1.
Hiroshima Prefecture
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Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Hiroshima and it has a population of around 2.8 million. The area around Hiroshima was formerly divided into Bingo Province and Aki Province and this location has been a center of trade and culture since the beginning of Japans recorded history. Hiroshima is a center of the Chūgoku region and was the seat of the Mōri clan until the Battle of Sekigahara. Hiroshima prefecture lies in the middle of Chūgoku, most of the prefecture consists of mountains leading towards Shimane Prefecture, and rivers produce rich plains near the coast. The province faces Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea, Hiroshima Bay opens on the Inland Sea. The prefecture also includes small islands. The sheltered nature of the Inland Sea makes Hiroshimas climate very mild, fourteen cities are located in Hiroshima Prefecture, These are the towns in each district, Hiroshimas main industries include automobiles and shipbuilding. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official Hiroshima Prefecture homepage Life in Hiroshima, Hiroshima map National Archives of Japan, Itsukushima kakei, illustrated scroll describing Itsukushima, text by Kaibara Ekiken
2.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
3.
Cinnamomum camphora
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Cinnamomum camphora is a large evergreen tree that grows up to 20–30 m tall. The leaves have a glossy, waxy appearance and smell of camphor when crushed, in spring, it produces bright green foliage with masses of small white flowers. It produces clusters of black, berry-like fruit around 1 cm in diameter and its pale bark is very rough and fissured vertically. Cinnamomum camphora is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and has been introduced to many other countries. In Japan, where the tree is called kusunoki, five camphor trees are known with a circumference above 20 m, with the largest individual, Kamō no Ōkusu. Camphor laurel contains volatile compounds in all plant parts. Camphor laurel has six different chemical variants called chemotypes, which are camphor, linalool,1, 8-cineole, nerolidol, safrole, in China, field workers avoid mixing chemotypes when harvesting by their odour. The cineole fraction of camphor laurel is used in China to manufacture fake Eucalyptus oil, the chemical variants seem dependent upon the country of origin of the tree. The tree is native to China, Japan, and Taiwan and it has been introduced to the other countries where it has been found, and the chemical variants are identifiable by country. E. g. C. camphora grown in Taiwan and Japan is normally high in linalool. In India and Sri Lanka, the high camphor variety/chemotype remains dominant, C. camphora grown in Madagascar, though, is high in 1,8 cineole. The essential oil from the Madagascar trees is known as ravintsara. Camphor is a crystalline substance, obtained from the tree C. camphora. Camphor has been used for centuries as a culinary spice, a component of incense. It is also an insect repellent and a flea-killing substance, C. camphora is native to Jeju off the coast of Korea, Taiwan, southern Japan, southeast China, and Indochina, where it is also cultivated for camphor and timber production. The production and shipment of camphor, in a solid, waxy form, was an industry in Taiwan prior to. It was used medicinally and was also an important ingredient in the production of smokeless gunpowder, primitive stills were set up in the mountainous areas in which the tree is usually found. The wood was chipped, these chips were steamed in a retort, allowing the camphor to crystallize on the inside of a crystallization box and it was then scraped off and packed out to government-run factories for processing and sale
4.
Prunus mume
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Prunus mume is an Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus subgenus Prunus. Its common names include Chinese plum and Japanese apricot, the flower is usually called plum blossom. This distinct tree species is related to both the plum and apricot trees, although generally referred to as a plum in English, it is more closely related to the apricot. In Chinese, Japanese and Korean cooking, the fruit of the tree is used in juices, as a flavouring for alcohol, as a pickle and it is also used in traditional medicine. The trees flowering in winter and early spring is highly regarded as a seasonal symbol. Prunus mume originated in the south of mainland China around the Yangtze River and was introduced to Japan, Korea, Taiwan. It can be found in forests, stream sides, forested slopes along trails and mountains, sometimes at altitudes up to 1, 700–3,100 metres. Prunus mume is a tree that starts to flower in mid-winter. It can grow to 4–10 metres tall, the flowers are 2–2.5 centimetres in diameter and have a strong fragrant scent. They have colors in varying shades of white, pink, the leaves appear shortly after the petals fall, are oval-shaped with a pointed tip, and are 4–8 cm long and 2. 5–5 cm wide. The fruit ripens in summer, around June and July in East Asia, and coincides with the rainy season of East Asia. The drupe is 2–3 centimetres in diameter with a running from the stalk to the tip. The skin turns yellow, sometimes with a red blush, as it ripens, the tree is cultivated for its fruit and flowers. The plant is known by a number of different names in English, including Chinese plum, an alternative name is ume, from Japanese, or mume, from the scientific name. Another alternative name is mei, from the Chinese name, the flower is known as the meihua in Chinese, which came to be translated as plum blossom or sometimes as flowering plum. The term winter plum may be used too, specifically with regard to the depiction of the flower with its early blooming in Chinese painting, in Chinese it is called méi and the fruit is called méizi. The Japanese name is ume, while the Korean name is maesil, the Japanese and Korean terms derive from Middle Chinese, in which the pronunciation is thought to have been muəi. The Vietnamese name is mai or mơ, ornamental tree varieties and cultivars of P. mume have been cultivated for planting in various gardens throughout East Asia, and for cut blossoming branches used in flower arrangements
5.
Mihara Castle
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Mihara Castle, also known as Ukishiro Castle, is a hirashiro located in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Mihara Castle was constructed in 1582 by Kobayakawa Takakage, who built this castle to protect the Mōri clans coastline, Takakage constructed the castle on the coast, and connected it to two small islands, thus giving the castle its nickname- Ukishiro. It had three baileys, thirty-two yagura, and fourteen gates, the tenshu was never constructed, though its foundation was completed, and is believed to be the largest ever constructed. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Kyūshū, Takakage was rewarded for being a follower by being given land in Chikuzen, Chikugo. As a result, he moved to Najima Castle, however, he returned to reside at Mihara Castle following his 1595 retirement, and died there in 1597. During the Meiji Restoration, Mihara Castle avoided the destruction that most Japanese castles suffered during this era, however, many of the stone walls were torn down and all buildings demolished when Mihara Train Station was built in the castle in 1894 following the decommissioning of the naval base. It was further demolished in 1975, when a shinkansen station, the ruins are preserved in a park, though the shinkansen inhibits traveling around the castle. The base of the tenshu still stands and it is possible to stand on it, Schmorleitz, Morton S. Castles in Japan
6.
Seto Inland Sea
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The Seto Inland Sea, also known as Setouchi or often shortened to Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. The region that includes the Seto Inland Sea and the areas of Honshū, Shikoku. It serves as a waterway, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan and it connects to Osaka Bay and provides a sea transport link to industrial centers in the Kansai region, including Osaka and Kobe. Before the construction of the Sanyō Main Line, it was the transportation link between Kansai and Kyūshū. The Setouchi region is known for its climate, with a stable year-round temperature. The sea is also famous for its periodic red tides caused by dense groupings of certain phytoplankton that result in the death of large numbers of fish, the International Hydrographic Organizations definition of the limits of the Seto Inland Sea is as follows, On the West. The Southeastern limit of the Japan Sea, a line running from Takura Saki in Honsyû to Oishi Hana in the island of Awazi, through this island to Sio Saki and on to Oiso Saki in Sikoku. A line joining Sada Misaki in Sikoku and Seki Saki in Kyûsyû, the Seto Inland Sea is 450 km long from east to west. The width from south to north varies from 15 to 55 km, in most places, the water is relatively shallow. The average depth is 37.3 m, the greatest depth is 105 m, the Naruto Strait connects the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea to the Kii Channel, which in turn connects to the Pacific Ocean. The western part of the Seto Inland Sea connects to the Sea of Japan through the Kanmon Straits, each part of the Seto Inland Sea has a separate name in Japanese. There are also many straits located between the islands, as well as a number of smaller ones that pass between islands or connect the Seto Inland Sea to other seas or the Pacific. Almost 3,000 islands are located in the Seto Inland Sea, many of the smaller islands are uninhabited. Over 500 marine species are known to live in the Seto Inland Sea, examples are the ayu, an amphidromous fish, the horseshoe crab, the finless porpoise, and the great white shark, which has occasionally attacked people in the Seto Inland Sea. In the past whales entered the sea to feed or breed, however due to whaling and pollution, they have disappeared from the Seto Inland Sea. It is believed that in the last ice age the sea level was lower than today, after the ice age, sea water poured into a basin between the Chūgoku mountains and Shikoku mountains and formed the Seto Inland Sea as we know it today. From ancient times, the Seto Inland Sea served as a transport line between its coastal areas, including what is today the Kansai region and Kyūshū. It was also a transport line between Japan and other countries, including Korea and China
7.
Battle of Sekigahara
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The Battle of Sekigahara was a decisive battle on October 21,1600 that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. Japan had a period of peace after the battle. Oda Nobunaga had slowly consolidated control over much of Japan and was in control of the shogun, Ashikaga tried to escape this predicament in 1573 by attacking Oda, but failed and was exiled, thus ending his shogunate. Nobunaga ruled unopposed until he was betrayed by his own retainer Akechi Mitsuhide in 1582, while under attack in Kyoto, Nobunaga committed suicide by seppuku. Toyotomi Hideyoshi quickly avenged his master Nobunaga and consolidated control over Japan, Hideyoshi had risen from humble roots to become the ruler of Japan. The death of Hideyoshi created a vacuum in Japan, which ultimately was resolved by the outcome at Sekigahara. With no appointed shogun over the armies, this left a vacuum in the Japanese government. Most notably, Katō Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori were publicly critical of the bureaucrats, especially Ishida Mitsunari, Tokugawa Ieyasu took advantage of this situation, and recruited them, redirecting the animosity to weaken the Toyotomi clan. Tokugawa Ieyasu was unrivaled in terms of seniority, rank, reputation, rumors started to spread stating that Ieyasu, at that point the only surviving ally of Oda Nobunaga, would take over Hideyoshis legacy just as Nobunagas was taken. This was especially evident amongst the loyalist bureaucrats, who suspected Ieyasu of agitating unrest amongst Toyotomis former vassals. Later, a conspiracy to assassinate Ieyasu surfaced, and many Toyotomi loyalists, including Toshiies son, Toshinaga, were accused of taking part. However, Uesugi Kagekatsu, one of Hideyoshis appointed regents, defied Ieyasu by building up his military, afterwards, Ieyasu summoned the help of various supporters and led them northward to attack the Uesugi clan. Many of them were at that moment besieging Hasedō though, Ishida Mitsunari, grasping the opportunity created by the chaos, rose up in response and created an alliance to challenge Ieyasus supporters. Mitsunari, in his home Sawayama Castle, met with Ōtani Yoshitsugu, Mashita Nagamori, here, they forged the alliance, and invited Mōri Terumoto, who actually did not take part in Sekigahara, to be its head. Thus formed what came to be referred to as the Western Army, Mori seized Osaka Castle for their base of operations, since most of Tokugawa’s forces had vacated the area to attack Uesugi. Ishida wanted to reinforce Mori at the impregnable Osaka Castle and this would let Mitsunari control the traditional capital city of Kyoto and challenge Tokugawa’s power. To this end, Mitsunari’s forces headed for Gifu Castle in order to use it as an area to move on Kyoto. Back in Edo, Ieyasu received news of the situation in the Kansai region, Tokugawa himself commanded 30,000 men and his subordinates led another 40,000 men
8.
Hiroshima Castle
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Hiroshima Castle, sometimes called Carp Castle, was a castle in Hiroshima, Japan that was the home of the daimyō of the Hiroshima han. The castle was constructed in the 1590s, but was destroyed by the bombing on August 61945. It was rebuilt in 1958, a replica of the original that now serves as a museum of Hiroshimas history prior to World War II, Mōri Terumoto, one of Toyotomi Hideyoshis council of Five Elders, built Hiroshima castle between 1589 and 1599. It was located on the delta of the Otagawa river, there was no Hiroshima city or town at the time, and the area was called Gokamura, meaning five villages. Beginning in 1591, Mōri governed nine provinces from this castle, including much of what is now Shimane, Yamaguchi, Tottori, when construction on the castle began, Gokamura was renamed Hiroshima, as a more impressive name was called for. Hiro was taken from Ōe no Hiromoto, an ancestor of the Mōri family, and Shima was taken from Fukushima Motonaga, who helped Mōri Terumoto choose the castle site. Some accounts state that the name Hiroshima, meaning literally wide island, comes from the existence of large islands in the delta of the Otagawa. Following the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Mōri was forced out of the castle, Fukushima Masanori became the lord of Aki and Bingo provinces and of Hiroshima castle. However, the new Tokugawa shogunate forbade any castle construction without permission from Edo, when Fukushima repaired the castle following a flood in 1619, he was dispatched to Kawanakajima in todays Nagano prefecture. Asano Nagaakira then became lord of the castle, from 1619 until the abolition of the feudal system during the Meiji Restoration, the Asano family were lords of Aki and Bingo provinces. After the Meiji Restoration, the castle came to serve as a facility. The foundations of several of the GHQ outbuildings, just a few hundred paces from the main tower. The present tower, constructed largely of concrete, was completed in 1958, **All of the lords after Asano Nagaakira enjoyed the same 426,500 koku. The castle was constructed in wood, pine primarily, and had attached wings to the east. It was completed sometime between 1592 and 1599, and was designated a National Treasure in 1931, the reconstructed castle features the main tower only, which is made primarily of reinforced concrete. Its five floors stand 26.6 meters above the stone foundation, however, in 1994, a gate and a yagura in the ninomaru were re-constructed out of wood using the original methods. An excellent example of a hirajiro or flatlands castle, Hiroshima castle once had three concentric moats in addition to the Otagawa river to the west, which provided a natural barrier. A number of castle buildings, towers and turrets once stood
9.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment, and electronics company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Through its defense-related activities it is the worlds 23rd-largest defense contractor measured by 2011 defense revenues, MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group. This was renamed Nagasaki Seitetsusho in 1860, and construction was completed in 1861, following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the shipyard was placed under control of the new Government of Meiji Japan. The first dry dock was completed in 1879, iwasaki purchased the shipyards outright in 1887. In 1891, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Yokohama Machinery Works was started as Yokohama Dock Company and its main business was ship repairs, to which it added ship servicing by 1897. The works was renamed Mitsubishi Shipyard of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha in 1893, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works was established in 1914. It produced industrial machinery and merchant ships, the Nagasaki company was renamed Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Ltd. in 1917 and again renamed as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1934. It became the largest private firm in Japan, active in the manufacture of ships, heavy machinery, airplanes, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries merged with the Yokohama Dock Company in 1935. From its inception, the Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyards were heavily involved in contracts for the Imperial Japanese Navy, the largest battleship Musashi was completed at Nagasaki in 1942. The Kobe Shipyard of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha was established in 1905, the Kobe Shipyard merged with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1934. The Kobe Shipyard constructed the ocean liner Argentina Maru, and the submarines the I-19, following the dissolution of the zaibatsu after the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, Mitsubishi divided into three companies. Mitsubishi Nagasaki became West Japan Heavy Industries, Ltd, the Nagasaki Shipyard was renamed Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. in 1952. The Mitsubishi Kobe Shipyard became Central Japan Heavy Industries, Ltd. in 1950, in 1964, the three independent companies from the 1950 break-up were merged again into one company under the name of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The Nagasaki works was renamed the Nagasaki Shipyard & Engine Works, the Kobe works was renamed the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works. In 1970, MHIs automobile parts department became an independent company as Mitsubishi Motors, MHI participated in a ¥540 billion emergency rescue of Mitsubishi Motors in January 2005, in partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group. As part of the rescue, MHI acquired ¥50 billion of Mitsubishi Motors stock, increasing its stake to 15 percent. In October 2009, MHI announced an order for up to 100 regional jets from the United States-based airline Trans States Holdings. MHI entered talks with Hitachi in August 2011 about a merger of the two companies, in what would have been the largest merger between two Japanese companies in history
10.
Sharp Corporation
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Sharp Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, headquartered in Sakai-ku, Sakai. Since 2016 it has been a part of Taiwan-based Foxconn Group. Sharp employs more than 50,000 people worldwide, the company was founded in September 1912 in Tokyo and takes its name from one of its founder’s first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa in 1915. As of 2013, Sharp Corporation is the tenth-largest, by market share, in Japan it has been a long-time leader. Sharp has at times also been the most popular mobile phone brand in the Japanese market, in 1912, Tokuji Hayakawa founded a metal workshop in Tokyo. The first of his inventions was a snap buckle named ‘Tokubijo’. Another of his inventions was the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil in 1915, after the pencil business was destroyed by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the company relocated to Osaka and began designing the first generation of Japanese radio sets. These went on sale in 1925, in 1953, Sharp started producing TV sets. In 1964, Sharp developed the world’s first transistor calculator, which was priced at JP¥535,000 and it took Sharp several years to develop the product as they had no experience in making computing devices at the time. Two years later, in 1966, Sharp introduced its first IC calculator using 145 Mitsubishi-made bipolar ICs and its first LSI calculator was introduced in 1969. This was the first pocketable calculator priced at less than JP¥100,000, the company produced the first LCD calculator in 1973. All of these units are considered collectors items on the secondary market, one of the company’s main inventors of LCD calculators was Tadashi Sasaki. The company ventured into the high end stereo market in 1976 with the introduction of high end receivers, amplifiers, speakers, turntables and cassette players. The Optonica line as it was called, consisted of quality and technically advanced components. The line was changed, in 1981, and moved mainly into digital high end. Sharp’s Mobile Communications Division created the world’s first commercial camera phone, since 2000, Sharp has heavily invested in LCD panel manufacturing plants, Kameyama in 2004, Sakai in 2009. The Sakai plant is still the only 10th generation LCD manufacturing plant on the globe, however, the 2008 financial crisis and strong Yen significantly lowered world demand for Japanese LCD panels. Furthermore, the switch to digital TV broadcasting was completed in Japan by the middle of 2011
– Yugawara, Kanagawa, Japan
Media related to Mihara, Hiroshima at Wikimedia Commons
