1.
Summit
–
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic prominence
–
It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
3.
Topographic isolation
–
The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks, the following sortable table lists the Earths 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germanys highest mountain, the 2, 962-metre-high Zugspitze, the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km, the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km, because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the earth over the poles or – questionably, after Mount Everest the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no land for 16,534 kilometres when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps, the geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. The Kukurtlu, which rises near the Elbrus, is the peak for Mont Blanc. com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger. com peaklist. org peakware. com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost. org
4.
List of countries by highest point
–
The following sortable table lists land surface elevation extremes by country. Topographic elevation is the distance above the reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earths sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface. Of all countries, Lesotho has the worlds highest low point at 1,400 m, other countries with high low points include Rwanda and Andorra. The Maldives have the worlds lowest high point at 2.4 m, other countries with very low high points include Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. These island countries also have the smallest range between their lowest and highest points, and are sensitive to rise in sea level. The highest and lowest points in China constitute the greatest elevation range within any country at 9,002 m. The elevation ranges are also great in Nepal, Pakistan, monacos elevation range is among the greatest relative to surface area. Within its 2.02 km² territory, there is a difference of 140 m between its highest and lowest points, equivalent to a gradient of 69 m for every km². Central Intelligence Agency The World Factbook U. S. Department of State Background Notes
5.
Ultra-prominent peak
–
An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is defined as a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are approximately 1,524 such peaks on Earth, some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term Ultra is due to earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s and his original term was ultra major mountain, referring to peaks with at least 5,000 ft of prominence. Currently,1,515 Ultras have been identified worldwide,637 in Asia,355 in North America,209 in South America,119 in Europe,84 in Africa,69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the worlds largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, on the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names, a number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a value almost equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide
6.
List of mountains and hills of Japan by height
–
The following is a list of the mountains and hills of Japan, ordered by height. As the generally accepted definition of a mountain is 1000 m of height and 500 m of prominence, the following list is provided for convenience only
7.
100 Famous Japanese Mountains
–
100 Famous Japanese Mountains is a book composed in 1964 by mountaineer and author Kyūya Fukada. The list became famous when Crown Prince Naruhito took note of it, the list has been the topic of NHK documentaries, and other hiking books. The selection of celebrated mountains had been done since the Edo period, tani Bunchō praised 90 mountains as celebrated mountains in 日本名山図会, but among these were included such small mountains as Mount Asama in Ise, Mie and Mount Nokogiri on the Boso Peninsula. Though it was at first unknown other than to some hiking-lovers and avid readers, since the 1980s, there has been a climbing boom amongst the middle-aged. It is not rock climbing that has been popularised, but rather hiking or trekking, the list became widely read, and people who choose mountains from the book to climb have increased. In imitation of Prince Naruhito, many people have set the goal of reaching every summit on the list. Mountaineering programs on NHK helped popularize the list, the station televised a documentary about taking up the mountains on the list one by one, and Rambō Minamis mountaineering primer for the middle-aged. These gained wide popularity, and the list became widely known, since then, lists of 200 and 300 mountains, lists of hundreds of mountains in various localities, and a list of 100 floral mountains have appeared. In 2002, a new record traversing all of the mountains in 66 days was established and this was superseded in 2007, with a new record of 48 continuous days. English translation by Martin Hood is published as One Hundred Mountains of Japan (University of Hawaii Press 2014）, compared to other modern essays on Japanese mountains such as Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps by Walter Weston, the book is short. Fukuda writes about the history of the mountains, especially the origins of their names and it is not a text that people can read to vicariously experience climbing or nature. Some think that the reason the list has been well received is that it put into focus 100 mountains which were already well known. Fukada selected 100 mountains from those which are 1,500 meter or higher and he had climbed up ever and he softened the altitude limit on some exceptions, like Mount Tsukuba and Mount Kaimon. There have been many varying opinions about the criteria for selection and it is often pointed out that the list emphasises mountains in the Chūbu region. It has been reported that Fukada, who was from Ishikawa Prefecture, was brought up looking at Mt. Haku, however, grace and individuality are in the eye of the beholder, and throughout history, many legends have been circulated about mountains throughout the Kinki region. Moreover, many mountain-lovers have argued that since Mount Tsukuba, with an altitude of 877 meters, was selected, certain mountains in other localities should have been selected
8.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
9.
Honshu
–
Honshu is the largest and most populous island of Japan, located south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to its south and it is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 103 million as of 2005, mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, as the historical center of Japanese culture and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt. The island is linked to the three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. Its climate is humid and mild, the island is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 225,800 km2, 60% of the total area of Japan, making it slightly larger than Great Britain. Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, Honshu has 5,450 kilometres of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes, the highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes Honshu the worlds 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japans longest, the northernmost point on Honshu is the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula in Ōma, Aomori, Cape Kure lies at the southern extreme in Kushimoto, Wakayama. The islands eastern extremity is Todogasaki in Miyako, Iwate, and its western one is Bishanohana in Shimonoseki, Honshu spans more than eight degrees of latitude and 11 degrees of longitude. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels or bridges, the island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some islands are included within these prefectures, notably including the Ogasawara Islands, Sado Island, Izu Ōshima. Fruits, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton are grown in Honshu, niigata is noted as an important producer of rice. The Kantō and Nōbi plains produce rice and vegetables, yamanashi is a major fruit-growing area, and Aomori is famous for its apples. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu, yields of zinc, copper, and oil have been found on Honshu
10.
Topographic map
–
Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features. A topographic map is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation, however, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly called topographic. The study or discipline of topography is a broader field of study. Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys, performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms. This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property, the first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle, as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and up to 66 cm wide, although the project eventually foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. TIGER was developed in the 1980s and used in the 1990, digital elevation models were also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for security reasons. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments, by the mid-1990s, increasingly user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt, the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads and these signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps. In the United States, where the national series is organized by a strict 7. 5-minute grid. Topographic maps conventionally show topography, or land contours, by means of contour lines, contour lines are curves that connect contiguous points of the same altitude. In other words, every point on the line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level
11.
Geospatial Information Authority
–
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, or GSI, is the national institution responsible for surveying and mapping the national land of Japan. The former name of the organization from 1949 until March 2010 was Geographical Survey Institute and it is an organization attached to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Its main offices are situated in Tsukuba City of Ibaraki Prefecture and it also runs a museum, situated in Tsukuba, the Science Museum of Map and Survey. Stationary MT monitoring systems have been installed in Japan since April 1996, providing a continuous recording of MT signals at the Mizusawa Geodetic Observatory and these stations measure fluctuations in the earths electromagnetic field that correspond with seismic activity. The GSI featured in the novel Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami as the workplace of his roommate. At the time the novel was set, in the late sixties, japanese maps, the history of mapping in Japan. Japanese map symbols, the symbols used by the GSI in maps
12.
Geologic time scale
–
The table of geologic time spans, presented here, agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Evidence from radiometric dating indicates that Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, the geology or deep time of Earth’s past has been organized into various units according to events which took place in each period. Older time spans, which predate the reliable record, are defined by their absolute age. Some other planets and moons within the Solar System have sufficiently rigid structures to have preserved records of their own histories, for example, Venus, Mars, dominantly fluid planets, such as the gas giants, do not preserve their history in a comparable manner. Apart from the Late Heavy Bombardment, events on other planets probably had little influence on the Earth. Construction of a scale that links the planets is, therefore, of only limited relevance to the Earths time scale. The existence, timing, and terrestrial effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment is still debated, the largest defined unit of time is the supereon, composed of eons. Eons are divided into eras, which are in turn divided into periods, epochs, the terms eonothem, erathem, system, series, and stage are used to refer to the layers of rock that correspond to these periods of geologic time in Earths history. Geologists qualify these units as early, mid, and late when referring to time, and lower, middle, for example, the lower Jurassic Series in chronostratigraphy corresponds to the early Jurassic Epoch in geochronology. The adjectives are capitalized when the subdivision is formally recognized, and lower case when not, thus early Miocene but Early Jurassic. Geologic units from the time but different parts of the world often look different and contain different fossils. For example, in North America the Lower Cambrian is called the Waucoban series that is subdivided into zones based on succession of trilobites. In East Asia and Siberia, the unit is split into Alexian, Atdabanian. A key aspect of the work of the International Commission on Stratigraphy is to reconcile this conflicting terminology, the term Anthropocene is used informally by popular culture and a growing number of scientists to describe the current epoch in which we are living. The term was coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 to describe the current time, others say that humans have not even started to leave their biggest impact on Earth, and therefore the Anthropocene hasnt even started yet. Whatever the case, the ICS has not officially approved the term, leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotles interpretation that fossils represented the remains of ancient life. The 11th-century Persian geologist Avicenna and the 13th-century Dominican bishop Albertus Magnus extended Aristotles explanation into a theory of a petrifying fluid. Avicenna also first proposed one of the principles underlying geologic time scales, the Chinese naturalist Shen Kuo also recognized the concept of deep time
13.
Stratovolcano
–
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma then rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome. In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
14.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content
15.
First ascent
–
In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with risks, challenges. The person who performs the first ascent is called the first ascensionist, the details of the first ascents of even many prominent mountains are scanty or unknown, sometimes the only evidence of prior summiting is a cairn, artifacts, or inscriptions at the top. Today, first ascents are generally recorded and usually mentioned in guidebooks. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a first ascent is a one, especially in places such as Africa. There may be little or no evidence or documentation about the climbing activities of indigenous peoples living near the mountain. The term is used when referring to ascents made using a specific technique or taking a specific route, such as via the North Face. In rock climbing, some of the earlier first ascents, particularly for difficult routes, involved a mix of free, as a result, purist free climbers have developed the designation first free ascent to acknowledge ascents intentionally made more challenging by using equipment for protection only. Some other first ascents could be recorded for particular mountains or routes, one is the First Winter Ascent, which is, as the name easily suggests, the first ascent made during winter season. This is most important where the climate of winter is a factor in increasing the difficulty grade of the route, in the Northern Hemisphere conventional winter ascents are made between December 21 and March 21 and are not related to the conditions. Also in the Himalayan area, although Nepal and Chinas winter season permits start on December 1, another is the First Solo Ascent, which is the first ascent made by a single climber. This is most important on high-level rock climbing, when the climber has to provide his own security or even when climbing without any protection at all, another type of ascent, also known as FFA is the first female ascent. The term last ascent has been used to refer to an ascent of a mountain or face that has changed to such an extent – often because of rockfall – that the route no longer exists. It can also be used facetiously to refer to a climb that is so unpleasant or unaesthetic that no one would willingly repeat the first ascent partys ordeal. List of first ascents List of first ascents in the Alps List of first ascents in the Himalaya Glossary of climbing terms Alpinist Magazine – Peter Mortimers First Ascent, Issue 17
16.
Hiking
–
Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
17.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
18.
Honshu Island
–
Honshu is the largest and most populous island of Japan, located south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to its south and it is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 103 million as of 2005, mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, as the historical center of Japanese culture and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt. The island is linked to the three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. Its climate is humid and mild, the island is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 225,800 km2, 60% of the total area of Japan, making it slightly larger than Great Britain. Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, Honshu has 5,450 kilometres of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes, the highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes Honshu the worlds 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japans longest, the northernmost point on Honshu is the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula in Ōma, Aomori, Cape Kure lies at the southern extreme in Kushimoto, Wakayama. The islands eastern extremity is Todogasaki in Miyako, Iwate, and its western one is Bishanohana in Shimonoseki, Honshu spans more than eight degrees of latitude and 11 degrees of longitude. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels or bridges, the island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some islands are included within these prefectures, notably including the Ogasawara Islands, Sado Island, Izu Ōshima. Fruits, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton are grown in Honshu, niigata is noted as an important producer of rice. The Kantō and Nōbi plains produce rice and vegetables, yamanashi is a major fruit-growing area, and Aomori is famous for its apples. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu, yields of zinc, copper, and oil have been found on Honshu
19.
Mountain
–
A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and these colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains, different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, similarly, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block. All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, crumple, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
20.
Japan
–
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
21.
Active volcano
–
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
22.
Tokyo
–
Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
23.
Mount Haku
–
Mount Haku, or Mount Hakusan, is a potentially active volcano. The stratovolcano is located on the borders of Gifu, Fukui and it is thought to have first been active 300,000 to 400,000 years ago, with the most recent eruption occurring in 1659. Along with Mount Tate and Mount Fuji, it is one of Japans Three Holy Mountains, the mountains tallest peak, Gozengamine, is the one that gives the mountain its height of 2,702 m. Along with Kengamine, which is 2,677 m, and Ōnanjimine, which is 2,648 m, Mount Bessan and Mount Sannomine are sometimes included and called Mount Hakus Five Peaks. It is also the westernmost mountain in Japan that is over 2,000 m in height, Taichō was the first to climb Mount Haku in 717. For hundreds of years, people have come to Haku for prayers, a branch shrine of Shirayama Hime Shrine, which served as the supreme shrine for Kaga Province, is on the mountain. The Shirayama Hime Shrine is the shrine of approximately 2,000 Hakusan shrines in Japan. In 1980 an area of 48,000 ha was designated a UNESCO Man, Mount Haku was designated as a quasi-national park in 1955. It became a park in 1962 and was renamed Hakusan National Park. Because the central part of the mountain has much precipitous terrain, there are few roads and, as a result. Also limiting human intrusion is the designation of the park as a Wildlife Protection Area, the park stretches beyond the mountains borders into Toyama Prefecture. The area surrounding Mount Haku is one of the few in Japan that contains outcroppings from the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era, many of Japans typical examples of dinosaur fossils were found in this area. One of the rock outcrops is in the Kuwashima area and is known as the Kuwashima Fossil Wall. Because the mountain is a dormant volcano, it is known for its many onsen. Mount Haku is known for its plant life. Along the Sabō Trail, after passing the Jinnosuke Lodge, alpine plants are found, including the chocolate lily, there are many alpine plants which have Hakusan in their name. These include Primula cuneifolia, Anemone narcissiflora, Dactylorhiza, Geranium yesoemse and these plants can be found on many mountains throughout Japan, but they were first discovered and named along the older hiking trails leading to Hakusan Shrine. The golden eagle, Ishikawas prefectural bird, lives on the slopes of Mount Haku, the rock ptarmigan, Gifus prefectural bird, used to live on the slopes as well
24.
Monuments of Japan
–
The government designates significant items of this kind as Cultural Properties and classifies them in one of three categories, Historic Sites Places of Scenic Beauty, Natural Monuments. Items of particularly high significance may receive a classification as. As of September 2013, there were 3,089 nationally designated Monuments,1,710 Historic Sites,374 Places of Scenic Beauty, alterations to the existing state of a site or activities affecting its preservation require permission from the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs. Financial support for purchasing and conserving designated land and for the utilization of the site is available through local governments, the Agency for Cultural Affairs designates monuments based on a number of criteria. A monument can be designated based on more than one of these criteria, Monuments from the Meiji period onward which require preservation can be registered as Registered Monuments. Members of this class of Cultural Property receive more limited assistance and protection based mostly on governmental notification, as of April 2012,61 monuments were registered under this system. List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments Cultural Properties of Japan Meibutsu
25.
List of World Heritage Sites in Japan
–
Japan accepted the UNESCO World Heritage Convention on 30 June 1992. As of July 2016, twenty properties have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, sixteen cultural sites, a further eight sites and one site extension have been submitted for future inscription and are currently on the Tentative List as of 2014. The Tentative List consists of sites previously nominated, but not yet inscribed, in January 2012 the Japanese Government requested the inscription of the tentative sites of Kamakura in 2013. The request was considered by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session in Phnom Penh, the request for World Heritage status for Kamakura was duly withdrawn by Japan. Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki will be resubmitted again for the year 2018, the agency also announced to nominate Okinoshima Island and Related Sites in Munakata Region for the year 2017. The Japanese Government also plans to propose Amami and Ryūkyū Islands as a joint fifth Natural Site and a study panel is to be formed to consider a sixth candidate site
26.
UNESCO
–
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
27.
Kanji
–
Kanji, or kanji, are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means Han characters and is using the same characters as the Chinese word hànzì. Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, the earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD. Chinese coins from the first century AD have been found in Yayoi-period archaeological sites, however, the Japanese of that era probably had no comprehension of the script, and would remain illiterate until the fifth century AD. The earliest Japanese documents were written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the Yamato court. For example, the correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion. Later, groups of people called fuhito were organized under the monarch to read, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court. The Japanese language had no form at the time Chinese characters were introduced. Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, around 650 CE, a writing system called manyōgana evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. Manyōgana written in cursive style evolved into hiragana, or onna-de, that is, ladies hand, major works of Heian-era literature by women were written in hiragana. Katakana emerged via a path, monastery students simplified manyōgana to a single constituent element. Thus the two writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as kana, are descended from kanji. Katakana are mostly used for representing onomatopoeia, non-Japanese loanwords, the names of plants and animals, and for emphasis on certain words. In 1946, following World War II and under the Allied Occupation of Japan and this was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. The number of characters in circulation was reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, some characters were given simplified glyphs, called shinjitai. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged and these are simply guidelines, so many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, these are known as hyōgaiji. The kyōiku kanji are 1,006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school, originally the list only contained 881 characters. This was expanded to 996 characters in 1977 and it was not until 1982 the list was expanded to its current size
28.
Ateji
–
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
29.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
–
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a 10th-century Japanese monogatari containing folkloric elements. It is considered the oldest extant Japanese prose narrative although the oldest manuscript dates to 1592, the tale is also known as The Tale of Princess Kaguya, after its protagonist. It primarily details the life of a girl called Kaguya-hime. One day, while walking in the bamboo forest, an old, childless bamboo cutter called Taketori no Okina came across a mysterious, after cutting it open, he found inside it an infant the size of his thumb. He rejoiced to find such a girl and took her home. He and his wife raised her as their own child and named her Kaguya-hime, thereafter, Taketori no Okina found that whenever he cut down a stalk of bamboo, inside would be a small nugget of gold. Kaguya-hime grew from a baby into a woman of ordinary size. At first, Taketori no Okina tried to keep her away from outsiders, eventually, five princes came to Taketori no Okinas residence to ask for Kaguya-himes hand in marriage. The princes eventually persuaded Taketori no Okina to tell a reluctant Kaguya-hime to choose from among them, Kaguya-hime concocted impossible tasks for the princes, agreeing to marry the one who managed to bring her his specified item. That night, Taketori no Okina told the five princes what each must bring, realizing that it was an impossible task, the first prince returned with an expensive bowl, but after noticing that the bowl did not glow with holy light, Kaguya-hime saw through his deception. Likewise, two other princes attempted to deceive her with fakes, but also failed, the fourth gave up after encountering a storm, while the final prince lost his life in his attempt. After this, the Emperor of Japan, Mikado, came to see the strangely beautiful Kaguya-hime and, upon falling in love and she stayed in contact with the Emperor, but continued to rebuff his requests and marriage proposals. That summer, whenever Kaguya-hime saw the moon, her eyes filled with tears. Though her adoptive parents worried greatly and questioned her, she was unable to tell them what was wrong and her behaviour became increasingly erratic until she revealed that she was not of this world and must return to her people on the Moon. The gold that Taketori no Okina had been finding had in fact been a stipend from the people of the Moon, Kaguya-hime announced that, though she loved her many friends on Earth, she must return with the Moon people to her true home. She wrote sad notes of apology to her parents and to the Emperor and she then took a small taste of the elixir of life, attached it to her letter to the Emperor, and gave it to a guard officer. As she handed it to him, the robe was placed on her shoulders. The heavenly entourage took Kaguya-hime back to Tsuki-no-Miyako, leaving her earthly foster parents in tears, the parents became very sad and were soon put to bed sick
30.
Hirata Atsutane
–
Hirata Atsutane was a Japanese scholar, conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku studies, and one of the most significant theologians of the Shintō religion. Hirata was born to a samurai family of Akita domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. His father was named Ōwada Yoshitane, and Hirata was adopted by Matsuyama retainer Hirata Tōbei, little is known of his early life, but Hirata was a student of the Neo-Confucianism of Yamazaki Ansai in Edo. He later turned towards Daoism as found in the works of the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, Hirata laid particular emphasis on reaching the average man, and adapted his own style to them by employing at times the vernacular idiom. Hirata claimed later to have received the mantle of kokugaku teacher in a dream directly from Motoori Norinaga, hiratas interest in kokugaku postdates Motooris own death. Representative works in the study of ancient Japanese traditions include Tama no mihashira, Koshi seibun, Kodō taii and Zoku Shintō taii, and the commentaries Koshi-chō and Koshi-den. He is also noted for his studies of ancient Indian and Chinese tradition and his early work Honkyō gaihen indicates an acquaintance with Christian literature that had been authored by Jesuits in China. Hirata frequently expressed hostility to the Confucian and Buddhist scholars of the day, the contents of his 1841 treatise Tenchō mukyūreki angered the ruling Tokugawa bakufu government, and he was sentenced to confinement in Akita until his death in 1843. Hiratas activities eventually attracted over 500 pupils, including Okuni Takamasa and his nationalist writings had considerable impact on the samurai who supported the Sonnō jōi movement and who fought in the Boshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Meiji Restoration. Atsutanes influence on kokugaku has recently thought to be overestimated. While he is called one of the four men of kokugaku. His work more often influenced religious groups than the government in the Empire of Japan, among Atsutanes more enduring contributions to Japanese thought was the idea that all Japanese were descended from the gods, not only the Imperial family and certain aristocratic families. As he put it, this, our glorious land, is the land in which the gods have their origin, a Modern History of Japan, From Tokugawa Times to the Present. ISBN9780195110609, ISBN9780195110616, OCLC49704795 Jansen, Marius B, ISBN9780674003347, OCLC44090600 McNally, Mark. Proving the Way, Conflict and Practice in the History of Japanese Nativism
31.
Ainu language
–
Ainu or Hokkaido Ainu is the sole survivor of the Ainu languages. It is spoken by members of the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, until the 20th century, Ainu languages were also spoken throughout the southern half of the island of Sakhalin and by small numbers of people in the Kuril Islands. There were at least 19 dialects of the Ainu languages, only the Hokkaido variant survives, the last speaker of Sakhalin Ainu having died in 1994. Hokkaido Ainu is moribund, though attempts are being made to revive it, Ainu has no generally accepted genealogical relationship to any other language family. Depending on the system used, Ainu could be considered a moribund language or a critically endangered language. As of 2016, Ethnologue lists Ainu as class 8b, nearly extinct and it has been endangered since before the 1960s. Most of the approximately 15,000 ethnic Ainu in Japan speak only Japanese, during the 1980s, in the town of Nibutani, where many of the remaining native speakers live, there were 100 speakers, of whom only fifteen used the language every day. Today, there are only around ten native speakers remaining, all of whom are at least 80 years old, there are also some semi-speakers who are at least 60 years old. Most of these live in southwestern Hokkaido. There is a movement to revitalize the language, mainly in Hokkaido. Ainu oral literature has been documented both in hopes of safeguarding it for generations, as well as using it as a teaching tool for language learners. Beginning in 1987, the Ainu Association of Hokkaido began hosting Ainu language classes, the Ainu Association of Hokkaido is the main supporter of Ainu culture in Hokkaido. Ainu language classes have been conducted in areas in Japan. Efforts have also made to produce web-accessible materials for conversational Ainu because most documentation of the Ainu language focused on the recording of folktales. Ainu syllables are CV, that is, they have a syllable onset. There are five vowel sounds in Ainu, Plosives /p t ts k/ may be voiced between vowels and after nasals, both /ti/ and /tsi/ are realized as, and /s/ becomes before /i/ and at the end of syllables. There is some variation among dialects, in the Sakhalin dialect, syllable-final /p, t, k, after an /i/, this /x/ is pronounced. A glottal stop is inserted at the beginning of words, before an accented vowel
32.
Yamato people
–
The Yamato people and Wajin are the dominant native ethnic group of Japan. Generations of Japanese historians, linguists, and archeologists have debated whether the word is related to the earlier Yamatai, the Yamato clan set up Japans first and only dynasty. Wa or Yamato were the names early China used to refer to a group living in Japan around the time of the Three Kingdoms period. The pronunciation Yamato cannot be formed from the sounds of its constituent characters, some other pairs of historical provinces of Japan exhibit similar sharing of one etymological element, such as Kazusa and Shimōsa or Kōzuke and Shimotsuke. In these latter cases, the pairs of provinces with similar names are thought to have created through the subdivision of an earlier single province in prehistoric or protohistoric times. Although the etymological origins of Wa remain uncertain, Chinese historical texts recorded an ancient people residing in the Japanese archipelago, the first submissive, obedient explanation began with the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary. It defines 倭 as shùnmào 順皃 obedient/submissive/docile appearance, graphically explains the person, human radical with a wěi 委 bent phonetic, conceivably, when Chinese first met Japanese, Carr suggests they transcribed Wa as *ʼWâ bent back signifying compliant bowing/obeisance. Bowing is noted in historical references to Japan. Examples include Respect is shown by squatting, and they either squat or kneel and this is the way they show respect. Koji Nakayama interprets wēi 逶 winding as very far away and euphemistically translates Wō 倭 as separated from the continent. The second etymology of wō 倭 meaning dwarf, midget, little people has possible cognates in ǎi 矮 low, short, wō 踒 strain, sprain, bent legs, and wò 臥 lie down, crouch, sit. Early Chinese dynastic histories refer to a Zhūrúguó 侏儒國 pygmy/dwarf country located south of Japan, Carr cites the historical precedence of construing Wa as submissive people and the Country of Dwarfs legend as evidence that the little people etymology was a secondary development. As the Yamato influence expanded, their Old Japanese language became the spoken language. In present-day Japan, the term Yamato minzoku may be seen as antiquated for connoting racial notions that have been discarded in many circles since Japan’s defeat in World War II. “Japanese people” or even “Japanese-Japanese” are often used instead, although these also have complications owing to their ambiguous blending of notions of ethnicity and nationality. If regarded as an ethnic group, the Yamato people are among the worlds largest. They have ruled Japan for almost its entire history, since the Meiji period the Japanese scholars supported the later dismissed ideological viewpoint that they are related to the Yamato people. The Ryukyuans were assimilated into Japanese people with their ethnic identity suppressed by the Meiji government, an Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus
33.
Wisteria
–
Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing bines native to the Eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Some species are popular ornamental plants, an aquatic flowering plant with the common name wisteria or water wisteria is in fact Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae. The botanist Thomas Nuttall said he named the genus Wisteria in memory of Dr. Caspar Wistar, as the spelling is apparently deliberate, there is no justification for changing the genus name under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. However, some spell the plants common name wistaria, and Fowler is decisively for the wistaria spelling, genetic analysis shows Callerya, Afgekia and Wisteria to be each others closest relatives and quite distinct from other members of the tribe Millettieae. The following is a list of accepted Wisteria species, Wisteria brachybotrys Siebold & Zucc, Wisteria brevidentata Rehder Wisteria floribunda DC. – Japanese wisteria Wisteria frutescens Poir, – American wisteria Wisteria macrostachya Nutt. – Kentucky wisteria Wisteria sinensis DC, – Chinese wisteria Wisteria venusta Rehder & Wils. – Silky wisteria Wisteria villosa Rehder Wisterias climb by twining their stems either clockwise or counterclockwise round any available support and they can climb as high as 20 m above the ground and spread out 10 m laterally. The worlds largest known wisteria is in Sierra Madre, California, measuring more than 1 acre in size, planted in 1894, it is of the Chinese lavender variety. The leaves are alternate,15 to 35 cm long, pinnate, the flowers are produced in pendulous racemes 10 to 80 cm long, similar to those of the genus Laburnum, but are purple, violet, pink or white. There is no yellow on the leaves, flowering is in spring in some Asian species, and in mid to late summer in the American species and W. japonica. The flowers of species are fragrant, most notably W. sinensis. Wisteria species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail, the seeds are produced in pods similar to those of Laburnum, and, like the seeds of that genus, are poisonous. All parts of the plant contain a saponin called wisterin which is toxic if ingested and may cause dizziness, confusion, speech problems, nausea, vomiting, stomach pains, diarrhea and collapse. Wisterias have caused poisoning in children and pets of many countries, producing mild to severe gastroenteritis, Wisteria, especially Wisteria sinensis, is very hardy and fast-growing. It can grow in fairly poor-quality soils, but prefers fertile, moist and it can be propagated via hardwood cutting, softwood cuttings, or seed. However, specimens grown from seed can take decades to bloom, for this reason, another reason for failure to bloom can be excessive fertilizer. Wisteria has nitrogen fixing capability, and thus mature plants may benefit from added potassium and phosphate, finally, wisteria can be reluctant to bloom because it has not reached maturity
34.
On reading
–
Kanji, or kanji, are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means Han characters and is using the same characters as the Chinese word hànzì. Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, the earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD. Chinese coins from the first century AD have been found in Yayoi-period archaeological sites, however, the Japanese of that era probably had no comprehension of the script, and would remain illiterate until the fifth century AD. The earliest Japanese documents were written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the Yamato court. For example, the correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion. Later, groups of people called fuhito were organized under the monarch to read, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court. The Japanese language had no form at the time Chinese characters were introduced. Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, around 650 CE, a writing system called manyōgana evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. Manyōgana written in cursive style evolved into hiragana, or onna-de, that is, ladies hand, major works of Heian-era literature by women were written in hiragana. Katakana emerged via a path, monastery students simplified manyōgana to a single constituent element. Thus the two writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as kana, are descended from kanji. Katakana are mostly used for representing onomatopoeia, non-Japanese loanwords, the names of plants and animals, and for emphasis on certain words. In 1946, following World War II and under the Allied Occupation of Japan and this was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. The number of characters in circulation was reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, some characters were given simplified glyphs, called shinjitai. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged and these are simply guidelines, so many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, these are known as hyōgaiji. The kyōiku kanji are 1,006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school, originally the list only contained 881 characters. This was expanded to 996 characters in 1977 and it was not until 1982 the list was expanded to its current size
35.
Nihon-shiki romanization
–
Nihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki Rōmaji is a romanization system for transliterating the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. In discussion about romaji, it is abbreviated as Nihon-shiki or Nippon-shiki, among the major romanization systems for Japanese, Nippon-shiki is the most regular, and has a one-to-one relation to the kana writing systems. In practice, Nippon-shiki has been supplanted by Hepburn romanization. It was invented by physicist Aikitsu Tanakadate in 1885, with the intention to replace the Hepburn system of romanization, Nippon-shiki was followed by Kunrei-shiki, which was adopted in 1937 after a political debate over whether Nihon-shiki or Hepburn-shiki should be used by the Japanese government. For example, the word かなづかい, rendered kanadukai in Nippon-shiki, is pronounced as kanazukai in modern Japanese, Nippon-shiki is considered the most regular of the romanization systems for the Japanese language, because it maintains a strict one kana, two letters form. Nippon-shiki has been established by the International Organization for Standardization in the ISO3602 strict form, the JSL system, which is intended for use instructing foreign students of Japanese, is also based on Nippon-shiki. Note, Letters in red are obsolete in modern Japanese, when he へ is used as a particle it is written he not e. When ha は is used as a particle it is written ha not wa, when wo を is used as a particle it is written wo not o. Long vowels are indicated by a circumflex, for long o is written ô, unlike Hepburn. Syllabic n ん is written as n before consonants but as n before vowels, geminate consonants are marked by doubling the consonant following the sokuon, っ, without exception. List of ISO romanizations Gottlieb, Nanette, journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Published online on November 30,2009, kent, Allen, Harold Lancour, and Jay Elwood Daily. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science Volume 21, nihongo Daihakubutsukan, author, Kida, Junichirō, publisher, Just System ISBN 4-88309-046-9, chapter 6
36.
Kunrei-shiki romanization
–
Kunrei-shiki rōmaji is a Cabinet-ordered, Japanese romanization system, i. e. a system for transcribing the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. Its name is rendered Kunreisiki using Kunrei-shiki itself, Kunrei-shiki is sometimes known as the Monbushō system in English, because it is taught in the Monbushō-approved elementary school curriculum. The ISO has standardized Kunrei-shiki under ISO3602, Kunrei-shiki is based on the older Nihon-shiki system, modified for modern standard Japanese. For example, the word かなづかい, romanized kanadukai in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced kanazukai in common modern Japanese, Kunrei-shiki competes with the older Hepburn romanization system, which was promoted by the authorities during the occupation of Japan. In the period before World War II there was a conflict between supporters of Hepburn romanization and supporters of Nihon-shiki romanization. In 1930 a board of inquiry under the aegis of the Minister of Education was established to determine the proper romanization system, the Japanese government, by cabinet order, announced on September 21,1937 that a modified form of Nihon-shiki would be officially adopted as Kunrei-shiki. The form at the time differs slightly from the modern day form, originally the system was called the Kokutei system. The Japanese government gradually introduced Kunrei-shiki and it appeared in secondary education, on railway station signboards, on nautical charts, and on the 1,1,000,000 scale International Map of the World. In the period when the government had strong control, from 1937 to 1945. In Japan, some use of Nihon-shiki and Modified Hepburn remained because some individuals supported the use of those systems, some editorials printed in Japanese newspapers advocated for only using Hepburn. Supporters of Hepburn denounced pro-Kunrei-shiki and pro-Nihon-shiki advocates to the SCAP offices, accusing them of being inactive militarists, unger said that the nature of Kunrei-shiki led to pent-up anger among the Hepburn supporters. During the post-war period, several educators and scholars tried to introduce romanized letters as a teaching device, however Kunrei-shiki had associations with Japanese militarism and the U. S. occupying government was reluctant to promote it. On December 9,1954, the Japanese government re-confirmed Kunrei-shiki as its official system, eleanor Jorden, an American linguist, made textbooks that used a modified version of Kunrei-shiki. They were used in the 1960s in courses given to U. S. diplomats, the use of her books did not change the U. S. governments hesitation to use Kunrei-shiki. As of 1974, according to the Geographical Survey Institute, Kunrei-shiki was used for topographical maps while Modified Hepburn was used for geological maps, as of 1978, the National Diet Library used Kunrei-shiki. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, in addition The Japan Times, the Japan Travel Bureau, and many other private organizations used Hepburn instead of Kunrei-shiki. The system was promulgated as Japanese Cabinet Order No.3 as of September 21,1937. But since this had been overturned by the SCAP during the Occupation of Japan, Kunrei-shiki has been recognized, along with Nihon-shiki, in ISO3602,1989
listen)), located on Honshu Island, is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft).[1] An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–1708,[5][6] Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped for about 5 months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.[7]_(33548858546).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_anchored_in_Tokyo_Bay,_circa_in_late_August_1945_(NH_50232).jpg)
Media related to 
.svg){kind=logo}
.svg){kind=logo}
