Prunus mume
Prunus mume is an Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus subgenus Prunus. Its common names include Japanese apricot; the flower is called plum blossom. This distinct tree species is related to apricot trees. Although referred to as a sour green plum or just green plum in English, it is more related to the apricot and should not be confused with the greengage European plum cultivar. In Chinese and Korean cooking, the fruit of the tree is used in juices, as a flavouring for alcohol, as a pickle and in sauces, it is used in traditional medicine. The tree's flowering in late winter and early spring is regarded as a seasonal symbol. Prunus mume came from in the south of mainland China around the Yangtze River and was introduced to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, it can be found in sparse forests, stream sides, forested slopes along trails and mountains, sometimes at altitudes up to 1,700–3,100 metres, regions of cultivation. Prunus mume is a deciduous tree that starts to flower in mid-winter around January until late February in East Asia.
It can grow to 4–10 metres tall. The flowers have a strong fragrant scent, they have colors in varying shades of white and red. The leaves appear shortly after the petals fall, are oval-shaped with a pointed tip, are 4–8 cm long and 2.5–5 cm wide. The fruit ripens in early summer, around June and July in East Asia, coincides with the rainy season of East Asia, the meiyu; the drupe is 2–3 centimetres in diameter with a groove running from the stalk to the tip. The skin turns yellow, sometimes with a red blush, as it ripens, the flesh becomes yellow; the tree is cultivated for its fruit and flowers. The plant is known by a number of different names in English, including Chinese plum and Japanese apricot. An alternative name is ume, from Japanese, or mume, from the scientific name. Another alternative name is mei, from the Chinese name; the flower is known as the meihua in Chinese, which came to be translated as "plum blossom" or sometimes as "flowering plum". The term "winter plum" may be used too with regard to the depiction of the flower with its early blooming in Chinese painting.
In Chinese it is called mei and the fruit is called meizi. The Japanese name is ume; the Japanese and Korean terms derive from Middle Chinese, in which the pronunciation is thought to have been muəi. The Vietnamese name is mai or mơ. Ornamental tree varieties and cultivars of P. mume have been cultivated for planting in various gardens throughout East Asia, for cut blossoming branches used in flower arrangements. In China, there are over 300 recorded cultivars of Prunus mume; these are classified by phylogenetics in branches, type of branches in groups, characteristics of flowers in several forms: Zhizhimei Lei, Prunus mume var. typica Pinzimei Xing Jiangmei Xing Gongfen Xing Yudie Xing Huangxiang Xing Lü'e Xing Sajin Xing Zhusha Xing Chuizhimei Lei, Prunus mume var. pendula Fenhua Chuizhi Xing Wubao Chuizhi Xing Canxue Chuizhi Xing Baibi Chuizhi Xing Guhong Chuizhi Xing Longyoumei Lei, Prunus mume var. tortuosa Xingmei Lei, Prunus mume var. bungo Yinglimei Lei, Prunus × Blireiana, Prunus cerasifera'Pissardii' × Prunus mume AlphandiiIt is disputed whether Prunus zhengheensis is a separate species or conspecific with Prunus mume.
It is found in the Fujian province of China. It is only known from Zhenghe, it is a tree 35 to 40 m tall, preferring to grow at 700 to 1000 m above sea level. The yellow fruit is delectable. In Japan, ornamental Prunus mume cultivars are classified into yabai and bungo types; the bungo trees are grown for fruit and are hybrids between Prunus mume and apricot. The hibai trees have red heartwood and most of them have red flowers; the yabai trees are used as grafting stock. In mainland China and Taiwan, suanmeitang is made from called wumei; the plum juice is extracted by boiling smoked plums in water and sweetened with sugar to make suanmeitang. It ranges from light pinkish-orange to purplish black in colour and has a smoky and salty taste, it is traditionally flavoured with sweet osmanthus flowers, is enjoyed chilled in summer. In Korea, both the flowers and the fruits are used to make tea. Maehwa-cha is made by infusing the flowers in hot water. Maesil-cha is served either hot or cold. In Japan, similar drink made from green plums, tastes sweet and tangy, is considered a cold, refreshing drink and is enjoyed in the summer.
A thick, sweet Chinese sauce called meijiang or meizijiang translated as "plum sauce", is made from the plums, along with other ingredients such as sugar, salt, ginger and garlic. Similar to duck sauce, it is used as a
Abukuma River
The Abukuma River, with a length of 234 km, is the second longest river in the Tōhoku region of Japan and the 6th longest river in Japan. It runs through Fukushima Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture, rising from springs in the peaks of the Nasu mountains, collecting water from tributaries leaving the Ōu Mountains and the Abukuma Highlands emptying into the Pacific Ocean as a major river, it has a 5,390 km² area watershed, about 1.2 million people live along its basin. The Abukuma River flows north through Fukushima Prefecture's Nakadōri region, past the cities of Shirakawa, Sukagawa, Kōriyama, Nihonmatsu and Fukushima; the portion of the river flowing between Nihonmatsu and Fukushima forms a deep ravine called Hōrai-kyō. Crossing the northern edge of the long but low Abukuma hills, the Abukuma River flows into Miyagi Prefecture, past the city of Kakuda and between Iwanuma and Watari before reaching the Pacific. Abukuma has a tributary called the Arakawa River. Takeda, Toru. ISBN 4-89757-432-3
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south; the kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", it is called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands; the four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one; the population of 127 million is the world's tenth largest. 90.7 % of people live in cities. About 13.8 million people live in the capital of Japan. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world with over 38 million people. Archaeological research indicates; the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD.
Influence from other regions China, followed by periods of isolation from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shōguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regained its political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chōshū and Satsuma – and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism; 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 Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during the occupation led by SCAP, the sovereign state of Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.
Japan is a member of the ASEAN Plus mechanism, UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the G20, is considered a great power. Its economy is the world's third-largest by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity, it is the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. Japan benefits from a skilled and educated workforce. Although it has renounced its right to declare war, Japan maintains a modern military with the world's eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a developed country with a high standard of living and Human Development Index, its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, but is experiencing issues due to an aging population and low birthrate. Japan is renowned for its historical and extensive cinema, influential music industry, video gaming, rich cuisine and its major contributions to science and modern technology; the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, pronounced Nihon or Nippon and means "the origin of the sun".
The character nichi means "sun" or "day". The compound therefore means "origin of the sun" and is the source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun"; the earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, the Old Book of Tang. At the end of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan requested that Nihon be used as the name of their country; this name may have its origin in a letter sent in 607 and recorded in the official history of the Sui dynasty. Prince Shōtoku, the Regent of Japan, sent a mission to China with a letter in which he called himself "the Emperor of the Land where the Sun rises"; the message said: "Here, I, the emperor of the country where the sun rises, send a letter to the emperor of the country where the sun sets. How are you". Prior to the adoption of Nihon, other terms such as Yamato and Wakoku were used; the term Wa is a homophone of Wo 倭, used by the Chinese as a designation for the Japanese as early as the third century Three Kingdoms period.
Another form of Wa, Wei in Chinese) was used for an early state in Japan called Nakoku during the Han dynasty. However, the Japanese disliked some connotation of Wa 倭, it was therefore replaced with the substitute character Wa, meaning "togetherness, harmony"; the English word Japan derives from the historical Chinese pronunciation of 日本. The Old Mandarin or early Wu Chinese pronunciation of Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. In modern Shanghainese, a Wu dialect, the pronunciation of characters 日本; the old Malay word for Japan, Japun or Japang, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect Fukienese or Ningpo – and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia in the 16th century. These Early Portuguese traders brought the word
Fukushima Prefecture
Fukushima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region. The capital is the city of Fukushima; until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Fukushima prefecture was part of what was known as Mutsu Province. The Shirakawa Barrier and the Nakoso Barrier were built around the 5th century to protect'civilized Japan' from the'barbarians' to the north. Fukushima became a Province of Mutsu after the Taika Reforms were established in 646. In 718, the provinces of Iwase and Iwaki were created, but these areas reverted to Mutsu some time between 722 and 724; this region of Japan is known as Michinoku and Ōshū. The Fukushima Incident took place in the prefecture after Mishima Michitsune was appointed governor in 1882; the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the resulting Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster caused significant damage to the prefecture but not limited to the eastern Hamadōri region. On Friday, March 11, 2011, 14:46 JST, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture.
Shindo measurements throughout the prefecture reached as high as 6-upper in isolated regions of Hama-dōri on the eastern coast and as low as a 2 in portions of the Aizu region in the western part of the prefecture. Fukushima City, located in Naka-dōri and the capital of Fukushima Prefecture, measured 6-lower. Following the earthquake there were isolated reports of major damage to structures, including the failure of Fujinuma Dam as well as damage from landslides; the earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that hit the eastern coast of the prefecture and caused widespread destruction and loss of life. In the two years following the earthquake, 1,817 residents of Fukushima Prefecture had either been confirmed dead or were missing as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. In the aftermath of the earthquake and the tsunami that followed, the outer housings of two of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma exploded followed by a partial meltdown and fires at three of the other units.
Many residents were evacuated to nearby localities due to the development of a large evacuation zone around the plant. Radiation levels near the plant peaked at 400 mSv/h after the earthquake and tsunami, due to damage sustained; this resulted in increased recorded radiation levels across Japan. On April 11, 2011, officials upgraded the disaster to a level 7 out of a possible 7, a rare occurrence not seen since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Several months officials announced that although the area nearest the melt down were still off limits, areas near the twenty kilometer radial safe zone could start seeing a return of the close to 47,000 residents, evacuated. Fukushima is both the southernmost prefecture of Tōhoku region and the prefecture of Tōhoku region, closest to Tokyo. With an area size of 13,784 km2 it is the third-largest prefecture of Japan, behind Hokkaido and Iwate Prefecture, it is divided by mountain ranges into three regions called Aizu, Nakadōri, Hamadōri. The coastal Hamadōri region lies on the Pacific Ocean and is the flattest and most temperate region, while the Nakadōri region is the agricultural heart of the prefecture and contains the capital, Fukushima City.
The mountainous Aizu region has scenic lakes, lush forests, snowy winters. As of April 1, 2012, 13% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely Bandai-Asahi, Nikkō, Oze National Parks. Thirteen cities are located in Fukushima Prefecture: These are the towns and villages in each district: The coastal region traditionally specializes in fishing and seafood industries, is notable for its electric and nuclear power-generating industry, while the upland regions are more focused on agriculture. Thanks to Fukushima's climate, various fruits are grown throughout the year; these include pears, cherries and apples. As of March 2011, the prefecture produced 8.7 % of cucumbers. Fukushima produces rice, that combined with pure water from mountain run-offs, is used to make sake; some sakes from the region are considered so tasteful that they are served to visiting royalty and world leaders by hosts. Lacquerware is another popular product from Fukushima. Dating back over four hundred years, the process of making lacquerware involves carving an object out of wood putting a lacquer on it and decorating it.
Objects made are dishes and writing materials. Legend has it that an ogress, once roamed the plain after whom it was named; the Adachigahara plain lies close to the city of Fukushima. Other stories, such as that of a large, red cow that carried wood, influenced toys and superstitions; the Aka-beko cow is a small, red papier-mâché cow on a bamboo or wooden frame, is believed to ease child birth, bring good health, help children grow up as strong as the cow. Another superstitious talisman of the region is self-righting dharma doll; these dolls are seen as bringers of good luck and prosperity because they stand right back up when knocked down. Miharu Koma are small, black or white toy horses painted with colorful designs. Depending upon their design, they may be believed to bring things like long life to the owner. Kokeshi dolls, while less symbolic, are a popular traditional craft, they are carved wooden dolls, with hand painted bodies. Kokeshi dolls are popular throughout many regions of Japan, but Fukushima is credited as their birthplace.
Sōma's Nomaoi Festival is held every summer. The Nomaoi Festival horse riders dressed in complete samurai attire can be seen racing, chasing wild
Boshin War
The Boshin War known as the Japanese Revolution, was a civil war fought in Japan between the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate and supporters of the Imperial Court from 27 January 1868 to 27 June 1869. The Tokugawa Shogunate's handling of foreigners following the Opening of Japan during the 1850s and decline from increasing Western influence in the economy disillusioned many kazoku nobles and young samurai warriors, who sought to return power to the Emperor's Imperial Court in Kyoto after 683 years of Shogunate rule. An alliance of court officials and western samurai from the domains of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa, supported by the United Kingdom secured control of the Imperial Court. Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the sitting shōgun, abdicated political power to the young Emperor Meiji hoping that the House of Tokugawa could be preserved and participate in the future government. Military movements by Imperial forces, French support, partisan violence in Edo, an imperial decree abolishing the Tokugawa promoted by Satsuma and Chōshū led Yoshinobu to launch a military campaign to seize the Emperor's court in Kyoto.
The conflict turned against the Shogunate, Yoshinobu surrendered after a series of battles culminating in the surrender of Edo. Tokugawa loyalists retreated to northern Honshū where they joined the Northern Alliance against the Imperial faction, but were defeated several months and fled to Hokkaidō. In January 1869, the Shogunate established the Republic of Ezo on Hokkaidō to continue their rule as a separate state and sued for peace; the Imperial faction invaded Hokkaidō and defeated the Shogunate at the Battle of Hakodate in June, ending the war. The Boshin War made imperial rule supreme throughout the whole of Japan, completing the military phase of the Meiji Restoration and establishing the Empire of Japan; the victorious Imperial faction abandoned its objective to expel foreigners from Japan, instead adopted a policy of continued modernization and industrialization to eventual renegotiation of the unequal treaties with the Western powers. Tokugawa loyalists were shown clemency due to the persistence of Saigō Takamori, a prominent leader of the Imperial faction, many former Shogunate leaders and samurai were given positions of responsibility under the new government.
Around 120,000 men were mobilized during the conflict and of these about 3,500 were killed, over time the war has been romanticized as a "bloodless revolution" because of the small number of casualties. For the two centuries prior to 1854, Japan had limited exchange with foreign nations, with the notable exceptions of Korea via Tsushima, Qing China via the Ryūkyūs, the Dutch through the trading post of Dejima. In 1854, Commodore Perry opened Japan to global commerce with the implied threat of force, thus initiating a period of rapid development in foreign trade and Westernization. In large part due to the humiliating terms of the unequal treaties, as agreements like those conveyed by Perry are called, the shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical movement, the sonnō jōi. Emperor Kōmei agreed with such sentiments, and—breaking with centuries of imperial tradition—began to take an active role in matters of state: as opportunities arose, he fulminated against the treaties and attempted to interfere in the shogunal succession.
His efforts culminated in March 1863 with his "Order to expel barbarians". Although the shogunate had no intention of enforcing it, the order inspired attacks against the shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan: the most famous incident was that of the English trader Charles Lennox Richardson, for whose death the Tokugawa government had to pay an indemnity of one hundred thousand British pounds. Other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki. During 1864, these actions were countered by armed retaliations by foreign powers, such as the British bombardment of Kagoshima and the multinational Shimonoseki Campaign. At the same time, the forces of Chōshū, together with rōnin, raised the Hamaguri rebellion trying to seize the city of Kyoto, where the Emperor's court was held, but were repelled by shogunate forces under the future shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu; the shogunate further ordered a punitive expedition against Chōshū, the First Chōshū expedition, obtained Chōshū's submission without actual fighting.
At this point initial resistance among the leadership in Chōshū and the Imperial Court subsided, but over the next year the Tokugawa proved unable to reassert full control over the country as most daimyōs began to ignore orders and questions from Edo. Despite the bombardment of Kagoshima, the Satsuma Domain had become closer to the British and was pursuing the modernization of its army and navy with their support; the Scottish dealer Thomas Blake Glover sold quantities of warships and guns to the southern domains. American and British military experts former officers, may have been directly involved in this military effort; the British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes supported the anti-shogunate forces in a drive to establish a legitimate, unified Imperial rule in Japan, to counter French influence with the shogunate. During that period, southern Japanese leaders such as Saigō Takamori of Satsuma, or Itō Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru of Chōshū cultivated personal connections with British diplomats, notably Ernest Mason Satow.
The shogunate was preparing for further conflict by modernizing its forces. In line with Parkes' designs, the British the shogunate's primary partner, proved reluctant to provide assistance; the Tokugawa thus came to rely on French expertise, comforted by the military prestige of Napoleo
Nishigō, Fukushima
Nishigō is a village located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 April 2018, the village had an estimated population of 20,343 in 7757 households and a population density of 103 persons per km2; the total area of the village was 192.06 square kilometres.. Nishigō is located in the flatlands of south-central Fukushima prefecture, bordered by Tochigi Prefecture to the south. Nishigō has a humid climate; the average annual temperature in Nishigō is 10.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1,438 mm with September as the wettest month; the temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.4 °C, lowest in January, at around 0.9 °C. Mountains: Sanbonyaridake Rivers: Abukuma River Lakes: Nishigō Dam, Akasaka Dam Fukushima Prefecture Shirakawa Ten'ei Shimogō Tochigi Prefecture Nasushiobara Nasu Per Japanese census data, the population of Nishigō has increased over the past 40 years; the area of present-day Nishigō was part of ancient Mutsu Province. The area was part of the holdings of Shirakawa Domain during the Edo period.
After the Meiji Restoration, it was organized as part of Nishishirakawa District in the Nakadōri region of Iwaki Province. Modern Nishigō Village was formed on April 1889 with the creation of the municipalities system. Nishigō has a mixed economy of light/precision manufacturing. Nishigō has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government; the town does not have a high school. Nishigō First Middle School Nishigō Second Middle School Kawatani Middle School Odakura Elementary School Kumakura Elementary School Yone Elementary School, Habuto Elementary School Kawatani Elementary School JR East – Tōhoku Shinkansen Shin-Shirakawa Tōhoku Expressway National Route 4 National Route 289 Fumihiro Suzuki, professional baseball player Toshiyuki Yanuki, professional baseball player Media related to Nishigō, Fukushima at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Waka (poetry)
Waka is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Waka are composed in Japanese, are contrasted with poetry composed by Japanese poets in Classical Chinese, which are known as kanshi. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was written as 倭歌, a variant name is yamato-uta; the word waka has two different but related meanings: the original meaning was "poetry in Japanese" and encompassed several genres such as chōka and sedōka. Up to and during the compilation of the Man'yōshū in the eighth century, the word waka was a general term for poetry composed in Japanese, included several genres such as tanka, chōka, bussokusekika and sedōka. However, by the time of the Kokinshū's compilation at the beginning of the tenth century, all of these forms except for the tanka and chōka had gone extinct, chōka had diminished in prominence; as a result, the word waka became synonymous with tanka, the word tanka fell out of use until it was revived at the end of the nineteenth century.
Tanka consist of five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 on or syllabic units. Therefore, tanka is sometimes called meaning it contains 31 syllables in total. The term waka encompassed a number of differing forms, principally tanka and chōka, but including bussokusekika, sedōka and katauta; these last three forms, fell into disuse at the beginning of the Heian period, chōka vanished soon afterwards. Thus, the term waka came in time to refer only to tanka. Chōka consist of 5-7 on phrases repeated at least twice, conclude with a 5-7-7 ending The briefest chōka documented is Man'yōshū no. 802, of a pattern 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7-7. It was composed by Yamanoue no Okura in the Nara period and runs: The chōka above is followed by an envoi in tanka form written by Okura: In the early Heian period, chōka was written and tanka became the main form of waka. Since the generic term waka came to be synonymous with tanka. Famous examples of such works are the diaries of Ki no Tsurayuki and Izumi Shikibu, as well as such collections of poem tales as The Tales of Ise and The Tales of Yamato.
Lesser forms of waka featured in the Man'yōshū and other ancient sources exist. Besides that, there were many other forms like: Bussokusekika: This form carved on a slab of slate – the "Buddha footprint" or bussokuseki – at the Yakushi-ji temple in Nara. Recorded in the Man'yōshū; the pattern is 5-7-5-7-7-7. Sedōka: The Man'yōshū and Kokinshū recorded this form; the pattern is 5-7-7-5-7-7. Katauta: The Man'yōshū recorded this form. Katauta means "half-poem"; the pattern is 5-7-7. Waka has a long history, first recorded in the early 8th century in the Kojiki and Man'yōshū. Under influence from other genres such as kanshi and stories such as Tale of Genji and Western poetry, it developed broadening its repertoire of expression and topics. In literary historian Donald Keene's books, he uses four large categories: Early and Heian Literature The Middle Ages Pre-Modern Era Modern Era; the most ancient waka were recorded in the historical record the Kojiki and the 20 volumes of the Man'yōshū, the oldest surviving waka anthology.
The editor of the Man'yōshū is anonymous, but it is believed that the final editor was Ōtomo no Yakamochi. He was a waka poet; the first waka of volume 1 was by Emperor Ōjin. Nukata no Ōkimi, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, Yamabe no Akahito, Yamanoue no Okura, Ōtomo no Tabito and his son Yakamochi were the greatest poets in this anthology; the Man'yōshū recorded not only the works of the royalty and nobility, but works of soldiers and farmers whose names were not recorded. The main topics of the Man'yōshū were love and other miscellaneous topics. Early songsSongs and poetry in the Kojiki and the Nihon ShokiThe Man'yōshū During the Nara period and the early Heian period, the court favored Chinese-style poetry and the waka art form fell out of official favor, but in the 9th century, Japan stopped sending official envoys to Tang dynasty China. This severing of ties, combined with Japan's geographic isolation forced the court to cultivate native talent and look inward, synthesizing Chinese poetic styles and techniques with local traditions.
The waka form again began flourishing and Emperor Daigo ordered the creation of an anthology of waka. where the waka of ancient poets and their contemporaries were collected and the anthology named "Kokin Wakashū", meaning Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poems. It was presented to the emperor in 905; this was the first waka anthology edited and issued under imperial auspices, it commenced a long and distinguished tradition of imperial anthologies of waka that continued up to the Muromachi period. Rise of Japanese national cultureThe first three chokusenshūThe first three imperially-commissioned waka anthologies were the Kokin Wakashū, the Gosen Waka
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Compiègne, France, since October 20, 1988
Anoka, Minnesota, USA, since October 13, 2002
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