Kyoto Development Issues

Kyoto holds a unique position in Japan as the ancient, imperial capital and the cultural center of the nation. It was because of these reasons that the Japan specialists who... Read more...
Landslides

The mountains in Japan are very steep and the rocks unstable due to weathering. Landslides are common whenever there are heavy rains. Many rural villages have established themselves along the... Read more...
The Ashita Honjin

Although only a small town, Ashita boasts the oldest surviving honjin on the Nakasendo. It has also been owned by the same family since its' original construction in the late... Read more...
Namiki

The idea of planting trees along the roadside to provide shade for travelers had occurred to the Chinese when they developed their highway system more than 2000 years ago. Almost... Read more...
Castle Towns

At the time of the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, some 250 castle towns (jokamachi) formed the core of a well developed urban network in Japan. Although constructed primarily as defended... Read more...
Pilgrimage

The idea of making a pilgrimage to visit religious places is present in nearly every culture and religion. In Japan, it is typical of both major religions, Buddhism and Shinto... Read more...
The Shinkansen

The Shinkansen is commonly known outside Japan as the 'bullet train' but the word actually means 'new trunk line'. It is a high-speed passenger train system which now stretches from... Read more...
Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Omote (the public face) and ura (the private face) are twin concepts that are applied to almost any aspect of Japan or life in Japan. Omote refers to the image... Read more...

Battle of Sekigahara

The Warring States Period

The Warring States period (Sengoku jidai) lasted for the century from 1467 to 1567 although the wars and confusion of the age were not finally ended until the creation of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. The name is drawn from a similar period of civil war in China. It saw the breakdown of central authority,… [Read more]

The Outcome of the Battle of Sekigahara

The battle at Sekigahara in 1600 is seen as the last step in a centuries long process of political unification made remarkable by the degree of warfare. This was the Warring States period. The outcome of the battle was a definition of political relationships which were maintained during two and a half centuries of peace, stability, and… [Read more]

The Battleground at Sekigahara

On the fateful night of October 20, 1600, Ishida Mitsunari – commander of the ‘Army of the West’, made the decision to withdraw his forces from Ogaki castle to defend the narrow pass at Sekigahara against the advancing ‘Army of the East’. The twelve mile march took the bulk of his army directly west to… [Read more]

The Story of the Battle of Sekigahara

Among the soldiers forming ranks at the battlefield of Sekigahara as dawn broke on the morning of October 21, 1600, there were few who could doubt that a decisive battle here would mark the end of decades of civil strife and that, at the end of the day, a new shogun with power throughout all… [Read more]