild during the 20th century. Deutzias are commonly grown as ornamental plants for their white and pink flowers, many cultivars and hybrids have been selected for garden use, including selections with double flowers. For example, Deutzia × lemoinei is a hybrid of D. gracilis, a solution in milder climates might be to site deutzia in the gardens most exposed, coldest microclimate, as is often done with early-flowering magnolias. Identification can be difficult, and in particular, many of the plants in cultivation sold as D. scabra are actually D. crenata, the selected hybrid white double Pride-of-Rochester, already in cultivation in 1881, was originated by the Rochester, New York nurserymen Ellwanger and Barry. D. scabra is used by joiners in Japan to polish wood, Flora of China, Deutzia Flora of Pakistan, Deutzia Flora of Nepal checklist, Deutzia Huxley, Anthony
22.
Ateji
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In modern Japanese, ateji principally refer to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to manyōgana in Old Japanese, conversely ateji also refers to kanji used semantically without regard to the readings. For example, the sushi is often written with the ateji 寿司. Though the two characters have the readings su and shi respectively, the character 寿 means ones natural life span, ateji as a means of representing loanwords has been largely superseded in modern Japanese by the use of katakana, although many ateji coined in earlier eras still linger on. Ateji are particularly common on traditional store signs and menus, for example, kōhī, the Japanese loanword for coffee, is generally written using the katakana コーヒー, but on coffee shop signs and menus, it is often written with the ateji 珈琲. Many characters have gained meanings derived from ateji usage, for example, ateji was once widely utilized for foreign place names, such as in the ateji ajia used to write Asia. The original ateji word is now considered archaic, but the character 亜 has gained the meaning Asia in such compounds as tōa, even though 亜 originally meant subsequent. From the ateji amerika, the character was taken, resulting in the semi-formal coinage beikoku. When using ateji to represent loanwords, the kanji are sometimes chosen for both their semantic and phonetic values, a form of phono-semantic matching, a stock example is 倶楽部 for club, where the characters can be interpreted loosely in sequence as together, fun and place. Another example is 合羽 for the Portuguese capa, a kind of raincoat, the characters can mean wings coming together, as the pointed capa resembles a bird with wings folded together. The ad hoc usage of Chinese characters for their phonetic values dates nearly to the introduction of Chinese characters to Japan, two widespread uses of ateji came out of this. On one front, scholars and monks used kanji characters as translation aids between the lines of Chinese texts, on the other, poets simply used kanji phonetically to write in Japanese. Many different characters were used with the sound values. This system of characters is called 万葉仮名 manyōgana, the kana of modern Japanese developed as organic simplifications of manyōgana that were eventually codified. Ateji found some use in the Meiji era and in the 20th century, in Buddhist Japanese, Sanskrit terms used in some chants also derive from ateji but were not called such. These Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese in China long ago, the translation rule for mantras were not to translate the mantra, but instead to represent it phonetically with Chinese characters. For the sutras, they were translated into Chinese Literary Language, the terms prajñāpāramitā and samyaksaṃ-bodhi, or Perfection of Wisdom and Fully Enlightened, both appear in the Heart Sutra, but are written using ateji. 訓読み kun-yomi should not be confused with ateji, intentional improvised use of irregular kanji spellings is known as 義訓 gikun, and generally requires furigana to be read properly
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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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Kami
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Kami are the spirits or phenomena that are worshiped in the religion of Shinto. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express, and include the spirits of venerated dead persons. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans, traditionally, great or sensational leaders like the Emperor could be kami. In Shinto, kami are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, good and they are manifestations of musubi, the interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. Kami are believed to be “hidden” from this world, and inhabit a complementary existence that mirrors our own, to be in harmony with the awe-inspiring aspects of nature is to be conscious of kannagara no michi. Though the word kami is translated in multiple ways into English, in this way, the ambiguity of the meaning of kami is necessary, as it conveys the ambiguous nature of kami themselves. Kami is the Japanese word for a god, deity, divinity and it has been used to describe mind, God, supreme being, one of the Shinto deities, an effigy, a principle, and anything that is worshipped. Although deity is the interpretation of kami, some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term. The wide variety of usage of the word can be compared to the Sanskrit Deva and the Hebrew Elohim, some etymological suggestions are, Kami may, at its root, simply mean spirit, or an aspect of spirituality. It is written with the kanji 神, Sino-Japanese reading shin or jin, in Chinese, the character means deity. In the Ainu language, the word refers to an animistic concept very similar to Japanese kami. In his Kojiki-den, Motoori Norinaga gave a definition of kami. any being whatsoever which possesses some eminent quality out of the ordinary, because Japanese does not normally distinguish grammatical number in nouns, it is sometimes unclear whether kami refers to a single or multiple entities. When a singular concept is needed, -kami or -kamisama is used as a suffix. The logograms for kami-sama are those used for shén yàng in Pŭtōnghuà, kami-sama can be used for a divinity, or for a human, such as Tezuka Osamu. The term generally used to refer to multiple kami is kamigami, gender is also not implied in the word kami, and as such it can be used to reference either male or female. The word megami, the use of female kami is a new tradition. The Kojiki also includes descriptions of various kami, in the ancient Shinto traditions there were 5 defining characteristics of kami. They can nurture and love when respected, or they can cause destruction, Kami must be appeased in order to gain their favor and avoid their wrath
25.
Izumo-taisha
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Izumo-taisha, also Izumo Ōyashiro, is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. No record gives the date of establishment, located in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, it is home to two major festivals. It is dedicated to the god Ōkuninushi, famous as the Shinto deity of marriage and to Kotoamatsukami, the shrine is believed by many to be the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, even predating the Ise Grand Shrine. A style of architecture, taisha-zukuri, takes its name from the hall of Izumo-taisha. That hall, and the buildings, were designated National Treasures of Japan in 1952. According to tradition, the hall was much taller than at present. The discovery in the year 2000 of the remains of enormous pillars has lent credence to this, several other buildings in the shrine compound are on the list of Important Cultural Properties of Japan. Amaterasu was much pleased by this action and she presented Izumo-taisha to Ōkuninushi, at one time, the Japanese islands were controlled from Izumo, according to Shinto myths. Izumo, known as the realm of gods or the land of myths, is Izumo-taishas province and its main structure was originally constructed to glorify the great achievement of Ōkuninushi, considered the creator of Japan. Ōkuninushi was devoted to the building of the nation, in which he shared many joys, in addition to being the savior, Ōkuninushi is considered the guardian god and god of happiness, as well as the god who establishes good relationships. According to the Nihon Shoki, the sun goddess Amaterasu said, From now on and you shall cast a spell of establishing good relationship over people to lead them a happy life. I will build your residence with colossal columns and thick and broad planks in the architectural style as mine. The other gods were gathered and ordered by Amaterasu to build the palace at the foot of Mt. Uga. This was due to early Shinto cosmology, when the people believed the gods were above the world and belonged to the most extraordinary. Therefore, Izumo-taisha could have been an attempt to create a place for the kami that would be above humans, before being known as Izumo Ōyashiro or Izumo-taisha, the shrine was known as Okami-no-miya in Izumo, Itsukashinokami-no-miya, Kizuki-no-Oyashiro, Kizuki-no-miya, or Iwakumanoso-no-miya. Evidence of the original Grand Shrine has been found, for example, part of one of the pillars for the structure was found, three cedar trees with a three-meter diameter at its base. It is on display at the shrine, during the Kamakura era, around 1200, the main structure was reduced in size. Then in 1744, the shrine was reconstructed to the present size of 24 meters high and 11 meters square at its base, in the 18th and 19th centuries, as travel became more common in Japan, the shrine became a central place of pilgrimage
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Izumo Province
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Izumo Province was an old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. The province is in the Chūgoku Region and it was one of the regions of ancient Japan where major political powers arose. Even today, the Izumo Shrine constitutes one of the important sacred places of Shinto, it is dedicated to kami, especially to Ōkuninushi, mythical progeny of Susanoo. The mythological mother of Japan, the goddess Izanami, is said to be buried on Mt. Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hōki, by the Sengoku period, Izumo had lost much of its importance. It was dominated before the Battle of Sekigahara by the Mōri clan, in Japanese mythology, the entrance to Yomi was located within the province, and was sealed by the god Izanagi by placing a large boulder over the entrance. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Media related to Izumo Province at Wikimedia Commons Izumo Province at JapaneseCastleExplorer. com Murdochs map of provinces,1903
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Shimane Prefecture
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Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on the main Honshu island. It is the second least populous prefecture in Japan, after its eastern neighbor Tottori, the prefecture has an area elongated from east to west facing the Chūgoku Mountain Range on the south side and to the Sea of Japan on the north side. It is divided into the Izumo Region in the East, the Iwami Region in the West and the Oki Region, most of the cities are near the shoreline of the Sea of Japan. Izumo Taisha in Izumo City is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan, the Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan are also part of Shimane Prefecture, which also claims to have jurisdiction over the South Korea-controlled island of Liancourt Rocks. The history of Shimane starts with Japanese mythology, the Shinto god Ōkuninushi was believed to live in Izumo, an old province in Shimane. Izumo Shrine, which is in the city of Izumo, honors the god. At that time and that lasted until the abolition of the han system took place in 1871. During the Nara period, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro read a poem on Shimanes nature when he was sent as the Royal governor, later on in the Kamakura period, Kamakura Shogunate forced emperors Gotoba and Godaigo into exile in Oki. Emperor Godaigo later escaped away from Oki and began rallying supporters against the shogunate, during the Muromachi period, Izumo and Oki were controlled by the Kyogoku clan. However, after the Ōnin War, the Amago clan expanded power based in Gassantoda Castle, the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was located between Amago territory and Masuda territory, so there were many battles between these clans for the silver. However, in 1566 Mori Motonari conquered Izumo, Iwami, after over 30 years of Mori control, in 1600 Horio Yoshiharu entered Izumo and Oki as the result of Battle of Sekigahara, which Mori lost. Following the change, Horio Yoshiharu decided to move to build Matsue Castle instead of Gassan-Toda, later in 1638, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Matsudaira Naomasa became the ruler because the Horio clan had no heir, and his family ruled until the abolition of the han system. The Iwami area was split into three regions, the district, under the direct control of the Shogunate, the Hamada clan region. The Iwami Ginzan, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site produced silver and was one of the nations largest silver mine by the early 17th century, the Hamada clan was on the shogunates side in the Meiji Restoration, and the castle was burned down. The Tsuwano clan, despite then being ruled by the Matsudaira, was on the side in the restoration. In 1871, the abolition of the han system placed the old Shimane, later that year, Oki became part of Tottori. In 1876, Hamada Prefecture was merged into the Shimane Prefecture, also, Tottori Prefecture was added in the same year. However, five years later, in 1881, the current portion of Tottori Prefecture was separated, Shimane Prefecture is situated on the Sea of Japan side of the Chugoku region. Because of its mountainous landscape, rice farming is mostly in the Izumo plain where the city of Izumo is located
28.
Japanese New Year
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The Japanese New Year is an annual festival with its own customs. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year, New Years Day. However, the celebration of the traditional Japanese New Year is still marked on the day as the contemporary Chinese, Korean. Prior to the Meiji period, the date of the Japanese New Year was based on the Chinese lunar calendar, as are the contemporary Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Years. However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, Japanese people eat a selection of dishes during the New Year celebration called osechi-ryōri, typically shortened to osechi. There are many variations of osechi, and some foods eaten in one region are not eaten in other places on New Years Day, another popular dish is ozōni, a soup with mochi rice cake and other ingredients that differ based on various regions of Japan. Today, sashimi and sushi are often eaten, as well as non-Japanese foods, to let the overworked stomach rest, seven-herb rice soup is prepared on the seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu. Another custom is to create and eat rice cakes, boiled sticky rice is put into a wooden bucket-like container usu and patted with water by one person while another person hits it with a large wooden mallet. Mashing the rice, it forms a sticky white dumpling and this is made before New Years Day and eaten during the beginning of January. Mochi is made into a New Years decoration called kagami mochi, the name daidai is supposed to be auspicious since it means several generations. A major attraction is The Watched Night bell, in Tokyo, Japanese believe that the ringing of bells can rid their sins during the previous year. The bell is rung 107 times on 31st and once past midnight and it is also very common to eat buckwheat noodles called toshikoshi soba on the New Years Eve. The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest times for the Japanese post offices, the Japanese have a custom of sending New Years Day postcards to their friends and relatives, similar to the Western custom of sending Christmas cards. Their original purpose was to give your faraway friends and relatives tidings of yourself, in other words, this custom existed for people to tell others whom they did not often meet that they were alive and well. Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on 1 January, the post office guarantees to deliver the greeting postcards on 1 January if they are posted within a time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month and are marked with the word nengajō. To deliver these cards on time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help deliver the letters and it is customary not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family during the year. In this case, a member sends a simple postcard called mochū hagaki to inform friends and relatives they should not send New Years cards. People get their nengajō from many sources, most of these have the Chinese zodiac sign of the New Year as their design, or conventional greetings, or both
29.
Week
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A week is a time unit equal to seven days. It is the time period used for cycles of rest days in most parts of the world. The days of the week were named after the planets in the Roman era. In English, the names are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. ISO8601 includes the ISO week date system, a system for weeks within a given year – each week begins on a Monday and is associated with the year that contains that weeks Thursday. ISO8601 assigns numbers to the days of the week, running from 1 to 7 for Monday through to Sunday, the English word week comes from the Old English wice, ultimately from a Common Germanic *wikōn-, from a root *wik- turn, move, change. The Germanic word probably had a wider meaning prior to the adoption of the Roman calendar, perhaps succession series, the seven-day week is named in many languages by a word derived from seven. The archaism sennight preserves the old Germanic practice of reckoning time by nights, hebdomad and hebdomadal week both derive from the Greek hebdomás. The obsolete septimane is cognate with the Romance terms derived from Latin septimana, Slavic has a formation *tъdьnь, from *tъ this + *dьnь day, in some cases alongside nedělja, a loan-translation of Latin feria and sedmitsa, as ἑβδομάς derived from seven. Chinese has 星期, as it were planetary time unit, there are exactly 20,871 weeks in 400 Gregorian years, so 5 April 1617 was a Wednesday just like 5 April 2017. Relative to the path of the Moon, a week is 23. 659% of an average lunation, historically, the system of Dominical letters has been used to facilitate calculation of the day of week. The day of the week can be calculated given a dates Julian day number. The days of the week were named for the classical planets. This naming system persisted alongside an ecclesiastical tradition of numbering the days, the ordering of the weekday names are not that of the classical order of the planets. Instead, the planetary hours systems resulted in succeeding days being named for planets that are three places apart in their traditional listing and this characteristic was apparently discussed in Plutarch in a treatise written in c. AD100, which is reported to have addressed the question of Why are the named after the planets reckoned in a different order from the actual order. An ecclesiastical, non-astrological, system of numbering the days of the week was adopted in Late Antiquity and this model also seems to have influenced the designation of Wednesday as mid-week in Old High German and Old Church Slavonic. Old Church Slavonic may have modeled the name of Monday, понєдѣльникъ
30.
Buddhist calendar
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While the calendars share a common lineage, they also have minor but important variations such as intercalation schedules, month names and numbering, use of cycles, etc. In Thailand, the name Buddhist Era is a numbering system shared by the traditional Thai lunisolar calendar. The Southeast Asian lunisolar calendars are based on an older version of the Hindu calendar. One major difference is that the Southeast Asian systems, unlike their Indian cousins, instead, they employ their versions of the Metonic cycle. However, since the Metonic cycle is not very accurate for sidereal years, yet no coordinated structural reforms of the lunisolar calendar have been undertaken. Today, the traditional Buddhist lunisolar calendar is used mainly for Theravada Buddhist festivals, the Thai Buddhist Era, a renumbered Gregorian calendar, is the official calendar in Thailand. The Burmese calendar in turn was based on the original Surya Siddhanta system of ancient India, one key difference with Indian systems is that the Burmese system has followed a variation of the Metonic cycle. It is unclear from where, when or how the Metonic system was introduced, the Burmese system, and indeed the Southeast Asian systems, thus use a strange combination of sidereal years from Indian calendar in combination with the Metonic cycle better for tropical years. In all Theravada traditions, the epochal year 0 date was the day in which the Buddha attained parinibbāna. However, not all agree on when it actually took place. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, it was 13 May 544 BCE, but in Thailand, it was 11 March 545 BCE, the date which the current Thai lunisolar and solar calendars use as the epochal date. In Myanmar, the difference between BE and CE can be 543 or 544 for CE dates, and 544 or 543 for BCE dates, in Sri Lanka, the difference between BE and CE is 544. The calendar recognizes two types of months, synodic month and sidereal month, the Synodic months are used to compose the years while the 27 lunar sidereal days, alongside the 12 signs of the zodiac, are used for astrological calculations. The days of the month are counted in two halves, waxing and waning, the 15th of the waxing is the civil full moon day. The civil new moon day is the last day of the month, because of the inaccuracy of the calendrical calculation systems, the mean and real New Moons rarely coincide. The mean New Moon often precedes the real New Moon, as the Synodic lunar month is approximately 29.5 days, the calendar uses alternating months of 29 and 30 days. Various regional versions of Chula Sakarat/Burmese calendar existed across various regions of mainland Southeast Asia, unlike Cambodian and Burmese systems, Kengtung, Lan Na, Lan Xang and Sukhothai systems refer to the months by numbers, not by names. The Buddhist calendar is a calendar in which the months are based on lunar months
31.
Wu Xing
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The Five Phases are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. This order of presentation is known as the generation sequence. In the order of mutual overcoming, they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, the system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. The system is used as a reference in some forms of complementary and alternative medicine. Xing of Wu Xing means moving, a planet is called a star in Chinese. Wu Xing originally refers to the five planets that create five dimensions of earth life. Wu Xing is also translated as Five Elements and this is used extensively by many including practitioners of Five Element acupuncture. This translation arose by analogy with the Western system of the four elements. By the same token, Mù is thought of as Tree rather than Wood, the word element is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine with a different meaning to its usual meaning. It should be recognized that the phase, although commonly preferred, is not perfect. Phase is a translation for the five seasons mentioned below. Manfred Porkert attempts to resolve this by using Evolutive Phase for 五行 Wǔ Xíng and Circuit Phase for 五運 Wǔ Yùn, some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts also present the Wu Xing as five virtues or types of activities. Within Chinese medicine texts the Wu Xing are also referred to as Wu Yun or a combination of the two characters these emphasise the correspondence of five elements to five seasons, another tradition refers to the Wǔ Xíng as Wǔ Dé, the Five Virtues. Wood parts Earth Earth dams Water Water extinguishes Fire Fire melts Metal Metal chops Wood This cycle might also be called controls, according to Wu Xing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a series of associations with different aspects of nature. In the ancient Chinese form of known as Feng Shui practitioners all based their art. All of these phases are represented within the trigrams, associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes, all of which are interacting with each other. Based on a directional energy flow from one phase to the next
32.
Yin and yang
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Many tangible dualities are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang. Duality is found in many systems, but Yin and Yang are parts of a Oneness that is also equated with the Tao. A term has been coined dualistic-monism or dialectical monism, Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin yang shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the element in each section. In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real, so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu. The Chinese terms yīn 陰 or 阴 shady side and yáng 陽 or 阳 sunny side are linguistically analyzable in terms of Chinese characters, pronunciations and etymology, meanings, topography, and loanwords. The first phonetic yīn 侌 cloudy ideographically combines jīn 今 now, present and yún 云 cloud, the second phonetic yáng 昜 bright originally pictured 日 the sun with 勿 rays coming down. This phonetic is expanded with the sun radical into yáng 暘 rising sun, the mound, hill radical 阝full forms semantically specify yīn 陰 shady/dark side of a hill and yáng 陽 sunny/light side of a hill. Compare the Classical Chinese names for these two bodies, Tàiyīn 太陰 moon and Tàiyáng 太陽 sun. Reconstructions of Old Chinese have illuminated the etymology of modern Chinese words, Yin and yang are semantically complex words. A reliable Chinese-English dictionary gives the translation equivalents. Many Chinese place names or toponyms contain the word yang sunny side, similarly, yin refers to north side of a hill in Huayin 華陰, which is north of Mount Hua 華山 in Shaanxi province. English yin, yang, and yin-yang are familiar loanwords of Chinese origin, the Oxford English Dictionary defines, yin Also Yin, Yn. a. Also attrib. or as adj. and transf, comb. as yin-yang, the combination or fusion of the two cosmic forces, freq. attrib. Esp. as yin-yang symbol, a divided by an S-shaped line into a dark. Comb. yang-yin = yin-yang s. v. yin b, for the earliest recorded yin and yang usages, the OED cites 1671 for yin and yang,1850 for yin-yang, and 1959 for yang-yin
33.
Names of the days of the week
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In some other languages, the days are named after corresponding deities of the regional culture, either beginning with Sunday or with Monday. In the international standard ISO8601, Monday is treated as the first day of the week, between the 1st and 3rd centuries the Roman Empire gradually replaced the eight-day Roman nundinal cycle with the seven-day week. Our earliest evidence for new system is a Pompeiian graffito referring to the 6th February of the year AD60 as dies solis. The days were named after the planets of Hellenistic astrology, in the order Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, the seven-day week spread throughout the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. By the 4th century, it was in use throughout the Empire. Other languages adopted the week together with the Latin names for the days of the week in the colonial period, some constructed languages also adopted the Latin terminology. The Germanic peoples adapted the system introduced by the Romans by substituting the Germanic deities for the Roman ones in a known as interpretatio germanica. This period is later than the Common Germanic stage, but still during the phase of undifferentiated West Germanic, the names of the days of the week in North Germanic languages were not calqued from Latin directly, but taken from the West Germanic names. Sunday, Old English Sunnandæg, meaning suns day and this is a translation of the Latin phrase dies Solis. English, like most of the Germanic languages, preserves the original pagan/sun associations of the day, many other European languages, including all of the Romance languages, have changed its name to the equivalent of the Lords day. In both West Germanic and North Germanic mythology the Sun is personified as Sunna/Sól, Monday, Old English Mōnandæg, meaning Moons day. This is based on a translation of the Latin name dies lunae, in North Germanic mythology, the Moon is personified as Máni. Tuesday, Old English Tīwesdæg, meaning Tiws day, tiw was a one-handed god associated with single combat and pledges in Norse mythology and also attested prominently in wider Germanic paganism. The name of the day is based on Latin dies Martis, Wednesday, Old English Wōdnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden, and a prominent god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the seventh century. It is based on Latin dies Mercurii, Day of Mercury, the connection between Mercury and Odin is more strained than the other syncretic connections. The Icelandic Miðviku, German Mittwoch, Low German Middeweek and Finnish keskiviikko all mean mid-week, Thursday, Old English Þūnresdæg, meaning Þunors day. Þunor means thunder or its personification, the Norse god known in Modern English as Thor, similarly Dutch donderdag, German Donnerstag, Finnish torstai, and Scandinavian Torsdag. Thors day corresponds to Latin dies Iovis, day of Jupiter, Friday, Old English Frīgedæg, meaning the day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Fríge
34.
Mars
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Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is referred to as the Red Planet because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet, Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan, there are ongoing investigations assessing the past habitability potential of Mars, as well as the possibility of extant life. Future astrobiology missions are planned, including the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rovers, liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, which is about 6⁄1000 that of the Earths, except at the lowest elevations for short periods. The two polar ice caps appear to be largely of water. The volume of ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted. On November 22,2016, NASA reported finding a large amount of ice in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars. The volume of water detected has been estimated to be equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior, Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish coloring. Its apparent magnitude reaches −2.91, which is surpassed only by Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 kilometers across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earths atmosphere. Mars is approximately half the diameter of Earth with an area only slightly less than the total area of Earths dry land. Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earths volume and 11% of Earths mass, the red-orange appearance of the Martian surface is caused by iron oxide, or rust. It can look like butterscotch, other common colors include golden, brown, tan. Like Earth, Mars has differentiated into a metallic core overlaid by less dense materials. Current models of its interior imply a core with a radius of about 1,794 ±65 kilometers, consisting primarily of iron and this iron sulfide core is thought to be twice as rich in lighter elements than Earths. The core is surrounded by a mantle that formed many of the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet
35.
Mercury (planet)
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Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbital period around the Sun of 88 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System and it is named after the Roman deity Mercury, the messenger to the gods. Like Venus, Mercury orbits the Sun within Earths orbit as a planet, so it can only be seen visually in the morning or the evening sky. Also, like Venus and the Moon, the displays the complete range of phases as it moves around its orbit relative to Earth. Seen from Earth, this cycle of phases reoccurs approximately every 116 days, although Mercury can appear as a bright star-like object when viewed from Earth, its proximity to the Sun often makes it more difficult to see than Venus. Mercury is tidally or gravitationally locked with the Sun in a 3,2 resonance, as seen relative to the fixed stars, it rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun. As seen from the Sun, in a frame of reference that rotates with the orbital motion, an observer on Mercury would therefore see only one day every two years. Mercurys axis has the smallest tilt of any of the Solar Systems planets, at aphelion, Mercury is about 1.5 times as far from the Sun as it is at perihelion. Mercurys surface appears heavily cratered and is similar in appearance to the Moons, the polar regions are constantly below 180 K. The planet has no natural satellites. Mercury is one of four planets in the Solar System. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, with a radius of 2,439.7 kilometres. Mercury is also smaller—albeit more massive—than the largest natural satellites in the Solar System, Ganymede, Mercury consists of approximately 70% metallic and 30% silicate material. Mercurys density is the second highest in the Solar System at 5.427 g/cm3, Mercurys density can be used to infer details of its inner structure. Although Earths high density results appreciably from gravitational compression, particularly at the core, Mercury is much smaller, therefore, for it to have such a high density, its core must be large and rich in iron. Geologists estimate that Mercurys core occupies about 55% of its volume, Research published in 2007 suggests that Mercury has a molten core. Surrounding the core is a 500–700 km mantle consisting of silicates, based on data from the Mariner 10 mission and Earth-based observation, Mercurys crust is estimated to be 35 km thick. One distinctive feature of Mercurys surface is the presence of narrow ridges
36.
Jupiter
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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants, the other two giant planets, Uranus and Neptune are ice giants. Jupiter has been known to astronomers since antiquity, the Romans named it after their god Jupiter. Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a quarter of its mass being helium and it may also have a rocky core of heavier elements, but like the other giant planets, Jupiter lacks a well-defined solid surface. Because of its rotation, the planets shape is that of an oblate spheroid. The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence, a prominent result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the 17th century when it was first seen by telescope. Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere, Jupiter has at least 67 moons, including the four large Galilean moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these, has a greater than that of the planet Mercury. Jupiter has been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft, most notably during the early Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions and later by the Galileo orbiter. In late February 2007, Jupiter was visited by the New Horizons probe, the latest probe to visit the planet is Juno, which entered into orbit around Jupiter on July 4,2016. Future targets for exploration in the Jupiter system include the probable ice-covered liquid ocean of its moon Europa, Earth and its neighbor planets may have formed from fragments of planets after collisions with Jupiter destroyed those super-Earths near the Sun. Astronomers have discovered nearly 500 planetary systems with multiple planets, Jupiter moving out of the inner Solar System would have allowed the formation of inner planets, including Earth. Jupiter is composed primarily of gaseous and liquid matter and it is the largest of the four giant planets in the Solar System and hence its largest planet. It has a diameter of 142,984 km at its equator, the average density of Jupiter,1.326 g/cm3, is the second highest of the giant planets, but lower than those of the four terrestrial planets. Jupiters upper atmosphere is about 88–92% hydrogen and 8–12% helium by percent volume of gas molecules, a helium atom has about four times as much mass as a hydrogen atom, so the composition changes when described as the proportion of mass contributed by different atoms. Thus, Jupiters atmosphere is approximately 75% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, the atmosphere contains trace amounts of methane, water vapor, ammonia, and silicon-based compounds. There are also traces of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, the outermost layer of the atmosphere contains crystals of frozen ammonia. The interior contains denser materials - by mass it is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium, through infrared and ultraviolet measurements, trace amounts of benzene and other hydrocarbons have also been found
37.
Venus
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Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has the longest rotation period of any planet in the Solar System and it is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the second-brightest natural object in the sky after the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6. Because Venus orbits within Earths orbit it is a planet and never appears to venture far from the Sun. Venus is a planet and is sometimes called Earths sister planet because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun. It is radically different from Earth in other respects and it has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets, consisting of more than 96% carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is 92 times that of Earth. Venus is by far the hottest planet in the Solar System, with a surface temperature of 735 K. Venus is shrouded by an layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid. It may have had water oceans in the past, but these would have vaporized as the temperature rose due to a greenhouse effect. The water has probably photodissociated, and the hydrogen has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind because of the lack of a planetary magnetic field. Venuss surface is a dry desertscape interspersed with rocks and is periodically resurfaced by volcanism. As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed. It has been sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a prime inspiration for writers and poets as the morning star. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as the closest planet to Earth, Venus has been a prime target for early interplanetary exploration. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft, Venuss thick clouds render observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the first detailed maps did not emerge until the arrival of the Magellan orbiter in 1991. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more missions. Venus is one of the four planets in the Solar System
