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Fundoshi - Japanese loincloths
Fundoshi is the traditional Japanese loincloth worn by sumo-tori and by men on special occasions, such as in Japanese festivals (matsuri). It was the principal form of Japanese undergarment until World...
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Setsubun
Setsubun is a traditional ceremony to dispel demons, usually observed on 3 February. The practice of scattering beans (豆撒き mamemaki) to drive away demons is one of some magical rites performed to ward...
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Konodai Castle
You see a vast plateau on the opposite bank when you cross the Edo River on the Keisei Line toward Chiba. This is the Kōnodai (国府台) plateau with its long history that not only encompasses a Sengoku-era...
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Hitoyoshi Castle
Hitoyoshi Castle (人吉城) is located in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, on the banks of the Kuma River (球磨川). It was constructed in the late 12th century by Sagara Nagayori (相良長頼, 1177-1254), a...
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Namioka Castle
Namioka Castle (浪岡城 Namioka-jō) was a flatland castle (平城 hirajiro) located in the former town of Namioka, southwest of Aomori City. The castle ruins were designated a National Historic Site in 1940....
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Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery
The Meiji Memorial Gallery (聖徳記念絵画館 Seitoku kinen kaiga-kan) is a picture gallery in Meiji-jingū-gaien Park in the Shinjuku district of Tōkyō. It displays paintings made in honour of the late...
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Nakasato Castle
Nakasato Castle (中里城 Nakasato-jō) is a mountain castle (山城 Yamashiro) built in Nakadomari Town in the western part of the Tsugaru Peninsula. The site seems to have already been used in the Jomon...
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Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582)
Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀, 1528-1582), also known under the title Koretō Hyūga no Kami (惟任日向守), was one of the principal captains of hegemon Oda Nobunaga and his assassin. A man of obscure origins,...
View ArticleHonorific Suffixes
The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people, for example, -san, as in Davey-san. These honorifics are gender-neutral (can be used for males and...
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Fukushima Castle (Aomori)
Fukushima Castle (福島城 Fukushima-jō) is a medieval castle built on a hill at an altitude of 20 to 30 meters facing the north shore of Lake Jūsan (十三湖 Jūsanko) in the western part of the Tsugaru...
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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...
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