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Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709)
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) was the fifth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate (ruled 1680-1709), the fourth son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, and known by the moniker "dog shogun". Born to Iemitsu, the third...
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Tokugawa Ienobu (1662-1712)
Tokugawa Ienobu (徳川 家宣, 1662-1712) was the sixth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and ruled for just three years, from 1709 to 1712. Ienobu was the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige (徳川綱重, 1644-1678),...
View ArticleRomaji: the romanization of the Japanese language
Romaji (ローマ字 rōmaji) means "Roman letters" in Japanese and refers to the romanisation of the Japanese language, the application of Roman letters to write Japanese. Romaji is commonly employed in...
View ArticleHina Matsuri
Hinamatsuri (雛祭り) is a festival for girls held on March 3. Tiered platforms for hina ningyō (雛人形, hina dolls) are set up at home. Families celebrate with a meal, eating hishimochi (菱餅), sweet...
View ArticleIto Jakuchu
Itō Jakuchū (伊藤若冲, 1716-1800) was a painter known for his almost surrealist, detailed depictions of exotic birds and fowl. He painted traditional Japanese motifs, experimenting with perspectives and...
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Karakawa Castle
Karakawa Castle (唐川城) was a mountain castle built about three kilometres north as a branch castle of Fukushima Castle on the north shore of Lake Jūsan (十三湖). It is thought that it served as a lookout...
View ArticleSumo
Sumō (相撲) is a unique form of wrestling with a 2,000-year-old history that easily qualifies as Japan's national sport. Sumō became a professional sport almost 300 years ago in the early part of the Edo...
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Yamato Court
The Yamato court (大和朝廷 Yamato chōtei) was the centre of the archaic Japanese polity (ca 4th-ca mid-7th centuries), situated in Yamato (modern-day Nara Prefecture). The term is used in distinction to...
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Toyooka Travel Guide
Toyooka (豊岡市) is located in northern Hyōgo Prefecture in the centre of the San'in Kaigan Geopark (山陰海岸ジオパーク). While the city stretches over 700 square kilometres after its merger with the surrounding...
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Gotokuji Temple
Gōtokuji (豪徳寺), officially Daikeizan Gōtokuji, is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist temple located in Setagaya in western Tōkyō. It is the ancestral temple of the Ii family; some 300 of their clan members, including...
View ArticleOta Dokan
The Father of Edo CastleŌta Sukenaga (太田資長, 1432-1486), better known under his Buddhist name Ōta Dōkan (太田道灌), was a daimyō in Musashi Province and the eldest son of Ōta Sukekiyo (太田資清, 1411-1493) who...
View ArticleSake Glossary
A Akiagari (秋あがり): sake brewed in early spring and stored during summer; around September, when the outside temperature and the temperature of the sake are about the same, the sake is released without...
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Kawahara Keiga
Kawahara Keiga (川原慶賀, 1786-1860) was an Edo-era painter of Western-style pictures who sometimes signed his works in Roman letters "Tojosky," a Westernisation of his given name Toyosuke. Most of his...
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Tanesato Castle
Tanesato Castle (種里城 Tanesato-jō) was a mountain castle (山城 yamajiro) built in the western part of Ajigasawa, Aomori, upstream of the Akaishi River (赤石川). The site was designated a National Historic...
View ArticleHyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork
Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork (兵庫県立コウノトリの郷公園 Hyōgo kenritsu kōnotorinosatokōen) is a research facility of Hyōgo Prefecture, located in Shōunji Aza Nigaya, Toyooka City. The park, which opened...
View ArticleItinerary and Recommendations for a 2-3 week Trip from Osaka to Tokyo
I met a young American traveling through Asia and his next destination was Japan, flying in to Osaka and out of Haneda airport. He said he was getting a JR pass and wanted to make the most of it, and...
View ArticleKanazawa Castle Park
Kanazawa Castle Park is next to Kenroku-en. Kenroku-en was an outlying garden of the castle before it was opened to the public in 1871. Kanazawa Castle (金沢城 Kanazawa-jō) was the seat of the powerful...
View ArticleKanazawa Travel Guide
Kanazawa (金沢) is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture and the political, economic, and cultural centre of the Hokuriku Region. Kanazawa developed in the 15th century as a de facto autonomous temple town...
View ArticleZaibatsu
Zaibatsu (財閥, literally "wealthy clique") refers to industrial and financial combines of a conglomerate type that dominated the Japanese economy between the Meiji Period (1868-1912) and World War II....
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Hirosaki Castle
Hirosaki Castle (弘前城) is one of the most famous castles in the Tōhoku region. It is built on the Tsugaru Plain. At the end of the Warring States period, Tsugaru Tamenobu (津軽為信) achieved independence...
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