Podcasts about Miya

This episode we look at time and direction and the influence of geomancy--theories of Yin and Yang and a little bit of how people viewed the world through that lens.  For more, check out the blog page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-127 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua, and this is episode 127: Time and Direction in Ancient Yamato   Officers of the court stood in the pavilion.  The soft trill of water could be heard trickling from one reservoir to the next.  They watched closely, as the figure of a court official, one hand out, pointing at a measuring stick, slowly rose along with the water.  Eventually, the figure's outstretched arm indicated a line with a single character next to it. On cue, one of the officials began to beat the large drum that was nearby.  The rhythm was slow, but deliberate, and the sound was loud, echoing out to the mountains and back, showering the nearby palaces in a layer of sound.  Across the palace, people briefly paused, took note of the number of strokes, and by that they knew the time of day.  Without giving it much more thought, they then went about their business.     This episode we find ourselves partway through the reign of Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou—his formal reign started in 668, but he had been pretty much running things since the death of Takara Hime in 661 and, arguably, for much longer than that.  668, however, saw Naka no Oe ascend the throne in his new palace of Otsu no Miya, officially making him the sovereign.  And although 645 is the year Naka no Oe and others had started the Taika Reforms, it's not wrong to say that  that 668 and the start of Naka no Oe's official reign, brief as it would be, that he finally had the ability to bring it all together and set it into stone. We've talked about many of these reforms before on the podcast, but a lot of them were associated with the continued push to incorporate continental concepts into Yamato society, covering everything from court ranks to how to organize agricultural production.  Of course, there was also Buddhism, which we've covered numerous times, but there were other concepts coming across as well, including ideas about history and writing, as well as ancient STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  This included architects, and new ways of constructing buildings.  And it also meant ways of seeing the world, including things like directions and time.  And this is what I want to focus on this episode, taking a break from the primary narrative to spend some time on what we might call Yamato concepts of science, especially how they thought about the structure of reality organization of time and the universe – their cosmology, as it were.  After all, to better understand the reasoning and motives of people, it is helpful to try and understand how they saw the world, not just for translation—understanding what it means when an entry says something like the “Hour of the Horse” on an “Elder Wood” day—but also for understanding how things actually worked in their eyes.  For instance, the idea of ”auspicious” and “inauspicious” times and directions is something that most listeners probably don't incorporate much into their daily lives, but the Chroniclers and the people of Yamato absolutely did, so understanding concepts like this can sometimes be the key to unlocking why historical people may have taken the actions that they did.  In particular, we'll talk about things like yin and yang, five elements, ten stems and twelve earthly branches, and what all this meant for the Yamato ideas of organizing time and space. A large part of Yamato cosmology is tied to something called Onmyoudou, literally the Way of Yin and Yang, which in the organization of the Ritsuryo state fell under a particular ministry, known as the Onmyo-ryo.  If you've heard of Onmyoudou before, you likely have heard about the “Onmyouji”, practitioners who studied the flow of yin and yang—and who could reportedly do miraculous things with that.  A 10th century Onmyoji, the famous Abe no Seimei, is perhaps the most well-known, with numerous stories about his exploits, which were then turned into a fantastical series of stories by the award-winning author, Baku Yumemakura.  Those were then turned into Manga, movies, and more.  Abe no Seimei is like Japan's Merlin, or Gandalf, at least in the stories. Back to the organization we mentioned, the Onmyou-ryou was responsible for Yin-Yang theory, or Onmyou-dou, which included divination, as well as astronomy, or Tenmon-dou, and calendar making, or reki-dou.  While some of this was based on straight up natural observances, a lot of it was explained through older concepts of Yin and Yang theory.  Today, you might encounter a lot of this in the theories around Feng Shui, and this can also be referred to as “geomancy”, or earth divination.   To give a broad overview of Onbmyoudou and its origins, it is part of a large corpus of concepts focused around a concept of energy known as qi or ki—which forms the basis for a lot of Chinese and Japanese cosmology, or their concept of how the world worked.  Much of this is tied up in concepts that are modernly broadly called “Daoist” or associated with so-called Daoist practices.  That term can be a bit misleading, as strictly speaking, Daoism refers to the teachings of the legendary philosopher Laozi, in his book, the Dao De Jing, as well as works attributed to later authors, like the Zhuangzi. There is some controversy as to when and to what extent this strict Daoism came to Japan.  However, in the broader sense, the category of “Daoist “ practices includes an entire panoply of various folk practices, including concepts of Yin and Yang – and in the archipelago, many of these concepts were imported with the various books that people had acquired on the mainland, even if they weren't strictly tied to Daoist religious practice.  For example, there were aspects that were borrowed by various Shinto shrines, and others formalized into ritual practices under the new government.  And of course many of these became linked to various Buddhist teachings and practices, as well.   But what did this actually look like in concept and practice for practitioners of Onmyoudo in Japan? Let's start with the idea of yin and yang.  One of the earliest references comes from the Zhou Yi, the Zhou Book of Changes, the core of what we also know as the Yijing, the Book of Changes.  Here we see the idea that the universe began with a single force that split into two, and those two forces make up all of creation in one way or another.  Yin and Yang, or In and You—or even Onmyou—refer to these forces, which are characterized as shadow and light, moon and sun, female and male, cold and hot, etc.  So these forces are opposites, but it should be noted that they are not necessarily good or evil.  After all, too cold is just as bad as too hot.  Likewise too much darkness is as blinding as too much light. As most people have seen, yin and yang are often depicted as a circle divided into two comma shapes, with a smaller circle in each.  One side is white with a black circle and the other is black with a white circle.  This is the “Tai Chi” diagram, but the diagram itself doesn't seem to have been depicted like this prior to the 11th century, at least that we are aware. But the concepts are much older.    Now if you've heard of the Yijing, where it came from is something of a mystery.  One theory is that it started as a written account of folk wisdom, and may have even given instructions for things like when to plant and when to harvest, based on changes in various heavenly phenomena.   But overall it is organized into 64 chapters, each associated with a particular hexagram.  Start with a line, that can either be a full line – representing yang – or a broken line representing yin.  Stack three of these on top of one another and you get a trigram.  If you chart out every single possible combination of yin and yang lines, you get 8 unique trigrams, sometimes referred to as the baqua.  Stack two trigrams atop one another and you get a hexagram, a combination of 6 lines that can have 8 by 8 or 64 unique variants.   It's theorized that the Yijing resulted from taking all of the collected sayings or aphorisms and bits of advice and cataloguing and dividing them into 64 chapters, each one associated with a given hexagram. Going further, each line of the hexagram is  associated with particular line in Yijing, and various meanings are ascribed to it and its association.  It's a complex and fascinating system and I don't have time to go into it fully, but I would note that this was used as a form of divination—yarrow stalks or other means of random lot drawing that gives you a binary outcome – zero or one, yin or yang – could be used to determine the six lines of any given hexagram.  This, in turn, would reference a chapter in the Yijing which was then interpreted as a sign as to how to read a given situation that you might find yourself in. What's really important to understanding the worldview of the time is this idea, represented by the hexagrams in the Yijing, that you can encompass everything about the universe by making and cataloging different amounts and arrangements of yin and yang. It's a science, as it were – a systematic approach to understanding the differences in the world by breaking it into component parts.    And if this seems preposterous, consider this:  today we understand that all things are made up of tiny atoms.  And these atoms are all made up of the same material—protons, neutrons, and electrons.  And yet, how those atomic particles combine create atoms with wildly different qualities.  And how those atoms then combine into molecules and so on and so forth describe how we explain everything around us.  So is it really so far-fetched? I'm not saying that we should suddenly start to figure out the measurements of yin and yang in everything, but if we want to understand how the people of the time saw their world, it may be helpful to hold an open mindand understand the assumptions that they were working from and where they came from.  As human beings, we naturally look for connections in the world around us, and this was no exception.  People would observe facts, know how that it worked, and often then would back into the reason for it.  This is a tale told across cultures, and we still see it, today.  At the same time, we've developed structured approaches to test out our theories, empirically. So for the moment, let's leave the trigrams and hexagrams, and talk about another idea that also gained traction as people were trying to figure out how the world worked.  This was the five elements theory also known as Wuxing, or Gogyou, in Japanese.  The five elements in this case are Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth.  Some may notice that these, along with the sun and the moon, are used in Japanese for the days of the week:  Nichi (sun), getsu (moon), ka (fire), sui (water), moku (wood), kin (metal), do (earth). Buddhists, by the way, also had an elemental system with only four elements,  Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, possibly connected with some Greek influence, and brought along with Buddhist practice.  For now, however, let's focus on the five elements. The idea in wuxing is similar to that of yin and yang in that everything in creation is made up of these five elements in some degree and configuration.  Furthermore, there are creation and destruction cycles.  So fire creates ash, or earth.  Earth gives birth to metal.  Metal creates water—look at a cold piece of metal in a warm environment and see how the water droplets form on it, and imagine what that looks like without understanding humidity and how there could be water vapor in the air.  And then water creates wood, or plants—any farmer could tell you that without water the plants die.  And wood is where we get fire from. Of course, the reverse cycle is the opposite.  Fire eats the wood.  Wood drinks up the water.  Water rusts metal.  Metal tools plough the earth. And Earth can be used to douse fire. Finally, there is another cycle of weakening. ,. Because fire heats and weakens metal, metal chops down wood, the trees roots break up rocks, the earth soaks up water, and water likewise puts out or weakens fire. So the theory went, if these elements make up all matter, these relationships continue on a more complex scale in everything.  So if something was thought to contain a lot of “fire” element, then it would be potentially helpful if you needed “Earth” but destructive or at least weakening to metal and wood.  Properly accounting for these elements was important to achieve the results you were looking for, whatever that may be.   These were the kinds of things that were incorporated into traditional medicine practices, but also applied to auguries or divination about things like where and how to build a building.  Even today, Shrines will sell calendars that help people know the prominence of certain elements, and some folk remedies may look to balance elements, much as medieval European medicine was often designed to balance the four humors that ancient physicians believed were present in the human body. The chart of these five elements and their relationships is something you may have seen.  It is a five pointed star, often inside of a circle.  Of course this is also similar to a western pentagram, though typically drawn with the point of the star up, but it has nothing to do with Christian values or Satan, or anything similar.  Rather, it is just a way to represent these five elements, and you'll see it frequently in reference to Onmyoudou. The elements were used to categorize many different areas into groupings of five.  This includes grouping the various directions into five directions.  Of course, you may be wondering about that, since most societies usually mark four cardinal directions, and in this case, they did the same, but added the fifth as “center”.  And so you get things like the north is water.  It is related to cool, or cold weather.  It is represented with the color black. To the south, opposite of the north, is fire.  It is hot, and the color is red.  Of course, this probably doesn't take a huge leap to see the connections they drew: since these civilizations are in the northern hemisphere, the farther north you go, the colder it gets, and the farther south you travel, the warmer it gets, generally speaking, at least until you reach the equator. Meanwhile, the west was related to metal, and the color white, while the east was related to woods and forests, and the color…. Blue.  Alright, that last one, in particular, probably doesn't make sense to a lot of us.  After all, we likely associate blue with water, and wood, or trees, would be associated with brown or, possibly, green.  Well, in this case, it goes beyond that.  The north is water, but it is also associated with darkness—shorter days in the winter, and things like that Sothe association of north with black makes sense, but many also look at the ocean and don't necessarily see it as “blue”, or dark or even black, like Homer's famous “wine-dark sea”. Furthermore, although they have a word for it (midori), “green” was not a primary color in Japan, instead  considered more of a shade of “aoi”, or blue.  Even today they refer to a “green” traffic light as an “aoi shingo, not “midori” shingo.  So if you asked someone in the Asuka period to describe the wooded hills and fields, they would have likely used “aoi”.  And of course, we are missing the fifth element.  In the center we have the element earth and the color yellow. A lot of these different concepts were brought together during the Han period, when they were trying to syncretize all of the various philosophies and attempts to describe the world and bring them all together into a single system.  This meant that the Yijing, the wuxing theory, and others were mixed together with various other philosophies and theories of how the world work.  Things like the Shanhaijing, the Classic of Mountain and Seas, along with stories about immortals, the Queen Mother of the West, and more were all rolled together, and basically assumed to be true.  This included various real-world observations.  Therefore, there were many attempts to try and reconcile these various theories together. One of the other concepts, which we've discussed before, was the system of ten heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches.  We've mentioned this before regarding the sexagenary style of counting the years, but we'll recap here.  The ten heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches are concepts that go back to at least the legendary Shang period, and even show up in various bronzes Andit wasn't until later that they would be associated with other ideas.  The ten heavenly stems were each associated with one of the five elements, with each element being represented by a greater and lesser, or elder and younger, stem.  And then each of the twelve earthly branches were associated with animals—what we often call the Chinese Zodiac. We talked about how this applied to the calendar, in that it was used to track years in 60 year cycles, but also it was used to track days of the year.  The twelve earthly branches were also used for earthly directions.  The first, the rat, was in the north, and the order continued clockwise to the east, the south, west and then back to the north.  Now this means that the four cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west—all match up nicely with one of the twelve earthly branches, but as for northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest?  Those were all combinations of two branches.  So, for instance, the northeast was a combination of the ox and the tiger, or ushi-tora. Speaking of eight directions, where have we also heard the number eight come up recently? That's right: the eight trigrams, or bagua.  So each one of those trigrams, each representing a different concept, got associated with a direction as well.  This makes it easier to see where practices of geomancy came from.   You had a system with complex, overlapping associations between concepts and the physical world, and in the Tang dynasty, they used all of this  to understand not only  how things had happened, but also how the world would be in the future—in other words, they tried to use it to make predictions.  Hence the “mancy”. In the Yamato state, all of this became an official part of the government under the Onmyoryou: a branch of the government whose job is to make observations and figure things out from there, for the good of the state and the people.  They made observations of the heavens to figure out how the calendar should be aligned—which months should come at what time, and when there should be “leap months”, or intercalary months, to keep various astronomical phenomena in the correct seasons, which were also further divided up into 24 periods.  They also kept track of the movement of bodies like the various planets, because those planets were also assigned values, and thought to affect the flow of energy within this framework.  And so comets, storms, eclipses, and more were all important because of the theory that everything in the heavens impacted and were reflections of how things were happening on the earth.  Similarly, these various discussions of white animals and other omens were likely captured and catalogued by these officials as well, attempting to figure out what they meant. All of this also influenced things like how palaces, buildings, and even capitals, would be built and laid out.  For the palace, it was important the the sovereign be in the north, looking south.  In fact, many maps would have south at the top because that is how a sovereign would be viewing it, were it stretched out before them.  And one would need to consider various features, including mountains and streams, as all of those things carried various meanings, but it wasn't as simple as just finding the one thing that could affect a person.  As they observed differences they would also have to catalogue what happened and try to determine what the cause could be, based on their understanding of the world.  And in the archipelago this would also include an understanding of Buddhist and local kami-based wisdom and knowledge as well. One of the things in the Chronicles that inspired this episode was something I actually mentioned last time,  a record from 666  talking about Chiyu, a Buddhist priest of the Yamato no Aya family, who presented a south-pointing chariot to the sovereign, Naka no Oe.  this appears to be the same Chiyu from a similar record in 658, which also refers to him building a south pointing chariot.  So did it take him eight years, or is he just now presenting it to the sovereign?  And what, exactly, is a south-pointing chariot? Well, as the name implies, a south-pointing chariot is a two-wheeled chariot that always points south.  More appropriately stated, it is a wheeled device with a figure on top, much like a weather vane, which always points south.  This is usually described as the figure of a person or an official pointing in the appropriate direction.  This was a mechanical, rather than a magnetic compass. As the chariot, or carriage, is wheeled around, the two wheels spin.  The wheels themselves are independently connected to a series of gears.  If the wheels spin at the same rate, then their movement cancels each other out.  However, if one wheel turns more than the other, then it will cause the figure on the top to rotate.  Of course, as the chariot turns to the right, the left wheel, traveling along the outer diameter, will travel farther than the right.  This will cause the figure to turn counter-clockwise to the left, but from an outside observer's perspective, it will continue to point in the same direction, even as the chariot itself turns.  Turning to the left would cause the opposite effect. Though it may have been used earlier, there appears to be reliable written evidence of a South Pointing chariot starting from the third century.  The first one was based on much earlier stories of a similar device, but it is unclear if it was a chariot, some other device, or even just a legend that was told as historical fact.  From the third century on the design appears to have been continuously improved upon. I should point out that all we have is descriptions—we don't have any actual south pointing chariots, let alone diagrams showing how the mechanisms worked.  There is the possibility that it used a kind of differential gear to work automatically, but we don't have any actual evidence.  There are other theories that it may have required some kind of manual switch, so that it would attach to one wheel or the other as needed.  That would require that the chariot be moving in either a straight direction or turning in one particular direction, which seems rather unwieldy. I noted some of the problems with this, and even moreso in a place like Japan, where 70% of the terrain is mountains.  Up and down hills, along paths that are likely anything but the smooth, paved surface we have for roads today—and even those have plenty of irregularities and potholes that could throw off any such device. And if you want to use it for any real distance, then you have to factor in other things, including the curvature of the earth.  After all, with the earth being a sphere, any chariot traveling due west to east or east to west, other than at the equator, would have one wheel traveling farther than the other one.  Granted, at the scale we are talking about, it probably is all but negligible, and the rough terrain and simple slippage of what were most likely wooden gears probably entered a lot more variability than the earth's curvature. One of the other issues is that the chariot only points “south” if you set it up to do so.   And if you know that, well, why do you need a south-pointing chariot?  Ultimately, it seems that this is more of a novelty item, good for impressing crowds and demonstrating some engineering principles, rather than an actual, useful invention.  After all, it was forgotten about and recreated multiple times, often centuries apart.  Had it been a truly useful invention, it probably would have been kept in constant use.  Meanwhile, I suspect that there were a fair number of farmers and others who knew that you could more easily and reliably use the sun and stars, as long as the weather was clear. There is also some evidence of an understanding of magnetic compasses since at least the 2nd Century BCE.  Early Han sources suggest that a spoon made of naturally magnetized ore could be placed on top of a polished bronze surface, and it would align itself north to south.  We don't have any actual surviving examples, however—there are later versions that you can find, where the plate is divided up into various directions, and then a magnetized “spoon” is placed on top, but nothing has actually come from Han tombs.  Furthermore, this seems to mostly be for geomantic purposes.  A more practical compass, with a magnetized needle, seems to have been developed by the 11th century, which could then be used for actual navigation. By the way, the “spoon” as a compass pointer may be in reference to the “Big Dipper” constellation, which was envisioned as a spoon, or ladle, in shape.  The seven stars were often used in geomancy, likely because of their importance, at least in the northern hemisphere, of pointing to the north.  So there's some thought that the “needles” of these early compasses weren't litterally  spoon shaped, but symbolically representive of the Big Dipper or the Northern Ladle.  Quick astronomy lesson, here.  If you are in the northern hemisphere, particularly from the 35th parallel to the north pole, you can see the seven stars that make up the constellation or asterism we know as the Big Dipper.   In English we sometimes also refer to this as Ursa Major, though technically the familiar seven stars are just a part of that larger constellation.  In Japan, the same constellation is often referred to as Hokuto Shichisei, the Seven Stars of the Northern Ladle.  It can be seen further south, but parts of it may dip below the horizon during the autumn season. It is important for several reasons.  One is that it is made up of particularly bright stars, which you can generally see even when other stars may not be visible.  Second, its distinctive shape lends itself to being easy to find in the sky.  And finally, if you draw a line between two of the stars at the end of the “cup” of the ladle, you can follow that line to find Polaris or hokkyokusei, the north star, which means you know which direction is north- and once  you know that, you can use it to figure out any other direction.  And Polaris is less than a degree off of true north, making it even more accurate than most magnets, as the magnetic pole can be quite different, depending on its current position, and magnetic north changes over time as the magnetic field around the earth fluctuates. That said, this was not necessarily the case in ancient times.  Four thousand years ago, the star closest to true north would have been the star Thuban, in the constellation Draco, a star that most of us probably haven't heard of.  Polaris, in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear, also known as the Little Dipper) apparently took over as the north star around 500 CE.  However, even before then, the mouth of the dipper could still be used to indicate north.  In fact, if you draw a line between two of the stars in the back of the constellation, then you also end up finding Thuban.  So even if the north star itself wasn't accurate, finding the dipper would still help you orient yourself, especially if you can find true north during the day and then compare that with the constellation at night. Which helps to understand why astronomy, or Tenmondou, was so important in the Onmyouryou.  Though it wasn't just a study of stars, but of the way of the heavens in general.  And the changes in the heavens, brings us to another important concept—the flow of energy across the seasons.  From the bright days of summer, filled with sunshine and yang energy, to the dark yin energy of winter's long, cold nights. It wasn't enough to just know what happened, and where, but when was also important. Obviously you need to know when to sow seeds, flood the fields, and harvest the rice.  Beyond that, though, you have other concepts, such as how the the day and hour of an event could be symbolically important. And of course, all of these had their own associations with various concepts of the flow of yin and yang energy. Now knowing the year, the month, and even the day is largely just a matter of counting.  But let's talk about something a little more tricky:  How do you know the hour? This brings us to the vignette at the top of the episode, about the clepsydra, or water clock, that Naka no Oe is said to have built. Now we talked about some of the fountains and similar things that have been discovered in the Asuka region back in episode 118.  One thing that they believe they also found evidence of is something called a water clock, which is, as its name suggests, a clock powered by water.  It is typically depicted as a series of three or more boxes or reservoirs that each hold an amount of water.  Water is placed in the top reservoir, and then a hole towards the bottom is unplugged and it is allowed to drain into the box beneath.  The hole is of a particular size, and thus the water flows at a constant rate, filling up the container below, which has a similar hole, etc. all the way to a reservoir at the very bottom.  The multiple boxes mean that the water level in the intermediate boxes stays relatively constant, resulting in relatively consistent pressure and flow rate.  The last reservoir has a measuring stick on a float, so that as the last box is filled with water, the measuring stick raises up.  Since it is rising at a constant rate, one can use that to tell how much time has passed, regardless of anything else.  Thus you can keep time even at night. There is a record of Naka no Oe making one in the fifth month of 660, and he would have another one built in 671, which we will discuss later.  It is interesting that both of these inventions appear twice in the narrative—once during the reign of Naka no Oe, aka Tenchi Tenno, and once during the previous reign, that of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tenno.  In this case it is said that 671 is the first time that the water clock, or roukoku, was actually used. From what I can tell, there is nothing that definitively indicates that the Mizuochi site in Asuka was definitely the site of Naka no Oe's water clock.  There isn't much in the Chronicles telling us what it was like or where, exactly, it was built, and there wasn't anything found at the site naming it as the location of the roukoku.  However, the site is in a prominent enough place, with channels for water and a pavilion of some sort.  They definitely found evidence of pipes, remnants of lacquered wood, and reservoirs for water, among other things, that suggest something to do with moving water happened in this area.  So it seems a very strong choice, as it all fits with theoretical archeological reconstructions. A water clock like this is excellent for keeping accurate time at all hours of the day.  However, it does have a slight problem in that anyone without a clock is still going to have to use the sun and similar heavenly cues to know what time it is.  So how do you let them know?  Well, it turns out that the continent had an answer for that as well, and instituted various systems of drums and bells to let people know the hour.  In fact, some of these practices continued, in one form or another, right up to the modern day—with or without a water clock.  After all, the key was to give the community some sense of the passing of time, but I doubt anyone was using it to time things more precisely than a general idea of an hour—though they did have the concept of their own minutes and seconds.  Which brings us to just how they saw time back then. The system of time that the Chronicles seems to use also came over from the continent, where there appear to have been several different methods for telling time prior to accurate clocks.  And while there was an idea of dividing the entire day into twelve segments, the time as it was announced was not always consistent with those twelve segments, or hours.  Rather, time was based around the key parts of the day.  So, for instance there was sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight.  And while noon and midnight remain exactly twelve hours apart, sunrise and sunset change with the seasons.  So if you call out sunrise, and then divide the time between sunrise and noon into equal segments of time, the size of those time segments change with the seasons.  On top of that, because of the tilt of the earth and our slightly irregular orbit around the sun, the sun appears to “move” across the sky faster or slower throughout the year, with a difference of about 30 minutes total between the extremes.  This isn't going to affect most people's daily lives, but would have been noticeable to those taking accurate measurements. In ancient Han, this appears to have been common in cities and towns, with a watch that would call out as they progressed on their rounds at set points in the day and night, relying largely on heavenly cues—which I suspect did not lead to the most accurate timekeeping, but it was sufficient for what most people needed.  The telling of time in this manner was partly to help with keeping track of the time of day, but was just as much an announcement that the watch was on duty and a warning to would-be criminals. Now a water clock was an excellent device for keeping track of a standard, absolute time, such as it were, but it required constant maintenance.  If you already have a watch calling out the time, perhaps they can also keep the water clock properly set, but you did have to have someone constantly filling it up and draining it at known points of the day.  Plus there was the problem that you only knew the time if you could check it, and this wasn't like a clock tower or something similar. And so in 671 it appears that Nak no Oe instituted the continental idea of drums and bells to announce the time to the people—or at least to those at the court.  We don't have a record of exactly how they were, used, but we can infer from other sources on the continent, and what we do know that some tradition of announcing the time with drums and bells continued to be employed in Japan until the Meiji era, though perhaps not without interruption:  Temples and the like had bell or drum towers, and as the day progressed they would beat out the time.  It was not, however, telling time as we might think of it, with one stroke at the first hour, two on the second, etc..  In fact, in many ways they counted backwards, and they only counted 12 hours, not our modern 24.  By the Edo period it seems that it was common practice to toll the bells nine times at noon and at midnight.  From there, they would count down, with 8 bells at roughly 2 o'clock, 7 bells at 4 o'clock, and 6 bells at 6 o'clock.  That would be another issue.  From 6 o'clock, the number of bells that would be tolled continued to decrease, so that at 8 o'clock it would be 5 bells, then 4 bells at 10 o'clock.  It would then jump back up to 9 and start over again. Why these numbers were used for the different hours we are not entirely sure, and I have no idea if these numbers were the same ones used back in the 7th century—though it does seem to match similar continental traditions.  Even the hours themselves were known by the twelve signs that came to be associated with the zodiac:  the hour of the rat, the hour of the ox, the hour of the tiger, etc.  Midnight fell in the middle of the hour of the rat, and noon fell in the middle of the hour of the horse, with each hour being almost exactly 2 hours by modern reckoning. There were other systems in use as well.  One divided the entire day up by 100 and then each of those divisions by another 10.  The key was whether or not it was an absolute or relative measurement. Something like the roukoku would indicate an absolute measurement.  After all, the fall of water from one reservoir to another was not affected by the change in seasons—at least as long as the water didn't freeze.  The flow was constant, as was the measurement of time. For those using other forms of reckoning, such as celestial phenomena or even a sundial, things might be a bit less accurate.  This was especially true when using concepts like “sunrise” and “sunset”.  Still, through observing the changes over the year, people eventually figured out charts and rules to help reconcile absolute forms of measurement with solar time.  There were other methods for telling time, as well.  Perhaps one of the more pleasant was the use of incense sticks.  By the time of the Tang dynasty, incense in stick form was relatively common, and it had been noticed that sticks of incense could burn at a fixed rate.  This meant that you could use incense sticks like candles were used in Europe, counting down how far they had burned to tell what time it was.  If you were really fancy, you could make a single stick out of different types of incense, so that as it hit a new hour, the scent would change, alerting you to the time through your olfactory senses. Speaking of time, we are coming to the end of ours for this episode.  We do have some more information on this on our website, Sengokudaimyo.com, and we'll have links to those sections of the website accompanying our blog. Next episode we will focus more on the reign of Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou, from his seat at Otsu no Miya. Until then, thank you once again 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.  

歡迎本次大來賓 婉菱 ＆ 陳小姐 沒想到勞倫斯離職感想那一集迴響那麼大 派瑞前同事婉菱聽到之後馬上line他說 「我可以來錄欸！我最近被離職了...」 派瑞著實大吃一驚 因為貌似不太會資遣員工的派瑞前公司 竟然近期開始資遣，而且一次還三個？！ 究竟是怎麼回事呢？ 歡迎繼續收聽~ - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

進香團下集來了 進香團湊在一起就是聊不完 本集單刀切入萱萱老師的星座本業 透過星盤可以多一點個性的參考值 再加上實際的相處情況 或多或少可以更了解這個人 歡迎大家繼續收聽！ - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

Wir haben wieder neue seltsame Sinne gefunden, diesmal bei den Erbsen in Martas Garten.

In today's episode, Phil Wilson, holistic health pioneer and founder of Relax Sauna, joins Miya to share his fascinating journey from math prodigy to health advocate—sparked by a profound kundalini awakening. Phil dives deep into the science and healing potential of Far Infrared Light, revealing why infrared therapy might be one of the most powerful yet overlooked tools in wellness.We cover:Phil's extraordinary kundalini awakening experienceBenefits and science behind Far Infrared therapyHow infrared saunas promote cellular healing and detoxificationStories of remarkable health recoveries using Relax SaunasOvercoming skepticism and regulatory obstacles in holistic healthExclusive Listener Discount:Relax Sauna - Use code MIYA at Relax Sauna checkout for $100 discount (no affiliate benefit—just a listener perk from Phil)30-day money-back guarantee, and one-year warranty.https://relaxsaunas.com/✨ Support Wake Up with Miya:BUY ME A COFFEE LINKhttps://buymeacoffee.com/sensiblehippiehttps://lvnta.com/lv_IcTq5EmoFKaZfJhTiS USE DISCOUNT CODE: OHANA FOR 20% OFF ✨ Join My Free Patreon!Sign up for free to enjoy ad-free episodes and access any content that couldn't make it onto YouTube due to policy restrictions. It's the best way to stay connected and never miss the full story!Patreon.com/WakeupwithMiya

歡迎本集大來賓 萱萱老師 & KAT！ 離職之後終於有自己時間的萱萱老師 趕緊邀請她合體KAT 進香團完整體來大聊特聊一下 不過本集不聊前公司了 (避免有些人又要7PUPU) 我們聊聊家庭聊聊星座 到底當初是怎麼讓萱萱老師答應結婚？ 結婚後老公是不是成為神隊友呢？ 兒子竟然已經詢問同學要不要當老婆？ 很多有趣的內容歡迎大家來收聽！ - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

Aloha and welcome to Wake Up with Miya! Esoteric expert Robert W. Sullivan IV returns after our unforgettable first interview, where we delved into JFK's mysteries and The Wizard of Oz's hidden symbolism. Now, Robert takes us deeper, unraveling the chilling Wizard of Oz curse and its ties to JFK's legacy and the cryptic numerology of 42 and 77, numbers linked to historical tragedies. Discover how Stanley Kubrick's The Shining secretly encodes his role in filming the moon landing, a nod to his cinematic brilliance. We also decode communist undertones in The Smurfs, uncover Freemasonry's influence on the early Mormon Church, and explore the Book of Enoch's role in Masonic rituals. From pop culture to secret societies, this episode unveils the occult symbolism shaping our world.

下集繼續來聊聊 女生的第六感天生很準確 尤其在感情裡面察覺不對勁的時候 那個蛛絲馬跡都逃不過法眼 本集晴小姐來分享第一段戀情抓姦的過程 可謂是通靈少女呢！ 當然會後勢必要請她來分享一下 自己被心臟爆擊的粉紅泡泡時刻 請大家繼續收聽！ - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

Our very own Miya recently wrote a book called The Autisitc Whosoever. We did an All of Life interview with her to celebrate that book. 

Jordan and Max review a recent trip to Smorgasburg where Max received his first lesson in the chicken shawarma wrap that Los Angeles has been loving to inhale lately. It was also Max's first trip down to the 'burg on a Sunday afternoon, and it was perfect food festival weather, undercooked di Reccos, eating like a SNL Conehead, unsolicited advice rules, and parking lot weed smoke. Then, Jordan sits down with Chef Yaz and Farhad from Miya Miya, the masterminds behind the chicken shawarma wrap that's got the city eating like true Jordanians, and they talk steakhouse origins, In-N-Out influences, how they f*cked Jordo, secret menu moves, and a Miya Miya restaurant is on its way to West LA.

歡迎本集大來賓 晴小姐！ 本集邀請晴小姐來聊聊戀愛腦這件事情 在愛情裡面(很愛的時期) 一定有很多粉紅泡泡 可能有時候就會產生一些濾鏡 對很多事情都很包容，容忍度很高 後來一旦濾鏡退去可能就容易有摩擦 這一集就是要來呼籲大家 務必在愛情裡面當個理性的戀愛腦！ - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

Get Tickets: Friends Only Live with Meredith Lynch, Molly McAleer, and Rob Schulte MAY 8th at Westside Comedy in Santa Monica Wedding photographer and writer, Jenn Murphy, joins the show to recap the 2024 Lifetime movie, "Deadly Wedding Day." Well, who knows the name of this movie, actually. We watched it here on YouTube and I've been looking for it for an hour. No IMDB. It got to a point where A.I. was brought into the mix for a very broad search and there was nothing. Who knows if this movie is even real, TBH. Support the show by subbing to our Patreon. You'll get episodes ad-free and early. Oh, wait, Jenn found it. It's called A Bride's Revenge. From IMDb: Owning a successful hair salon and about to be married to the man of her dreams, MIYA doesn't think things can get any better. Things quickly begin to fall apart when she receives a wedding invitation - to the wedding of her fiancé Ian and his ex-fiancée Lori. Soon Miya is being stalked by an eerie bride dressed in a wedding gown and veil and Ian begins to suspect Miya might be making it all up. When a series of horrifying events start to occur, Miya is convinced that Lori is carrying out a twisted and deadly plan of revenge. Find Molly on social media and peep her other links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

下集繼續來分享一下接案的心境變化 從開始確認要接案到開公司之前 然後可以開始構思你想要的未來想像 慢慢的與其他人做出區隔 塑造別人信任你想要找你的黏著度 這樣在未來案源的鋪陳才能事半功倍 說了很多，其實最終還是在於自己的心 必須穩定的、持續的讓自己特色琢磨發光 - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

Aloha and welcome back to Wake Up with Miya. In this powerful episode, I sit down again with Brandon Kroll for a deep dive into the web of technocracy, symbolism, surveillance, and spiritual warfare—all unfolding in real time.We uncover the occult roots of modern governance, decode the meaning behind Doge, AI systems, universal basic income, brain-computer interfaces, and reveal how these tools serve a larger technocratic control agenda. We explore how ancient mythology and oaths still influence today's leaders—and what it means for those seeking truth and spiritual freedom.The rise of the New World Order and its occult symbolism AI, surveillance, and brain-computer tech as tools of controlThe cultural mythology behind figures like Baphomet, Doge, and political icons The economic impact of tariffs, pharmaceutical dependency, and centralized powerWhy spiritual discernment and community support are critical right now This one is meant to be watched, not just heard—Brandon shares visual symbolism that ties everything together in ways words alone can't explain.Want to see the visuals discussed in this episode? Watch the full version on YouTube—link below.https://youtu.be/spDm5Q9geN4

Bangladesh Kicks Pakistan in the Back | एक कंगले ने दूसरे भिखमंगे से पैसे माँगे | Yunus Miya Cries

本集來聊一下開始接案的生活 近期勞倫斯開始自我接案 從離職，到準備接案，接案後的心理變化 我相信一定有很多人很迷惘 可能接案後沒多久會因為沒有案子收入的焦慮 變得沒有自信，甚至想要再回公司工作 當然這些都是選擇之一，沒有對錯 派瑞也分享了一些自己接案幾年來的想法 也跟目前和勞倫斯處於同樣階段的朋友分享 - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

從小時候的志願，到長大後的夢想 我想每個人對於未來 可能不一定有計畫性的規劃 但都是在一步步更趨近於自己的想像生活 不過，有夢是好的，不管有沒有達成 都有一個督促自己前進的目標 - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

本集來聊聊小時候的志願 不知道大家長大後是不是一以貫之 還是朝著自己小時候的志願邁進呢？ 我和派瑞小時候都想像自己長大可以當老師 不過現在的老師可不好當呢XD 歡迎大家也來跟我們分享自己小時候的志願哦 - 如果想要支持我們的節目 也歡迎點按下列網址抖內我們哦 https://open.firstory.me/join/lawrenpi Powered by Firstory Hosting

This week, Drewby and Yergy head to Kentucky to discuss the case of Miya Rudd - a beautiful baby girl who was essentially born into a family of lowlife petty criminals. After her parents, Tesla Tucker and Cage Rudd, allow their buddy, Brodie Payne, to run a meth operation out of the family home, it's discovered that little Miya was nowhere to be found. Except, she hadn't actually left the house... Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://www.wevv.com/news/digging-deeper-into-the-murder-indictments-of-four-people-in-the-death-of-miya-rudd/article_aee2bda0-d9e0-11ef-86c1-d7eb5334905a.html https://www.wevv.com/news/ksp-four-suspects-including-parents-of-baby-miya-rudd-charged-with-murder/article_2c776e8e-d926-11ef-8361-471e914a27d4.html https://www.wevv.com/news/crime/grand-jury-indicts-four-suspects-on-numerous-charges-in-death-of-infant-miya-rudd/article_61ad353a-2f34-11ef-8cd1-1b44394b2ff1.html https://www.aol.com/police-additional-arrests-search-continues-112950989.html https://www.wevv.com/news/crime/third-person-charged-in-connection-to-missing-infant-investigation-out-of-ohio-county/article_8ea07b0a-24d1-11ef-bcc9-dbf35615244b.html https://www.wevv.com/news/crime/remains-of-missing-8-month-old-miya-rudd-found-hidden-inside-ohio-county-home-police/article_40ce35d6-2a83-11ef-b4eb-cf58fa9c2c26.html https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/local-news/ohio-county/ksp-searching-for-missing-child-in-ohio-co/ https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/neighbors-join-search-for-missing-eight-month-old-in-ohio-county/?ipid=promo-link-block1 https://www.wevv.com/news/kentucky/suspects-in-miya-rudds-murder-plead-not-guilty-at-arraignment/article_e141368c-e313-11ef-96da-fba666b9bb0e.html https://www.wevv.com/news/crime/ksp-citation-reveals-where-miya-rudds-remains-were-hidden/article_0f27d81e-2d8c-11ef-9323-179427ecb138.html https://www.wevv.com/news/crime/family-of-deceased-ohio-county-infant-miya-rudd-appears-in-court/article_99651264-2cb3-11ef-aad5-3b8a92d5a662.html https://www.14news.com/2024/05/21/suspicious-package-usps-leads-owensboro-mans-arrest/ https://www.wbko.com/2024/06/13/man-arrested-his-role-illegal-drug-operation-held-residence-missing-baby/ https://www.k105.com/2024/06/13/man-arrested-in-illegal-drug-operation-run-out-of-missing-8-month-old-miya-rudds-home/ https://www.k105.com/2024/06/12/maternal-grandparents-of-missing-8-month-old-miya-tucker-arrested-in-owensboro/ https://www.k105.com/2024/06/07/police-looking-for-ohio-co-baby-after-welfare-check-arrest-of-babys-parents/ https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2025/01/ksp-4-people-indicted-for-murder-in-2024-death-of-infant-in-ohio-county/ https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2024/06/ksp-infants-remains-found-at-home-in-ohio-county/ https://www.facebook.com/TheOwensboroTimes/videos/3767185923537230 https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2024/06/were-not-stopping-and-were-not-slowing-down-ksp-intensifies-search-for-missing-baby-in-ohio-county/ https://www.facebook.com/TheOwensboroTimes/videos/1161655358207812 https://www.facebook.com/TheOwensboroTimes/posts/pfbid0j6DkPoG98i14zTDkuGRuFcxHwjH8NEXbVu8ah4kD3wasuxeTmmqWt434utCWeMtzl https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2024/06/document-sheds-more-light-on-where-infants-remains-were-found-4-people-in-court-monday/ https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2024/06/ksp-4-charged-with-abuse-of-corpse-other-offenses-for-death-of-infant-in-ohio-county/ https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2024/06/what-we-know-timelines-facts-regarding-missing-8-month-old-in-ohio-county-search-ongoing/ https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/grandmother-of-miya-rudd-in-jail-following-new-charges/ https://www.wevv.com/news/ksp-man-charged-in-illegal-drug-operation-at-the-home-of-missing-kentucky-baby/article_827f2ee6-29dd-11ef-ab5d-071e9789f3f0.html https://www.messenger-inquirer.com/news/local/search-continues-for-missing-juvenile-in-drug-case/article_da65f3a8-7f2f-5945-a218-20a1419291d3.html https://www.wkyt.com/2024/07/11/operation-summer-heat-ksp-targets-suspected-drug-trafficking-rings-makes-200-arrests/ https://www.kentuckytoday.com/news/206-drug-arrests-during-ksp-s-operation-summer-heat/article_6cd1b2e8-3fbe-11ef-88b7-c740d7cd961f.html https://www.whas11.com/article/news/crime/miya-tucker-missing-child-family-arrested-drug-investigation-ksp/417-9aad584f-23bd-4a50-93cc-eaec2f656e38 https://www.newspapers.com/article/messenger-inquirer-police-reports-owens/166672804/ https://www.wkdzradio.com/2025/02/20/sponsored-by-dossett-baby-miyas-law-moves-to-house-floor/news-edge/ https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/health/man-starts-petition-named-for-deceased-ohio-county-baby/article_ec626dee-2f7f-11ef-9732-c749745777c4.html https://whopam.com/2025/02/21/baby-miyas-law-passes-ky-house-committee/ https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2025/02/baby-miyas-law-passes-through-house-committee/ https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2025/02/autopsy-shows-8-month-old-rudd-had-meth-in-system-indictments-detail-new-charges-for-4-defendants/ https://www.whas11.com/article/news/investigations/focus/serenity-mckinney-miya-rudd-deaths-kentucky-child-protective-services/417-2c423793-eb77-47f8-ac58-ce232aa836c1?fbclid=IwY2xjawIsYCBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHToVGGBK4Ub05fR8G0wz_yPkdHoil6QA2KozWBs9lAHVLz_H_DcudtU6Mw_aem_8VDyeMx64_q-LxEauhynOg https://www.wbko.com/2024/06/10/grandmother-missing-ohio-county-baby-arrested-suspects-appear-court/ https://www.14news.com/2024/06/14/ksp-man-staying-home-missing-baby-arrested-drug-charges/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/remains-found-hidden-kentucky-home-8-month-old-girl-missing-april-rcna157285 https://www.k105.com/2024/06/10/arrests-continue-to-be-made-as-police-search-for-missing-8-month-old-ohio-co-girl/ https://www.kentuckystatepolice.ky.gov/news/p16-6-6-2024 https://www.facebook.com/TheOwensboroTimes/posts/pfbid02vnJXamK8kbk77SX723b6Sjz6z9UJt6VKtUPGa5BJAydioJQvC93mpYRyHPMDZ8Spl https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2024/06/ksp-miya-tuckers-maternal-grandmother-arrested-on-warrant-baby-still-not-found/ https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/thousands-sign-petition-to-create-miyas-law-after-missing-baby-case/ https://www.14news.com/2025/03/04/suspects-charged-miya-rudds-murder-case-make-court-appearance-tuesday/ https://www.wbko.com/2025/03/03/proposed-baby-miyas-law-sees-local-support/ https://www.auditor.ky.gov/PressRoom/Pages/Auditor-Ball-Statement-on-Court-Granting-iTWIST-Access-to-Ombudsman.aspx https://www.kentuckytoday.com/news/ombudsman-s-office-gets-access-restored-following-lawsuit/article_952cc3a8-75f7-11ef-9804-2ba4bcf1e5f8.html https://kentuckylantern.com/briefs/bill-advances-to-ensure-auditor-has-access-to-information-about-child-elder-abuse-complaints/ https://www.14news.com/2024/07/18/candlelight-service-planned-ohio-co-baby-miya-rudd/ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18afjwtQka/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091733239605 https://www.facebook.com/cage.rudd https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087057820409 https://www.facebook.com/samantha.byrd.142 https://www.facebook.com/taletha.tucker.31 https://www.facebook.com/1111Bjsrjs5450 https://www.facebook.com/billierick.ruddsmith https://www.facebook.com/brodie.payne.90 http://kool.corrections.ky.gov/KOOL/Details/555415 https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/Search https://webpubcontent.raycommedia.com/wfie/MIYA%20RUDD%20AUTOPSY%20PRESS%20COPY.pdf https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/25rs/HB574.html https://www.auditor.ky.gov/kyombud/Pages/default.aspx https://obits.glennfuneralhome.com/miya-rudd-2024 https://www.change.org/p/miyas-law https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19XPp6yDzJ/ https://www.facebook.com/LaDeptofCorrections/posts/baton-rouge-la-operation-summer-heat-a-week-long-joint-operation-which-began-on-/895021615990192/ https://www.facebook.com/AnchoragePolice/posts/anchorage-police-and-alaska-led-hidta-operationa-multi-agency-crime-suppression-/878437670983986/ https://justice.ky.gov/Departments-Agencies/me/Pages/default.aspx https://www.joycloset.org/aboutus

FULL EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/unmasking-order-123823711?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkExplore the hidden depths of covert operations in this eye-opening episode of 'Wake Up with Miya,' where we dive into the secrets of the Order of the Phoenix, MKUltra, and SRA. Join our host, Miya, as she engages in a compelling discussion with Jessie Czebotar, a renowned figure in unveiling deep-state activities, and Josh from Fog of War, who brings his insider knowledge of military intricacies. Uncover the chilling realities of mind control, secret societies, and the impact of systemic abuse through SRA (Satanic Ritual Abuse). This episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to unravel the layers of manipulation and control that shape our world. Tune in to shed light on these dark corners of human history and current events.Watch the full episode on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/unmasking-order-123823711?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link✨ Join My Free Patreon!Sign up for free to enjoy ad-free episodes and access any content that couldn't make it onto YouTube due to policy restrictions. It's the best way to stay connected and never miss the full story!Patreon.com/WakeupwithMiyaFor a richer experience, don't miss listening to Josh's previous insightful interview Here: https://youtu.be/K-zgqqHVNpABUY ME A COFFEE LINKhttps://buymeacoffee.com/sensiblehippieIf you like to be on the show or have guest suggestions please email me sensiblehippie@gmail.com⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/WakeupwithMiyahttps://www.facebook.com/WakeupwithMiyahttps://lvnta.com/lv_IcTq5EmoFKaZfJhTiS USE DISCOUNT CODE: OHANA FOR 20% OFF Beginning music from Moments: Fugue FrenzyIntro music: Lunareh: At First Light Outro music: PALA SymphoniaEnd Song: Moses Kidd Leavin This TownRATE AND REVEIW ON APPLEhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wake-up-with-miya/id1627169850RATE AND REVEIW ON SPOTIFYhttps://open.spotify.com/show/0UYrXCgma1lJYzf8glnAxy

In this enlightening episode of "Wake Up with Miya," we dive deep with Atom Bergstrom, a distinguished researcher and author known for his extensive work in health and consciousness. Atom brings his wealth of knowledge and decades of research to the table, shedding light on topics that challenge mainstream health narratives.This discussion spans a range of intriguing subjects, from the historical and often misunderstood practice of mesmerism to the critical concept of reductive states — conditions in the body where oxygen levels are low, influencing health and disease processes. Further enriching the conversation, Atom explores the true potential of healing, debunking common misconceptions about red light therapy and other treatments that have been simplified in popular health discourse. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the deeper intricacies of holistic health and the untapped potentials of alternative therapies.Join us as Atom Bergstrom takes us on a journey through the lesser-known corridors of health science, offering insights that could reshape your understanding of what it means to heal and thrive. Whether you're a long-time follower of alternative health strategies or just curious about what lies beyond the conventional approaches, this episode is sure to provide valuable insights and provoke thought about the power and complexity of the human body.***Please note: The content of this podcast is intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. It should not be considered medical advice, nor does it replace consultation with a qualified medical professional.***Dive deeper into a variety of intriguing topics with Miya's past interviews. Each session is a unique exploration of ideas designed to enlighten and engage. Check out these selected episodes to broaden your understanding and enjoyment:Is Your Diet Killing You? The Truth About Sugar, Kidneys, Candida & Acidity with Atom BergstromIn this eye-opening episode of Wake Up with Miya, we sit down with the brilliant Atom Bergstrom to explore groundbreaking insights on sugar, kidney health, candida, acidity, and how they all play a crucial role in our overall wellnessListen here: https://youtu.be/86e7xZc8zP0Power of the Breath, Astral Travel and Carbon Dioxide with Atom Bergstrom in this episode Atom and I delve into the secrets of mesmerism and the impact of conscious dreaming on personal growth. Discover the surprising health benefits of lemons and the vital role of carbon dioxide in healing and stress reduction. Atom shares his personal experiences with astral projection Uncover the mysteries of color therapy, mind over matter, Whether you're interested in alternative health practices or exploring new dimensions of reality, this episode offers eye-opening perspectives and practical wisdom.Listen here: https://youtu.be/uscxPbW5-rgBUY ME A COFFEE LINKhttps://buymeacoffee.com/sensiblehippieIf you like to be on the show or have guest suggestions please email me sensiblehippie@gmail.com⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/WakeupwithMiyahttps://www.facebook.com/WakeupwithMiyahttps://lvnta.com/lv_IcTq5EmoFKaZfJhTiS USE DISCOUNT CODE: OHANA FOR 20% OFF Beginning music from Moments: Fugue FrenzyIntro music: PALA: SummertimeMidtro: Cody Martin: PemberleyOutro music: The Moment: Adrian WaltherEnd Music: Lunareh: At First Light End Song: Click Track Heart Postman✨ Join My Free Patreon!
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This week Ken welcomes singer-songwriter behind the must buy brand new album "Erotica Veronica", Miya Folick.   Ken and Miya discuss the troubles of LA, the stress of 2025, trying to be creative and make a living as an artist in 2025, life without respite, no longer being the main character, the dark timeline, allowing yourself to work through your own experience, promoting your stuff, not having kids, growing up as a huge nerd, being social, not getting into music until you were in college, loving doing homework, not having the "cool older brother" effect growing up, college radio, mix tapes, KERTH 101, good peer pressure, Live Journal, being a musician without being able to make every specific tone reference possible, collaboration, songwriting, being an idea generator, planning to learn about music history upon retirement, wanting to shred, Tidal, trusting the algorithym, finding new music, going through music droughts, mood and music, auditory sensitivity tied to your menstral cycle, listening to podcasts, The Ezra Klein Show, The Daily, Democracy Now, Heavyweight, Jonathan Goldman, unresolved issues of the heart, developing parasocial relationships with podcast hosts you listen to, being into super dorky opera competitions, Downtown LA, growing up in Orange County, jumping on the turtleneck bandwagon, master classes at the classical music society, trying and hating acting, the audition process, thinking about a return to acting, Paris, Texas, being inspired by Cinema, Portishead, The Three Colors Trilogy, the magic of cinema, pop music, wanting producers across the country, Steve Albini, the belief that the only good album a band makes is their first album, thinking about going back to or even starting a day job, going to sleep with white noise, not watching TV at night, Marvel Comics in the 1970s, and the nature of storytelling. 

Aphiwe Miya took on Darren Maule's Quick Quiz, hoping to win R1,000. When asked what she planned to do with the money, her answer revealed a deeper struggle. Aphiwe owes R7,722 in outstanding university fees. Without settling this debt, she can't receive her degree in Analytical Chemistry from Mangosuthu University of Technology. Dhamien Munien from KZN Slots stepped up and committed to pay off Aphiwe's outstanding fees in full. If you know someone who has finished their course but can't get their certificate due to outstanding fees? You can help change their life! Visit ecr.co.za, click on The Big Favour tab, and submit a motivation for someone who's completed their tertiary education, but can't graduate due to outstanding fees. Tell us about this student, where they studied, the course they studied, and how much they owe. The Big Favour with Darren, Sky and Carmen could be the key that helps them unlock their future. Webpage

How can AI transform project management without adding unnecessary complexity? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Miya McClain, VP of Product Management at Smartsheet, to explore how embedded AI tools are reshaping the way teams collaborate, manage data, and deliver successful projects.  With an engineering background and deep product expertise, Miya shares how Smartsheet is tackling some of the biggest challenges in project management, from data overload to team burnout. AI in project management isn't about replacing human decision-making—it's about enhancing it. Miya explains how Smartsheet's AI-driven insights help teams cut through the "data mess," turning scattered information into clear, actionable intelligence. With 63% of eligible Smartsheet plans already leveraging AI tools, businesses are seeing improved efficiency, better decision-making, and a significant reduction in manual work. We also discuss how AI can proactively identify risks before they derail a project, providing managers with real-time visibility into potential roadblocks. This not only minimizes stress but also helps teams stay on track without last-minute scrambles. And as AI continues to evolve, Miya shares her perspective on the future of agent AI—where technology doesn't just analyze data but also recommends the best projects to tackle, assigns the right people, and even personalizes onboarding experiences. But as AI adoption grows, so do concerns about responsible use. Miya highlights Smartsheet's commitment to data security, ensuring customer data is never co-mingled or used for training. She also debunks common AI myths, explaining why project managers remain vital, even as AI takes on more of the repetitive tasks. With AI poised to redefine project management, how can businesses ensure they're using it strategically and responsibly? And what does the future hold for AI-powered collaboration? Tune in to hear Miya McClain's insights on the evolving role of AI in the workplace.

In this captivating episode of *Wake Up with Miya*, we're joined by **Tom Sewid**, a renowned **Kwakwaka'wakw and Cree First Nation storyteller** and **Sasquatch investigator**. Tom brings decades of firsthand experience from the **Broughton Archipelago** in British Columbia—an area known for its **Sasquatch sightings** and deep Indigenous history.We dive into the **mysteries of Sasquatch**, discussing how these beings are perceived through the **Kwakwaka'wakw lens** and explore their possible connections to the **Missing 411 disappearances**. Tom shares cultural legends, personal encounters, and insights you won't hear anywhere else.✨ **What You'll Learn in This Episode:**- The **Kwakwaka'wakw perspective** on Sasquatch (also known as **Dzoonakwa**),- How **Sasquatch legends** tie into **Missing 411 cases**,- Indigenous knowledge and spiritual stories surrounding the **wild people of the woods**,- Why **Indigenous tribes** may choose to keep certain stories private,- The role of **potlatches** and **ceremonial masks** in Kwakwaka'wakw culture.

Multiple organs are played at the All Saints Sunday Eucharist.A Series in 17 parts, By Blacksheep. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. It's been a while, but now we return to our good friends at Saint Michael's CE church;"Dear Brothers & Sisters," Reverend Simon Morris stood in the pulpit and began his sermon."Well first of all, special thanks to Gordon for that fine voluntary and hymn, and to My wife's cousin, Miya, for playing the Gloria. We have an organist and an organist-in-training! As I'm sure you're aware, my wife Jenna, has kindly agreed to stand in for Raymond Wilson, the organist at Oakwood Road Methodist Church, who is recovering from surgery.Also as you may have noticed, we are joined by Reverend Horatius Fletcher, an old friend who mentored me back when I was studying for my degree in theology many, many years ago!"The man in question was sat behind the vicar, at the side of the organ and clad in full robes. He looked a lot older than he probably was. He smiled and nodded. "You were a good student; well, most of the time!"A chorus of sniggers erupted from the assembled congregation."Did he step out of a Dickens novel?" someone whispered. "He's got the perfect name for one.""From the look of him, he was an old 'un when Queen Victoria were a mere slip of a girl!" came the witty reply.The fella in the pew behind them added; "Aye, he listened to one too many sermons. That's what we'll look like by the end of this service.""And now we turn to events in the Christian calendar.” Reverend Morris continued. “We've entered November, & the month of remembrance: All Saints, All Souls, and, of course, Remembrance Sunday. It is always necessary to remember important events which have gone before, because, as has been said, those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it. This year we studied on Sundays, and in our Bible reflection group, the Book of Exodus;“There was much coughing and shuffling of feet as the congregation braced themselves for another of the vicar's famously long and tedious sermons.Over at the organ loft, Miya was thinking some less-than-holy ways of spicing up this dull part of the service."I was so nervous playing the Gloria," she whispered to Gordon, who was sat next to her on the organ stool. "My first time playing in front of the congregation."In the four months she'd been practicing, Miya had learnt a lot, but there was still a heck of a long way to go."You were fantastic," Gordon replied, reassuring his much-younger girlfriend. "I knew you could do it.""The next hymn;” Miya paused. “I'm not sure if;“"Want me to play it?" Gordon offered her a break."If you don't mind.""No worries." Gordon adjusted his music sheets. The next hymn was The King of Love My Shepherd Is, set to the tune of St Columba."Think I need to relax my fingers a little," Miya continued. "All that pressing down; I need something to squeeze. My palms have gone sweaty and hot." Her right hand slipped over to his thigh and squeezed it."Now lass," Gordon muttered. "Why do I get the feeling you're itching to play a different organ?"She gave him that grin; the one that meant serious naughtiness. How he loved that grin.Meanwhile, the vicar's sermon continued. "As St Paul wrote in Ephesians 2: 'Jesus is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.' The Cross of Christ makes peace possible. The Cross of Christ can make brothers out of enemies."With one hand, Gordon pushed her closer and slid his tongue into her mouth. Miya could feel his hands trailing the skin of her arse, exploring under her skirt.Her gasp was soft, but keen. Gordon's lip twitched in amusement.She lead his fingers further into the wetness underneath her knickers."Oh, Gordy-pie, I want you in me;“ Miya moaned in delinquent need.With an arched brow, the organist huskily whispered, "Oh yes? Which part of me do you reckon?" Miya giggled.He slid one broad finger into her velvety wetness and twisted in her, prodding her delicate fondness. Clearly the soft groan she emitted was not a sign of complaint."Hmm; so wet already." His voice was deep and playful. He proceeded to glide one more finger into her and goaded her clit with his thumb. His fingering orchestrated gratifying sounds from her.Miya released a ragged breath. "Oh, Gordy;“Reverend Morris raised his hands. "Another lesson we've learnt from the Book of Exodus is that God cares for all who are oppressed. I'm reminded of something I read online the other day, concerning the terrible conflict that is currently occurring in the Holy Land. Brothers and sisters, we are not to be so heavenly-minded that we are no earthly use; nor are we to be so focused on the world that we forget in whose image we have been made;“Norman the churchwarden stifled a yawn and leant against a pillar. He preferred to stand rather than sit, given that his buttocks were frequently tender due to repeated whippings from Mrs. Wilcox. He checked his watch and couldn't help but sigh to himself as the vicar droned on and made his weekly request for everyone to "pray for peace." It seemed rather futile, given the depressing news headlines he'd watched this morning. Still, one had to keep the faith.A tap on his arm brought him to his senses."Thought you'd like to know, Norm dearie, that I've ordered some certain little items off the interweb. You and I are going to have a day at the races.""Can't wait Gladys! Tuesday's out though - remember you agreed to hold the Parochial church council meeting at your place.""Haven't forgotten that," the old lady replied, and winked at him. He bit his lip, wondering what she had planned. A day at the races? That was sure to involve that trusty riding crop again. What on earth had she been buying online?"You know Gordon; when I see you wearing that black gown, it always does it for me." Miya's voice trembled as he created persistent strokes that intensified her squelching sounds. "I; ah; it makes you look like Severus Snape. You know, from Harry Potter?"Gordon wasn't familiar with much of the franchise. "Never got into that. Harry and the Chamber Pot of Afghanistan or something; think that film was repeated on TV recently. You'll have to; enlighten me. Glad you like the robe; it's less restrictive than a surplice, given what you have in mind!"He shifted on the stool and brushed the open-fronted gown off his thighs to give her a clear view of his crotch bulge. His fingers kept diligently working in her, keeping a nice stable rhythm.Miya's eyes widened as she unzipped his black trousers and freed his cock from his y-front underpants. "Gordy, why does it seem bigger than ever in church?" She wrapped her hand around his shaft, barely closing her fist on his girth. His tip glistened with precum."Made to compliment your holy mouth," Gordon remarked saucily. This earned him a squeeze on his shaft and a teasing lick on the head."Ah," he sucked the air between this gritting teeth as Miya tended him with both hands. Stroking. Circling her thumb on his tip. She seductively licked her lips and smiled. Gordon glanced warily at Reverend Morris, who was still in full flow with his sermon. It was fortunate that no-one sat in the pews could see the organist when he was sat at the organ, save for the very top of his head. But from his elevated position in the pulpit, if the vicar were to turn to his right, he'd get a grandstand view."Relax, he's only half-way through the sermon," Miya said. When I was staying at the vicarage, I used to hear him reciting them. They seemed to go on for hours. So boring; even Jenna confessed she dreaded him reading them out to her. Anyways, let's see if you're right about my holy mouth.""Fu; uhm; pardon me," moaned Gordon, halting an expletive due to being in church.He put his hand on Miya's face, gently nudging her along. She took him in carefully, his raging member not fitting entirely in her; . and that's what made it more exciting. She relaxed her throat and managed to take more than half of him. Even though she'd done this many times ever since their relationship began back in June, the rush of excitement every time her mouth touched his cock hadn't dimmed at all. He'd had sex in the church countless times in the past, mostly with the vicar's wife, but never during a service. This was his first time being pleasured during the Sunday Eucharist. That fact served to excite him even more. It was so; wrong, so naughty; so; sinful."Deary, you're so beautiful; especially with me in your mouth," Gordon chuckled. His hips buckled slowly to push his meat deeper into her. Miya winced a little, her gag reflex massaging his girth. "Mmm;“Reverend Fletcher wanted nothing more than to stand up and stretch. His back was aching. The old wooden chair he was sat in was torture, and provided no support."Oh Simon, you never did learn the value of truncating your sermons," he sighed to himself. "When will this bloody lesson endeth?" Being sat further back, behind the pulpit, he had a good view of the choir, who were mostly looking miserable, particularly the younger members, two of whom were furtively glancing at smartphones.He turned to his right and did a double take at what he saw at the organ."To join God's family; in whose image we are made; is not just to take His name, but to start acting as He acts! We are, as Jesus said, to: 'give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.' Amen!"Reverend Morris ended his sermon, and never had the congregation been more grateful."Miya;“ Gordon stammered, watching his girlfriend's head in his lap, working diligently. "The sermon's over; I'll have to start playing the hymn."Miya moved her hands to unbutton her blouse and revealed her nice perky breasts with pale pink nipples. She plopped his member out of her mouth and rubbed her breasts between them. "Do it then," she smiled."Oh God; I'm not sure I can," Gordon moaned."Please stand for our hymn, The King of Love Our Shepherd Is," Reverend Morris said."Do you like that?" Miya whispered as she licked slowly down Gordon's cock again."Humph; yeah, just like that; right, uh, must play;“ he fumbled with the music sheets. The slight pause before he started was missed by the congregation, as was the wrong note during the first line of the hymn.Gordon licked his lips and tried his best to concentrate on playing. It was difficult for him to press down on the organ's pedalboard due to Miya's head being in his lap and her hands on his thighs. Not to mention, his fingers were wet with her cunt juices.Reverend Fletcher had an even better view now that he was standing up. He watched, mesmerized, as Miya's head bobbed up and down, sucking Gordon's cock almost in time with the music. Glancing at the organist, who by now was red-faced and sweating, he chuckled at the enormous amount of effort he was putting in, in order to remain composed."By jove, two organs being played at once!" He remarked, feeling his ancient cock throb and stiffen back to life. A bigger comeback than Lazarus was occurring under his robes. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a smartphone. "One must record such an event; eh, for the good of the church of course." Using the loose sleeves of his robes for cover, he began filming;Reverend Morris came down the steps of the pulpit and failed to noticed the spectacle that had transfixed his mentor. Completely oblivious, he headed over to the altar, to prepare for communion.By the hymn's fifth verse, Gordon's focus was crumbling, as Miya dragged him helplessly towards orgasm.Thou spreadist a table in my sight;thy unction grace bestoweth;and oh, what transport of delightfrom thy pure chalice floweth!"Damn, soon my cum will floweth," Gordon muttered through gritted teeth. These lyrics weren't helping one bit. He was panting and groaning, and luckily the sounds from the mighty pipe organ were masking his expressions of delight.Miya teased the head of his cock and stroked his balls.That touch of hers pushed him over the edge.A kiss on the underside of his shaft was too much.Oh, bloody hell. He was cumming.The final verse of the hymn was marred by several wrong notes played by trembling fingers, as Gordon came. "Ah," he groaned.Thick sprays of warm cum filled Miya's mouth and throat. Fuck, she loved it so much. She felt him twitch in her, and she swallowed every salty, tangy drop.Gordon almost fell backwards off the organ stool, but managed to steady himself in time.Miya kissed the tip of his cock and crawled next to him, trilling softly at the nook of his neck. He tightened his arm around her and stroked her cheek.He whispered. "That was bloody fantastic. I love you so much.""Love you too, my Gordy-pie. I'm so glad I got to play your organ at the Sunday service."Reverend Fletcher stopped filming."Must change these underpants when I get home.""Think Gordon's been on the whiskey," Norman muttered to Mrs. Wilcox, as they sat down. "Not his best performance. He usually plays so perfectly.""Are you sure it wasn't Miya playing?""No, it was definitely Gordon. I can see the top of his head. Can't see Miya sat next to him; maybe she's gone to the loo?""Either that or she was playing a different organ," the old lady smirked."Gladys! You dirty old girl!"Ponyplay and Advent calendars.Monday morning had arrived, but Reverend Fletcher was in no hurry to get up. He lay back on his bed and sighed. His hand fell to his crotch, rubbing his hardening cock. The soft material of his pajamas felt good on his shaft, making him harder, soft groans escaping. He was widowed and lived alone.Closing his eyes, Reverend Fletcher removed his clothing. His hand drifted up and down his cock as his mind imagined beautiful women pleasuring him; one woman in particular. The pretty little thing he'd filmed blowing the organist at St Michael's a few weeks back. Who was she? He simply had to find out. And was Simon Morris aware of what was occurring at his Sunday service? Now that his three week placement as a speaker at a Christian organization in Cardiff was over, he could focus on less holy matters. He was glad to be back home at last."I simply must visit Simon's church again, even though it's a long drive."Meanwhile;Gordon let out a groan as the clock radio switched on and the bedroom was filled with the dulcet tones of Jonah Louie's "Stop the Cavalry.""Mum; bloody Christmas songs! It's only 4th December; uh!" He reached out and switched off the radio. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. Next to him, Miya began to stir. Her arm was draped across his bare chest."Is it time to get up already?" She groaned."Afraid so, me chucky egg," he whispered, planting a kiss on her head. He sighed. He was warm and in a nice, comfy position, although his bladder quickly reminded him that he needed to relieve himself."Looks like it's going to be a cold one today." He slid out of bed, scratched his belly and walked over to the window. Opening the curtains, he shuddered as he noticed the front lawn completely white over with frost. Putting his hands on the radiator, he relaxed as he felt warmth. The central heating had behaved itself and come on normally for once."Did it snow?" Miya asked, rubbing her eyes."Nah. Just very frosty out there. The kind of weather that freezes your bollocks off. Hope the car starts okay. Nice and sunny though. Nice day for a walk over the hills if you're wrapped up. Shame we have to go to work eh?"Gordon's main job consisted of repairing organs, as well as playing one every Sunday. His occupation was a specialized one, and he'd been doing it for nearly thirty years now. During the week, he often drove long distances. He had Wednesday mornings off, in order to play at the short midweek service at St Michael's."Where are you off to today then, Gordy?""Got an organ that's being restored in Lancaster. Nice little two manual one. Lovely sound.""Oh well that's not too far.""I can give you a lift to work. Don't want you hanging around that minging bus stop in this weather. How are you settling in at your workplace?""Thanks! And yeah, it's pretty good. They're a nice bunch. It's interesting hearing where people want to go on their travels."Miya had quit her cleaning job at the vicarage and landed a full-time but temporary job at a local travel agent. It was decent pay and would serve her purpose, whilst she continued her driving lessons."Not long now. I'm sure I'll have that driving license in time for Christmas! Got another lesson tomorrow. I just hope;“Gordon sat on the bed and slipped his arm round her. "You'll pass with flying colors. You've got heart and initiative. I really do admire that; as well as; your other talents!" He winked at her and she knew at once what he was referring to."Mmm. I wish we could have a lie-in," she whispered, teasingly slipping her hand down his y-fronts. Oh well.""Plenty of time for that tonight, you naughty thing! Right," he stood up. "I desperately need to point my organ pipe at the porcelain. My bladder waits for no-one!"She chuckled as he hurried off to the bathroom, then sighed."I wish Mum would accept him," she said. Gordon was the loveliest, nicest man she'd ever met. He was funny, sexy and clever, and made her feel cherished and safe. And she was loving learning to play the pipe organ."Just because he's so much older than me, she thinks he's a bad person. Jenna's cool. Dad is cool with him now. But Mum doesn't even give him a chance. We have so much in common, despite the huge age gap."Miya stood up and began to get dressed. Would her mum ever come round?Cloistered CumReverend Fletcher's small bedroom was filled with the soft slapping of his hand pumping his cock, the low grunts of a man edging closer, and the smell of male arousal. His moans grew as the pressure in his balls and cock did. With a deep grunt from him, thick cum shot from his cock.As the reverend's hips bucked slightly from the orgasm, spurt after spurt of cum continued to shoot forth."Ah. Praise be to God. And that lass from St Michael's;“Special Delivery"About time!" Mrs. Wilcox exclaimed, as she spotted a delivery van pulling up outside. "Those articles I ordered online for us. I was beginning to think they'd be lost in the post forever. It's been three weeks! The website said they were dispatched, and I've sent so many emails. I should've got Dwaine to chivvy them up a bit;“"You mean threaten them, more like. I know that grandson of yours. Bit of a wide boy." Norman cautiously sipped a cup of tea."He's a good lad, really. A bit of GBH, buying on the dark web, hacking and benefit fraud in the past. But he's moved on. Runs his own gym. And he's so good with computers.""Aye. Good with his fists. Anyways, you can't trust these online sellers," he muttered. He was both nervous and excited at what awaited him in the package.There was a knock on the door."I'll go," Mrs. Wilcox, said, standing up with surprising speed. "Finish your cuppa. You'll need it;“A few moments later, she returned to the living room, carrying a large box."Can you manage, Gladys?" Norman asked."Oh quite easily, Norm. "It's lighter than I imagined. Let's get it open with all haste!"She giggled like a naughty schoolgirl. Norman fetched a craft knife and began cutting the brown parcel tape off the box."Now the fun begins," Mrs. Wilcox smiled, flinging aside a layer of bubble wrap. "Here we have a;“ She pulled out a My Little Pony advent calendar."Oh that's cute," Norman replied. "A job lot of advent calendars! A bit girly for my tastes, but I bet the Sunday school kids will adore them; even though we're already in December, so they're out of date. Funny, when you said we were going to have a day at the races, I thought you had something rude in mind!""What the devil; thirty My Little Pony advent calendars? I didn't order these!" the old lady gasped. "Oh no, there must've been some sort of mix up at the sorting office or something.""There's a folded up piece of paper down the side," Norman said, picking it up. "Hmm, it says that these calendars were purchased by the Mother's Union. Wait a sec; Old Rectory Road? Oh blimey, that's the address of our church!""Oh dearie me; then there could be some red faces in the church hall;“"Gladys; just what exactly did you buy online?""Well; a selection of lubricants, some bondage equipment, whips, horse penis-shaped dildos, masks, that sort of thing, ponyplay items; by sheer chance I came across this site called Happy Pony Fantasy.""Let me guess. There'll be an invoice in the box of stuff that's ended up at the church hall; with your name and address on it?""Address yes; um, but I used your name. I've been a very bad girl."Norman slapped his head. "Oh Gladys! I'd better rush over there right away and try and intercept that parcel!"To be continued in part 2. By Blacksheep. For Literotica

The unaccounted-for dildos.A Series in 17 parts, By Blacksheep. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. At St Michael's church hall, Jenna was making the most of her day off from work. That was the good thing about being part-time. Getting Mondays off. The downside? Monday was the day her husband started writing his sermon. In desperation, she'd agreed to help the ladies of the Mother's Union out at the church hall. It was more interesting than listening to Simon read out long paragraphs. The MU ladies were elderly, but fun to talk too. And boy, did they love to gossip. As a vicar's wife, she'd become privy to all sorts of information. However, Jenna wasn't one for such tittle-tattle, and would just politely humor the nosey old dears."Excuse me, a stressed-looking delivery man said, knocking on the church hall door. Parcel here for St Michael's Mother's Union?""Hi! I'll take that off your hands," Jenna said. "I have a feeling this is the box of long overdue advent calendars everyone's been moaning about.""Nothing to do with me," the man replied. "Blame the guys at the other end. We're short-staffed.""I understand," Jenna replied, signing for the parcel. "You're doing a wonderful job. Have a wonderful Christmas!""Uh; cheers," the man muttered, not used to compliments."No use selling these at the Christmas Fair seeing as that was yesterday, and we're four days into December." Jenna said, as she set the box on a table. "What can we do with thirty advent calendars? I know. I could extract all the chocolate pieces, recycle the packaging; put the chocolate in a big bowl and the children could help themselves at next week's service;“She opened the box and got a shock at what was contained within."Holy; she;“"I say, Mrs. Morris, whatever's that?"Jenna jumped as one of the Mother's Union members returned from the hall kitchen."Er, hello Mrs. Grimes it's a;“"A horse's saddle? What ruddy great twerp donated that?""Um;“"We've had some strange donations over the years, but this! It takes the biscuit! Just look at this!" She rummaged in the box and pulled out a riding crop, mask and blinkers. "A job lot of horse tack! Did Frankie Dettori donate it?""Perhaps?" Jenna replied, trying to keep a straight face as the elderly woman held up an enormous purple dildo, shaped like a horse penis, and looked at it in utter confusion."This must be for giving liquid medicine to horses.""Last year, someone donated a bus stop sign, a chamber pot and a false leg," another woman piped up. "The bus stop sign was really popular. We got fifty quid for it.""How ridiculous!" Mrs. Grimes replied. "We can't sell this at the Advent tombola. No horsey folk round here. You might as well take it down to the charity shop; or mail it to Aintree racecourse;“"Er; I'll stick to the charity shop, Mrs. Grimes. Think of the postage cost.""Ah, yes. Good thinking. Right, well, I'll leave it up to you then.""I'll get rid of it," Jenna said, then spotted an invoice. Unfolding it, her eyes widened. "Shit; I must get this stuff to Norman before anyone else sees it and realizes what it actually is!" She chuckled. "I bet Gladys is behind it! Absolutely shameless!"Jenna admired the old lady. "I hope I can have fun like that if I live to be as old as her. She's got the right attitude."Hurrying out of the church hall with the big box, she didn't look where she was going and bumped into someone."Oh, I'm so sorry!" she spluttered, as the box fell to the ground, some of its contents tumbling out."That's quite alright, you look loaded up," the man replied. "Ah! Simon's dear wife. Nice to meet you again, my dear!" He shook her hand."Oh; Reverend Fletcher! If you're looking for Simon, he's at the vicarage, writing his;“ She froze as he bent down and picked up a horse mask and dildo."My, my. Is this a Secret Santa for the good vicar, eh?" Reverend Fletcher chuckled."It's not mine," Jenna replied quickly. "It was delivered to the hall by mistake.""I bet it belongs to the organist, am I right?" Reverend Fletcher gave her a wink, but behind the jolly old man facade, lay a less pleasant character, and Jenna was immediately on her guard. She reached into her pocket."I've no idea who this stuff belongs to, but it's not Gordon, I can assure you," Jenna replied. "Either a mix-up or a prank. We do get people donating adult-themed items to church jumble sales for a laugh."Reverend Fletcher wasn't fooled. "Oh come, come, dear Mrs. Morris. I think it's just the sort of thing the organist; and that little; filly who was helping him play the organ, would enjoy! I didn't get a chance to speak to the filly; do you know her name?"Jenna didn't give anything away. "Reverend Fletcher, Gordon's private life is none of my business. And if you're hinting he was doing something inappropriate during the Sunday service, well you're mistaken.""Is that so?" The old vicar pulled out his smartphone and showed her the video he'd filmed."Now I may be old, but I know fellatio when I see it, my dear. Is your good husband aware of what the church organist is getting up to?"Jenna tried to remain composed. "Reverend Fletcher. I had no idea this had occurred, and neither has Simon. I will inform him immediately and he will have words with Gordon. Thank you for bringing this safeguarding concern to my attention. We will ensure this never happens again. Now, if I could ask you to delete that piece of video footage.""I think not," Reverend Fletcher replied. "I think I'll hang on to it for now. Unless of course, you know the name of the lass in the video? I'd quite like to meet her.""I've no idea who she is," Jenna replied. "Never seen her before. Gordon tutors many people. He's single and it's no secret that he's had a lot of dates. Look, there's a privacy issue here, Reverend. It's in your best interests to delete that video;“ She racked her brain, wondering how to deal with this escalating situation. What a creep this man was!"First time he'd ever done that whilst playing the organ, I'm willing to bet? Lucky fella. Some men have all the luck. During the church service too. I've dreamed of something similar happening to me. Do you know, I woke up this morning, with the most powerful hard-on I'd had in years;“"Did you really?" Jenna replied, an idea forming in her mind."Yes. In fact I'm getting hard again, just talking about it." He wasn't lying. Jenna noticed the bulge tenting up his black trousers.God, that's impressive, she thought. This man was horrid, but was pitching one hell of a tent. I wonder if; well I have to try. I can't have anyone trying to harm Gordon or Miya. It was time to take one for the team."Reverend Fletcher," she began, running her hand down his face. "Forget the little thing playing Gordon's organ. If you were to attend our Wednesday service; I could worship you in ways that'll make you thankful God made you a man. I give you my word."The reverend's eyes widened in wonder. The vicar's wife; actually trying to seduce him? This was too good to refuse."My God; I'll be there! What do you have in mind?" He was almost salivating with arousal."Well you'll have to wait and see, won't you? But first;“ she snatched the phone from his hand and deleted the video."No!" He exclaimed. "Oh okay, fair enough, you win. Can I have it back now?""No Reverend. I'll just hang on to it until after the Wednesday service. Just two days. I'm sure you can manage without a smartphone for two days. You have a landline phone at home don't you? Because you phoned Simon from it last night.""Yes I do; but the smartphone is the only way I can access the Internet! I don't have a laptop or tablet at home. I use that smartphone for everything! It's got private stuff on there. My internet banking app!""Don't worry, I won't look at anything. We'll just log out of the app and everything will be just fine. There. All done! If you need to go online, the library is open. I promise you'll get it back after the Wednesday service. You'd better be there.""Mrs. Morris; please!" Reverend Fletcher yelled.Jenna hurried to her car as fast as she could. So far, so good. She'd spared Gordon and Miya any embarrassment."Of course, the dirty old goat could've uploaded the video to PornHub, made backups. I've got to pay a visit to Gladys' grandson Dwaine. He's an absolute tech ace. He'll be able to check if that video is truly deleted; and if it's floating around porn land;“She sped out of the church hall car park. "Good thing I recorded all that on my own phone too." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and switched it off."I am still curious to see that cock of his," she said to herself as she drove through the town center. "The Devil makes work for very frustrated, horny men;“It had been far too long since she'd brought salvation to a different man of the church.A Christmas Miracle.It was Christmas Eve, and the fourth Sunday of Advent. At St Michael's church, the morning service was being led by Reverend Fletcher; who unknown to him, was about to give the most stimulating sermon of his life;"What's this old padré doing here again?" Gordon muttered, as he noticed Fletcher head up to the pulpit."Jenna told me that she'd personally invited him back in order to do the sermon today. Because Simon's sermons are so boring," Miya whispered."Ah! That makes perfect sense!" the organist replied. "Good old Jenna, always thinking of ways to make this church more enjoyable, eh?""Yup, that's my cousin. Full of Christian mercy!"They both giggled, unaware of the real reason Reverend Fletcher was here. And the service, for him was about to get a lot more interesting."Brothers and sisters, it gives me great;“ the reverend paused as he felt something - or someone fumble under his purple vestments."pleasure, to be addressing you all today."And then the sound of the zip on his trousers being pulled down.He twitched nervously, trying to retain his composure.As the congregation sat in the pews, lost in prayer and contemplation, a single bead of perspiration trickled down the Rev. Fletcher's brow. It wasn't from the Advent candles burning nearby, but from the passion that burned within him. He now knew that today's sermon would be unlike any other he had ever delivered, and it wasn't just because of its unique message of love and acceptance. The old vicar didn't dare move from the pulpit, as all eyes were on him. He'd just have to tough it out;In the cramped space inside the pulpit, Jenna was impressed as she pulled down the old man's white boxer shorts, revealing the thick, meaty length of him, already half-hard with anticipation. Quite a tasty-looking cock, she had to admit. She wrapped her lips around the tip, feeling the warmth and weight of him fill her mouth. Reverend Fletcher's voice grew hoarse as he continued to read, his hips starting to move involuntarily, pushing himself deeper into her mouth.The Reverend Fletcher was old, really old, but his cock was something to behold. It was as if time had stopped at his groin, leaving him with a magnificent, thick shaft that seemed to defy the laws of nature. Jenna couldn't help but continue to be amazed as she sucked him harder. As bad as this chap had been, his impressive cock deserved her full attention.Over at the organ, Gordon was impressed by this far more interesting sermon."Well he might resemble something from the Pickwick Papers, but he writes a much better paragraph than our Reverend Morris! I guess it's because he's older and more experienced?""Yeah, I liked that bit where he said there should be only good vibes at Christmas and Jesus being born in a stable because the NHS waiting lists were too long. That was funny!" Miya whispered back."The old boy looks to have high blood pressure," Gordon mused, noticing the sweat running down the vicar's forehead. "Reminds me of something; hell, it's bloody freezing in this church, but he looks like he's been sat in a sauna."Reverend Fletcher's voice trembled slightly as he continued to enthrall the congregation with a Christmas-themed sermon like no other. They assumed his wavering composure was normal for him."This guy is on fire," Miya said, also captivated. "He knows how to entertain an audience!""Looks to me like he's rather entertained himself! Look how he's gripping the pulpit there - his fingernails have turned white. And the way he's thrusting slightly; looks like he's humping the thing!""Gordy, you have a naughty mind!""Hmm, I wonder where I get it from?" He stared at the old vicar again. "It might be just me, but he doesn't look well;“In front of the pulpit, Reverend Morris was listening intently to his mentor's words. I truly learned from the best, he thought. Thanks to Horatius, I am able to write wonderful sermons! It was so nice of Jenna to invite him to conduct our morning service. He glanced at the seated congregation, and saw no sign of his wife anywhere.That's odd. I swore I saw her sitting at the front before. She's missing this amazing sermon. Maybe she had to go to the ladies;As Reverend Fletcher's climax approached, his heart raced with an unfamiliar urgency. The words on the page of his sermon began to blur, and he felt a warmth spreading through his body. He looked down, only to see Jenna the vicar's wife, her lips wrapped around his cock, her eyes locked on his. It was then that he realized his heart condition had worsened, and the pleasure of the moment was quickly replaced by fear.With a loud gasp, he slumped forward onto the pulpit, his weight pulling Jenna away from him. She looked up at him, concern etched on her face, as he struggled to catch his breath. And then, with a final heave, he staggered towards the pulpit steps, then collapsed on the floor, motionless.Someone screamed."Oh my God! Call 9 9 9!"Norman the churchwarden quickly pulled out his phone and called an ambulance. Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion for a few moments.It was then that Gordon sprang into action, leaping over the shelf at the side of the organ like a gazelle. His black, open-fronted gown billowed behind him like a superhero's cape."I'm a trained first-aider," he yelled. "He's gone into cardiac arrest!"As Gordon began performing CPR on Reverend Fletcher, Miya watched in stunned amazement. Some small children at the front of the church started crying, and were led away by anxious parents."Please God, don't let him die," Reverend Morris begged, praying quietly, as they waited for the ambulance to arrive.The entire church was in uproar, and the churchwarden struggled to calm the panicking congregation."Ladies and gents please, I must ask you to sit quietly or if you wish to leave, please can you do so in an orderly manner. In the chaos, Jenna managed to creep out of the hollow in the pulpit, unseen, and hurry off."Oh this is a nightmare," Reverend Morris sobbed, wiping away tears, as the organist continued giving chest compressions. "On Christmas Eve as well, and the defibrillator we had installed got stolen just a few days ago!"Seconds later, Jenna suddenly appeared at his side. "Oh Simon," she panted."He's breathing!"A chorus of cheers erupted.The sound of a siren outside the church was heard. Norman directed the paramedics into the church."Dear God, have our prayers been answered?" Reverend Morris asked his wife.Jenna bit her lip. "I sure hope so." She turned away. I don't want to have that on my conscience. The fact I killed a man by giving him a blowjob, she thought.As the paramedics carried the stricken Reverend Fletcher into the ambulance, everyone turned their attention to Gordon."Where's our organist?" Norman said. "The guy's a bloody hero!"Gordon was sat on the organ stool, resting, after his successful first aid."That was amazing, what you did just then," Miya said, her arm round his shoulders.He shrugged. "Just basic first aid," he muttered modestly."But you were so calm.""Inside I was screaming. I don't think I've been as afraid as that since; can't remember when. You know, being confronted with the harsh reality of death - right here in the church.""But you got his heart going again. He'll be okay.""Aye, let's hope so. Could still have another heart attack, or end up with brain damage if starved of oxygen for too long.""No Gordon, he'll be fine." Miya continued. "He's a vicar. God will keep him safe."He wasn't sure if she actually believed that or if she was just saying it to make him feel better. It did make him feel better, though."Mmm, you're right." He pulled her onto his lap and hugged her."I think my hero organist deserves a reward. How about a kiss for starters?" She flung her arms around him and kissed him full on the lips. The kiss developed into a full-blown snog, and just as Gordon was getting into it, they were interrupted."Here he is!" Norman shouted. "Oh; are we interrupting?"Gordon broke the kiss and looked embarrassed. "Er;“"Just giving my guy a hero's reward," Miya replied."Well done, Gordon," Reverend Morris said, shaking his hand. "Your quick actions there may just have saved Horatius' life."He's not just a talented organist," Miya interrupted. "He's my Gordy-pie!"Later;Reverend Fletcher slowly opened his eyes. There was an oxygen mask on his face and his vision was a little blurry."Uh;“"Horatius. It's me, Simon.""Who are you?""Your friend and former student, Simon Morris.""Are you really? Well that's jolly lovely! I didn't know I had a friend called Simon Morris.""What's up with him?" Jenna asked, cautiously approaching his bedside."Erm, he seems a bit confused. Maybe it's the after effects of what's happened to him.""Who's that?" Reverend Fletcher mumbled, straining his eyes to look at Jenna."This is Jenna, my wife.""Oh how nice for you, she looks a lovely lady.""He appears to have developed retrograde amnesia," Jenna said. "I wonder if it's just temporary?" Secretly, she was relieved."It's the strangest of things," Reverend Fletcher continued, becoming more aware of his surroundings. I can't remember what happened. But I was in a church of some sort. I was reading something. Then I saw the face of an angel. A beautiful angel, kneeling before me; very beautiful, a bit like your wife. Then, nothing but a bright, white light. It must've been the light of Heaven. But obviously God wasn't ready for my soul just yet. And so, he sent me back to Earth.""A near-death experience?" Reverend Morris said."I truly have seen the light. I've been given a second chance. A chance to become a better person, and live my life to the full. It's a miracle!""A Christmas miracle!" Jenna smiled.Outside in the hospital corridor, Gordon was anxiously waiting, along with Miya."Well; how is he?""Doctor says he should make a full recovery. But he'll need a pacemaker. He's been damned lucky, and your quick actions today saved his life. Apparently he's suffered from a dodgy ticker for years.""When he was reading the sermon, I got the feeling he wasn't well, Gordon said. "He was sweating profusely and trembling. And his voice was shaky. All classic signs of an imminent heart attack."Reverend Morris nodded. "There's one thing that the paramedics did mention, and it may be inappropriate to say this, but; well, when they removed his robes and examined him, he had a raging erection."Gordon burst out laughing. "Ah well that explains the heart attack then. Not enough blood to go round. It had all rushed to his knob! Well I suppose if the worst had happened and he'd snuffed it, he would've died happy, eh? Dying with a raging hard-on, not a bad way to go.""I wonder what on earth gave him an erection?" Miya wondered."Good speech? It was a very passionate sermon. Reminds me of that scene from the first Police Academy film. Ever seen that? The scene where the prostitute gives oral to the old copper whilst she's hiding in a podium. Only the old copper sees another bloke crawl out of the podium and thinks he did it.""I remember that film," Reverend Morris replied. "Ha-ha yes, that was a funny scene. I don't think that happened to the good Horatius Fletcher, although he claimed he saw the face of an angel before he collapsed."Jenna, stood beside her husband, just smiled and said nothing.Later still;"What a day," Gordon said, as he and Miya arrived back from dining out at the Scabby Horse, a country pub dating back to the 17th century."That restaurant was lovely. I've really enjoyed our first Christmas Eve together. It's been magical."Gordon removed the Santa hat he'd been wearing. "I'm so glad. After the trauma of this morning, then having to speak to the local press, it was a relief to finally relax!""Uh-oh," Miya groaned, noticing a car pulling up in front of the house. "Don't relax just yet. Mum's just arrived. She'd better not cause a scene! Oh why can't she just accept us? Your mum was really nice when I met her the first time."Catherine Leesmith was a fun-loving eighty-two year old, who'd welcomed her son's much younger girlfriend with open arms."Don't panic, maybe she just wants to talk," Gordon replied. "Good evening Mrs. Dickinson!""Oh my God! I watched BBC Northwest earlier." She turned to Gordon. "You were on the news. You; saved that vicar's life. Well done!""Well, I kept him alive until the paramedics came, yes." He awkwardly shuffled his feet.Miya's mum walked right up to him. "Gordon. I've said; some things. Things I regret. And whilst I still think the age gap between the two of you is far too wide, I;“Gordon and Miya held their breaths."I can see how happy you are together, so if you're happy, then I'm happy. You're a good man, Gordon. You've certainly brought out the best in Miya."Gordon smiled. "Thanks so much, Mrs. Dickinson.""Kathleen.""Um, right. Kathleen. Er, Miya, tell your mum the good news!""You're not pregnant are you?""No Mum! I've just passed my driving test!""Oh congratulations, love! All thanks to Gordon as well I suppose?""No, I'm not taking any credit," he said. "She did this all on her own and worked damned hard. I provided encouragement, that's all. Right, come in and let's all have a cuppa; or if you want something stronger, we've got mulled wine, gin, beer; anything you like."Miya hurried in first, thrilled that her mum had finally accepted her boyfriend."Gordon, I think Santa will be delivering a four-wheeled present tomorrow morning. I know you and my husband have been planning it for a while.""Oh yes," he replied, tapping his nose. "Shush. She doesn't suspect a thing."They all entered Gordon's house, and Miya's mum couldn't help but admire her daughter's boyfriend; or man-friend, as she preferred to call him.He's not my type, but quite attractive. And he has charisma, there's no doubt about that. There's something about him. He does cut a dashing figure in a suit and organist gown;At the ParsonageReverend Morris and Jenna decided to have an early night."I've always believed that you see something; otherworldly at the point of death," he said as he climbed into bed. "I just can't stop thinking about what Horatius Fletcher said. You know, about seeing an angel. Sorry to keep going on about it.""An angel must appear to reassure dying people that everything will be alright. Or in some cases maybe it takes the form of the dying person's loved one?" Jenna replied."Hmm, yes. Hard to fathom when you've never experienced it yourself. Oh well. At least we know Horatius will be okay. Not much of a Christmas for him, being stuck in hospital, but at least he's alive.""Yep," Jenna smiled, snuggling up to her husband.And with any luck, she thought to herself, he'll never fully regain his memory. He doesn't remember anything about filming Miya and Gordon, or how I took his phone and got Dwaine to erase it. He doesn't remember me inviting him to do the Sunday service either; or me sucking his cock. If he does eventually remember, people will just think he's round the bend;"Merry Christmas Jen.""Merry Christmas Simon."They kissed.The vicar fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but Jenna wasn't quite ready to fall asleep just yet. When she was sure that her husband was well and truly in the arms of Morpheus, she slipped out of bed and picked up her smartphone off the bedside table. She hurried into the bathroom and shut the door. Switching on the phone, she opened a password-protected secure documents folder."Oh Gordon. I really do miss sucking that delicious thick cock of yours," she sighed as she fingered herself whilst watching the video of Miya and Gordon that Reverend Fletcher had filmed. So it hadn't been completely deleted after all. Dwaine had still been able to recover it using his expert coding skills; and transfer it to Jenna's phone. (For entirely personal use of course)!By Blacksheep. For Literotica

Step into the shadows with us on this episode of 'Wake Up with Miya,' featuring special guest Shayn Jones from Open Minds Media, as we delve deep into the chilling realms of the unknown. Join us for 'Eerie Encounters: Windigo in the Wild | Reptilians Among Us | Northville Asylum.' Discover the spine-tingling truths behind the Windigo—an elusive creature of Native American lore, said to roam the wilderness with a chilling presence. Explore the mysterious world of the Reptilians, alleged shapeshifters who hide in plain sight, manipulating events from the shadows. We'll also take you inside the haunting halls of Northville Asylum, a place where echoes of the past are anything but silent. Shayn, host of 'Inquiries of Our Reality' and 'Bizarre Encounters,' brings his extensive experience exploring the paranormal and the unexplained to our discussion. This episode promises to bring you face-to-face with tales of the supernatural and testimonies of the unexplained. Are you ready to challenge what you think you know? Tune in to uncover the eerie, the unexplained, and the outright mysterious—perfect for those who dare to question the nature of reality with Miya and Shayn Jones https://buymeacoffee.com/sensiblehippie If you like to be on the show or have guest suggestions please email me sensiblehippie@gmail.com ⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/sensiblehippie/ https://www.facebook.com/SensibleHippie https://lvnta.com/lv_IcTq5EmoFKaZfJhTiS USE DISCOUNT CODE: OHANA FOR 20% OFF Beginning music from Moments: Fugue Frenzy Intro music: PALA: Summertime Midtro: Cody Martin: Pemberley Outro music: The Moment: Adrian Walther End Music: Lunareh: At First Light End Song: Wowashwow Boujee ✨ Join My Free Patreon!Sign up for free to enjoy ad-free episodes and access any content that couldn't make it onto YouTube due to policy restrictions. It's the best way to stay connected and never miss the full story!Patreon.com/SensibleHippie

Miya Water Projects Netherlands B.V. v. FOMB

In this episode hosts Sam Lance and Jackson Bezdek quickly recap the Kansas State game and preview a road contest against TCU. Then, on the back half of the show, we chat with Evan Miya, a college hoops analytics expert, to get his take on the Jayhawks this season. WATCH the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwYVOMDAV6o SUBSCRIBE to Field of 68 Daily: https://https://fieldof68.beehiiv.com/ Check out our merch store: http://fieldof68.shop FOLLOW US! Twitter:  @thefieldof68   Instagram: @fieldof68   TikTok:  @thefieldof68 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Though it may not seem like it on first glance, across Asuka there are various remnants of a much grander period.  Postholes tell the story of palaces built over and over on the same spots.  In addition, there are the various temples and various carved stone statues and other features.  This episode we'll talk about some of the stonework and palace complexes built during Takara Hime's reign, as well as the deadly politics that were still the currency of the court. For more, check out our blogpost at:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-118 Rough Transcription Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 118: Stonework and Treason Before we dive into the episode, a quick shout out to thank Bodil for supporting us on Ko-Fi.com.  For information on how you can also help support the show, we'll have information at the end of the episode or go check out our podcast page at SengokuDaimyo.com. And now, on with the episode:   Soga no Akaye's mansion was busily quiet.  There was plenty of chatter, but it was mostly in hushed tones as servants busied themselves with their work, but wondered what was going on.  They couldn't help but notice the high ranking visitors that had come.  It was to be expected, though.  After all, their master was in charge while the rest of the court was away on a retreat, comforting the sovereign in her grief.  And so why wouldn't people be showing up to meet with him? But nobody was quite sure what all of these visitors were discussing.  They had all gone into an upper story of the building, but the crowd included some powerful figures, including, some said, a royal prince.  Who's who and where people stood in the court were always topics of discussion, but especially now.  After all, what they were dealing with was unprecedented:  who had heard of a sovereign stepping down in the first place, let alone stepping back up because they then outlived their successor?  But she was no spring chicken, either.  Surely it would be her son that would finally ascend the throne next, right?  But that was never guaranteed. Either way, some of the servants grumbled, a change would be nice.  Ever since the royal family had moved back to Asuka, formally making it the capital again, there had been a flurry of activity. Sure, it meant that a certain amount of prestige returned to that region, and houses that had been in disrepair were suddenly occupied again.  But there was so much more.  Just about all of the available labor pool that wasn't working the fields was working on this project or that—there was almost nothing left for anyone else.  How was anyone else supposed to get things done when all of the able-bodied people were already toiling on the sovereign's own vanity projects?  And after building that giant government complex in Naniwa, no less! Such was, I imagine, the hushed rumor-mongering going on in the house when suddenly there came a loud “crack” as of a piece of wood snapping in two.  Later they would learn that an old wooden rest had broken, but that wasn't immediately obvious.  The servants did notice that shortly thereafter, their visitors began to depart, heading back to their own mansions. As for Soga no Akaye, he said nothing, but he seemed drained.  He had a heavy look, as though he was bearing an incredible weight.  Soon thereafter, he requested a brush and some paper, and he began to write out a letter…   So we are talking about the second reign of Takara Hime, who came back to the throne in 655, following the death of her brother, Prince Karu, known as Koutoku Tennou.  For the first time she reigned, the Chroniclers gave her the name “Kougyoku Tennou”, but for her second reign she would be known in the Chronicles as “Saimei Tennou”. We already discussed some of what was recorded as happening in the north during Takara Hime's second reign, with the Emishi and the Mishihase and the expeditions by Abe no Omi no Hirafu.  This episode we are going to focus more on what was going on in the Home Provinces of Yamato—and most specifically the impact that Takara Hime's reign would have on Asuka. I've noted in the past how modern Asuka can seem like your typical rural Japanese town.  Roads weave between rice fields, flanked by densely packed neighborhoods at the foot of the green hills or lining the shores of the Asuka river.  To the north, the valley opens onto the vast Nara basin—a largely flat region that is much more heavily populated but still would be considered “inaka”, or rural country, by anyone from a metropolis like Tokyo or Ohosaka.  To the south, the land rises up into mountain peaks.  Beyond that ridge, the land drops into the Yoshino River Valley, but otherwise the rest of the Kii peninsula, to the south, is covered in a sparsely populated mountain range, where small villages carve out a life in the nooks and crannies between the numerous ridges, finding the rare spot of flat land to build houses and plant their fields.  Looking at it today, Asuka might seem idyllic, rural, and calm.  And yet, back in Takara Hime's day, it was anything but. When Takara Hime moved back to Asuka, she went on a building spree.  In fact, the Chronicles actually complain about all of the building that she was doing, and we'll get to that.  Much of this episode is going to revolve around her building projects, as well as her comings and goings.  While we'll talk about what the Chronicles say, I also want to talk about some of what still remains in Asuka.  Certainly the grand palaces are gone, for the most part leaving little more than post-holes, lying beneath the rice fields.  A bit more obvious are the various kofun, scattered across the landscape, but beyond that there we also see stone works, including numerous carved stones, which range from crude statues, which may have been minimally worked, to elaborate fountains, which would have used natural water pressure to create impressive waterworks.  These latter works demonstrate the sophistication of the masons of the time, and hint at the grandeur of the various palaces, gardens, and mansion complexes that once populated the landscape.  And if you want a little feeling of what it is like, I talked a bit about walking through Asuka in a bonus episode back in March of 2024—if you are interested, look up “Traveling Through the Ancient Nara Basin, Part 2.   So along with what we see in the Chronicles, I want to talk about some of these other features, even if we aren't entirely sure of when, exactly, they were built.  There are a few, though, that we do suspected were built in this period, by Takara Hime, or at least at her order.  So we'll talk about those as we get there. Her reign wasn't all about building things, though.  Politics in the Yamato court remained as cutthroat as ever.  Although Prince Naka no Oe, Takara Hime's son, had been designated as “Crown Prince” he had not taken the throne, despite being of age, and we aren't told why, though the fact that Takara Hime had previously abdicated because of the events of the Isshi Incident, back in 645 (see Episode XX) may have meant that she was still considered the senior eligible member of the royal line.  Then there was the case of Prince Arima.  Prince Arima was the son of Karu, aka Koutoku Tenno, which made him Naka no Oe's cousin.  This wouldn't have meant anything had his father not ascended to the throne.  And under the succession practices of the time, although Naka no Oe was designated as the Crown Prince, that wasn't a guarantee that he would be next in line, so Prince Arima may have been a potential candidate.  However, there is at least one source that says Prince Arima was not yet of age, but still a teenager.  Still, that was no doubt old enough for some in the court to support him—and as we'll see in later centuries, age limits could be negotiable.  So we'll also discuss that, as well. So let's get into it. When the royal family first moved back to Asuka, in 653,  they took up residence in the temporary palace of Kahabe no Miya.  Unfortunately, this name doesn't tell us much about where the palace was located.  There is one theory that the Kawabe no Miya might be at what is known as the Asuka Inabuchi Palace site, up in the Asuka river valley, in the modern Iwaido district, a little south of the famous Ishibutai kofun site.  This is believed to have been a palace—or at least the mansion of some very wealthy family—given its layout, including what appears to be a cobblestone courtyard, and the lack of any roof tiles, which would have been reserved for temples, at that time. The term “temporary” palace comes up a lot in the Chronicles.  In most of the cases where it is used, it suggests that there was already a building in place and the sovereign took up residence there, hence the term “temporary” palace.  Often times we see that a temporary palace is said to have been “built”, at which point I have to wonder if that is truly the case—did they actually build a brand new structure to temporarily house the sovereign and the royal family—or does it just refer to the fact that they may have taken an existing compound and perhaps made some slight changes to accommodate the royal dignity?  Unfortunately, the Chronicles don't really go into much detail. Wherever the Kawabe no Miya happened to be, it does seem to have been temporary, as we later see Takara Hime back at the Itabuki palace, and indeed she reascended the throne there in 655.  The Itabuki palace first shows up in Takara hime's first reign, and seems to be one of at least two royal palaces in Asuka at the time, the other one being the Woharida Palace.  The Woharida palace had been around for a while – it was noted as early as 603, in the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tenno, and there is the suggestion that it was still around in the time that Karu, aka Kotoku Tenno, was reigning.  We know that Takara Hime took up residence there at some point during her own reign as well.  But in 643 she had the Itabuki palace built, though apparently that didn't mean that the Oharida palace was completely torn down and abandoned – it just was no longer the primary site of court ritual.  Of course, the Itabuki palace wouldn't be the seat of the government for long, either, as the Isshi Incident took place there in 645, and Karu would subsequently move the capital to Naniwa, building the Toyosaki palace. And so the Itabuki palace remained, but was not exactly kept up, so that when the royal family returned to Asuka, it wasn't ready for them to inhabit, and likely required extensive renovation.  Nonetheless, it was being inhabited two years later, when Takara hime again ascended the throne. A quick note here about the name “Itabuki”, because we think that this likely referred to a very specific style of construction that was used.  Up to this point, as far as we can tell, the primary roofing material for all major buildings was a kind of local thatching – we still see this today on some shrines and other buildings.  “Itabuki”, in contrast, refers to a roof made with wooden boards.  Today, we have buildings with rooves where the roof shingles are overlapping boards of wood or bark from the cypress tree: thin layers stacked one on top of the other.  Even today, the modern Imperial Palace in Kyoto uses wood shingles rather than the curved roof tiles that many people think of when they think of Asian architecture. So that's the Itabuki palace, all spruced up and ready for Takara hime to occupy again.  That said, remember the older Woharida palace, the other one in Asuka? Later in 655, a project was started to update that palace as well.  We are told that as of the 13th day of the 10th month there had been a plan to add roof tiles to one of the buildings at the Woharida palace, but unfortunately much of the timber from the mountains and valleys that was designated for the project was found to be too weak from rot, and so they decided to not go forward with that plan.  I would note here that tiled rooves, while they might seen somewhat easier to put together—after all, you only need a layer of interlocking and overlapping tiles—are extremely heavy.  They are known to deform the wooden structures underneath them, and can weigh hundreds of pounds per square foot.  Much of the classic shape of these tiled rooves developed over time to compensate for some of that weight, so this makes me wonder if the wood the palace craftspeople brought in was really that rotten, or if it was just not strong enough for the work that they were trying to do.  After all, were they applying the same techniques as for a temple, or were they simply trying to replace traditional thatching or shingles with clay tiles?  Either way, the project failed, even after all of the work that had gone into it.  This is a small entry in the Chronicles, but it would have meant levying corvee labor that had to go out to the designated regions to source the timber, not to mention setting up the kilns to make the tiles, as well as other preparations that would have been necessary.  In other words, a lot of work, for apparently no payoff. On top of that, we are told that around that time, in the winter of that year—which would have been the 10th, 11th, or 12th month, roughly corresponding from late November to February of the following year—the Itabuki palace caught fire and burned down, and so the sovereign and her retinue decamped to the temporary palace of Kawara – the River Plain or Field. “Kawara” could theoretically refer to just about any flat area by a river. Aston points out that “Kawara” can also mean “rooftile”, which is interesting given what we just talked about, the entry immediately before that deals with attempting to add new rooftiles to a part of the Oharida palace. However, there is some thought that this refers to the Kawara Temple, Kawaradera, and you can find claims that Kawaradera was built on the site of the temporary palace.  There is a reference to Kawaradera in the previous reign, in the year 653, though another source apparently says it was talking about Yamadadera, instead.  There isn't another mention of “Kawaradera” that I can find until 673, so it is entirely possible that the temple started its life off as a mansion or even a temporary royal palace of some kind, and was later turned into a temple. Kawaradera itself is rather interesting.  If you visit the site, today, you can see large stone bases that help to demonstrate the size of the ancient temple.  It was one of the four Great Temples of Asuka, along with Asukadera, Kudara Ohodera, and Yakushiji.  And yet, unlike the other three, we don't have clear indications about its founding in the Chronicles.  When the capital eventually moved to Heijo-kyo, in Nara city, many of the other temples were removed to the new capital, but not, as far as I can see, Kawaradera.  Donald McCallum suggests that this is because it was replaced, instead, by Koufukuji, a temple with deep ties to the descendants of Nakatomi no Kamatari, the Fujiwara clan.  He suggests that mention of the temple in the official records may have even been suppressed by individuals such as Fujiwara no Fubito.  Kawaradera remained in Asuka.  Eventually it fell to ruin, but there is still a small temple on the site, known as Gu-fuku-ji. As for the Kawara Palace, if Kawaradera really was in operation by 653, it is possible that the sovereign took over some of the buildings at Kawaradera, or perhaps the temporary palace was simply somewhere nearby. In any case, they don't seem to have stayed there for too long—they started work on a new palace the following year.  This was the later Okamoto Palace, and from what we can tell it was built on the same site as the Itabuki Palace, south of Asukadera.  This site would see multiple palaces over the years, and even today you can go and see some of the post-holes that they have found, indicating the size of the complex through the years. Based on the layout and size of the Asuka palaces, it seems that these early palaces focused on the “dairi”, the private quarters of the sovereign.  This seems to have ignored the reforms made with the Toyosaki palace design in Naniwa in the early 650s.  That palace, which was built on an incredibly grand scale, consisted of both the private quarters and the public government offices.  But in Asuka the royal family's “palace” appears to have only consisted of the private quarters, for the most part.  So where was the actual bureaucracy happening?  Were there other facilities we don't know about?  Or perhaps, the Toyosaki palace itself was overly ambitious, and there wasn't actually the staff for such a grand complex?  After all, they were just setting up the bureaucracy and perhaps their reach had exceeded their grasp.  Or was it the case that things werestill being run out of the palace complex in Naniwa while the sovereign lived in Asuka?  That seems to have been roughly 10 hours away, by foot, though perhaps only half that by horse. The northern end of the Asuka valley is not as well suited to a large palace complex.  Not only was it already full of temples and the like, but the ground itself rises to the south, and the hills on either side start to come together.  It certainly isn't the kind of place to layout a grand city.  But perhaps that was not the intent—at least not immediately.  It didn't matter much, though, because the Later Okamoto palace, as it came to be known, was not long for this world.  Scarcely had it been built and occupied but that it caught fire and burned down—another expenditure of funds and labor that were once more counted as nothing. In fact, Takara hime was apparently on a tear, and went ahead and initiated quite a few projects that happened in 656.  We are told that nearby Tamu Peak was crowned with a circular enclosure, close to where two “tsuki” trees grew.  A “lofty” building was erected and called both Futatsuki no Miya (the Palace of the Two Tsuki) and Amatsu Miya (the Palace of Heaven).  She also had a new palace erected in Yoshino, possibly as a seasonal retreat.  And with this she was just getting started. She also had laborers dig a canal all the way from the western end of Mt. Kaguyama all the way to Mt. Isonokami.  We are told that 200 barges were then loaded with stone from Mt. Isonokami and hauled to the mountain east of the palace, where the stones were piled up to form a wall.  This last one had people up in arms.  They called the canal the “mad canal” and said that it wasted the labor of over 30,000 people.  On top of that, she used 70,000 men to build the wall.  To top it all off, the timber for the palace rotted away and the top of the mountain where they were building collapsed.  We are told that people cursed it all, crying out: “May the mound built at Iso no Kami break down of itself as fast as it is built.” So, yeah, people weren't too happy.  We, however, just might be – because all of this building work? It leaves traces in the landscape. We aren't always sure about locations in the Chronicles, as it is very easy for names to shift over time or for things to be renamed at a later date. But what we do know is that there are quite a few examples of stone work in the Asuka region.  There is the kame-ishi stone that looks only vaguely carved—it appears to have two carved eyes, but otherwise appears to use the natural shape of the stone to evoke a tortoise—that sits near the site of Kawaradera and Tachibana-dera.  There are the various saruishi—carved figures that are purportedly based on saru, or monkeys, but are likely meant to represent people.  They may have once adorned an elite family's garden or similar, and they were since moved to the tomb of Kibitsu hime.  There are various fountains and waterworks.  And then there are the Sakafune-ishi ruins, sitting along a ridge east of the palace site.  This consists of a large stone up on the hill, with carved channels that appear to be made to channel water poured into the grooves.  At the bottom of the hill there is a turtle shaped stone basin, filled from a boat-shaped water tank.  Across the hill is example of stone work, including possible walls. Given the apparent age of everything, and its location, it is thought that this may all be part of the Futatsuki no Miya complex that Takara hime built.  Unfortunately, it is still not clear how it was meant to operate.  After Asuka was abandoned as the capital, knowledge of the site also disappeared.  There were some stories that arose about the stone that it was used for some kind of sake-brewing, hence the name, but nothing truly concrete has arisen.  There may have been other structures, perhaps made of wood, that are no longer present, and the stone itself appears to have broken and eroded away over the years.  It may have been meant as a ritual site, or perhaps it was just built as some kind of wonder for the people.  It doesn't fit into any clear model of any Buddhist or even ancient Shinto practice, nor is it clearly connected to other continental practices.  We certainly know that they did plenty with water, given the number of waterworks and other carved stones, including a model of Mt. Sumera, we are told was built to the west of Asukadera on the 15th day of the 7th month of the following year—657. Maybe these are remnants of that project Whatever its purpose, the Sakafune-ishi site does seem to compare favorably with what is described in the Nihon Shoki, and perhaps it was considered such a waste of resources just because it didn't fit in with the prevailing ritual culture.  Maybe Takara hime was too artistically avant-garde for her time. “Wasting resources” would, in fact, become a chief complaint against Takara Hime during her time on the throne.  And that takes us from seemingly harmless construction projects into the court politics of the day.  Now as you should recall, Prince Naka no Oe, Takara Hime's son, was the Crown Prince at this point, and quite influential.  He was supported by various courtiers, such as Nakatomi no Kamatari, the Naidaijin, but his eventual ascendancy to the throne was not entirely assured.  We've seen plenty of examples where someone would seem to be in line for the throne and they didn't ever make it.  We know that there were several other royal princes at this time.  One of the youngest was Prince Takeru, a grandson of Takara Hime, who was born around 651.  Then there was Prince Naka no Oe's brother, Prince Ohoama.  He was also one of Takara Hime's sons, and while we haven't heard much of him in the narrative, we will definitely see more of him in the future.  On top of the two of them, there is Prince Arima, whom I talked about at the beginning of the episode.  Prince Arima was mentioned as the son of Karu and Wotarashi Hime, but his mother was not Karu's Queen—that was Hashibito, daughter of Okinaga Tarashi-hi Hironuka, aka Jomei Tennou, and Takara Hime.  Yup, Karu basically married his own niece, though that may have been an attempt to keep the most direct connection possible to the royal line.  Arima's mom Wotarashi Hime, on the other hand, was the daughter of Abe no Kurahashi no Oho-omi—the Minister of the Left, or Sadaijin, during Karu's reign.  Strictly speaking, based on the way that the succession has been depicted so far, Prince Arima wouldn't technically meet the requirements.  That said, we've seen where that has been bypassed in the past, and no doubt people were aware just how easily it would be to rewrite the history, if they had to.  He was young—but not so young that he couldn't be involved in the politics of the court. Other than a note about his parentage at the start of Karu's reign, Prince Arima isn't mentioned again until the ninth month of 657, and right off the bat you can tell where the Chroniclers fall on his personality.  They describe him as deceitful, and claim that he pretended to be insane—a term that doesn't really show up elsewhere, so it is hard to know what exactly is meant.  Is he the Hamlet of his age?  Arima used this as an excuse to go to Muro Onsen—thought to be modern Shirahama Hot Springs, on the southwestern end of the Kii Peninsula.   When he came back he sang its praises, claiming that “scarce had I seen that region, when my complaint disappeared of itself.”  The Queen wanted to go and see for herself. Overall, this hardly seems to be very “deceitful”, though it is suspected that Arima may have feigned an illness to avoid some of the politics around the start of the new reign.  Given his father Karu's recent death, it would likely have been easy enough to claim that he was greatly depressed.  We aren't told how long he stayed at Muro Onsen, but presumably it was for some time. At the start of the following year, on the 13th day of the first month, Kose no Tokuda no Omi, the Sadaijin, or Minister of the Left, passed away.  This would have no doubt created some ripples, but little more is said—we don't even have the name of who succeeded him in the position, at least not in the Nihon Shoki.  Four months later, which is to say in the fifth month of that same year, 658, Prince Takeru passed away.  He was only 8 years old, but as the grandson of Takara Hime a temporary tomb was constructed in the Imaki valley.  Takara Hime lamented his death greatly, and in the 10th month, she took Arima's advice and went to visit the Ki Onsen.  She had several poems composed and handed them to Hata no Ohokura no Miyatsuko no Mari to record them for posterity. While she was away, Soga no Akaye no Omi was the acting official in charge.  And several weeks in, he addressed Prince Arima.  He noted that there were three problems with Takara Hime's government. First – She builds treasuries on a great scale, collecting the riches of the people. Second – She wastes the public grain revenue in digging long canals. Third – She loads barges with stones and transports them to be piled up into a hill. This may have been popular opinion, but it was also rather treasonous talk.  Prince Arima simply smiled and said: “I have only now come to an age where I am fit to bear arms.” So, yeah, he was basically saying that he was old enough to take up arms—and presumably lead others in a rebellion, if that was the case. Two days later, on the fifth day of the 11th month, Prince Arima met Akaye at his mansion.  They went into one of the upper stories, where they wouldn't be interrupted, and there they conspired together.  Others were also involved, it seems—Mori no Kimi no Oho-ishi, Sakahibe no Muraji no Kusuri, and Shihoya no Muraji no Konoshiro.  There are a few different books that claim to record what the plans were.  One says that Soga no Akaye, Shihoya no Konoshiro, Mori no Oho-ishi, and Sakahibe no Kusuri divined the future of their conspiracy by drawing slips of paper, to see how it would turn out.  Another book states that Arima claimed he would burn down the palace and take 500 men to march down south.  There he would waylay Takara Hime at the harbour of Muro.  They were going to exile her to Awaji island, setting up a fleet of ships to ensure she could never leave. As they were discussing what to do—no doubt talking about how the Prince could take the throne, a leg-rest that they were using broke.  Another book claims it was an arm-rest, instead, but otherwise the details are the same.  They both agreed that was a bad omen, and decided not to proceed any further with their plans.  Prince Arima returned home, but apparently Soga no Akaye had a change of heart.  He apparently figured that his only way out was to turn in the others and admit everything.  And so, that night, Akaye sent Mononobe no Enowi no Muraji no Shibi, who was in charge of the labourers working on the palace.  They surrounded the palace and then Akaye sent a mounted courier to inform Takara Hime. That letter must have laid everything out.  Takara hime had the conspirators arrested and brought to Ki Onsen.  Arima's servant, Nihitabe no Muraji no Yonemaro, followed them.  Prince Naka no Oe himself questioned Arima about why he plotted treason.  Arima's answer is a bit cryptic:  “Heaven and Akaye know.” He responded, “I do not understand at all.” In the end, all of the conspirators were found guilty, and executed.  Tajihi no Wosaha no Muraji no Kuniso was sent to do the task.  Prince Arima was strangled at the Fujishiro acclivity, along with Shihoya no Konoshiro and Nihitabe no Yonemaro.  Before being executed, Konoshiro made a rather macabre request, asking that—presumably after he was dead—they cut off his right hand and make it a national treasure.  The other two conspirators, Mori no Oho-ishi and Sakahibe no Kusuri, were merely banished, presumably having played less of a role. Once again, we must remember that we are only getting one side of the story.  It is definitely convenient for Naka no Oe to have a potential rival out of the way.  At the same time, it is certainly plausible that there was more than a little bit of consternation about how Takara Hime had been spending so much on all of these construction projects.  And yet… were these Takara Hime's projects, alone? Remember, Prince Naka no Oe seems to have had a fair bit of clout.  He orchestrated the original coup, where he killed Soga no Iruka and his father.  And then he declined the throne, but became a major part of the new government.  He was apparently powerful enough that he organized the move back to Asuka against the wishes of Karu no Ohokimi. So would all of these projects have been done without his involvement? This is an area where I have to admit that I probably need to check my bias.  On the one hand, it is rare enough in patriarchal accounts to see women with agency and in positions of power, and so it is easy enough to make an assumption that any agency they are given in the record, they likely had more than is mentioned.  At the same time, in this particular instance, at least, Takara Hime's role in this could just as easily be a cover to preserve the image of Naka no Oe, who is certainly portrayed as a hero figure, bringing much needed change and modernization—such as it was—to Yamato.  His enemies are always shown to be in the wrong, and even if he is accused of something horrible—such as the death of Soga no Ishikawa no Maro—it turns out that it was actually the fault of someone else, such as the person who slandered Maro to him in the first place.  So could it be that these unpopular construction projects were actually his doing, all along?  Was the conspiracy simply to overthrow Takara Hime, or was it focused on both her and Naka no Oe, together? To be honest, I couldn't say for certain.  All we have to go on is what the Chroniclers tell us, and they lay the blame fairly firmly at the feet of Takara Hime.  But do remember that Naka no Oe is not necessarily the Shining Prince that he is often made out to be, and that people rarely come to or stay in power in a society like Yamato's by being nice all the time.  We certainly know what he is capable of from the Isshi Incident, and we shouldn't forget that in the narrative. Now when Takara Hime returned from Ki Onsen after winter ended, in the new year.  We are told that she got back on the third day of the first month of 659.  A couple of months later, on the first day of the third month, she went to Yoshino and held a banquet there—no doubt at the palace she had had constructed.  This may have been at the site of Miyataki Ruins, where excavations have revealed numerous examples of roof tiles and other artifacts that may have come from a building from the Asuka or Nara era. The visit to Yoshino must have been quick, however, as we are told that two days later she visited Hira-ura in Afumi, on the shores of Lake Biwa.  Perhaps this only means she left two days later, since that must have been quite the journey back in the day.  Would she have traveled on horseback, or in a carriage or something similar?  No doubt a full procession would take time, and I doubt that the sovereign would push herself.  We also don't have a reason for her to go, that I can see.  It is an odd entry, to say the least. And I think it may be best to end it there.  I do encourage anyone who can to get down to Asuka and plan to spend a couple of days if you really want to get around.  You may want to rent a bike or even a car to get to everything, though you can walk to most things.  There are several museums and cultural centers set up to expound upon Asuka culture, with a focus on the history and archaeology specifically of that period. The palace site where Takara Hime ruled would continue to be the location of at least two more palaces, which we'll talk about in time.  Before that, though, we'll want to cover a few more things.  Most importantly, we'll want to talk about the relationship with lands outside of the archipelago.  We'll discuss the man from Tukhara—who may have simply been from the Ryukyu islands, or possible from as far aways the Dvaravati Kingdom, in modern day Thailand, or even from the western edge of India and Pakistan, having traveled the Silk Road.  Some have even suggested that he may be a Tocharian, and we'll talk about what that means.  And then, before we finish, we'll have to talk about everything else going on, including the conclusion of the Tang-Baekje war. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.    

n this eye-opening episode of Wake Up with Miya, we sit down with the brilliant Atom Bergstrom to explore groundbreaking insights on sugar, kidney health, candida, acidity, and how they all play a crucial role in our overall wellness. Is your diet killing you? Atom challenges conventional wisdom on sugar by revealing its surprising protective role against candida overgrowth and explaining why refined sugar may not be the villain it's made out to be. We also dive deep into the causes of kidney stones, the truth about metabolic health, Chapman reflex points, and the hidden dangers of overly acidic or overly alkaline diets. Tune in to learn practical tips, fascinating stories, and unconventional methods to optimize your health. BUY ME A COFFEE LINK https://buymeacoffee.com/sensiblehippie ✨ Join My Free Patreon!Sign up for free to enjoy ad-free episodes and access any content that couldn't make it onto YouTube due to policy restrictions. It's the best way to stay connected and never miss the full story!Patreon.com/SensibleHippie

Immerse yourself in our transformative Abundance Guided Meditation, the final installment of a three-part series aimed at elevating your mindset and manifesting prosperity in 2025. This meditation builds upon insights from our previous discussions on cultivating an abundance mindset and practicing gratitude. Join me, Miya, as we align our thoughts and intentions with universal abundance. Watch the first two videos of this series to deepen your journey: 1.Cultivating an Abundance Mindset: https://youtu.be/02k0D5bIvVQ 2. The Power of Gratitude: Part 2 in our Journey to Abundance: https://youtu.be/xWuX_E0n9Hk

Wake Up with Miya: Cultivating an Abundance Mindset for 2025 (Part 1 of 3) kicks off my annual 3-part abundance series! Every year since starting this podcast, I've launched this series to help reset our mindset and prepare for prosperity. In this episode, I reflect on last year, share exciting news about the rebrand to Wake Up with Miya, and guide you through actionable steps to cultivate an abundance mindset. Learn how to reframe challenges, practice daily gratitude, set intentions, and use simple rituals to attract success in all areas of life. Tune in and let's start 2025 with abundance!Hahaha... this is one of the first videos i did about manifesting... Check it out, but if you go to apple you can actually hear the my first 20 or so podcast all about this. Anyway check this out... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7M0Ao1I1lk Here is another episode worth listening to: https://open.spotify.com/episode/26kPsWz6HIHpganZ5uxLjA?si=9f3TGGyVS-mGq4gtqSi4Ww #AbundanceMindset #ManifestingSuccess #gratitude

Smash Ultimate personalities, EE, Light and Cosmos, are joined by Sparg0 to discuss his Lumi Number 1 player ranking and WINNER or LMBM, his big win at LMBM, and becoming the best at last over Miya and Acola! They also are joined later by two TOs from the new Reaper Invitational happening soon. If you're 21+, head over to https://viiahemp.com/ and use code LIGHTSOUT for 15% off. #ad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

本期，我们邀请到了一位新朋友，他就是B站知名up主，同时也是播客「历史剥壳」的主播张志浩。作为张志浩“红楼人物品评”的忠实观众，划水怪自然不会错过这次录制机会。在节目中，关于红楼的疑问也被划水怪一股脑地抛出，林黛玉怎么不算是一个情绪稳定的人？如何对红楼梦进行现代性的解读？红楼梦中登场人物的复杂性？后40回是否是曹雪芹所写？更多精彩内容，还请收听本期节目～主播 / 相征嘉宾 / 张志浩音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Playlist:02:05:52 叶蒨文 - 浅醉一生Timeline:00:01:42 张志浩老师和柚子的故事00:06:28 每个人都可以聊《红楼梦》00:07:03 缅怀琼瑶阿姨00:11:36 琼瑶作品的时代影响00:17:26 港台音乐与《红楼梦》竟如此适配？00:31:02 唱片时代歌手的价值00:51:54 袭人的象征意义01:02:31 小红身上的“现代性”01:05:25 麦琳 李行亮VS王熙凤 贾琏01:20:00 曹雪芹真的存在过吗01:47:29 为什么很少聊贾宝玉02:04:47 没读过《红楼梦》的朋友先看哪个版本深夜谈谈全新付费节目「浪谈之东瀛野望录」上线啦，浪谈三人组（杨凯、大猛、相征）固定班底。在嬉笑浪谈中带你了解，日本从战国到明治维新，登场的那些英雄人物与他们的风云故事。感兴趣的小伙伴全平台搜索「浪谈之东瀛野望录」即可购买！❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【听众群】即可进群。

临近年末，年终总结就让中年人先来吧。划水怪、大猛和小寒老师组成中年悲北京限定组合小大象，本期来和大家聊一聊中年人的养老焦虑。作为上有老，下有小的中年人，面临着父母养老和自己今后养老的双重困境。三人从各自所面临的养老焦虑聊起，也逐步探讨了目前可行的养老方案，在个人制定养老计划的同时，也可以了解第三方平台提供的服务。例如京东护士到家，针对行动不便且需要定期进行医疗护理的人群，如老年人、术后康复人群、重症卧床患者、孕产妇等，可以提供上门打针、换药、采血、就医陪诊、母婴护理等37项特色服务项目，服务覆盖范围已覆盖北京/上海/广州等全国33个一二线城市。大家如果有需要，打开京东APP，搜索“京东护士到家”，根据需求选择服务，下单付款后选择上门时间就可以啦！现在平台还有活动，12月20日~1月20日，京东护士到家服务低至5折起，每日前20名下单用户赠送价值 49.9元家庭护理包一份，如果在这段时间有需求的小伙伴也可以尝试一下！更多精彩内容，还请收听本期节目～主播 / 相征 郭小寒 大猛音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Timeline:00:02:18 年末的悲伤时刻00:04:39 怎样才算是孝顺00:09:09 养老焦虑年轻化00:15:44 计划赶不上变化00:23:42 养老也可以找搭子吗？00:32:50 意定监护00:40:53 京东护士到家帮你“养”老00:51:59 中年危机与时间贫困00:59:30 我们如何体面地老去01:08:00 关于个人养老金制度01:10:38 不必什么都自己扛01:18:53 先活在当下，再放眼未来深夜谈谈全新付费节目「浪谈之东瀛野望录」上线啦，浪谈三人组（杨凯、大猛、相征）固定班底。在嬉笑浪谈中带你了解，日本从战国到明治维新，登场的那些英雄人物与他们的风云故事。感兴趣的小伙伴全平台搜索「浪谈之东瀛野望录」即可购买！❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）回复【听众群】即可进群。

某天，北京办公室传来阵阵乐音，时而像古琴，时而又像吉他，还不时有人吟唱。这种大场面，自然是有高人到访。本期，我们迎来了一位新朋友，他就是人称“阮痴”的冯满天。出生在音乐世界，自幼随父亲冯少先学习月琴，15岁考入中央民族乐团演奏阮族乐器。为重制失传已久的阮咸，耗费半生时间，阮痴这个称号也由此而来。录制中，聊到兴起，冯老师更是即兴弹奏起来，这期节目，大家听到就是赚到！更多关于冯满天的精彩故事，还请收听本期节目～主播 / 相征嘉宾 / 冯满天音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Playlist:01:37:24 冯满天 - 酒狂Timeline:00:05:20 庆余年2中的琴师竟然是他？00:07:44 童年的玩具是月琴00:10:56 捡别人吃剩的西瓜皮00:14:15 四岁跟随俄国大师学习小提琴00:22:09 15岁考上中央民族乐团00:29:33 初次接触吉他00:33:46 创立中国早期摇滚乐队00:37:01 为买电吉他辣椒油蘸馒头吃了三个月00:41:40 为听邓丽君得了冻疮00:44:36 冯老师现场弹奏00:50:50 深圳乐队中唯一的北方嗨佬01:01:00 属于中国的音乐01:08:11 音和乐有什么不同01:23:24 从弹阮到制阮01:35:28 语言终止的地方才是音乐开始的地方深夜谈谈全新付费节目「浪谈之东瀛野望录」上线啦，浪谈三人组（杨凯、大猛、相征）固定班底。在嬉笑浪谈中带你了解，日本从战国到明治维新，登场的那些英雄人物与他们的风云故事。感兴趣的小伙伴全平台搜索「浪谈之东瀛野望录」即可购买！❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【山海经听众群】即可进群。

划水怪、米地、黎叔魔都相聚，危险的信号响起，因为你也不知道这三人凑在一起，又能闯什么大祸。本期三人斗胆来聊一聊认知战，随着互联网的发展，如今的认知战变得越来越隐秘。正如黎叔所言，认知战就像竖着给社会切一个口子，不足以触及根基，但可以让社会矛盾频发。三人在节目中也举了不少例子，例如对华为的舆论战、对黑神话悟空的拉踩以及NGO对蒙古国的人权干预，在节目的最后三人也提醒大家保持独立思考与批判精神，理性上网。更多精彩内容，欢迎收听本期节目。主播 / 相征 米地嘉宾 / 黎叔音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Playlist:01:20:19 J Hus,iceè tgm - Big ConspiracyTimeline:00:04:09 占领舆论的高地00:07:24 兄弟之吻00:11:15 刘德华为什么不演反派00:18:59 舆论战的典型话术00:20:57 兵马俑工作室00:35:28 什么是ESG？00:40:32 对黑神话的恶意诋毁00:47:42 美国政府花过的愚蠢的钱00:58:02 举个蒙古的例子01:17:51 独立思考，理性上网深夜谈谈全新付费节目「浪谈之东瀛野望录」上线啦，浪谈三人组（杨凯、大猛、相征）固定班底。在嬉笑浪谈中带你了解，日本从战国到明治维新，登场的那些英雄人物与他们的风云故事。感兴趣的小伙伴全平台搜索「浪谈之东瀛野望录」即可购买！❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【山海经听众群】即可进群。

朋友们有救啦，是浪谈新节目！聊了那么多漫画作品，浪谈三人组今天来聊一聊都想成为漫画里的谁。三人从人生的各个阶段：童年、少年、青年、中年、老年分别选择一个最想成为的角色并展开讲述各自的理由。话不多说，让我们到节目中听听这三人都做出了怎样的选择！本期，我们也想向大家宣布一个好消息，浪谈也有付费节目啦！浪谈三人组（杨凯、大猛、相征）固定班底。在嬉笑浪谈中带你了解，日本从战国到明治维新，登场的那些英雄人物与他们的风云故事。感兴趣的小伙伴全平台搜索「浪谈之东瀛野望录」即可购买！更多精彩内容，欢迎收听本期节目。主播 / 相征 杨凯 大猛音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Playlist:01:58:46 ONE OK ROCK - Mighty Long FallTimeline:00:00:46 浪谈要做付费啦！00:08:47 凯神为什么更新慢00:11:57 还是以漫画的角度切入00:23:08 能打包咱就打包00:25:45 最想活成动漫里的谁？00:28:36 不会说话的小恐龙阿贡00:35:33 企鹅村的皿田木子00:37:26 《灵能百分百》的花泽辉气00:55:52 谁少年的时候不想成为大雄01:02:14 深深共情濑户一贵01:11:51 少年漫不得不看《全职猎人》01:35:06 中年还没开始靠谱01:38:28 长大后才理解野原广志01:43:28 漫画中最有名的一个老年人01:52:16 安西光义你凭什么01:57:37 欢迎大家订阅东瀛野望录本期提及的动漫作品和人物划水怪童年：《阿拉蕾》皿田木子少年：《I"s》濑户一贵青年：《幽幽白书》桑原和真中年：《蜡笔小新》野原广志老年：《圣斗士星矢》童虎凯神童年：《小恐龙阿贡》阿贡少年：《哆啦A梦》野比大雄青年：《圣子到》一条诚、《灌篮高手》福田吉兆、《天上天下》高柳雅孝中年：《死神》京乐春水，《麻辣教师GTO》鬼冢英吉、《乱马》早乙女玄马老年：《灌篮高手》安西光义猛哥童年：《灵能百分百》花泽辉气少年：《全职猎人》西索青年：《全职猎人》莫老五老年：《海贼王》卡普❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！深夜谈谈全新付费节目「浪谈之东瀛野望录」上线啦，浪谈三人组（杨凯、大猛、相征）固定班底。在嬉笑浪谈中带你了解，日本从战国到明治维新，登场的那些英雄人物与他们的风云故事。感兴趣的小伙伴全平台搜索「浪谈之东瀛野望录」即可购买！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【山海经听众群】即可进群。

书接上回，方老师大开脑洞，提出黄眉大仙才是黑神话BOSS团的幕后组织者，并在上期详细拆解了黑熊精与金池长老两位成员的关系。本期我们继续聊一聊黑神话BOSS团的另一位成员——百眼魔君。众所周知，蜈蚣并没有真正意义上的眼睛，那百眼魔君满身的眼睛又从何而来？为何他与蜘蛛精虽以师兄妹相称，但却从未说明自己师承何处，他们的师父又是谁？百眼魔君和七蛛们的身世又如何？且听方老师一一道来。更多精彩内容，欢迎收听本期节目。主播 / 相征 方佳翮音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Timeline:00:01:51 《黑神话》里的意难平00:05:59 西游记“五毒俱全”00:12:13 如来佛也奈何不得的蝎子精00:16:40 被顺手刷分的红磷大蟒00:19:43 并不想阻止唐僧取经大计的金毛犼00:21:53 盘丝岭七蛛00:24:07 百眼魔君登场00:30:10 深扒百眼魔君和七蛛身世之谜00:35:06 女儿国从何而来？00:42:57 百眼魔君其实是老外？00:44:27 柏勒洛丰如何成为英雄？01:01:55 比试落败，百眼魔君败走01:04:06 散仙毗蓝婆？01:08:13 百眼魔君的痴❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！深夜谈谈全新付费节目「山海经宇宙漫游指南」上线啦，大内人气主播、国内知名“怪兽”画者方老师通过对《山海经》进行系统性、完整版的精品内容输出，普及历史、文化、地理等知识！感兴趣的听众老爷全平台搜索「山海经宇宙漫游指南」即可购买！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【山海经听众群】即可进群。

《再见爱人4》划水怪和Miya还没有追到与更新齐平，但因为网上各种切片的剧透，也对节目了解得大差不差。划水怪在看过之后，最大的共鸣来自于对节目组工作人员的共情。因为大内旅行团的原因，划水怪和Miya经常作为领队带领大家游山玩水，其中的各种艰辛只有经历过的人才知道。于是本期我们也顺着旅行这个话题，聊一聊旅行与搭子这件事。明年，我们也将重启划水怪印象最为深刻的一次旅行，2025年2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大家可以点击这里或微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！更多精彩内容，欢迎收听本期节目。主播 / 相征 Miya音频后期 / 陆凯BBBBUDDHA音频上传 / Observer-本节目由深夜谈谈 Midnight Network出品 -Playlist:01:49:51 椎名林檎 - 人間としてTimeline:00:05:23 看《再见爱人》最共情节目组00:11:29 两种类型的完美旅伴00:15:06 最奇葩的旅伴00:23:17 成也旅伴 败也旅伴00:27:35 和父母旅行要找好自己的定位00:33:55 第一批找旅行搭子的人已经开始后悔00:40:33 半夜剪我头发的旅行搭子00:55:13 印象最为深刻的旅行01:03:07 为了泡温泉去了一趟日本01:20:07 复刻升级青森之行❄️2025.2.12-2.16，由相征与Miya领衔带队，五天四晚雪域青森之行，温泉、清酒、海鲜、睡魔、艺术带你体验独具特色的青森文化，具体行程大以在微信搜索「大内夜市」查看！深夜谈谈全新付费节目「山海经宇宙漫游指南」上线啦，大内人气主播、国内知名“怪兽”画者方老师通过对《山海经》进行系统性、完整版的精品内容输出，普及历史、文化、地理等知识！感兴趣的听众老爷全平台搜索「山海经宇宙漫游指南」即可购买！-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@深夜谈谈子、@相征terryB站：@大内密谈midnightalks视频号&抖音：@深夜谈谈子微博：@大内密谈 微信公众号：大内密谈商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【山海经听众群】即可进群。

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.

Can the UConn Huskies maintain their dominance in college basketball despite a surprising preseason ranking? Dan Hurley reacts to Evan Miyakawa's analytics, which placed the UConn Huskies at 9th, sparking a debate on the accuracy of these predictions. Explore how the UConn Huskies are mastering roster building in the transfer portal era, retaining key players while strategically adding new talent. Evan Miyakawa shares insights on evaluating incoming freshmen, using recruiting rankings as a baseline. Discover the significance of "kill shots"—10-0 scoring runs—and their role in predicting team success. The episode also touches on the growing acceptance of analytics in college basketball, with many coaches embracing these tools for a competitive edge. Join us for an engaging discussion that offers unique insights into the UConn Huskies' strategies and the evolving landscape of college basketball.Segment 1: Introduction and ContextThe episode begins with Speaker A introducing the podcast "Locked on UConn," a daily show dedicated to the UConn Huskies. The host encourages listeners to subscribe and follow the podcast on various platforms, emphasizing the benefits of doing so, such as supporting UConn NIL initiatives and the Husky Ticket Project. The episode is sponsored by Game Time, and the host sets the stage for a discussion about Dan Hurley's reaction to Evan Miyakawa's analytics, which ranked UConn lower than expected. Evan Miyakawa, a respected data scientist with a PhD in statistics, is introduced to share his insights on the rankings and the analytics behind them. Segment 2: Discussion on Rankings and AnalyticsEvan Miyakawa explains his approach to player and team evaluations, highlighting the use of Bayesian performance ratings to assess individual player contributions. He discusses the challenges of preseason rankings, particularly for teams like UConn, which have experienced significant roster changes. Evan emphasizes the importance of not overreacting to single games or tournament outcomes when evaluating teams. He also touches on the predictive nature of his analytics, which focus on player impact and team dynamics rather than just traditional statistics. Segment 3: Insights and Fan InteractionThe conversation shifts to fan questions and the broader implications of analytics in sports. Evan addresses the challenges of evaluating incoming freshmen and the reasons why some highly recruited teams may underperform. He also discusses the concept of "kill shots" or scoring runs, which can significantly impact game outcomes. The segment concludes with a lighthearted interaction with fans, addressing humorous questions and emphasizing the value of analytics in understanding team performance. Evan shares his experiences with the reception of his work and the growing acceptance of data-driven insights in coaching and team management.

*本期内容* 本期节目是枕边风的新栏目《小心划水》第二期，在这个栏目中Miya和相征这对异地恋夫妻互相 update 一下最近各自发生的事情，也跟大家分享一下最近在忙啥，有什么新鲜的想法、思考、新观点、新认知。总的来说是一个Miya和相征会很小心的来给大家划水的节目。还记得上回说到，四男四女的恋爱团因为凑不齐男嘉宾，被迫改成度假团，没想到临近出发又凑齐了。作为小领队的miya，已经为团员们都做好了度假前的筹备，相征则因为在北京被工作压得喘不过气，屁颠屁颠儿跑来上海寻求miya的慰藉，原本没有出行预算的相征，也自掏腰包准备一同前往冲绳旅行。然而天有不测风云，9月13号台风“贝碧嘉”生成，9月16号直穿琉球抵达上海，恋爱团被迫取消，二人不仅不能如愿美美度假，还因为台风被困于家中，超真实体验了一把“在极端天气下相爱”。两位主播分享了各自在台风期间的准备与应对，相征买了一大堆零食，甚至买了各种口味的瓜子，蛋白质、蔬菜、水果什么的完全不考虑，miya则庆幸自己家中储备了一些日常食品，能够应对不时之需，更离谱的是，如果幻想这次台风真是世界末日来临，小龙虾或许会成为俩人活在世上的最后一餐。随着对话的深入，两人探讨了职场中的性别差异与竞争压力。miya作为相征的妻子，特殊的身份给自己带来了许多挑战，为了赢得同事们的尊重，曾经有过多次挣扎，也付出过许多努力。她miya认为，女性在职场中有一些独特的优势，比如能够展现脆弱、寻求支持，但会面临更多的压力与质疑。相征则对此表示认同，并认为男性在职场中也同样经历着重拳出击般的竞争与压力。最后，俩人回顾了近年来经历的各种黑天鹅事件，如台风、疫情等不可抗力因素对生活的影响。同时，他们也认为互联网给人的心态带来很大影响，并在一定程度上放大了人们的嫉妒、愤怒等负面情绪，并呼吁大家要勇敢面对自己内心的“不美丽”。更多详细精彩，欢迎收听本期节目～*时间戳*04:07 被工作压得抬不起头的相征，急于投向miya的怀抱；09:50 超真实体验“在极端天气下相爱”；14:01 如果是世界末日，小龙虾将成为最后一顿美食？？19:53 和头铁的航司博弈；25:26 miya拜菩萨寻求命运的启示；29:12 用“唯物主义”态度做节目的相征；32:28 内容脑和经营脑的来回切换；35:22 为什么不做收听门槛低的“合家欢”的内容？39:41 所有的垂类播客都是说明书;44:35 职场中的性别差异与竞争压力;48:13 做自己认为正确的事；55:17 女性的不配得感；58:26 代表七宗罪的各种APP？？01:00:46 勇敢面对自己内心的“不美丽”*本期团队* 主播 / miya、Terry后期剪辑 / 木木制作人 / 祎雯视觉设计 / 双仔--本节目由深夜谈谈 MidnightNetwork出品—-深夜谈谈播客网络旗下播客：大内密谈、枕边风、空岛、随便聪明、淮海333-你还可以在这里找到我们：小红书：@miya 、@深夜谈谈子微博：@枕边风theuglytruth微信：枕边风theuglytruth商务合作邮箱：biz@midnightalks.com加听众群：加深夜谈谈子微信（微信号: aidanei17301214531）并回复【听众群】即可进群。

Is the healthcare system truly designed with patients at the center? In this episode, host Stacy Sherman and Maya Gray, Vice President of Global Customer Experience and Engagement at Pfizer, tackle the urgent issue of patient access. They explore how healthcare can improve by addressing barriers and designing systems that prioritize patient needs. From leveraging behavioral science to responsibly using AI, this conversation is filled with actionable strategies for enhancing patient experience. Whether you're in healthcare or another industry, you'll gain valuable insights on how to improve accessibility and create customer-centered experiences that drive real impact. Learn more at  

And on this episode, we cover a tragic case buried in the walls of a Chinese restaurant. Hugs. ❤️ Ad-free episodes, and hours of extra 911 Calls content each week, exclusive merch, and early access to all of the 11:59 Media podcasts. Start accessing hundreds of additional hours! Visit 11:59 PLUS or https://www.patreon.com/1159media