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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2025 39:10

This episode we are taking a trip down the Silk Road--or perhaps even the Spice Road--as we investigate references in this reign to individuals from "Tukara" who seem to have arrived in Yamato and stayed for a while. For photos and more, see our podcast webpage: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-119 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. This is episode 119: The Question of “Tukara” Traveling upon the ocean was never exactly safe. Squalls and storms could arise at any time, and there was always a chance that high winds and high waves could capsize a vessel. Most people who found themselves at the mercy of the ocean could do little but hold on and hope that they could ride out whatever adverse conditions they met with. Many ships were lost without any explanation or understanding of what happened to them. They simply left the port and never came back home. And so when the people saw the boat pulling up on the shores of Himuka, on the island of Tsukushi, they no doubt empathized with the voyagers' plight. The crew looked bedraggled, and their clothing was unfamiliar. There were both men and women, and this didn't look like your average fishing party. If anything was clear it was this: These folk weren't from around here. The locals brought out water and food. Meanwhile, runners were sent with a message: foreigners had arrived from a distant place. They then waited to see what the government was going to do. We are still in the second reign of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tenno. Last episode we talked about the palaces constructed in Asuka, as well as some of the stone works that have been found from the period, and which appear to be referenced in the Nihon Shoki—at least tangentially. The episodes before that, we looked at the expeditions the court sent to the far north of Honshu and even past Honshu to Hokkaido. This episode we'll again be looking past the main islands of the archipelago to lands beyond. Specifically, we are going to focus on particularly intriguing references to people from a place called “Tukara”. We'll talk about some of the ideas about where that might be, even if they're a bit far-fetched. That's because Tukara touches on the state of the larger world that Yamato was a part of, given its situation on the far eastern edge of what we know today as the Silk Road. And is this just an excuse for me to take a detour into some of the more interesting things going on outside the archipelago? No comment. The first mention of a man from Tukara actually comes at the end of the reign of Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou. We are told that in the fourth month of 654 two men and two women of “Tukara” and one woman of “Sha'e” were driven by a storm to Hiuga. Then, three years later, the story apparently picks up again, though possibly referring to a different group of people. On the 3rd day of the 7th month of 657, so during the second reign of Takara Hime, we now hear about two men and four women of the Land of Tukara—no mention of Sha'e—who drifted to Tsukushi, aka Kyushu. The Chronicles mention that these wayfarers first drifted to the island of Amami, and we'll talk about that in a bit, but let's get these puzzle pieces on the table, first. After those six people show up, the court sent for them by post-horse. They must have arrived by the 15th of that same month, because we are told that a model of Mt. Sumi was erected and they—the people from Tukara—were entertained, although there is another account that says they were from “Tora”. The next mention is the 10th day of the 3rd month of 659, when a Man of Tukara and his wife, again woman of Sha'e, arrived. Then, on the 16th day of the 7th month of 660, we are told that the man of Tukara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, desired to return home and asked for an escort. He planned to pay his respects at the Great Country, i.e. the Tang court, and so he left his wife behind, taking tens of men with him. All of these entries might refer to people regularly reaching Yamato from the south, from a place called “Tukara”. Alternately, this is a single event whose story has gotten distributed over several years, as we've seen happen before with the Chronicles. . One of the oddities of these entries is that the terms used are not consistent. “Tukara” is spelled at least two different ways, suggesting that it wasn't a common placename like Silla or Baekje, or even the Mishihase. That does seem to suggest that the Chronicles were phonetically trying to find kanji, or the Sinitic characters, to match with the name they were hearing. I would also note that “Tukara” is given the status of a “kuni”—a land, country, or state—while “sha'e”, where some of the women are said to come from, is just that, “Sha'e”. As for the name of at least one person from Tokara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, that certainly sounds like someone trying to fit a non-Japanese name into the orthography of the time. “Tatsuna” seems plausibly Japanese, but “Kenzuhashi” doesn't fit quite as well into the naming structures we've seen to this point. The location of “Tukara” and “Sha'e” are not clear in any way, and as such there has been a lot of speculation about them. While today there are placenames that fit those characters, whether or not these were the places being referenced at the time is hard to say. I'll actually start with “Sha'e”, which Aston translates as Shravasti, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala, in modern Uttar Pradesh. It is also where the Buddha, Siddartha Gautama, is said to have lived most of his life after his enlightenment. In Japanese this is “Sha'e-jou”, and like many Buddhist terms it likely comes through Sanskrit to Middle Chinese to Japanese. One—or possibly two—women from Shravasti making the journey to Yamato in the company of a man (or men) from Tukara seems quite the feat. But then, where is “Tukara”? Well, we have at least three possible locations that I've seen bandied about. I'll address them from the most distant to the closest option. These three options were Tokharistan, Dvaravati, and the Tokara islands. We'll start with Tokharistan on the far end of the Silk Road. And to start, let's define what that “Silk Road” means. We've talked in past episodes about the “Western Regions”, past the Han-controlled territories of the Yellow River. The ancient Tang capital of Chang'an was built near to the home of the Qin dynasty, and even today you can go and see both the Tang tombs and the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi and his terracotta warriors, all within a short distance of Xi'an, the modern city built on the site of Chang'an. That city sits on a tributary of the Yellow River, but the main branch turns north around the border of modern Henan and the similarly sounding provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi. Following it upstream, the river heads north into modern Mongolia, turns west, and then heads south again, creating what is known as the Ordos loop. Inside is the Ordos plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin. Continuing to follow the Yellow river south, on the western edge of the Ordos, you travel through Ningxia and Gansu—home of the Hexi, or Gansu, Corridor. That route eventually takes to Yumenguan, the Jade Gate, and Dunhuang. From there roads head north or south along the edge of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim basin. The southern route travels along the edge of the Tibetan plateau, while the northern route traversed various oasis cities through Turpan, Kucha, to the city of Kashgar. Both routes made their way across the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush into South Asia. We've brought up the Tarim Basin and the Silk Road a few times. This is the path that Buddhism appears to have taken to get to the Yellow River Basin and eventually to the Korean Peninsula and eastward to the Japanese archipelago. But I want to go a bit more into detail on things here, as there is an interesting side note about “Tukara” that I personally find rather fascinating, and thought this would be a fun time to share. Back in Episode 79 we talked about how the Tarim basin used to be the home to a vast inland sea, which was fed by the meltwater from the Tianshan and Kunlun mountains. This sea eventually dwindled, though it was still large enough to be known to the Tang as the Puchang Sea. Today it has largely dried up, and it is mostly just the salt marshes of Lop Nur that remain. Evidence for this larger sea, however, can be observed in some of the burials found around the Tarim basin. These burials include the use of boat-shaped structures—a rather curious feature to be found out in the middle of the desert. And it is the desert that was left behind as the waters receded that is key to much of what we know about life in the Tarim basin, as it has proven to be quite excellent at preserving organic material. This includes bodies, which dried out and naturally turned into mummies, including not only the wool clothing they were wearing, but also features such as hair and even decoration. These “Tarim mummies”, as they have been collectively called, date from as early as 2100 BCE all the way up through the period of time we're currently talking about, and have been found in several desert sites: Xiaohe, the earliest yet discovered; Loulan, near Lop Nur on the east of the Tarim Basin, dating from around 1800 BCE; Cherchen, on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, dating from roughly 1000 BCE; and too many others to go into in huge detail. The intriguing thing about these burials is that many of them don't have features typically associated with people of ethnic Han—which is to say traditional Chinese—ancestry, nor do they necessarily have the features associated with the Xiongnu and other steppe nomads. In addition they have colorful clothing made from wool and leather, with vivid designs. Some bodies near Hami, just east of the basin, were reported to have blonde to light brown hair, and their cloth showed radically different patterns from that found at Cherchen and Loulan, with patterns that could reasonably be compared with the plaids now common in places like Scotland and Ireland, and previously found in the Hallstadt salt mine in Central Europe from around 3500 BCE, from which it is thought the Celtic people may have originated. At the same time that people—largely Westerners— were studying these mummies, another discovery in the Tarim basin was also making waves. This was the discovery of a brand new language. Actually, it was two languages—or possibly two dialects of a language—in many manuscripts, preserved in Kucha and Turpan. Once again, the dry desert conditions proved invaluable to maintain these manuscripts, which date from between the late 4th or early 5th century to the 8th century. They are written with a Brahmic script, similar to that used for Sanskrit, which appears in the Tarim Basin l by about the 2nd century, and we were able to translate them because many of the texts were copies of Buddhist scripture, which greatly helped scholars in deciphering the languages. These two languages were fascinating because they represented an as-yet undiscovered branch of the Indo-European language family. Furthermore, when compared to other Indo-European languages, they did not show nearly as much similarity with their neighbors as with languages on the far western end of the Indo-European language family. That is to say they were thought to be closer to Celtic and Italic languages than something like Indo-Iranian. And now for a quick diversion within the diversion: “Centum” and “Satem” are general divisions of the Indo-European language families that was once thought to indicate a geographic divide in the languages. At its most basic, as Indo-European words changed over time, a labiovelar sound, something like “kw”, tended to evolve in one of two ways. In the Celtic and Italic languages, the “kw” went to a hard “k” sound, as represented in the classical pronunciation of the Latin word for 100: Centum. That same word, in the Avestan language—of the Indo-Iranian tree—is pronounced as “Satem”, with an “S” sound. So, you can look at Indo-European languages and divide them generally into “centum” languages, which preserve the hard “k”, or “Satem” languages that preserve the S. With me so far? Getting back to these two newly-found languages in the Tarim Basin, the weird thing is that they were “Centum” languages. Most Centum languages are from pretty far away, though: they are generally found in western Europe or around the Mediterranean, as opposed to the Satem languages, such as Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Armernian, or even Baltic Slavic languages, which are much closer to the Tarim Basin. So if the theory were true that the “Centum” family of Indo-European languages developed in the West and “Satem” languages developed in the East, then that would seem to indicate that a group of a “Centum” speaking people must have migrated eastward, through the various Satem speaking people, and settled in the Tarim Basin many thousands of years ago. And what evidence do we have of people who look very different from the modern population, living in the Tarim Basin area long before, and wearing clothing similar to what we associated with the progenitors of the Celts? For many, it seemed to be somewhat obvious, if still incredible, that the speakers of this language were likely the descendants of the mummies who, in the terminology of the time, had been identified as being of Caucasoid ancestry. A theory developed that these people were an offshoot of a group called the Yamnaya culture, which may have arisen around modern Ukraine as an admixture between the European Hunter Gatherers and the Caucasian Hunter Gatherers, around 3300-2600 BCE. This was challenged in 2021 when a genetic study was performed on some of the mummies in the Tarim basin, as well as several from the Dzungarian basin, to the northeast. That study suggested that the people of the Dzungarian basin had genetic ties to the people of the Afanasievo people, from Southern Siberia. The Afanasievo people are connected to the Yamnayan culture. It should be noted that there has long been a fascination in Western anthropology and related sciences with racial identification—and often not in a healthy way. As you may recall, the Ainu were identified as “Caucasoid” by some people largely because of things like the men's beards and lighter colored hair, which differ greatly from a large part of the Japanese population. However, that claim has been repeatedly refuted and debunked. And similarly, the truth is, none of these Tarim mummy burials were in a period of written anything, so we can't conclusively associated them with these fascinating Indo-European languages. There are thousands of years between the various burials and the manuscripts. These people left no notes stashed in pockets that give us their life story. And Language is not Genetics is not Culture. Any group may adopt a given language for a variety of reasons. . Still, given what we know, it is possible that the ancient people of the Tarim basin spoke some form of “Proto-Kuchean”, but it is just as likely that this language was brought in by people from Dzungaria at some point. So why does all this matter to us? Well, remember how we were talking about someone from Tukara? The Kuchean language, at least, is referred to in an ancient Turkic source as belonging to “Twgry”, which led several scholars to draw a link between this and the kingdom and people called Tukara and the Tokharoi. This leads us on another bit of a chase through history. Now if you recall, back in Episode 79, we talked about Zhang Qian. In 128 BCE, he attempted to cross the Silk Road through the territory of the Xiongnu on a mission for the Han court. Some fifty years earlier, the Xiongnu had defeated the Yuezhi. They held territory in the oasis towns along the north of the Taklamakan dessert, from about the Turpan basin west to the Pamirs. The Xiongnu were causing problems for the Han, who thought that if they could contact the remaining Yuezhi they could make common cause with them and harass the Xiongnu from both sides. Zhang Qian's story is quite remarkable: he started out with an escort of some 99 men and a translator. Unfortunately, he was captured and enslaved by the Xiongnu during his journey, and he is even said to have had a wife and fathered a child. He remained a captive for thirteen years, but nonetheless, he was able to escape with his family and he made it to the Great Yuezhi on the far side of the Pamirs, but apparently the Yuezhi weren't interested in a treaty against the Xiongnu. The Pamirs were apparently enough of a barrier and they were thriving in their new land. And so Zhang Qian crossed back again through Xiongnu territory, this time taking the southern route around the Tarim basin. He was still captured by the Xiongnu, who spared his life. He escaped, again, two years later, returning to the Han court. Of the original 100 explorers, only two returned: Zhang Qian and his translator. While he hadn't obtained an alliance, he was able to detail the cultures of the area of the Yuezhi. Many feel that the Kushan Empire, which is generally said to have existed from about 30 to 375 CE,was formed from the Kushana people who were part of the Yuezhi who fled the Xiongnu. In other words, they were originally from further north, around the Tarim Basin, and had been chased out and settled down in regions that included Bactria (as in the Bactrian camel). Zhang Qian describes reaching the Dayuan Kingdom in the Ferghana valley, then traveling south to an area that was the home of the Great Yuezhi or Da Yuezhi. And after the Kushan empire fell, we know there was a state in the upper regions of the Oxus river, centered on the city of Balkh, in the former territory of the Kushan empire. known as “Tokara”. Geographically, this matches up how Zhang Qian described the home of the Da Yuezhi. Furthermore, some scholars reconstruct the reading of the Sinic characters used for “Yuezhi” as originally having an optional reading of something like “Togwar”, but that is certainly not the most common reconstructed reading of those characters. Greek sources describe this area as the home of the Tokharoi, or the Tokaran People. The term “Tukhara” is also found in Sanskrit, and this kingdom was also said to have sent ambassadors to the Southern Liang and Tang dynasties. We aren't exactly certain of where these Tokharan people came from, but as we've just described, there's a prevailing theory that they were the remnants of the Yuezhi and Kushana people originally from the Tarim Basin. We know that in the 6th century they came under the rule of the Gokturk Khaganate, which once spanned from the Liao river basin to the Black Sea. In the 7th and 8th centuries they came under the rule of the Tang Empire, where they were known by very similar characters as those used to write “Tukara” in the Nihon Shoki. On top of this, we see Tokharans traveling the Silk Road, all the way to the Tang court. Furthermore, Tokharans that settled in Chang'an took the surname “Zhi” from the ethnonym “Yuezhi”, seemingly laying claim to and giving validation to the identity used back in the Han dynasty. So, we have a Turkic record describing the Kuchean people (as in, from Kucha in the Tarim Basin) as “Twgry”, and we have a kingdom in Bactria called Tokara and populated (according to the Greeks) by people called Tokharoi. You can see how this one term has been a fascinating rabbit hole in the study of the Silk Roads and their history. And some scholars understandably suggested that perhaps the Indo-European languags found in Kucha and Turpan were actually related to this “Tokhara” – and therefore should be called “Tocharian”, specifically Tocharian A (Kuchean) or Tocharian B (Turfanian). The problem is that if the Tokharans were speaking “Tocharian” then you wouldn't expect to just see it at Kucha and Turpan, which are about the middle of the road between Tokhara and the Tang dynasty, and which had long been under Gokturk rule. You would also expect to see it in the areas of Bactria associated with Tokhara. However, that isn't what we see. Instead, we see that Bactria was the home of local Bactrian language—an Eastern Iranian language, which, though it is part of the Indo European language family, it is not closely related to Tocharian as far as we can tell. It is possible that the people of Kucha referred to themselves as something similar to “Twgry”, or “Tochari”, but we should also remember that comes from a Turkic source, and it could have been an exonym not related to what they called themselves. I should also note that language is not people. It is also possible that a particular ethnonym was maintained separately by two groups that may have been connected politically but which came to speak different languages for whatever reason. There could be a connection between the names, or it could even be that the same or similar exonym was used for different groups. So, that was a lot and a bit of a ramble, but a lot of things that I find interesting—even if they aren't as connected as they may appear. We have the Tarim mummies, which are, today, held at a museum in modern Urumqi. Whether they had any connection with Europe or not, they remain a fascinating study for the wealth of material items found in and around the Tarim basin and similar locations. And then there is the saga of the Tocharian languages—or perhaps more appropriately the Kuchean-Turfanian languages: Indo-European languages that seem to be well outside of where we would expect to find them. Finally, just past the Pamirs, we get to the land of Tokhara or Tokharistan. Even without anything else, we know that they had contact with the court. Perhaps our castaways were from this land? The name is certainly similar to what we see in the Nihon Shoki, using some of the same characters. All in all, art and other information suggest that the area of the Tarim basin and the Silk Road in general were quite cosmopolitan, with many different people from different regions of the world. Bactria retained Hellenic influences ever since the conquests of Alexander of Macedonia, aka Alexander the Great, and Sogdian and Persian traders regularly brought their caravans through the region to trade. And once the Tang dynasty controlled all of the routes, that just made travel that much easier, and many people traveled back and forth. So from that perspective, it is possible that one or more people from Tukhara may have made the crossing from their home all the way to the Tang court, but if they did so, the question still remains: why would they be in a boat? Utilizing overland routes, they would have hit Chang'an or Louyang, the dual capitals of the Tang empire, well before they hit the ocean. However, the Nihon Shoki says that these voyagers first came ashore at Amami and then later says that they were trying to get to the Tang court. Now there was another “Silk Road” that isn't as often mentioned: the sea route, following the coast of south Asia, around through the Malacca strait and north along the Asian coast. This route is sometimes viewed more in terms of the “spice” road If these voyagers set out to get to the Tang court by boat, they would have to have traveled south to the Indian Ocean—possibly traveling through Shravasti or Sha'e, depending on the route they chose to take—and then around the Malacca strait—unless they made it on foot all the way to Southeast Asia. And then they would have taken a boat up the coast. Why do that instead of taking the overland route? They could likely have traveled directly to the Tang court over the overland silk road. Even the from Southeast Asia could have traveled up through Yunnan and made their way to the Tang court that way. In fact, Zhang Qian had wondered something similar when he made it to the site of the new home of the Yuezhi, in Bactria. Even then, in the 2nd century, he saw products in the marketplace that he identified as coming from around Szechuan. That would mean south of the Han dynasty, and he couldn't figure out how those trade routes might exist and they weren't already known to the court. Merchants would have had to traverse the dangerous mountains if they wanted to avoid being caught by the Xiongnu, who controlled the entire region. After returning to the Han court, Zhang Qian actually went out on another expedition to the south, trying to find the southern trade routes, but apparently was not able to do so. That said, we do see, in later centuries, the trade routes open up between the area of the Sichuan basin and South Asia. We also see the migrations of people further south, and there may have even been some Roman merchants who traveled up this route to find their way to the Han court, though those accounts are not without their own controversy. In either case, whether by land or sea, these trade routes were not always open. In some cases, seasonal weather, such as monsoons, might dictate movement back and forth, while political realities were also a factor. Still, it is worth remembering that even though most people were largely concerned with affairs in their own backyard, the world was still more connected than people give it credit for. Tang dynasty pottery made its way to the east coast of Africa, and ostriches were brought all the way to Chang'an. As for the travelers from Tukhara and why they would take this long and very round-about method of travel, it is possible that they were just explorers, seeking new routes, or even on some kind of pilgrimage. Either way, they would have been way off course. But if they did pass through Southeast Asia, that would match up with another theory about what “Tukara” meant: that it actually refers to the Dvaravati kingdom in what is now modern Thailand. The Dvaravati Kingdom was a Mon political entity that rose up around the 6th century. It even sent embassies to the Sui and Tang courts. This is even before the temple complexes in Siem Reap, such as Preah Ko and the more famous Angkor Wat. And it was during this time that the ethnic Tai people are thought to have started migrating south from Yunnan, possibly due to pressures from the expanding Sui and Tang empires. Today, most of what remains of the Dvaravati kingdom are the ruins of ancient stone temples, showing a heavy Indic influence, and even early Buddhist practices as well. “Dvaravati” may not actually be the name of the kingdom but it comes from an inscription on a coin found from about that time. The Chinese refer to it as “To-lo-po-ti” in contemporary records. It may not even have been a kingdom, but more of a confederation of city-states—it is hard to piece everything together. That it was well connected, though, is clear from the archaeological record. In Dvaravati sites, we see coins from as far as Rome, and we even have a lamp found in modern Pong Tuk that appears to match similar examples from the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. Note that this doesn't mean it arrived in the 6th century—similarly with the coins—but the Dvaravati state lasted until the 12th century. If that was the case, perhaps there were some women from a place called “Shravasti” or similar, especially given the Indic influence in the region. Now, given the location of the Dvaravati, it wouldn't be so farfetched to think that someone might sail up from the Gulf of Thailand and end up off-course, though it does mean sailing up the entire Ryukyuan chain or really running off course and finding yourself adrift on the East China sea. And if they were headed to the Tang court, perhaps they did have translators or knew Chinese, since Yamato was unlikely to know the Mon language of Dvaravati and people from Dvaravati probably wouldn't know the Japonic language. Unless, perhaps, they were communicating through Buddhist priests via Sanskrit. We've now heard two possibilities for Tukara, both pretty far afield: the region of Tokara in Bactria, and the Dvaravati kingdom in Southeast Asia. That said, the third and simplest explanation—and the one favored by Aston in his translation of the Nihon Shoki—is that Tukara is actually referring to a place in the Ryukyu island chain. Specifically, there is a “Tokara” archipelago, which spans between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima. This is part of the Nansei islands, and the closest part of the Ryukyuan island chain to the main Japanese archipelago. This is the most likely theory, and could account for the entry talking about Amami. It is easy to see how sailors could end up adrift, too far north, and come to shore in Hyuga, aka Himuka, on the east side of Kyushu. It certainly would make more sense for them to be from this area of the Ryukyuan archipelago than from anywhere else. From Yakushima to Amami-Oshima is the closest part of the island chain to Kyushu, and as we see in the entry from the Shoku Nihongi, those three places seem to have been connected as being near to Japan. So what was going on down there, anyway? Well, first off, let's remember that the Ryukyuan archipelago is not just the island of Okinawa, but a series of islands that go from Kyushu all the way to the island of Taiwan. Geographically speaking, they are all part of the same volcanic ridge extending southward. The size of the islands and their distance from each other does vary, however, creating some natural barriers in the form of large stretches of open water, which have shaped how various groups developed on the islands. Humans came to the islands around the same time they were reaching the Japanese mainland. In fact, some of our only early skeletal remains for early humans in Japan actually come from either the Ryukyuan peninsula in the south or around Hokkaido to the north, and that has to do with the acidity of the soil in much of mainland Japan. Based on genetic studies, we know that at least two groups appear to have inhabited the islands from early times. One group appears to be related to the Jomon people of Japan, while the other appears to be more related to the indigenous people of Taiwan, who, themselves, appear to have been the ancestors of many Austronesian people. Just as some groups followed islands to the south of Taiwan, some appear to have headed north. However, they only made it so far. As far as I know there is no evidence they made it past Miyakoshima, the northernmost island in the Sakishima islands. Miyako island is separated from the next large island, Okinawa, by a large strait, known as the Miyako Strait, though sometimes called the Kerama gap in English. It is a 250km wide stretch of open ocean, which is quite the distance for anyone to travel, even for Austronesian people of Taiwan, who had likely not developed the extraordinary navigational technologies that the people who would become the Pacific Islanders would discover. People on the Ryukyu island chain appear to have been in contact with the people of the Japanese archipelago since at least the Jomon period, and some of the material artifacts demonstrate a cultural connection. That was likely impacted by the Akahoya eruption, about 3500 years ago, and then re-established at a later date. We certainly see sea shells and corals trade to the people of the Japanese islands from fairly early on. Unlike the people on the Japanese archipelago, the people of the Ryukyuan archipelago did not really adopt the Yayoi and later Kofun culture. They weren't building large, mounded tombs, and they retained the character of a hunter-gatherer society, rather than transitioning to a largely agricultural way of life. The pottery does change in parts of Okinawa, which makes sense given the connections between the regions. Unfortunately, there is a lot we don't know about life in the islands around this time. We don't exactly have written records, other than things like the entries in the Nihon Shoki, and those are hardly the most detailed of accounts. In the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tennou, we see people from Yakushima, which is, along with Tanegashima, one of the largest islands at the northern end of the Ryukyu chain, just before you hit Kagoshima and the Osumi peninsula on the southern tip of Kyushu. The islands past that would be the Tokara islands, until you hit the large island of Amami. So you can see how it would make sense that the people from “Tokara” would make sense to be from the area between Yakushima and Amami, and in many ways this explanation seems too good to be true. There are a only a few things that make this a bit peculiar. First, this doesn't really explain the woman from “Sha'e” in any compelling way that I can see. Second, the name, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna doesn't seem to fit with what we generally know about early Japonic names, and the modern Ryukyuan language certainly is a Japonic language, but there are still plenty of possible explanations. There is also the connection of Tokara with “Tokan”, which is mentioned in an entry in 699 in the Shoku Nihongi, the Chronicle that follows on, quite literally to the Nihon Shoki. Why would they call it “Tokan” instead of “Tokara” so soon after? Also, why would these voyagers go back to their country by way of the Tang court? Unless, of course, that is where they were headed in the first place. In which case, did the Man from Tukara intentionally leave his wife in Yamato, or was she something of a hostage while they continued on their mission? And so those are the theories. The man from “Tukara” could be from Tokhara, or Tokharistan, at the far end of the Silk Road. Or it could have been referring to the Dvaravati Kingdom, in modern Thailand. Still, in the end, Occam's razor suggests that the simplest answer is that these were actually individuals from the Tokara islands in the Ryukyuan archipelago. It is possible that they were from Amami, not that they drifted there. More likely, a group from Amami drifted ashore in Kyushu as they were trying to find a route to the Tang court, as they claimed. Instead they found themselves taking a detour to the court of Yamato, instead. And we could have stuck with that story, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to reflect once again on how connected everything was. Because even if they weren't from Dvaravati, that Kingdom was still trading with Rome and with the Tang. And the Tang controlled the majority of the overland silk road through the Tarim basin. We even know that someone from Tukhara made it to Chang'an, because they were mentioned on a stele that talked about an Asian sect of Christianity, the “Shining Religion”, that was praised and allowed to set up shop in the Tang capital, along with Persian Manicheans and Zoroastrians. Regardless of where these specific people may have been from, the world was clearly growing only more connected, and prospering, as well. Next episode we'll continue to look at how things were faring between the archipelago and the continent. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. 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.

culture europe english man japan land west kingdom africa chinese christianity ukraine japanese ireland western greek rome east indian scotland asian humans thailand chronicles mt latin taiwan buddhist yellow iranians buddhism southeast asia buddha mediterranean utilizing genetics celtic gulf chang xi persian mongolia chronicle tang tibetans macedonia south asia kofi sanskrit bce okinawa silk road tai sha indian ocean merchants black sea westerners pacific islanders corridor aston asuka tora central europe celts sui hokkaido occam sichuan silla uttar pradesh korean peninsula liao sumi byzantine empire yunnan yamato angkor wat hellenic indo european kyushu alternately qin geographically henan indic szechuan siem reap karu ainu kucha malacca honshu turkic hami yellow river in japanese italic kagoshima gansu hindu kush shaanxi shanxi urumqi zoroastrians dunhuang great country kun lun yayoi east china miyako ningxia austronesian tarim ryukyu xiongnu jomon amami zhi kashgar centum kushan bactrian balkh yakushima ordos hyuga spice road pamirs indo aryan oxus indo iranian ryukyuan caucasoid tokara tarim basin yuezhi tokan satem

Poppy Kuroki on GATE TO KAGOSHIMA, Star-Crossed Lovers & Summer in Japan

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2025 18:34

In Episode 3 of Undercurrents of Romance, Tracey Devlyn dives into a captivating conversation with author Poppy Kuroki about her debut time-traveling historical romantasy, GATE TO KAGOSHIMA, and what it's like living in Japan, especially during the summer.  When a young Scottish woman is whisked away to the last Samurai era, she finds herself tangled in an epic tale of ancestral secrets and a love that defies time. Torn between two worlds, she must choose: return to the 21st century or stay in the past that holds her heart. With heart-pounding romance, rich history, epic battles, and swoon-worthy Samurais, GATE TO KAGOSHIMA is a story you won't want to miss. Enjoy the episode! Undercurrents of Romance Website: https://traceydevlyn.com/podcast

japan romance gate scottish samurai torn undercurrents star crossed lovers kagoshima kuroki

Poppy Kuroki on GATE TO KAGOSHIMA, Star-Crossed Lovers & Summer in Japan

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2025 18:34

japan romance gate scottish samurai torn undercurrents star crossed lovers kagoshima kuroki

Bookish Gossip: TikTok Drama, AI Controversies, and Our Current Reads

ASDF Base Construction on Mageshima to Be Delayed by 3 Years

japan construction base delayed kagoshima asdf

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2025 0:11

Construction of a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force base on Mageshima, an island in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima, is likely to be delayed by three years.

馬毛島基地建設、工期延長　生活に影響、長期化懸念―鹿児島・種子島

japan construction kagoshima

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2025 0:31

自衛隊基地の建設工事が進む鹿児島県の馬毛島、２０２４年１１月５日、同県種子島から撮影鹿児島県西之表市の馬毛島で進められている航空自衛隊基地の建設工事が、予定より３年ほどずれ込む見通しとなった。 Construction of a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force base on Mageshima, an island in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima, is likely to be delayed by three years.

JTET - J2 Season Review 2024 (Part 1)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2024 37:48

Jon and James begin their big review of the J2 season by looking at the five teams that finished in the bottom quarter of the standings in 2024. In Part 1 of this episode, the relegation zone comes under the microscope as the boys cover Gunma (Start to 08:00), Kagoshima (08:00 to 12:50), and Tochigi SC (12:50 to 19:40). Then in Part 2, the focus shifts to just above the drop zone, with Ehime (19:40 to 26:45) and Oita (26:45 to Finish) being analyzed in detail. We hope everyone enjoys the pod - more review episodes coming soon!

finish j2 kagoshima oita

米オスプレイ１機が着陸　届け出なし、今月２回目―鹿児島・奄美

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2024 0:22

２１日午後４時ごろ、鹿児島県奄美市の奄美空港に、米軍の輸送機オスプレイ１機が着陸した。 A U.S. Osprey military transport plane landed at Amami Airport in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima around 4 p.m. Thursday without requesting in advance to use the airport, local authorities said.

japan osprey kagoshima

U.S. Osprey Makes Another Unscheduled Landing in Japan

japan landing osprey unscheduled kagoshima

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2024 0:13

A U.S. Osprey military transport plane landed at Amami Airport in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima around 4 p.m. Thursday without requesting in advance to use the airport, local authorities said.

２０２４年は１１月２２日からアミュ鹿児島のイルミネーションKAGOSHIMA CENTRAL ARCが始まるよ！

KagoshimaniaX

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2024 0:30

「２０２４年は１１月２２日からアミュ鹿児島のイルミネーションKAGOSHIMA CENTRAL ARCが始まるよ！」　どうも、僕です◯┓ 今年ももうこの季節ですね。アミュプラザのイルミネーション。毎年中央駅前を明るく照らしてくれるイルミネーション。今年はどんな感じで盛り上がるか、楽しみですね。今年はこんな感じだそう光を街へ。KAG […]

kagoshima

J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Round 38

discord james taylor nagasaki extra time yamaguchi sendai j2 okayama kagoshima yamagata oita j talk

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2024 65:04

Jon Steele and James Taylor have all the important action from the final day of the regular J2 season, with the second automatic promotion spot and the playoff participants still to be decided. In Part 1, Jon talks us through the matches that decided 2nd place, Yamaguchi v Yokohama FC and Nagasaki v Ehime (start to 17:25). In part 2, James leads a clockwatch roundup of the playoff contenders' games: Kagoshima v Okayama, Yamagata v JEF United, and Sendai v Oita (17:25 to 42:25). After that, there's a look far ahead into the future to preview the playoff semi finals (42:25 to 58:00), and then it's time to elect the final Most Bravo Player of the regular season (58:00 to end). Thanks as always for your support of JTET, JTSC, and the J-Talk Podcast! Join the JLeague chat Discord server here: https://discord.gg/p6PVbF9E Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/jtalkpod

米オスプレイ２機が着陸　警告灯点灯、けが人なし―鹿児島・奄美

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2024 0:29

米海兵隊所属の輸送機MＶ２２オスプレイ、２０２３年１１月、沖縄県東村１４日午前１０時すぎ、鹿児島県奄美市の奄美空港に、米海兵隊の輸送機オスプレイ２機が相次いで着陸した。 Two Osprey transport aircraft of the U.S. military landed at Amami Airport in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima on Thursday morning, without giving advance notification.

japan kagoshima

2 U.S. Ospreys Make Unscheduled Landing in Southwestern Japan

japan landing southwestern ospreys unscheduled kagoshima

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2024 0:11

Two Osprey transport aircraft of the U.S. military landed at Amami Airport in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima on Thursday morning, without giving advance notification.

鹿児島県与論町に大雨特別警報　線状降水帯発生、安全確保を―気象庁

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2024 0:14

気象庁の９日午前２時の降水レーダー画像。 The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning for the island town of Yoron in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima on Saturday.

kagoshima

Heavy Rain Emergency Warning Issued for Southwestern Japan Isle

japan emergency isle heavy rain southwestern kagoshima

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2024 0:10

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning for the island town of Yoron in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima on Saturday.

Koji Cocktails with Sam Boulton

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2024 62:21

Sebastien Lemoine, Chris Hughes, and Miho Ota sit down with Sam Boulton, author, mixologist and drinks consultant to talk about his new book, “The Art of Mixing Koji Cocktails.” Sam is based in Birmingham, and is one of handful of experts on Japanese booze in the UK. He was a participant in this year's Advanced Shochu Academy in Kagoshima, and then spent almost a month visiting distilleries and breweries around the country after the program ended. He has also started a podcast “The Izakaya Happy Hour” and has written a book on vermouth. You can find out more about him at his website: www.kokushu.info or his instagram (@boultononbooze). Sam came and made two cocktails from Japanese ingredients for the team and then talked about the sake and shochu scene in the UK and some of the positives and negatives to the slow but steady growth in popularity of shochu as a cocktail ingredient. The conversation also dives into how bartenders can incorporate a Japanese spirit into their standard line up without going overboard or spending too much. Transcripts of new episodes can now be found at our substack! https://sakeonair.substack.com/ (sometimes there is a few days delay) As always, if you have questions or comments please do share them with us at questions@sakeonair.com or head over to our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook we would love to hear from you!We'll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air.Until then, kampai!Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. Sake on Air was created by Potts K Productions and is produced by Export Japan. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Where's the Shochu at? Interviews with the participants of JSS's Advanced Shochu Academy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 62:23

As sake continues to gain popularity around the world, shochu is next in line. In August 2024, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association (JSS) held its inaugural week-long Advanced Shochu Academy in Kagoshima. The event was designed to educate professionals in the global beverage industry about shochu.The 12 participants came from diverse backgrounds—educators, importers, and consultants from seven different countries. Miho Ota seized the opportunity to interview them, gaining insights into shochu's presence in their respective countries and exploring what draws them to the spirit. She organized three impromptu sessions focused on the European, Asian, and Brazilian markets, highlighting both the similarities and differences within and across these regions.One small note: As we we recorded this on the fly, the recording quality was less than ideal. But the conversations provided valuable insights into shochu's current standing and potential for promotion in global markets, so we hope you will give it a listen. We deeply appreciate the participants' time and expertise, especially after their long days of intensive lectures. Thanks to: Adrian Goh (Singapore)IG: @apgoh / @Interriceasia Facebook: Adrian GohWebsite: www.theartofsake.com Chris Yang (Taiwan)Instagram: @hockeybabytwFacebook: Chris YangCompany website: www.kurisake.com Ding Liu (China)Instagram: @dingliu91Xiaohongshu: Fish swimming in wine (account number 1055966437) Elvira Aldaz (Spain)Instagram: @maldazFacebook: Elvira Aldaz MezcuaLinkedin: @elviraaldaz Fabio Ota (Brazil)Instagram and Facebook: @megasakeOnline shop: www.megasake.com.br Fall Huang (China/Malaysia)Instagram: @fall.huangFacebook: Fall Huang Francesco Braun (UK/Italy)Instagram: @just_imbiberFacebook: Francesco Braun Sam Boulton (UK)Instagram: @boultononboozeWebsite: www.kokushu.info Sean Ou (Singapore)Instagram and Facebook: @thebeveragecliqueLinkedIn: @the-beverage-cliqueYouTube: @thebeveragecliquetv782Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vtPuXog1hsfRIzpi6IPI5?si=af256f4a07094b55Academy Website: https://thebeverageclique.com/ Tony Yip (France)Instagram: @food_drinks_cultureFacebook: @TonyMTYip As always, if you have questions or comments please do share them with us at questions@sakeonair.com or head over to our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook we would love to hear from you! We'll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air. Until then, kampai! This episode has been made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association. Sake on Air was created by Potts-K Productions and is produced by Export Japan. Our team is Justin Potts, Miho Ota, Cindy Bissig, Sebastien Lemoine, John Gauntner, Chris Hughes, Rebekah Wilson-Lye, Marie Nagata, Christopher Pelegrini, Arline Lyons, Shuso Imada, and Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air. For more information about the Honkaku Shochu & Awamori EXPERIENCE: www.jfn.co.jp/lp/experience2024/ (Japanese Only)

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J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Round 32 & J3 Round 29

james taylor extra time yamaguchi j2 shimizu kagoshima j3 j talk

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 68:01

Jon Steele, James Taylor and Mike Innes bring you up to date with all the latest drama in J2 and J3. In the first part of this week's episode, Jon and James talk about the relegation 6-pointer between Tochigi and Kagoshima (start to 10:45), the Shizuoka Derby that saw Fujieda take on Shimizu (10:45 to 21:10), and playoff rivals JEF United v Yamaguchi (21:10 to 32:55). Then they make their unsurprising choices for Most Bravo Player (32:55 to 36:40) and look ahead to the coming round of fixtures (36:40 to 44:30). Then, Mike reviews J3 matchday 29 in full in J-Talk: Short Corner (44:30 to end). Thanks as always for your support of JTET, JTSC, and the J-Talk Podcast! Buy tickets for J-Talk Live (Saturday 12th October) at the Yokohama Football Film Festival here: https://teket.jp/6232/38395 Join the JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/p6PVbF9E Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/jtalkpod

J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Round 31 & J3 Round 28

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2024 65:44

The big games just keep on coming in J2 and J3, so the JTET team of Jon Steele, James Taylor and Mike Innes are on hand with analysis and opinions. Jon and James start the episode with two important games in the relegation dogfight, Tochigi v Mito (start to 13:05) and Kagoshima v Kumamoto (13:05 to 21:30), then look at a meeting of playoff hopefuls Sendai and Fujieda (21:30 to 32:45). That's followed by Most Bravo Player chat (32:45 to 36:15) and a preview of upcoming fixtures (36:15 to 43:30). To round off the episode, Mike has all the details of the latest twists in the J3 playoff and relegation battles in J-Talk: Short Corner (43:30 to end). Thanks as always for your support of JTET, JTSC, and the J-Talk Podcast! Buy tickets for J-Talk Live (Saturday 12th October) at the Yokohama Football Film Festival here: https://teket.jp/6232/38395 Join the JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/p6PVbF9E Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/jtalkpod

mito james taylor extra time sendai j2 kumamoto kagoshima j3 j talk

J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Round 30 & J3 Round 27

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2024 65:59

There's no rest for the wicked, so although J1 took a break for international football, J2 and J3 continued apace, and James Taylor, Jon Steele and Mike Innes have all the latest from Japan's 2nd and 3rd tiers. James and Jon begin by talking about Shimizu v Nagasaki (start to 09:40), Yamaguchi v Tokushima (09:40 to 17:30), and Kagoshima v Iwaki (17:30 to 27:35), then make their picks for Most Bravo Player (27:35 to 34:00) and preview upcoming league and cup games (34:00 to 43:35). Then, as ever, Mike Innes brings you a full and frank review of all the J3 games in J-Talk: Short Corner (43:35 to end). Thanks as always for your support of JTET, JTSC, and the J-Talk Podcast! Buy tickets for J-Talk Live at the Yokohama Football Film Festival here: https://teket.jp/6232/38395 Join the JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/p6PVbF9E Join the J-Talk Podcast Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/jtalkpod

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台風１０号、鹿児島県上陸　線状降水帯相次ぐ、九州北部横断へ―特別警報は切り替え

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2024 0:20

【図解】台風１０号の予想進路台風１０号は２９日午前８時ごろ、鹿児島県薩摩川内市付近に上陸した。 Very powerful Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima on Thursday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

japan kagoshima

Exploring Shochu in Kagoshima with Maya Aley

japan walking unpacking expats osaka sapporo kagoshima japan podcast beebo

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2024 33:31

This week on our show, we're heading to Kagoshima, the heart of Japan's shochu production! Join us as one of our regular hosts, Chris Pellegrini, sits down with the incredible Maya Aley – a certified Shochu Meister and industry expert with over 6 years of experience. Maya is also the manager of Bar Roku, a must-visit destination for shochu lovers. In this episode, Maya shares how a visit to her bar is not just about enjoying a drink but also about experiencing “a dinner and a show.” She introduces us to the rich world of shochu, its makers, and the Kagoshima region, offering insights into local culture, traditions, and even other beverages beyond shochu. With one of Japan's best shochu selections and educational displays, Bar Roku offers a unique experience that Maya loves explaining to guests. Together, we dive deep into the art of enjoying shochu, from traditional serving styles to the growing trend of shochu-based cocktails. Maya explains the rise of “soda wari” and how distillers are now skillfully highlighting natural aromas and flavors without adding anything artificial. We also discuss Maya's exciting new ventures, including her latest bar and Shochu Bistro Gou, a Kagoshima-inspired restaurant that pairs local ingredients with shochu. With over 150 shochu varieties, it's a showcase of the region's distillers and their flagship brands. And finally, Maya wraps up the episode by sharing her local tips on how to spend the perfect day in Kagoshima. Tune in for a fascinating journey through the world of shochu and Kagoshima culture! For anyone curious about Maya make sure to check out her Instagram and in case you are in Kagoshima you can find Bar Roku here. As always, if you have questions or comments please do share them with us at questions@sakeonair.com or head over to our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook we would love to hear from you! We'll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air. Until then, kampai! This episode has been made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association. Sake on Air was created by Potts-K Productions and is produced by Export Japan. Our team is Justin Potts, Miho Ota, Cindy Bissig, Sebastien Lemoine, John Gauntner, Chris Hughes, Rebekah Wilson-Lye, Marie Nagata, Christopher Pelegrini, Arline Lyons, Shuso Imada, and Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

japan air sake chris hughes kagoshima shochu aley john gauntner

Walking across Japan with Beebo || Unpacking Japan podcast Ep.77

Unpacking Japan

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2024 56:34

Meet Beebo, a live streamer who is walking across Japan and streaming on twitch his journey from Kagoshima to Sapporo. He is bound to walk more than 2500 km. Join our conversation to know how it all started. Follow Beebo:https://www.twitch.tv/beebohttps://www.instagram.com/beebojapanFollow us on our social media:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2158416https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japanhttps://www.x.com/unpacking_japanhttps://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapanhttps://youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshorts Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan!Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/youtube.com/@unpackingjapan

Matsuro-koku

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2024 29:10

Moving on with our third part of the Gishiwajinden Tour, we head to the old area of Matsuro, which, for us, means modern Karatsu. Here we have some of the oldest rice paddies in all of Japan, but Karatsu is so much more. It was part of Matsura, where the Matsura family (aka league, factions, or pirates, depending on how you saw it) arose. It is also a short hop from Nagoya, which briefly became the capital of Japan; Nagaoka-kyo gets a mention in the histories, but Nagoya rarely merits it, since it was just the Taiko and every actually important person minus the Tenno. For more photos and others such things, check out: https://www.sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/matsuro-koku/ Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua and this is Gishiwajinden Tour, Part Four: Matsuro-koku So far on this tour through the locations listed in the Weizhi's Wa Record, the Gishiwajinden, following the route to Queen Himiko of Wa, we've hit the area of Gaya, or Gara; Tsushima—or Tuma-koku; Iki, aka Iki-koku; and now we are arriving at Karatsu, thought to be the location of Maturo-koku. Now before we go any further, let's talk about the name. After all, up to this point in the account, the names haven't been too far off. Well, Tsushima was recorded as something like Tuma in the Chinese record, which seems reasonable, and “Iki” was actually recorded as something like “I-dai”, though we are pretty sure that was a transcription error based on other evidence. But Karatsu and Maturo, really don't seem related. Also, didn't we earlier equate Matsuro with Matsuura, Matsura? But if you look for Matsuura on a map it is quite some distance away from Karatsu—in fact, it is in modern Nagasaki prefecture as opposed to Karatsu, which is in modern Saga prefecture. First off, Karatsu is a later name for the city, not the area. It literally means “Tang Port”, and that name seems to appear in the 15th century in the form of Karatsu Jinja, or Karatsu Shrine. So no, the names Karatsu and Matsuro are not related. Prior to being called Karatsu, though, it was part of a larger area called Matsura. It sits at the head of the Matsura River, which spills out into what is now called Karatsu Bay. In ancient times this seems to have been the heart of the area known as Matsura or Matsuro. Over time it was incorporated into the larger area known as Hi no Kuni, and when Hi no Kuni was divided up by the Ritsuryo state into Hizen and Higo, we see the Matsura district, or Matsura-gun, is a part, along the coast. The fact that it is spelled as “Matsu” and “Ura”, meaning “pine beach”, might hint at the original name of the place or could be a false etymology, imposed by the need to record the location in kanji, the Sinitic characters used at the time. Fun fact time: Hizen refers to the area of the land of Hi that was closer to Yamato, while Higo refers to the area of the land of Hi that was further away. If you look at a modern map of where these two ancient provinces were, however, you'll notice that by a slight technicality, Higo is actually closer, as the crow flies. But remember, people are not crows, at least not in this life, and in all likelihood, most of the travel to and from Yamato would have been via sea routes. So Hizen is closer to Yamato from that perspective, as you would have to sail from Higo, around Hizen, or take the long way south around Kagoshima. But where were we? So Matsura district in Hizen started at Matsura-gawa and the area around Karatsu bay, and included modern areas of Hirado all the way out to the Goto islands. That was a pretty large area. It later got further subdivided into East, West, North, and South Matsura subdistricts, with Karatsu in the Eastern subdistrict, and some portion of the west. Eventually, Karatsu city became its own administrative district, in modern Saga prefecture, and so did Hirado city, in what was the old Northern Matsura sub-district, joining Nagasaki prefecture. The western sub-district went to Karatsu or incorporated as Imari, known for their Imari-ware pottery. And that left a small portion of the northern sub-district. The incorporated villages and islands eventually came together as Matsuura city, in Nagasaki prefecture, which is what you'll see, today. And that is why, looking at a modern map, “Matsura” and modern “Matsuura” are not precisely in the same place. That history also helps demonstrate the historical connections between Karatsu, Hirado, Iki, and Tsushima—as well as the Goto islands. This region was where the Matsura clan arose, which controlled at least out to Iki, Hirado, and the Goto archipelago, and it was known for its strong navy, among other things. For our trip, heading to Karatsu was originally borne out of convenience: Our goal was to take the ferry so that we could travel along the ocean routes. We had traveled the route from Izuhara, on Tsushima, to Ashibe port, on Iki island. During that trip it was interesting to watch as Tsushima disappeared and then eventually Iki appeared on the horizon, but it wasn't immediate, and I suspect you would have wanted an experienced crew who knew the route and knew what to look for. Conversely, from Indoji port, on Iki, to Karatsu I felt like we were constantly in sight of one island or another, or at least could see the mountains of Kyushu to get our bearings. There wasn't really a time that felt like we were that far out from land. Even so, it would still have been a treacherous crossing back in the day. Coming in to Karatsu from the ferry, the first thing you will notice is the castle. Karatsu castle, also known as Maizuru Castle, is a reconstructed castle, but it really does provide a clear view of what one would have seen. The original was abandoned in the Meiji period and sold off in 1871. The main keep was later demolished and made into a park. In 1966 they built a new, 5-storey keep on the original base, and from 1989 onward have continued to make improvements to various parts of the castle moats and walls. You can still see the layout of the Ninomaru and honmaru sections of the castle, encompassing the old samurai districts of the jokamachi, or castle town, of Karatsu during the Edo period. Our primary goal in Karatsu, however, was not castle focused. We wanted to go back to an earlier time – the Yayoi period, to be precise - and Karatsu and the Matsuro-kan did not disappoint. While not quite as extensive as the reconstruction at other Yayoi sites like Harunotsuji or Yoshinogari, the site at the Matsuro-kan is still impressive in its own right. What is the Matsuro-kan, you might ask? It is the building and grounds of what is also known as the Nabatake site. In 1980, construction workers were excavating for a road through the Nabatake section of Karatsu when they noticed they were pulling up artifacts. An investigation between 1980 to 1981 determined that the artifacts were from the late Jomon to middle Yayoi period. Further investigation discovered the presence of old rice paddies. In 1983 the site was designated as a national historic site, further excavations were carried out, and the Matsurokan was built to house the artifacts and also provide some reconstructions of what the rice paddies would have looked like. For context these are some of the oldest rice paddies found in Japan, along with the nearby Itazuke rice paddies, in neighboring Fukuoka prefecture, and are key for giving us insights into what we know about early rice field cultivation. Here I should point out that these fields were in use through the middle Yayoi period, while the mission to Yamato—or Yamatai—recorded in the Weizhi would have been in the late Yayoi or early Kofun period, so likely several hundred years later. There are other Yayoi settlement remains found up and around the peninsula, and there are Kofun in the area, especially along the banks of the Matsura river. Given how built up much of the area is, it is possible that any large scale settlement may have been destroyed by subsequent settlements, or is somewhere that there just hasn't been a good reason for a full excavation. Still, who knows what we might eventually find. The Matsurokan appears to stick with the dating of the Yayoi period from about 300 BCE. This is based largely on assumptions regarding the development of different pottery styles. Recent research has suggested that this should be pushed back to about 800 or even 1000 BCE, suggesting a more gradual development. For our purposes, it is enough to note that this site appears to cover from the final Jomon era in Kyushu to the coming of wet rice agriculture with the advancing Yayoi culture. Based on what was found at the site, the wet rice paddies were created in what at least one scholar has suggested as a “primitive” wet rice paddy. The paddies themselves appear to have been placed in a naturally swampy area, irrigated by a natural stream. This would have made flooding the fields relatively simple, without the large ponds or waterworks required to cover a more extensive area. This may have sufficed for a small village, possibly only a handful of families living together and working the land. Besides the impressions of the paddies themselves, various tools, pottery, and more were also found at the site. Stone harvesting knives were plentiful—a semicircular stone knife that was held in the fingers of one hand, allowing a harvester to grasp the stalks and cut them quickly. This was the standard method of harvesting prior to the arrival of the sickle, or kama, and is still in use in some parts of China and Southeast Asia. It is more labor intensive than the sickle, but provides some benefits in the consistency and lack of waste product. The Matsurokan demonstrates how a lot of the Yayoi tools are, in fact, still in use in one form or another in different cultures that also absorbed rice cultivation, showing how widespread it became. In addition, there are artifacts such as shards of pottery showing what looks to be the imprint of a woven fabric, and various equipment for weaving and sewing. We have some beams and posts from buildings, which give us something at least try to guess at how things were put together. There are bones of various animals as well as stone arrowheads. There are also fish and even dugong bones, suggesting they also made a living from the nearby sea. And there are various bits of jewelry, including magatama, and what appears to be a shark's tooth with holes drilled in so it could be worn on a cord. There are also carbonized rice grains found at the site, likely grown there. We don't have any ancient strains of rice that can be proven to come from these fields, but in their reconstruction, outside the museum, they have rebuilt some of the rice fields and grow old rice variants in them. This is used, in part, to teach local schoolchildren about rice cultivation – in fact, local schools are allocated individual paddies each growing season. Besides the rice paddies, the Matsurokan also boasts several reconstructed dwellings. These are similar to ones you might find elsewhere depicting what life was like back in the Yayoi period. As the Yayoi period gave way to the kofun, we do see some mounded tombs in the area, though not quite as many as in others. Matsura appears to be rather rural. Around the Heian period, we see the rise of a local group that comes to be known as the Matsura group, or Matsura-tou, which eventually consolidated into the Matsura family. There are several lineages claiming that the Matsura family descended from the Minamoto or Abe clans or through branch families thereof. Matsura-to itself is sometimes called the 48 factions of Matsura. It wasn't as much a family as an alliance of local warriors, each with their own base of operations. I can't quite tell if the lineage of the later Matsura clan, as they were known, were meant to represent a single lineage or the various lineages that came together. For all we know, they may have married into official families or otherwise concocted lineages to help legitimize them as much as anything else—this far out from the center, in the 11th century, there wasn't necessarily as much oversight. Early in the 11th century they also had a chance to prove themselves with the Toi invasion – that was the Jurchen invasion we mentioned last couple episodes. After the Toi invaders attacked Tsushima and Iki, they set their sites on Hakata Bay, which was the closest landing to the Dazaifu, the Yamato government in Kyushu. They were chased off and headed down the coast. Minamoto Tomo is said to have led the forces that repelled the Toi invaders, who finally departed altogether, striking one more time on Tsushima before heading back to wherever they came from. Minamoto Tomo is said, at least in some stories, to have been the founder of the Matsura clan, or at least the leader of the 48 factions, which then coalesced into the Matsura clan, which eventually would run the Hirado domain. Over two hundred and fifty years after the Toi Invasion would come the Mongols. If the Toi were bad, the Mongols were much worse. The Toi were a band of marauders, who caused a lot of havoc, but do not appear to have had state backing. The Mongols were perhaps more appropriately the Yuan empire, who had already conquered the Yellow river valley and were working on the Song dynasty along the Yangzi. While the Toi had brought with them Goryeo warriors as well—who may or may not have joined up willingly—the Mongols had huge armies from all over that they could throw at a problem. As we talked about in the past two episodes, the Mongols swept through Tsushima and Iki and then headed straight for Hakata, the closest landing zone to the Dazaifu, the government outpost in Kyushu. Even during the height of the Kamakura shogunate, this was still an important administrative center, and would have given the Mongols a huge advantage on holding territory and eventually sweeping up the archipelago. Fortunately, they were stopped. Whether it was the gumption, skill, and downright stubbornness of their samurai foes or the divine wind that swept up from the ocean, the Mongols were turned back, twice. During each of these invasions, the Matsura clan and others rushed to the defense of the nation, but unlike with the Toi invasions, there do not appear to have been any serious battles along the Matsuura coastline—not that I can make out, anyway. After the Mongol invasion, Kyushu was not left out of the troubles that would follow, including the downfall of the Hojo, the rise of the Ashikaga, and the eventual breakdown of the shogunal system into the period known as the Warring States period. Through it all the Matsura continued to ply the seas and encourage the trade from which they and others, like the Sou of Tsushima, came to depend on. They also allied with other entrepreneurial seafarers, known to others as pirates, and they started trading with a group of weird looking people with hairy beards and pale skin, who came to be known as the Nanban, the southern barbarians—known to us, primarily, as the Portuguese. One faction of the Matsura were the Hata—no relation to the Hata that set up in what would become the Kyoto region in the early periods of Yamato state formation. The Hata ruled the area that would become Karatsu, but eventually they were taken over by the Ryuzoji, who were allied with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi's interest in the Karatsu and Matsura area had to do with its easy access to the continent. And so Hideyoshi began to pay attention to Nagoya, at the end of the peninsula down from Karatsu. And no, not *that* Nagoya. If you hear Nagoya, today, you are probably talking about the bustling metropolis in Aichi, which was where Toyotomi himself got his start, growing up and going to work for the local warlord, named Oda Nobunaga. Due to a quirk of Japanese names and how they read particular characters, this is a different Nagoya. The Kyushu Nagoya had been one of the Matsura trading posts, run by a sub-branch of the Hata family, who had built a castle on the site. Hideyoshi had much grander plans for the area. In 1591 he began work on a massive castle and associated castle town. This castle was to be his new headquarters, and he moved his entire retinue there from Osaka, with an expectation that all of the daimyo would follow him. Sure enough, they showed up with their own vassals, setting up camps around the peninsula and in the new city-to-be. The castle was the base of operations from which Hideyoshi coordinated the invasions of Korea. It was a massive undertaking, and extremely impressive. The city itself sprung up, and although the wood was still new, and the buildings somewhat hastily put together, it was soon a bustling metropolis and briefly became the center of art and culture in the entire archipelago. Hideyoshi himself had a teahouse built within the confines of the castle, where he apparently spent most of his days, even when receiving reports on how things were going across the sea on the archipelago. The city had a Noh theater, as well. It must have been a sight to see. As for the castle itself, based on the remains, it was massive. It appears to use the contours of the hill upon which it sits. It seems there was a previous castle there of some kind, and it is unclear how much this was merely expanded, but Hideyoshi's new castle was truly monumental, with a labyrinth of gates to get in -- similar to Himeji Castle, for anyone who has been there, but with a serious vertical incline as well. Nagoya Castle was second only to Osaka castle, and yet it was erected quickly—only 8 months. I guess that's what you can do when you can mobilize all of the daimyo across Japan. Even today, ruined as it is, the walls tower over you, and you can spend hours wandering the grounds. For all that it was impressive, the good times at Nagoya Castle lasted only for a brief seven years—when Hideyoshi passed away, the council of regents moved back to Osaka, and Nagoya castle was deliberately destroyed, stones removed from the walls such that it could never survive a true siege. This was a sign to the Korean peninsula – the Joseon court - that, with the death of the taiko, Japan had given up any pretext of conquering the peninsula. Today, only the stones and earthworks remain of the briefly thriving city, but on the grounds is a wonderful museum that catalogs this particular slice of Medieval life. The Nagoya Castle Museum of Saga prefecture is off the beaten path—there is no train, so you'll need to take a bus or private car to get there—but it is well worth it. The museum itself is dedicated to Japanese and Korean cross-strait relations, which feels a bit like atonement given that the castle was built with conquest in mind. Of course, the centerpiece of the Museum is the castle, but it also does a good job telling the story of relations between the peninsula and the archipelago. It starts in the ancient times, talking about how, even during the Jomon period, there were commonalities in fishhooks and similar equipment found from Kyushu up through the Korean peninsula. From there, of course, trade continued, as we've seen in our journey through the Chronicles. It talks about some of the shared cultural items found from the Yayoi through the Kofun, and also demonstrates how some of the earliest Buddhist statues have clear similarities to those found in Silla. It goes over the various missions back and forth, and even gives a map of the Toi Invasion that we talked about hitting Tsushima and Iki. The Mongol invasion is also heavily talked about, but not nearly so much as the invasion of Korea. There is another reproduction of the letter of King Sejeong, with the faked seal from the Sou clan in Tsushima. This of course, was the period when they built Nagoya-jo into a castle and city of at least 100,000 people, almost overnight. Even the Nanban were there, trading in the city while supplies from across the country were gathered and shipped off to keep troops fed on the invasion of Korea. There are plenty of images from this time—from a Ming envoy to Nagoya castle to images of the invasion from the Korean perspective, with Koreanized samurai manning the walls of the castles they had taken. They don't exactly lionize the samurai, but they don't accentuate some of the more horrific things, either, like the piles of ears taken from those killed because taking their heads, as was standard practice in older days, was too cumbersome. There is also some discussion of relations afterwards—of the Joseon embassies, though those went through Hakata, Nagoya-jo having long been abandoned at that point. For reasons one can probably understand, it doesn't go into the post-Edo relations, as that is much more modern history. After the destruction of Nagoya castle, the area was largely abandoned, but the city of Karatsu proper really thrived during the Edo period. Karatsu was also a castle town, as we've mentioned, but a bit out of the way. As sailing ships were now more sturdy and able to handle longer sea crossings, it was now often Hakata, in Fukuoka, that received much of the trade, and the Dutch traders who had replaced the Portuguese, were limited to Dejima, in Nagasaki. When Hideyoshi swept through, the Hata were not exactly considered trustworthy, and were placed under the Nabeshima, a branch of their rivals, the Ryuzouji. During the invasion of Korea, the Hata rebelled, and were destroyed for it in 1593. Their territory was given to Terazawa Hirotaka, who had been put in charge of the construction of Nagoya castle and later put in charge of the logistics for the invasion effort from the Kyushu side. As a result, he was granted the lands formerly controlled by the Hata, including Karatsu, and what would become the Karatsu domain. Hirotaka could see which way the wind blew—in more ways than one. After Hideyoshi's death, he supported Tokugawa Ieyasu, allowing him to keep and even expand his fief. He redirected the Matsura river—then known as the Hata river—to its present course, and he built a pine grove along the northern beach that is the third largest such grove in all of Japan. Known as the “Niji no Matsubara”, or the ”Rainbow Pine Forest” for its shape, it was erected as a windbreak to protect the precious farmland just on the other side. It is still there today, still managed, and quite famous. You can drive through the pine trees or stop and walk through them, even out to the beach. And there is even a fantastic burger truck that parks along the main road through the pine grove, so you can enjoy a lovely picnic among the trees. The Terazawa would not remain in place for very long. During the Shimabara rebellion of the early 17th century—a rebellion based on either taxes or Christianity, depending on whom you ask—the Terazawa line was extinguished. Terazawa Katataka, then ruler of the Karatsu domain, was held liable for mismanagement of the domain and loss of a castle to the rebels. He had land confiscated and he felt publicly humiliated, and so he took his own life while he was in Edo. As he had no heir, the Terazawa line died out. Karatsu domain went through a variety of hands after that. Its value fluctuated, but it is generally thought that the real value of the domain, thanks to the ability to trade, was well beyond what it was assessed to produce. As such it was a lucrative position, and also held sway as a check against Nagasaki, watching the trade there with the Dutch merchants. Because of all of this, the lord of Karatsu was also banned from holding certain government positions, so as not to distract from their duties, making the position something of a blessing and a curse. Through the years, Karatsu thrived. They were and are still known for a type of traditional pottery, known as Karatsumono, or Karatsuware, and they maintain elaborate festivals. One of the festivals, the Karatsu Kunchi, is considered a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.The Karatsu Kunchi is an annual parade where neighborhood associations carry giant floats through the city from Karatsu Shrine down to the shore. It was inspired, in the early 19th century, by the famous Gion Matsuri of Kyoto—a wealthy merchant saw that and donated the first lion-head float to Karatsu Shrine. Later, others would create their own floats. These floats, known as “Hikiyama” or “pulled mountains” can be five or six meters high and weigh anywhere from two to five tons. There appear to be 14 hikiyama, currently, though there used to be 15—a black lion is currently missing. The floats have gone through a few iterations, but are largely the same, and often have some relationship to the neighborhoods sponsoring them. From Matsura, aka Matsuro-koku, we went north along the coast of Kyushu to Itoshima, thought to the be old country of Ito-koku, and beyond that, the Na-koku of Fukuoka. We'll cover both of those in our next and final installment of our Gishiwajinden tour. If you like what we are doing, 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 us at 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.

J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Round 20 & J3 Round 17

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2024 74:46

There were big results at both ends of J2 last weekend, so James Taylor and Jon Steele had plenty of talking points to get their teeth into. They start by discussing Ehime's shock win over Shimizu (to 09:30) and Sendai's dramatic draw with Nagasaki (to 17:30), then cover important wins for Tochigi over Oita (to 24:20) and Kagoshima over Yamagata (to 34:30). That's followed by Most Bravo Player (to 39:00) and a preview of the next set of fixtures (to 47:10). After that it's J-Talk: Short Corner – Mike Innes rounds up all the J3 teams who played in the Emperor's Cup round 2 last Wednesday (to 56:55) and then reviews another fascinating round of league fixtures, before finishing with a look at the table and the coming weekend's games (to end). *To get some pass notes on any of the games that we don't discuss on the pod, feel free to join our dedicated JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/pngqMZ7hwD

emperor james taylor nagasaki extra time sendai j2 shimizu kagoshima j3 yamagata oita j talk

県警前生安部長を起訴　不祥事情報漏えい―本部長が説明へ・鹿児島

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2024 0:37

鹿児島県警本部、鹿児島市不祥事に関する内部文書を第三者に漏らしたとして、鹿児島県警の前生活安全部長が逮捕された事件で、鹿児島地検は２１日、国家公務員法違反罪で、前部長本田尚志容疑者を起訴した。 The Kagoshima District Public Prosecutors Office in southwestern Japan on Friday indicted a former senior official of the Kagoshima prefectural police department for allegedly breaching confidentiality by leaking an internal document containing information about a police scandal.

japan kagoshima

Iki-koku

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2024 33:04

This is Part 3 of our Gishiwajinden Tour--following the route of the Wei embassy through the land of Wa and looking at the various locations along the way. So far we've looked at the old land of Gaya, as represented at Gimhae, the site of the old Geumgwan Gaya, and the island of Tsushima, on the border. This episode we look at the next island: Iki. It might be easy to overlook Iki--it was neither the center nor exactly the periphery. From the point of view of those in the court or those outside it was rather "mid", in a literal sense. However, it was certainly at the center of its own vibrant history, which was certainly important to everyone there, and hosted a thriving community. It is also a great place to visit in the modern day: something of a hidden gem for anyone looking for a slightly more out of the way place to visit, with a slower pace than cities like Tokyo. For more, see our blog page: https://www.sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/iki-koku Rough Translation: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua and this is Gishiwajinden Tour Part 3: Iki-koku. As regular listeners know, we are currently taking a break from the Chronicles. With the Isshi Incident of 645—see Episode 107—we are about to get into the time known as “Taika” or “Great Change”. Spoiler alert: This is the rise of Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou; Nakatomi Kamako, aka Nakatomi Kamatari, the progenitor of the Fujiwara family; and more. It is the beginning of what is known as the Ritsuryo System, the idea of a state governed by laws and punishments similar to what we see on the continent, based largely on Confucian principles, but mixed with a healthy dose of local tradition. There is a lot there, and I want to do it justice. And so for now I have a little bonus content for you. Earlier this year, Ellen and I took a trip based on the account in the Gishiwajinden, the Wa section of the Weizhi, the section in the Wei Chronicles regarding the trip to visit Queen Himiko of Wa. In Part 1 we talked about our trip to Gimhae, formerly known as Geumgwan Gaya, a part of the old Gaya—or Kara—confederacy, with close ties to the archipelago. Part 2 we talked about our next stop, the island of Tsushima. But we didn't just talk about it in the 3rd century, because if you visit there is so much more to see from an historical perspective. This episode we are talking about the island of Iki, aka Ikijima, though in the Weizhi it is known as its own country: Iki-koku. Relative to Tsushima, Iki island is much smaller—about one fifth the overall landmass. However, it is much flatter as well—the highest point is only 212 meters above sea level, compared to Tsushima, which rises to about 649 meters at Mt. Yatate. This makes Iki an island with a lot of flat land or rolling hills—perfect for the kind of wet rice paddy agriculture that created the population boom in the Yayoi period, which we will talk about here in a minute. However, I will note that even today the population of Iki is similar to that of Tsushima despite having much less space. The flora and fauna of the island is much closer to that of the rest of the archipelago—in fact, it is nearly identical to what you would find in southwest Kyushu. This is not surprising given how close it is. For reference, Hitakatsu, on Tsushima is under 50km from Busan, Korea, and about 147 km to Hakata port in Fukuoka, or 138 km if you depart from Izuhara port instead. Comparatively, it is about 76 km from Hakata to Iki, and even less—just about 42km—from Iki to Karatsu, south of Fukuoka, and these routes are dotted with islands along the way. At its closest point, Iki is probably only 20km from Kyushu, but the ferries only stop at certain ports. Tsushima to Iki, on the other hand, is around 68 km, from Izuhara to Iki. Iki is about as close to Karatsu as Tsushima is to Pusan, and they are both further away from each other than from their respective larger landmasses. That makes this leg – Tsushima to Iki - the longest leg in the trip, realistically. Today, both Iki and Tsushima, along with the Goto islands to the south, are all part of Nagasaki prefecture, despite the fact that they are both closer to Saga and Fukuoka prefectures. This is in part because Iki came under the jurisdiction of the Hirado domain, which also was heavily involved with foreign trade through Nagasaki. Today, Iki is broken up into roughly four areas. This includes Katsumoto, Ashibe, Indoji, and Gonoura, based around the four main port towns on the island. Three of these ports, Ashibe, Indoji, and Gonoura, have ferries that regularly travel to either Tsushima or Kyushu. And all of them have various boats to take people out the islands around Iki, one of the major draws for many people coming to the island being to see the natural beauty of its coastline and surrounding waters. There is also a small airport. Although Iki is small—you can drive from one end to the other in 40 minutes or less—I highly recommend renting a car, much like Tsushima. This will be helpful to get to various sites, although be aware that while the main roads are well cared for, there are plenty of roads where it is better to go on foot rather than get stopped by fallen trees and branches in a less well maintained area. Taxis can be had, but aren't always convenient, and that adds cost and time. A car will give you much more freedom to get around. Iki is a popular tourist destination, with more people coming during the summer months. We were there in the off-season, which was somewhat nice, but also meant that many restaurants and the like were closed. Also, similar to Tsushima, there isn't a konbini—a convenience store—on every street corner. You can certainly find them, but just be aware. That said, we never really had a problem finding what we needed. Iki is known for several things. One, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the squid, and you can see the squid boats in the harbor or out at night. They have arrays of lights set up, to help draw the squid to the surface, a common technique around the world that makes squid fishing quite distinctive. In addition, Iki island is quite proud of its beef, a much more recent addition. The flat land allows them to raise cattle, and the Iki raised wagyu cattle, known as Iki-gyu, is highly prized. You can find several yakiniku restaurants around the island, that particular Japanese style of Korean barbecue where you grill up thinly sliced beef on a hot skillet or even an open grill at your table. An older product is the barley shochu. Iki island is said to be the birthplace of barley shochu, developing it in the 17th century. Back then, taxes from the island had to be paid in rice, and there wasn't enough left to make much alcohol, such as traditional sake. As such, the local farmers started using barley and koji, instead, to make the base alcohol that they then distilled into shochu. Shochu itself goes back to at least the 16th century, as distilling techniques reached southern Japan via either the Ryukyu kingdom or via the Korean peninsula—records are unclear, as these techniques reached both places before Japan, and Kyushu had connections to each. That said, early shochu was made with rice, and later it would be made with cheaper ingredients, such as barley, in the case of Iki, or sweet potato, in Satsuma, modern Kagoshima. These methods spread to other parts of Japan. There are plenty of other food options available on the island as well, and I don't think we had a bad meal anywhere we went. And so we left Izuhara port, on Tsushima, early in the morning and arrived at Ashibe port around lunchtime. We had arranged a car to meet us at the port, and after grabbing a bite at a locally renowned yakinikuya, we decided to start getting our historical bearings on the island. Our main objective on Iki island was to see the Yayoi site of Harunotsuji and the Iki-koku Museum, the museum of the country of Iki. Quick note for anyone looking this up: The “Haru” in “Harunotsuji” is typically pronounced “Hara” outside of Kyushu and Okinawa. This affects a lot of placenames in Kyushu, including Iki, and likely comes from remnants of an old dialect of Japanese spoken in this area. Whatever the reason, if you look up the site in Japanese you may want to type “Hara-no-tsuji” to help find the right kanji. Harunotsuji site is an incredible find in regards to the Yayoi period. It was a large settlement built on flat land in the interior of the island. Today it is surrounded by rice fields, and fortunately nobody else seems to have built up on the raised hills where the settlement once stood, allowing the site to remain for us to find years later. This is one of the better preserved sites from the Yayoi period, and is often touted as the likely center of activity in Iki during that period. Of course, as with other sites, like Yoshinogari, we can only see those sites that were preserved—those that were built upon in later generations may not have left any trace. However, in this case there's clear evidence that there was a thriving community here. And because of that, and the tremendous effort they've put into reconstructing the site, as well as the excellent museum, we wanted to make sure that we gave Iki a visit. There aren't many museums on Iki island, but the Iki-koku museum ranks up there with some of the best we've visited. The building itself is built to blend into the landscape, and from the observation tower you can look out over the Harunotsuji site. The museum provides an automated introduction to the area, with a small film depicting what they believe life was probably like back in the Yayoi period. From there you travel down a hallway that takes you through the history of Iki, but eventually deposits you in a room focused on the Yayoi period. Here they show a reconstructed boat, as well as a large diorama of the Harunotsuji site. One of the major finds at Harunotsuji is what appears to be a dock, reinforced with rocks, similar to what they find on the continent. This dock was at a small stream that was once larger, and was likely used to ferry goods and people from Harunotsuji to a settlement or outpost on the shore. It gives greater insight into what trade and life looked like. Speaking of which, props to the museum for their excellent use of often comical figures in their diorama, which is clearly made to appeal to young and old alike. They help humanize the figures, and each part of the layout that they created of the site tells a story about what was going on. In addition to the diorama of the site, and what it may have looked like, there were also actual Yayoi era pots that were there which you could pick up and handle yourself. I have to admit that I did this with some trepidation, even knowing that these were not particularly special, and that there are many pots and shards that are found at sites like these. Still, it was something to actually handle a pot that was made back in that time—something that was made by an actual person living back then and used for whatever purpose before it was discarded or lost, only to be found centuries later. Besides the room on the site, there is another side to the museum in that it is a working archaeological center. You can see the lab where people are working, and they also have a room where you can see the stacks—the giant shelves with all of the historical and archaeological bits and bobs that weren't on display for one reason or another. That is something that many people don't always appreciate: For many museums, only a portion of their collection is actually on display. It was really great to see all of that out in the open. The museum also has a café and some function rooms, as well as a giant observation tower, from which it feels like you can see the entire island, and beyond. You could definitely look down and see the site, but you could also see some of the more distant islands as well. From the museum we went down to see the actual Harunotsuji site. There is another museum there, which was a little less impressive but still quite informative, and it was where you park and then walk over to the site itself. And here I admit that it was getting late, so we came back to it another day, but it doesn't really take that long to see the site itself. Most of the site sits on a rise of land that sits just a little higher than the surrounding fields, with a gentle slope to it. It is oddly shaped, likely because they used the natural contours of the land rather than explicitly building up a terrace. There is another rise towards one end of the settlement, with what may have been a fence around the area, indicating that the buildings in that area were set aside as special. There are also ditches that appear to have been purposefully dug to separate a part of the rise from the area of the settlement, as buildings were apparently found on one side but not the other. What was found was a small area surrounded by a moat, generally thought to have been used for some kind of ritual. At the site today are reconstructed buildings of multiple kinds, based on the archeological findings. There are pit buildings, buildings sitting flush on the ground, as well as raised buildings, all based likely on the arrangements and size of post-holes and the like. There also appears to have been some kind of gate or barrier structure, also based on postholes, which they have physically reconstructed. It is always tricky to interpret what a building looked like other than guessing at its general shape and size. Extremely large post-holes likely held larger posts, which would make particular sense if they were for a tall structure, like a watchtower, but exact architectural features such as doorways, roof structure, etc. are derived based on other examples as well as Shinto shrine architecture, which seems to originate from some of the early Yayoi buildings. There were also some finds in the surrounding areas, including what appears to have been a stone-lined dock for boats to pull up, some kind of guard post to inspect people entering or leaving the settlement, and moats, which likely surrounded the settlement as well. Harunotsuji is not the only Yayoi site that has been excavated on Iki island, but nothing else is quite so large. Put in context with other archaeological sites from the same time period, Harunotsuji is thought to have been the most powerful, and therefore where the ruler, or the quote-unquote “King”, of Iki would have lived. Here I'd note that the interpretation of Harunotsuji as a kingly capital is quite prevalent in the local literature, but what exactly was a “king” in this sense isn't fully explored. As we talked about two episodes back with Gimhae and the quote-unquote “Kingdom” of Gaya, Iki-koku probably better fits the English term of a large chiefdom, rather than a kingdom. However, that would also likely apply to Queen Himiko, as well—even if her chiefdom dwarfed Iki-koku by comparison. That said, there certainly appears to be a social stratification of some kind going on at the site, especially with a special area clearly set aside at one end of the settlement. Was that where a shaman-king—or queen—similar to Himiko carried out private, arcane rites on behalf of the entire settlement? Perhaps the entire island? Or is it something else? Unfortunately, we can't really know, at least not right now. However, we do know that it was an important part of the trade routes from the continent out to the archipelago. This isn't just because of the Weizhi, or the common sense that this is the clearest route between the two, but also because of artifacts found at the site, which include abundant goods from the continent. In addition we found evidence of dogs, armor, shields, and various pots. One thing I didn't see evidence of was a large funkyubo, like at Yoshinogari, where they buried people in pots on a large, communal cemetery mound. Here the highest elevations appear to have been used for living structures. There were graves discovered, and some of these were the pot-style burials found at Yoshinogari and the continent, and others were rectangular, stone-lined coffins, similar to those used on the Tsushima kofun: they are lined with large, flat slabs that define a rectangle, into which the body is placed, and then flat slabs of stone are used to cover it back up. Harunotsuji shows signs of habitation from the start of the Yayoi period to the beginning of the Kofun period. After that, though, the trail grows a bit cold. We do know, however, that people were still living on Iki through the Kofun period—we assume they didn't just pack up their bags and leave—and that is thanks to the many kofun found across the island. There are some 280 kofun preserved today, and Edo period accounts had that number at more like 340. Indeed, Iki has one of the largest and best preserved collection of kofun of all of Kyushu. Many are smaller kofun, but there are plenty of groups of large kingly kofun. A group of the larger kingly kofun can be found in the border area between Katsumoto-cho and Ashibe-cho, due west of Ashibe port. This includes the large Soroku Kofun, Oni-no-iwaya Kofun, the Sasazuka Kofun, as well as the Kakegi kofun and the Yurihata Kofun-gun. Soroku kofun, a large, keyhole shaped tomb, boasts a length of 91 meters, making it not only the largest on the island, but the largest in all of Nagasaki prefecture. Kofun culture on the island differed slightly from elsewhere. For instance, there is evidence of multiple burials in the same tomb, suggesting that they were viewed more like family mausoleums than simply a single tomb structure. The earliest kofun found on Iki so far can be dated to about the latter half of the 5th century, with most of them being built in the 6th to 7th centuries. Many are stone chambers with a horizontal entryway, which in the case of the Kakegi and Sasazuka kofun, are open to those who want to get in and explore. Be aware, though, as many signs tell you, various local residents have also made these tombs their homes, including bats, centipedes, snakes, and more. Most of them are relatively harmless, but it is always good to know what you are getting into. With the earliest kofun on the island dating to about the 5th century, this does pose a slight question yet to be answered by the archaeological record: Where were people living in the century between the end of Harunotsuji and the start of the kofun building period? Heck, where were people living on the island at all? We certainly know where the dead were buried. Looking at a map, one probably assumes that many of the kingly kofun would have been built somewhat near a population center. After all, you don't build giant burial mounds just to hide them—these would have likely been visible to people in some way, shape, or form. I would note that modern roads, likely built on earlier pathways, wind in between the kofun, even today. Personally, I can't help but notice that the Iki Kokubunji temple, the Provincial temple built in the 8th century, was quite close to some of the kingly kofun in Katsumoto. It is said that this temple was originally built as the family temple of the Iki clan. As one might guess from the name, the Iki were the traditional rulers of Iki, officially appointed by Yamato as the “Agata-nushi” or district lord, and later as “Shima no Miyatsuko”—the island equivalent of a “Kuni no Miyatsuko”. Various biographies trace the Iki back to various lineages close to or intertwined with the Nakatomi. However, this is not without some debate, and it is entirely possible that any such ties were fabricated to give the Iki clan greater clout and stature. It is possible, and even likely, that the Iki clan grew out of the ruling elite on Iki island. In addition, we have the old Tsukiyomi Jinja, said to be the oldest on the island, and the Kunikatanushi shrine built right next to the Kokubunji site. The Tsukiyomi shrine is dedicated to the moon god, who is said to be the god of navigation, among other things, and this is the clan shrine of the Iki clan. It is unclear, but seems plausible that the center of the Iki polity may have shifted north, to the modern Kokubun area. If so, and if this continued to be the area of the regional government headquarters through the Nara period and beyond, then it is possible that any earlier settlements would have simply been covered up and even erased by later buildings and structures. I don't think we'll ever truly know, though, unless something significant is uncovered. We do have some historical records of later Iki, quite understandable as it was where many of the envoys and expeditions to and from the mainland would have stopped. In the 11th century, Iki, along with Tsushima, was attacked by pirates from the mainland, thought to be of Jurchen descent, in an event called the Toi Invasion, which caused quite a bit of destruction. After that we see the rise of the Matsura clan. They arose in the Matsura area of Hizen province, just a little ways over from Karatsu. That name may be related to “Matsuro”, but we'll talk more about that when we get to Karatsu. The Matsura largely came to power thanks to their navy—which was a navy to some and pirates to others. They ended up gaining a foothold in Iki island. Whatever plans they had, however, met with a giant setback in 1274. As we discussed last episode, that was when the first Mongol invasion hit Japan, and after steamrolling through Tsushima they began a bloody conquest of Iki. The video game, Ghosts of Tsushima, which we talked about fairly extensively last episode for, well, obvious reasons, actually has an expanded Iki island area for those who want to try fighting off this invasion for themselves. There are numerous reminders across the island of the invasions, both in 1274 and 1281. The death toll was catastrophic, and even today parents will often tell their children that if they don't behave the Mongols will come back and take them away. In 1338, soon afer the Ashikaga shogun came to power, Ashikaga Takauji and his brother, Tadayoshi, directed the erection of temples in all 66 provinces, including Iki, to pray for the repose of those who died in battle during turbulent times, including the Mongol invasions and the later civil war. That temple is still there, just a little ways north from the Harunotsuji site. The temple building itself only dates from the Edo period, as it burned down multiple times, but it is still said that it is the oldest extant temple building on the island. There is a large cedar tree thought to be over a thousand years old, which may have even been there during the Toi and Mongol invasions. There are also signs of Christian activity in some of the artwork, if you know what to look for. When Europeans arrived in Japan in the 16th century, they brought not only guns, but also a new religion: Christianity. Priests were given permission to set up churches and convert people. Some daimyo converted—whether out of true faith or simply to get more lucrative trading deals with Europeans—and they often made their entire fief convert as well. When Christianity was eventually outlawed, many Christian communities went underground, becoming known as “Hidden Christians.” A lot of these communities continued, especially in the Iki and Goto islands, which were a little further away from shogunal authority. They continued despite the lack of priests and Bibles, often using iconography that could be plausibly passed off as Buddhist or Shinto in nature. Many remained in hiding throughout the Edo period, only revealing themselves after the Meiji government came in and issued a law protecting the freedom of religion, including Christianity. Around Iki you will occasionally find little hints of such communities' existence. The 16th century saw more than just European traders and new religions. The Matsura clan retained control over the island from their base in Hirado, even during the tumultuous era of Warring States. Last episode we talked about how Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the new Taiko, came out of that time and declared war on the Joseon court, in Korea. To start with he built Nagoya castle on Kyushu and moved himself and all of his retainers out to it. And before you ask, no, this probably isn't the Nagoya castle you are thinking of. Similar name, but different kanji characters Anyway, from Nagoya on the coast of Kyushu, supply lines were run out to Tsushima, and then across to Busan. To defend against a counterattack by Joseon forces, they built castles along the way as well. In Iki, this meant building several, including Katsumoto-jo, at the northern end of the island, under the command of Matsura Shigenobu. Later, Tokugawa Ieyasu, eager to restore good will with the peninsula, would have the castles intentionally ruined, often by removing key stones so that they could no longer be considered defensible. Today you can climb up to the Katsumoto-jo castle site and see the stones of the main gate and get a tremendous view from the observation platform. Katsumoto Castle isn't the only thing in Katsumoto that still remains from that time. There is a local shrine, the Shomogu Shrine, which has a gate donated by Kato Kiyomasa, one of the generals who led troops on the invasion of Korea. They also hold a cup that he is said to have donated. This shrine is certainly interesting and worth a visit. Traditionally, they say that it was built on the site where Jingu Tennou departed from Iki during her legendary conquest of the Korean peninsula. According to at least one source, at that time she called the place Kazamoto, the place where the wind comes from, and when she returned she changed it to Katsumoto, the place where her victory came from. Of course, as we know, that whole narrative is rather suspect. It is possible that the area was known as Kazamoto and that changed to Katsumoto. It also doesn't help that this is also where the Mongol army came ashore back in the 13th century, and I suspect that not much remained from before. Still, there is a stone that is said to have the print of Jingu's horse's foot as she left, and it was at least connected to the ocean, given its location. There is a contention that this shrine may have once been known as “Nakatsu” shrine, literally “Middle port” shrine, one of the shrines listed in the Engi Shiki. However, there is another Nakatsu shrine that also claims this distinction, also in Katsumoto-cho. The Shomogu shrine theory holds that this was a branch shrine of Shomogu shrine, then known as Nakatsu. This makes some sense as the current Nakatsu shrine is more inland, not exactly lending itself to being the “Middle Port” Shrine. Then again, it would have referred to “Nakatsumiya”, meaning the “middle shrine” or “middle palace”, which puts us back at square one. More important than the actual history of this shrine, at least in the 16th century, is the fact that those generals heading off to conquer the Korean peninsula definitely would have appreciated praying to the spirit of Jingu Tennou before heading off to try it a second time. Shomogu Shrine clearly had a link with her by then. By the way, slight side note, the “Shomo” of “Shomogu” literally means “Holy Mother”. In this case it is referencing the “Holy Mother” Jingu Tenno, who was pregnant when she left Japan and didn't give birth until she came back—not quite a virgin birth. “Shomo” was also the term that Christians, particularly hidden Christians, used to reference the Virgin Mary. While I cannot find any evidence that Shomogu Shrine was connected with Christianity—its existence and worship there predates that religion coming to the archipelago by some time—it is still one of those things that the Hidden Christians could have used to their advantage, hiding their worship of the Virgin Mary and her holy child behind the name for Jingu Tenno. Now the town of Katsumoto, although only briefly a castle town, was still quite important through the Edo period, and the main street certainly recalls a time long past. We stayed in a ryokan there that was over 100 years old, and there is both a sake brewery, and a craft beer brewery inside an old sake brewery, just down the street. It isn't a big town, but it has character. In the Edo period, many of the Joseon envoys stopped in Katsumoto on their way to or from the archipelago. These envoys typically had around 400 to 450 of their own people from Korea, but by the time they reached Iki they were joined by about 800 quote-unquote “guides” from Tsushima who were there to help them with whatever they needed. Technically it was up to the Matsura daimyo, in Hirado, to provide for their needs, but it seems that more often than not that role more immediately fell to the wealthiest family on the island, the Toi family. The Toi family—not to be confused with the Toi invasion—made their money from capturing whales; a lucrative but dangerous enterprise, especially given the state of the boats at the time. The stone wall of their mansion can still be seen in Katsumoto, though it is now wedged in between other buildings, as the mansion itself is otherwise long gone. They may not have been daimyo, but they were apparently the rough equivalent for the people of Iki, and certainly Katsumoto. The envoys ended up calling at Katsumoto about 19 times between 1607 and 1811—11 times on the outbound trip and 8 times going the other direction. For one mission, in the 18th century, we are even provided the amount of food that they required, which included 1500 sweet potatoes, 15,000 eggs, 7 and a half tons of abalone, 3 tons of squid, 7 and a half tons of rice, and 15 koku of sake, equaling about 1500 standard bottles, today. A drawing of the 1748 envoy showed parts of Katsumoto that you can still visit, today, including the old boat launch, the Shomogu shrine and nearby streets, Shigayama, and what is today “Itsukushima Shrine”, related to the worship of Susano'o's three daughters, as are the Munakata shrines and the Itsukushima shrine on Miyajima with the famous torii in the water. Besides the historical sites, Iki island offers a plethora of other activities and attractions. The famous monkey rock, or Saruiwa, is a famed natural feature, as are many others. There are also beaches that people appear to enjoy—though we were there in the winter, so not great—or just getting out in a boat and seeing the natural beauty of the island. There are also many more shrines and temples to visit; Iki has its own 88 temple pilgrimage based on the 88 temple pilgrimage of places like Shikoku. You can also do a pilgrimage of the many Shinto shrines, some of which are mentioned in historical documents like the Engi Shiki and others that are more modern. While many of the buildings are often newer, and things have of course changed over the centuries, these sites often still contain connections to history, and may even have historical treasures in their storehouses or on the grounds. We only had a limited time, so tried to keep our trip focused on more of the Yayoi and Kofun era stuff. We both agreed we would gladly go back again in a heartbeat. Next up, we caught the ferry from Indoji on Iki over to Karatsu port on Kyushu, what is thought to be the site of the old Matsuro kingdom. While others might point to the modern Matsuura city area, this region is may be more likely, and we'll talk about that next episode. In addition, we'll talk about Karatsu, which literally means “Chinese port”, and about the nearby castle ruins of Nagoya castle—an area that was, for about seven brief years, in the late 16th century the de facto capital of Japan. But that will be next time. Until then, thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, 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 us at 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.

J-Talk: Extra Time – Levain Cup & J2 Round 19

james taylor nagasaki extra time jef yamaguchi j2 levain niigata okayama kagoshima j talk

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 13, 2024 49:14

In this week's JTET, James Taylor and Jon Steele reviewed Niigata v Nagasaki in the Levain Cup playoff round (to 12:55), and a couple of league games: Yamaguchi v JEF (to 22:10) and Kagoshima v Okayama (to 36:05). They picked their Most Bravo Players (to 41:20) and looked ahead to J2 round 20 (to end). *To get some pass notes on any of the games that we don't discuss on the pod, feel free to join our dedicated JTET/JTSC Discord server here: https://discord.gg/pngqMZ7hwD

FOLGE 23 - WELTREISE: Nagasaki und Kagoshima

OKSANAS WELT - DER PODCAST

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2024 79:16

Aregato - und willkommen zurück in Japan! In dieser Folge besuchen wir gleich zwei Städte: Nagasaki und Kagoshima und schon mal vorab - vor allem die Atombomben angegriffen Stadt Nagasaki war eine emotionale Erfahrung. Diese Stadt trägt ein großes Stück der dunklen Seite der Weltgeschichte in sich. Am 9. August 1945 explodierte die zweite und hoffentlich letzte Atombombe über Nagasaki. Wir haben beschlossen, mit unseren Kindern das Atombombenmuseum zu besuchen und mit ihnen über die tragischen Ereignisse dieser Stadt zu sprechen. Die Bilder im Museum waren schwer zu ertragen, und wir haben Arielle und Milan noch fester in den Arm genommen und sind heute noch ein bisschen dankbarer für unser Leben. Im Museum gab es eine klare Botschaft: Teilt, was ihr hier gesehen habt, damit so etwas nie wieder passiert und das tun wir hiermit, und tragen hoffentlich dazu bei, zu informieren und an die Menschen zu gedenken, damit sowas niemals wieder passiert! Nach diesem tief bewegenden Besuch haben wir das Leben gefeiert, indem wir ein 150 Jahre altes Restaurant und Chinatown besucht haben. Dieser Tag auf unserer Weltreise war geprägt von Dankbarkeit und Nachdenklichkeit – ein etwas anderer, aber sehr bedeutsamer Tag. Was denkt ihr? Teilt gerne eure Gedanken mit uns. Am nächsten Tag ging es weiter in die kleine Hafenstadt Kagoshima. Nach einigem Hin und Her und ein bisschen Ehezoff, sind wir schließlich in einem Day-Spa gelandet. Warum das nicht unser ursprünglicher Plan war und weshalb es am Ende trotzdem perfekt war, erfahrt ihr in dieser Folge ;) Ganz viel Spaß beim Zuhören!

Dontaku Preview, Moxley v Narita, Nemeth v Tanahashi, Shingo v Kidd

Speaking of Strong Style

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2024 89:11

This week, Steven talked about the recent shows in Kagoshima and Hiroshima and how Yuya Uemura's win could change what we see from the KOPW title. He also previewed Dontaku, featuring title matches such as Jon Moxley versus Ren Narita, Jeff Cobb versus Zack Sabre Jr., Shingo Takagi facing Gabe Kidd, and Nic Nemeth defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi. He also took a look at the All Together card, plus the Best of the Super Junior Blocks and matchups. He also took a look back at the history of the Dontaku event.

hiroshima kidd jon moxley moxley nemeth jeff cobb hiroshi tanahashi zack sabre jr tanahashi narita shingo shingo takagi nic nemeth kagoshima dontaku gabe kidd kopw

Must see places in Kagoshima!

Voices in Japan

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2024 36:00

The boys take a closer look at the prefecture of Kagoshima. Get the true story behind the real 'Last Samurai'! Plus they discuss the must see island of Yakushima. They also talk about the mighty Sakurajima, one of Japans most active volcanoes. Other sightseeing spots not to miss and what unique foods to try in Kagoshima plus much more! Sponsors:MaruMoriThis site has everything you need to learn Japanese! It's an all-in-one, guided, gamified Japanese learning experience with the aim to take you all the way from absolute beginner to language mastery, and the best part is you can start anywhere! https://marumori.io/register?rcode=vijBearfoot BarLocated in downtown Sapporo and within walking distance from the subway station. They have a variety of Japanese made and international craft beers bottled and on tap. A wide range of regular and unique spirits and basic cocktails are also available. Burgers and pub style snacks and friendly English and Japanese speaking staff.https://www.facebook.com/bearfootbarThe Red HouseLocated in the heart of Rusutsu Ski Resort, just cross the main road and it's behind the Seicomart Convenience store. The restaurant features a mix of Japanese, Asian fusion, and western Style dishes, including shabu-shabu with wagyu beef and Hokkaido wagyu beef steak. Open winter and summer, 12-3pm for lunch, 5-9pm for dinner, with prices ranging from under Yen 1000 to about Yen 5000.https://theredhouse.jp/Rusutsu LodgesOpen all year round. Located only a 5-minute walk away from the main Rusutsu Ski Resort Gondola. There are Japanese, Western, and apartment style rooms with breakfast packages available. There's a Japanese sento (public bath), two convenience stores less than a minute walk, ski room and tune up tables, plenty of free parking space, and summer BBQ packages available. Check out the website for more information and availability.http://rusutsulodges.comHokkaido GuideEstablished over 10 years ago, written by locals for locals and international tourists. The guide contains information on all types of businesses and locations around Hokkaido. There's information regarding all things Hokkaido such as sightseeing, nightlife, events, services, food and restaurants, entertainment, outdoor activities, and more. Currently offered in English and Thai, advertising space available. Check out website for everything you need to know about this beautiful prefecture.https://hokkaidoguide.comUse our Buzzsprout affiliate link to start your podcast today!Website: https://www.voicesinjapan.com/Follow us and check out our other content:https://youtube.com/@voicesinjapanpodcasthttps://twitter.com/voicesinjapanhttps://www.facebook.com/voicesinj Support the showSupport the show

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The deep sea of Kagoshima eliminates stress and irritability, instantly detoxifies and relaxes you

Hypnosis and relaxation ï½œSound therapy

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2024 180:55

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/hypnosis-and-relaxation-sound-therapy9715/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

stress deep sea eliminates irritability relaxes kagoshima

JTET - J2/J3 Rounds 5 & 6 Review

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2024 66:50

After a rather hectic 7 days of fixtures in J2 and J3, the JTET team are back to round up all of the key points (and some minor ones) from the most recent games. First of all, James and Jon look back on some of the eye-catching games from last Wednesday in J2 (Round 5), chatting about Shimizu's late breakthrough at JEF Chiba (Start to 07:50), and early leaders Okayama's fairly comfortable home win over Gunma (07:50 to 13:40). After a quick break, the boys do similar for Sunday's Round 6 slate, focusing on Yokohama FC's victory at nine-man Kagoshima in pouring rain (13:40 to 23:45), and Tochigi's smash-and-grab home success against Oita (23:45 to 30:00). James and Jon then reveal their Most Bravo Players of the week, taking into account both rounds of action (30:00 to 35:30), and talk about some of the interesting transfer news of the week (35:30 to 42:20). The sad, tired, middle-aged men had just enough left in the tank to preview the upcoming Round 7 fixtures before slumping into a fitful, Pedro Manzi-haunted sleep (42:20 to 49:00). With J2 fully covered, Mike 'The Magic' Innes takes over for 'J-Talk: Short Corner' (49:00 to Finish), with all of the key Round 5 and Round 6 action from J3 forensically analyzed. Thanks for all the support for the pod, and we hope you enjoy the episode!

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J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Season Preview Part 4

season preview garry james taylor extra time j2 kagoshima j talk

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2024 82:11

The opening round of J2 fixtures is just a few days away, so James Taylor and Jon Steele, with special guests, have the final batch of J2 previews: Start to 09:50 Renofa Yamaguchi (Jon and James) 09:50 to 18:25 Oita Trinita (Jon and James) 18:25 to 26:00 Kagoshima United (Jon and James) 26:00 to 34:20 Roasso Kumamoto (Garry) 34:20 to end V-Varen Nagasaki (Daniel and Chikashi) Thank you to Garry, Daniel and Chikashi, and for contributing, to Mike for his help with the Kagoshima section, and to Patreon subscribers for the ongoing support. Enjoy the football!

Redcoats versus Samurais: The story of British troops in Japan during the 1860s

The Redcoat History Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2024 16:41

Samurai vs Redcoat. In this episode we examine the multiple times that bayonet and Katana battled during the 1860s. It includes the bombardment of Kagoshima and also the Shimonoseki campaign. This is the story behind James Clavell's Gaijin: a tale of samurai, imperialism, politics, war and gunboat diplomacy in the Wild East. This podcast also sees the first American earn the Victoria Cross and the ancient rule of the Japanese Shoguns come to an end. Thanks to Joshua Provan for researching and writing the script. His YouTube channel can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/@adventuresinhistoryland5501 His book Wild East is available via this link - https://amzn.to/3un24KU Sign up my mailing list to receive your free eBook about the Battle of Isandlwana: http://bit.ly/redcoathistory

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Nihongo Storytime for Beginners 81 趣味5：温泉旅行

Nihongo Storytime for Beginnersï½œJapanese Together

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2024 4:08

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Ponds, Peaches, and Thunder-gods

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2024 29:02

This episode we will finish up with many of the smaller episodes in the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tenno. Most of these are mentions of various public works projects, omens, expansion of the realm, and a couple of other stories, some more believable than others. As usual, more information can be found at https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-101 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 101: Ponds, Peaches, and Thunder-gods. First off, a big thanks to Red and Ryan for helping to support the site and our show. If you would like to join them, we'll have more information at the end of the episode, or check out our website at sengokudaimyo.com. When we last left off, we were going through some of the more random events that happened in the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tennou. and we're going to continue with that this episode, touching on some of the things that happened in the latter part of her reign, starting in about 613 and going from there—and some of this is more exciting than others. I'll try to hit the high points, but some of this will be familiar if you've been listening along. For example, one of the THRILLING things we'll start with (at least if you are a frog) is the building of ponds. In the winter of 613, we are told that the ponds of Waki no Kami, Unebi, and Wani were constructed. We've seen the construction of ponds since at least the time of Mimaki Iribiko, aka Sujin Tennou, the purported “first” sovereign, from around the probable time of Queen Himiko. The exact nature of these ponds doesn't seem to be known, but one theory is that they are for irrigation of rice paddies in places where the water wasn't consistently sufficient for everyone's needs—a pond would allow for water to be gathered up throughout the year and then released when it was needed for the rice paddies. More ponds may have indicated the opening of more fields, indicating continued growth.Ponds also had other uses, however, including breeding fish, and they were a habitat for birds, so this would also help encourage hunting and fishing. Finally, the ponds were public utilities, and part of the way the Court flexed their power as they raised levies for the ponds' construction. We might also say something about the way they indicated a certain amount of control over the land – but of course, most of these ponds are in the Nara basin and Kawachi regions, and so it doesn't tell us a whole lot more than what we already know about the centralized control there. They were important enough, however, that by the 8th century the creation of these ponds was still being tracked and attributed to specific rulers. If you're wondering what it might have been like to travel around in this period of Japan, you might be more interested in the fact that in the same line about the ponds, we are also told that a Highway was built from Asuka to Naniwa. This is believed to be the path of the ancient Takeuchi Kaidou in Kawachi, which some of the literature claims is the “oldest official road” in Japan. This road connects to the Yoko-ohoji in Nara, which links the modern city of Sakai, near Ohosaka, with the city of Katsuraki, and presumably it then connected with other paths down to Asuka. I suspect that the “official” qualifier is in there is because we have evidence of when it was made, whereas other roads and highways, such as the old highway along the foot of the mountains on the eastern edge of the Nara Basin, are perhaps even more ancient, but are simply mentioned, without evidence of how or when they were created—they may have been more organic footpaths that came to be heavily traveled, or just created with no record of who and when. This new highway was notable for connecting the port at Naniwa to the current capital and to the newly built temples in the Asuka area, as well. These temples were new institutions, but they were also fairly permanent structures, unlike even the palace buildings, which were still expected to be rebuilt each reign. Of course, they could be moved—and were, in later periods—but it was going to take some doing. That said, there were other permanent structures and religious sites—heck, many of the kami were associated with mountains, and you couldn't exactly move those, though they did have the ability to build sacred spaces elsewhere and bring the kami to them, so you weren't exactly tied to the physical geography. And there were the giant kofun, but I'm not sure how often people were going to the kofun to worship the ancient kings and other elites, other than perhaps family members paying their respects. The building of a highway to the capital alone would probably be an interesting flex, since the next sovereign could move somewhere else entirely. But the temples were intended to be relatively permanent institutions, as far as I can tell, so even if the capital did move, the fact that there was a road there was probably going to be a big boon to the area. Of course it probably didn't hurt that this area was also a Soga stronghold, and so at least the Soga family would continue to benefit, which may have gone into *some* of the political calculus, there. It was also going to help with envoys to and from the continent. And that leads us along to the next item of note about Kashikiya-hime's reign: sure enough, in the sixth month of the following year, Inugami no Kimi no Mitasuki and Yatabe no Miyatsuko were sent on a new embassy to the Sui court. By the way, quick note on these two. Inugami no Mitatsuki is given the kabane of “kimi”. If you recall, the sovereign is “Oho-kimi”, or “Great Kimi”, and so “Kimi” is thought to be an important title, possibly referring to a high-ranking family that held sway outside of the immediate lands of Yamato, and Yatabe is given to us as “Miyatsuko”, also generally referring to one of the higher ranks of nobility under the kabane system—though not necessarily the inner court families of the Omi and the Muraji. It is unclear whether those kabane were in use at the time, but it does indicate that the families were important. An ancestor of the Inugami first shows up in the reign of Okinaga Tarashi Hime, aka Jingu Kougou, which is interesting as there are some who claim that the stories of that reign really solidified around the time of Kashikiya Hime, which is to say the current reign. We'll get more into that in a future episode, but for now we can note that the Inugami family doesn't really seem to show up after that until this reign, and from here on out we see them as one of the regular interlocutors with the continent, whether the Sui, Tang, or on the Korean peninsula. The Yatabe are much more enigmatic. Other than this entry, we don't have a lot. There is an ancestor, Takemorosumi, mentioned in the reign of Mimaki Iribiko, aka Sujin Tennou, and there is some reasonable thought that they may have been set up for the maintenance of Princess Yata, the wife of Ohosazaki no Mikoto, aka Nintoku Tennou, but I don't see any clear indication one way or the other. They aren't really mentioned again except as a family during the late 7th century. These two, Inugami no Mitatsuki and the unnamed envoy of the Yatabe family, would return a year later, bringing with them an envoy from Baekje. Later in the year they would throw the envoy an elaborate feast. We aren't given much else, but seems like relations were good. Shortly after the feast for the Baekje envoy, however, the monk Hyeja—or Eiji, in the Japanese reading—returned to his home in Goguryeo. Hyeja had been one of the teachers of none other than Prince Umayado, aka Shotoku Taishi himself, and the two are said to have shared a special bond. Shotoku Taishi eventually became Hyeja's equal, and it is said that they both discussed Buddhist teachings and philosophy together, with Hyeja appreciating Shotoku Taishi's unique insights. When Prince Umayado eventually passed at an all too early age, the news reached Hyeja on the peninsula and he held a special feast in his student-turned-peer's honor. They say that he then predicted his own death, one year later, on the anniversary of Shotoku Taishi's own passing. But that was still to come. For now, you could say that everything was peachy—and so they did… sort of, in the next item of note. What they actually said was that in the first month of 616, at the beginning of Spring, the Peach and Plum trees bore fruit, which may seem an odd thing to comment on. However, Peach and Plum tress flowering or fruiting would be something that the Chroniclers commented on for at least the next two reigns, as well as in the reign of Oho-ama, aka Temmu Tennou, in the 7th century. It is possible that they were commenting on how they were fruiting out of season—the peach, or momo, in Japanese, blossoms between late March and mid-April. This is around the same time as the plum, in this case the Sumomo, rather than the “ume” plum, sometimes called a Japanese apricot. Momo and Sumomo would blossom towards the start of spring, and so it might be possible for them to blossom around the first month of the New Year, especially if that was a little later than it might be today, but highly unlikely that they would be fruiting. Assuming they were talking about the blossoms—and some later accounts explicitly call out the flowers instead—it may have indicated a particularly warm winter or early spring season that year. It is also possible that the Chroniclers were off on the dates at times, and so may have made some mistakes. It is also possible that they were recounting an odd event—having the peach trees and plum trees fruit or blossom at the obviously wrong time would likely have generated some concern, and thus be worthy of noting down as an omen. It is also possible that this is part of a stock phrase that was used to indicate something else, like the start of Spring or a good or bad omen. Peaches were thought to keep away evil spirits and it was said that they were the fruit of immortality in the western paradise of the Queen Mother of the West. Peaches are often common decorations on Buddhist temples, as well—going back to the same stories about warding off evil and longevity. Whatever the reason, the blooming and fruiting of peach and plum trees was particularly important to the Chroniclers for this period—for whatever reason. Beyond the talk of peaches, in 616 there was something else, something fairly simple, but apparently important: Men from the island of Yaku arrived as immigrants. This is the first mention of Yaku Island, and if you haven't heard of it I wouldn't blame you. It is an island south of modern Kagoshima, off the southern tip of Kyuushuu, and just west of another famous island, that of Tanegashima. Yakushima, today, is known for its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—so classified for its incredible natural beauty. It is the home to some truly ancient cedars, with some thought to date back as far as 2300 years ago, well into the Yayoi era. It is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki as well as Sui dynasty records, and in numerous other travel accounts since. We have evidence of human activity going back at least 17,000 years ago, so before even the Jomon era, though the earliest evidence of habitation on the island is more like 6,000 years ago—about 500 to a thousand years after the famous Akahoya eruption, which devastated Kyushu and which we discussed back in episode 4. Yakushima would also have been devastated, situated as it is just south of the Kikai caldera, and it was likely devastated by pyroclastic flows along with its neighboring islands. Since then, it was populated by people that were now, in the 7th century, making contact with the people of Yamato—perhaps indicating that Yamato had even further expanded its reach. Over the course of the year 616 the Chronicles note several groups of immigrants from Yaku Shima. First was a group of three men who came as immigrants in the third month. Then seven more arrived two months later. Two months after that, you had a group of twenty show up. They were all settled together in a place called Eno'i. It isn't exactly clear where this is. Some sources suggest that they came to the Dazaifu in Kyushuu, and so were settled somewhere on Kyuushuu, possibly in the south of the island. There is also a connection with the name “Enoi” coming out of Mino, in the form of the Enoi family, which the Sendai Kuji Hongi says was an offshoot of the Mononobe family. Wherever they ended up, they stayed there for the rest of their lives. We aren't done with Yaku Island, though. Four years later, we are told that two men of Yaku were “cast away”—which I suspect means banished—to the island of Izu, Izu-no-shima. Once again, we are left wondering exactly where that is, though it may refer not to an island, at least not entirely, but to Izu no Kuni, the land of Izu, on the Izu Peninsula. Aston suggests that perhaps at this time “shima” didn't mean just an island, but any place that was mostly surrounded by water, including a peninsula like Izu. It could also mean one of the nearby islands, such as Ooshima, the largest of the islands to the east of the Izu peninsula. Nine years later, in the reign of the succeeding sovereign, Yamato sent an envoy, Tanabe no Muraji, to the island of Yaku. I suspect that this was part of making the island an official part of the country. Records of the island fall off for a bit, but it does get mentioned, along with neighboring Tanegashima, in the reign of Temmu Tennou, in the latter part of the 7th century. To be fair, the Nihon Shoki only continues until 696, but we continue to see them in the Shoku Nihongi, the continuation of the court historical records. Sure, Yakushima was probably never going to be a huge story from a political perspective, but it does give us some insight into just how far Yamato's influence reached at this point. Going back to the record, we have another fruit related account. This time it is about an enormous gourd coming out of Izumo—one as big as a, well… we aren't exactly sure. The character they use is read “kan”, and today often refers to aluminum cans and the like, but that is a relatively recent meaning, if you'd believe it. In the 7th and 8th century it was probably something more like “pou” and may have meant an earthenware pot for storing alcohol, like the Greek amphorae, or it may have been in reference to a kind of musical instrument. Either way, we are talking a pretty good sized gourd. Not sure if it would take a ribbon in some of today's largest pumpkin contests, but still, impressive for the time. Moving beyond the State Fair category of entries, we come to one of my favorite events. It takes place, we are told, in 618, when Kawabe no Omi was sent to the land of Aki to build ships. He went with his crews up into the mountains to fell timber when he met with something extraordinary, which was still being depicted in paintings centuries later, although most people probably haven't heard the story. Now the name Kawabe first shows up as the location of one of the Miyake, or royal granaries and administrative centers set up in the land of Ki, south of Yamato on the peninsula, in 535. The first record of a person by the name, however, is less than auspicious: It was the assistant general Kawabe no Nihi, who is panned by the Chroniclers for his actions during the reign of Amekunioshi. As we discussed in Episode 82, Kawabe snatched defeat from the jaws of victory due to his lack of military expertise. This next mention of a Kawabe family member is coming a good many years later, but the family does seem to have recovered somewhat. Kawabe no Omi no Nezu would be appointed a general several years later—and that could be the same Kawabe no Omi from this story, as there was only about seven or so years between events. Furthermore, members of the family would find themselves in the middle of some of the most impactful events of the court, indicating their high status. Multiple family members would be remembered and memorialized in the histories over the rest of the century, whether for better or for ill. Which makes it a little interesting to me that the story of this Kawabe family ship builder does not give us a personal name of any kind. Now, later interpretations of this particular story would say that this Kawabe no Omi was out building ships on the orders of Prince Shotoku Taishi himself, though the Nihon Shoki would seem to indicate that he was out there, instead, at the behest of the sovereign herself, Kashikiya Hime. Of course, given what the Nihon Shoki has to say about Shotoku Taishi's contributions to running the government, it could be either one. Regardless, he had a job to do. He searched through the forest and he found suitable trees for the timber he needed: in all likelihood he was looking for large, straight trees, which would have a good grain and not so many knots to cause problems. I suspect that older trees were likely preferable for the task. Having found what he was looking for he marked it and they began to chop down the marked trees. Suddenly a man appeared—a stranger, or perhaps just a local coming to see what all the fuss was about. He warned Kawabe no Omi and his men that the tree they had marked was a “thunder tree” and it shouldn't be cut. To this Kawabe no Omi asked: “Shall even the thunder-god disobey the royal commands?” However, he didn't just barrel on with the task. Instead, he and his men started by offering mitegura, offerings of cloth. This was likely done to appease any spirits before the crew got started, and I wonder if this was something exceptional, or perhaps something that people regularly did, especially when you were taking large, older trees. It isn't clear, but an 8th century crowd no doubt understood the significance. Once they had finished providing recompense to the kami, they went about their task. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it began to rain. As the water poured down from the sky, thunder and lightning came crashing down. Apparently the offering had *not* been accepted, and the kami was now quite angry. While his men sought shelter, Kawabe no Omi drew out his iron sword and held it aloft, crying out to the angry kami: “O Kami of Thunder, do not harm these men! I am the one that you want!” So saying, sword held aloft in the midst of this unexpected thunderstorm, he stood there, watching the roiling clouds, and waiting. Ten times the lightning flashed and crashed around them, the thunder rolling each time. One can only imagine the sight as Kawabe no Omi stood there, wind whipping his hair and clothes as he challenged the storm. And yet, try as it might, the thunderous lightning did not strike Kawabe no Omi. Finally, the lightning stopped, and Kawabe no Omi was still unharmed. As the men came out of hiding, they noticed a disturbance. Above them, there was movement, and the men saw the strangest thing: Up in the branches of the tree was a small fish. Near as anyone could reckon, the god had turned visible, taking the form of a fish, and so Kawabe no Omi caught the fish and burnt it. After that, they were able to safely harvest the rest of the timber and build the ships. While we may have some doubts as to the veracity of the story, or may even wonder if a particularly violent storm hadn't picked up fish from a nearby water source, an event that has been known to happen, it still holds some clues about how the people of the time thought and how they believed the world worked. Even today, older trees and even rocks are thought to house spirits. In some cases, shrines are built up, and people will worship the spirit of a particular tree or rock, so it isn't so far fetched to think that they were harvesting ancient trees that were believed by locals to contain some kind of spirit, which, if aroused, could bring serious harm to Kawabe no Omi and his men. This is probably why they made their offering in the first place, hoping that would be enough to placate the spirit. At the same time, we see them drawing on the power of the sovereign, who isn't even present. Kawabe no Omi's protection is in that he is following the sovereign's commands, and that alone is his shield. Heck, he even goes so far as to raise up his sword. I know we are still an eon from Ben Franklin and his kite, but I'm pretty sure that people had figured out certain things about lightning, beyond just “don't be out in it”, namely “don't wave around pointy metal things in the middle of a storm”. As for the symbolism of the kami turning into a fish, well, who knows just how kami think about these things? They don't always do things that make sense. For instance, there is one story where a man prayed for a boat, and the kami gave him one, but put it on top of a nearby mountain. Maybe they just weren't that accurate, or maybe they didn't quite get how the visible world works, sometimes. It is also possible that the kami turned itself into a helpless fish on purpose, as a sign that it was giving up, since it clearly had not been able to best Kawabe no Omi, and the burning of the fish may have also had some significance. Whatever the reason, the boats were built and not even the kami could defy the will of the sovereign. Now there were a few other things that happened the following year—more strange and bizarre happenstances. The first was the on the fourth day of the fourth month, when there came a report of a creature shaped like a man in the Kamo river in Afumi. Who knows what it was? Perhaps it was some kind of kappa or other river spirit. Or perhaps it was some stranger skinny-dipping and he just really put everyone off. Or it was just a weird log viewed from the wrong angle. Whatever the reason, the people were put off, and Aston notes that this was probably considered an inauspicious omen. Then, in the 7th month, a fisherman from the land of Settsu caught something in one of the manmade canals, or horie, in the area of modern Osaka. The creature he caught was part fish and part man—perhaps that same creature that had been seen three months earlier further upriver, like some kind of ancient Yamato mermaid. What exactly did it mean, though? Certainly it seems a strange occurrence, but was it considered a good or bad omen? Or was it just weird and strange? The following year, there was a shape in the sky. The Chroniclers say it was red, shaped like a rooster tail, and over a rod—about ten feet or so—in length. Perhaps this was a rogue cloud, being kissed by the red light of the rising or setting sun. Or perhaps it was something else entirely. These were the kinds of things that were likely seen as omens, though whether a good or bad omen, who could say? A fishman in the rivers? A red glowing light in the sky? Often it wouldn't be until later that such things would be pieced together. In this case, the omens were likely pretty dire, as in that same year we are told that none other than Prince Umayado—Shotoku Taishi himself—grew ill, and passed away. The whole of the realm mourned their collective loss. The Crown Prince of the Upper Palace, heir to the throne of Yamato, was dead. So yeah, I would say those were some pretty bad omens. Umayado's death would leave a real void. Where there had once been certainty of succession, the land was back in the chaos of wondering what would happen when Kashikiya Hime finally passed away. Would they be returned to a state of civil war for the throne? Who could say? And there was more. The continent was also in a state of uncertainty, as only recently, the Sui dynasty had been overthrown, and now the new Tang was in its place. In addition, a resurgent Silla on the Korean peninsula was getting ever more bold and sure of its own power. There were many things to be concerned about. But let's not leave it on such a note. We can cover all of that in future episodes—we really don't have time to go over all of it here. But there is one other story I'd like to leave you with this episode. You see, a little earlier that year—the same year that Umayado passed away—the Yamato court had finished covering the tomb of Hinokuma with pebbles. Although the kofun, today, are often overgrown, and seem as much like wooded hills as anything else, back in the day there would have been no mistaking their manmade origins. The ground was cleared and tamped down into place. The sides rose in distinct terraces, and the surface was covered in stones. Around it would be the clay and wood haniwa. Families were employed to keep the kofun, and likely refreshed them from time to time. In the case of Hinokuma, recall that earlier in the reign Kitashi Hime, Kashikiya Hime's mother, had been re-interred with her husband. This was likely further ceremonies for her, perhaps the culmination of years of work on the tomb. We are also told that earth was piled up onto a hill, and each family erected a wooden pillar. One official, Yamato no Aya no Sakanoue no Atahe, decided to go all out. Maybe he didn't get the memo. Or maybe he thought he would make a name for himself. Either way, brought in the largest pillar—larger than any other of the family heads that were present. And, well, he did make a name for himself, though perhaps not the name he wanted. That name was Ohohashira no Atahe, or the Atahe of the Giant Pillar. Probably not exactly what he was going for, but there you have it. By the way, if you recognize that name, Sakanoue, then you may have noticed that yes, this is likely an ancestor of the famous Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, a famous warrior of the late Nara and early Heian period, and the second person ever to carry the title of Sei-i Taishogun—but that is still over a century and a half away. For now, in the coming episodes, we'll finish up the reign of Kashikiya Hime, perhaps touch briefly on what was happening on the continent, and continue on as we make our way through the latter part of the seventh century. Until then, thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, 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 Tweet at us at @SengokuPodcast, or 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 her 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.

JTET - J2 Round 41 / J3 Round 34 Review

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2023 75:21

Once again, all of the latest J2 and J3 news is wrapped up in a brand-new JTET! We begin this week with James Taylor reviewing all of Sunday's J2 action (Start to 06:00), with Jon Steele taking over to cover the rest of the Round 41 games along with Kofu's thumping win over Zhejiang in the ACL on Wednesday night (06:00 to 18:35). After that, James and Jon convened to discuss some of the big J2 talking points ahead of Sunday's huge final day. The gents focused on JEF Chiba, and the teams scrapping for the final Play-Off spot (Kofu, Yamagata, and Nagasaki) in this segment (18:40 to 41:45). James and Jon then take a detailed look at the Round 42 fixtures (41:45 to 56:50), with a focus on the battle for the second automatic promotion spot, and the aforementioned tussle for 6th place. After all that, there's the J3 latest in 'J-Talk: Short Corner' with Mike 'The Magic' Innes (56:50 to Finish), as Ehime edge inexorably closer to a return to the second tier (with Kagoshima or Toyama looking the most likely to grab second place). Thanks for all of your support of JTET, and The J-Talk Podcast - enjoy the show!

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Shochu Cocktails with Suzu