Podcasts about Hokkaido

What does it really take to bring a character to life through cosplay? Maria of Oz Costumes joins the Krewe to break down the creativity, craftsmanship, and passion behind cosplay, while exploring how this hobby can be enjoyed by people of all skill levels and interests. Whether you're a seasoned cosplayer or someone who has always been curious about giving it a try, this conversation offers a look behind the costumes and into the world of cosplay.------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Links about Oz Costumes ------Oz Costumes on InstagramOther Oz Costumes Links via Linktree------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters vs Chiba Lotte Marines 9/27/26 NPB Japan Spread Pick by Ron Crawford

This week, Steven and Jeremy talked about New Japan's tour of Hokkaido, including the Knockout Brothers' brawl with their spiritual ancestors, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano. Plus, Mistico and El Desperado faced SHO and DOUKI while YOH took on Taiji Ishimori in title match action. They also previewed the Destruction in Kobe show, headlined by Hirooki Goto challenging Yota Tsuji for the IWGP title. 

Fluent Fiction - Japanese: Chasing Autumn's Ephemeral Beauty: Haruto's Journey Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/ja/episode/2026-09-23-07-38-19-ja Story Transcript:Ja: 北海道の田舎には、美しい紅葉があります。En: In the countryside of Hokkaido, there are beautiful autumn leaves.Ja: 葉は赤、黄、オレンジに染まり、大地をカーペットのように覆います。En: The leaves turn red, yellow, and orange, covering the ground like a carpet.Ja: この自然の劇場を見に、30歳の写真家はるとは、友人のさくらとゆきと一緒に車でやってきました。En: To see this natural theater, a 30-year-old photographer named Haruto came by car with his friends Sakura and Yuki.Ja: はるとは、自然の写真を撮ることが大好きです。En: Haruto loves taking photos of nature.Ja: 今回は、紅葉の写真を応募したいと思っています。En: This time, he wants to submit his pictures of autumn leaves.Ja: 彼はコンテストに参加し、見事な写真で賞を取りたいのです。En: He wishes to participate in a contest and win a prize with his stunning photos.Ja: 車は道を走り、彼らは広がる景色を見つめます。En: As the car drives along the road, they gaze upon the sprawling landscape.Ja: 「ここで止まろう！」とさくらが言いました。En: "Let's stop here!" said Sakura.Ja: 彼女は木々の間を指差します。En: She pointed between the trees.Ja: これこそ完璧な場所でした。En: This was the perfect spot.Ja: はるとはカメラを取り出し、写真を撮り始めました。En: Haruto took out his camera and started taking pictures.Ja: しかし、突然空が曇り、風が強くなりました。En: However, suddenly the sky became cloudy, and the wind picked up.Ja: 「あれ？嵐が来るみたい。」とゆきが心配そうに言いました。En: "Huh? It looks like a storm is coming," said Yuki worriedly.Ja: 雲が太陽を隠し、紅葉の鮮やかさが失われました。En: The clouds hid the sun, and the vibrancy of the autumn leaves was lost.Ja: はるとはカメラを守りながら考えます。En: Haruto pondered while protecting his camera.Ja: 嵐を待つか、高台に登るか、どちらかを選べなければなりません。En: He had to choose between waiting out the storm or climbing to higher ground.Ja: 「私は行く。」はるとは決心しました。En: "I'm going," Haruto decided.Ja: 彼は防水カバーをカメラにかけて、高台の方へ走り始めました。En: He put a waterproof cover on his camera and started running toward the higher ground.Ja: さくらとゆきは彼を応援し、笑顔で見送りました。En: Sakura and Yuki cheered him on and saw him off with smiles.Ja: 高台に着くと、嵐は過ぎ去り、雲間から光が差し込みました。En: When he reached the high ground, the storm had passed, and light poured in through the gaps in the clouds.Ja: 大地は再び光で輝き、美しい色を放ちます。En: The ground shone again with light, emitting beautiful colors.Ja: はるとは息を整え、カメラを手に取りました。En: Haruto caught his breath and picked up his camera.Ja: 息を止め、シャッターを切ります。En: Holding his breath, he pressed the shutter.Ja: 完璧な瞬間がここにありました。En: The perfect moment was here.Ja: その後、撮影した写真はコンテストで優勝を果たしました。En: After that, the photo he took won first prize in the contest.Ja: しかし、はるとは賞よりも大切なものを手に入れました。En: However, Haruto gained something more important than the prize.Ja: それは自然との新たなつながりであり、心の平和でした。En: It was a new connection with nature and peace of mind.Ja: はるとはその体験を通じて、不確実さを受け入れることを学びました。En: Through this experience, Haruto learned to embrace uncertainty.Ja: 一瞬の美を見つけること、それが彼の人生と作品を豊かにしました。En: Finding beauty in a moment enriched his life and work.Ja: 紅葉の美しい景色は、はるとの心にいつまでも残りました。En: The beautiful scenery of the autumn leaves remained forever in Haruto's heart. Vocabulary Words:countryside: 田舎leaves: 葉carpet: カーペットphotographer: 写真家contest: コンテストprize: 賞stunning: 見事なsprawling: 広がるlandscape: 景色gaze: 見つめるponder: 考えるprotecting: 守るstorm: 嵐vibrancy: 鮮やかさhigher ground: 高台waterproof: 防水cheered: 応援shone: 輝くemitting: 放つbreathe: 息を整えるshutter: シャッターmoment: 瞬間gained: 手に入れるconnection: つながりpeace of mind: 心の平和embrace: 受け入れるuncertainty: 不確実さenriched: 豊かにするexperience: 体験forever: いつまでも

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles vs Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 9/23/26 NPB Japan Pick Today by Ron Crawford.

This week, the "Discord Daddy" MJ joins Jeremy to break down Road to Destruction Nights 8 and 9 out of Hokkaido, highlighted by Toru Yano's bloody, Fighting Spirit-caliber performance in the Knockout Brothers vs. Most Violent Players tag title contendership match. Then they preview Destruction in Kobe, with Yota Tsuji, Gabe Kidd, and Konosuke Takeshita all defending titles, plus Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shingo Takagi.Join our Patreon for ad-free audio, live video streams, and other bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/KIStrongStyleFollow us on YouTube: @SocialSuplexFollow us on X: @SocialSuplex, @KIStrongStyle, @JeremyLDonovanFollow us on Instagram: @SocialSuplexLike us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialSuplex/Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/QUaJfaCVisit our website for news, columns, and podcasts: https://socialsuplex.com/Join the Social Suplex community Facebook Group: The Wrestling (Squared) CircleKeepin' It Strong Style is the New Japan Pro Wrestling Podcast of the Social Suplex Podcast Network. Support the Social Podcast Network by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week, the "Discord Daddy" MJ joins Jeremy to break down Road to Destruction Nights 8 and 9 out of Hokkaido, highlighted by Toru Yano's bloody, Fighting Spirit-caliber performance in the Knockout Brothers vs. Most Violent Players tag title contendership match. Then they preview Destruction in Kobe, with Yota Tsuji, Gabe Kidd, and Konosuke Takeshita all defending titles, plus Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shingo Takagi.Join our Patreon for ad-free audio, live video streams, and other bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/KIStrongStyleFollow us on YouTube: @SocialSuplexFollow us on X: @SocialSuplex, @KIStrongStyle, @JeremyLDonovanFollow us on Instagram: @SocialSuplexLike us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialSuplex/Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/QUaJfaCVisit our website for news, columns, and podcasts: https://socialsuplex.com/Join the Social Suplex community Facebook Group: The Wrestling (Squared) CircleKeepin' It Strong Style is the New Japan Pro Wrestling Podcast of the Social Suplex Podcast Network. Support the Social Podcast Network by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Joel and Damon are back to discuss New Japan's Road To Destruction tour. We give our thoughts on Pro-Wrestling TAKE OFF!, the Hokkaido show confusion, Toru Yano and Togi Makabe, and we empty the mailbag with your questions.For more New Japan talk, subscribe to the Super J-Cast Patreon. Jump here  www.patreon.com/superjcast and consider becoming a member!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/super-j-cast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Joel and Damon are back to discuss New Japan's Road To Destruction tour. We give our thoughts on Pro-Wrestling TAKE OFF!, the Hokkaido show confusion, Toru Yano and Togi Makabe, and we empty the mailbag with your questions.For more New Japan talk, subscribe to the Super J-Cast Patreon. Jump here  www.patreon.com/superjcast and consider becoming a member!Our Sponsors:* Sign up for MyBookie today and use our code VOWNETWORK for access to MyBookie's one of a kind Bet Back Bonus! If your bet hits, you win. If it misses, you'll earn a 100% Refund of up to $500 in Free Play. It's win-win. Get in on the action now at https://www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week, Steven and Jeremy discussed TV Asahi's plans for English broadcasting, Wrestle Kingdom tickets going on sale and a look ahead to New Japan's continuing tour of Hokkaido. Plus, NJ talent on the CMLL Anniversario show. 

Fluent Fiction - Japanese: A Fusion of Tradition: Capturing Hokkaido's Harvest Moon Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/ja/episode/2026-09-17-22-34-02-ja Story Transcript:Ja: 秋の風が心地よく吹く、北海道のアイヌ村。En: In the Ainu village of Hokkaido, the autumn breeze blows pleasantly.Ja: 村は、紅葉の鮮やかな色彩に包まれています。En: The village is enveloped in the vibrant colors of fall foliage.Ja: この季節、村では収穫月祭が開かれています。En: During this season, the Harvest Moon Festival is held in the village.Ja: 匠は村に帰ってきました。En: Takumi has returned to the village.Ja: 彼はアスパイヤ・フォトグラファーです。En: He is an aspiring photographer.Ja: カメラを片手に村の伝統的なお祭りを写真に収めたいと思っていました。En: With a camera in hand, he wanted to capture the traditional festival of the village in his photographs.Ja: しかし、彼は自分の文化的遺産とのつながりを少し失っていると感じていました。En: However, he felt somewhat disconnected from his cultural heritage.Ja: 匠のいとこ、光は若き職人です。En: Takumi's cousin, Hikari, is a young artisan.Ja: 彼は伝統工芸を守ることに情熱を注いでいます。En: He pours his passion into preserving traditional crafts.Ja: そして、愛子は家族の大黒柱で、賢く、優しい存在です。En: Aiko is the family matriarch, a wise and gentle presence.Ja: 彼女は家族の伝統を子供たちに伝えることを大切に考えています。En: She values passing down the family's traditions to the children.Ja: 収穫月祭の準備が進む中、匠は村の人々との交流を始めました。En: As preparations for the Harvest Moon Festival progressed, Takumi began interacting with the villagers.Ja: 彼は、光と共に祭りの飾りを作り、竹の道具を学びました。En: Together with Hikari, he made festival decorations and learned about bamboo tools.Ja: 光は匠に伝統の大切さを伝えます。「伝統は私たちの心です」と、光は言いました。En: Hikari conveyed to Takumi the importance of tradition. "Tradition is our heart," Hikari said.Ja: しかし、匠の写真のスタイルは現代的でした。En: However, Takumi's photographic style was modern.Ja: このため、一部の村人は戸惑っていました。En: Because of this, some villagers were puzzled.Ja: 「伝統をそのまま守るべきだ」と言う意見もありました。En: There were opinions that "Tradition should be preserved as it is."Ja: 匠は迷いましたが、村の準備をしながら、愛子の話を聞きました。En: Takumi felt conflicted but listened to Aiko's words while preparing for the festival.Ja: 「伝統は生きているのよ。新しい風も必要だわ」と彼女は微笑んで言いました。En: "Tradition is alive. A new breeze is needed too," she said with a smile.Ja: 祭りの夜、村は灯篭の明かりで美しく照らされました。En: On the night of the festival, the village was beautifully illuminated by lanterns.Ja: 太鼓の音と共に、愛子が踊りを始めました。En: Along with the sound of drums, Aiko began to dance.Ja: 彼女の動きは優雅で、村の歴史と心がそこにありました。En: Her movements were graceful, embodying the village's history and spirit.Ja: 匠はその瞬間をカメラに収めました。感情が画面に焼きつきました。En: Takumi captured that moment with his camera, emotions etched into the frame.Ja: 次の日、匠の写真が公開されました。En: The next day, Takumi's photographs were unveiled.Ja: 村の人々はその美しさに驚きました。En: The villagers were amazed by their beauty.Ja: 「私たちの物語が写真にある」と村人たちは喜びました。En: "Our story is in the photographs," they rejoiced.Ja: 匠の写真は村の遺産を際立たせていました。En: Takumi's photos highlighted the heritage of the village.Ja: 匠は深い感謝の気持ちを抱きながら、家族や伝統との強い絆を感じました。En: Feeling a deep sense of gratitude, Takumi felt a strong bond with his family and traditions.Ja: 彼は自分の文化を再び心に刻み込みました。En: He engraved his culture once again in his heart.Ja: 伝統と現代の融合が、新しい美しさを生み出したのです。En: The fusion of tradition and modernity had created new beauty.Ja: 匠は、その思いを胸に、村を眺めました。En: Takumi gazed at the village with that sentiment in his heart.Ja: この村での経験は彼の心に永遠に残るでしょう。En: This experience in the village would remain in his heart forever. Vocabulary Words:breeze: 風enveloped: 包まれていますvibrant: 鮮やかなfoliage: 紅葉aspiring: アスパイヤdisconnected: つながりを少し失っているartisan: 職人preserving: 守るmatriarch: 大黒柱preparations: 準備interacting: 交流decorations: 飾りtools: 道具conveyed: 伝えますconflicted: 迷いましたilluminated: 照らされましたlanterns: 灯篭graceful: 優雅embodying: 心captured: 写真に収めましたetched: 焼きつきましたunveiled: 公開されましたamazed: 驚きましたheritage: 遺産gratitude: 感謝の気持ちfusion: 融合modernity: 現代sentiment: 思いforever: 永遠に

What exactly is kabuki, and what makes this iconic Japanese performing art so unique? Professor Larry Kominz joins the Krewe to explore kabuki's origins, history, traditions, performers, and evolution, while also looking at the experience of seeing kabuki on stage and how the art form continues to find new audiences today. Plus, Larry shares his own experience with Japanese performing arts, including his work directing English-language kabuki productions.------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Links about Kabuki & Larry's Works ------PSU's Kabuki Playlist on YouTubePSU's Past Performances (University Website)Kabuki: Japan's Mega-Theatre (Larry's new book)Kabuki in Kyoto (Minamiza)Kabuki in Tokyo (Kabukiza)Kabuki in Tokyo (Shinbashi)------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman on Monday voiced opposition to a joint military exercise involving Japan, the United States and Australia, as well as Japan's forward deployment of long-range offensive weapons, saying such moves increase the risk of military confrontation in the region.中国国防部发言人周一表示，反对日本、美国、澳大利亚举行联合军演，以及日本前沿部署远程进攻性武器，称此类举动会加剧地区军事对抗风险。Jiang Bin, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks in response to reports that Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force is conducting a joint exercise, dubbed "Oriental Shield 26", with the US and Australian armies in Hokkaido and Kagoshima from Sept 8 to 24.国防部发言人蒋斌作出上述表态，回应有关报道。报道称，日本陆上自卫队将于 9 月 8 日至 24 日，在北海道和鹿儿岛同美澳陆军举行代号为 “东方盾牌 26” 的联合演习。The US Typhon mid-range missile system will participate in the exercise for the first time, according to reports, raising concerns among countries in the region.据报道，美国 “堤丰” 中导系统将首次参演，引发地区国家担忧。Jiang said the exercise is being used to advance the deployment of long-range offensive weapons under the guise of a "shield", undermining the security interests of other countries and increasing the risk of an arms race and military confrontation in the region, thereby posing a serious threat to regional peace and stability.蒋斌表示，这场演习借 “盾牌” 之名推进远程进攻性武器部署，损害他国安全利益，加剧地区军备竞赛和军事对抗风险，对地区和平稳定构成严重威胁。"We firmly oppose this," Jiang said.蒋斌说：“我们对此坚决反对。”On Aug 31, Russia lodged a protest with the Japanese embassy in Russia over the joint military exercise.8 月 31 日，俄罗斯就此次联合军演向日本驻俄使馆提出抗议。Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sept 1 that deploying such weapons on Japanese territory, including under the pretext of military exercises, would threaten Russia's security and was "absolutely unacceptable" to Moscow. Russia would take countermeasures to ensure its national defense and security, she said.俄罗斯外交部发言人玛丽亚・扎哈罗娃 9 月 1 日表示，以军演等为借口在日本领土部署此类武器将威胁俄罗斯安全，俄方对此 “完全不能接受”。她说，俄罗斯将采取反制措施，保障本国国防与安全。China has also repeatedly expressed opposition to the deployment of US mid-range missile systems in Asian countries.中方也多次反对美国在亚洲国家部署中导系统。Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a news conference in May that China firmly opposes such deployments and has repeatedly expressed its concerns over the issue.中国外交部发言人郭嘉昆在 5 月的记者会上表示，中方坚决反对此类部署，并已就此多次表达关切。The Typhon missile system is a strategically offensive weapon that undermines the legitimate security interests of other countries, threatens regional strategic security and increases the risk of military confrontation and an arms race, Guo said.郭嘉昆称，“堤丰” 导弹系统属于战略性进攻武器，损害他国正当安全利益，威胁地区战略安全，加大军事对抗与军备竞赛风险。"It does nothing to promote regional peace and stability and is detrimental in every respect," Guo said.郭嘉昆表示：“这无助于维护地区和平稳定，百害而无一利。”Jiang also pointed out that Japan has repeatedly breached the principles of its pacifist constitution and its exclusively defense-oriented policy by developing long-range offensive weapons and stepping up its military activities overseas.蒋斌同时指出，日本研发远程进攻性武器、加紧海外军事活动，多次突破和平宪法原则与专守防卫政策。He criticized Japan's military expansion as moving toward a new form of militarism, saying it caters to the interests of countries outside the region while encouraging bloc confrontation and increasing tensions.他批评日本军事扩张朝着新型军国主义方向发展，迎合域外国家利益，煽动集团对抗，加剧紧张局势。"Any move that fuels Japan's military ambitions will only plunge the region into a dangerous vortex and will eventually bring harm to the country itself," Jiang said.蒋斌说：“任何助长日本军事野心的举动，只会将地区拖入危险漩涡，最终反噬其自身。”He urged the countries concerned to respect the security concerns of other countries, correct their erroneous practices and contribute positively to regional peace and stability through concrete actions.他敦促有关国家尊重他国安全关切，纠正错误做法，以实际行动为地区和平稳定发挥积极作用。spokesman /ˈspəʊksmən/n. 发言人confrontation /ˌkɒnfrʌnˈteɪʃn/n. 对抗militarism /ˈmɪlɪtərɪzəm/n. 军国主义vortex /ˈvɔːteks/n. 漩涡

A former 31-year-old employee of a disability support facility in Kushiro, Hokkaido, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison, suspended for three years, after being convicted of assaulting residents at the facility. The court said Abe's actions were “vile and malicious” and had undermined trust in care workers, but noted that he had expressed an intention to apologize and was showing remorse. Episode notes: ‘Ex-care worker gets suspended sentence for assaulting residents at Hokkaido facility': https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/09/14/ex-care-worker-gets-suspended-sentence-for-assaulting-residents-at-hokkaido-facility/

#216 北海道といえば、美味しいものを思い浮かべる人はかなり多いと思いますが、でも実際北海道に来た際には、美味しいご飯がたくさんある中で、何を食べたらいいのか。。今回は私たちホスト2人が暮らしている北海道のソウルフードをご紹介します！北海道に行く予定がある方は、ぜひ聞いてみてくださいね！When people think of Hokkaido, you may think of delicious food. But when you actually visit Hokkaido, with so many delicious options available, you might wonder what the best to eat…In this episode, our hosts who live here in Hokkaido, will introduce you to Hokkaido's special cuisine! If you are planning a trip to Hokkaido, be sure to check it out!↓↓お便り(たより）)は、こちらまで↓↓Email: ernestnaoya1994@gmail.com↑↑ Share your thoughts and request to us↑↑個人SNS / Personal Social Media ACErnest's Instagram: @ernest_mkcNaoya's Instagram: @japanese_teacher_n

In Folge 425 von Rolling Sushi geht es um Kakerlaken auf Hokkaido, Ki-Lehrpläne, ausländische Unternehmen, die aufgeben, Japans ersten Astronauten, die Garnelen-Weltmeisterschaft, frustrierende Kontosperren für Ausländer, die Manipulation vom nationalen Warnsystem, kleine Gemeinden, die mehr als ein "kleines Kyoto" sein wollen, Energiearmut, das Unschuldslamm Russland und den neuen Rekordhaushalt.

A quick update from the Krewe on Season 7 & its release schedule! We're moving our regular release day from Friday to Tuesday mornings, with the next four episodes temporarily moving to a bi-weekly schedule to give us a little more breathing room (starting September 15). We appreciate everyone's continued support & look forward to bringing you the rest of Season 7!------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

Benvenuti e bentornate in questa nuova collaborazione di Giappone nel mondo. Oggi vi presento Focus Giappone, la rassegna stampa curata da Simone Ottuzzi, creatore del canale YouTube Omotenashi Anime e caro amico. Ogni lunedì alle 6:00 vi porterà le notizie più interessanti della settimana dal Sol Levante, arricchendo il nostro feed con contenuti freschi e approfonditi. Passate a salutare Simone sul suo canale Omotenashi Anime e… buon ascolto!-- Link utili: --- Valutate l'idea di ISCRIVERVI al canale di Simone OMOTENASHIANIME: https://www.youtube.com/@OMOTENASHIANIME- Il canale YouTube su Giappone nel Mondo: https://www.youtube.com/@giapponenelmondo- Il nostro canale su approfondimenti e cultura pop LIVE PLOT-TWISTER: https://www.youtube.com/@plot-twister--- SHOWNOTES ---RIASSUNTO:Questa settimana Focus Giappone affronta la nuova strategia militare del Giappone incentrata su droni, intelligenza artificiale e missili a lunga gittata, con un budget di 8.9 trilioni di yen. Tra le altre notizie: il comportamento predatorio dei cinghiali sull'isola dei conigli, il ritorno del SUV Mitsubishi Pajero dopo 7 anni, l'aumento degli scarafaggi a Hokkaido e la partnership tra Uber e la città ai piedi del Monte Fuji contro il turismo eccessivo.CAPITOLI: 00:00  Introduzione e benvenuto 00:39  La nuova strategia militare del Giappone con droni e AI 03:03  I cinghiali selvatici predano i conigli sull'isola di Okunoshima 05:17  Mitsubishi Motors presenta il nuovo Pajero 07:19  Hokkaido affronta l'aumento degli scarafaggi per i cambiamenti climatici 09:22  Uber e il comune ai piedi del Monte Fuji unite contro il turismo eccessivo 10:48  Chiusura e ringraziamentiARGOMENTI: - Strategia militare giapponese e investimenti in droni - Intelligenza artificiale nel settore della difesa - Comportamento predatorio dei cinghiali sull'isola dei conigli - Ecosistema e turismo nell'isola di Okunoshima - Ritorno del Mitsubishi Pajero sul mercato - Aumento degli scarafaggi a Hokkaido e cambiamenti climatici - Partnership Uber e turismo sostenibile - Overtourism e gestione dei flussi turistici in GiapponeDESCRIZIONE SEO (per Spotify):Scopri le notizie principali dal Giappone della settimana: il Giappone annuncia una rivoluzione nella strategia militare con droni e intelligenza artificiale, il nuovo Pajero di Mitsubishi ritorna dopo 7 anni di assenza, e si affrontano problematiche come l'aumento degli scarafaggi a Hokkaido e il turismo eccessivo ai piedi del Monte Fuji. Un'analisi completa degli ultimi sviluppi giapponesi tra tecnologia, ambiente e sostenibilità.

北海道地震から８年を迎え、慰霊碑の前で黙とうする厚真町役場の職員ら、６日、同町最大震度７を観測し、４４人が犠牲となった北海道地震の発生から８年となった６日、３７人が亡くなった厚真町では宮坂尚市朗町長らが黙とうをささげ、犠牲者を悼んだ。 People in Hokkaido paid tribute Sunday to victims of a massive earthquake that rocked the northernmost Japan prefecture exactly eight years ago.

People in Hokkaido paid tribute Sunday to victims of a massive earthquake that rocked the northernmost Japan prefecture exactly eight years ago.

北海道地震の追悼式で黙とうする参列者ら、５日午前、北海道厚真町最大震度７を観測し、４４人が犠牲となった北海道地震は６日、発生から８年を迎えた。 A memorial ceremony was held in the town of Atsuma, Hokkaido, on Saturday, a day before the eighth anniversary of a deadly earthquake that hit the northernmost Japan prefecture.

VOV1 - Trong bối cảnh sự quan tâm toàn cầu đến lĩnh vực vũ trụ đang tăng mạnh, Chính phủ Nhật Bản và Mỹ đã có những bước tăng cường hợp tác nhằm nâng cao sức cạnh tranh chung. Nguồn tin từ Chính phủ Nhật Bản cho hay, Tokyo và Washington vừa ký một bản ghi nhớ nhằm tăng cường hợp tác trong các lĩnh vực như phóng tên lửa và các chuyến bay vũ trụ có người lái do các công ty tư nhân thực hiện, với mục tiêu cùng công nhận chéo các đánh giá an toàn tên lửa trong tương lai.Bản ghi nhớ hợp tác nêu rõ việc trao đổi thông tin về luật pháp, quy định liên quan đến vận tải vũ trụ, bao gồm phóng tên lửa và các chuyến bay vũ trụ có người lái, nhằm mục đích tìm hiểu việc tiêu chuẩn hóa các tiêu chí an toàn giữa Nhật Bản và Mỹ, với mục tiêu là đạt được sự công nhận lẫn nhau về cách đánh giá an toàn – khâu quan trọng hiện đang được thực hiện riêng biệt.Điều này có thể tạo điều kiện thuận lợi cho việc hợp tác phóng tên lửa giữa các công ty vũ trụ Nhật Bản và Mỹ tại lãnh thổ của của nhau và việc đưa các tàu vũ trụ có người lái được phóng từ Nhật Bản trở về Mỹ, góp phần hiện thực hóa kỳ vọng về sự hồi sinh và phát triển hơn nữa của ngành công nghiệp hàng không vũ trụ.Liên quan việc các công ty Mỹ đang tìm hiểu khả năng phóng tên lửa từ các bãi phóng ở Hokkaido – cực Bắc Nhật Bản, ông Ryuzaki Takashi - Tổng Giám đốc Văn phòng xúc tiến chiến lược phát triển vũ trụ thuộc Văn phòng Nội các Nhật Bản, cho biết: "Mỹ đặt kỳ vọng rất cao vào Nhật Bản trong lĩnh vực vũ trụ. Nhật Bản sở hữu công nghệ và chia sẻ cùng một khát vọng, vì vậy hai bên mong muốn xây dựng mối quan hệ tin cậy vững chắc và cùng nhau tiến lên"./.Tuấn Nhật/VOV Nhật BảnTên lửa đẩy H3 số 6 của Nhật Bản tại Trung tâm vũ trụ Tanegashima. Ảnh JAXA

This episode we continue with the reign of Uno no Sarara, aka Jito Tenno, and look at records of the various foreigners and immigrants who came to the archipelago. This includes immigrants from the Korean peninsula as well as those foreigners with whom Yamato shared the Central Land of the Reed Plains--like the Hayato and the Emishi. We also take a look at the Yamato court's widening relationship with and use of Buddhism. Along the way we take a look at a few different incidents and reports, including omens, hunting and fishing restrictions, and a story of sweet wine that reportedly cured the worst of diseases. For more check out the podcast website: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-155 (blogpost goes live 1 Sep 2026) Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 155: Immigrants, Priests, and Sweet Wine The three priests and their companions could see the distinctive pagoda from a distance away.   It stood several stories tall, and the bells at the eave ends glinted in the morning light. To their right, a tall, conical peak stood out from the other mountains, much like a miniature Mt. Fuji.  From there, the mountains swept down to the flat plain, which then ended at the edge of the giant body of water known as Lake Biwa.  The pagoda rose up between the two, its uppermost spire jutting upwards towards the sky.  Around it, much of the flat area had been carved into rectangular rice paddies, with paths and thatched roof buildings around—most of them low to the ground, distinctive of the muro style still prominent amongst most of the common people.  As such, though it didn't come anywhere near the grandeur of the temples in the capital, even a provincial temple stood out with its tiled roof and the brightly colored, red, white, and green walls and windows.  As they approached, the group saw a crowd of people by the gates.  Many of them seemed ill and infirm.  They had come to be healed by the waters of the temple—the same healing waters that had brought these priests all the way from the capital to investigate. We are covering a bunch of different things from the reign of Uno no Sarara, from 686 to 697.  This episode we take a journey through a few different topics.  Mostly we are talking about foreigners—both those from overseas and the ones that Yamato shared the archipelago with—and with Buddhism and how the court used this continental religion that had already become a key organ of the Yamato State. To start with, let's talk about immigrants.  Immigration to the archipelago by this point isn't anything new—and I'm not just talking about the groups that came over and kickstarted the Yayoi culture and the eventual mounded tomb period that we know as the Kofun era.  There were numerous ethno-linguistic groups that fell under Yamato's hegemony, and evidence of active migration. Of the various groups on the archipelago, there appear to be several categories.  For instance, we have groups that are clearly external immigrants, from outside of the archipelago  and then we have those groups that appear to be considered indigenous, at least by Yamato's thinking.. Some of this can be seen in how they are treated, discussed, and even assimilated.  Those external, while often presented as being in a tribute status, are still treated differently from those on the archipelago, where the land borders of Yamato would abut against the territories of local ethnic groups.  This probably also had something to do with the claim that the Heavenly Grandchild and their descendants, the current Tennou, were presumably given sovereignty over the entire Land of the Central Reed Plains, aka the Japanese archipelago. External immigrants included people from Silla, and, even though the kingdoms themselves had fallen and been absorbed by Silla, Gogureyo and Baekje.  This last one might be a bit surprising if we think about it in modern terms where we tend to think in terms of citizenship and nationality first and foremost.  So we think of someone as being American, French, or Japanese based on the country they came from.  But that American might be Dine—aka Navaho—or they could identify as Cajun or their parents might have been immigrants from somewhere else and they are the first generation born in the US.  That doesn't mean they aren't American, but "American" is only part of their identity.  Likewise that Japanese person could be Ainu, Ryukyuan, or even one of the Bonin islanders.  That is to say they may be from an ethno-linguistic group other than the majority ethnic group in that nation. In the same vein, while it's true that Baekje had been conquered by Silla, that doesn't mean that the Baekje people were suddenly erased and that the people suddenly changed their lifestyles or language overnight.  And so, while they may have been subjects of the Silla kingdom, there were still Baekje people both in Silla and in the archipelago.  And as late as 690, decades after it was conquered, we see that Baekje immigrants were arriving in Japan. Similarly, we see Goguryeo immigrants who came over in 687, three years earlier, even though that kingdom no longer existed.  They were settled in Hitachi, where they were given lands, received an allowance of grain to help tide them over, and then allowed to grow their community and work, as long as they did so peacefully, under the care of the local Yamato officials. And it isn't difficult to see why people of Baekje and Goguryeo might come to the archipelago.  Their other options were to head to the Great Tang, which had been the other conquering force, or possibly to go find refuge with various Tungusic ethnic groups around the Amur river area, outside of Tang control. What actually strikes me as a bit more surprising, to be honest, is the immigration of people from Silla.  After all, Silla was ascendant, was it not?  They had just unified the peninsula and this seems like it would have been a great time to be team Silla, and yet we see people leaving to come to Yamato. For instance, in 687 we see 14 immigrants from Silla settled in Shimotsuke.  22 more were presented by the Dazai-Sochi and settled in the land of Musashi.  In 689 and then in 690 we see more Silla immigrants settled in both places.  We also had 50 people come over with Buddhist priests, though we don't know where they ended up settling.  So both Musashi and Shimotsuke were being settled with immigrants from Silla.  Musashi, if you didn't already know, is the name for the area that would largely become the Tokyo metropolis in modern times.  Shimotsuke was the land adjoining it to the northeast.  In all likelihood, all of these people were probably being located to areas near each other, even though they are mentioned as being in different provinces.  That may have been more of an administrative distinction.  That also seems to indicate that they were likely being relocated to border areas where there weren't already large populations, probably because that is where there was open land that wasn't already claimed.  We see something similar with the court sending the people from Goguryeo all the way to Hitachi. It does make me wonder what must have happened for someone to choose to come to the Japanese archipelago from Silla to be sent all the way to the far end of Yamato to work the land.  In previous centuries I would have assumed that these were captives brought back from raids against the mainland, but by all accounts—and the fact that we continue to have relatively cordial diplomatic relations between Yamato and Silla—it appears that Yamato wasn't sending raids and that these individuals were likely coming willingly.  Perhaps they were getting crowded out somewhere in Silla, and had heard of new opportunities.  Or perhaps they had done something to make them persona-non-grata, as they say, back in their home country.   Whatever the reason, there were a number of people coming over, who would have also brought their cultural and technological knowledge along with them.  And many of them were being settled in the far eastern end of Honshu—though that may be something for another time. The indigenous category includes not only the Wa people of Yamato, but also the Hayato and the Emishi.  Of these we don't have a lot of information about who they were or what languages they spoke. For the Hayato we only have a few possible words of their language, and various other things that we know from Yamato's court records.  We know that the Yamato officials needed interpreters to speak with the Hayato.  There are those that theorize that the Hayato language had evolved from one of the languages spoken during the Jomon era—which doesn't give us much to go on other than the idea that it may not have been a Japonic language.  Attempts have been made to connect the Hayato with the unique burial features and other material artifacts of southern Kyushu, and then to the previous ethnic group, known as the Kumaso—or possibly the Kuma and So—but so far there are theories but no hard and fast connections. For example, we know that the Hayato were said to be from Ata and Ohosumi, according to the records of the court, but they also only show up in the late 7th century.  Prior to that we have stories of the Kumaso, and even people called Tsuchigumo.  Were those previous names for the ancestors of the Hayato?  Or were the Hayato encountered later, as Yamato's borders expanded, having perhaps encompassed the lands of the Kumaso and now running into the Hayato?  The fact that they show up so late in the narrative is particularly interesting, as they really only get mentioned in the reign of Ohoama and then Uno no Sarara—though they would be particularly active in the years to come, when the Nihon Shoki was being compiled.  For example, we know that the Hayato were brought into the court system, and also that they resisted, with numerous rebellions in the 8th century, though at this early point, things seemed to be going well. So Hayato were coming to the court, likely seeing some benefit in their association with Yamato.  They are shown coming in fairly significant numbers as well. Meanwhile, we have the ongoing assimilation of the Emishi.  Unlike the Hayato, the Emishi have shown up in the narrative since the legendary period.  We've talked about them quite a bit in various episodes.  Even within the Emishi, the Emishi of Koshi are differentiated from the Emishi further north in Tohoku.  Linguistically, a lot of place names in Tohoku and eastern Honshu have been compared to the Ainu language, with suspicions that a related language was in use in eastern and northeastern Japan for some time.  Tohoku is also the area that most resisted Yayoi culture, based on archaeological finds.  We know that wet rice paddy agriculture also made early in-roads into Tohoku, but then retreated much farther south, perhaps because it wasn't as suitable for the colder climate at that time.  Northern material culture continued to exhibit signs of evolution from the previous Jomon era, with Hokkaido continuing a tradition that we know as the Epi-Jomon, which we first talked about back in episode 50, and several times since then as well..  There were some mounded tombs—even some keyhole shaped tombs around Sendai and Osaki, in modern Miyagi prefecture—but nothing comparable to the large numbers of tombs found in areas further to the south. The Yamato people had had regular encounters with people called "Emishi" since at least the time of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tenno.  During the time that Takara Hime was on the throne a second time, there were massive military operations, first against the Emishi, and then supporting them against the Mishihase people in what appears to have been Hokkaido.  The Emishi were further brought under the Yamato court and into the court rank system, and we see rank handed out to various members of the group.  Then, in the reign of Uno no Sarara, we start to see further cultural assimilation in the form of the spread of Buddhism. In 689, we are told of Shiriko, an "Emishi of Kikafu, in Ukitamu district, in Michinoku".   This possibly refers to Okitama no Kori, a district in modern Yamagata Prefecture.  Shiriko had two sons, Maro and Kanawori, who requested permission to shave their hair and become Buddhist priests.  Perhaps related to this, about twenty days before, about 231 Emishi men and women had attended a banquet under the tsuki tree by Asukadera, where they were given gifts and rank.  Did that inspire them to want to learn more about this "Buddhism" thing? Either way, Uno no Sarara agreed.  In the edict she commented that Maro and his brother were both refined and modest, despite their youth, and that they were eating vegetarian dishes and keeping the Buddhist precepts.  So presumably this wasn't a last minute decision on their part, though we should probably take the wording in the edict with at least a grain of salt, given their purpose. Only six days later we see that the court is presenting a load of gifts to an Emishi monk named Doushin.  Doushin is said to have been a Koshi Emishi, rather than the Kitafu Emishi of Michinoku.  The court granted him a Buddhist statue, a purification flag, a wine cup, a begging bowl, five-colored silk cloth, thirteen pounds of flossed silk, 10 bolts of regular cloth, ten hoes, and a saddle. Six months later there is another priest:  Jitoku, an Emishi of Michinoku, who is granted a gold-copper image of Yakushi Buddha and a gold-copper image of Kanzeon—or Kannon—Boddhisatva, as well as a bell, a begging bowl, a precious curtain, an incense burner, and a banner. What this looks like, to me, is the court promoting Buddhism among the Emishi.  This feels similar to the way that priests also spread the worship of Mt. Miwa or other kami.  While Buddhism was technically universal, the Court had ensured that they had a hand on the center of Buddhist teaching, at least early on.  Indeed, at the same time that Uno no Sarara was building up the Jingikan and bolstering the worship of Amaterasu at Ise Grand Shrine, she and the court were also leveraging Buddhism and Buddhist concepts in a variety of ways.  She put it in an edict to the ministers in 691.  She noted that they had erected Buddhist Halls and Sutra repositories, and they practiced the six monthly fasts.  The sovereigns would occasionally send Ohotoneri to inquire after the welfare of priests.  As such, they should continue to uphold the Buddhsit Faith with zealous hearts. Upholding the faith wasn't just about words.  There were actual financial contributions.  Besides the national temples, there were gifts made, such as those to the Emishi priests, mentioned earlier.  In 692, Kwansei was presented silk and cloth and commended for making white lead, which was a popular ingredient for cosmetics.  Later that year, Yamada no Mikata was granted rank, and the fact that he had gone to Silla to study as a priest is mentioned in conjunction with that, though apparently he either didn't take orders or had gone back to being a lay person.   And in 693 they gave the priest, Hokyo, 3 chou worth or rice-land.  And in 696 there were 30 houses granted as a sustenance-fief to Bendou, a priest of Daikandaiji. And that tells us the kinds of resources the State was putting towards it, but what were they using Buddhism for?  What purpose did it serve the State, or was it purely altruistic?  A big part of it, as we have discussed in the past, was through the concept of karma and merit.  The court seems to have been making a variety of decisions that look to be efforts to increase the State's merit.  This is a continuation of things we saw in Ohoama's reign, along with some new moves.  For instance, we have previously mentioned in passing how the court was giving alms to the elderly and infirm, at least in the capital, and we see a lot more amnesties—though often qualified amnesties, with various crimes excluded. Then there were things like the edict of 689, in which Hunting and Fishing were prohibited in the Sea of Muko in the province of Settsu for a distance of 1000 paces, and for 20,000 shiro on the plain of Nagino in the district of Ate in the province of Kii, and for 20,000 shiro on the plains of Mino in the district and province of Iga.  The edict also attached keepers to these places in the same way as the Sea of Takashi in the district of Ohotori in the province of Kawachi.  Right off the bat we know a few things.  First off, this is the first time we've seen an edict like this, and yet the Chronicles say that this is similar to the way that "Keepers" were attached to the Sea of Takashi in Ohotori district.  The term used for "Keepers" appears to be "shugo", which would later be used for military governors in the Kamakura period, which would eventually become the shugo daimyo and then the Sengoku daimyo—our namesake.  But in this case it appears that "shugo" is just a literal translation of a "protector".  In front of that is the word "oku", meaning to keep or preserve.  Hence Aston's translation of these people as "keepers".  What is not clear to me is whether this is a reference to something that happened earlier, and just didn't get recorded, or if the Chroniclers are talking about a later practice which the audience for the Nihon Shoki would have been familiar with.  The Takashi sea would refer to the Seto Inland Sea just off the coast of Takashi, which was in Kawachi, south of modern Osaka.    The other places we see named are the Sea of Muko, in Settsu, which would have been north and west from modern Osaka, as well as Nagino in Kii and Mino in Iga. Nagino's location is not quite certain.  Ate is likely Arida, and Nagino may be what was eventually Nago, now thought to be near or including the Hirogawa region of Wakayama.  Later there were be prohibitions on fishining in the areas of Yuasa, Hiro, and Hirogawa, so perhaps there was also a prohibition on hunting on the plains.  This is all on the west side of the Kii peninsula, south of modern Osaka, so still facing the Seto Inland Sea. Iga, however, was on the other side of the peninsula.  Given that it was in Iga district of the land of Iga, this prohibition would definitely be about hunting, and not fishing.  It is also interesting to take a look at the measurements involved.  The one clear prohibition on fishing, in the Sea of Muko, is measured in paces while the other two are mentioned as being on the "plains"—though technically it should probably be "Nagi Plain" and "Mi Plain"—and they are measured differently, in something called "shiro".  By the way, I tried to find how big a "shiro" was and I couldn't quite do it. I wonder if the difference there, though, is area versus length:  For the sea of Muko it probably meant the waters directly out from the shore of Muko, and so I imagine that the paces were measure out from a certain point, walking along the shoreline, and then you couldn't go out into the sea in those areas to fish.  For the plains you could have more definitive markers indicating a particular area that was under the prohibition. For another clue to protected areas and distances, we see later that "long-life places" were established throughout the various provinces, each one being 1000 paces.  Aston notes that "long life places" indicated areas where animals couldn't be harmed, and given that they talk about it in terms of "paces" I would assume that means these were probably more prohibitions on fishing. That language also suggests to me that there was some kind of Buddhist reasoning behind it—mercy for the creatures of the land.  It isn't clear how long these prohibitions remained in effect, either.  This may also explain an order just a few days later that a white swallow that was caught in Mike, in the land of Sanuki, should be set free.  Unusually white or albino animals were often caught and presented to the throne as auspicious omens, not always in a live state.  However, Buddhism often teaches that there is merit in releasing animals, and so this feels like it was a way of demonstrating mercy and building merit, while also acknowledging the auspicious omen that accompanied its appearance. Also in this edict is who it is directed to:  Tanaka no Ason no Norimaro, who is named as the "soryo" of Iyo.  We've mentioned this before, in passing; this was a position similar to the Dazai no Sochi.  Effectively, the government official in charge of Iyo was in charge of the entire island of Shikoku.  Unlike the Dazai no Sochi, this position does not seem to have remained for long; instead, Shikoku was divided up into separate provinces and then each province had its own governor. By the way, we've talked about Norimaro before, as well.  He was previously in charge of the mission to Silla, when they went to announce Ohoama's demise, but then ran into a bunch of diplomatic etiquette issues such that they weren't able to deliver the news—or perhaps more appropriately they decided they couldn't deliver the news.  So from representing the court on missions, Norimaro went on to become the government official in Iyo overseeing all of Shikoku.  A couple of years later he would show up again, this time sending gold and silver that had apparently been found at Mt. Mima in Uwa district—modern Uwajima.  Unfortunately, after that he disappears from the narrative, and the position seems to end with him. Speaking of animals—the presentation of auspicious plants animals continued, and was often wrapped up with amnesties and similar such things.  The year 692 seems to have been of particular significance.  There we see the Governor of Sagami presenting a pair of fledgling red crows that had been caught in Miura.  Later we see that the governor, the vice governor, and the individual who had caught the crows—Kashima no Omi no Kusu—were gifted with rank and presents, while Miura district had its taxes and forced labor remitted for a period of three years. Later that same year, the Governor of Ise presented auspicious stalks of rice while the Governor of Echizen, that is to say the western part of Koshi closest to the capital, presented a white moth.  The stalks of rice don't seem to have warranted much, but the white moth, which presumably was not just a moth that is naturally white, was apparently considered something noteworthy.  We are told that it was caught on the shore at Uragami, in the district of Tsuruga.  As such, the Fief of the Kebi no Kami—the kami of Kebi, or at least his shrine—was increased by 20 houses.  Unfortunately, we have a lacuna or gap in the text so we don't get everything else.  This is a good reminder that sometimes we don't have anything because it wasn't written down, and sometimes because accidents happen.  Either something doesn't get transcribed properly or something gets damaged early on and there aren't enough copies for it to propagate from another source. Our next omens come in 694—the same year that the Fujiwara Palace was occupied.  We are told that a white copper-pheasant was presented by Sarara in Kawachi.  So the Governor and Vice-Governor of the district received promotions, as did the many who had caught it, Osakabe no Miyatsuko no Karakuni.  Four months later, a white bat was found by a man in Araki, in Hida province.  His name was Ohokunibe no Otohi, and he didn't receive a promotion in court rank, but he did get material presents in terms of silk cloth and floss, and, perhaps more importantly, he was exempted from all forced labor for the rest of his life.  Not a bad deal, if you ask me. Now omens were good and all, but omens were hardly active expressions by the government.  When things were happening—like damaging rains—or perhaps not happening—like droughts—people wanted the government to do something.  I know it may be hard for people to believe in this day and age, but many people believed that the government was responsible for all sorts of things that it had little control over.  In this case, that was the weather, and the state could at least prepare by collecting taxes in rice and then providing relief via those same resources.  But that still only did so much.  So when months went by with no rain falling, the state would turn towards ritual.  In some cases that ritual was directed at the kami and the new Jingikan, but in other cases, it fell on Buddhist priests. So, for example, in 688 we are told that there was a drought and the court initiated prayers for rain.  Those prayers were carried out by the priest Douzou.  Douzou was of Baekje extraction, but that didn't concern the court—they just wanted to know that he was effective.  Sure enough, after praying for rain, the clouds opened up and before morning the rain had fallen.  We are told it fell "across the realm", which I'm pretty sure is hyperbole.  It probably fell all across the Nara plains and surrounding areas, which was enough for the court. In 691, they were struck with the opposite problem, which we know because the court issued an edict dated to the 19th day of the 6th month of that year.  Apparently rain had fallen for two straight months.  And while the fifth month rains—the Satsuki-ame—are well-known, this apparently had started back in the 4th month of that year, and now there was a worry that it would start to injure the crops, reducing the annual yield.  The conclusion appears to have been that the country did not have enough merit.  Therefore the ministers and officials were prohibited from the use of strong drink or meat—Aston translates it directly as "animal food".  They were also ordered to compose their hearts and repent of any sins they may have committed.  At the same time, the priests in the temples of the capital and Home provinces were told to recite sutras for five straight days.  We also know that a day later they announced an amnesty for various criminals, as well.  Another act of mercy and hopefully for making merit. And it seems to have worked.  Or one could just say that the natural monsoon rains finally stopped after a particularly heavy season.  Who's to say? In the 5th intercalary month of 692, the rains were again pretty bad.  This time it isn't that they were long, but that it was heavy rain—what Japanese meteorology reports would likely call "Oyu", or Great Rain—which brought with it floods. Unfortunately, while they could pray for rain to start or stop, floods are another matter.  By the time you know the flood has happened it is too late.  And so this is where the government's preparedness came into focus.  Commissioners were sent to visit the districts and provinces.  There they found people affected by the flooding and they were empowered to make loans to provide relief.  Furthermore, they allowed people to access resources that might otherwise have been restricted, allowing them to fish and cut wood in the hills, forests, ponds, and marshes, even if that was normally a prohibited activity, so that they could sustain themselves until they were able to get back on their feet.  At the same time, the Sutra of Golden Light, the Konkwoumyou Sutra, one of the sutras for protecting the state, was to be read aloud in the capital and the Home Provinces.  The Sutra of Golden Light is the one which not only talks about the Shitennou, the four heavenly kings, but also emphasizes that if rulers support and honor the recitation of the sutra, then their kingdoms would be prosperous and peaceful, so what better time to read it than during or just after a disaster? There were other recitations and congregations that were not quite so obviously connected.  In 690, there were discourses in the inner precinct of the palace during the "Vassa", known in Japanese as "Ango" or "Dwelling in Peace".  This comes from the tradition in Buddhism where it is said that the Buddha and his disciples, though normally traveling around the countryside, would come together during the rainy season.  During this time they would talk and share.  It is still practiced in many Theravada schools, where monks will gather in temples during the rainy season.  Of course, as we've discussed, the 5th month was right in the middle of Japan's rainy season, so it seems like they may have been attempting to emulate that tradition. Three years later, we are told that they held a great-congregation of monks on that same date—the 15th day of the 5th month.  This is not referred to as an Ango, however, possibly noting a change in the way they were organizing or conducting it—or possibly just because it was referred to differently in the record the Chroniclers used.  That said, a great-congregation was simply a Buddhist gathering, where various priests would provide sermons or sutra readings, and not necessarily tied to a particular time.  Another one was called in the 9th month of 693 on behalf of the late sovereign, Ohoama and all prisoners were released, which was no doubt merit seen as accruing to the late sovereign. A month after that, the Benevolent King Sutra, or Ninnou-kyou, was expounded in the provinces for four days.  This is another one of the sutras considered important for the well-being of the state. In 694 we have 100 copies of the Konkwoumyou sutra—the Sutra of Golden Light—being sent out to the provinces, with the intent that they should be read together, at a certain time, when the moon of the first month was in the first quarter.  Any fees or resources needed by the temples to carry this out were to be defrayed from the public revenues of the provinces.  As Aston points out, "revenues" in this case would not necessarily be cash money.  Not that they didn't have coins—they had the Fuhonsen coins from Ohoama's time; see Episode 146 for more information.  We are even told that in 694 the court appointed three officials—Ohoyake no Maro, Utena no Yashima, and Kibumi no Honjitsu—to be governors for the mint, although Aston notes a Shoku Nihongi account from 708 that claimed that was the "first time" the title was given out.  Either way, even though they were minting coins, these wouldn't have been in common circulation.  The government may have used them to pay for things, but taxes coming in, especially in the provinces would have been in-kind taxes, meaning that the revenue to the temples were likely paid in rice, cloth, or similar. We similarly see another edict to read the Golden Light sutra on the first day of the twelfth month of 696.  This time it wasn't just a one time reading, though: they were setting a precedent.  The edict was to expound the Sutra of Golden Light and then, every year hence, they would schedule ten people of pure life who should be inducted as monks on the eve of the New Year.  I have to wonder about how they had people take orders—and whether it was a lifelong commitment or, as in some cultures, today, a temporary position.  After all, Ohoama took orders but didn't exactly remain "retired" for all that long. The same thing had happened back in 694, when one hundred and four people were made to enter religion for the sake of Royal Princess Asuka.  So how long did they remain Buddhist priests? There is a reference, in 693, of a priest being stripped of his monkhood.  It was done by royal order for a Goguryeo priest Fukuka, and it isn't made clear why.  Was it something that the priest wanted?  Maybe they wanted to stop being a monk for some reason?  Or was it done as a punishment?  There was apparently a great-congregation only about two weeks prior.  Maybe there was some drama?  We'll probably never know. In 697, there was an uptick in merit-making.  In the third month, a great-congregation was being held in the Eastern Palace.  The Eastern Palace was the home of the Crown Prince, so this may have something to do with the planned succession, but then in the 6th month we see a bunch of things happening.  There was a royal order for sutras to be read in temples in the Home Provinces, and then, nine days later, an order that people of 5th rank and lower were to go spend time cleaning out the temples in the capital.  On the 26th, 11 days after that, we get a record the seems to bring this into focus, as the Ministers and public functionaries started making votive images of the Buddha for the sake of Uno no Sarara's illness.  It seems that she was feeling unwell, which probably kicked off a lot of this activity, and may even be why she finally decided to abdicate.  There was one more seemingly related note.  On the 29th day of the 7th month the Ministers and public functionaries prepared a festival for the installation of Buddhist images in the temple of Yakushiji.  This was the temple Ohoama had originally commissioned for Uno no Sarara during his reign when she was sick back then.  She had recovered, then, and she would recover again—but her faith in the healing power of the Buddha may have been limited.  She would abdicate a few days later, leaving the throne to Prince Karu—the future Monmu Tennou. One last thing, somewhat tangential, it seems.  In the 11th month of 693, three priests, Houin, Zen'ou, and Shingi, set out, along with others, to the Yasu district in Afumi to taste the sweet wine of the local springs.  This is likely the area around the Yasu river, where it flows northwest from the mountains into Lake Biwa.  Today it is Yasu city on one side of the river and Moriyama city on the other. They apparently came back in the third month of the following year, as that is when we get a royal edict concerning said springs.  Based on that, we are told that the spring of quote-unquote "sweet wine" or "sweet sake" bubbled up at Mt. Tsuga in the Yasu district of Afumi.  Mt. Tsuga, or Tsugayama, may be related to "Moriyama", and Moriyama city is still known for the spring water that comes out of the nearby mountains. In the edict they mention that people who were afflicted with various disease would stay at Yasudera, where they presumably drank the water from the springs, and many of them found themselves healed.  For this miraculous occurrence, the temple itself was awarded four chou of rice-land, and an amount of cloth.  In addition, the district of Yasu was exempted from taxes and forced labor, as well as from any other kinds of corvees that might be levied, for at least one year.  Local authorities were promoted a grade in rank, and gifts were made out to those who were credited with first discovering the springs and their miraculous properties—Kadono no Hatsuki and the daughter of Kudara no Tsurara. A couple of extra notes, based on what we see here.  First off, it is unfortunately too often the case that we see women described like this—the daughter of so-and-so—without providing an actual name.  It is interesting that she is the daughter of someone with the name "Kudara", meaning "Baekje".  During the reign of Naka no Ohoe, aka Tenji Tennou, a number of Baekje people were settled in the areas around Lake Biwa and the Echi River, the next major river to the northeast. The temple mentioned, Yasudera, would have been the local temple, probably run by the local elites.  That likely means the Yasu no Atai family.  The temple itself is no more, and we aren't sure exactly where it was, but there is a strong case to be made that archaeological remains at Yoshimi-chou, in modern Moriyama city, might be that temple.  Still, there is no conclusive evidence. As for springs having healing properties—this is nothing new.  Minerals could have given the water a sweet taste, or perhaps there was something that clouded it, like nigori-zake—unfiltered rice wine.  Whether or not there were any natural healing properties I leave up to your own imagining.  Did people actually benefit from the waters?  Or maybe just because they believed?  Was the fact that a Buddhist temple was involved part of it, or is this just the same thing we see with people going to various springs and imparting to them some healing properties? Either way, it seems that at some point the spring no longer produced the "sweet wine" that had made it famous in its day, and people moved on to a different location. For now, I think we can stop here.  We have probably one more episode talking about specific items from this reign, but we are starting to get more and more sources, including the poetry of the Man'yoshu, which I hope to dig into here in a bit.  Plus a few other things in the works. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

(Audio) Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido Prefecture Day Trip With Lost Without Japan Season 6 Ep 151 The timestamp for the start of our Kitahiroshima talk in this episode is 9:53. Our show's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostwithoutjapan/ Please Consider Kindly Supporting Our Crowd-Funded Show By Supporting Us Through Our Show's Patreon: https://patreon.com/lostwithoutjapanpodcast?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator Golf In Japan: https://golf-in-japan.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=330757863&gbraid=0AAAAADcvHaGyxKvxM7or7vqGxPbC_i1F-&gclid=CjwKCAjwkaXUBhASEiwAZI3ds9Eaa0oyqvu11mvR9-YZAYX-1cLmH_MffcBWm0SX4vLMJboVgScx8BoC0RMQAvD_BwE  Google Shared Maps for This Episode: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DkFahH9A9LLnXSW56  Hot Spring and Sauna: https://satonomori.com/hot-spring/  Australian International Driver's License:  https://kart.st/en/drivers-license/australia.html United States International Driver's License:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/driving-and-road-safety.html  

(Video) Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido Prefecture Day Trip With Lost Without Japan Season 6 Ep 150 The timestamp for the start of our Kitahiroshima talk in this episode is 9:53. Our show's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostwithoutjapan/ Please Consider Kindly Supporting Our Crowd-Funded Show By Supporting Us Through Our Show's Patreon: https://patreon.com/lostwithoutjapanpodcast?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator Golf In Japan: https://golf-in-japan.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=330757863&gbraid=0AAAAADcvHaGyxKvxM7or7vqGxPbC_i1F-&gclid=CjwKCAjwkaXUBhASEiwAZI3ds9Eaa0oyqvu11mvR9-YZAYX-1cLmH_MffcBWm0SX4vLMJboVgScx8BoC0RMQAvD_BwE  Google Shared Maps for This Episode: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DkFahH9A9LLnXSW56  Hot Spring and Sauna: https://satonomori.com/hot-spring/  Australian International Driver's License:  https://kart.st/en/drivers-license/australia.html United States International Driver's License:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/driving-and-road-safety.html  

The Fulbright Program offers another unique path to experience Japan through academic and professional exchange. Dr. Rose Honegger joins the Krewe to share her Fulbright experience in Japan, what she gained from the program, and how it influenced her work in higher education. The conversation also explores who Fulbright is for, what makes a strong candidate, and tips for those considering applying. ------ About the Krewe ------ The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy! ------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------ Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode! Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season! Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan!  ------ Links for the Fulbright Program ------ Fulbright Program Website ------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------ JSNO Event Calendar Join JSNO Today!

In 1973, a night watchman for a lumber yard in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan, witnessed an odd sight. A light came out of the sky, positioned itself over the surface of the ocean, and proceeded to 'suck up' the water. Subscribe to Just Another Tin Foil Hat: https://www.youtube.com/@JustAnotherTinFoilHat Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ Substack: https://ryansprague.substack.com/ All socials and books: https://linktr.ee/somewhereskiespod Email: ryan.sprague51@gmail.com Copyright © 2026 Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved. #Japan #Hokkaido #UFOs #UAP #Aliens #Paranormal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a hungover state, Adam attempts to round off his time in Japan. He spent two weeks travelling around Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost and largest prefecture. But what's his fascination with Hokkaido? Join in the fruitful conversation, as we get well and truly distracted. This may be a better week than most to join our Patreon community!Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, plus more bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/tripologypodcastGet your travel stories in: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatripNeed travel insurance? We recommend SafetyWing! Click here to get started: ⁠⁠⁠https://safetywing.com/?referenceID=26035801&utm_source=26035801&utm_medium=AmbassadorRequire an onward flight? Please use this fantastic flight rental service: ⁠⁠⁠https://onwardticket.com/tripologypodcast⁠⁠⁠Discord: https://discord.gg/EbgUgADjpInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tripologypodcastX: https://x.com/tripologypodThank you for your continued support. It means the world.

This is a special episode talking about the newest UNESCO World Heritage cultural site: The Asuka and Fujiwara Ancient Capitals. This is particularly relevant as it is directly related to the history we are currently examining in this podcast. For more information, check out the blogpost at: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-unesco  Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua, and this is a special episode on Japan's newest UNESCO world heritage site: the Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara. Rarely do I focus too much on current events in this podcast.  After all, we are still dealing with the events of the 7th century, and that is hardly "current" in any sense.  However, just last month, at the end of July 2026, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention met and made a ruling on inducting the Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara as one of the newest World Heritage sites. Given the obvious relevance of this to this podcast, I thought it was worth talking about. As such we'll go into a little history of the UNESCO world heritage convention, what it means, and how sites get added—or even removed—from the list.  And then we'll talk about the addition of the Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara, what is included in that description, and what part those various locations play in the story of Japan's history, which we've been laying out for the past several years.  Warning up front:  This is probably going to be a longer episode than usual, as there is a lot to cover, but it still didn't seem to make sense to break it up into two parts. Before we get into the background of UNESCO more generally, let's talk briefly about the news.  The Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fuijwara had been on UNESCO's tentative list since 2007, and following an on-site evaluation in September of 2025, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, or ICOMOS, made a recommendation in June 2026 that the property be inscribed on the World Heritage list. On 26 July, 2026, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee met in Busan, South Korea and accepted the recommendation.  This becomes Japan's 22nd cultural World Heritage site, and the 27th World Heritage property in Japan, since the World Heritage program is also inclusive of natural heritage sites, such as Yakushima, Amami-Ohoshima, the Ogasawara islands, and the mountainous regions of Shirakami-Sanchi, and Shiretoko, in Hokkaido. The recommendation for Asuka and Fujiwara was not just for a single site, but includes 19 individual sites and over 1,100 hectares of "buffer zone".  The individual sites are listed on the UNSECO World Heritage website as follows: •             Asuka Palace Site •             Asuka Pond Garden Site •             Asuka Water Clock Site •             Sakafuneishi Ritual Site •             Asuka-dera Temple Site •             Tachibana-dera Temple Site •             Yamada-dera Temple Site •             Kawara-dera Temple Site •             Hinokuma-dera Temple Site •             Ishibutai Mounded Tomb •             Shobuike Mounded Tomb •             Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb •             Fujiwara Palace Site •             Daikandaiji Temple Site •             Motoyakushiji Temple Site •             Mounded Tomb of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jito •             Nakaoyama Mounded Tomb •             Kitora Mounded Tomb •             Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb So these are the specific locations, that were included in the single designation.   And these are how they are officially listed on the UNESCO World Heritage site in English, so for anyone who is going to comment that saying Asuka-dera Temple is redundant, because "Tera" already means "Temple", let's just not, shall we?  They are all in the Asuka and Kashihara area, and easily accessible, one from the other, so you can go and visit them if you would like.  I suspect that there is going to be a bit of push for that area in the coming tourist season as they now put up official UNESCO world heritage site markers.  And you may have noticed that a lot of these site names may sound very familiar, because the majority of them are places we've already mentioned on the podcast – but more on that later. But first, what does it mean to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site? UNESCO is the "United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization".  It was founded in 1945, with the stand-up of the UN itself, as a successor to the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.  That said, the idea of a "World Heritage Site" didn't come about until 1975, with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, with the first sites being designated in 1978. Prior to this, UNESCO had been involved in various attempts to help preserve various monuments of historical significance.  They begin working with various museums and other organizations, and in 1965 UNESCO created ICOMOS, an international professional association to work towards the conservation and protection of cultural heritage.  A site designated as a World Heritage Site must be considered to be of "outstanding universal value" and can fall under one of two categories.  The first, and perhaps the one that most often comes to mind, are the cultural sites.  The second are natural sites considered of outstanding value.   With the 1975 convention, UNESCO had leaned heavily on ICOMOS as an advisory body regarding sites of particular cultural significance.  A similar body, the World Conservation Union, provides input on sites of natural significance. To be determined a World Heritage site, there is a set of ten criteria, and a site must meet at least one of the ten.  This means that a site must: i.            Represent a masterpiece of human creative genius ii.           Exhibit an important interchange of human values iii.          Bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization iv.           Illustrate a significant stage in human history v.            Be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use vi.          Be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance; or it must vii.         Contain superlative natural phenomena viii.        Be an outstanding example representing major stages of earth's history ix.          Be an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; or it must x.           Contain the most important and significant natural habitats for conservation of biological diversity. I abbreviated that list, but it gives you an idea of what the committee is looking for. To be placed on the list, a site must first be nominated.  Nominations are made by UN member countries and placed on a Tentative List.  From there, they can be selected into a Nomination File, which is then evaluated by the advisory organizations as appropriate.  The World Heritage committee meets once a year, at which time they may determine whether a nominated site will be added to the World Heritage list or if more information is needed. Having a site listed as an UNESCO world heritage site carries prestige and can drive tourism and revenue to help protect the site.  Members can request financial assistance with some conservation projects, and signatory nations are expected to contribute to the conservation of world heritage sites.  At the same time, the host country is expected to provide regular reports on the conditions of the site and efforts being undertaken to conserve it.  Should the situation change so that key aspects of the site's intrinsic value are lost, the World Heritage Committee may choose to revoke a designation.  This has only been done a few times, but it is always a possibility. All of this means that the Asuka and Fujiwara capital sites are now eligible for certain types of financial assistance and international aid to help further preserve and even restore certain aspects, such as the tomb murals in the Takamatsuzuka and Kitora kofun.  But let's talk about the sites that have actually been included, and to do that, we'll go through in roughly chronological order, based on the timeline that was given by Japan in the nomination documents, and what makes the most sense for narrative cohesion.   That said, it is important to note that the dates on the timeline in the UNESCO nominating document are where we first see mentions of the monuments, not necessarily when the temples were first constructed or anything like that.  If you want to learn more, check out the documentation submitted on the UNESCO world heritage website. And speaking of learning more, many of the sites we are about to discuss we have covered in previous episodes—though some more than others.  We'll call out relevant episodes as we can, but you can also find out more by searching on our website, sengokudaimyo.com, for more information about any of these topics. Let's start with Asukadera, or Asuka Temple.  The nominating document notes that it was completed in 596, though it had been started quite a bit earlier.  We discussed Askua-dera and many of the other temples back in episode 142, though Asuka-dera itself has been a part of the story since at least Episode 92, with the rise of Soga no Umako.  Asuka-dera, as you may recall, started off as a private temple for the Soga family, though they were so intertwined with the royal family that it almost didn't make a difference.  For the longest time it was the primary temple site at least in the Asuka region, and defined what Buddhism looked like early on.  Later it would be included as one of the Four Great Temples, and it would eventually move to Nara, though a temple would continue to operate on the site until the modern day.  That said, through fires and reduced patronage, the current temple is much reduced from its former glory.  Still, archeologies have found indications at the site demonstrating the true extent of the temple at the height of its power and influence, and how it truly played a key role in numerous events surrounding the building of a continental style state government. Speaking of the Soga family, the next site on the list, dated to 626, is Ishibutai kofun.  Ishibutai kofun was originally a square kofun, or Houfun, thought to be the resting place of Soga no Umako, the Grand Minister and head of the Soga family who led it to prominence in the age of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tenno.  We talked about his passing in episode 103.  Excavations have suggested that the tomb took up an area about 85 meters to a side.  This included an outer moat and an inner, platform, about 50 meters square.  The burial chamber is a horizontal stone chamber created with impressive megaliths—a fancy word that just means "big stones".  In this case we are talking about stones that rival or even dwarf those at monuments like the famous Stonehenge, in England.  The stones are part of what give it its name, Ishibutai, or Stone Stage, because unlike in other kofun, these ones are exposed.  There is a theory that after the fall of the Soga family, and the deaths of Soga no Iruka and Soga no Emishi, the tomb was deliberately uncovered as a form of posthumous punishment. Because it is not a tomb under the care of the Imperial Household Agency, Ishibutai kofun has seen extensive excavation from 1933 to 1975.  That said, most of the funerary goods were likely stolen a long time ago.  There were some various bits and pieces found here and there—gilt and bronze implements and earthenware shards, but otherwise nothing truly significant.  They did find evidence of other tombs, nearby.  Perhaps ironically it seems that these other tombs were leveled to make room for Ishibutai kofun, making its own uncovering feel somewhat karmic, in a way. The next site, if we were to follow the timeline, is the Asuka Palace site.  This actually encompasses the site of at least four different palaces, which we discussed back in episode 134, with a blogpost showing the various palace remains, if you want to compare them.  In 630 we have the construction of the Okamoto Palace of Kashikiya Hime.  Then, in 643, we have the Itabuki Palace built for Takara Hime during her first reign as Kogyoku Tenno.  This was the location of the famous Isshi Incident, when Takara Hime's son, Naka no Oe, instituted the coup against Soga no Iruka and his father, killing Iruka in court in front of his mother.  For more on that, check out episode 106.  It was later used when she and Naka no Oe left the Toyosaki Naniwa Palace and returned to Asuka.  It may be during the time of the Itabuki Palace that another one of the monuments was built.  This is the Shobuike Kofun.  The nomination document doesn't give a precise date for this one, and we really only know for certain that it was built in the 7th century, but they place it on the timeline shortly after the events of 643.  Like Ishibutai kofun, it is a hofun, or square kofun, surrounded by a moat with a horizontal burial chamber.  At only 30 meters long, it is not as large or as prominent as Ishibutai Kofun, possibly indicating that the occupants were not as prominent or that kofun building as a whole was falling out of fashion.  Inside, there were two stone coffins, in the "house shape", meaning the lid had a peaked roof appearance.  In addition, the interior of the coffins was lacquered, making these unique in the archipelago.  Finally, perhaps as is the case with Ishibutai kofun, the mound appears to have been deliberately dismantled at some point in the early 8th century, when Fujiwara-kyo was still the capital. We do not know who was buried at Shobuike Kofun, but there are two theories.  One theory proposes that, given the unique features, it may have been a member of the royal family.  Another theory suggests that it may be a tomb for members of the Soga family.  This theory is connected to the idea that Ishibutai is the tomb of Soga no Umako.  Given its shape and similarities, perhaps this tomb is for a relative?  In addition, though not part of the World Heritage Site nomination, there is a nearby square kofun known as Koyamada Kofun.  There is a theory that this other tomb might also have been a royal tomb—perhaps even a first burial for Tamura no Ohokimi, aka Jomei Tenno.  However, there is another theory that these two tombs, together, make up the tombs of Soga no Emishi and Soga no Iruka.  That would explain them both being of similar shapes, and similar to the kofun thought to be that of Soga no Umako.  It could also explain why Shobuike kofun was later destroyed, like with Ishibutai Kofun. Shortly after Shobuike Kofun was thought to have been built, the court moved to Naniwa for a time, before eventually returning to the Itabuki Palace.  Then, in 656, we have the Nochi-no-Okamoto Palace, aka the Later Okamoto Palace, built after the Itabuki palace burned down.  It was repurposed by Ohoama when he brought the court back from Ohotsu, and then expanded with the Ebinoko Enclosure, among other changes, turning it into the Kiyomihara palace, where Ohoama and then Uno no Sarara ruled until the completion of the Fujiwara Palace around 694. Around the same time as the Later Okamoto Palace was the construction of the Sakafuneishi Ritual Site.  This site is located on a hill on the east side of the Asuka valley, overlooking the Asuka palace site.  There they have found stone walls, a strange carved stone with channels for what appears to be water or liquid for some kind of ritual purpose, and, towards the bottom of the hill, a stone turtle basin and water spout that appears to have once been connected to a spring.  Of all of the included sites, this is perhaps the most enigmatic in terms of how it was used and what was going on there.  It is likely that this is what is referred to in the Chronicle as the Tou no Mine site, where it is said that they built an enclosure encircling two tsuki trees, calling the site the Futatsuki Palace.  That said, today the name "tou-no-mine" is applied to a peak some distance further up the valley and into the mountains, and I do not believe that any concrete evidence of a "palace" has been found at either location.  Still, it demonstrates that there was something going on that was important enough to build walls and create intricate stone carvings—not something we necessarily find everywhere, though they are particularly prolific in the Asuka region once you consider all the various stone carvings that have been located there.  Current thinking seems to suggest that it was a site where sovereigns from Kashikiya Hime through Uno no Sarara conducted rites associated with ascension to the throne.  The walls show evidence of being built earlier in the 7th century, which we discussed in Episode 118, and then damaged during the incredibly powerful Nankai earthquake during the Hakuho era.  We talked about this earthquake back in episode 139, along with other natural disasters.  This was an earthquake of immense power, known as a Nankai Megathrust Earthquake, that caused destruction across the archipelago, from Shikoku up through the Kanto region.  Walls show evidence of being repaired in Temmu's time and the site appears to have been in use up through the 9th century.  This means it was still being used in some capacity even after the court had moved up to Heian-kyo, in modern Kyoto, but who knows by whom. By the way, I feel like I should address something here.  Often times there is a bit of an archaeological joke that if you don't know what something is it gets termed a "ritual site" or a "ritual implement".  And, granted, "ritual" does not necessarily mean "religious".  Brushing your teeth each day could be considered a ritual.  So is the inauguration of a new president or prime minister.  It just refers to something that we do regularly, usually as part of a societal tradition.  Often it is symbolic, though sometimes it can have a greater function.  So in all likelihood whatever was happening at the Sakafuneishi site probably was a kind of "ritual", whether it was religious or not, but we just don't have enough info to know what that might have looked like.  The physical evidence does not conform to any other well known practice, so we are left guessing. Compare this to another "ritual" site, the next on our list:  The Mizuochi site.  When it was first discovered in 1972, it was clear that it was important.  There was a large building foundation, in the shape of a square podium, faced with paving stones.  It was also near to Asukadera and the location where various stone figures had been found at the turn of the century.  It would take several more years to discern enough features to come to the realization of what it was for.  This was due to the discovery of highly unusual features and artifacts. For instance, there is the central building, designated SB200.  It had pillars set on base stones, forming a grid pattern in a square—four spans long on each side.  This is unusual compared to other buildings on the site, which had more conventional pillars embedded in the ground.  Each span of the pillars at SB200 was a uniform distance.  The podium on which the building was placed was just under 11 meters on each side, and a little more than a meter in height.  The pillar bases were further strengthened under the floor level, meaning that the resulting structure would have been remarkably sturdy.  In the center of the building was a stone platform, set about a meter below the surface, where they found the remains of a large and small lacquered wooden boxes.  Around the platform were buried wooden culverts and copper pipes, which would have been able to carry water to and from the site. There was nothing else like this discovered anywhere else, but given the nature of everything, it seemed to make sense that this was the site of the clepsydra, the water clock, which Naka no Oe is said to have built.  Pottery shards from around the 650s and 660s seem to back up this identification, and simulations have demonstrated how the water clock may have actually worked.  As such, the site seems to have been fairly well identified, which is really remarkable, and provides an incredible link to that era.  Not only that, but the technology demonstrated was incredibly advanced for its time.  As such, it truly is a remarkable site.  For more, check out Episode 127, where we talked more in depth about the importance of time and direction in Ancient Yamato. The next site on the list is the Kengoshizuka Kofun.  This mounded tomb is said to have been built around 667 CE—around the time that Yamato was supporting Baekje in a failed attempt to stave off that country's destruction at the hands of the Silla-Tang alliance.  This is an octagonal shaped kofun—a shape which is thought to have only been used by members of the royal family.  The academic position is that this is the tomb of Takara Hime—aka Saimei Tennou—who had died just as Yamato was starting to send troops to the Korean peninsula.  This theory is at odds with the Imperial Household Agency, which has designated a different tomb—Kurumaki-Kenno Kofun—as Saimei Tennou's mausoleum The story as it is recounted in the Nihon Shoki goes something like this.  As Yamato was gathering forces to defend Baekje—see episodes 123 and 124 for what happened—Takara Hime passed away at the temporary court set up in Asakura, in modern Kyushu.   With Yamato just about to launch a military campaign, they couldn't also hold a royal funeral, so they had her body taken back to the Nara basin..  Takara Hime's remains were temporarily interred at the plain of the Asuka River—Asuka-gawara.  It wouldn't be until after the conflict was over—a little more than 5 years later—that she would be buried.  At that time, we are told that she was buried together with Royal Princess Hashibito, her sister-in-law, at Wochi Hill—little market hill—and that the royal granddaughter, Princess Ohota, was buried in front.  And indeed, the layout of Kengoshizuka Kofun  has space for two coffins, and the archeologists found evidence of another burial in "front" of the kofun.  So in all ways this  seems to accord with the Chronicles, though the Imperial Household Agency has not chosen to change its designation.  I suspect that if they did it might cause some issues due to the limits of what archaeologists are allowed to do with tombs designated as royal mausoleums. Kengoshizuka Kofun has been remarkably reconstructed, so that you can go and see what it probably looked like when it was first built.  Since it was not designated as an imperial mausoleum by the Imperial Household Agency, archaeologists were able to excavate Kengoshizuka, and they found some remarkable finds, including a particularly spectacular coffin fitting made of cloisonne hexagonal plates with images of flowers that were connected to each other.  There also appears to have been a coffin made with lacquered linen, rather than the stone or tuff coffins found elsewhere.  So that's Kengoshizuka Kofun.  That's #7 on our list.  Moving on to #8, on the timeline at 673, it is Kawara-dera, and I'm going to lump this in with Tachibana-dera, which is noted on the timeline at 680.  In fact, the nominating document proposes a much earlier timeline for the start of Tachibana-dera, starting in the 640s, with Kawara-dera in the 660s, about two decades later. These two temples sit across from one another, and at one time they appear to have been coupled together as a monastery and a nunnery.  In fact, the nominating documents call out Tachibana-dera as Japan's oldest nunnery. The actual founding of these two temples is somewhat in dispute.  Let me start with Tachibana-dera.  Tachibana-dera claims to have been founded by none other than the legendary Shotoku Taishi.  It is said that the land of Tachibana-dera was the area of the palace where Prince Umayado, aka Shotoku Taishi, was born, and that in 606 he had the property turned into a temple.  As such, it claims to be one of seven major temples built by the Prince.  However, we don't have any actual documentation for the temple until it shows up in 680, due to the report of a fire.  We do see it in numerous poems in the Man'yoshu, which is one of the ways we can also tell that it was a nunnery. More information can be gleaned from the archaeological excavations at the site.  The original temple was clearly built on the same Baekje designs as others of that period.  In an interesting twist, it appears as though the temple was not oriented north to south, as others were, but rather it was oriented west to east.  This would have had it facing the royal palace, initially, in a configuration very similar to that of Shitennoji, in Osaka, or Yamadadera, which is also one of the sites included in UNESCO World Heritage designation. The original temple had a middle gate, a pagoda, a main hall—or kondo—and a lecture hall (Koudou).  It was surrounded by a walled corridor.  Some of the roof tiles that have been found appear to be from the first quarter of the 7th century, but there are many more from the mid-7th century, suggesting that full-scale construction wasn't carried out until that period.  None of the original buildings appear to have survived, though there is an Asuka era stone statue, as well as various important cultural properties that have been preserved, and excavations have given us an idea of what it looked like, originally. Compare that to Kawara-dera, which sits to the north of Tachibana-dera.  We've talked about Kawara-dera before, as it was eventually designated one of the four national temples.  It was clearly built at a later date than Tachibana-dera, though when, exactly, is still unclear. There is mention of a Kawara-dera in an entry for 653, but even then, the Chronicles note that may have actually been at Yamada-dera, on the other side of Asuka, indicating that even the Chroniclers weren't entirely sure.  That leaves the first clean mention of the temple at 673, in the reign of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tenno.  There is a note, prior to this, in about 656, which talks about "Kawara no Miya", or the Kawara Palace. This is where Takara Hime briefly moved after the fires damaged the Itabuki Palace, which was rebuilt into the Later Okamoto Palace.  It is thought that Kawara-dera is on the site of that temporary palace, and it is possible that the building of that palace lent something to the eventual creation of Kawara-dera. Kawara-dera has a unique layout, known specifically as the Kawara-dera style temple layout.  Although the overall temple is built on a north-south axis, the west main hall faces east, towards the pagoda, in the southern courtyard.  There was then a central main hall, and then the northern courtyard, with the koudou, or lecture hall, facing south.  There is also evidence that the east gate was sizeable—possibly larger than the south gate.  If so, it may be that this temple, like Tachibana-dera, was also facing east—facing the palace—but it was, at the same time, also on the same north-south access as other buildings and facilities.  This almost seems like they were perhaps compromising between facing the palace and utilizing the continental idea of a north-south alignment.  I almost wonder if the pagoda and western kondou weren't first built and then someone decided to change the orientation mid-way through the building process.  Either way, it is definitely unique. Although Kawara-dera was designated as one of the four national temples, it is the only temple that was not eventually moved up to Heijo-kyo, or Nara, when the capital eventually moved up there.  There are numerous theories as to why, but regardless of that, it stayed in Asuka and was no longer considered a national temple.  Over time it declined, and repairs could not be maintained across the entire complex.  Today, a successor temple, Gufuku-ji, sits on the site, but it is much reduced.  Fortunately, you can still see many of the exposed footings and get an idea for just what this temple was like back in its heyday. Now since we've mentioned it, it is probably worth talking about Yamada-dera, which is also on the list.  Like the others, there is a small successor temple to the north, but most of the ancient Yamada-dera grounds are visible, and if you go out there you can clearly see where all the buildings were.  There are signs and raised platforms depicting where the various buildings were at, so you can easily see what was there.  Furthermore, if you check out the Asuka Historical Museum, they have a remarkably well-preserved section of one of the walls of the gallery from the temple, including some roof elements.  It appears to have fallen down during a fire, and other material must have fallen on top of it so that the fire could not consume that section, leaving it in incredible shape. Yamada-dera is part of the Hosso sect—that is the sect following the teachings of the monk Xuanzang.  We talked about Xuanzang, and the monks who studied with him, back in episodes 120 to 122.  It is said to have been founded by Soga no Kurayamada no Ishikawa no Maro.  He was a relative of Soga no Emishi who supported Prince Naka no Oe in his coup in 645.  Soga no Kurayamada eventually became Udaijin, or Minister of the Right, and he was essential in implementing the Taika reforms.  Long story short, he was slandered, and fled to Yamada-dera, which was still under construction.  Rather than being taken by government forces, he took his own life, as well as that of his wife and eight children.  You can listen to the whole story back in Episode 112.  All of that is said to have happened here at that temple, in the year 649.  Perhaps because of the stain of that incident, the temple construction appears to have been halted for a time.  It wouldn't be completed until 685, when Ohoama and his wife, Uno no Sarara, a direct descendant of Soga no Kurayamada, were on the throne. Finally, there is one more temple from this early period that is mentioned, and that is Hinokuma-dera.  Of all of the temples so far, this one we probably have mentioned the least in the main podcast.  Hinokuma-dera is located to the southwest of the main Asuka valley, south of the famous Takamatsuzuka kofun.  It is first mentioned in a record dated to 686.  That indicates it must have been built some time prior, and archaeological excavations seem to place it at the second half of the 7th century, with the pagoda and main hall being completed in the late 7th century.   The temple continued to be maintained through the 8th century, but declined after the Heian period when the pagoda and lecture hall collapsed.  In the early 20th century a local Shinto shrine was relocated here, and remains, today. Hinokuma-dera was built as a private temple by the Yamato no Aya.  The Yamato no Aya are an intriguing group of people.  The name "Aya" implies a group that was originally employed as weavers, a technology brought over from the continent.  Indeed, they are said to have been largely immigrants who came and brought the technology with them.  The Aya were broken into different groups, with the Yamato no Aya being one of the more powerful.  The name appears again and again in the Chronicles, though in the time of Ohoama they were put on notice as a clan.  We aren't told what they did, exactly.  They seem to have made their way back into the court's good graces over time, however. Hinokuma-dera is interesting in that it is much smaller than the other temples we have discussed, and the form is quite different.  It isn't organized along cardinal directions, but rather with the koudou, or lecture hall, in the northwest and the kondou, or main hall, in the southeast.  The pagoda was between the two, slightly off-center to the northeast, directly across from the main gate, which faced southwest.  This means that you would enter from the southwest into a large, rectangular courtyard.  You could be facing a pagoda near the rear wall, with a lecture hall to your left and the main image hall to your right.  This is compared to Baekje temples that were on the periphery of the Baekje capital, and this may have been in a similar situation.  Based on the surrounding geography, it appears that some of the choices may have been made to conform with local geologic features, such as the ridge that it is on. It is interesting, however, for its uniqueness, especially as a private temple that did not have the resources of the court.  There were probably quite a few of these kinds of temples that we just don't see or hear about in the record.  When the court moved, first up to Heijo-kyo, but later on to Heian-kyo, in modern Kyoto, the head of the Yamato no Aya no doubt moved as well, and that probably led to the temple's decline, over time. Speaking of the court, there is one more part of the Asuka court that we should touch on before we leave the era of the Asuka palace.  At some point, probably related to the Later Okamoto Palace, the court created a pond and garden.  This Asuka Pond Garden site is first mentioned in 685, though it likely existed for some time.  Evidence suggests that it was built around the same time as the later Okamoto Palace, so sometime around 656, and based on excavations, we know that there was a south and north pond, divided by a middle bank.  Water flowed from the south pond to the north pond through a wooden pipe in that middle bank.  The south pond had a pentagonal shape, about 65 meters long, east to west, and 55 meters wide, north to south.  It was only 30 cm at its deepest point, with two islands in the pond itself.  The north pond was 36 meters east to west and 52 meters north to south, and it was up to 4 meters deep.  There was a stone overflow channel that was built for water to flow back into the Asuka river.  There was also a stone fountain, like that found at the Sakafuneishi site, and evidence of buildings and a wall around the site.  There has also been analysis of seed pollen, indicating what kinds of vegetation might have been grown in the garden. This was a lavish area that was purpose-built for entertainments of various kinds.  This is the area that the royal family and various nobles likely adjourned to at the end of the day for relaxation and for various banquets and other such gatherings. Of course, not all the court proceedings were so joyful.  In 686, Ohoama died, and for the next couple of years the court business was taken up with eulogies and memorials.  This is also when they built the next site included in the list: The mounded tomb of Temmu Tennou and, eventually, Jitou Tennou.  The tomb is an octagonal kofun, similar to the Kengoshizuka kofun for Takara Hime.  It is built to the southwest of the Asuka basin, a fair distance from the palace.  However, this positioning also puts it directly south of the site of the new Fujiwara Palace.  As the Fujiwara capital and palace site had already been selected, they would have been able to build this tomb in relation to the future palace, creating a direct north-south link between the two.  It is also along the same ridgeline as the tomb of Kengoshizuka and the tomb attributed to Kinmei Tennou and Princess Kibi no Himemiko. The octagonal tomb was built in five tiers.  It is about 42 meters on a side, built with rammed earth and then covered, originally, with dressed stones, while the surrounding area was paved.  Ohoama was buried in a sealed stone burial chamber in a dry-lacquered linen-made coffin, similar to what was found, again, at Kengoshizuka.  Later, when Uno no Sarara passed away, her urn was added to the tomb. Speaking of that, I cannot believe I didn't mention this in the last episode on Queen Uno no Sarara, but yes, she was cremated.  In fact, she is the first Yamato sovereign to have been cremated in the Buddhist style, rather than to have her body buried intact.  Today, almost cremation is the default in Japan—to the point that it actually has caused some issues with people who, for religious reasons, request a different type of burial.  However, at this point, it was still somewhat new.   Prior to Buddhism, all indications are that bodies were simply buried.  Buddhism brought in the concept of at least four different types of funerary rites.  There is dosou, or earth burial, but there was also suisou, water burial; fuusou, wind—or "air"—burial; and then kasou, fire burial.  Suisou would be committing a body to water, and fuusou generally means leaving the body on a stand, out in the open, to allow the body to decompose while birds, ideally vultures, come and do their work.  Of these, "kasou", fire burial or cremation, is linked to the historical Buddha, whose physical body is said to have been cremated, with the bones and teeth left behind considered holy relics.  That Uno no Sarara requested cremation would seem to indicate her own support of Buddhism and Buddhist institutions. The tomb of Temmu and Jitou has remained largely intact—at least compared to some that we have discussed this episode-- but not inviolate.  Over time, the site was allowed to become overgrown with trees and other vegetation.  In 1235 the tomb was robbed and in 1881 it was officially designated as an Imperial Mausoleum by the Imperial Household Agency, which now manages the site.  You can approach up to a point, but the tomb itself is largely off-limits to the public. Speaking of Uno no Sarara's support of Buddhism, we've already talked about her connections to Yakushi-ji, the next site on our list.  This temple was commissioned by Ohoama when his wife, Uno no Sarara, grew unexpectedly ill in 680.  She did recover, and the temple would eventually be considered one of the four National temples of the Yamato state.  It appears to have been built—possibly shifted slightly—specifically in line with the new avenues being laid out for Fujiwara-kyo, the new capital, and it fits neatly into place, taking up an entire city block.  When the capital moved, the temple was also moved.  The new temple sits up near modern Nara, in the area known as Nishi-no-kyou—the West (side of the) capital.  For the new site, the court may have used some of the materials from the original temple, though there does seem to have been a continued presence at the Fujiwara capital site until the 11th century.  To avoid confusion, the temple in the old Fujiwara capital site is referred to as "Moto-Yakushiji", meaning the Real or Original Yakushi Temple. Yakushiji was commissioned in 680, but work on the temple wasn't completed until 698, four years after the move to the new Fujiwara Palace.  Key features at this time were its size and its double pagodas, rather than just the single pagoda common in earlier temples.  This mimicked temple innovations happening on the continent, and was later adopted by several temples in the new capital of Heijo-kyo. Another national temple from around this time, also included in the nomination letter, is Daikandaiji.  Like Yakushiji, this temple was a grand statement of the Yamato state's ambitions.  Both were large temples that would have stood out, and as national temples they were symbols of state power and authority in matters both secular and spiritual. We discussed all of this in a previous episode, Episode 142, where we covered the four national temples, so I don't want to belabor it too much other than to give a brief overview.  In summary, what we know as Daikandaiji today is very likely the old Kudara Ohodera,  Kudara, in this instance, being spelled with the same kanji as for "Baekje".  Kudara Ohodera was the largest of the Asuka and Fujiwara era temples.  Its pagoda was over 80 meters tall, one of the tallest in Yamato at that time, and the main hall rivaled that of the Daigokuden, the main hall of the Fujiwara palace.   It also appears to have been moved twice.  First it was moved from its original location closer to the Asuka palace.  And then it appears to have been shifted to align with the avenues of the new Fujiwara capital.  The name was also changed.  "Kudara Ohodera" likely referred to the location where the temple was first founded by Tamura, aka Jomei Tennou.  It was then moved to Asuka and took on the name "Takechi Ohodera", given its new location, but then was renamed to Ohotsukasa no Ohodera, the Great Temple of the High Officials, or something like that.  This same name, read with the on'yomi reading, becomes "Daikandaiji". The temple was later moved to Heijo-kyo, where it was renamed to "Daianji", which means something like the Temple of Great Safety or Protection.   There is another story that says that the temple actually originated in the Kumagori dojo created by the legendary Shotoku Taishi, but, like so many such stories, that may have been added later to increase the temple's prestige.  As with so many of these temples, when the move was made to Heijo-kyo, the temple lost its national status, but remained active.  Without the upkeep by the court, it eventually declined, finally disappearing almost entirely.  Remains were rediscovered in the Edo and Meiji period, with major excavations in the 1970s and 80s.  From this, there is evidence of fire, even before construction was completed.  Indeed, there is a record of fire in 711.  The temple was likely under construction for much of the period of the Fujiwara capital's existence. This is probably as good a point as any to talk about the Fujiwara Palace itself.  I would note that the World Heritage site designation only includes the palace site, and not the entire capital city of Fujiwara-kyo.  That is probably for the best, as findings have suggested that the ancient capital was built on a plan far grander that previously thought. Initially, it was believed that the Fujiwara capital was built similar to Heijo-kyo and Heian-kyo, which is to say that it was modeled after the Tang capital of Chang'an.  This model creates a rectangular city with the main palace complex at the far north of the city.  Lower classes are typically housed in the southern regions while upper classes and nobility are provided land in the northern areas of the city.  Part of the reason to believe that the city was laid out like this has to do with the three mountains:  Mt. Unebi, Mt. Miminashi, and Mt. Kagu.  If the palace were located at the northern end of the city, then the city would fit rather nicely in the plains between these three mountains.  However, it appears that the plans for Fujiwara-kyo were much grander, and it appears that the Fujiwara palace sat not at the northern top of the capital, but instead it was in the middle.  This more closely approximates the ideal Confucian model, which created a square city divided into nine districts with the palace in the center.  However, it also means that the city grid is interrupted by the mountains, particularly by Mt. Miminashi, in the north.  To cover all of that land would be untenable, and much of it has been built up or under cultivation for centuries.  Furthermore, it is unclear how built up Fujiwara-kyo ever was.  Imagine trying to just create a city from scratch.  Not only was it about building the temples and the palace, but about all of the other houses, which would have been organized by the individual owners.  One also has to wonder just how many workers there were, and materials, to do all of this.  If much of this was done as traditional wooden buildings, then many of the blocks may not have left any significant remains, though new construction in the area does perform exploratory archaeology just in case.  There are a lot of interesting features that have been found. However, let's focus just on the Fujiwara Palace.  As I've previously pointed out—just back in Episode 152, for example, the Fujiwara Palace was, in many ways, getting back to the type of palace that the Toyosaki Naniwa Palace had tried to be.  This was a massive State complex.  The overall property appears to have been a square, with nine gates—once again, mimicking the geometric perfection suggested in ancient sources.  That wall, which was defined by post-holes in the ground, was also surrounded by a moat.  The south central gate was known as the Suzaku-mon, or Suzaku gate, named for Suzaku, the crimson bird of the south.  This was at the north end of Suzaku Oji, or Suzaku Avenue, the central road of the Fujiwara capital. This road was 24 meters wide, with 4 meter ditches on either side.  The ditches would have carried water throughout the city, while also allowing the city to drain water during large rains.  From the Suzaku gate to the north the palace opened up to the first courtyard, with two building where officials could prepare for the day.  Originally this would have been the place for officials to change into their formal robes, though later they were commanded to show up to work already dressed.  From there, once it opened, they would pass through another gate into the Choudouin, or State Hall.  Here, the 8 bureaus, or ministries, each had a Choudou, or court hall, where they would perform their work.  There were also four other halls for other governmental work. Besides the southern gate, there were gates on the east and west, which led to further government offices to the west and east of the court.  A fourth gate, at the north end of the Choudouin enclosure, would lead to the Daigokuden, the Great Audience Hall.  This was part of a reduced enclosure.  Two buildings have been discovered to the east and west of the enclosure, and north of the enclosure would have led to the private quarters of the sovereign and their family. The government buildings are more obvious than some others—many of the buildings were built in the continental style, meaning with stone footings, leaving a lot of evidence of their existence.  Meanwhile, the buildings of the sovereign's private residence were likely still in the indigenous style—plain wood with posts sunk directly into the ground, and thatched roof.  That would all leave a lot fewer traces, not to say that they haven't ever found anything. Today, the Fujiwara Palace site is a large open area where many of the features that have been found are indicated with modern crimson colored pillars, demonstrating where the various pillars were found.  At the same time, any above-ground reconstructions would have be conjectural, as we don't have enough remaining to know exactly what the palace looked like beyond the pillar locations. This palace and the city was ambitious.  It was huge and clearly meant as a permanent capital.  The fact that it was only occupied until about 710, when the capital moved north, to Heijou-kyou, is something we'll talk about in a later episode.  But still, it was absolutely an incredible move.  Think of how much labor this took and what kind of costs were involved?  This was truly a flex of the state's ability to mobilize labor to be able to do all of this, and generally marks the moment where the Yamato government really came into its own.  It also marks the period where the name "Yamato" is thought to have been officially changed to refer to "Nihon", the "Origin of the Sun", the name by which Japan would be known ever since.  It really is a symbol of Japan's changing state. There are only three more monuments included in the World Heritage Site designation, and they are all tombs. The first is Nakaoyama Kofun.  This is another octagonal kofun, approximately 19.5 meters from one side to the other.  It is only three tiers, as opposed to the five tiers of the tomb of Temmu and Jitou, and similarly covered in stone and surrounded by stone pavement.  The sealed burial chamber is narrow—designed for an urn rather than for a full-body coffin.  This is the first such mound clearly built to accommodate Buddhist style cremation, rather than a coffin.  While the keyhole shaped kofun had stopped being utilized for some time, this appears to put the final seal on the coffin, as it were, of the kofun building period, which had started back in the mid-3rd century.  Certainly, royal tombs continued to be built in the form of mountains, but they would stop having the same kind of artificial mound. It is unclear who was buried in the mound.  It was plundered around the 13th century, and there was considerable damage noted in the Edo period.  However, given Kengoshizuka Kofun and the kofun of Temmu and Jitou Tennou, it seems hard to deny the general consensus that this is the tomb of none other than Karu—that is to say Monmu Tennou.  However, as with Kengoshizuka Kofun, the Imperial Household Agency has named a different kofun, that of Kurihara-tsuka'ana Kofun, slightly to the south of Nakaoyama.  I would note that while this is an octagonal kofun, similar to the others we have seen, the Kurihara kofun, aka the Hinokuma Anko Misasagi, is a round kofun, which, in the consideration of modern scholarship, is not generally thought to have been a shape used for a royal tomb. There are two other tombs on the world heritage list that are round tombs, however—though they are not thought to have been royal tombs.  These are the Takamatsuzuka and Kitora kofun, and both of them have incredible features that are considered of particular importance to the indication of the development of the state.  This is because in both tombs elaborate tomb mural paintings were discovered. The murals of the Kitora kofun are perhaps the simpler between the two.  The Kitora murals have the four directional guardians on the walls of the tomb.  Again, we talked about this back in episode 127.  It was the idea that there was a directional guardian for each of the four cardinal directions.  This includes Genbu, the black tortoise of the north; Byakkou, the White Tiger of the West; Seiryuu, the Blue (or green) Dragon of the East; and Suzaku, the Red Bird of the South.  These descriptions were heavily tied in with various continental ideas of what would be known as "feng shui", including different ideas of color, direction, and concepts of yin and yang.  The Kitora kofun clearly shows these four guardians.  Based on the style of the tomb and the paintings, it is assumed that this tomb was built in the very beginning of the 8th century.  Combined with tomb goods found, while we don't know who was buried there it is very likely that it was either a royal prince or high ranking noble.  It has been suggested that this could have been the tomb for the Minister of the Right, others have suggested that it could be Royal Prince Takechi, who died in the late 7th century, or possibly even a high ranking member of the Baekje nobility living in the archipelago since the fall of their country, given some of the continental features of the tomb and its murals. In addition to the spectacular directional guardians, on the ceiling of Kitora Kofun is a depiction of the stars.  This star chart has been the focus of considerable study, as it depicts the stars in the sky as they might have been seen from the ground.  Though there are some errors, it is remarkably accurate, and it has been heralded as the oldest such star chart in the world.  There are earlier depictions of the sky, like the Nebra Sky Disc, from modern Nebra, in Germany, which dates to about 1800-1600 BCE, but those are more like an astronomical rule, rather than a chart.  It is also interesting that the positions of the stars don't exactly correspond with the sky over the Fujiwara capital: instead, it seems that the latitude better fits with the capital of Pyongyang in Goguryeo.  This opens up lots of intriguing possibilities about how this star chart came to be, and who created it.  It may be that some of the errors we see in the star positions come from taking a star chart possibly from the Tang court, and then localizing it to the Goguryeo capital in Pyongyang.  That chart then appears to have made its way to Japan where it was used in the Kitora kofun.  That means that the artist  wasn't necessarily directly looking at the sky at the time, but rather looking at a depiction, probably drawn on paper which has since been lost.  All of this points to the availability of, and importance placed on, astronomical information at the time.  In the Takamatsuzuka Kofun we similarly have directional animals, although in that case Suzaku, in the south, has been lost.  There is also a depiction of the stars, though it is more based on the zodiac, with constellations depicted in the various "houses" of the sky, rather than a true chart of the sky.  Most significantly in this tomb, however, are depictions of courtiers – groups of male and female attendance - in what appears to be court clothing, and indeed this is the best depiction we have of what court clothing may have looked like at this time.  It very much is in keeping with the clothing we see on the continent.  It is possible that the clothing depicted is not actually what was in use in the court, but possibly clothing from the continent as it was depicted in drawings and the like.   However, the style of clothing does seem to match the continental style clothing we see later in the Nara period, and so it does seem to be our best source for the clothing of the time barring us finding actual garments or further depictions. Both of these tombs are stunning, and have greatly increased our knowledge of the world of the court of 8th century Japan.  However, they are also both extremely fragile and in need of conservation.  Since being opened, humidity levels in the tombs have risen, which has led to the deterioration of the paintings themselves.  Japanese historians and conservators have gone to great lengths to preserve what they could before any more was lost, and there are depictions of what they looked like when they were originally found.  One of the goals of the World Heritage determination appears to be the conservation of these incredible paintings for future generations to be able to see. And there you have it.  Those are the sites  that were recently listed together on the UNESCO World Heritage list as the Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara.  I hope that everyone gets a chance to go see them in person some day—it really is a beautiful and rather bucolic area with history strewn all about.  It isn't difficult to walk most of it, either, though to see everything you probably want at least a couple of days, not including various museums and other institutions.  And, of course, the rest of the Nara basin is full of even more treasures, such as Horyuji temple, the Makimuku Palace site, Mt. Miwa, and then the ancient capital of Nara, just to name a few. But that will have to be for another day.  For now, I think I've gone on long enough.  This has been a bit longer than most episodes, so I hope that you enjoyed it.  We'll be back with our regularly scheduled episodes in a couple of weeks. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through either our Ko-Fi or BuyMeACoffee sites—just look up SengokuDaimyo. For all of that, you can also find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, you may have noticed that there are advertisements running on the podcast—that is so that we can keep this free to everyone, but if you want an ad-free version, we have uploaded our entire back-catalog to Patreon, where we will be releasing early and ad-free episodes for anyone who wants to sign up. Finally, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

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