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So the year 649 was so bad that they went and changed the whole calendar to forget about it!  In 650 a white pheasant is brought to the court, and they sieze on that as a chance to rename the era from Taika to Hakuchi.  That should make things better, right? This episode we talk about this event--their reasoning, as well as what is recorded as having happened.  We also take a look at the completion of the Ajifu no Miya and how it was renamed to the Naniwa no Toyosaki no Nagara no Miya, or the Toyosaki Nagara Palace of Naniwa.  This is thought to be what we know today as the Early Naniwa Palace, and it was a real change, and, in many ways, the physical manifestation of the Taika era reforms. For photos and more, check out https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-113 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 113: The White Pheasant.   The officials of the court stood sentinel at the palace gates, a formidable line of authority draped in flowing, vibrant robes that signified their rank. Each step down the line revealed a cascade of colors, a living tapestry of power and prestige. Only the envoys from distant shores stood apart, their unique uniforms adding an exotic flair to the proceedings, as well as a certain legitimacy as outside witnesses.   The air crackled with anticipation as the crowd waited, their breath held, until four figures emerged, bearing aloft a magnificent litter adorned with intricate decorations that shimmered as they caught the sun's rays.   Upon that litter rested a cage, and within it,a dazzling white pheasant, plucked from the untamed wilds of Anato. Whispers rippled through the throng; some questioned the significance of this fragile creature, while others dared to see it as a divine omen. Was this bird as pure as the tales had promised? The capital had buzzed with rumors ever since its unexpected arrival, and those in the back stretched their necks, desperate for a glimpse of this rare marvel.   The past year had cast a shadow over the Yamato court, leaving the air thick with uncertainty. Yet, this ethereal bird, shimmering with the promise of renewal, seemed to herald a shift—an opportunity for rebirth that everyone craved.  At the very least it was a much needed distraction from everything that had previously occurred.   As the litter glided past, the courtiers bowed deeply in reverence, forming two disciplined lines that followed through the grand gates. Together, they marched into the palace, hearts pounding with hope. They were not just entering a building; they were stepping into a new era, one that, with a whisper of fate, could rise above the struggles of the past.     This episode we kick off the start of a new era—the Hakuchi era, or the era of the White Pheasant.  It followed the Taika era, and it does have a different feel.  It is less about new edicts and more about how things were shaking out and coming together.  And one of the things that was coming together was the Nagara no Toyosaki palace, which is believed to be the same one known to archaeologists as the “Early Naniwa Palace” unearthed in Ohosaka and dated to the mid-7th century.  We'll actually start with a look at this palace, continuing our discussion from last episode, as our sovereign, Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou, seems to have been a bit crazy about all of his palaces, and figuring out just which is which can be an issue in and of itself. We'll also touch on the start of this new era, and look at why and what it meant to come up with a new era name—a new “nengou”—in the middle of a reign like this.  And so we catch ourselves at the start of the year 650, still, technically, in the Taika era.  The year started well enough, with the sovereign celebrating the new year at the Ajifu palace and then coming straight back—the Ajifu palace was apparently yet another new palace and it seems construction had only recently begun.  Now, There is some confusion between the Ajifu palace and the Toyosaki palace.  The Ajifu palace is traditionally thought to have been located on the opposite side o f the Yodo river, in the area of modern Settsu city, on the site of what became the Ajifu Shrine.  Others have suggested that it was actually on the Kanimachi plateau, which is where the Toyosaki palace was.  Notably the “Toyosaki” palace is not located anywhere near the modern area of “Toyosaki” with which it seems to share a name.  From what little information we have, it seems to have been quite the complex.  As to why he would need yet another palace, I could not say.  And yet, later we see that the Ajifu Palace is eventually named the Nagara Toyosaki Palace.  So are they one and the same?  Did they move the Toyosaki Palace?  Or did they build the Toyosaki Palace and then *rebuild* it as the Ajifu Palace—aka the Nagara Toyosaki Palace? At this point the way that the Chronicles talk about it, the Ajifu palace site seems to have been almost purely conceptual, while previous accounts seem to indicate that the Toyosaki Palace was already in use.  That would have made for an interesting New Year's celebration, probably in temporary buildings erected quickly amongst the grass and fields, with some nearby tomb mounds that would need to be leveled or moved to make room, we are later told.  It seems they were still surveying the site, but I guess Karu really was looking for a change.  And so he celebrated the new year at the Ajifu palace, but quickly returned back to wherever the work of the government was actually occurring. As to where that was, well, we talked last episode about all of Karu's meanderings from one palace to the other.  The Nihon Shoki text itself is not exactly clear, as I read it.  It doesn't help that the term for palace, or “miya”, appears to refer to both a complex and a single residence, without a clear distinction given between the two.  And so, though I mentioned it last episode, let's recap what we know about the palaces this reign. So in 645, we are told that Karu decided upon Naniwa and we are told that this is the “Toyosaki” palace.  Then in 646, Karu took up residence in the “detached” palace of Koshiro in Sayabe, Naniwa.  This was likely him repurposing the Miyake, the government offices with the royal granaries.  He was only there for about two months, though, before he returned.  Then, in the third month of 646, he issues an amnesty claiming to have taken up residence in the new palace—but we aren't told which one. In 647, two years into the reign, the government offices at Wogohori are torn down and a palace was built there.  Now this is somewhat confusing because there appear to be two government districts:  Wogohori and Ohogohori.  You'll probably notice how similar these two sound, though it may have been more like “wogopori” and “opogopori”. Back in the day.  Wo-gohori, or the “Small District”, is mentioned once, but mainly just as a place name.  Ohogohori, or the “Big District” has previously shown up as the place with government offices for the envoys from overseas.   Confusing matters, in a later entry, Karu eventually moves out of the palace at Oho-gohori and into the palace that would be known as the Nagara Toyosaki palace.  So was he at Wogohori and then later at Ohogohori?  Or was there some scribal error such that the two got confused? And then in 648 we are told that Karu moved into the Toyosaki palace in Naniwa.  Two years later, in 650, and he is now celebrating New Year's at the Ajifu palace, which may refer to a location on the other side of the Yodo river, but is likely in the spot we now think of as the Nagara Toyosaki Palace.  We then know that in 651 they were still building a palace.  And it isn't until the last day of 651 that Karu would formally move from Ohogori into the Ajifu palace, which we are told was then renamed the Nagara no Toyosaki no Miya---the Nagara Toyosaki Palace. I have several thoughts on all of this.  One, is that there may have been two “Toyosaki” palaces—there was the Toyosaki palace that he first moved into, and then there is the Nagara Toyosaki Palace.  “Nagara” appears to mean something like “Long Handle”, but other than that, I don't know that there is a good translation.  It may refer to the fact that it was meant to last longer, or that it was even larger than the previous palace.  It may even be that the original Toyosaki Palace was just a few of the buildings, and that eventually it grew into the larger Nagara Toyosaki Palace, but if that is the case, what is up with term “Ajifu”?  Was that just one building in the larger palace?  Or are earlier mentions of “Toyosaki” anachronistic, and perhaps it wasn't until the entire thing was complete that they gave it that name?  Many modern accounts appear to conflate the Toyosaki palace with the Nagara no Toyosaki Palace, saying it just took that long to build.  That would imply that the Ajifu palace really was there on the Kamimachi plateau, at the known Naniwa palace site.  Alternatively, “Nagara” could possibly have been a reference to the fact that the Ajifu palace was an extension of the larger Toyosaki complex, possibly built out of the government offices of either Wogohori or Ohogohori. For all that we don't know exactly what was happening here, we have a pretty good idea in the archaeological record about at least one of the palace sites on the Kamimachi plateau.  This site has been identified as the Toyosaki palace of Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou, and it would actually be reused at a later date.  Sure enough, there are remains of at least two palace complexes on the site, with the one from our period known as the “Early Naniwa Palace” site. Based on its size and layout, this Early Naniwa palace was the first of its kind.  Previous palaces in Asuka had not dissimilar designs in terms of the general arrangement, but this clearly made use of the structure of continental style palace complexes, and was likely intended to be a new, permanent capital. The north of the palace complex consisted of a rectangular, walled section 185 meters east to west and 200 meters north to south, making up the “dairi”.  That's almost 10 acres of enclosed space, set aside as the sovereign's personal living quarters. South of that was a smaller area with the front hall, one of the largest for its time.  It was 36 meters east to west and 19 meters north to south.  This would have been the hall called the “Daigokuden” in later palaces, where official rituals would take place.  There was a gate between it and the Dairi, to the north, as well as a gate to the south, flanked by two octagonal buildings, which led to the Chodoin, the main working area of the court complex. This is part of what sets this palace apart from others, and why it likely took a while to build.  It may also explain all the different palace names as there was probably a lot of construction for a long time.  In previous instances, as far as we can tell, the sovereign's palace was both their home and the building where state business was conducted.  Think, perhaps, of the White House, in the US, and then imagine that the White House, the Capitol Building, and the Supreme Court were all part of the same compound, with only the barest of concessions to privacy between them.  In this new layout, the dairi was reserved to the sovereign, there was a small area for the official throne room, and then south of that was the Chodoin, the court hall complex. This was a huge change to how things had operated in the past.  While the main audience hall was still nominally part of the dairi, so the “private” areas of the palace weren't entirely “private”, it was still leaps and bounds more separated than in the previous palaces we've uncovered.  Sure, the idea of lining up buildings from the front gate to the larger buildings towards the back, making people approach successively larger and more impressive buildings, generally seems to have been a thing as far back as the Makimuku Palace near Mt. Miwa, back in the third century, but even then, there is no clearly defined separation between the public and private spaces of the sovereign.  There does seem to have been restrictions on who could enter what parts of the compound, with the sovereign's personal quarters being the most restricted, but now there were walls and gates and guards separating one area from another. The Chodoin itself, the main “business” or “public” area of the court, appears to have been about 262.8 meters north to south and 233.6 meters east to west—a little over 15 acres.  Most of that was open space between the 14 “choudou” halls lined up symmetrically, 7 on either side.  These were the individual buildings where the various government officials were to meet and conduct business, as well as conduct rituals, feasts, etc.  There was a southern gate that provided the entrance to the Chodoin and led to another large area with the Choshuden, the buildings where officials could change into and out of their formal court uniforms, and otherwise prepare for or close out the day.  South of that was the main gate for the entire compound, the Suzaku gate, named for Suzaku, the red bird of the south, one of the four directional guardian spirits. We know the buildings largely from their post holes.  They were made of wood, and it is likely that most of them were thatched.  They may have been painted white, vermillion, and green—classic paints that were based on continental styles and which were said to help prevent the wooden pillars from rotting too quickly.  It is unsurprising that this would have taken years—but it is also possible that they built some quarters for the sovereign and then built out from there.  This also would have been key to a lot of the governmental reforms, providing an actual location for the work that the reforms were directing. Of course, there was a lot of work to be done, and the halls in the palace were limited, so two areas to the east and west of the complex were set aside and appear to have been built up with other government offices, suitable for carrying out the day to day minutiae that was required. There is still a question of whether or not they also instituted the larger grid system city layout around the palace complex.  Currently we have no evidence for that, though perhaps they were considering it, eventually.  Unfortunately, with all of the construction in Osaka over time, I don't know if we could be able to find or discern such a layout if we did find it.  For now, we will stick with what we know:  an absolute unit of a court complex that took them several years to build. Getting back to the Chronicles: Our next entry in the Nihon Shoki, after the New Years celebration, tells us that in the second month, Kusakabe no Muraji no Shikofu, the governor of Anato Province, brought a white pheasant to the court.  The report claimed that it had been caught by Nihe, a relative of Obito, the Kuni no Miyatsuko of Anato, on the 9th day of the first month, on Mt. Wonoyama. For reference, the land of Anato was at the far western end of Honshu, part of the San'yodo, itself a designation for the lands along the Seto Inland Sea coast from Harima, modern Hyogo prefecture, out to Anato, modern Yamaguchi prefecture.  It was on the Honshu side of the Shimonoseki strait, which was the main entrance from the Korean Strait and the Japan Sea to the Seto Inland Sea.  The area would later be known as Nagato, which would eventually be called Choshu, an area which any students of the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate are sure to recognize. We discussed back in Episode 94 how white or albino animals—assuming they weren't normally white—were considered particularly auspicious.  So in 598, the land of Koshi sent a white deer they had found to the court of Kashikiya Hime, which is to say Suiko Tenno.  And so the white pheasant from Anato was clearly seen as an omen—but was it truly auspicious.  Here we see the court investigating this, and how exactly they go about that is somewhat enlightening as to how the court thought in general. First, they made inquiry of the lords of Baekje—I would suspect this referred to those recognized as Baekje nobility residing in the archipelago, rather than sending a correspondence to the peninsula and back.  That they went to someone from Baekje would seem to indicate the importance they placed on Baekje as a conduit for continental learning.  Indeed, the answer they got back—whether from a single, unnamed individual or a group of Baekje nobility—was that White Pheasants were recorded in the 11th year of Yongping, which would be 68 CE to us, during the reign of Ming of the later Han dynasty.  Han Mingdi, aka Emperor Ming of Han was born Liu Yang and also known as Liu Zhang, reigned from 57 to 75 CE.  Ming and his son, Emperor Zhang oversaw a period of particular prosperity for the Eastern Han dynasty.  On the other hand, there was an attempt to curse Emperor Ming in 67 CE, which ended with the death of the ambitious Prince Jing of Guanglin.  Then, in 70, Prince Ying of Chu was also convicted of using magic to try and secure blessings while he fomented revolution against the emperor, and he was exiled, where he committed suicide.  So I don't know if this marks the pheasant as particularly auspicious or not. Asking the Buddhist priests, who frequently studied not just Buddhist canon, but other continental texts, they mostly drew a blank—at least on the specifics of a white pheasant.  They did recommend that a general amnesty would not be amiss, as it would bring joy to the people.  I guess if you aren't sure about the nature of an omen you can certainly do something to help it out. And while they weren't specifically sure about a white pheasant in Buddhist scripture, a couple of priests did have suggestions. The Priest Doutou recounted a story from Goguryeo, when the court there wished to build a new Buddhist temple, but could not divine a suitable and auspicious site.  When someone witnessed a white deer, they chose that spot for the temple, which was then called the Temple of the Park of the White Deer.  According to Doutou, this temple established Buddhism in Goguryeo. Furthermore, he recounted, when a white sparrow was seen on the farmstead of another temple, or when a dead crow with three legs had been brought back from the Tang dynasty, the people had proclaimed both of these to be good omens.  So given all of that, Priest Doutou concluded, a white pheasant must be especially auspicious. The Priest Bin agreed.  Bin, you may recall, had been heavily relied upon for his knowledge in setting up the new governmental structure, which would seem to indicate that he was quite well-versed in continental ideas, and he had even traveled there himself.  He provided the court several different reasons that a white pheasant might appear. First, it might appear when a ruler extended his influence to all four quarters. Second, it might appear when the sovereign's sacrifices are appropriate, and when his banquets and clothing are in due measure. Third, it might appear when the sovereign cultivates frugality. Finally, it might appear when the sovereign was humane. He didn't provide any specific examples of how he arrived as his conclusions—at least nothing was recorded—and so he may have been relying on his own expertise.  However, he did recount one tale in particular.  It was a story from the time of Emperor Cheng Wang of the Zhou dynasty.  Cheng Wang is said to have reigned in the 11th century BCE, from 1042 to 1021, and so take that how you will.  Important to us is not what happened so much as what the Yamato court believed had happened—what was the historical truth that they were workin with at the time? According to Bin, during Cheng Wang's reign, the Yuehshang family brought a white pheasant to the court.  Apparently it had been three years without any exceptional storms or rains, and neither the rivers nor seas had flooded.  Apparently the old men found this an extremely long time to go without some kind of disaster, indicating that the pheasant was clearly an auspicious omen in deed. Priest Bin also mentioned other accounts, but the Chroniclers omitted them from the record. Whatever they were, the court had heard enough.  The White Pheasant was declared auspicious, and a new era was declared:  the Hakuchi, or White Pheasant, era.  They let the white pheasant loose in the royal garden, presumably with clipped wings or otherwise kept from flying off, and then preparations were made  immediately to officially inaugurate the new era 6 days later, on the 15th day of the 2nd month of 650. Before we get into that, though, I want to pause and take a look at something here:  The authority of precedent.  Time, as conceived of in the continental model, was cyclical.  There was the cycle of day and night.  The cycle of the year and the repeating seasons.  Likewise the planets and heavens all had their own cyclical periods.  In addition, there was the idea that the Yin and Yang forces in the universe likewise cycled through predictable patterns—the sexagenary cycle, or cycle of 60 years, being an example of a longer term cycle.  And then there was the Buddhist cycle or death and rebirth, at least as long as one remained tied to this mortal plane of existence. If time is cyclical, then one can look to the past to predict the present.   Stories of the past were seen as holding authority over similar events in the present.  Understanding these historical stories and being able to pull from them provided its own kind of power and authority.  Rather than attempting to reason from first principles, precedent was often a more convincing argument. Being able to read and write and recall all of these stories gave scholars the ability to influence events.  Of course, who had time to do all that other than people like Buddhist priests or the doctors of the court? This is also one of the reasons that people would have had to write down histories and, eventually, to keep diaries and accounts of what happened.  Those accounts would, over time, become essential records to invoke for moments like this—and even a record like the Nihon Shoki or the Kojiki would have similar significance.  In many ways, it is propaganda, but not just in how it describes the past as the Chroniclers wished it to be, but it set the precedent for succeeding eras to look back on.  While we may challenge that view, today, for many from the 8th century onward the events described in the Nihon Shoki were considered the gospel truth in more ways than one. Of course, all that aside, we've had plenty of auspicious events before, but why, now, would they be enough to trigger a new era?  Why not just note them and move on? Well, to start with, let's face it, nobody is likely to name 649 as the greatest year ever, any time soon, and certainly not the Yamato court.  The Crown Prince, Naka no Oe, had been tricked into thinking that his co-conspirator, Soga no Kurayamada no Ishikawa no Maro, was a traitor.  To be fair, Maro had been more than complicit in the murderous takedown of his own relatives to set up the current government, and history has time and again suggested that those who put someone on the throne can just as easily take them off it.  That's why they are often either brought deeper into the inner circle, or removed—either physically or more euphemistically.  In this case, though, it seems that fears of Naka no Oe and others were unjustified, and they sent the royal troops after an innocent man; or at least a man as innocent as any of the other elites at that time.  After all, the wealth of the elites came from the rice fields that they owned—or that were at least designated for their stipends—and they certainly weren't working those fields themselves, so make of that what you will. All of that had led to the death of Maro, his family, and the rest of his household.  That, in turn, led to the death of his daughter, Miyatsuko Hime, who was married to Naka no Oe himself.  When they finally did realize what had happened, the best justice they could figure out was to send the scandal-mongering Soga no Musa out to Tsukushi in a form of luxurious banishment.  Demotion by promotion, as he was made the Viceroy of Tsukushi, the top man of the court at the edge of the archipelago. To say that the year 649 had been a bust is an understatement.  Don't get me wrong, it was a far cry from the worst year that the archipelago had ever experienced—or would in the future, for that matter.  But that was scant comfort to the folks living in it. And so it was with some relief, I suspect, that the court welcomed news from the far flung land of Anato, because they really needed a distraction. With that in mind, let us move on to the events of the 15th day of the 2nd month of the year 650, describing how they inaugurated the new era.  Now, if the Chronicles are to be believed, this is not the first time they inaugurated a new era—we are told that year 645 was considered the first year of Taika, or Great Change.  But, assuming that did happen, and that it wasn't just named after the fact, the era would have started at the same time as a new reign.  Previously, from everything we can tell, dates were based regnal years.  Things are recorded as happening in the X year of Y sovereign.  Some of the oldest accounts seem to even note it more as X year of the sovereign who reigned from the Y palace, as the palace was likely more distinct a feature than the names and titles that they used, and the posthumous names, like “Koutoku Tennou” were not actually used until the end of the 7th or early 8th century. It is possible that Hakuchi is actually the first true nengo—or era name—and the first one that appears in the middle of a reign—though even here some say that the instantiation of “Hakuchi” is anachronistic. Personally, I see no harm in taking it at face value, at least for now, while acknowledging that everything in the Nihon Shoki is suspect.  Still, we are approaching a time when the events being written down may have still been in the living memory of people alive at that time.  720 is only 70 years away, and the project started even before then, so unless there are obvious discrepancies or supernatural events, we can probably assume that the Chronicles at this point are largely truthful, if possibly embellished. And so it is we are told of what happened.  To begin with, the court lined the ministers of the left and right and all of the functionaries in four lines outside the “purple” gate, as they would during a New Year's reception, like the one they had just had at the Ajifu palace.  The “Purple” gate was probably a reference to the southern gate The fact that the courtiers lined up at the south gate in the same way that they would have during a New Year's reception would seem to indicate that this was seen as the start of a new year.  It was no longer a Taika year—starting on that day it was now the first year of Hakuchi.  The month and day would not change, however, so it was still the 15th day of the 2nd month.  That means that technically the first year of Hakuchi would only have ten and a half months in the year—maybe eleven and a half, if there was an extranumerary month.  Likewise, the last year of Taika would only have one and a half months.  And if you are thinking that must make Japanese dates really tricky around the start or end of year, you don't know the half of it.  Sometimes events will get placed in the wrong “era” because they happened a few months before or after the change, and people forget that when they are translating to and from western dates.  It also means era names can't just give you the years of the era, but really need to give you the month and date it starts and ends.  Fortunately, most people are quite understanding about the occasional mistake.  But anyway, I digress. The courtiers were lined up as though for new years, and then they watched as Ahata no Omi no Ihimushi and three others bore a litter with the pheasant on it and went ahead through the gates.  The others followed in rank order—with the Ministers of the Left and Right leading the various functionaries.  The Baekje prince Pungjang and his uncle, Sesyeong Chyungseung, whom we mentioned back in Episodes 105 and 107, as well as Mochi, the physician to the King of Goguryeo, a scholar attached to the court of Silla, along with other important persons all advanced as well into the Central court of the palace. The pheasants litter was taken up by Mikuni no Kimi no Maro, Wina no Kimi no Takami, Miwa no Kimi no Mikaho, and Ki no Omi no Maro, who brought it to the front of the hall.  There, the ministers of the left and right then took the front of the litter, while the Prince of Ise, Mikuni no Kimi no Maro, and Kura no Omi no Woguso took hold of the rear.  Together, they placed it in front of the throne.  The sovereign, Kura, and the Crown Prince, Naka no Oe, examined the pheasant together. The Crown Prince then backed away, and the new Minister of the Left, Kose no Omi, presented a congratulatory address. He gave thanks to the sovereign and claimed that the pheasant was a sign that the sovereign would rule for one thousand autumns and ten thousand years across the Great Eight Islands—the Ohoyashima—of the archipelago and the four quarters of the earth.  Effectively, this is a long-winded version of “Banzai”, the congratulatory wish of ten thousand years of life for an emperor. Karu responded to this address by quoting auspicious times that white animals had been omens of good rule.  He then gave credit to the ministers and functionaries, and urged them to continue to provide good service.  Then he declared a general amnesty, forgiving various offenses, and noted that the era name would change to “Hakuchi”. Karu then directed presents to be handed out to the Ministers, the Daibu, the officials of lower rank, all the way down to the clerks.  Each received gifts commensurate with their rank.  Finally, Kusakabe no Muraji no Shikofu, the governor of Anato, was commended, and granted the rank of Daisen along with what we are told were a goodly number of presents.  In addition, the commuted taxes and corvees of Anato were remitted for three years, meaning that Anato would be allowed to keep all of the rice and product for themselves—something that was likely quite significant, though it is unclear whether this means that it was felt down at the level of basic workers or it just meant that the governor was able to keep what he taxed from the people for himself. And with that, we enter a new era.  Forget the unfortunate bloodshed and regrettable decisions of the previous year, this was a new start.  And that is often how these eras were seen.  Whether it was a new reign or things were just going so poorly that the court felt there needed to be a new start, future nengo would often follow a similar pattern.   And there was no set time for how long an era would last.  In fact, here's a little trivia for you:  The shortest nengo in Japanese history was “Ryakunin”, and it lasted just under two and a half months from late 1238 to the start of 1239.  It really shows how important it was to come up with a good name of these eras, as “ryakunin”, which seems to mean something like “humane period”, could also be written with characters meaning “abbreviated person”.  So they decided to abbreviate the era, instead, changing the era name again. This first year of the new era of Hakuchi continued relatively normally.  In the fourth month there were envoys from Silla—another source, according to the Nihon Shoki, claimed that Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla sent envoys every year from this reign onward.  Then, in the tenth month, we see more work being done on the palace—presumably the Ajifu palace.  We are told that presents were given out in respect to tombs that had been demolished to make room for the new construction, as well as for the people who had been moved off their land.  Then Aratawi no Atahe no Hirafu was sent to place the boundary posts, no doubt marking out the outer extremities of the new palace precincts. In addition, that month work began—no doubt at the court's direction—on a giant tapestry, or mandala, with a sixteen foot tall Buddha image, attendant Boddhisatvas, and figures of all eight classes of beings according to the Buddhist cosmology.  That includes Heavenly beings, such as Devas; dragons; demonic Yaksha, Gandharva, and Asura; the bird-like Garuda and Kimnara; and the snake-like Mahoraga.  All told, there were some 46 figures.  It doesn't seem to say where it was to be installed, though it may have been made for the new palace complex. Also in that year we are told that the court ordered Aya no Yamaguchi no Atahe no Ohoguchi to carve one thousand images of Buddha—but once again, we aren't told where they resided.  We do know that the 16 foot tall embroidered Buddha was completed in the 3rd month of 651: it had taken them approximately five months.  The day after they were completed, the Dowager Queen, Takara no Himemiko, aka the former sovereign, Kougyoku Tennou, who had stepped down in 645, invited ten Buddhist teachers and prepared a feast and entertainment, likely to bless and show off the completed images. At the end of 651, the palace itself was finally complete.  We are told that over 2100 priests were invited to the Ajifu palace to read the Issaikyo on  the last day of the year.  The Issaikyo is the entirety of the Buddhsit canon, and so this was probably done in the abbreviated tendoku style, with priests just reading the chapter headings and flipping through the sutras, though with 2100 it is possible they just each red a different portion, all at the same time.  As it grew dark, the palace courtyard was kept bright with 2700 lights while we are told that the Antaku and Dosoku sutras were read.  Aston notes that these “sutras” of Antaku and Dosoku don't appear to reference any actual sutras that we know of, and posits that they may simply be rituals for home safety and the like.  Given what we know about the fate of so many of these old wooden palaces, it makes sense. After the sutras were read, the sovereign, Karu, formally moved from his residence in Ohogohori into the new palace, which was called Naniwa no Nagara no Toyosaki no Miya.  As I noted at the beginning, it is unclear if this was the Ohogohori or Wogohori, and it is even somewhat murky as to whether or not it was considered a palace.  Not to mention that after the New Year's ceremonies were completed, the royal chariot—which would have been carrying the sovereign—went back to Ohogohori.  I guess things weren't quite ready yet.  He would return on the 9th day of the third month, and even then we don't see a note that the palace was completed until the 9th month of 652.. There is a lot here where we see things that appear to be scheduled so that they can occur on auspicious days, even if everything else isn't quite ready.  So, for example, reading the sutras and formally “moving” into the palace on the last day of the year so that one could host the New Year's celebration there the next day.  That seems like something that was done purely for ceremonial purposes.  You may recall that in 650 they did the same thing. There are a few more references to the palace.  On the 15th of the 4th month of 652, the Buddhist ascetic E'on was invited into the Dairi to explain the Muryouju Sutra, also known as the Sukhavati Vyuha sutra.  E'on was made a lecturer, and there were said to be 1,000 ascetics in the audience, listening to his teachings.  That apparently went on for five days, being discontinued on the 20th day.  And the power of the sutras, and E'on's teachings, is shown in the weather, because the Chronicles claim that large rains began to fall in a monsoon that lasted for nine days.  This wasn't a gentle “water your crops” kind of rain.  This was more like a “demolish your buildings and destroy your fields” kind of rain.  There must have been massive flooding as men, horses, and cattle were caught up in the water and drowned. Given the way this is written, I'm not entirely certain of the takeaway.  Were the sutras that powerful that they brought rain, and E'on didn't understand his own strength?  Or was it a punishment for stopping E'on from continuing his lecture?  Or was it the rains that caused the lectures to stop, perhaps making it untennable for people to sit out in the courtyard and listen as the rains came down?  My rational brain suspects the latter, but I'm not sure how it was read by the people of the 8th century. On the last day of 652, priests and nuns from around the country were invited to the dairi, to the interior of the palace, and entertained and given a feast.  Alms were given and lights kindled to celebrate the new year. But that's the last entry I really see for the palace, as such.  There was plenty more happening through the era, and we'll touch on that.  We start to see Silla and Tang dynasty getting chummy, and we also see some of the reforms still working their way across the land.  We also have Yamato's own expeditions out to the Great Tang dynasty.  But we'll save that for the next episode, as we continue to dive into the Hakuchi era. And so, until next time, 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.

This episode we continue looking at the Taika reforms, covering only 3 months, but with edicts about mounded tombs, the labor due to the state vice individuals, and a variety of "offenses", often countering current practices such as forcing people to undergo "harai" in many instances. For more, check out the blog at https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-110 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 110: Manual Labor, Mounded Tombs, and Marital Missteps. Maro sat by the small campfire he had made along the river's edge.  The water nearby was going to be the catalyst for the gruel that he was making with some of the last bit of food that he had.  As he stirred the pot, he looked over at his friend, lying out, his head propped up against the rock. Maro and Sumi had been working on one of the large tombs in Asuka at the commandof their lord, who had built it for his deceased father.  Now they were released and headed back to their village, still two days out.  Unlike their superiors, they didn't get horses to ride across the landscape, so it would be a few days before they returned home.  Unfortunately, Sumi had grown ill, and he was now almost delirious with fever.  Maro couldn't bear to leave his friend, but he also cursed his luck. What if Sumi were to die?  It was one thing to die at home, or even when they were working on the tomb.  But now they were travelers—strangers on the road.  If something happened to Sumi, Maro knew he couldn't just leave him, but neither could he go trudging through the countryside with a dead body.  Even association with death would bring problems for him, and if local villagers were to find out, they could force him to pay for the necessary ritual purification—or worse.  Heck, even something as simple as cooking rice on the side of the road could bring problems for a poor traveler—hence why Maro had found some place off the beaten path and away from prying eyes. Under his breath he prayed to whatever powers were listening to help Sumi recover.  If they could only make it back to their village, then everything would be alright. Once again, we are looking at the second year of Taika, 646.  As we heard in the past couple of episodes, the first year of Taika saw a plethora of edicts that would bring radical change to the way that the sovereign interacted with the land and the people.  These provided the start of  much more direct rule,   and yet also set the stage for a new bureaucratic state, with various new officials up and down the hierarchy. This episode we are continuing to look at what happened in the first several months of 646, largely because there was so much going on that it's worth focusing in on this short time period.   For one thing, we really should talk a little bit more about how this entire Taika era is reflecting the culmination of what appears to have been a major change to Yamato's cultural identity over the preceding century or so—a change in perspective that may not have even been entirely apparent to them, but which allowed Naka no Oe and the sovereign, Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou, to get away with these pronouncements that restructured the basic foundations of the Yamato state.  These changes include the death knell of the kofun period, with new restrictions on how mounded tombs were to be created, including how large they were allowed to be.  We'll also look at a litany of items being called out in the third month of the year—many of which directly affected people at the lowest ends of the economic spectrum and which give us a view of some of the practices that had presumably been going on prior to the edict. As we've already discussed, the early part of the year 646 saw quite a few quote-unquote “normal” things happening.  The sovereign moved into a new detached palace, perhaps while the Toyosaki Palace was being built.  This was the Koshiro Palace of Sayabe, in Naniwa.  Emissaries were sent out to restore—or possibly build—the arsenals; you may recall that the governors were supposed to gather up all of the weapons and armor in a single place so that it could be available, just in case.  Envoys from the Emishi came to do homage, and there was another round of envoys from Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla.  Apparently, this time, there were no complaints about the tribute.  That was all in the first two months.  By the third, the governors had been called to account for their misdeeds, but also pardoned – we talked about this two episodes ago, when we explored the new system of governors, but this is when their pardons happen – and the sovereign moved out of the Koshiro Palace, presumably to take up residence in the shiny new Toyosaki palace that was just getting blessed and which was the nominal reason for the general amnesty across the land. And with all of that over… well, it was time to get back to figuring out what part of the traditional order they would overthrow next.  And apparently, Karu, our sovereign, had an idea.  He sent a question to the Crown Prince, Naka no Oe, to see what he thought about it, and we are given the Prince's response in a letter back to the crown on the 20th day of the 3rd month of 646.    The question Karu had askedwas roughly: what should be done about a group of families called the Iribe, including the Koshiro no Iribe of the Omi, Muraji, the Tomo no Miyatsuko, and the Kuni no Miyatsuko; and the Mina no Iribe of the Royal Princes.  Karu had also evidently asked what should be done about the Miyake. Now the question reading as “what should be done about these people” sounds a bit ominous, so before we get to Naka no Oe's suggestions, let's explore just who were the “Iribe” mentioned here.  As far as I can find, there doesn't appear to be another use of that word in the Chronicles, but the other terms around it provide clues and we have a general consensus about what this is all about.  “Koshiro”—the Child's Generation—and the “Mina”—the exalted name—suggest that the Iribe were those families set up in the name of a given prince or person.  As we've talked about on the podcast in the past, from the start of the various “Be” families, there was a longstanding tradition of creating specific families to support given individuals: for former queens, princes, and more. These families often took the name of the palace where these individuals  resided.  The output of these families and worker groups would then go to support that individual and their relatives. The language used in Naka no Oe's letter, here, suggests that various other elites had set up similar groups for themselves or their own relatives This is supported by the fact that the Miyake are also mentioned.  The Miyake were the royal granaries, and while they had a political significance in extending the presence of the Yamato throne, they were also supplying income, in the form of rice, to the throne and various members of the royal family. So, Karu's question basically boiled down to: what do we do about all of these groups that exist purely to support elite families?  Naka no Oe's response reflects the new order that he was pushing for in this period.  He notes that there is only one sovereign, and only the sovereign was owed the labor of the populace—suggesting that the labor of the Iribe and those otherwise conscripted into labor should be done according to the new labor laws they had just enacted.  This also suggested that even the Miyake should be abolished. This was another Big Change in the Taika era, and once again, this would have large ramifications, as it suggested, once again, that the traditions of people providing labor to these elite families would go away—although not entirely.  As we will see, elites would still get an income, but it would no longer be based on your hereditary rank and position and provided by groups bound to your service alone, but instead based on your appointed rank and position in the new government.  Those serving in government would continue to receive a stipend based on the labor of agricultural workers on land allotted to such purpose by the state, and in fact we've already seen where stipends were increased for some officers.  This goes along with the idea, at least, of a more merit-based society.  Those who worked hard and proved themselves would find their way to the highest positions and thus the greatest income for themselves and their families.  In reality, these promotions were highly political affairs, and most likely to go to those who came from the families already in power.  How that was envisioned, though, changed in this period, and it really emphasizes the shift that must have occurred within the cultural imaginary of the time. I've mentioned before the concept of the cultural imaginary, and it is something that I think we really need to talk about during this period—during the Great Change.  It is clear that, even if the term “Taika” was applied after the fact, people recognized that there was a sea change going on.  That change is externally represented by the edicts and the change going on in the way the government was operating.  However, this couldn't have happened without at least the tacit approval of the rest of the elites.  If Naka no Oe had just been a lone voice preaching the benefits of a more centralized state, with the sovereign at the top of a bureaucratic system that had never before been seen in the archipelago, then he could easily have been dismissed.  The other members of the court could have effectively revolted, refusing to comply and possibly even forcing a change in government.  And of course, that may have been part of what was behind the attempted revolt around Prince Furubito no Ohoye, which we talked about last episode. However, enough people continued to side with Naka no Oe and Nakatomi no Kamatari and their ideas that any opposition was unable to overcome their momentum.  So why? I would suggest that this was the result and culmination of a new way of envisioning—of imagining, if you will—the Yamato state.  It is an image that would have been familiar to the Chroniclers, and we see it throughout their narrative: the image of an imperial state, with the sovereign—known to the Chroniclers as the Sumera no Mikoto, or Tennou—at the very top.  The Sumera no Mikoto, as the sovereign would eventually be known, held authority not only in the secular realm, but also in the spiritual—in the Buddhist and in matters of the kami.  It envisioned the sovereign as the natural ruler of all of the archipelago, and even beyond. This was an image that is very much in line with the thinking of continental scholars.  It conforms, to a point, with Confucian and Buddhist ideas of what a Good Ruler should be, and, by extension, what the role of the State was and how the people should operate within that realm. Prior to the 6th century, there had been another image of the sovereign—the image of the Oho-kimi.  There are similarities—after all, power is power and humans are going to human.  But there were clearly other prevailing ideas in play back then.  We've talked about the idea of co-rulers, who ruled in tandem.  And we've seen examples of female and male rulers at various levels of society.  Spiritual authority came from the ability to intercede with the kami, and there were no native Buddhist traditions prior to 538—despite attempts by the Chroniclers to paint prior generations with the brush of Buddhist and Confucian morality.  One's place in society wasn't dictated by their own personal accomplishments as much as it was the accomplishments of their extended family, though even some of that may have come about as late as the 5th or 6th centuries.  Perhaps more importantly, prior to the 6th century, the sovereign's direct control only extended so far.  They were the sovereign of Yamato, and though they may have had influence over others in the archipelago, they did not necessarily have direct control over their lands and people.  By all accounts, the people owed their service not to the sovereign in Yamato, but to their local elites, who in turn may have had duties to those above them. But along with books and immigrants from the continent, the people of the archipelago got new ideas of what the government should look like.  These may have been foreign ideas, but over time we had new generations growing up with new and different examples of how things should work.  These new ideas worked their way into their thinking about how elited should behave and act, and colored their image for what a proper State should look like.  Sure, they understood how their own traditions worked, and that is still the mode under which they operated, but they were ready to change. Some of this change started back in the era of Prince Umayado and the sovereign, Kashikiya Hime.  Umayado's purported 17 article constitution, as we noted, didn't exactly lay out specific laws and punishments.  It wasn't a true legal code, though it was accompanied by a few legal changes, including the first attempt at a rank system for individuals.  More importantly, though, it articulated a set of values on which the government should be founded.  Whether or not these values were actually articulated to Prince Umayado, aka Shotoku Taishi, or even whether they were written down before the Chronicles were put together is debatable, but that whole episode certainly suggests that these kinds of ideas, which were rife with continental thought, were making their way into society. And thus, Naka no Oe was able to suggest his and Karu's reforms based on arguments that no doubt resonated with the people of the time, as many of those in government would have been reading similar texts.  So even while it was seemingly against their immediate interests to give up control of labor or production, they had already been provided an exemplar of how this would work.  They had a new imagination of what their culture should be and look like. And that's why I bring up the idea of a new cultural imaginary taking hold.  A cultural imaginary is the collection of various shared values and concepts that a group envisions for themselves. If we think of modern countries, one can look at American culture, where there are shared values of freedom, individuality, etc.  These are backed by common, shared ideas and stories—stories of the Founding Fathers, separating themselves from Great Britain, but also ideas of the Old West and concepts of the rugged cowboy on his horse.  These stories and images help us to determine our shared values and understanding.  It also tends to define the “us” versus “them”.  Why are *we* the way we are and why are *they* different? To be clear, these stories are not always true, and can change over time.  Early visions of America included some people, but not everyone.  Stories turned George Washington into an almost mythical figure, with an emphasis on his heroic qualities and his honesty.  Our modern version of the Old West is often driven by what we saw in movies, which in turn were influenced by dime novels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The historical Old West tended to be quite different—and much more complex and diverse—than our modern visions of it. We can see similar forces at work in the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki.  These were written with the cultural values of the 8th century, and deliberately or not, their values are reflected back into the past, which is then what later generations would hold onto, defining their own image of who they were and how things should be. When the cultural imaginary of what your society or culture *should* be conflicts with what people actually see happening, that often creates tension.  That tension can be resolved in a variety of ways, but it often requires something to change.  In this case, the cultural imaginaries of the elite had been flooded with examples of Confucian and Buddhist morals.  The stories and values had been passed along with knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and more, in the media they were consuming from the continent.  There were also those who had come from the continent—from Baekje, Silla, and beyond—who no doubt also had absorbed some of these stories and values and were passing them on, as well. And so it wouldn't have taken that much for Naka no Oe to point out how the system that they were laboring under differed from what a so-called “good” government should look like.  So in a way, there was already buy-in for a change, at least at the top.  And thus it appears as though Naka no Oe and Karu were able to get many of the elites to give up a measure of their own autonomy under the old system for the benefits of the new system that was being created.  Mind you, it likely didn't hurt that the throne was also ensuring that they gave out lavish gifts of silk, gold ingots, and hefty stipends to many of the more influential members of society as well. There are still questions as to how much actually changed, initially.  Sure, we see the edicts and an intent to change, and the local elites of Yamato seem to have been going along with it, but we don't quite see how quickly these edicts were accepted in places like Izumo or Kibi, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that, at least initially, many people just paid the edicts lip service, waiting to see whether or not they would actually be enforced.  Still, these are definite changes away from the previous cultural norms. Which leads into the next big edict, which focused on regulating tombs. While the ancient burial mounds which could be called “kofun” continued to be built into the 8th century in one form or another, by most timelines, the Kofun period ended around 538 with the introduction of Buddhism and the start of what is known as the Asuka period.  As we've noted, even the kingly tombs of the royal family from the end of the 6th century stopped relying on the round-keyhole shaped tomb shape.  By the early 7th century the building of temples had become the new memorial for the ultra-wealthy of Yamato—a temple being a memorial that could be built before you passed and carry on your memory to later generations as a place of worship.  This was no doubt helped by the idea that you would also accrue a fair bit of karma, the spiritual capital of the Buddhist worldview. However, a mounded burial was still de rigeur for the elites and certain families, including those who had come over from the continent.  The last keyhole style tombs known to have been built appear to be out in modern Chiba prefecture, in the Kanto region, in the first half of the 7th century.  From then on, we largely see round, square, or octagonal tombs.  Some of the latest tombs that we know of, in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, show clear signs of continental influence.  Kitora kofun and Takamatsuzuka Kofun, both in the Asuka area, are decorated in ways similar to tombs in Goguryeo, including paintings of the four directional animals mentioned in the Liji, the Confucian Book of Rites: Suzaku, the red bird of the south; Byakko, the white tiger of the west; Genbu, the black tortoise of the north; and Seiryuu, the blue dragon of the east.  Takamatsuzuka also contains murals of courtiers dressed in clothing that would be quite at home on the continent and which looks quite different from the clothing seen on haniwa figures from only a century or so earlier. Tombs were also more likely to be clustered together, and often only contained a single burial, rather than evidence of a double burial.  This was likely influenced by the edict of 646.  That edict also gives us ideas on what was considered to be reasonable for that era, and provides some of our best descriptions in the written record to help us better understand tomb construction. I would also note that the court had moved to Naniwa, and near to Naniwa were some of the largest of the kofun, including Daisen-ryo, the largest kofun in Japan and one of the largest mausoleums in the entire world.  So perhaps that was also influencing their thoughts. The edict starts out noting that large, mounded tombs are wasteful.  This shouldn't be a surprise:  large tombs were always about conspicuous consumption as a sign of the wealth and power of the occupant and their family.  As noted earlier, however, a lot of that seems to have shifted to the building of temples, and as such, tombs were no longer seen as something to waste resources on.  However, since it was still tradition, it was still happening, hence the edict. And so it goes on to limit the size of the tombs.  At the largest, it says a tomb should be no more than about nine shaku wide and 5 shaku wide on the inside—one shaku being approximately 1 foot—and no more then 9 hiro to a side and 5 hiro in height.  A “Hiro” was an ancient measure that was generally the length of two outspread arms.  This was about 5 shaku, or 5 feet.    That means that we are still talking about a mound 45 feet on a side, which is nothing to sneeze at.  But this size was reserved for princes and up.  The Daijin—the great ministers of State—could have similar inner dimensions for their sarcophagus, but the outside was limited to only seven hiro to a side and three hiro in height.  Lesser ministers only got 5 hiro to a side and 2.5 hiro in height, while others were allocated no mound at all, and a smaller inner chamber. In addition, the number of laborers and how long they could work on a tomb was also capped.  The largest tombs were allotted 1,000 laborers for 7 days.  The Daijin received 500 laborers over 5 days.  Other ministers received 250 laborers for 3 days, while below that you received 100 laborers for 1 day or 50 laborers for no more than 1 day.  Here we see the state once again asserting itself into the relationship between the various individuals and the laborers—previously, an elite family would have just used as many laborers as they had private access to, but now things were being regulated and it was all based on your rank and position within the civil service of the new government. In addition, how the deceased was delivered to the monument also was regulated.  A carriage was permitted for the highest ranked individuals—the members of the royal family.  Ministers could be placed on a bier and carried by pall-bearers.  No mention is made of people of the lower class, with the assumption that they likely didn't get such a ceremony. White cloth hangings were allowed in many cases—white is practical, in that it isn't dyed and so it wouldn't be as expensive, but it was also considered the color of death in Buddhist and continental tradition, so not surprising.  They also allowed small stones to be used for princes down to the rank of “sho-chi”—that was the lowest official rank.  These stones could refer to several things, and we aren't quite sure.  According to Aston, the compilers of the “shukai” edition of the Nihon Shoki attributed this to memorial stones set up with inscriptions about the deceased, but as he points out, we haven't found anything that really correlates to that.  Aston instead suggests that what is meant are the stones used to build the roof of the main chamber.  If you look at tombs like Ishibutai kofun, you can see the large stones used there, but this may be referring to something similar, possibly using smaller stones that took less effort to haul into place.  There were also stones used on the outside to decorate the kofun back in the day, and I suppose that they could have meant that as well. More than just regulations, there were prohibitions placed on burials.  For one thing, the concept of a temporary interment was discontinued for everyone.  In the past, a body would be buried or even placed in a hut for some time and then the burial would take place at a later date.  There are several reasons this may have been done in the past, from the purely ritual to the more practical.  However, that was no longer considered to be appropriate.  Likewise, commoners were required to be buried within a day of their death.  This goes along with talk about reducing “pollution”, which may have referred to spiritual as much as physical pollution, and so plots of ground were set aside specifically for burials, and people were not allowed to be buried outside of those official locations.  That could certainly help explain why we see more clusters of burials in this later period.  Using the sides of hills and ridges may have also meant that the tombs didn't take up important agricultural lands. There were also prohibitions on sacrifices to the dead.  For one thing, nobody was permitted to sacrifice themselves through strangulation—which apparently had been a thing even though we are told that human sacrifice was prohibited back in the time of Mimaki Iribiko, and the reason that haniwa were invented.  You also weren't allowed to sacrifice someone's horse or bury valuables along with the dead.  These are all things that we see in the early mounded tomb culture, including burials in the Kara, or Gaya, region of the Korean peninsula, and we certainly find plenty of grave goods in the archipelago.  It makes me wonder if this is one of the reasons that painted tombs, like Kitora and Takamatsuzuka, were used, perhaps in place of more lavish grave goods going into the burial.  There was also a prohibition on an apparent custom where people would cut their hair and stab themselves in the thigh prior to pronouncing a eulogy.  Similar traditions are found elsewhere, often to emphasize that people were grieving the dead. And since you can't punish the dead, if there were any problems then it would be the dead person's relatives who would be punished, instead. Speaking of punishments, this starts to get into a part of the Taika reforms that really focuses on the various offenses that people were apparently committing and needed to be stopped.  It is unclear to me how often these offenses occurred, and in some cases I wonder if they were things that were actually happening or if they were carryovers from the continental tradition.  Still, I tend to come down on the idea that these were likely things that were actually happening, and didn't fit in with the social norms and values that Naka no Oe and his cohorts were attempting to put in place.  Some of these will likely resonate with us, today, but others are a bit more difficult to fully grasp. One of the things that is perhaps most difficult for us to grasp today is the concept of “harai”, which Aston translates as “purgation” and is most commonly translated, today, as “purification”.  “Harai” is an important concept in Shinto, and has been something that seems to have been there in some form from the earliest times. In Shinto there is a concept of “pollution” or “tsumi” that can occur, and it may or may not be something that a person has control over.  For example, blood and death are forms of pollution—which also means that, by extension, birth also includes pollution in the form of blood.  “Tsumi” can also be something that occurs because of things that a person does, where they break the social mores or norms.  A number of examples are contained in the stories provided during the Age of the Gods.  In particular, you can see in the tales of Izanagi and Izanami, where Izanagi, coming back from the land of the dead, dips himself into the ocean to wash away any impurities—any pollution.  We talked about that back in episode 14.  In episode 15, we talked about some of the not-so-great actions of Susano'o.  Some of these, like the backwards flaying of the colt and flinging it through the roof of his sister's building is somewhat obvious.  But then there were things like moving the stakes delineating the rice fields, or letting livestock in to trample the young growth.  Those were some other examples of tsumi that were part of the many things that got him kicked out of Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven. An important thing here is that tsumi is not necessarily about a person's intentions, motives, nor responsibility.  For all types of tsumi, some form of harai, or purification, is called for.  Today, there are various ceremonies that can be performed by Shinto priests to help remove the effects of tsumi, and that seems to have been the case back in the Kofun and Asuka periods as well, but there was a catch: it wasn't without costs.  And apparently those costs could be significant—significant enough that it was almost like a kind of punishment.  Aston suggests that harai could include various payments, perhaps seen as a kind of sacrifice, but that could be more than some people could afford.  If we look back on the story of Susano'o, he had to have his hair and nails cut as part of his penance—his harai.  There is also some thought that this may have just been a literal payment to the community, like a fine.  I would note that “harai” can mean either purification or payment, depending on the kanji used.  So just keep that in mind when we talk about “harai”. Now here are some of the things that, according to the new edicts, people were to stop doing. First, there were people who saw or heard something—presumably something important—and yet they wouldn't say anything.  That wasn't going to fly anymore.  So I guess this is the pro-snitching rule—if you see something, say something. Then there were enslaved people who apparently would leave poor masters to find someone wealthier to serve, hoping to improve their lot.  Again, this was right out.  We are reminded that Yamato was a slave-holding society, and they weren't going to allow that. On the other hand, the new rules also put a stop to husbands who would dismiss their wives and then, when the wives remarried, try to make a claim on the new husband's property.  Similarly, there were some men who demanded a family's daughter for his wife, but before they consummate the marriage, she marries someone else.  In some of those cases, the men would, again, make demands on the property of the new husband's family as well as the wife's family.  The new edict put that strictly out of bounds. Following on a theme of women and marriage: there was a tradition in some places that widows who, when they married after 10 or 20 years, or even unmarried women got married for the first time, they would be forced by the community to pay for some kind of “harai”.  This, along with the other practice mentioned, was forbidden.  No longer would they have to pay for getting married. Now in some cases, it looks like men who wanted to divorce their wives wouldn't just let them out of the arrangement. Rather, they would sell their wives into slavery—another thing that the new edicts said would no longer be tolerated. And then there was the case of a man who believed his wife was having an affair.  In that case he now had to obtain at least three credible witnesses before bringing it up to the authorities.  One presumes this was to protect women from men simply making a baseless claim with no proof.  Not that a determined man couldn't find—or even bribe—three witnesses to come forward and accuse his wife, but it at least upped the ante a little bit.  Whether this was to provide protection to women or whether it was just to reduce the amount of work on government officials who would have to investigate and come to a decision isn't exactly clear. I would note that while many of these new rules were coming down on the side of protecting women, to some degree, there is still a very heavy patriarchal bias demonstrated throughout. In addition to all the information on marital affairs,  there were a few other, unrelated issues, but all of them were connected to the need to do harai.  And now we come back to our story about poor Maro and Sumi from the beginning of the episode: let's say a man, finishing his forced labor, is returning back when he falls ill on the road and dies in some village.  According to established traditions, the people there could then require his companions or even family members to perform harai—presumably meaning that they would have to pay the village something or at least pay for the ritual cleansing, to compensate for the tsumi that the death caused.  Similarly, if someone were to drown, his companions would be held responsible.  Even if someone were to stop and cook rice by the roadside while traveling, they could be made to perform harai.  And the harai for all of this was so onerous that we are told that even a younger brother might completely ignore the body of his elder brother, just to avoid being associated with him and thus forced to perform harai. In all of these cases, the edict said that this would no longer be acceptable.  You couldn't just put the squeeze on someone to perform harai just because their companion happened to pass away. Being on the road and traveling—especially for official government service—was clearly something that was on their mind.  Moving on from the list of things that were to be discontinued without exception, there were a few other cases that were dealt with in the same edict. First, there was the case where peasants, heading to the capital, would leave their horses with someone in Owari or Mikawa, for example.  They would leave cloth and bundles of hemp as payment for the person to look after their horses, and even procure a spade as a gift when they returned.  However, when they got back, they would find that their horse had died, or else the horse had been sold, but the owner was told it had died.  The last trick, if it was a mare, was to get the mare pregnant and then claim that the pregnancy had polluted their house, therefore the owner would have to do harai, meaning that the horse usually ended up staying with the person who was supposed to be holding onto it. The solution was to use the new bureaucracy.  The owner and the person who agreed to keep the horse would make their statement to the village elder and the owner would hand over the renumeration to the elder as the third party.  This payment would be held by the elder until the owner returned, at which point it was handed over to the person who had kept the horse.  This way the person keeping the horse knew that he would be paid for his troubles, but only if the horse was still around when the owner returned. So they effectively invented the concept of escrow.  I suspect that such a system could be applied to many other such endeavors as well, where there was otherwise no guarantee of payment at the end of a task nor guarantee that the task would completed as agreed if they got the money up front. Besides that, the edict also had a short note about dues payable to Market Commissioners for main roads and to ferrymen—likely various fees.  Instead, these kinds of positions would be granted rice-land which could be cultivated and they could receive a stipend from that. Finally, during the key agricultural months, everybody was to be working on cultivating rice-land.  The edict specifically calls out that they should not eat dainty food nor drink sake, I suspect because dainty food wouldn't give you enough energy and drinking sake would impair your ability in the field.  Each quarter, the Kuni no Miyatsuko were to send messengers to remind the people of this edict—a kind of human public service announcement. So all of that was part of an edict on the 22nd day of the 3rd month of 646.  I am not sure that there is a clear theme to all of it, other than calling out old practices and describing how things would be done from here on out.  There is clearly a concern with harai and how it would affect people's willingness to do the right thing. The next set of pronouncements would come almost five months later, and a lot of that had to do with names, as well as further work on the creation of the government bureaucracy, but that is going to take a lot more time, and so I think that for now we'll end this here:  The link between the state and laborers has been changed, the tomb-building has been strictly regulated, and a series of rather specific pronouncements and prohibitions has been issued. And so, until next time, 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.

Wow! We have now created 50 episodes. It has been great to see all the students contributing to our podcast. We hope to continue for at least 50 more. In today`s episode, we have two conversations about the recent summer holiday break. First, we have Mahoko and Hagumi, and then Koshiro and Daichi. Enjoy! Intro music: Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith https://freemusicarchive.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In this episode, 1st-year student Daichi takes us on a walking tour of Imai Town located down the road from our university. The episode includes Daichi's introduction to the historical ImaiTown followed by a tour of some sightseeing spots there with Teacher Michael and students Koshiro, Daichi, Mahoko, and Hagumi. Enjoy! Imai Town https://www.city.kashihara.nara.jp/kanko/en/imaicho.html Shounenji Temple https://www.imaicyou-syounenji.com/en.html Imanishi Ke https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/building/Imanishi-ke%20Jutaku%20(Imanishi%20familys%20House).html Unomachi Cafe https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057594993993 Inondo Cafe https://www.instagram.com/inondcafe/?hl=ja Intro music: Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith https://freemusicarchive.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

Yūzō Koshiro debe ser, sin duda, uno de los mejores compositores de videojuegos. Históricamente ha estado involucrado en grandes proyectos, siendo la franquicia de Streets of Rage una de ellas. Por esto mismo es que decidimos ir a revisar su trabajo en esta serie, disfrutando del soundtrack de la primera entrega de Sega Genesis.

In this episode, the teacher (Michael) has a good chat with 2nd-Year Student Koshiro shortly before the summer break. They talk about Koshiro`s studies, upcoming exams, summer break plans, and the current situation with the pandemic in Japan. Enjoy! Tokyo Disneyland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Disneyland Intro music: Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith https://freemusicarchive.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

About: I had an extremely hard time choosing only four composers for the last episode, so I'm doing a whole honourable mentions follow up. Another four composers which are extremely synonymous with the art form. For this episode, I'll be showcasing the music from Yuzo Koshiro, Yoko Shimomura, Noriyuki Iwadare and Shoji Meguro. 00:00 - Colony 9 [Xenoblade Chronicles] by Shimomura > 02:51 - Life Goes On [Persona 5] by Meguro > 05:13 - Enemy Army BGM 1 [Langrisser] by Iwadare > 07:10 - Make Me Dance [Revenge Of Shinobi] by Koshiro > 09:08 - Investigation ~ Opening 2004 [Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations] by Iwadare > 11:07 - Go! Raidou [Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Souless Army] by Meguro > 13:18 - Soldier's Triumph [Sol Cresta] by Koshiro > 16:47 - Graveyard of Darkness [Etrian Odyssey V] by Koshiro > 20:00 - Muladhara [Digital Devil Saga] by Meguro > 22:00 - Out Of Phase [Parasite Eve] by Shimomura > 24:19 - Invitation Of A Crazed Moon [Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin] by Koshiro > 26:49 - Brave Warriors [Lunar 2: Eternal Blue] by Iwadare > 29:59 - Under Logic [Streets Of Rage II] by Koshiro > 32:01 - Ken's Theme [Street Fighter II] by Shimomura > 34:15 - Keep Your Faith [Persona 5 Royal] by Meguro > 37:54 - Omnis Lacrima [Final Fantasy XV] by Shimomura > 42:01 - Wave Of Darkness I [Kingdom Hearts III] by Shimomura > 45:12 - At Last [Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker] by Meguro > 47:40 - Last Battle [Langrisser II] by Iwadare > 50:14 - Keep The Groovin' [Streets Of Rage] by Koshiro > 53:30 - Specialist [Persona 4] by Meguro > 55:36 - Welcome To Bukki Tower [Super Mario RPG] by Shimomura > 57:11 - Domu Ruins [Grandia] by Iwadare > 01:01:33 - Stray Sheep [Catherine] by Meguro > 01:04:00 - Northwall [ActRaiser Renaissance] by Koshiro > 01:07:43 - A Prayer For The Holy Capital [Heroes of Mana] by Shimomura > 01:11:04 - Misty Ravine [Etrian Odyssey IV] by Koshiro > 01:14:15 - Memories Of The City [Persona 3] by Meguro > 01:16:49 - Mechanical Kingdom [Radiant Historia] by Shimomura > 01:19:58 - The Journey Without End [Last Ranker] by Shimomura > 01:24:03 - Reach For The Front [Lunar: Silver Star Story] by Iwadare > 01:26:58 - Village Of Carbo [Grandia II] by Iwadare > 01:31:44 - Devote For Nature [Radiata Stories] by Iwadare > 01:35:19 - The Days When Mother Was There [Persona 5] by Meguro > 01:39:11 - Main Theme [Senri No Kiffu] by Iwadare > www.pixelbeatpod.com > 

In today`s episode, the teacher (Michael) welcomes back Koshiro (2nd-year student) to have a chat about what he has been up to since the end of 1st year. They talk about his final exams, the long break before 2nd year started, exercise, Japanese healthy food, part-time jobs, and the popular topic for 2nd-year students, Human Anatomy class and cadavers. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

We made it to the end of the school year and the end of Season 2! In this episode, we welcome special gueset 6th-year stuent Shuhei. At first I (teacher Michael) catch up with Shuhei. Next, Yuriko (3rd-year) interviews Shuhei about USMLE, a licesneing exam to become a doctor in the U.S. Finally, a couple of questions from Koshiro and Suguru (1st-year). It was a real plesure to have Shuhei come in and share all his tremenous knowldege with the podcast team. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In our final episode of 2021, I (teacher Michael) and two first-year medical students (Koshiro & Suguru) reflect on the year. They talk about entering medical college, their success and challenges this year, and some of their good memories. We finish up the episode talking about their winter break and holiday plans. Enjoy! We would love to hear from you! Please contact us at: mwblodgett@naramed-u.ac.jp Intro music: Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith https://freemusicarchive.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In this special episode, Koshiro, 1st-year medical student, interviews Tomo, a 6th-year medical student in Taiwan. They covered all kinds of topics ranging from medical student life in Taiwain, Tom's strategies for practicing and improving his English skilss, and their hobbies and interests outside of sutdy. Gento (2nd-year student), Suguru (1st-year student) and Michael (the teacher) join in at the end of the chat. Enjoy! We would love to hear from you! Please contact us at: mwblodgett@naramed-u.ac.jp Intro music: Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith https://freemusicarchive.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In this part 1 of a 2-part series, the students recommend some podcasts based on their own interests. This time we have 1st year medical students Koshiro and Suguru. Koshiro is a fan of kung fu and Marvel movies. And shares a podcast based on those interests. Suguru loves horror stories. And his podcast recommendation reflects that. Koshiro`s recommnedation MBEC Podcast Suguru's recommendation Horror Nights https://open.spotify.com/show/17nBTS57iZ7isTV1GLm2WG?si=b38b005b0a304cab Intro music: Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith https://freemusicarchive.org --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

It was a difficult start to the 2nd semester as most of Japan was experiencing a state of emergency starting in the end of August and continuing through September. But things have started to calm down on the corona front, and students are looking forward to student life once again. In this episode Yuriko, Yuka, and Gento talk about joining club activties and Suguru, Misaki, and Koshiro talk about their favorite places to travel in Japan. Travel: Tottori https://www.tottori-tour.jp/en/ Kyushu (food) Fukukoka - tonkotsu ramen https://www.fukuoka-now.com/en/rwc/deep-fukuoka/tonkotsu-ramen/ Kumamoto - basashi (raw horse meat) https://foodinjapan.org/kyushu/kumamoto/basashi/ Miyazaki - mango https://www.miyazaki-city.tourism.or.jp/en/special/Rich_Miyazaki_Mangoes Kagoshima - kurobuta pork (black pig) https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/destinations/kagoshima/kurobutapork --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In this episode, 1st year students Suguru and Koshiro and I (teacher Michael) talk about Japanese snacks! For snack lovers Japan is a real treat. Not only do they have many traditional sweets and snacks, but they also take snacks from around the world and add a Japanese flare. This is part 1 of a 2 part show. Stay tuned for part 2 next week, where 5 other students share snacks and we talk about them! Enjoy! Dango (dumplings) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango Japanese Kit Kat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Kats_in_Japan budo sansho (pepper): https://www.pref.wakayama.lg.jp/prefg/071700/an_nai/kaigai_d/fil/BudoSansho.pdf --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In today's episode, we hae two fun conversations. We start off with 3rd-year student Yuriko and 2nd-year student Misaki. They talk about the upcoming school festival and previous school festival experiences. In our 2nd conversation, 1st-year students Koshiro and Suguru talk about club activities and which ones they want to join. Club activies will start to reopen for the first time since the start of the pandemic. School festival (Cultural festival) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_festival_(Japan) Club activiies at universities in Japan https://univinjapan.com/bukatsu/part01.html As always, we are eager to hear from you! Please let us know how we are doing and what topics you want to hear about in future episodes. It would mean a lot to get an email: mwblodgett@naramed-u.ac.jp or a voice message (available if listening on Anchor). Thanks! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

Greetings, Gamers! This week, Bedroth is joined by the one and only Bryan Clutter, creator of Level Down Games, a multimedia company dedicated to covering the best that pop culture has to offer, through reviews, videos, and podcasts, including BGMania: A Video Game Music Podcast, on which Bedroth has been a guest several times! We are more than happy to welcome Bryan to join us this time to talk about his personal favorite VGM composer: Yuzo Koshiro! As we will learn, Koshiro is an absolute behemoth in VGM history. From his early days with Nihon Falcom working on the Japanese home computer system, the PC88, through his time as a freelance and as founder and president of his own development companny, Ancient, Koshiro has been an enduring presence in the world of games, and the source of a great deal of Very Good Music, just a small taste of which we are happy to bring you today. Thanks as always to our amazing patrons and the artists who made our show art and theme song. You, too, can become a patron at patreon.com/vgmvgm, and you can reach out to us one of these ways: Discord: https://discord.gg/qpbXPdCf2N Twitter: @VGMpod and @Shootkapow E-mail: verygoodmusicvgm@gmail.com Voicemail: Anchor.com/vgmvgm. You can also leave us a comment on YouTube and while you're at it, please let us know if you like the video, and subscribe and ring the bell to be notified of future episodes! We look forward to hearing from you! Playlist Prelude: Fillmore - Actraiser Renaissance - Current Gen Consoles/Steam - Square Enix - 2021 Intro: Go Straight - Streets of Rage 2 - Genesis- Sega - 1992 The Cursed Ship Queen Mary: After Disembarking - Sorcerian (Dragon Slayer V) - PC-88 - Nihon Falcom - 1987 Chinatown (Stage 6-1) - The Revenge of Shinobi - Genesis - Sega - 1989 Misty Blue Theme - Misty Blue - PC-88 - Enix - 1990 The Sadness I Carry on My Shoulders - Shenmue - Dreamcast - Sega - 1999 Protectors - Ys II Complete - Windows - Falcom - 2001 Driver's Delight - Wangan Midnight Maxium Tune - Arcade - Namco - 2004 Blind Fugitive - Protect Me Knight - Xbox 360 - Ancient - 2010 Disturbances: The One Called From Beyond - Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - 3DS - P-Studio/Atlas - 2014 Raise Thy Sword in Pride - Etrian Mystery Dungeon - 3DS - Spike Chunsoft/Atlus - 2015 Through the Blowing Dust - Puzzle & Dragons X (Cross): Gods and Dragons - 3DS - GungHo Online Entertainment - 2016 Blooper: The Birth of the People - Actraiser - SNES - Enix/Quintet - 1990 Level Down Games: https://leveldowngames.com/ Episode 50 of BGMania (Deep Dive: Yuzo Koshiro): https://anchor.fm/bgmania/episodes/Deep-Dive-Yuzo-Koshiro--BGMania-Podcast-50-ej0gem/a-a33ove5 Special thanks to our Patrons: Alex Messenger, host of A VGM Journey Skeletroy, creator of SNES Thrash Remixes on YouTube Ryan Steel, composer of Catlandia: Crisis at Fort PawPrint "Kung Fu" Carlito, host of Heroes Three: Adventures in Asian Cinema Forrest Shamlian, creator of Castle Corp and Bomb Show on YouTube SprintCade The Mysterious Nathan Artist Links: Naomi Rubin - patreon.com/naomirubin | comics at moonsproutstation.com Carlos Leon Roman - Instagram.com/kf_carlito Ben "The Diad" Dishman - @TheDiad Skeletroy - patreon.com/skeletroy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vgmvgm/message

Aster and Touya return to talk about the explosion of news out of DigiFes 2021. We discuss the controversy surrounding the new Tamers live reading, Konaka's recent history of conspiracy theories, the potentially exciting (but also potentially terrifying) news of new Digimon anime content, and, eventually, this week's latest Adventure 2020 episode (sorry, Koshiro). You can find the full show notes for this episode and leave comments at http://podigious.com/AC59/.

Programa de Radio No.149 Podcast 298Transmitido el 21 de Julio 2021 por Radio y TV. Querétaro 100.3 FM Este miércoles en nuestro programa por Radio y Televisión Querétaro dedicaremos el programa a uno de los grandes pioneros de la música de videojuegos, Koshiro Yuzo; escucharemos temas poco comunes cómo Beyond Oasis o Etrian Odyssey y su colaboración con compositores europeos ¡No se pierdan el programa ! cómo cada miércoles por el 100.3FM o por www.rtq.mx #gamemusic #ゲーム音楽 #musicadevideojuegos

This is a special 2 part episode. In the first part Yuka (2nd Year Nursing) and Misaki (2nd Year Medical) discuss their upcoming final exams and their plans for summer break. In the 2nd part, four medical students (Yuriko, Taika, Gento, & Koshiro) have a spirited discussion about Anatomy class and their experience working with cadavers. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

With the 2021 school year starting, we have opened up the class to new members. Koshiro (1st year medical student) and Yuriko ( 3rd year medical student) interview two of those new members in this episode: Gento and Koichi Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

In this episode, Yuriko (3rd-year student) and I (Michael the teacher) talk about the start of rainy season (Tsuyu). Yuriko then leads a discussion with Taiga (2nd-year student) and Koshiro (1st-year student) about the recent start of the Coronavirus vaccinations at our university and in Japan. About "Tsuyu" - rainy season: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2277.html intro. music: https://www.bensound.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

With the 2021 school year starting, we have opened up the class to new members. Yuriko (3rd year medical student) and I (Michael the teacher) interview four of those new members in this episode: Yuka, Suguru, Misaki, and Koshiro. Enjoy! About "Kakizome" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakizome --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-blodgett5/message

Rose Bridges returns to jump into the latest episode of Digimon Adventure: and talk about her love for Koshiro! You can find the full show notes for this episode and leave comments at http://podigious.com/AC42/.

Volvemos con la actualidad del videojuego con el analisis del nuevo DLC de Blasphemous, Fantasian, el nuevo juego de las Tortugas Ninja, los juegos de Bethesda en el Game Pass, ventas digitales, la nueva ocurrencia de Koshiro, las ventas de los juegos de Switch en Febrero, el recopilatorio de SNK, el anuncio del Square Direct y mucho más. Todo esto grabado en Twitch.tv/rejugando cada noche a las 22:00. Os esperamos¡¡¡ Se agradece Me Gusta en Ivoox y comentario. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

In questo ONE PIECE Fact-Checking analizzeremo il volume 1 di ONE PIECE, puntualizzando dettagli che si possono cogliere con il senno di poi o con la versione giapponese sotto agli occhi.

Pour la sortie de notre recueil d'interviews de créateurs Les Mémoires du jeu vidéo japonais, nous avons ce mois-ci choisi de vous concocter une playlist avec une contrainte assez simple : les jeux réprésentés dans la playlist doivent être mentionnés dans l'ouvrage suscité. Simple, car à travers les réponses des quelques cinquantaines d'interviewés, c'est au moins autant de jeux qui y sont évoqués. À vous maintenant de les retrouver ! Car oui, comme d'habitude les morceaux seront dans un premier temps cachés, à vous de les retrouver ! Donnez-nous vos réponses où vous le souhaitez (commentaires sur les réseaux, sur Soundcloud, sous ce billet de blog), si elles sont correctes, nous les ajouterons. Tracklist 1 - 00:00 Gradius II (MSX) - Above The Horizon - Konami Kukeiha Club (trouvé par Api-Vat) 2 - 02:23 Chrono Trigger - Mystery of the Forest - Yasunori Mitsuda (trouvé par Roni) 3 - 07:13 Dragon Quest V - Make Me Feel Sad (Version Symphonic Suite) - COMP/ARR : Koichi Sugiyama (trouvé par K3ft) 4 - 09:44 ??? 5 - 11:08 ??? 6 - 13:16 Street Fighter II - Chun-Li's Theme (CPS2) - Yoko Shimomura (trouvé par Similioxin) 7 - 16:04 ??? 8 - 19:39 Snatcher (MSX2) – Twilight of Neo Kobe City - Konami Kukeiha Club (trouvé par Api-Vat) 9 - 22:10 Metal Gear 2 - Theme of Solid Snake - Masahiro Ikariko (trouvé par Api-Vat) 10 - 25:23 ??? 11 - 29:18 Sorcerian - Dungeon - Yūzō Koshiro (trouvé par Api-Vat) 12 - 31:59 ??? 13 - 33:46 ??? 14 - 35:49 Rad Racer - Sunset Coastline - Nobuo Uematsu (trouvé par Haplo) 15 - 38:59 Wonderboy : The Dragon's Trap - The Last Dungeon (Version Remake) - COMP : Shinichi Sakamoto (trouvé par Speedvizon) 16 - 40:52 ??? 17 - 44:25 Shinobi (Arcade) - BGM 1 (trouvé par Haplo) 18 - 47:36 Phantasy Star - Dungeon 1 (Version FM) - Tokuhiko Uwabo (trouvé par Speedvizon) 19 - 49:10 Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Swimming - Tokuhiko Uwabo (trouvé par Roni) 20 - 51:35 ??? Bonne écoute et n'hésitez pas à nous conseiller de nouvelles pistes qui pourraient entrer dans le thème de l'épisode. Ce numéro est disponible sur: - Deezer - Spotify - Google Podcasts - Apple Podcasts - SoundClound - Flux RSS : http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:299916869/sounds.rss

Ce mois-ci sort "L'Art du pixel : SNES", notre ouvrage dédié aux châtoyants sprites de la Super Nintendo. Du coup, après vous avoir proposé un Third Song spécial NES et un autre spécial Saturn, on s'est dit que le moment était plus qu'opportun pour vous proposer un épisode dédié à la 16-Bit de Nintendo. Pour cet épisode, tout le monde a mis la main à la pâte. Des licences les plus connues de Nintendo aux sombres séries disparues depuis, vous ne vous ennuierez pas une seconde pendant l'heure qui suit ! Tracklist 1 - 00:00 Mario Paint - Creative Exercise - Ryoji Yoshitomi 2 - 02:59 F-Zero - Port Town - Yumiko Kanki 3 - 05:13 Trials of Mana - Meridian Child - Sachiko Miyano 4 - 08:38 Chrono Trigger - Frog's Theme - Yasunori Mitsuda 5 - 10:30 Valken - Ready~We've Gotta Do it - Masanao Akahori 6 - 12:59 Bahamut Legend - JOJO's Theme - Noriko Matsueda 7 - 15:07 Megaman X – Night in the White (Arranged) - COMP : Yuki Iwai | ARR : Toshiaki Ohtsubo 8 - 20:50 Starwing – Corneria - Hajime Hirasawa 9 - 23:45 Secret of Evermore - Puppet Song - Jeremy Soule 10 - 26:07 Super Metroid - Space Warrior, Theme of Samus Aran - COMP : ??? | ARR : Yoshiyuki Ito et/ou Masumi Ito 11 - 29:14 Super Mario Kart - Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 8 version) - COMP : Soyo Oka | ARR : Atsuko Asahi 12 - 32:10 Super Castlevania IV - Simon Belmont's Theme - Masanori Adachi et/ou Taro Kudo 13 - 35:49 Final Fantasy VI - Forever Rachel - Nobuo Uematsu 14 - 38:55 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Athletic (Super Smash Bros. version) - COMP : Koji Kondo | ARR : Shota Kageyama 15 - 43:23 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest – Stickerbush Symphony - David Wise 16 - 47:52 ActRaiser – Birth of the People (Symphonic suite version) - COMP : Yūzō Koshiro | ARR : Yūzō Koshiro & Kaoru Wada 17 - 52:55 Super Bomberman 3 - Password - June Chikuma 18 - 56:57 Killer Instinct – Tooth & Claw - Robin Beanland 19 - 1:00:02 Illusion of Time – Sky Garden – Yasuhiro Kawasaki 20 - 1:01:52 Dragon Ball Z Super Butouden 2 – Trunks' Theme - Kenji Yamamoto

Sound Teams est notre nouveau podcast qui réunit les équipes de Third Éditions et Wayô Records pour décrypter la musique de jeu vidéo. Dans ce quatrième numéro, c'est le compositeur Yūzō Koshiro qui est à l'honneur ! Damien Mecheri est accompagné de Jonathan Khersis (co-fondateur de Wayô Records) et Julien Goyon (co-fondateur de Musica Ludi, sound designer, auteur) et de Ken Bruno (assistant d'édition chez Third Éditions, auteur du Ludothèque #7 : Streets of Rage) Au sommaire de ce numéro : - 0:00 | Introduction - 2:50 | La « contre-vérité » : Yūzō Koshiro n'a jamais travaillé chez SEGA - 5:05 | L'ascension de Yūzō Koshiro - 24:55 | Rubrique « à la bouche » - 30:30 | Sur le dancefloor - La tétralogie Streets of Rage - 55:55 | Rubrique « recommandation » - 1:00:10 | Un compositeur versatile - 1:24:35 | L'actualité de Third et Wayô Ce numéro est disponible sur : - Deezer - Spotify - Google Podcasts - iTunes : goo.gl/0X1UZc - SoundCloud : goo.gl/oGMcHN - Flux RSS : http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:299916869/sounds.rss N'hésitez pas à nous faire part de vos retours sur nos réseaux sociaux ! Générique composé par Hiroki Kikuta

Streets Of Rage 4, le test par Yohann Lemore Sortie : 30 Avril 2020 Plateformes : PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC Nombre de joueurs : 1 à 4 en local ou en ligne Genre : Beat Em Up Prix : 24,99€ Age : A partir de 12 ans Crédits audios : Streets Of Rage 4 original soundtrack par Yūzō Koshiro, Olivier Derivière, Groundislava, XL Middleton, Keiji Yamagishi, Harumi Fujita,Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, Scattle, et Das Mortal STREETS OF RAGE 4 - Main theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmlQpm_5xTM&list=PLrPlDkeGYwPmLfZwNAy5d0aVx4QO9cTXT STREETS OF RAGE 4 - The Streets, they're back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kptavMAJbn8&list=PLrPlDkeGYwPmLfZwNAy5d0aVx4QO9cTXT&index=3 Le test écrit ici: https://www.lindependant.fr/2020/05/04/streets-of-rage-4-retour-dune-saga-culte,8873004.php

It's been about a month since the last episode, but now we are playing catch up!!! In episode 4, we discover what's in Sora's bag of groceries, ponder what Piyomon tastes like and Agumon's first magical girl transformation happens. Also more Koshiro torture porn because what's a Digimon 2020 episode without it? This is an ongoing series. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/d3unofficialpodcast/support

This week we have tsundere Koshiro, swole Tentomon, technical difficulties, and, most importantly MIMI!Again, we apologise for the silence of the Stevies!LinkdumpRedditSegmentsIntro: 00.00-03.12Synopsis: 0.03.13-0.28.39Discussion: 0.28.40-0.39.41Outro: 0.39.42-0.45.14Check out our website for information about the show!Check out our Redbubble!Thank you to our supporters on Patreon; Joe, AnimeGuy (animeguykurosaki1 on Youtube, Steven Reeves (WildWing64 on Archive of Our Own), Kaida Washi, Chisai (Who you can follow on tumblr at chisai236), Kyle, Tom, Lizmet (Elecmon on tumblr), Nicholas, MetalMamemon, Sam, Spiral, Keith (From 'A Computer Podcast on the Internet'), SilverHairedFreak25, Magnus, and Lucas!Become a Patreon supporter for as little as a dollar per month and we’ll love you forever!You can also donate to the production of this podcast using PayPal here or Ko-Fi here.Our Gmail is: LostinTranslationmon@Gmail.com| Apple Podcasts | Facebook | Google Podcasts | Instagram | PlayerFM | PodBean | Soundcloud | Spotify | Stitcher | Tumblr | Twitter | Whooshka | With the Will | YouTube |

Welcome to Episode 2 of Very Good Music: A VGM Podcast! We are your hosts, bedroth and Shootkapow, a father/son duo who love music and video games and especially music IN video games! In this episode, we take turns playing very good songs from soundtracks to games that we have yet to play - at least, the one who brought the song has yet to play the game. Once again, the songs span many generations, genres, and platforms, but they all follow our One Big Rule: everything has to be Very Good Music! We hope you enjoy the show. If you have any comments, questions, or requests, please send them to verygoodmusicvgm@gmail.com, or leave a comment below! If you like what you hear, please like, comment, and subscribe, and if you're watching on YouTube, ring that bell to be notified when our next episode comes out! We're currently planning to release every other Saturday, but check back here for news and updates. Is this your first VGM podcast? Do you want more? Check out www.vgmpodcasts.com! Check out Mike Levy's work at https://www.youtube.com/user/Dongled Chernabogue's original SSF2 - Battle Theme (Final Fantasy 1) video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1FdvNtYn4k Intro - DYHPTG Theme by Retro Shred (Consider supporting Retro Shred on Twitch.tv/RetroShredMusic) 0:15 - Pressing Pursuit- Cornered - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (GBA) - 2001 - Masakazu Sugimori and Akemi Kimura 7:15 - Blood on the Cobblestones - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Multi-Platform) - 2015 - Mikolaj Stroinski and Marcin Przybylowicz 10:42 - Battle Theme: Final Fantasy Remix (PC) - Super Smash Flash 2 - 1987/2011 - Nobuo Uematsu/Alex Mourey (Chernabogue) 15:38 - Lace (Multi-Platform) - Hollow Knight: Silk Song - 2020 - Christopher Larkin 18:50 - Break the Targets - Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube) - 2001 - Hirokazu Ando 24:15 - Aurum Island - Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS) - 2012 - Yuzo Koshiro* 29:45 - You Will Know Our Names - Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) - 2010 - ACE+ (Tomori Kudo, Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka, and Kenji Hiramatsu) 35:08 - Timbre of the City - The Last Story (Wii) - 2011 - Nobuo Uematsu 39:53 - Fódlan Winds - Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) - 2019 - Rei Kondoh 48:22 - Death Volcano - Chrono Cross (PS1) - 1999 - Yasunori Mitsuda 53:23 - Title Theme/Map/N. Sanity Beach - Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy (PS4) - 2017 - Josh Mancell 56:17 - Boss Boss Boss (Monster) - Katana Zero (Multi-Platform) - 2019 - Bill Kiley and LudoWic 1:01:20 - Last Surprise - Persona 5 (PS3/PS4) - 2016 - Shoji Meguro 1:07:09 - Field Theme 1 - Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) - 2019 - Shinji Ushiroda, Maasa Miyoshi, Shiho Fujii, Asuka Hayazaki 1:13:55 - Corneria - Star Fox (SNES) - 1993 - Hajime Hirasawa 1:20:35 - Millennium Anthem (.Hsm Version) - Hypnospace Outlaw (PC) - 2019 - Jay Tholen *We're pretty sure this is Koshiro's work based on the anaylsis at http://www.vgmonline.net/kidicarusuprising/ but this game had a litany of great coposers, also including Norikuki Iwadare, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Motoi Sakuraba, among others. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vgmvgm/message

Saludos de nuevo !! Segundo programa de la semana y en esta ocasión con uno de mis juegos TOP 3 del sistema 16 Bitios de SEGA. La secuela del genial Revenge of Shinobi, que eleva la accion y espectacularidad a nuevos niveles y que, a pesar de que en un inicio se es reticente musicalmente hablando debido a la ausencia del maestro Koshiro, uno descubre finalmente que la santísima Trinidad que ha compuesto este soundtrack es de lo mejor. Gracias por escuchar este pequeño proyecto y vuelvo la semana que viene con más audios. PD: Este sabado 25 de Mayo, en directo en FNAC'N'PIXELS !! Pasate!!

Ayano speaks to three-time Olympian Michal Brezina about his long career, his thoughts on Yuzuru Hanyu, training with Nathan Chen, and more. Then Jack talks with top Japan juniors Koshiro Shimada, Tatsuya Tsuboi and Mitsuki Sumoto.

Grow them mustaches out folks! It's our final episode in the Streets of Rage vs Final Fight series! On Part 3 of 3 here we wrap up our talks on Final Fight 2 and 3, as well as discussing what the heck is up with Streets of Rage 3. This takes us into this series dramatic conclusion, The boss fight! With Matt knocked out in the previous episode, and no more continues left, can Zach and Drew take down the boss, Gerald? Tune in to find out. We appreciate you checking out our show. If you can, leave us a review on iTunes, and find us on your favorite social media platforms to stay in touch. Warning! The TwentyXX Gaming Podcast assumes no legal responsibility for Hagar related assaults, or vehicle damage.

The TwentyXX crew hits the streets with Streets of Rage vs Final Fight Pt. 2 the Sequel Showdown. Join us as we dive into what's largely held as the best beat em' up ever; Streets of Rage 2! As usual, we'll tell you all you need to know about the developers, their inspiration, and the legendary music behind the game.  This is part 2 of a planned 3 parter. If you enjoy it, leave us a review on iTunes, and find us on your favorite social media platform to stay turned for future updates. Be advised! Enjoying the whole episode end to end will grant the lister the ability to perform a flawless SHASTA KA! 

La page Tipeee si vous voulez m'aider à réaliser ce podcast dans de meilleures conditions et obtenir des émissions inédites et autres bonus : https://www.tipeee.com/la-revue-de-presse-jv Pour écouter l'émission, s'abonner et frétiller : -RSS : http://la-revue-de-presse-jv.lepodcast.fr/rss-iTunes : https://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/la-revue-de-presse-jv/id1289067344?mt=2-PodCloud : http://la-revue-de-presse-jv.lepodcast.fr/-Deezer : http://www.deezer.com/fr/show/55059-Le Tipeee : www.tipeee.com/la-revue-de-presse-jv Pour réagir et tailler le bout de gras ensemble : -Twitter : https://twitter.com/RevueDePresseJV-Discord : https://discord.gg/HSCQhxN -Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/La-revue-de-presse-JV-348425015606178/?hc_ref=ARSPgYS1-eDedgYi38QEX4rYhIBhjuAOQk7pkqtYg_bTrPGHNb9S_CAQK3KxUjpWFNo&fref=nf -Mail : revuedepressejv@gmail.com

It's time to focus on one of SEGA's finest retro composers, the legend that is Yuzo Koshiro. Join us for talk about the man, fantastic music and of course a fantastic butchering of the English language.

Hay veces en Rejugando que tratamos juegos buenos y otras que tratamos leyendas. Hoy toca uno de esos juegos legendarios que todo el mundo recuerda como uno de los mejores del catálogo de Megadrive, STREETS OF RAGE 2. Y el invitado de hoy tambien es una leyenda de la prensa escrita de videojuegos y analista de este juego en su fecha en Hobby Consolas. Nos acompaña Bruno Sol "Nemesis" @YeOldeNemesis. Hablaremos de Ancient y Sega, de la familia Koshiro, del desarrollo del titulo y de música, mucha música. Despues de destripar Streets of Rage 2 os hablaremos de sus conversiones a otros sistemas y sobre todo del Streets Of Rage Remake de Bomber Games, un juego espectacular no oficial del año 2011. Como siempre vuestros comentarios que hay muchisimos y lo que vendrá en próximas semanas que os adelanto que será el título de ID software..QUAKE Saludos y disfrutad pero llevad cuidado por las calles de la rabia

Hay veces en Rejugando que tratamos juegos buenos y otras que tratamos leyendas. Hoy toca uno de esos juegos legendarios que todo el mundo recuerda como uno de los mejores del catálogo de Megadrive, STREETS OF RAGE 2. Y el invitado de hoy tambien es una leyenda de la prensa escrita de videojuegos y analista de este juego en su fecha en Hobby Consolas. Nos acompaña Bruno Sol "Nemesis" @YeOldeNemesis. Hablaremos de Ancient y Sega, de la familia Koshiro, del desarrollo del titulo y de música, mucha música. Despues de destripar Streets of Rage 2 os hablaremos de sus conversiones a otros sistemas y sobre todo del Streets Of Rage Remake de Bomber Games, un juego espectacular no oficial del año 2011. Como siempre vuestros comentarios que hay muchisimos y lo que vendrá en próximas semanas que os adelanto que será el título de ID software..QUAKE Saludos y disfrutad pero llevad cuidado por las calles de la rabia

KC is back on his feet and this week's show celebrates that with some good vibes! We have a varied Top 40, some "Koshiro!" love on the Extra segments and a Guest Top 5 by a familiar face.

KC is back on his feet and this week's show celebrates that with some good vibes! We have a varied Top 40, some "Koshiro!" love on the Extra segments and a Guest Top 5 by a familiar face.

El capitulo 71 se lo dedicamos a uno de los musicos y compositores mas destacados por su trabajo y proyectos con referencia a la musica de videojuegos, si jugaste los Clasicos Ys y Actraiser, seguramente sabras de quien hablamos.

El capitulo 71 se lo dedicamos a uno de los musicos y compositores mas destacados por su trabajo y proyectos con referencia a la musica de videojuegos, si jugaste los Clasicos Ys y Actraiser, seguramente sabras de quien hablamos.

In this episode of the Spiraken Manga Review, Xan reviews a very sad love story about a love, which should never be "Koi Kaze" This episode was done in advance so no new news. Xan forgot to explain this in the episode but here is some additional information about Koi Kaze The manga which Xan reviewed is very sad. Not sad in a cry baby sad but rather in a meloncoly way. Rarely does a manga, which deals with incest, show the negative side of that kind of relationship. Koi Kaze examines this topic and shows the forbidden love between two who should not be in love The characters in this manga are in a situation which should never be even thought of. It goes against several taboos and is something that they both know to be wrong but they stick with it. The fact that Koshiro is concerned about the social taboos and the reprecussions of Nanoko and his actions shows how developed a manga this is. NOTE!!!Xan & The Spiraken Manga Review does not condone this type of relationship and while it is shown in this work of fiction to be romantic, in reality, there are serious negative implications and results to an incestuous relationship. Besides religious and social taboos, there are also several biological taboos which should never be crossed. Also remember Xan will be attending AnimeNext in New Jersey, June 12th-14th so check it out and if you see him there you get a t-shirt Check Out Xan's Article on Anime3000.com as well as his sidekickery on the Fightbait Anime & Gaming Podcast And finally, we are still looking for the voice of THE WHEEL OF MANGA. Send an mp3 or a voice mail of you saying Wheel of Manga and see if you can become the wheel of manga voice. Music For Episode: Intro Music-Koi Kaze By éf (Koi Kaze OST),Ending Music -Futari Dakara By Masumi Ito (Koi Kaze OST) Our Website http://spiraken.podbean.com Our Forum http://spiraken.rapidboards.com Our Email Spiraken@gmail.com My Email xan.spiraken@gmail.com Our Twitter Spiraken Xboxlive Gamertag Xan Spiraken Our Voicemail 206-426-6665 (monk) Random Question of the Week: What countries is Incest not considered a social taboo?