Podcasts about shrines

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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.  

Ever wondered what it's like to study Japanese in Japan? This week, the Krewe sits down with Langston Hill — administrator at a Tokyo-based language school and Japanese language content creator — to dive into opportunities to learn in Japan via dedicated Japanese language schools. We explore the benefits of language schools, how they compare to traditional academic settings, and Langston's journey as a creator (plus his own textbook series!). Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned learner, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and a few laughs along the way.------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ Past KOJ Language Learning Episodes ------Japanese Self-Study Strategies ft. Walden Perry (S5E4)Learn the Kansai Dialect ft. Tyson of Nihongo Hongo (S4E14)Heisig Method ft. Dr. James Heisig (S4E5)Prepping for the JLPT ft. Loretta of KemushiCan (S3E16)Language Through Video Games ft. Matt of Game Gengo (S3E4)Pitch Accent (Part 2) ft. Dogen (S2E15)Pitch Accent (Part 1) ft. Dogen (S2E14)Language through Literature ft. Daniel Morales (S2E8)Immersion Learning ft. MattvsJapan (S1E10)Japanese Language Journeys ft. Saeko-Sensei (S1E4)------ About Langston Hill ------Langston aka @TheJapaneseGuy101 on IGThe Japanese Language Manual (2 Book Series - Kindle)The Japanese Language Manual Vol 1 (Paperback)------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

Fr. Andrew Kowalczyk of St. Clare of Montefalco, Fr. Tom McCarthy and philanthropist Jack Krasula join to discuss the parish's part in shaping the Holy Father when we was there. Joan Lewis with Joan's Rome and news from the Vatican. T's segment "Italy's Shrines and Wonders" includes tips for tourists, and revisiting an interview with Dr. Michael Fonseca about the fruits of Our Lady's Spiritual Healing Center.

Fr. Andrew Kowalczyk of St. Clare of Montefalco, Fr Tom McCarthy and philanthropist Jack Krasula join to discuss the parish's part in shaping the Holy Father when we was there. Joan Lewis with Joan's Rome and news from the Vatican. T's segment "Italy's Shrines and Wonders" includes tips for tourists, and revisiting an interview with Dr. Michael Fonseca about the fruits of Our Lady's Spiritual Healing Center

Unit 11-2 Explore Hualien: Beaches, Shrines, and Fun for Everyone! 平日上課、上班累了，假日想出去走走，花蓮無疑是心中的首選！無論是美麗的海景、充滿歷史韻味的景點，還是歡樂的遊樂園與美味的當地小吃，花蓮都能讓你放鬆身心。一起探索花蓮的魅力吧！

You're listening to Bardtenders! In this episode of The Tale & The Telling: The adventurers begin their quest up Rumfyre Moutain. Rune tells scary stories, Izzy has a bad dream, and Nattie shares a meal with some new friends.------------Don't miss out on any of the action!  Head to www.bardtender.com to stay up to date with all of the Bardtender content, find resources for mental and physical wellbeing, get access to education materials, and check out what all of our bards are up to! You can also check out our Linktree at https://linktr.ee/Bardtenders to find ways to listen to the show, join our Discord, or subscribe to our Patreon for bonus content, ad-free episodes, and so much more! 

Unit 11-1 Explore Hualien: Beaches, Shrines, and Fun for Everyone! 平日上課、上班累了，假日想出去走走，花蓮無疑是心中的首選！無論是美麗的海景、充滿歷史韻味的景點，還是歡樂的遊樂園與美味的當地小吃，花蓮都能讓你放鬆身心。一起探索花蓮的魅力吧！

This month, Annie revisits Shrines of Gaiety by Kat Atkinson. This will be the last Reviews Revisited episode of the podcast in this format - because the series has moved to YouTube! You can find the first episode (The Three by Sarah Lotz) here: https://youtu.be/ksVARDL7-mk   Many thanks, as ever, to Cambo for our theme music. Contact us - willyoustillloveit@gmail.com  

The Krewe gets an exclusive inside look at Expo 2025 Osaka with Sachiko Yoshimura, the Director General of Public Relations & Promotion! We dive into the massive planning behind the event, Japan's rich history with World Expos, what to expect at the event, best times to travel, & of course... the story behind the viral mascot, Myaku-Myaku! A must-listen for potential Expo-goers!------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ Past KOJ Travel Episodes ------Checking Out Miyagi ft. Ryotaro Sakurai (Guest Host, William Woods) (S5E5)Explore Matsue ft. Nicholas McCullough (S4E19)Travel Hiroshima ft. Joy Jarman-Walsh (S4E4)Travel Aomori ft. Kay Allen & Megan DeVille (S3E17)Hungry For Travel ft. Shinichi of TabiEats (S3E15)Henro SZN: Shikoku & the 88 Temple Pilgrimage ft. Todd Wassel (S3E12)Border Closures Couldn't Stop These Visas! ft. Rob Dyer & Allan Richarz (S3E11)Natsu Matsuri Mania: Summer Festivals in Japan (S3E3)Off the Beaten Path: Kansai ft. Rob Dyer [Part 2] (S2E12)Off the Beaten Path: Kansai ft. Rob Dyer [Part 1] (S2E11)Japan Travel Destination: Hokkaido ft. Kay Allen (S2E7)Japanese Theme Parks ft. Chris Nilghe of TDR Explorer (S2E4)Navigating Nippon: Where to Go in Japan? ft. Kay Allen of JNTO (S1E11)Matsue & New Orleans: Sister Cities ft. Dr. Samantha Perez (S1E2)------ About Expo 2025 ------Expo 2025 WebsiteExpo 2025 on IG------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

Doug Keck with the Inside Word at EWTN. Father Tony Stephens talks about what makes Marian shrines so special. Plus, Stephen Auth visits to discuss his book Visions of the Divine.

Season 6 kicks off with laughter, tradition, and international flair! The Krewe sits down with Katsura Sunshine, a Canadian-born rakugo performer bringing Japan's 400-year-old comedic storytelling art to audiences around the world. In this episode, we explore what makes rakugo so unique, how Sunshine became one of the few non-Japanese rakugo-ka, and how this traditional form of entertainment is finding new life on the global stage. Plus, hear about the possibility of a rakugo event in New Orleans this fall!Whether you're a longtime fan of Japanese culture or just curious about this captivating performance style, this episode is the perfect way to kick off Season 6 of the Krewe of Japan Podcast!------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ Past KOJ Traditional / Historical Japan Episodes ------The Castles of Japan ft. William de Lange (S5E19)Foreign-Born Samurai: William Adams ft. Nathan Ledbetter (Guest Host, Dr. Samantha Perez) (S5E17)Foreign-Born Samurai: Yasuke ft. Nathan Ledbetter (Guest Host, Dr. Samantha Perez) (S5E16)The Thunderous Sounds of Taiko ft. Takumi Kato (加藤 拓三), World Champion Taiko Drummer (S5E13)Yakuza: Past, Present, Future ft. Jake Adelstein, Author of Tokyo Vice (S5E12)The Real World of Geisha ft. Peter Macintosh (S5E7)Inside Japanese Homes & Architecture ft. Azby Brown (S5E6)Kendo: The Way of the Sword ft. Alexander Bennett, 7th Dan in Kendo (S4E16)The Life of a Sumotori ft. 3-Time Grand Champion Konishiki Yasokichi (S4E10)The Intricate Culture of Kimono ft. Rin of Mainichi Kimono (S4E7)Shamisen: Musical Sounds of Traditional Japan ft. Norm Nakamura of Tokyo Lens (S4E1)Henro SZN: Shikoku & the 88 Temple Pilgrimage ft. Todd Wassel (S3E12)Natsu Matsuri Mania: Summer Festivals in Japan (S3E3)Exploring Enka ft. Jerome White Jr aka ジェロ / Jero (S3E1)The Chrysanthemum Throne ft. Dr. Hiromu Nagahara [Part 2] (S2E18)The Chrysanthemum Throne ft. Dr. Hiromu Nagahara [Part 1] (S2E17)Yokai: The Hauntings of Japan ft. Hiroko Yoda & Matt Alt (S2E5)The Age of Lady Samurai ft. Tomoko Kitagawa (S1E12)Talking Sumo ft. Andrew Freud (S1E8)------ About Katsura Sunshine ------Katsura Sunshine on IGRakugo.lol------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

William A. Thomas, an expert on Marian theology talks about shrines to our Blessed Mother around the world, super saints for our times and academic work for Pope St. John Paul II.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann joins and talks about his relationship with Pope Leo XIV. Joan Lewis from Rome with a great story about a tip she received in a cab related to the election of the Holy Father. Plus, Julie Marie Blake of ADF joins to discuss rescinding harmful government policies from previous administrations, and Shrines and Wonders is a visit to the Papal Trail.

Archbishop Joseph F Naumann joins and talks his relationship with Pope Leo XIV. Joan Lewis from Rome with a great story about a tip she received in a cab related to the election of the Holy Father. Plus, Julie Marie Blake of ADF joins to discuss rescinding harmful government policies from previous administrations, and Shrines and Wonders is a visit to the Papal Trail.

Welcome back to our series digging into the greatest three-album runs in hip hop history, and today we bring you some modern classics from one of the best rap duos putting in work - Armand Hammer.   We dig into the genius of billy woods and Elucid with rapper PremRock, travelling through 2017's Rome, 2018's Paraffin and 2020's Shrines, looking at why this run is so special, and how it taps into the entire history of rap in just three records.   Featuring a ton of amazing guest contributions, from the likes of rapper Defcee, writer Ginger Slim, producer SonRaw, and the elite rap pod voices of Nate LeBlanc (Dad Bod Rap Pod), Dan O (Freemusic Empire), Rohan (The Rap Music Plug Podcast), and the Extraordinary Rap crew. Yep, this one be STACKED!   Full 3-Album Run series: https://www.crate808.com/3album-runs Armand Hammer interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkoiA6vA2TI billy woods ‘The Eucharist' track review w/ Blockhead: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2dLGh0gqgCWD5n952Vte8m   Show Notes Why this is a GOAT run (00:00) Nate LeBlanc (17:00) Rome (26:50) Rohan (33:30) Dan O + Paraffin (1:05:50) Defcee (1:26:20) SonRaw + Shrines (1:43:00) Tim Fish aka Ginger Slim (2:12:40) Extraordinary Rap crew (2:24:20)  

In this solo episode of Amateur Traveler, I share the story of my recent walking trip through the Kunisaki Peninsula and Yufuin in Kyushu, Japan, with Walk Japan. This immersive journey took me past massive stone Buddhas, forest trails, rural villages, sacred shrines, and into steamy onsens — all while uncovering centuries of Japanese history and culture. Temples, Shrines, Onsens, and the Trails Between – Kunisaki & Yufuin Walk Tour style: Small group, guided, culturally immersive walking tour with Walk Japan Geology: The Volcanic Kunisaki Peninsula was formed by Mt. Futago; radial valleys and stable terrain Historical sites: Usa Jingu Shrine, Kumano Magaibutsu, Fuki-ji Temple, Choan-ji Daily hikes: 4–7 km per day through ridges, forests, rice terraces, and Buddhist cave carvings Community engagement: Visit to Walk Japan's rural revitalization project and local mushroom farm ... https://amateurtraveler.com/exploring-the-kunisaki-peninsula-with-walk-japan/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LET THEM COOK! Over the last 5 months, the Krewe has been hard at work cooking up a massive Season 6 line-up. While the main course will begin being served on May 16, how about an appetizer? Just like the carb-loaded instant yakisoba, this preview is CHOU CHOU CHOU Gigamax packed with sneak peeks at what's to come in Season 6. Some snippets include:- Laughing & learning about the world of Rakugo with master storyteller Katsura Sunshine- Prepping for Expo 2025 with Sachiko Yoshimura, Director General of Public Relations & Promotion for Expo 2025- Studying Japanese via language schools with Nihongo enthusiast Langston Hill- Bridging New Orleans & Japan through music with Jazz Trombonist Haruka Kikuchi- Kicking off 2 episodes on Japan's soccer footprint domestically & worldwide with journalist Dan Orlowitz- Exploring vegan cuisine in Japan with Leonore Steffan of ItadakiHealthy- Diving into social media's role in establishing perceptions of Japan - Revisiting Matsue with Sister City Exchange participants Katherine Heller & Wade Trosclair- Brewing up some craft beer with Chris Madere of Baird Brewing & Chris Poel of Shiokaze BrewLab- Restoring some abandoned homes with Akiya enthusiast & YouTuber Anton Wormann of Anton in JapanThis is only HALF of what's to come this season... the 2nd half is top secret! So stay tuned for our season 6 premiere on May 16, 2025 and stick around for the rest of the season to find out what else we have in store on Season 6 of Krewe of Japan Podcast!!------ About the Krewe ------The Krewe of Japan Podcast is a weekly episodic podcast sponsored by the Japan Society of New Orleans. Check them out every Friday afternoon around noon CST on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Want to share your experiences with the Krewe? Or perhaps you have ideas for episodes, feedback, comments, or questions? Let the Krewe know by e-mail at kreweofjapanpodcast@gmail.com or on social media (Twitter: @kreweofjapan, Instagram: @kreweofjapanpodcast, Facebook: Krewe of Japan Podcast Page, TikTok: @kreweofjapanpodcast, LinkedIn: Krewe of Japan LinkedIn Page, Blue Sky Social: @kreweofjapan.bsky.social, & the Krewe of Japan Youtube Channel). Until next time, enjoy!------ Support the Krewe! Offer Links for Affiliates ------Use the referral links below & our promo code from the episode!Support your favorite NFL Team AND podcast! Shop NFLShop to gear up for football season!Zencastr Offer Link - Use my special link to save 30% off your 1st month of any Zencastr paid plan! ------ JSNO Upcoming Events ------JSNO Event CalendarJoin JSNO Today!

Guest: Teresa TomeoNetwork: Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN)Role: Show Host, commentatorBook: Italy's Shrines and Wonders: Discovering Sacred Spaces, Fascinating Places, and Destinations off the Beaten PathWebsites: teresatomeo.com, travelitalyexpert.com

Guest: Teresa TomeoNetwork: Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN)Role: Show Host, commentatorBook: Italy's Shrines and Wonders: Discovering Sacred Spaces, Fascinating Places, and Destinations off the Beaten PathWebsites: teresatomeo.com, travelitalyexpert.com

Pinball today: it's wild, it's wonderful, it's... expensive as hell. In this episode, we break down the pros, the cons, and the weird in-betweens of the current pinball landscape. There's a lot to celebrate, a lot to question, and—let's be honest—a lot to buy if your wallet can handle it. Let's catch up, kick back, and have a good ol' fashioned pinball chat. No fluff, no filter—just real talk from one obsessive fan to another. Want more chaos?

April 21, 2025 ~ Teresa Tomeo, Host of "Catholic Connection" and author of “Italy's Shrines and Wonders,” joins Kevin following the passing of Pope Francis.

Author and apologist John Martignoni joins to discuss the survey that found most American Christians don't believe in the Holy Trinity. Joan Lewis and the latest from a busy Rome in Holy Week. Shrines and Wonders Wednesday and T's Two Sense lays out a possible plan for visiting Italy in light of the Blessed Carlo Acutis canonization. Plus, Teresa and guests from the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC release exciting news about Logos Theater's production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"

Author and apologist John Martignoni joins to discuss the survey that found most American Christians don't believe in the Holy Trinity. Joan Lewis and the latest from a busy Rome in Holy Week. Shrines and Wonders Wednesday and T's Two Sense lays out a possible plan for visiting Italy in light of the Blessed Carlo Acutis canonization. Plus, Teresa and guests from the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC release exciting news about Logos Theater's production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"

Attorney Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society discusses leading the charge against California's radical "Parent Exclusion Policies". Joan Lewis catches us up on the happenings in Rome. Pro-Life expert Dr. Monica Miller talks over the efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Plus, Shrines and Wonders Wednesday highlights Sicily and the Procession of the Mysteries!

Attorney Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society discusses leading the charge against California's radical "Parent Exclusion Policies". Joan Lewis catches us up on the happenings in Rome. Pro-Life expert Dr. Monica Miller talks over the efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Plus, Shrines and Wonders Wednesday highlights Sicily and the Procession of the Mysteries!

Good morning, and happy Feast of St. John Baptiste de LaSalle, patron saint of teachers! As we are now less than a week from Holy Week, Stephanie Mann will share a reflection from St. John Henry Newman on the bodily sufferings of our Lord. Brendan Hodge will explain why East and West rarely celebrate Easter on the same day – but will do so this year. Plus news, weather, sports and a whole lot more! Kevin Schmiesing – A Catholic Pilgrimage Through American History Gary Michuta – Hands on Apologetics Fr. John Gavin – Mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer / Growing Into God Fr. Patrick Briscoe – Our Sunday Visitor Teresa Tomeo – Italy’s Shrines and Wonders Brendan Hodge – Darwin Catholic / Pricing Evolution / The Pillar Dr. Benjamin Reinhard – The High Hallow Stephanie Mann – Supremacy and Survival David Kissell – Stewardship Dept Marlon De La Torre – Knowing Is Doing Dr. Benjamin Lewis – ICEL Karlo Broussard – The Saints Pray for YouSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What was the real story behind the BBC series Dope Girls? In this episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we dive into the world of Soho's underground nightlife in the 1920s, as seen in the BBC's new drama Dope Girls. The series takes inspiration from Marek Kohn's book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground and brings to life the turbulent years after the First World War, when jazz clubs, crime, and vice flourished in London. Joining us to separate fact from fiction is Professor Matthew Houlbrook, a leading historian of 20th-century Britain. We explore the real figures and stories behind Dope Girls, the shifting social landscape of post-war Britain, and how the show reflects the era's struggles with gender, crime, and morality. References: Marek Kohn, Dope Girls: The Birth Of The British Drug Underground  Kate Atkinson, Shrines of Gaiety Matt Houlbrook, Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 Downton Abbey Robert Graves & Alan Hodge, The Long Weekend: A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939 Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

On this episode of Catholic Forum, after a news update from The Dialog and a cut from the CD, More Than Fifty Most Loved Hymns, we talk to media personality, author and travel expert, Teresa Tomeo, about her new book, "Italy's Shrines and Wonders: Discovering Sacred Spaces, Fascinating Places, and Destinations Off the Beaten Path," Published by EWTN Publishing. Available now at the EWTN Religious Catalogue. Catholic Forum is a production of the Office of Communication of the Diocese of Wilmington. Follow us at Facebook.com/CatholicForum. 

Selección de Rock’n’Roll con aderezo soulero. Play it loud!!Playlist;(sintonía) THE SATANS PILGRIMS “Soul pilgrim”THE RAUNCH HANDS “Chicken scratch”THE LOST CRUSADERS “Downward road”THE MEOWS “Sugar woman”LOS CHICOS “Treat her right”KING KHAN and THE SHRINES “Land of the freak”THE FUZZTONES “99th floor”MITCH RYDER and THE DETROIT WHEELS “I’d rather go to jail”GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENTS “Sock it to me baby”IGGY POP “Pleasure”THE SAINTS “Know your product”THE WOGGLES “Big bird”THE FLESHTONES “I surrender”ANDRE WILLIAMS “I ain’t guilty”HEAVY TRASH “Lover street”THE SOLUTION “Get on back”SCOTT MORGAN “Mom, Scott’s smoking”SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS “Soulfull garage”RAMONES “Time has come today”Escuchar audio

Alex Jones, CEO and co-founder of Hallow, promotes their Lenten prayer challenge. Teresa's Shrines & Wonders Wednesday segment. Joan Lewis gives us the latest news concerning the health of Pope Francis and Lent in Rome.

Alex Jones, CEO and co-founder of Hallow, promotes their Lenten prayer challenge. Teresa's Shrines & Wonders Wednesday segment. Joan Lewis gives us the latest news concerning the health of Pope Francis and Lent in Rome.

We're live with Teresa Tomeo, Catholic host and author, talks about her new book "Italy's Shrines and Wonders: Discovering Sacred Spaces, Fascinating Places, and Destinations off the Beaten Path", Kathleen Higgins, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, talks about preparing for Lent and Kitty Cleveland, Catholic author, talks about her new book "From Prison to Paradise: A Story of Radical Trust in God's Divine Mercy".

Join Johnnette as she welcomes Teresa Tomeo to Women of Grace, Radio! Today, a look at Teresa's book "Italy's Shrines and Wonders". A special look into some of what the country of Italy has to offer and how God presence there is undeniable. Find the Book at www.ewtnrc.com (item #84259) and find out more by visiting www.italytravelexpert.com

Join Johnnette as she welcomes Teresa Tomeo to Women of Grace, Radio! Today, a look at Teresa's book "Italy's Shrines and Wonders." A special look into some of what the country of Italy has to offer and how God presence there is undeniable.

How does a new Chinese AI Chatbot react to questions of Christianity? Matthew Bunson joins us, and Italian travel expert Teresa Tomeo discusses the Shrines and Wonders of Italy.

Join Johnnette as she welcomes Teresa Tomeo to Women of Grace, Radio! Today, a look at Teresa's book "Italy's Shrines and Wonders". A special look into some of what the country of Italy has to offer and how God presence there is undeniable. Find the Book at www.ewtnrc.com (item #84259) and find out more by visiting www.italytravelexpert.com

In the Cascadian stretch of the Pilgrimage Jeff and Ike commune with Deep Ones, visit ancient forests and bring death to the Shrines of Gods and Men alike. All with a sense of good roughneck humor and a spirit of conversation.

Tony Shriner, CEO of Mass of the Ages,Godbread Eucharistic saints + Teresa Tomeo, author, Italy's Shrines and Wonders: Discovering Sacred Spaces, Fascinating Places, and Destinations Off the Beaten Path

How does a new Chinese AI Chatbot react to questions of Christianity? Matthew Bunson joins us, and Italian travel expert Teresa Tomeo discusses the Shrines and Wonders of Italy.

Join Jesse, Karen, and Lou from JKL Media as they delve into the third episode of Severance Season 2, titled 'Who is Alive?' aired on January 31st, 2025. The trio discusses their thoughts on the series' ongoing plot, including the appearance of guest star Gwendolyn Christie, the bizarre 'goat room,' and the significance of character interactions. Tune in for an engaging breakdown filled with theories, character analysis, and easter eggs from this exciting episode.   00:00 Welcome to J.K.L. Media 00:32 Diving into 'Who is Alive?' 01:01 Guest Stars and Initial Reactions 03:36 Analyzing Key Scenes and Symbolism 06:12 Character Dynamics and Theories 18:47 The Overarching Mysteries 32:13 Analyzing Character Dynamics 33:41 The Impact of NDAs 36:28 Dylan's Struggles and Realizations 40:42 Rickon's Influence and Perception 45:06 The Mystery of the Goats 51:46 Mark's Reintegration Decision 55:30 Final Thoughts and Speculations

We speak with pro-life activist Paul Vaughn about his recent pardon from President Trump. Teresa's Shrines & Wonders segment. Joan Lewis brings us the latest Vatican news.

In Episode 186, Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) and Sarah share the best backlist books they read in 2024. They discuss their top 5 backlist books from last year, highlight some underrated backlist gems, and review their backlist reading statistics. Devoting an entire episode to backlist reading is now an annual tradition at Sarah's Bookshelves Live — a team and listener favorite!  This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Announcement 2024's Best of the Backlist Guide is available now! 25 of the Sarah's Bookshelves Live Patrons share the best backlist book they read last year in a beautiful PDF guide. To get the guide, you can sign up to be a Superstars patron here. You'll also get access to a 3 bonus podcast episodes per month and my Rock Your Reading Tracker and our all-new Lite Reading Tracker. Highlights Sarah and Catherine share their full stats for backlist reading in 2024. Backlist reading quantity was down a bit again last year for Sarah, but backlist reading quality increased. Catherine had a slight decrease in the number of backlist books she read, but backlist reading remained incredibly successful for her. Sarah's backlist reading included several atypical choices for her, maybe shaping how she approaches 2025. Our Top 5 Backlist Books We Read in 2024 [6:27] Catherine Ghosts by Dolly Alderton | Amazon | Bookshop.org [6:33] Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:19] Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell | Amazon | Bookshop.org[17:38] Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots by Jessica Soffer | Amazon | Bookshop.org[24:10] Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson | Amazon | Bookshop.org[32:11] Sarah The Hop by Diana Clarke | Amazon | Bookshop.org [9:38] The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:26] Water by John Boyne | Amazon [20:57] Starter Villain by John Scalzi | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:32] Empire Falls by Richard Russo | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:33] Other Books Mentioned Good Material by Dolly Alderton [8:54] The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore [14:37] The Holdout by Graham Moore [16:58] Earth by John Boyne [21:09] The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne [22:18] Fire by John Boyne [22:57]  This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer (coming Feb 4) [26:57]  Life After Life by Kate Atkinson [32:42] Case Histories by Kate Atkinson [32:54]  Underrated Backlist Gems [38:56] Catherine The Reformatory by Tananarive Due | Amazon | Bookshop.org [39:00]  The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:36] Sarah Home Stretch by Graham Norton | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:50]  The Hard Parts by Oksana Masters | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [48:01] Other Books Mentioned The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead [41:33] Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro [43:51] Frankie by Graham Norton [45:12]

The Book of the Sky Cow. In the waning years of the 18th Dynasty (the reign of Tut'ankhamun) royal artisans began decorating tombs and funerary equipment with a new text. Sometimes known as “The Destruction of Mankind,” the book tells of a distant age, when Ra ruled on earth. But as the sun-god aged, a group of humans perceived his weakness, and plotted rebellion. Faced with an uprising, Ra marshalled his supporters and sent forth an enforcer. The goddess Hat-Hor (and her alter ego Sakhmet) began to wreak havoc upon the lowly, wayward humans… The Book of the Sky Cow: Part I and Part II, and the Shrines of Tutankhamun, available in Piankoff, The Shrines of Tut-Ankh-Amon. Available at Internet Archive Open Access. Part I and Part II available in Simpson, The Literature of Ancient Egypt, pages 289—298. Available at Internet Archive Open Access. Part I (the Rebellion) available in Lichtheim Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume II: The New Kingdom. Available at Academia.edu. The History of Egypt Podcast: Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music and interludes by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Music and interludes by Luke Chaos www.chaosmusick.com. Music and interludes by Luke Chaos www.chaosmusick.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Planning a trip to Italy during the Jubilee Year 2025? Don't miss this expert guide! Fr. Edward is joined by Teresa Tomeo, a veteran Catholic journalist, Italian heritage enthusiast, and author of Italy's Shrines and Wonders: Discovering Sacred Spaces, Fascinating Places, and Destinations Off the Beaten Path. With over 70 trips to Italy, Teresa shares insider travel tips to make your pilgrimage or vacation unforgettable. In this episode, you'll discover: ✅ Must-see Vatican and Rome sites for pilgrims. ✅ Tips for finding authentic Italian restaurants. ✅ The best ways to travel around Italy (train vs. car). ✅ Hidden gems like Assisi, Matera, and Padre Pio's shrine. ✅ The tomb of soon-to-be Saint Carlo Acutis. ✅ When to visit Italy for great weather and fewer crowds. ✅ How an Italian pilgrimage can deepen your faith and inspire others. Learn how to plan a spiritually enriching trip while avoiding common tourist pitfalls. Whether it's your first visit or you're a seasoned traveler, these tips will help you navigate the Jubilee Year with ease!

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: book buying sprees and being book pushers Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: how to and how not to raise readers The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  1:29 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 2:04 - Thriftbooks 2:09 - I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir 2:15 - Bookshop.org 5:57 - Our Current Reads 6:09 - Us by Sara Soler (Kaytee) 8:51 - Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe 9:47 - Foe by Iain Reid (Meredith) 11:43 - I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid 14:40 - The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (Kaytee) 16:26 - Hatchet by Gary Paulson 16:45 - CR Season 2: Episode 21 18:13 - Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson (Meredith) 21:24 - Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson 22:38 - How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu 23:06 - Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes (Kaytee) 23:15 - CR Season 5: Episode 31 25:07 - A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes 25:17 - The Children of Jacosta by Natalie Haynes 26:46 - The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny (Meredith) 30:38 - State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton 37:45 - Raising Readers 40:55 - CR Season 1: Episode 28 w/ Jackson and Micah 45:40 - Dungeons and Drama by Kirsty Boyce 46:29 - The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer (Land of Stories #1) 50:26 - The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt 53:23 - Meet Us At The Fountain 53:29 - I wish for someone to pick your next read. (Kaytee) 55:57 - I wish to recommend the book The Family Game by Catherine Steadman (Meredith) 55:57 -​​ The Family Game by Catherine Steadman Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. November's IPL comes to us from Charter Books in Newport, Rhode Island! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!