1.
Prefectures of Japan
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The Prefectures of Japan consist of 47 prefectures. They form the first level of jurisdiction and administrative division of Japan and they consist of 43 prefectures proper, two urban prefectures, one circuit or territory and one metropolis. The Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures to replace the provinces of Japan in 1868, each prefectures chief executive is a directly-elected governor. Ordinances and budgets are enacted by an assembly whose members are elected for four-year terms. Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is subdivided into cities and districts and each district into towns, for example, Hokkaido has 14 subprefectures that act as branch offices of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have offices that carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a merged city-prefecture, the Wests use of prefecture to label these Japanese regions stems from 16th-century Portuguese explorers and traders use of prefeitura to describe the fiefdoms they encountered there. Its original sense in Portuguese, however, was closer to municipality than province and those fiefs were headed by a local warlord or family. Though the fiefs have long since been dismantled, merged, and reorganized multiple times, and been granted legislative governance and oversight, the Meiji government established the current system in July 1871 with the abolition of the Han system and establishment of the prefecture system. Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, many of them being former Han territories, this number was reduced to 72 in the part of 1871. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more power to prefectures. In 2003, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed that the government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states, the plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. This process would reduce the number of administrative regions and cut administrative costs. As of August 2012, no reorganization has been scheduled, the central government delegates many functions to the prefectures and municipalities, but retains the overall right to control them. Although local government expenditure accounts for 70 percent of government expenditure, the central government controls local budgets, tax rates. Historically, during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established bugyō-ruled zones around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the system in 1868, the nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu, while the township-ruled zones. Later, in 1871, the government designated Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto as fu, during World War II, in 1943, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture
2.
Japanese language
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Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
3.
Romanization of Japanese
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The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is referred to in English as rōmaji. There are several different romanization systems, the three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki romanization, and Nihon-shiki romanization. Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used, Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese and syllabic scripts which also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, all Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. The word rōmaji literally means Roman letters, and in Japan it is often used to refer to the Latin alphabet itself than to any specific form of romanized Japanese. The earliest Japanese romanization system was based on the Portuguese orthography and it was developed around 1548 by a Japanese Catholic named Yajiro. Jesuit priests used the system in a series of printed Catholic books so that missionaries could preach and teach their converts without learning to read Japanese orthography. The most useful of these books for the study of early modern Japanese pronunciation and early attempts at romanization was the Nippo jisho, in general, the early Portuguese system was similar to Nihon-shiki in its treatment of vowels. The latter continued to be printed and read after the suppression of Christianity in Japan, the Hepburn system included representation of some sounds that have since changed. The Nihon-shiki romanization was an outgrowth of that movement, several Japanese texts were published entirely in rōmaji during this period, but it failed to catch on. Today, the use of Nihon-shiki for writing Japanese is advocated by the Oomoto sect, during the Allied occupation of Japan, the government of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers made it official policy to romanize Japanese. However, that failed and a more moderate attempt at Japanese script reform followed. Hepburn romanization generally follows English phonology with Romance vowels and it is an intuitive method of showing Anglophones the pronunciation of a word in Japanese. It was standardized in the USA as American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese, Hepburn is the most common romanization system in use today, especially in the English-speaking world. The Revised Hepburn system of romanization uses a macron to indicate long vowels. For example, the name じゅんいちろう, is written with the kana characters ju-n-i-chi-ro-u, without the apostrophe, it would not be possible to distinguish this correct reading from the incorrect ju-ni-chi-ro-u
4.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
5.
Kyushu
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Kyushu is the third biggest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternative ancient names include Kyūkoku, Chinzei, and Tsukushi-no-shima, the historical regional name Saikaidō referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. In the 8th century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as an administrative term for the region. As of 2016, Kyushu has a population of 12,970,479, the island is mountainous, and Japans most active volcano, Mt Aso at 1,591 metres, is on Kyushu. There are many signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, the island is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits. The name Kyūshū comes from the nine ancient provinces of Saikaidō situated on the island, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Buzen, Bungo, Hyūga, Osumi, excepting Oita and Miyazaki cities, the eastern seaboard shows a general decline in population. Designated cities Fukuoka Kitakyushu Kumamoto Core cities Kagoshima Ōita Nagasaki Miyazaki Naha Kurume Parts of Kyushu have a climate, particularly Miyazaki. Major agricultural products are rice, tea, tobacco, sweet potatoes, the island is noted for various types of porcelain, including Arita, Imari, Satsuma, and Karatsu. Heavy industry is concentrated in the north around Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Nagasaki, and Oita and includes chemicals, automobiles, semiconductors, in 2010, the graduate employment rate in the region was the lowest nationwide, at 88. 9%. Besides the volcanic area of the south, there are significant mud hot springs in the part of the island, around Beppu. These springs are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, the Kanmon Bridge also connects the island with Honshu. Railways on the island are operated by the Kyushu Railway Company, and Nishitetsu Railway
6.
Saga, Saga
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Saga is the capital city of Saga Prefecture, located on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Saga was the capital of Saga Domain in the Edo period, as of February 28,2017, the city has an estimated population of 234,453 and a population density of 543 persons per km². The total area is 431.84 km², on October 1,2005, Saga absorbed the towns of Fuji, Morodomi and Yamato and the village of Mitsuse to create the new and expanded city of Saga. With this creation, the city now neighbors the city of Fukuoka, on October 1,2007 the towns of Higashiyoka, Kawasoe, and Kubota were also incorporated into Saga, further expanding its borders. Although Saga is the capital of Saga Prefecture, it can also be said to be within the Greater Fukuoka metropolitan area, april 1,1889 - The modern municipal system was established and the city of Saga is founded. At the same time, the current city region is occupied by 21 villages from three districts. Saga District, Higashikawasoe, Honjō, Hyōgo, Kamino, Kase, Kasuga, Kawakami, Kinryū, Kitakawasoe, Kose, Kuboizumi, Matsuume, Nabeshima, Nikita, Nishiyoka, Oseki, june 6,1899 - Kose changed the kanji of its name. October 1,1922 - Kamino was incorporated into Saga, november 3,1935 - Hasuike was elevated to town status. March 31,1954 - Hyōgo, Kase, Kose, Nishiyoka, October 1,1954 - Honjō, Kinryū, Kitakawasoe, Kuboizumi and Nabeshima were all incorporated into Saga. March 1,1955 - Higashikawasoe and Nikita were merged to create the town of Morodomi, October 1,2005 - The towns of Fuji, Morodomi and Yamato and the village of Mitsuse merged with Saga. October 1,2007 - The towns of Higashiyoka, Kawasoe, Saga District was dissolved as a result of this merger. Standing out from many cultural assets is the castle within the city. It is one of the castles in Japan surrounded by a wall rather than built on one. First built between 1591 and 1593, there was a fire in 1726, renovated in 1728, there was yet another fire in 1835. Nabeshima Naomasa daimyo of the Nabeshima clan renovated it two years and moved in. In 1874 it was a building and a prefectural office. 1883 saw it become a junior school, the buildings were eventually replaced by modern school buildings. Saga City is located in the southeast portion of Saga Prefecture, after the 2005 merger the city became very long north to south
7.
Districts of Japan
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As of 2008, cities belong directly to prefectures and are independent from districts. In Japan, towns and villages belong to districts and the districts possess little to no administrative authority, the districts are used primarily in the Japanese addressing system and to identify the relevant geographical areas and collections of nearby towns and villages. The district was initially called kōri and has ancient roots in Japan, although the Nihon Shoki says they were established during the Taika Reforms, kōri was originally written 評. It was not until the Taihō Code that kōri came to be written 郡, under the Taihō Code, the administrative unit of province was above district, and the village was below. Each jurisdiction refers to its position along the river from which the former province. Kamikawa means upper course of the river, Nakagawa means middle course, jacobs at Urban Studies Research, Vol.2011, doi,10. 1155/2011/692764 Graphic shows relationships among Japanese cities at p.7 of Large City System of Japan Text of the Local Government Law
8.
Municipalities of Japan
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Japan has three levels of government, national, prefectural, and municipal. The nation is divided into 47 prefectures, each prefecture consists of numerous municipalities, with 1,719 in total. There are four types of municipalities in Japan, cities, towns, villages, in Japanese, this system is known as shikuchōson, where each kanji in the word represents one of the four types of municipalities. The status of a municipality, if it is a village, the least-populated city, Utashinai, Hokkaidō, has a population of merely four thousand, while a town in the same prefecture, Otofuke, Hokkaidō, has nearly forty thousand residents. Some designated cities also have further administrative subdivisions, also known as wards, but, unlike the Special wards of Tokyo, these wards are not municipalities. Tokyo Prefecture now encompasses 23 special wards, each a city itself, as well as many other cities, towns and even villages on the Japanese mainland. Each of the 23 special wards of Tokyo is legally equivalent to a city, for information on the former city of Tokyo, see Tokyo City, for information about present-day Tokyo Prefecture, see Tokyo. See List of cities in Japan for a complete list of cities, see also, Core city The same kanji which designates a town is also sometimes used for addresses of sections of an urban area. In rare cases, a village might even contain a section with the same type of designation. Although the kanji is the same, neither of these sections are municipalities unto themselves. Subprefectures are branch offices of the prefectures and not municipalities by themselves, districts are not current municipalities but names of groups of towns and villages. Provinces are not current municipalities but names of geographical regions similar to prefectures
9.
Eurasian magpie
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The Eurasian magpie or common magpie is a resident breeding bird throughout Europe, much of Asia and northwest Africa. It is one of several birds in the crow family designated magpies, in Europe, magpie is used by English speakers as a synonym for the European magpie, the only other magpie in Europe is the Iberian magpie, which is limited to the Iberian peninsula. The Eurasian magpie is one of the most intelligent birds, the expansion of its nidopallium is approximately the same in its relative size as the brain of chimpanzees, orangutans and humans. The magpie was described and illustrated by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner in his Historiae animalium of 1555, in 1758 Linnaeus included the species in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Corvus pica. The magpie was moved to a separate genus Pica by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760, Pica is the Classical Latin word for this magpie. The Eurasian magpie is almost identical in appearance to the North American black-billed magpie, an analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2003 confirmed that the black-billed magpie and the yellow-billed magpie were closely related to each other. The study also found that magpies in Korea are as different from the subspecies as they are to the North America magpie species. These results imply that the species Pica pica is not monophyletic, Magpies were originally known as simply pies. This comes from a root meaning pointed, in reference to either the beak or the tail. Pie as a term for the dates to the thirteenth century. The adult male of the subspecies, P. p. pica, is 44–46 cm in length. The graduated tail is black, glossed green and reddish purple. The legs and bill are black, the iris is dark brown, the plumage of the sexes is similar but females are slightly smaller. The tail feathers of both sexes are quite long, about 12-28 cm long, males of the nominate subspecies weigh 210–272 g while females weigh 182–214 g. The young resemble the adults, but are at first without much of the gloss on the sooty plumage, the young have the malar region pink, and somewhat clear eyes. The tail is shorter than the adults. The subspecies differ in their size, the amount of white on their plumage and the colour of the gloss on their black feathers. The northwest African race P. p. mauritanica differs from the subspecies in having a patch of blue bare skin behind the eye, no white patch on the rump
10.
Sea of Japan
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The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, and the Asian mainland. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean and it is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean and this isolation also reflects in the fauna species and in the water salinity, which is lower than in the ocean. The sea has no islands, bays or capes. Its water balance is determined by the inflow and outflow through the straits connecting it to the neighboring seas. Few rivers discharge into the sea and their contribution to the water exchange is within 1%. The seawater has a concentration of dissolved oxygen that results in high biological productivity. Therefore, fishing is the dominant economic activity in the region, the intensity of shipments across the sea has been moderate owing to political issues, but it is steadily increasing as a result of the growth of East Asian economies. The sea is called Rìběn hǎi or originally Jīng hǎi in China, Yaponskoye more in Russia, Chosŏn Tonghae in North Korea, a naming dispute exists about the sea name, with South and North Korea promoting the English translation of its native name East Sea. In Europe, the sea is called Mer du Japon in French, Japanisches Meer in German, Mar del Giappone in Italian, in Southeast Asia, the sea is called Laut Jepun in Malay, Laut Jepang in Indonesian, and Dagat Hapon in Filipino. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Japan Sea as follows, the Northeastern limit of the Eastern China Sea and the Western limit of the Inland Sea. A line running from Nagoya Saki in Kyûsyû through the islands of Uma Sima, from the extremity of Siriya Saki to the extremity of Esan Saki. A line joining Sôni Misaki and Nishi Notoro Misaki, from Cape Tuik to Cape Sushcheva. The Sea of Japan was once a landlocked sea when the bridge of East Asia existed. The onset of formation of the Japan Arc was in Early Miocene, the Early Miocene period also corresponds to incipient opening of the Japan Sea, and the northern and southern parts of the Japanese archipelago that were separated from each other. During the Miocene, there was expansion of Sea of Japan, the northern part of the Japanese archipelago was further fragmented at later periods until the orogenesis of the northeastern Japanese archipelago began in the later Late Miocene. The southern part of the Japanese archipelago remained as a large landmass. The land area had expanded northward in the Late Miocene, the orogenesis of high mountain ranges in the northeastern Japan started in Late Miocene and it lasts in Pliocene also
11.
Ariake Sea
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The Ariake Sea is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū and its deepest point is only about 50 m deep, and extreme tides exceed 4 m. It is used for aquaculture, with nori being a major product, various species of fauna, including mudskippers, pen shells, and fiddler crabs, live in the Ariake Sea. In autumn, there is red-grass along the sea shore, recent years have brought increasing pollution, with resultant red tides. Isahaya Bay is a branch of the Ariake Sea, across the Amakusa Islands lies the Yatsushiro Sea. Many harbors are located on the coast, among them are Misumi, Shimabara, Taira, Nagasu, Kumamoto, Miike, Kuchinotsu, and Oniike. Five ferry routes cross the Ariake Sea, shiranui Kashima Gatalympics 1792 Unzen earthquake and tsunami 有明海 有明海総合研究プロジェクト Ariake Sea General Research Project 有明海等環境情報・研究ネットワーク Environmental Information on Ariake Etc
12.
Ceramic art
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Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including art ware, tile, figurines, sculpture, Ceramic art is one of the arts, particularly the visual arts. Of these, it is one of the plastic arts, while some ceramics are considered fine art, some are considered to be decorative, industrial or applied art objects. Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology, Ceramic art can be made by one person or by a group of people. In a pottery or ceramic factory, a group of people design, manufacture, products from a pottery are sometimes referred to as art pottery. In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce studio pottery, the word ceramics comes from the Greek keramikos, meaning pottery, which in turn comes from keramos meaning potters clay. Most traditional ceramic products were made from clay, shaped and subjected to heat, in modern ceramic engineering usage, ceramics is the art and science of making objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials by the action of heat. It excludes glass and mosaic made from glass tesserae, cultures especially noted for ceramics include the Chinese, Cretan, Greek, Persian, Mayan, Japanese, and Korean cultures, as well as the modern Western cultures. Different types of clay, when used with different minerals and firing conditions, are used to produce earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, earthenware is pottery that has not been fired to vitrification and is thus permeable to water. Many types of pottery have been made from it from the earliest times, earthenware is often made from clay, quartz and feldspar. Terracotta, a type of earthenware, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic and its uses include vessels, water and waste water pipes, bricks, and surface embellishment in building construction. Terracotta has been a medium for ceramic art. Stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay, stoneware is fired at high temperatures. Vitrified or not, it is nonporous, it may or may not be glazed and it may be vitreous or semi-vitreous. It is usually coloured grey or brownish because of impurities in the used for its manufacture. Porcelain is a material made by heating materials, generally including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C. Porcelain has been described as being completely vitrified, hard, impermeable, white or artificially coloured, translucent and it has been defined as ware with a translucent body containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phosphate. Developed by English potter Josiah Spode, bone china is known for its levels of whiteness and translucency
13.
Porcelain
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Porcelain /ˈpɔːrsəlᵻn, ˈpɔːrslᵻn/ is a ceramic material made by heating materials, generally including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C. Porcelain was first developed in China around 2,000 years ago, then spread to other East Asian countries, and finally Europe. It combines well with both glazes and paint, and can be modelled very well, allowing a range of decorative treatments in tablewares, vessels. It also has uses in technology and industry. The European name, porcelain in English, come from the old Italian porcellana because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell, Porcelain is also referred to as china or fine china in some English-speaking countries, as it was first seen in imports from China. Porcelain has been described as being completely vitrified, hard, impermeable, white or artificially coloured, translucent, however, the term porcelain lacks a universal definition and has been applied in a very unsystematic fashion to substances of diverse kinds which have only certain surface-qualities in common. Terms such as porcellaneous or near-porcelain may be used in such cases, a high proportion of modern porcelain is made of the variant bone china. Kaolin is the material from which porcelain is made, even though clay minerals might account for only a small proportion of the whole. The word paste is an old term for both the unfired and fired material, a more common terminology these days for the unfired material is body, for example, when buying materials a potter might order an amount of porcelain body from a vendor. The composition of porcelain is highly variable, but the mineral kaolinite is often a raw material. Other raw materials can include feldspar, ball clay, glass, bone ash, steatite, quartz, petuntse, the clays used are often described as being long or short, depending on their plasticity. Long clays are cohesive and have high plasticity, short clays are cohesive and have lower plasticity. Clays used for porcelain are generally of lower plasticity and are shorter than many other pottery clays and they wet very quickly, meaning that small changes in the content of water can produce large changes in workability. Thus, the range of content within which these clays can be worked is very narrow. The following section provides information on the methods used to form, decorate, finish, glaze. Many types of glaze, such as the iron-containing glaze used on the wares of Longquan, were designed specifically for their striking effects on porcelain. Porcelain wares may be decorated under the glaze using pigments that include cobalt and copper or over the glaze using coloured enamels. Like many earlier wares, modern porcelains are often biscuit-fired at around 1,000 °C, coated with glaze, another early method is once-fired where the glaze is applied to the unfired body and the two fired together in a single operation
14.
Karatsu, Saga
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Karatsu is a city located in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Its name, formed from the Japanese word roots 唐 kara, the central area of Karatsu, which does not include the former cities and villages of Higashimatsuura District, has a population of 78,386. As of October 1,2016, the city has an population of 121,684. The total area is 487.42 km², on January 1,2005, the towns of Chinzei, Hamatama, Hizen, Kyūragi, Ōchi and Yobuko. and the village of Kitahata were merged into Karatsu. On January 1,2006, the village of Nanayama was merged into Karatsu, due to its proximity to mainland Asia, Karatsu has long been known as a stopover to Korea and China. Mountains, Mt. Sakurei, Mt. Hachiman, Mt. Tonbo Saga Prefecture Genkai Imari Saga Takeo Taku Fukuoka Prefecture Itoshima Under ritsuryō, in 1591, on the coast of the northern part of the city, Nagoya Castle was constructed. The following year, it became the location from which the Imjin War was launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in the middle of 1593, Terasawa Hirotaka created the Karatsu domain and began governing it. In 1602, replacing Nagoya Castle, Karatsu Castle was constructed in what is now the heart of Karatsu, the tower of Karatsu Castle was built in 1966. 1889-04-01 - The modern municipal system was established, the current city region is occupied by 1 town, and 19 villages. 1896-07-28 - Ōmura was renamed Tamashima, 1922-07-01 - Hamasaki was elevated to town status. 1922-11-01 - Nagoya changes the kanji of its name, 1924-01-01 - Mitsushima was incorporated into Karatsu Town. 1928-08-01 - Yobuko was elevated to town status, 1931-02-01 - Karatsu Village was incorporated into Karatsu Town. 1932-01-01 - Karatsu Town was elevated to city status, 1935-09-01 - Sashi and Ōchi both were elevated to town status. 1941-11-03 - Sashi was incorporated into Karatsu, 1952-05-03 - Kyūragi was elevated to town status. 1954-11-01 - Kagami, Kuri, Minato and Onizuka were all incorporated into Karatsu, 1956-09-30 - Hamasaki and Tamashima were merged to create the town of Hamasaki-Tamashima, and Nagoya and Uchiage were merge to create the town of Chinzei. 1958-11-01 - Kirigo was split and its parts were incorporated into Karatsu and Irino, 1966-11-01 - Hamasaki-Tamashima was renamed Hamatama. 2005-01-01 - Karatsu merged with Chinzei, Hamatama, Hizen, Kitahata, Kyūragi, Ōchi, 2006-01-01 - Nanayama was incorporated into Karatsu. The graceful Karatsu Castle stands watch over this castle town, Karatsu is famous for its Karatsu Kunchi festival, which runs annually from November 2 to November 4 and is visited by approximately 500,000 visitors from all over Japan
15.
Imari, Saga
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Imari is a city located in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Imari is most notable because of Imari porcelain, which is the European collectors name for Japanese porcelain wares made in the town of Arita, the porcelain was exported from the port of Imari specifically for the European export trade. As of October 1,2016, the city has an population of 54,907. The total area is 254.99 km², Imari is located in the western part of Saga Prefecture. The city center is located around the mouth of the Imari River, mountains, Mt. Hachiman, Mt. Seira, Mt. High quality goods to be presented to Shōgun and the Imperial Court were produced in what is now called Ōkawachiyama, from the Meiji period to 1955 coal was also a major export. April 1,1889 - The modern municipal system was established, the current city region was occupied by one town, and 11 villages. February 16,1901 - Ōdake Village was renamed Hatatsu Village, december 10,1928 - Makishima Village was incorporated into Imari Town. April 1,1936 - Nishiyamashiro Village became Yamashiro Town, december 8,1943 - The villages of Ōkawachi and Ōtsubo were incorporated into Imari Town. April 1,1954 - The towns of Imari and Yamashiro, and the villages of Higashiyamashiro, Kurokawa, Hatatsu, Minamihata, Ōkawa, Matsuura, expressways, There are no expressway interchanges in Imari. The closest is the Nagasaki Expressway Takeo-Kitagata Interchange, the cultivation of the Japanese pear from Imari, which originated in the Ōkawa area 100 years ago, has spread out to the Minamihata area and other areas of the city. Today, they are produced over about 350 hectares of land, since then the production and the crop acreage of Imari nashi have increased. According to the latest municipal statistics, the production is the fifth, the characteristics of Imari nashi are juiciness and crispness. Thanks to the adoption of light sensor systems for fruit sorting, only those which are of excellent quality can be selected and are shipped to Kantō, Kansai, recently export to China has started and been promoted. The main brands of Imari nashi are Kosui, Hosui, the most produced is Kosui, but Hosui is the most popular brand of the three. The Imari Ton-Ten-Ton Festival is held annually for three days from October 22 to 24, beginning at the Imari Shrine in Imari City, the festival is well known as one of the three great fighting festivals of Japan. Masayuki Tanaka Imari City official website
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Arita, Saga
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Arita is a town located in Nishimatsuura District, Saga Prefecture, Japan. It is known for producing Arita porcelain, one of the handicrafts of Japan. It also holds the largest ceramic fair in Western Japan, the Arita Ceramic Fair and this event is held from April 29 to May 5 every year and has thousands of stores and stalls lining the six-kilometre long main street. On March 1,2006 the town of Nishiarita, from Nishimatsuura District, was merged into Arita, Arita is located in the western part of Saga Prefecture, bordering Nagasaki Prefecture from its southwest to western sides. About 70% of the town is forest and mountains, Saga Prefecture, Imari, Takeo Nagasaki Prefecture, Hasami, Sasebo Arita was one of the first sites in Japan to produce porcelain, Arita ware. The discovery of Porcelain stone is attributed to a Korean potter named Kanagae Sambe, April 1,1889 – The modern municipal system is established. In accordance with this system the village of Sarayama is renamed and reclassified as the town of Arita, also at this time the villages of Shin, Magarikawa and Ōyama are formed. November 13,1896 – The village of Shin is renamed Arita, january 1,1947 – The village of Arita becomes a town and is renamed Higashi-Arita. April 1,1954 – Higashi-Arita is incorporated into Arita, April 1,1955 – Magarikawa and Ōyama merge to form the village of Nishi-Arita. January 1,1956 – Several areas of Nishi-Arita are incorporated into Arita, April 1,1965 – Nishi-Arita becomes a town. March 1,2006 – Nishi-Arita is incorporated into Arita, the closest airports are Saga Airport and Nagasaki Airport. The Porcelain Park is a ceramic centered theme park, and is modeled on the Zwinger Palace in Germany, Ceramic ware from the heyday of Arita are on display in the gallery. Arita Kan has an exhibition of art porcelain,400 different cups for coffee or tea. China On The Park dates back to the end of the last century when the Fukugawa factory was chosen to provide the Imperial household with porcelain and this large and modern style facility contains a factory, galleries, shops and a restaurant. Tozan Shrine has an archway and other items of porcelain which. This shrine was and still is revered by Arita’s ceramists. Rokuroza, located near Kami-Arita Station, is a place one can learn how to make pottery. The most produced pottery in western Japan, believed to have started in the 16th century
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Yayoi period
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The Yayoi period is an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC–300 AD. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon period should be reclassified are Early Yayoi. The date of the beginning of this transition is controversial, with estimates ranging from the 10th to the 6th centuries BC, the period is named after the neighborhood of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts and features from that era. Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new Yayoi pottery styles, a hierarchical social class structure dates from this period. Techniques in metallurgy based on the use of bronze and iron were also introduced to Japan in this period, the Yayoi followed the Jōmon period and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū. Archaeological evidence supports the idea that during this time, an influx of farmers from the Asian continent to Japan absorbed or overwhelmed the native hunter-gatherer population, the Yayoi period is traditionally dated from 300 BC to 300 AD. The earliest archaeological evidence of the Yayoi is found on northern Kyūshū, Yayoi culture quickly spread to the main island of Honshū, mixing with native Jōmon culture. Yayoi pottery was decorated and produced using the same coiling technique previously used in Jōmon pottery. Yayoi craft specialists made bronze ceremonial bells, mirrors, and weapons, by the 1st century AD, Yayoi farmers began using iron agricultural tools and weapons. As the Yayoi population increased, the society became more stratified and they wove textiles, lived in permanent farming villages, and constructed buildings with wood and stone. They also accumulated wealth through land ownership and the storage of grain, such factors promoted the development of distinct social classes. Contemporary Chinese sources described the people as having tattoos and other bodily markings which indicated differences in social status, Yayoi chiefs, in some parts of Kyūshū, appear to have sponsored, and politically manipulated, trade in bronze and other prestige objects. That was possible by the introduction of an irrigated, wet-rice culture from the Yangtze estuary in southern China via the Ryukyu Islands or Korean Peninsula, wet-rice agriculture led to the development and growth of a sedentary, agrarian society in Japan. Local political and social developments in Japan were more important than the activities of the authority within a stratified society. Direct comparisons between Jōmon and Yayoi skeletons show that the two peoples are noticeably distinguishable, the Jōmon tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more wide-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography. They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges, Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged an inch or two taller, with close-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat brow ridges and noses. By the Kofun period, almost all excavated in Japan except those of the Ainu are of the Yayoi type with Jomon admixture. The earliest archaeological sites are Itazuke or Nabata in the part of Kyūshū
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Yoshinogari site
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Yoshinogari is the name of a large and complex Yayoi archaeological site in Yoshinogari and Kanzaki in Saga Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. According to the Yayoi chronology established by pottery seriations in the 20th century, however, recent attempts to use absolute dating methods such as AMS radiocarbon dating have shown that the earliest Yayoi component of Yoshinogari dates to before 400 BC. This archaeological site is of importance in Japanese and world prehistory because of the massive size and important nature of the settlement. Yoshinogari consists of a settlement, a cemetery, and multiple ditch-and-palisade enclosed precincts, the total area of this site is approximately 40 hectares. This site has been excavated by a number of different agencies. Ancient structures are being reconstructed on the site and the park is a major tourist attraction, Yoshinogari is located 12 km from the Ariake Sea on a low hill that extends out of the Sefuri Mountains and is surrounded on three sides by land that is suitable for wet-rice cultivation. The earliest component of the Yoshinogari settlement formed at the end of the low hill extending out from the Sefuri Mountains. The earliest settlement was about 3 hectares in area and contained a ditch-enclosure, a small number of pit-houses, pit-features, and burial jars dating to this sub-period have been excavated. Mortuary features are prominent in this sub-period, for example, a 30 x 40 m mounded burial was constructed on the northern end of the low hill. Five of six jar burials in the centre of the burial contained cylindrical jade-like glass ornaments from China. The mounded burial is located in an away from the majority of burials. More than 2000 burial jars dating to this period have come to light, many of these burials were laid out in a long row, some hundreds of metres long, parallel with the length of the low hill in the middle of the site. Artifacts excavated from the Middle Yayoi burials indicate the presence of some status distinctions, large wooden raised-floor granaries appeared at the end of this sub-period in the middle and southern ends of the site. An area of the Middle Yayoi settlement seems to have dedicated to the casting of bronze implements due to the number of moulds which were found. In the same area, pottery that was common in the Chinese continent and this has led some Japanese archaeologists to propose that Middle Yayoi interaction with the China was related to bronze-casting. A large outer ditch was built around the edges of the low hill, completely surrounding the settlement, inside of the outer ditch, smaller ditch-enclosed precincts were built that surrounded groups of pit-houses and raised-floor buildings. The ditches of the precincts of the Late Yayoi were undoubtedly meant for defence based on the evidence of pot-moulds indicating palisades on the inside of the ditches. Indeed, the so-called Northern Inner Enclosure was surrounded by double ditches, some of the raised-floor buildings of this sub-period were quite tall and large
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Nagasaki Prefecture
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Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture was created by merging of the western half of the former province of Hizen with the island provinces of Tsushima and Iki. Facing China and Korea, the region around Hirado was a center for both traders and pirates. During the 16th century, Catholic missionaries and traders from Portugal arrived and became active in Hirado and Nagasaki and these Kakure Kirishitan were tried at every step, forced to step on fumi-e to prove that they were non-Christian. With the banishment of all Catholic missionaries, traders from Catholic countries were forced out of the country. Along with them, their children, half Japanese and half European, were forced to leave the country. The majority was sent to Jagatara and are remembered by the locals as the people who wrote the poignant letters which were smuggled across the sea to their homeland. Today, Nagasaki has a prominent Catholic churches, and the Churches, on August 9,1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, which destroyed all buildings in a one-mile radius from the point of impact and extensively damaged other parts of the city. Roughly 39,000 people were killed, including 27,778 Japanese munitions workers,2,000 Korean forced workers, about 68-80% of the industrial production was destroyed to the point it would not recover for months or at least a year. Nagasaki Prefecture contains many areas prone to rain and landslide damage. In July 1957, mainly in the Isahaya area, damage from rains, flooding and landslides lead to a death toll of 586. Also, in July 1982, typhoon damage in the Nagasaki area lead to 299 fatalities, Nagasaki borders Saga Prefecture on the east, and is otherwise surrounded by water, including Ariake Bay, the Tsushima Straits, and the East China Sea. It also includes a number of islands such as Tsushima. Most of the prefecture is near the coast and there are a number of such as Nagasaki. Thirteen cities are located in Nagasaki Prefecture, These are the towns and villages of each district, shusaku Endos novel Silence draws from the oral history of the local Christian communities, both Kakure Kirishitan and Hanare Kirishitan. As of 2002, there are 68,617 Catholics in Nagasaki Prefecture, the Nagasaki Saints of the Shikoku-Kyūshū Island League make Nagasaki Prefecture their home. First elected in 2010 to succeed Genjirō Kaneko, he was reelected for a term in 2014. The prefectural assembly of Nagasaki has a membership of 46
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Hizen Province
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Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called Hishū, with Higo Province, Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō and it did not include the regions of Tsushima and Iki that are now part of modern Nagasaki Prefecture. The name Hizen dates from the Nara period Ritsuryō Kokugunri system reforms, the name appears in the early chronicle Shoku Nihongi from 696 AD. The ancient provincial capital of Hizen was located near Yamato City, during the late Muromachi period, the province was the site of much early contact between Japan and Portuguese and Spanish merchants and missionaries. Hirado, and later Nagasaki became major foreign trade centers, during the Edo period, Hizen Province was divided among several daimyōs, but dominated by the Nabeshima clan, whose domain was centered at the castle town of Saga. The former Hizen province was divided into modern Saga Prefecture and a portion of Nagasaki Prefecture, at the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Hizen is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 between Japan and the United States and between Japan and the United Kingdom, ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Papinot, Edmond. Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan
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Meiji Restoration
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The Meiji Restoration, also known as the Meiji Ishin, Renovation, Revolution, Reform, or Renewal, was an event of change that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were Emperors before the Meiji Restoration, the events restored practical abilities, Meiji government also made education compulsory for both boys and girls at minimal fees. The goals of the government were expressed by the new emperor in the Charter Oath. The Restoration led to changes in Japans political and social structure. In Japan however, unlike China, foreign ideas were not associated with opium addiction. Figures like Shimazu Nariakira concluded that if we take the initiative, we can dominate, if we do not, we will be dominated, leading Japan to throw open its doors to foreign technology. Observing Japans response to the powers, Li Hongzhang considered Japan Chinas principal security threat as early as 1863. The word Meiji means enlightened rule and the goal was to modern advances with traditional eastern values. The main leaders of this were Itō Hirobumi, Matsukata Masayoshi, Kido Takayoshi, Itagaki Taisuke, Yamagata Aritomo, Mori Arinori, Ōkubo Toshimichi, and Yamaguchi Naoyoshi. The foundation of the Meiji restoration was the 1866 Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigō Takamori and Kido Takayoshi, leaders of the reformist elements in the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryōma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa shogunate, after Emperor Kōmeis death on January 30,1867, Emperor Meiji ascended the throne on February 3. This period also saw Japan change from being a society to having a market economy. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to its end on November 9,1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War started with the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in which Chōshū and this forced the Emperor to strip Yoshinobu of all power, setting the stage for official restoration. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country, consequently the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Taikun, in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs and it is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement. All Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under control, thus placing them under the prerogative of the new Meiji government. With Fuhanken sanchisei, the areas were split into three types, urban prefectures, rural prefectures and the already existing domains
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