1.
Edo
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Edo, also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. It was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868, during this period, it grew to become one of the largest cities in the world and home to an urban culture centered on the notion of a floating world. From the establishment of the Tokugawa bakufu headquarters at Edo, the became the de facto capital and center of political power. Edo grew from what had been a small, little-known fishing village in 1457 into the largest metropolis in the world with a population of 1,000,000 by 1721. Edo was repeatedly devastated by fires, with the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 being the most disastrous, an estimated 100,000 people died in the fire. During the Edo period, there were about 100 fires mostly begun by accident, between 1600 and 1945, Edo/Tokyo was leveled every 25–50 years or so by fire, earthquakes, or war. In 1868, when the shogunate came to an end, the city was renamed Tokyo, the emperor moved his residence to Tokyo, making the city the formal capital of Japan, Keiō4, On the 17th day of the 7th month, Edo was renamed Tokyo. Keiō4, On the 27th day of the 8th month, Keiō4, On the eighth day of the ninth month, the nengō was formally changed from Keiō to Meiji and a general amnesty was granted. Meiji 2, On the 23rd day of the 10th month, ishimaru Sadatsuga was the magistrate of Edo in 1661. During the Edo period, the Shogunate appointed administrators with jurisdiction over the police, and beginning with the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune), the machi bugyō heard criminal and civil suits, and performed other administrative functions. The city was out as a castle town around Edo Castle. Kyotos character was defined by the Imperial Court, the nobles, its Buddhist temples and its history, Osaka was the countrys commercial center. Areas further from the center were the domain of the chōnin, the area known as Shitamachi, northeast of the castle, was a center of urban culture. The ancient Buddhist temple of Sensō-ji still stands in Asakusa, marking the center of an area of traditional Shitamachi culture, some shops in the streets near the temple have existed continuously in the same location since the Edo period. The Sumida River, then called the Great River, ran along the edge of the city. The shogunates official rice-storage warehouses, other buildings and some of the citys best-known restaurants were located here. The Japan Bridge marked the center of the commercial center. Fishermen, craftsmen and other producers and retailers operated here, shippers managed ships known as tarubune to and from Osaka and other cities, bringing goods into the city or transferring them from sea routes to river barges or land routes such as the Tōkaidō
2.
Edo period
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The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
3.
Rangaku
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Altogether, thousands of such books were published, printed, and circulated. In the large cities some shops, open to the general public, the first phase of Rangaku was quite limited and highly controlled. After the relocation of the Dutch trading post to Dejima, trade as well as the exchange of information, Western books were prohibited, with the exemption of books on nautical and medical matters. Initially, a group of hereditary Japanese–Dutch translators labored in Nagasaki to smooth communication with the foreigners. The Dutch were requested to give updates of world events and to supply novelties to the Shogun every year on their trips to Edo. Finally, the Dutch factories in Nagasaki, in addition to their official work in silk. A small, lucrative market for Western curiosities thus developed, focused on the Nagasaki area, with the establishment of a permanent post for a surgeon at the Dutch trading post Dejima, high-ranking Japanese officials started to ask for treatment in cases when local doctors were of no help. One of the most important surgeons was Caspar Schamberger, who induced a continuing interest in books, instruments, pharmaceuticals. Although most Western books were forbidden from 1640, rules were relaxed under Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune in 1720, one example is the 1787 publication of Morishima Chūryō’s Sayings of the Dutch, recording much knowledge received from the Dutch. Between 1804 and 1829, schools opened throughout the country by the Bakufu as well as terakoya helped spread the new ideas further, by that time, Dutch emissaries and scientists were allowed much more free access to Japanese society. The German physician Philipp Franz von Siebold, attached to the Dutch delegation and he invited Japanese scientists to show them the marvels of Western science, learning, in return, much about the Japanese and their customs. In 1824, von Siebold began a school in the outskirts of Nagasaki. Soon this Narutaki-juku grew into a place for about fifty students from all over the country. While receiving a medical education they helped with the naturalistic studies of von Siebold. The Rangaku movement became involved in Japans political debate over foreign isolation. The Rangaku increasingly disseminated contemporary Western innovations, the incident was provoked by actions such as the Morrison Incident, in which an unarmed American merchant ship was fired upon under the Edict to Repel Foreign Ships. The edict was eventually repealed in 1842, Rangaku ultimately became obsolete when Japan opened up during the last decades of the Tokugawa regime. Students were sent abroad, and foreign employees came to Japan to teach and advise in large numbers, leading to an unprecedented and this openness could partly explain Japan’s success in its radical and speedy modernization following the opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854
4.
Shinto
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Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified Shinto religion, practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian periods. The word Shinto was adopted, originally as Jindō or Shindō, from the written Chinese Shendao, the oldest recorded usage of the word Shindo is from the second half of the 6th century. Kami are defined in English as spirits, essences or gods, Kami and people are not separate, they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity. Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, Shinto has 81,000 shrines and 85,000 priests in the country. According to Inoue, In modern scholarship, the term is used with reference to kami worship and related theologies, rituals. In these contexts, Shinto takes on the meaning of Japans traditional religion, as opposed to religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Shinto religious expressions have been distinguished by scholars into a series of categories, Shrine Shinto and it consists in taking part in worship practices and events at local shrines. Before the Meiji Restoration, shrines were disorganized institutions usually attached to Buddhist temples, the current successor to the imperial organization system, the Association of Shinto Shrines, oversees about 80,000 shrines nationwide. Folk Shinto includes the folk beliefs in deities and spirits. Practices include divination, spirit possession, and shamanic healing, some of their practices come from Buddhism, Taoism or Confucianism, but most come from ancient local traditions. Sect Shinto is a designation originally created in the 1890s to separate government-owned shrines from local organised religious communities. These communities originated especially in the Edo period, the basic difference between Shrine Shinto and Sect Shinto is that sects are a later development and grew self-consciously. They can identify a founder, a set of teachings. Sect Shinto groups are thirteen, and usually classified under five headings, pure Shinto sects, Confucian sects, mountain worship sects, purification sects, and faith-healing sects. Koshintō, literally Old Shinto, is a reconstructed Shinto from before the time of Buddhism, today based on Ainu religion and it continues the restoration movement begun by Hirata Atsutane. Many other sects and schools can be distinguished, Kami or shin is defined in English as god, spirit, spiritual essence, all these terms meaning the energy generating a thing. Since the Japanese language does not distinguish between singular and plural, kami refers to the divinity, or sacred essence, that manifests in multiple forms, rocks, trees, rivers, animals, places, and even people can be said to possess the nature of kami
5.
Date Masamune
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Date Masamune was a regional strongman of Japans Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a line of powerful daimyōs in the Tōhoku region. An outstanding tactician, he was all the more iconic for his missing eye. As a legendary warrior and leader, Masamune is a character in a number of Japanese period dramas and he was played by Ken Watanabe in the popular 1987 NHK series Dokuganryū Masamune. Date Masamune was the eldest son of Date Terumune, born in Yonezawa Castle, at the age of 14 in 1581 Masamune led his first campaign, helping his father fight the Sōma family. In 1584, at the age of 17, Masamune succeeded his father, Terumune, Masamunes army was recognized by its black armor and golden headgear. Masamune is known for a few things that made him out from other daimyōs of the time. In particular, his famous crescent-moon-bearing helmet won him a fearsome reputation, as a child, smallpox robbed him of sight in his right eye, though it is unclear exactly how he lost the organ entirely. Various theories behind the eyes condition exist, some sources say he plucked out the eye himself when a senior member of the clan pointed out that an enemy could grab it in a fight. Others say that he had his trusted retainer Katakura Kojūrō gouge out the eye for him, the Date clan had built alliances with neighboring clans through marriages over previous generations, but local disputes remained commonplace. Shortly after Masamunes succession in 1584, a Date retainer named Ōuchi Sadatsuna defected to the Ashina clan of the Aizu region, Masamune declared war on Ōuchi and the Ashina for this betrayal, and started a campaign to hunt down Sadatsuna. Formerly amicable alliances were cast aside as he began to attack and conquer the lands of Sadatsunas allies in pursuit, even those of his kin in Mutsu and Dewa Provinces. In the winter of 1585, one of allies, Hatakeyama Yoshitsugu, felt defeat was approaching. Masamune agreed to accept the surrender, but on the condition that the Hatakeyama give up most of their territory to the Date. This resulted in Yoshitsugu kidnapping Masamunes father Terumune during their meeting in Miyamori Castle, the incident ended with both Yoshitsugu and Terumune killed as the fleeing Hatakeyama party clashed with the pursuing Date troops near the Abukuma River. Various records of the event exist, although they present different accounts of its circumstances, the Date fought many battles with their neighbours afterwards, including the Battle of Hitotoribashi in 1585. After defeating the Ashina at the Battle of Suriagehara in 1589, in 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi seized Odawara Castle and compelled the Tōhoku-region daimyōs to participate in the campaign. Although Masamune refused Hideyoshis demands at first, he had no choice in the matter since Hideyoshi was the virtual ruler of Japan
6.
Tokugawa Ieyasu
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Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which effectively ruled Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605 and his given name is sometimes spelled Iyeyasu, according to the historical pronunciation of he. Ieyasu was posthumously enshrined at Nikkō Tōshō-gū with the name Tōshō Daigongen and he was one of the three unifiers of Japan, along with his Former Lord Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki Castle in Mikawa on the 26th day of the month of the eleventh year of Tenbun. His mother and father were step-siblings and they were just 17 and 15 years old, respectively, when Ieyasu was born. Two years later, Odai-no-kata was sent back to her family, as both husband and wife remarried and both went on to have further children, Ieyasu in the end had 11 half-brothers and sisters. The Matsudaira family was split in 1550, one wanted to be vassals of the Imagawa clan. As a result, much of Ieyasus early years were spent in danger as wars with the Oda and this family feud was the reason behind the murder of Ieyasus paternal grandfather, Matsudaira Kiyoyasu. Unlike his father and the majority of his branch of the family, Ieyasus father, Hirotada, in 1548, when the Oda clan invaded Mikawa, Hirotada turned to Imagawa Yoshimoto, the head of the Imagawa clan, for help to repel the invaders. Yoshimoto agreed under the condition that Hirotada send Ieyasu to Sunpu as a hostage, Oda Nobuhide, the leader of the Oda clan, learned of this arrangement and had Ieyasu abducted from his entourage en route to Sunpu. Ieyasu was just five years old at the time, Nobuhide threatened to execute Ieyasu unless his father severed all ties with the Imagawa clan. Hirotada replied that sacrificing his own son would show his seriousness in his pact with the Imagawa clan, despite this refusal, Nobuhide chose not to kill Ieyasu, but instead held him for the next three years at the Mansho Temple in Nagoya. In 1549, when Ieyasu was 6, his father Hirotada was murdered by his own treacherous vassals, at about the same time, Oda Nobuhide died during an epidemic. Nobuhides death dealt a blow to the Oda clan. An army under the command of Imagawa Sessai laid siege to the castle where Oda Nobuhiro, Nobuhides eldest son, with the castle about to fall, Sessai offered a deal to Oda Nobunaga, Nobuhides second son. Sessai offered to give up the siege if Ieyasu was handed over to the Imagawa, Nobunaga agreed, and so Ieyasu was taken as a hostage to Sunpu. Here he lived a good life as hostage and potentially useful future ally of the Imagawa clan until 1556 when he was age 13 years old. In 1556 he came of age, and, following tradition, one year later, at the age of 13, he married his first wife, Lady Tsukiyama, and changed his name again to Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu
7.
Oda Nobunaga
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Oda Nobunaga was a powerful Daimyō of Japan in the late 16th century who attempted to unify Japan during the late Sengoku period. Nobunaga is regarded as one of three unifiers of Japan along with his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nobunaga was widely known as one of the most brutal figures in history, eliminating anyone who stood in his way. He was both a ruler and keen businessman, strategizing at both the micro- and macroeconomic scales. He met his demise when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against him at Honnō-ji, Oda Nobunaga was the first for whom this goal seemed attainable. Nobunaga had gained control over most of Honshu before his death during the 1582 Honnō-ji incident and it is not certain whether Nobunaga was killed in the attack or else committed seppuku. The motivations behind Mitsuhides betrayal was never revealed to anyone who survived the incident, following the incident, Akechi Mitsuhide declared himself master over Nobunagas domains, but was quickly defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who regained control of and greatly expanded the Oda holdings. Oda Nobunaga was born on June 23,1534, in the Owari domain and he was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy shugo with land holdings in Owari Province. He is said to have born in Nagoya Castle, although this is subject to debate. Through his childhood and early years, he was well known for his bizarre behavior. He was known to run around with other youths from the area, with the introduction of firearms into Japan, however, he became known for his fondness of tanegashima firearms. In 1551, Oda Nobuhide died unexpectedly, Nobunaga was said to have acted outrageously during his funeral, throwing ceremonial incense at the altar. This convinced many Oda retainers of Nobunagas mediocrity and lack of discipline, alienated, they then began to side with his soft-spoken and well-mannered brother, Nobuyuki. Hirate Masahide, a mentor and retainer to Nobunaga, was ashamed by Nobunagas behavior. This had an effect on Nobunaga, who later built a temple to honor Masahide. Although Nobunaga was Nobuhides legitimate successor, the Oda clan was divided into factions. Oda Nobutomo, the deceased Nobuhides brother and deputy to the shugo, used the weak Yoshimune as his puppet, Nobutomo murdered Yoshimune when it was discovered that he supported and attempted to aid Nobunaga. This also ensured that the Imagawa clan would have to stop attacking Owaris borders, although Nobuyuki and his supporters were still at large, Nobunaga brought an army to Mino Province to aid Saitō Dōsan after Dōsans son, Saitō Yoshitatsu, turned against him. The campaign failed, as Dōsan was killed in the Battle of Nagara-gawa, a few months later Nobuyuki, with support from Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Hidesada, rebelled against Nobunaga
8.
Ryukyu Kingdom
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The Ryukyu Kingdom was an independent kingdom that ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th to the 19th century. The kings of Ryukyu unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, despite its small size, the kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia. In the 14th century, small domains scattered on Okinawa Island were unified into three principalities, Hokuzan, Chūzan and Nanzan and this was known as the Three Kingdoms or Sanzan period. Hokuzan, which constituted much of the half of the island, was the largest in terms of land area and military strength. Nanzan constituted the southern portion of the island, Chūzan lay in the center of the island, and was economically the strongest. Its political capital at Shuri, Nanzan was adjacent to the port of Naha and Kume-mura. These sites, and Chūzan as a whole, would continue to form the center of the Ryukyu Kingdom until its abolition, many Chinese moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or to engage in business during this period. At the request of the Ryukyuan King, the Ming Chinese sent 36 Chinese families from Fujian to manage oceanic dealings in the kingdom in 1392 during the Hongwu emperors reign, many Ryukyuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers. They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations, according to statements by Qing imperial official Li Hongzhang in a meeting with Ulysses S. These three principalities, or tribal federations, led by major chieftains, battled, and Chūzan emerged victorious, the Chūzan leaders were officially recognized by Ming dynasty China as the rightful kings over those of Nanzan and Hokuzan, thus lending great legitimacy to their claims. The ruler of Chūzan passed his throne to King Hashi, Hashi conquered Hokuzan in 1416 and Nanzan in 1429, uniting the island of Okinawa for the first time, Hashi received the surname Shō 尚 from the Ming emperor in 1421, becoming known as Shō Hashi 尚巴志. Shō Hashi adopted the Chinese hierarchical court system, built Shuri Castle and the town as his capital, and constructed Naha harbor. When in 1469 King Shō Toku, who was a grandson of Shō Hashi, died without a male heir and this pretender, Shō En, began the Second Shō Dynasty. Ryukyus golden age occurred during the reign of Shō Shin, the king of that dynasty. For nearly two hundred years, the Ryukyu Kingdom would thrive as a key player in trade with Southeast and East Asia. In the late 16th century, however, the commercial prosperity fell into decline. The decline of the wokou threat among other factors led to the loss of Chinese preferential treatment. Around 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi asked the Ryukyu Kingdom to aid in his campaign to conquer Korea, if successful, Hideyoshi intended to then move against China
9.
Seppuku
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Seppuku, sometimes metathesized as harakiri which is a native Japanese kun reading, is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai, if the cut, done with a movement, is done deep enough, it sections, cuts, the descending Aorta, inducing a massive blood loss inside the abdomen, with very fast death. A Japanese form of suicide, the term seppuku derives from the two Sino-Japanese roots setsu 切 and puku 腹. It is also known as harakiri, a more widely familiar outside Japan, and which is written with the same kanji as seppuku. In Japanese, the more formal seppuku, a Chinese onyomi reading, is used in writing, while harakiri. Ross notes, It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is a vulgarism, hara-kiri is a Japanese reading or Kun-yomi of the characters, as it became customary to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of ones master, known as oibara or tsuifuku, the word jigai means suicide in Japanese. The usual modern word for suicide is jisatsu, in some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by Lafcadio Hearn in his Japan, An Attempt at Interpretation, joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the female equivalent of seppuku. The first recorded act of seppuku was performed by Minamoto no Yorimasa during the Battle of Uji in the year 1180. Seppuku eventually became a key part of bushido, the code of the warriors, it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands. Samurai could also be ordered by their daimyo to carry out seppuku, later, disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to carry out seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner. This way the head could, both metaphorically and literally, rest in its owners hands and those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to carry out seppuku. Samurai generally could carry out the act only with permission, sometimes a daimyo was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This would weaken the defeated clan so that resistance would effectively cease, toyotomi Hideyoshi used an enemys suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of daimyo. Until this practice became more standardized during the 17th century, the ritual of seppuku was less formalized. In the 12th and 13th centuries, such as with the seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, seppukus defining characteristic was plunging either the Tachi, Wakizashi or Tanto into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally
10.
Philipp Franz von Siebold
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Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold was a German physician, botanist, and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora and fauna and he was the father of the first female Japanese doctor, Kusumoto Ine. One of his professors was Franz Xaver Heller, author of the Flora Wirceburgensis, ignaz Döllinger, his professor of anatomy and physiology, however, most influenced him. Döllinger was one of the first professors to understand and treat medicine as a natural science, Siebold stayed with Döllinger, where he came in regular contact with other scientists. He read the books of Humboldt, a famous naturalist and explorer, Philipp Franz von Siebold became a physician by earning his M. D. degree in 1820. He initially practiced medicine in Heidingsfeld, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, invited to Holland by an acquaintance of his family, Siebold applied for a position as a military physician, which would enable him to travel to the Dutch colonies. He entered the Dutch military service on June 19,1822, on his trip to Batavia on the frigate Adriana, Siebold practiced his knowledge of the Dutch language and also rapidly learned Malay, and during the long voyage he began a collection of marine fauna. He arrived in Batavia on February 18,1823, as an army medical officer, Siebold was posted to an artillery unit. However, he was given a room for a few weeks at the residence of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Baron Godert van der Capellen, to recover from an illness. With his erudition, he impressed the Governor-General, and also the director of the garden at Buitenzorg. The Batavian Academy of Arts and Sciences soon elected Siebold as a member, during an eventful voyage to Japan he only just escaped drowning during a typhoon in the East China Sea. As only a small number of Dutch personnel were allowed to live on this island. The European tradition of sending doctors with training to Japan was a long one. The Dutch East India Company did not, however, actually employ the Swedish botanist and physician Carl Peter Thunberg, Japanese scientists invited Siebold to show them the marvels of western science, and he learned in return through them much about the Japanese and their customs. After curing an influential local officer, Siebold gained the permission to leave the trade post and he used this opportunity to treat Japanese patients in the greater area around the trade post. Siebold is credited with the introduction of vaccination and pathological anatomy for the first time in Japan, in 1824, Siebold started a medical school in Nagasaki, the Narutaki-juku, that grew into a meeting place for around fifty students. They helped him in his botanical and naturalistic studies, the Dutch language became the lingua franca for these academic and scholarly contacts for a generation, until the Meiji Restoration. His patients paid him in kind with a variety of objects and artifacts that would later gain historical significance, during his stay in Japan, Siebold lived together with Kusumoto Taki, who gave birth to their daughter Kusumoto Ine in 1827
11.
Dutch East India Company
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It is often considered to be the worlds first truly transnational corporation and the first company in history to actually issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was officially the first publicly traded company of the world, the company was also considered by many to be the very first major and the greatest corporation in history. Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in international trade for almost 200 years of existence. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, the VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. Having been set up in 1602, to profit from the Malukan spice trade, in 1619 the VOC established a capital in the city of Jayakarta. Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory and it remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. Around the world and especially in English-speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the Dutch East India Company, the name ‘Dutch East India Company’ is used to make a distinction with the East India Company and other East Indian companies. The abbreviation VOC stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Dutch, the VOC monogram was possibly the first globally-recognized corporate logo. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital V with an O on the left and it appeared on various corporate items, such as cannon and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the conducting the operation was placed on top. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, the flag of the company was orange, white, and blue, with the company logo embroidered on it. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a centre in northern Europe. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to supply to satisfy growing demand. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a rise in pepper prices. These three factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the secret Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity. The stage was set for Houtmans 1595 four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java. Houtmans expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu, half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit
12.
Sakurajima
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Sakurajima is an active composite volcano and a former island in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption caused the island to be connected with the Osumi Peninsula. The volcanic activity continues, dropping large amounts of volcanic ash on the surroundings. Earlier eruptions built the white sands highlands in the region, as of September 2015, the volcano is under a Level 3 alert by the Japan Meteorological Agency, signifying the volcano is active and should not be approached. The most recent eruption started on February 5,2016, on September 13,2016 a team of experts from Bristol University and the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre in Japan suggested that the volcano could have a major eruption within 30 years. Its summit has three peaks, Kita-dake, Naka-dake and Minami-dake which is active now, Kita-dake is Sakurajimas highest peak, rising to 1,117 m above sea level. The mountain is located in a part of Kagoshima Bay known as Kinkō-wan, the former island is part of the city of Kagoshima. The surface of this peninsula is about 77 km2. Sakurajima is located in the Aira caldera and formed in an enormous eruption 22,000 years ago, several hundred cubic kilometres of ash and pumice were ejected, causing the magma chamber underneath the erupting vents to collapse. The resulting caldera is over 20 km across, tephra fell as far as 1,000 km from the volcano. Sakurajima is a modern active vent of the same Aira caldera volcano, Sakurajima was formed by later activity within the caldera, beginning about 13,000 years ago. It lies about 8 km south of the centre of the caldera and its first eruption in recorded history occurred in 963 AD. Most of its eruptions are strombolian, affecting only the summit areas, volcanic activity at Kita-dake ended around 4,900 years ago, subsequent eruptions have been centered on Minami-dake. Since 2006 activity has centred on Showa crater, to the East of the summit of Minami-dake, the 1914 eruption was the most powerful in twentieth-century Japan. Lava flows filled the narrow strait between the island and the mainland, turning it into a peninsula, the volcano had been dormant for over a century until 1914. The 1914 eruption began on January 11, almost all residents had left the island in the previous days, in response to several large earthquakes that warned them that an eruption was imminent. Lava flows are rare in Japan—the high silica content of the magmas there mean that explosive eruptions are far more common—but the lava flows at Sakurajima continued for months, the island grew, engulfing several smaller islands nearby, and eventually becoming connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Parts of Kagoshima bay became significantly shallower, and tides were affected, during the final stages of the eruption, the centre of the Aira Caldera sank by about 60 cm, due to subsidence caused by the emptying out of the underlying magma chamber
