Amanohashidate Travel Guide
Amanohashidate (天橋立, "Bridge to Heaven") is a sand spit at the northern tip of Kyoto Prefecture. It is located in Miyazu in the western part of Wakasa Bay and, with Matsushima north of Sendai and...
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Uesugi Clan
Uesugi kamonThe Uesugi were territorial warlords (shugo daimyō) of the Muromachi Period (1333-1568) who dominated the Kantō) region for a hundred years. The clan traces its lineage to the influential...
View ArticleUesugi Kenshin (上杉謙信, 1530-1578)
Prominent daimyō of the Sengoku period (1467-1568) and the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600). Uesugi is one of the greatest names in the history of the Muromachi shogunate (1338-1573). Successive...
View ArticleUesugi Harunori (上杉治憲, 1751-1822)
A pinnacle of frugalityUesugi Harunori was the ninth daimyō of the Yonezawa domain (part of modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), also known as Uesugi Yōzan (上杉鷹山). Inspired by the policies of Naoe...
View ArticleUesugi Shrine
Uesugi Shrine (上杉神社 Uesugi Jinja) is a Shintō shrine located in Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture. Situated within Matsugasaki Park, the site of Yonezawa Castle, it enshrines Uesugi Kenshin. It was...
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Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum
Denkoku no Mori, also known as Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum (米沢市上杉博物館 Yonezawa-shi Uesugi hakubutsukan), was inaugurated in September 2001 as a museum and cultural facility for the Yonezawa area. The...
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Nara Period
Nara Period (710-784)The Nara Period (奈良時代 Nara jidai) is the historical period beginning in 710, the year the capital was moved from Fujiwarakyō to Heijōkyō (the modern-day city of Nara), and ending...
View ArticleHina Matsuri
Hinamatsuri (雛祭り) is a festival for girls held on 3 March. Tiered platforms for hina ningyō (雛人形, hina dolls) are set up at home. Families celebrate with a meal, eating hishimochi (菱餅), sweet...
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Yonezawa Castle
Yonezawa Castle (米沢城 Yonezawa-jō) was a fortress located in Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture. History: The origins of Yonezawa Castle are said to date back to the Kamakura period, when Nagai Tokihiro...
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Tamba Kameyama Castle
Kameyama Castle (亀山城 Kameyama-jō) is a former hilltop castle located in Kameoka, the former province of Tamba (丹波国), about ten kilometres west of Kyōto. Its construction began under Akechi Mitsuhide...
View ArticleUesugi Clan Mausoleum
The Uesugi Clan Mausoleum (上杉家廟所 Uesugi Gobyōsho), also known as Yonezawa Domain Uesugi clan cemetery (米沢藩主上杉家墓所 Yonezawa-han-shu Uesugi-ke bosho), is the last resting place of the Uesugi family, the...
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Toko Brewery Sake Museum
Kojima Sōhonten (小嶋総本店), founded in 1597 during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, is one of Japan's oldest sake breweries, ranking as the 13th oldest still in operation. Located in Yonezawa City, Yamagata...
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Chonin - Japanese townspeople
Chōnin ("townspeople", 町人; 町 means city ward) was a social class that emerged at the beginning of the 16th century, usually settling around castles (城下町 jōka-machi, "castle towns"). They consisted...
View ArticleNoh Theater
Noh (能 nō) or nōgaku (能楽) is an abridgement of sarugaku no nō, an aristocratic form of sung and danced performance developed from kagura (神楽, "god-entertainment") plays, a type of theatrical Shintō...
View ArticleHistorical Periods of Japan
An overview of the historical periods of Japan Jōmon Period (ca 11000 BCE-ca 300 BCE) Yayoi Period (300 BCE to ca 300 CE) Kofun Period (300 to ca 538 CE) Asuka Period (ca 250-710 CE) Nara... Historical...
View ArticleAzuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600)
Overview The Shokuhō government Momoyama Culture Momoyama Arts... Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600)
View ArticleIi Naosuke
Lord of Hikone and ill-fated Tokugawa regentIi Naosuke (井伊直弼, 1815-1860) was the fourteenth daimyō of the Hikone Domain (modern-day Shiga Prefecture) and as tairō (大老, "regent") of the Tokugawa...
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Edo Period (1600-1868)
Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shōgunThe Edo period (江戸時代), also known as the Tokugawa period, is traditionally dated from either the year 1600 when Tokugawa Ieyasu established national military dominance...
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Oda Clan
Oda kamonThe Oda family was a military house that held influence during the Muromachi (1333-1568), Azuchi-Momoyama (1568-1600), and Edo (1600-1868) periods, rising to national prominence with the...
View ArticleOda Nobunaga (1534-1582)
Overview Origins and Lineage Establishing Control in Owari and Mino The Rise of Nobunaga... Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582)
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