Podcasts about world heritage sites

Romanticism made Scotland famous. It critically shaped the course of Scottish culture, while impacting on cultures elsewhere and inaugurating the country's still-flourishing and lucrative tourist industry. This book is about Edinburgh's most emblematic architecture over the long 19th century: the castellated and stone built cityscape of national revivalist architecture. It reveals why Scotland had by the 1820s become one of Europe's great centres of Romanticism, due both to the majestic Highlands, and to Edinburgh itself as city of Romanticism. Additionally, Edinburgh developed as the main centre and hub for travellers drawn to Romantic Scotland through the work of James ‘Ossian' Macpherson and Sir Walter Scott: visitors including Schinkel, Mozart, Verne, Turner, Haydn, amongst innumerable others. Edinburgh: City of Romanticism (Lund Humphries, 2026) by Dr. Aonghus MacKechnie also provides a long-overdue counterbalance to the contrastingly much-examined and much-published topic of Enlightenment Edinburgh, showing how this and Romantic Edinburgh have comfortably co-existed. It examines how Edinburgh's Romanticism was similarly driven by intellectuals, amongst whom were Enlightenment figures and artistically talented individuals, and it discusses the legacy of those who contributed to the Romantic cityscape of today; an architecture that provides much of the character of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and of the city that countless tourists come daily to see. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Romanticism made Scotland famous. It critically shaped the course of Scottish culture, while impacting on cultures elsewhere and inaugurating the country's still-flourishing and lucrative tourist industry. This book is about Edinburgh's most emblematic architecture over the long 19th century: the castellated and stone built cityscape of national revivalist architecture. It reveals why Scotland had by the 1820s become one of Europe's great centres of Romanticism, due both to the majestic Highlands, and to Edinburgh itself as city of Romanticism. Additionally, Edinburgh developed as the main centre and hub for travellers drawn to Romantic Scotland through the work of James ‘Ossian' Macpherson and Sir Walter Scott: visitors including Schinkel, Mozart, Verne, Turner, Haydn, amongst innumerable others. Edinburgh: City of Romanticism (Lund Humphries, 2026) by Dr. Aonghus MacKechnie also provides a long-overdue counterbalance to the contrastingly much-examined and much-published topic of Enlightenment Edinburgh, showing how this and Romantic Edinburgh have comfortably co-existed. It examines how Edinburgh's Romanticism was similarly driven by intellectuals, amongst whom were Enlightenment figures and artistically talented individuals, and it discusses the legacy of those who contributed to the Romantic cityscape of today; an architecture that provides much of the character of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and of the city that countless tourists come daily to see. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Romanticism made Scotland famous. It critically shaped the course of Scottish culture, while impacting on cultures elsewhere and inaugurating the country's still-flourishing and lucrative tourist industry. This book is about Edinburgh's most emblematic architecture over the long 19th century: the castellated and stone built cityscape of national revivalist architecture. It reveals why Scotland had by the 1820s become one of Europe's great centres of Romanticism, due both to the majestic Highlands, and to Edinburgh itself as city of Romanticism. Additionally, Edinburgh developed as the main centre and hub for travellers drawn to Romantic Scotland through the work of James ‘Ossian' Macpherson and Sir Walter Scott: visitors including Schinkel, Mozart, Verne, Turner, Haydn, amongst innumerable others. Edinburgh: City of Romanticism (Lund Humphries, 2026) by Dr. Aonghus MacKechnie also provides a long-overdue counterbalance to the contrastingly much-examined and much-published topic of Enlightenment Edinburgh, showing how this and Romantic Edinburgh have comfortably co-existed. It examines how Edinburgh's Romanticism was similarly driven by intellectuals, amongst whom were Enlightenment figures and artistically talented individuals, and it discusses the legacy of those who contributed to the Romantic cityscape of today; an architecture that provides much of the character of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and of the city that countless tourists come daily to see. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/architecture

Romanticism made Scotland famous. It critically shaped the course of Scottish culture, while impacting on cultures elsewhere and inaugurating the country's still-flourishing and lucrative tourist industry. This book is about Edinburgh's most emblematic architecture over the long 19th century: the castellated and stone built cityscape of national revivalist architecture. It reveals why Scotland had by the 1820s become one of Europe's great centres of Romanticism, due both to the majestic Highlands, and to Edinburgh itself as city of Romanticism. Additionally, Edinburgh developed as the main centre and hub for travellers drawn to Romantic Scotland through the work of James ‘Ossian' Macpherson and Sir Walter Scott: visitors including Schinkel, Mozart, Verne, Turner, Haydn, amongst innumerable others. Edinburgh: City of Romanticism (Lund Humphries, 2026) by Dr. Aonghus MacKechnie also provides a long-overdue counterbalance to the contrastingly much-examined and much-published topic of Enlightenment Edinburgh, showing how this and Romantic Edinburgh have comfortably co-existed. It examines how Edinburgh's Romanticism was similarly driven by intellectuals, amongst whom were Enlightenment figures and artistically talented individuals, and it discusses the legacy of those who contributed to the Romantic cityscape of today; an architecture that provides much of the character of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and of the city that countless tourists come daily to see. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Romanticism made Scotland famous. It critically shaped the course of Scottish culture, while impacting on cultures elsewhere and inaugurating the country's still-flourishing and lucrative tourist industry. This book is about Edinburgh's most emblematic architecture over the long 19th century: the castellated and stone built cityscape of national revivalist architecture. It reveals why Scotland had by the 1820s become one of Europe's great centres of Romanticism, due both to the majestic Highlands, and to Edinburgh itself as city of Romanticism. Additionally, Edinburgh developed as the main centre and hub for travellers drawn to Romantic Scotland through the work of James ‘Ossian' Macpherson and Sir Walter Scott: visitors including Schinkel, Mozart, Verne, Turner, Haydn, amongst innumerable others. Edinburgh: City of Romanticism (Lund Humphries, 2026) by Dr. Aonghus MacKechnie also provides a long-overdue counterbalance to the contrastingly much-examined and much-published topic of Enlightenment Edinburgh, showing how this and Romantic Edinburgh have comfortably co-existed. It examines how Edinburgh's Romanticism was similarly driven by intellectuals, amongst whom were Enlightenment figures and artistically talented individuals, and it discusses the legacy of those who contributed to the Romantic cityscape of today; an architecture that provides much of the character of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and of the city that countless tourists come daily to see. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

The Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe is one of the natural wonders of the world. It's also one of Africa's great tourist attractions. As both countries seek to grow the tourism economy, there's been a push to develop land around the Falls. But as Isa Jacobson reports from Zambia, it's led to fears for the preservation of the World Heritage Site, and warnings that the loss of land will exacerbate a deadly conflict between local people and wildlife.Presenter: Isa Jacobson Producer: Alex Last Sound Mix: Neil Churchill Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Series Editor: Penny Murphy

The satirical news publication The Onion is trying to take over Infowars, formerly owned by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and planning to put comedian Tim Heidecker in charge. Their vision is to turn Infowars into ‘Adult Swim' for the internet. Tim joins WIRED's Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond for the Big Interview, to talk about political comedy, why late-night has run its course, and what he hopes the future of Infowars will look like.Listen and subscribe to Uncanny Valley here.

On the July 27 edition:  It's the second day of testimony in the sentence hearing for Colt Gray; The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is now Georgia's first World Heritage Site; And Atlanta Braves centerfielder Andruw Jones has finally been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

In the headlines today, a French national was shot and killed by police after a knife rampage in Bangkok, then, Five foreign nationals were detained in a sukhumvit street prostitution operation, in Nonthaburi, police uncovered a secret casino and drug den servicing Chinese nationals, plus, we'll take a look at the fallout from the infamous Italian student train incident and their subsequent 'apology.

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Clare Stark, Head of Futures Literacy and Foresight at UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.They're a specialized UN agency dedicated to promoting world peace and security through international collaboration in education, arts, sciences, and culture. Headquartered in Paris, its mission spans 194 member states and encompasses several focus areas. Key Initiatives include World Heritage Sites, Global Education, Scientific & Ethical Standards, and Cultural Heritage Safeguarding.Clare is a dedicated professional with more than 20 years of experience in international development cooperation, she's passionate about ensuring that technology leads to positive social transformations, and using futures literacy and foresight to inspire collective action to shape the futures we want, using evidence-based approaches to enhance anticipatory capacities.She covers a lot of ground in the podcast, including UNESCO's role in advancing futures literacy and anticipatory governance / Embedding foresight into national and int'l policymaking / The Global Anticipatory Policy Coalition / AI governance, AI readiness and responsible deployment / Climate anxiety & information anxiety / Trust, democracy and misinformation / Leadership through collective intelligence and collaboration / The importance of culture, history and indigenous knowledge in shaping future policy / Participatory foresight involving young people, educators and citizens / The future of education, creativity and public policy in an AI-enabled world. So, I hope you enjoy listening to her as much as I did, in what I hope you'll agree is a fascinating conversation re: the growing importance of anticipatory governance and futures thinking in addressing today's global challenges.

The satirical news publication The Onion is trying to take over Infowars, formerly owned by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and planning to put comedian Tim Heidecker in charge. Their vision is to turn Infowars into ‘Adult Swim' for the internet. Tim joins Katie to talk about political comedy, why late-night has run its course, and what he hopes the future of Infowars will look like. Join WIRED's best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from Alexis Ohanian's newest tech venture to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

fWotD Episode 3296: Talyllyn Railway Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Thursday, 14 May 2026, is Talyllyn Railway.The Talyllyn Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Talyllyn) is a narrow-gauge railway in Wales, which runs for 7+1⁄4 miles (12 km) from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. Opened in 1865 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, it was the first narrow-gauge railway in Britain authorised by Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe underinvestment, the line remained open, and in 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be preserved as a heritage railway by volunteers.Since preservation, the railway has operated as a tourist attraction, expanding its rolling stock through acquisition and an engineering programme to build new locomotives and carriages. In 1976, an extension was opened along the former mineral line from Abergynolwyn to the new station at Nant Gwernol. A major rebuilding and extension of Tywyn Wharf station took place in 2005, including a much-expanded facility for the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, and in 2021 the railway was designated a World Heritage Site as part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.The fictional Skarloey Railway, which formed part of The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, was based on the Talyllyn Railway. The preservation of the line inspired the Ealing Comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:18 UTC on Thursday, 14 May 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Talyllyn Railway on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Arthur.

In 1996, the bricklayer renovating Merced dos Anjos' home in Rio de Janeiro told her something strange had happened. Bones appeared as he was breaking ground. As she inspected the site, she found they were human. But why so many bones? Was it the work of a serial killer?The answer was more macabre. They had unearthed an ancient cemetery. The discovery shed light on the brutal history of Brazil's slavery past – and Rio's role as the biggest slavery port in the Americas.The neighbouring Valongo Wharf, today a World Heritage Site, received roughly one million African captives by 1831. Many were too weak after the transatlantic crossing and died soon after arriving. They were buried in the so-called New Blacks Cemetery.Merced dos Anjos tells Julia Carneiro how the discovery upended her life and led her to create a research centre to shed light on Rio's painful past.An Overcoat Media production.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Merced Guimarães dos Anjos. Credit: Julia Dias Carneiro)

Send us Fan MailJoining me on today's episode of the English wine diaries is Nathaniel McConnell, co-founder and winemaker at Bluestone Vineyards. With a large part of his childhood spent on the family's Cholderton Rare Breeds Farm, Nat's boots are firmly rooted in the countryside. However, he followed a different career path before returning to Wiltshire to establish Bluestone – one helping to fight cancer.Following a degree in Biochemistry at Birmingham University, Nat worked with a company who developed a new technique to better diagnose and provide more accurate prognosis for myeloma patients. His entrepreneurial spirit led him back to the family farm however where, together with his brother, Toby, he established Bluestone Vineyards. With the land prepared and the vines on order, Nat began studying an MSc in Viticulture and Oenology at Plumpton College. He met the then head winemaker of Hattingley Valley Jacob Leadley, and assistant winemaker Zoe Driver, with whom he worked two harvests and learned about quality sparkling wine production.Named Bluestone as a nod to the nearby World Heritage Site of Stonehenge, the 10-acre site comprises Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The south and south-west-facing vineyards sit on the edge of Salisbury Plain and are made of sandy, clay loam soils. Nat's first wine from 2015, was a classic blend made with grapes purchased from Hambledon and since he has produced a number of award-winning sparkling wines from the estate. We talk about what it was like growing up on a petting farm, winning Platinum at Decanter World Wine Awards and the dynamics or running two very different family businesses side by side. Keep up to date with the goings on at Bluestone by following @bluestonevineyards on Instagram or at bluestonevineyards.co.uk.This episode of The English Wine Diaries is sponsored by Rankin Bros & Sons — trusted suppliers of corks, closures, and packaging solutions to the UK wine industry since 1774. To learn more about how Rankin is supporting the future of British wine, visit rankincork.co.uk. Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at englishwinediaries.com. 

The Flinders Ranges has been put forward as the country's next World Heritage Site.

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The Central Planning Authority punts to the National Conservation Council and plans are in motion to submit portions of Little Cayman to become a World Heritage Site.

Fuji: A Mountain in the Making (Princeton UP, 2025) is A panoramic biography of Japan's iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another. Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world's most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Fuji: A Mountain in the Making (Princeton UP, 2025) is A panoramic biography of Japan's iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another. Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world's most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

Fuji: A Mountain in the Making (Princeton UP, 2025) is A panoramic biography of Japan's iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another. Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world's most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire.

Fuji: A Mountain in the Making (Princeton UP, 2025) is A panoramic biography of Japan's iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another. Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world's most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies

Join historian Greg Jenner for a hilarious and fascinating family adventure through ancient Britain, exploring the History of Hadrian's Wall, one of the most iconic landmarks of the Roman Empire.Rome meets Britain When the Romans first invaded Britain, they weren't prepared for the chilly weather, the fierce tribes or how long it would take to build their empire. From Julius Caesar's half-hearted invasions to Emperor Claudius's chilly conquest, Greg Jenner whizzes through the centuries of Roman rule with his trademark wit and sketches.Enter Emperor Hadrian! Then along comes the main man himself: Hadrian. The bearded emperor with a love of architecture, art, and… his boyfriend Antinous. With comedy flair, Greg tells how Hadrian rose to power, toured the empire, and decided to solve his northern problem by building a giant wall across Britain.Hadrian's Wall stretched 80 Roman miles, from coast to coast. A monumental feat of engineering that marked the edge of the empire. But was it an impenetrable defence, or just an ancient form of border control (with a bit of extra tax collection on the side)?Behind the wall Greg and the Dead Funny History cast bring the world of Roman soldiers to life, complete with bustling forts, bakeries, temples, hospitals and toga shops! There's even a few unfortunate emperors who discovered that visiting York didn't always end well…With jokes, sketches and sharp historical insight, this episode turns stone and history into laughter and learning for children, families and anyone curious about ancient Britain.The afterlife of a wall From the Romans' chilly retreat to the medieval locals who recycled Hadrian's Wall into castles, churches and pigsties, Greg reveals how this monumental structure survived and how it later became a treasured World Heritage Site.History has never been this funny Packed with facts, puns and fast-paced fun, Dead Funny History – Hadrian's Wall makes the Roman past lively and unforgettable. Perfect for curious kids, history-loving families, and fans of Greg Jenner's clever storytelling.Writers: Jack Bernhardt, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, and Dr Emma Nagouse Host: Greg Jenner Performers: Mali Ann Rees and Richard David-Caine Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Associate Producer: Gabby Hutchinson Crouch Researcher: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow Audio producer: Emma Weatherill Script consultant: Dr Andrew Birley Production Coordinator: Liz Tuohy Jo Kyle: Production Manager Studio Managers: Keith Graham and Andrew Garratt Sound Designer: Peregrine AndrewsA BBC Studios Production

A new report has outlined several potential risks that climate change poses to the World Heritage Site, Sceilg Mhichíl/ Skellig Michael. The climate vulnerability assessment and report was developed by the National Monuments Service and the OPW in partnership with the National Geographic Society. Jerry spoke to Dr Connie Kelleher, senior archaeological advisor for Sceilg Mhichíl World Heritage Property, senior archaeologist, National Monuments Service and Terri Sweeney Meade, Historic Properties and Capital Works Delivery, Office of Public Works.

Mount Fuji is at once instantly familiar and seemingly immutable, yet it always remains strange and changeable. Its postcard-perfect peak is known around the world as a wonder of nature and a symbol of Japan. But behind that outline lies a far more complicated history.Over the centuries, Fuji's eruptions devastated farmland and terrified villagers. Revered as a sacred presence, its divine inhabitants changed with shifts in belief and power. Once locally known, Fuji later became claimed as a national emblem, its slopes inspiring poetry, painting, and pilgrimage—and serving as the stage for political and economic disputes.In Fuji: A Mountain in the Making (Princeton, 2025), Andrew Bernstein traces this layered story from the mountain's surprisingly recent geological beginnings to its recognition as a World Heritage Site. The result is a portrait of a place both familiar and unsettled: a mountain still in the making, continually remade by the humans who live with it, use it, revere it, and visit it.For show notes and more, go to the Historically Thinking Substack page for this episode.

This week on Streets of Your Town, we're going to Adelaide to celebrate one of the great founders of Australian rock music.Bunna Lawrie is the frontman and founding member of the band Coloured Stone, whose song Black Boy released in 1984 is still an anthem for First Nations people.He most recently performed at the Sydney Opera House in Generations and Dynasties, alongside his children, sharing stories of resilience, creativity, discrimination and empowerment through their music.The proud Mirning Elder from the Nullarbor is also a passionate environmentalist and whale dreamer as well as his prolific music career, where he continues the songlines of his people to protect these ancient creatures.He is a leader in the Fight for the Bight campaign, working against big oil and gas exploration companies in efforts to have the Great Australian Bight preserved as a World Heritage Site.His connection to country and fight to protect it make him a perfect fit for Streets of Your Town podcast, and we are so lucky to have him share his story with us.https://anywhere.is/event/fat-girl/For more shownotes and links - please go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.comnancehaxton.com.au

This week we cover 3 recent archaeology news stories. First up, Near-infrared photography of a 2,300-year-old Pazyryk culture mummy in Siberia has revealed exquisitely detailed tattoos on her forearms and hands. Then, archaeologists excavating the Roman fort of Magna along Hadrian's Wall in northern England have uncovered an unusually high proportion of oversized leather shoes. And finally, we discuss a few of the newest additions to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.Links2,300-year-old arm tats on mummified woman reveal new insights about tattooing technique in ancient Siberia (Live Science)High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods (Antiquity)Archaeologists Keep Finding Massive Shoes at an Ancient Roman Fort—and They Have No Idea Why They're So Big (Smithsonian)New Inscribed Properties 2025Here are some of the newest UNESCO World Heritage sitesContactChris Websterchris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.comRachel Rodenrachel@unraveleddesigns.comRachelUnraveled (Instagram)ArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWBhb2T2edAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliatesMotion

This week we cover 3 recent archaeology news stories. First up, Near-infrared photography of a 2,300-year-old Pazyryk culture mummy in Siberia has revealed exquisitely detailed tattoos on her forearms and hands. Then, archaeologists excavating the Roman fort of Magna along Hadrian's Wall in northern England have uncovered an unusually high proportion of oversized leather shoes. And finally, we discuss a few of the newest additions to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.Links2,300-year-old arm tats on mummified woman reveal new insights about tattooing technique in ancient Siberia (Live Science)High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods (Antiquity)Archaeologists Keep Finding Massive Shoes at an Ancient Roman Fort—and They Have No Idea Why They're So Big (Smithsonian)New Inscribed Properties 2025Here are some of the newest UNESCO World Heritage sitesContactChris Websterchris@archaeologypodcastnetwork.comRachel Rodenrachel@unraveleddesigns.comRachelUnraveled (Instagram)ArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWBhb2T2edAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliatesMotion

Nearly three quarters of humanity's most iconic sites and landscapes are under threat from water-related hazards. Jack Board and Liling Tan discuss whether these special places can be saved from climate change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smartphones, computers and other electronics have now been exempted from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on China. You'll hear how that could bring some relief to American consumers.Also: Thousands of Canadian students head to the U.S. every year to attend university. But recent tensions between the two countries have some students thinking twice about moving south of the border.And: We'll take you to northeast Scotland, where a peat-bog has been named a UNESCO world heritage site. People there are hoping the new status will help undo some environmental impacts that drove people to leave the region hundreds of years ago.Plus: U.S. and Iran hold nuclear talks, Disability advocates demand more from federal leaders, Italy sends asylum seekers to Albania, and more.

Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was once known as the "city of water" and is also famous for its freshwater prawns and fish. Enjoy this week's episode with Melbourne-based cooking instructor Mayu Tomaru. - 世界遺産としても知られるタイの古都アユタヤ。かつては水の都と呼ばれるほど、川エビや川魚が豊富です。メルボルンの料理講師・都丸真由さんの今週のエピソードをどうぞ。

"Thinking of how tourism is now a major industry for Madeira I started with the now, the field recording submitted to the Sonic Heritage project. Already rhythmic in the sound of the footsteps I looped parts of this, and brought it back in at the end. I really liked the image the recording brought up of walking the narrow Levada (waterways) and the muffled greetings and people saying 'sorry' and 'your welcome' as they squeeze past each other. The World Heritage Site is promoted today for its wildlife, tranquillity and calm, so I also closed the loop with brought in birdsong recorded in the Laurisilva (the World Heritage Site in which the field recording was made) "In the past however, for all the lush and ancient forest, this was essentially part of an industrial landscape, with the Levadas (waterways) carved and built through the rock to facilitate the sugar industry that was developed from the mid 15th century onwards. This industry was also the model for the plantation slavery across the Caribbean, Brazil and the United States that followed. "In the official submission to UNESCO to have the Levadas Designated (submitted 2017, nomination withdrawn 2024) there's no mention of enslaved people being brought to the island for labour: Guanche people from the Canary Islands and Berber people from North Africa at first, then people from West Africa. Given that the carving and construction of the Levadas was hard, dangerous and even deadly work it seems likely it was these people who built them, and not 'heroic' or 'stoic' settlers and farmers as the official submission (and other, often tourist oriented, sources) suggest.  "I therefore wanted to make a piece in which the water running through the Levada holds this memory - inspired by the quiet dripping sound that can just be heard at one point in the original recording, I added my own field recordings of water running through a channel and of (archaeological) excavation, plus a low rustling vegetal sound for the dense forest. At several points Gnawa music recorded in Morrocco seeps through, I don't know if this is temporally or geographically correct for some of the first people brought, enslaved, to Madeira, but I wanted a way to surface this history - and to bring in an aural reminder of hidden histories that lie behind official, 'authorised' heritage discourse." References: Tentative Lists: Levadas of Madeira Island, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6230 UNESCO 46 COM (WHC/24/46.COM/17), Decision: 46 COM 8B.23, https://whc.unesco.org/document/207010 Cristiana Bastos. 2025. Sweetness and exile: Madeiran sugar connections in motion. History and Technology. DOI: 10.1080/07341512.2025.2455245 Sidney M. Greenfield. 1977. Madeira and the beginnings of New World sugar cane cultivation and plantation slavery: a study in institution building. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 292: 536-552. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1977.tb47771.x Roberto Knight Cavaleiro. 2022. Slaves, sugar and rampant capitalism - Madeira 1440 to 1540, The Portugal News (17 February) Other recordings used: Various field recordings of my own Birdsong in the Laurisilva: recordings by Sacha Julien (Creative Commons, Freesound) Men chanting and playing "Qrageb"Tamegroute, Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco by ikbenraar (Creative Commons, Freesound) Laurisilva of Madeira reimagined by Lara Band. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world's most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

"I was inspired to create a piece reflecting the complex history of this World Heritage Site via the personal recollections of a centenarian with fond memories of growing up on such a cosmopolitan coast. And yet if we go further back, more complicated histories also reside here - and so I wanted to refer to that ambiguity sonically - especially in a place which is now such a tourist destination.  "I used the field recording to create a portal in and out of the space and also to make a few new sounds scattered around the piece. It's a beautifully vibrant street soundscape to be able to springboard from in various ways. This is a place where I have travelled and experienced sonic histories constantly emanating - each element telling a different origin story - looping back to the present day where sounds reveal the past and present intertwined. "I included sounds of a call to prayer, ocean and also words from a guide at the Anglican Cathedral - the music also includes Indian vocals, a background Swahili church service and my own musical response. I wanted diverse sounds reflecting the different communities and elements revolving within and around such a rich and multi-layered place." Market in Stone  Town, Zanzibar reimagined by RADIA. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world's most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

The last time that Felicia Barr and I had a "real" vacation was just before the pandemic. We travelled to Ireland in September of 2019 and one of our stops was Giant's Causeway which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. Giant's Causeway is a magical place which features hexagonal columns that form stepping stones which disappear into the sea. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The day was very cold, wet and blustery as we walked around the area. In the recording, you hear a lot of noise from the wind and the water pounding the shore but sometimes you can hear different voices of people as they pass us by. It brought us so much joy to be there that we stayed for hours and just as we were about to leave, the sun finally burst through the clouds. UNESCO listing: Giant's Causeway Recorded by Bill McKenna. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world's most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

"The butterfly effect: weeping and flying; llorando y volando: mariposas monarcas "What is the sound of butterflies? What is the sound of butterflies? What is the sound of millions and millions of monarch butterflies as they open wings and ascend into the air? What is the sound of zero monarch butterflies?  "Monarch butterflies have been part of my life for over 30 years in two places in North America that I have called home (both places of migration from my childhood home of Britain). I have experienced eastern monarcas in their tens of millions in the high forested mountains of the state of Michoacán, Mexico, where the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is located. I have experienced a few western monarchs in the eucalyptus trees on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean, in Goleta, California, where the Ellwood Monarch Butterfly Reserve is located. Both the State of Michoacán and the City of Goleta use the gorgeous orange and black form of the monarca butterfly as their logo.  "In Michoacán, Mexico, these multitudes of eastern monarcas follow a migratory pattern across many generations, encompassing the three countries of North America: Mexico, United States and Canada. In Goleta, United States, these tiny numbers of western monarcas follow a short migratory pattern from the coast to the Rockies. In December 2024, the official count was zero. As pollinators, monarch butterflies contribute to healthy ecosystems across North America.  "In the 1990s, as a researcher, creative artist and violinist, I had the privilege of learning from the wisdom and lifeways of Indigenous P'urhépecha peoples in Michoacán, whose presence spans many centuries. I learned from my experience of being a visitor to El Rosario, in the high forested mountains, where millions and millions of monarca butterflies blanket every trunk and branch. This is the World Heritage Site of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Known only to local villagers and landowners until 1975, now a global tourist attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  "Before sunrise, with closed wings, their motionlessness and quietness radiate a profound tranquility. In their fragility and robustness, they are breathtaking. As earth turns, moment by moment, a transformation unfolds as the sun's rays bath each tree, causing warming, waking, stirring, and movement. Bark and trees seemingly come alive, as millions and millions of wings open, rise and cascading upwards, forming ascending and fluttering clouds of orange and black.  "Why do you cry, little human baby?  ¿Porque estás llorando, pequeño bebe humano?  Are you crying for your soul? ¿Estás llorando por tu alma? Por tu futura? For your future?  What have we humans done to this planet? ?Que hemos hecho a esta planeta -  "Listen, Escucha, listen, escucha,  to infinite sounds of millions and millions of monarch butterflies in Mexico  a los sonidos infinitos de millones y millones de mariposas monarca en México  "Listen, Escucha, listen, escucha,  To the sound of zero monarch butterflies in Goleta, California al Sonido de zero mariposas monarca en Goleta, California  Silencio, silence, silencio, silence, silenco, silence –  "In Michoacán, Mexico, the Indigenous Purhépecha grandmothers tell how their ancestors walked from the cold lands to the centre of the country. When the children and old people could go no further, they covered their bodies with the orange resin of the trees and the yellow pollen of the flowers to keep themselves warm. The pollen and resin transformed them into monarch butterflies, and they flew together to the lands of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. "En Michoacán, Mexico, las abuelas Indigena P'urhépecha dicen como sus ancestros caminaban desde la tierra fria al centro del pais. Cuando los niños y la genta vieja no pudieran caminar mas, cubrieron sus cuerpos con resina anaranjada de los arboles y el polen Amarillo de los flores para mantenerse calientes. Y el polen y la resina los transformaron a mariposas monarcas y volaron juntos a la tierra de la reserva biosfera de la mariposa monarca.  "weeping and flying; llorando y volando/ monarch mariposas–butterflies monarcas "But what is the sound of monarch butterflies? The field recording by renowned Mexican sound recordist Erick Ruiz Arrellano intrigued me. What did Erick record in this most extraordinary of locations, El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán? I was overwhelmed by the sound of a human baby crying. I decided to use the human baby crying as the core sound, in all the repetition, alarm, which seems to come at once from the depths of the ocean and crosses through all of human time.  "In this most extraordinary of ecosystems, biospheres and heritage places, where millions and millions of fragile beings, here a human baby cries.  Why are they crying?  Are they crying for their future?  Are they crying for the disappearance of earth's heritage, the heritage of monarcas who have inhabited this planet for so much longer than humans? Are they crying because we tourists and visitors, in our quest to hear and see earth's transitions and journeys, disrupt and impose our own desires before our ancestor-beings? Are they crying because we humans cause devasting loss of habit, through so-called development, through massive farming complexes, herbicides, insecticides, shopping malls… "And do they hear us ? Yes – they hear us through veins in their wings ¿Y las mariposas nos escuchen? Sí – nos escuchan através de las venas en sus alas." El Rosario butterfly sanctuary reimagined by Ruth Helliert. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world's most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

Tel Aviv is known as the "White City." In this episode, we sit on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv admiring the unique International or Bauhaus style of architecture all around us and explain why UNESCO recognized Tel Aviv as a World Heritage Site calling naming it the White City. 

The biggest peat bog in Europe, in Caithness and Sutherland, has become a UNESCO World Heritage site, putting it on a par with Tanzania's Serengeti and the Eiffel Tower. It's the first such designation for a peatland site, and is expected to have an impact on the local economy, boosting tourism and peatland restoration work. What is so interesting and important about this vast wet desert of undulating brown hills in the UK's far north? Is the new tag helping the region, or as some fear, hindering development? Richard Baynes has been talking to those who live and work in the wild natural world of the Flow Country.Produced and presented by Richard Baynes.

LISTEN: On the Thursday, Dec. 26 edition of Georgia Today: More in-custody deaths than in any other year for the Georgia Department of Corrections; Georgia's peanut crops were significantly smaller than usual; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a step closer to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The U.S. gained its 26th UNESCO World Heritage Site this summer. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Moravian settlement joined three other Moravian settlements in Germany, Denmark and Northern Ireland in becoming a World Heritage Site this year, tracing ideals and consistency found in Moravian city planning. Digital video producer Tim McPhillips went to Bethlehem to see what made Moravians so unique. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Merħba il-Valletta: welcome to Valletta, the capital of Malta.  Valletta is a World Heritage Site, small in scale, easy to explore and known for its stunning coastal views and gorgeous architecture.  Here you can 'meet' such varied characters from history as St Paul, Caravaggio and the Knights of St John and learn some of the island's most inspiring stories: how Malta triumphed during the Great Siege of 1565 and why the island was awarded the George Cross during World War II.     This is the introduction to our Valletta series and the remaining 7 episodes will bring you all the background history and culture you need to really understand the city.  In short, here is all the research you'd do yourself if only you had the time!  See below for reading ideas and useful links. Two useful websites for tourists Visit Malta    Malta Uncovered    3 Guide Books Pocket Rough Guide to Malta and Gozo   Lonely Planet Malta and Gozo Eyewitness Top 10 Malta and Gozo 4 History Books The History of Malta by Nuria Rehn Fortress Island Malta by Peter Jacobs Ladies of Lascaris by Paul McDonald A Death in Malta by Paul Caruana Galizia Maltese Cooking Taste of Malta by Anton B Dougall 2 Novels set in Malta The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monserrat Secrets of Malta by Cecily Blench City Breaks: all the history and culture you'd research for yourself if you had the time! Check our website to find more episodes from our Valletta series or to browse our back catalogue of other cities which are well worth visiting: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk We love to receive your comments and suggestions!  You can e mail us at citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk And if you like what you hear, please do post comments or a review wherever you downloaded this episode.  That would be very much appreciated

Listen in as I speak with Bernie Frischer, Eminent Latinist, Roman archaeologist, virtual reality technologist, Classics department chair at various US universities, longtime part-time resident of Rome, and overall bigwig at the American Academy in Rome. Bernie is the Founder and CEO of Flyover Zone - an EdTech company that brings ancient Rome to life for both students and travelers alike.

  Life Death and Legends of Easter Island with Heather L. Arnold   Please Hit the Subscribe/Follow button. Click here to go to our Patreon page. Click here to see Heather L. Arnold's Facebook Page. Click here to go to our website. Click here to save on clothing in Jen's Closet.   Returning to rhe poscast is our dear friend Heather L. Arnold, researcher of the giant in Aruba, author of "The Islands of the Giants: The Lost Race of Giants of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao. joins us to give new updates on her findings and to talk about the research she did of the Rapa Nui, the giants of easter Island and the amazing journey to the Isla de Pascua.  Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. Experts disagree on when the island's Polynesian inhabitants first reached the island. While many in the research community cited evidence that they arrived around the year 800, a 2007 study found compelling evidence that they arrived closer to 1200. The inhabitants created a thriving and industrious culture, as evidenced by the island's numerous enormous stone moai and other artifacts. But land clearing for cultivation and the introduction of the Polynesian rat led to gradual deforestation. By the time of European arrival in 1722, the island's population was estimated to be 2,000 to 3,000. European diseases, Peruvian slave raiding expeditions in the 1860s, and emigration to other islands such as Tahiti further depleted the population, reducing it to a low of 111 native inhabitants in 1877. Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888. In 1966, the Rapa Nui were granted Chilean citizenship. In 2007 the island gained the constitutional status of "special territory" (Spanish: territorio especial). Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region, constituting a single commune (Isla de Pascua) of the Province of Isla de Pascua. The 2017 Chilean census registered 7,750 people on the island, of whom 3,512 (45%) considered themselves Rapa Nui. Easter Island is one of the world's remotest inhabited islands.[8] The nearest inhabited land (around 50 residents in 2013) is Pitcairn Island, 2,075 kilometres (1,289 mi) away; the nearest town with a population over 500 is Rikitea, on the island of Mangareva, 2,606 km (1,619 mi) away; the nearest continental point lies in central Chile, 3,512 km (2,182 mi) away. Etymology   The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday (5 April), 1722, while searching for "Davis Land".[10] Roggeveen named it Paasch-Eyland (18th-century Dutch for "Easter Island"). The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means "Easter Island". The current Polynesian name of the island, Rapa Nui ("Big Rapa"), was coined after the slave raids of the early 1860s, and refers to the island's topographic resemblance to the island of Rapa in the Bass Islands of the Austral Islands group. Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl argued that Rapa was Easter Island's original name and that the Bass Islands' Rapa (Rapa Iti) was named by refugees from it. The phrase Te pito o te henua has been said to be the island's original name since French ethnologist Alphonse Pinart gave it the romantic translation "the Navel of the World" in his Voyage à l'Île de Pâques, published in 1877.[15] William Churchill (1912) inquired about the phrase and was told that there were three te pito o te henua, these being the three capes (land's ends) of the island. The phrase appears to have been used in the same sense as the designation "Land's End" at the tip of Cornwall. He was unable to elicit a Polynesian name for the island and concluded that there may not have been one.  

Thames motorists have been experiencing some of the highest fuel prices in the country - a month ago it was $2.99 a litre for 91 when 25 kilometres away out on the Hauraki Plains and up the Thames Coast, it was 37 cents a litre cheaper. Over the past four weeks,there been protest marches, social media campaigns and John says even politicians are becoming involved. He also discusses a move to have Mercury Bay declared a World Heritage Site. CFM local news reporter John Freer.

LISTEN: On the Thursday, July 18 edition of Georgia Today: Delta is the only major U.S. airline where most workers are not in a union, but some are hoping to change that; an iconic Atlanta church may soon be a UNESCO World Heritage site; and best-selling author, and former GPB host, Denene Milner joins the podcast to talk about her latest book.  

Your daily kids news podcast. The Great Barrier Reef, a huge and vibrant coral wonder visible from space, dodged an "in danger" label. But Australia got a stern warning to step up its climate game. From colorful corals to endangered sea cows, this World Heritage Site needs extra care to stay spectacular! In California, an adorable 8-year-old Pekinese named Wild Thang finally snagged the title of World's Ugliest Dog. With his tongue-out charm and paddling paw, this beloved pup proves that imperfections make us special. Wild Thang, you make our hearts sang! Heinz has created 'Every Sauce', a wild mix of 14 different sauces for the ultimate flavor explosion! From Pickle Ketchup to Smokey Baconnaise, it's a saucy dream come true. But hurry, only 100 bottles are being released in the UK. Get mixing at home, sauce lovers! Tonight, the State of Origin Game Two kicks off at the MCG! New South Wales aims to even the score after Queensland's big win. With Reece Walsh back for the Maroons and past Blues victories at the MCG, it's anyone's game. Plus, don't miss the Women's Origin decider tomorrow night! For the full episode transcript, click here.

The Florida Everglades, a vast subtropical wilderness and a World Heritage Site, is home to over 1.5 million acres of mangrove forests, the largest continuous sea grass meadow on earth, the oldest cypress trees on the planet, and over 350 different animal species. However, the Everglades have faced challenges due to development pressures and invasive species. The Everglades Foundation has been committed to restoring and protecting the Everglades for over 30 years. The foundation is currently working on the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, the largest ecosystem restoration project in the world, which aims to reconnect Lake Okeechobee water down to the Florida Keys. The foundation encourages people to get involved in the restoration efforts and to visit the Everglades to understand its importance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the A303 in Wiltshire, motorists can catch sight of the megalithic structure of Stonehenge. But as a primary route for both commuters and holiday makers the road is notoriously traffic-clogged, and plans to upgrade the road have been decades in the making. However, the plans face strong opposition. They include building a road tunnel under the World Heritage Site in Wiltshire and costs have surged as high as £2.5 billion ($5.3 billion). John Adams is the chairman of the Stonehenge Alliance, a group dedicated to fighting the project that they consider too vast and intrusive to the prehistoric site.

Fremantle Prison opened in 1855 as a convict barracks, and remained in continuous use for 136 years . It is known as the best preserved correctional facility in Australia, as a World Heritage Site, and as one of the most haunted locations in the country. So get comfortable my spooky friends…you are about to hear the tales behind the ghost stories of Fremantle Prison. But before we get started, I want to give you all a heads up. In today's episode, we will be talking about various crimes and historical punishments including things like sexual assault, murder, child abuse, torture, and executions. Listener discretion is advised. We got merch! Shop now: HorrifyingHist1.redbubble.com Join our fan club at: https://www.patreon.com/horrifyinghistory Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrifyinghistoryInstagram & Threads: https://instagram.com/horrifying_historyX: https://twitter.com/horrifyinghist1 Horrifying History is part of the Darkcast Network. Check out their other amazing podcasts at https://www.darkcastnetwork.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/horrifying-history--4180070/support.

This was recorded on a calm early spring morning in Murrelet State Wilderness, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Humboldt County, California. The nearby tributary stream of Squashan Creek flowed swiftly in the gully below as birds sang in the early light of dawn. First to sing on this morning was the Varied Thrush, followed by the complex, rapid song of the Pacific Wren. This part of the forest wasn't far from the ocean, and its hushed roar can be faintly heard in the distance. I made this recording tree ears style on a Coast Redwood standing beside the Fischer Grove Trail. Though it wasn't an exceptionally enormous tree by Redwood standards, it was still very large tree of 7 or 8 feet in diameter. Spacing the microphones that far apart, with such a big tree between them, doesn't make for an "accurate" stereo recording, but making a recording that accurately reproduced what a person would hear wasn't my intention. I just thought it would an interesting experiment and fun to imagine what a Redwood tree might hear(if it had two human ears, one on either side of its trunk about four feet off the ground), and I was just plain curious about how setting the mics up like this would sound. I was initially reluctant to share this recording, but I figured what the heck, maybe you'd be interested to hear it, too. Aside from it being experimental, another reason I was reluctant to share this recording is due to the fact that there is a bit of faint noise pollution. It wasn't the usual air traffic, and this spot is far from any highway, so I'm guessing it was the distant sound of heavy equipment working on the ongoing Redwoods Rising forest restoration project. I was definitely a little bummed out to hear it on this recording, but I don't think it takes too much away from the otherwise beautiful soundscape. If you'd like you can learn more about the forest restoration project here- Redwoods Rising - Save the Redwoods League Interesting fact- On September 5, 1980, Redwood State and National Parks was designated a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations. Do you like the podcast and want to help it get made? You can do just that by making a contribution! Just click one of the following links or the link at the end of this podcast description- ⁠⁠https://soundbynaturepodcast.com/donations/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/soundbynaturepodcast⁠⁠ If you can't help by making a monetary contribution, that's okay! You can also help by rating and reviewing the show on your favorite podcast platform, or by telling friends about it. I am truly grateful to those of you that support the show monthly through Spotify for Podcasters and Patreon. Your contributions go directly into making these recordings and I deeply appreciate your help. Thank you!!! Thanks to everybody that has rated the show, and especially those of you that have written a review on Apple Podcasts. Your kind words mean a lot! If you'd like to see pictures of the area this was recorded, check out the Instagram or Facebook page for the podcast. Find them by searching @soundbynaturepodcast. You can also see pictures on the podcast website, ⁠⁠Sound By Nature Podcast⁠⁠. Just look for the post for this episode. And while you're there, please consider making a donation! If you have questions or comments, please email me at soundbynaturepodcast@gmail.com I really hope you enjoy this recording. Please do something today that helps protect the natural world for future generations. Thank you very much for listening. Stay healthy, stay safe, stay sound. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soundbynature/support

The most recent session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is taking place right now in Saudi Arabia, and it was just announced that they are inscribing the 25th World Heritage Site in the United States — a group of eight ancient earthwork sites in southern Ohio — the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. In this episode, we'll delve into what's known of the history of the Earthworks and how a World Heritage Site gets listed. Today's show was sponsored by L.L.Bean: Follow the hashtag #beanoutsider, and visit LLBean.com to find great gear for exploring the national parks.  And by Solo Stove: Use promo code PARKS20 to get $20 off your next purchase of $200 or more at solostove.com.