A journey to the heart of Japan
Niegawa Barrier Station is one of two seki which have been reconstructed along the Nakasendo in recent times, the other being at Kiso-Fukushima. Its origins go back to the Warring States period when local warrior lords erected many of these structures at regular intervals along the highways. Their purpose was to check on the movement… [Read more]
While many post-towns had bansho which were required to keep watch over the highway, there were barriers (seki or sekisho, barrier station) at intervals which had special duty to inspect each passing traveler and porter. The primary purpose of a seki was to prevent the movement of two dangerous commodities. One was the smuggling out… [Read more]
In a recent campaign organized by the local town office the people of Narai and surrounding villages were asked to dig out all their old photographs. The collection that was brought together provides a most graphic account of the changes that have taken place here during the last hundred years. The hills surrounding the village… [Read more]
Toge (mountain passes) are a major preoccupation along the Nakasendo because they presented significant obstacles to travelers in the feudal period. Although they are generally not so steep that they prevent movement, they did challenge a traveler and create an impression. Passes like Torii-toge, for example, ran through countryside which is isolated even today. Edo… [Read more]
Baseball is an imported sport, but it records the highest level of popularity, earning the game the title of national sport along with sumo. Baseball is played at all competitive levels with great enthusiasm among players and spectators. Baseball came to Japan first in 1873, just five years after the Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown. At… [Read more]
Sumo is a form of wrestling which goes back to the earliest historical records in Japanese history. In modern times, sumo has become a professional sport and is extremely popular, arenas for sumo are plentiful throughout Japan. Since it is native to Japan, it can perhaps better be described as the national sport rather than… [Read more]
The Ise Shrines are a Shinto establishment dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu Omikami who is the mythological ancestor of the imperial family. Ise Shrine was originally reserved for worship only by the imperial family and their priests. With the sharp decline in the power of the imperial court after the start of the Warring States… [Read more]
Mount Ontake is an active volcano which erupted, for the first time in recorded history, in 1979. Dominating the Kiso Valley, it is better known, perhaps, as the domain of magical mountain spirits. Also called Mitake and Otake, Mount Ontake is sometimes called Kiso Ontake in order to distinguish it from a number of other… [Read more]
Article 9 is a section in the new 1946 Japanese constitution which amended completely the old Meiji constitution. One of the objectives of the Allied Occupation was to demilitarize Japan so that it could never again go to war. After the demobilization of the Japanese military, Article 9 was added to the constitution with the… [Read more]
The Japanese political system was reformed by the Allied Occupation after 1945 in ways that were intended to democratize the country by removing impediments to democracy and by imposing some new institutions. At the top on the national level, the emperor is now a ceremonial institution, much like the British monarchy. The institution still has,… [Read more]
The Meiji constitution was promulgated by the emperor in 1889 and was replaced by the present constitution which was promulgated in November 1946 and put into action in May 1947. The Meiji constitution was flexible enough to permit considerable change; it left ambiguous the relationship between several major institutions of government and was long criticized… [Read more]
One of the most important areas of constitutional law that was changed in the 1946 constitution was civil liberties and rights. The old Meiji constitution placed significant limitations on all the basic rights which many countries have come to accept: freedom of speech was guaranteed subject to the limitations of laws which could be changed;… [Read more]
The Kiso forest is famous for the quality of its lumber. During the Edo period, the ruling samurai class put so much value on the wood that common people were prohibited from cutting the five trees of the Kiso river valley. Shimazaki Toson’s novel Before the Dawn relates in the first few pages the case… [Read more]
The railroad in Japan is the focus of a great deal of romanticism. Children can frequently be found taking snap shots of their favorite trains, especially the rare ones, while adults travel further afield to do the same or simply to ride the rails in the more inaccessible parts of the train system. Much of… [Read more]
Trains came to Japan late and like many technological advances railways arrived after being well developed elsewhere. This allowed the Japanese to begin building in the 1870s with a good view of the technological choices they needed to make. Early railroads were constructed by the government which decided on a standard gauge; henceforth, the government’s… [Read more]
The Japanese government correctly perceived at an early date that a good railway system would be beneficial to the economy. The first small railway ran from Tokyo to Yokohama in 1872, but gradually the system was extended until it connected Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe, the main cities of the center of Japan. Soon freight… [Read more]
The Japanese tourist has become a ubiquitous figure throughout the world. Typically, he or she is part of a travel group with a guide waving a small flag, moving the group at a rapid pace through the day’s schedule. The tourist is heavily slung with cameras, video recorders, and perhaps a tape recorder to catch… [Read more]
Kura are a distinctive feature of house architecture throughout Japan and are seen in both rural and urban areas. The wooden structure of most houses is very prone to fire, but kura, separated from the main house, offered storage and protection for valuables. Kura have thick, mud walls, heavy, fire-proof windows and walls, and are… [Read more]
Japanese gardens hold a well-deserved reputation throughout the world. The most famous ones are located mainly in Kyoto, but gardens of national repute are scattered throughout the islands. In addition to serious gardening at this level, most homes and inns have modest gardens which, although much smaller, require equal attention. Gardens may be large and… [Read more]
Although there are sharp differences between houses from various regions of Japan in terms of roof shape and roofing material, for example, many features are common. In general, all houses contain tatami (thick straw mats) for flooring. The size of the mats is standard so the layout of all rooms conforms to set sizes: 3… [Read more]
The provision of lodging for high-ranking travelers was obligatory at most post-towns, and nearly all had at least one honjin (chief inn) and waki-honjin (assistant chief inn) for such people to rest. Ordinary travelers could also stay here, provided they were prepared to pay the higher fees and no higher ranking person was already expected…. [Read more]
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was the most famous swordsman, teacher of the Way of the Sword, and ronin (masterless samurai) of the early Edo period. His story has been enshrined in popular legend, novel and movie; the movie is repeated on television each New Years in either its 7 or 15-hour version. Musashi was like many… [Read more]
“Ronin” is the Japanese term for a masterless samurai and is written with the characters for ‘floating’ and ‘man’, i.e., a warrior adrift with no lord to serve nor stipend for income. During the late stages of the Warring States period and early years of the Edo period, many samurai were thrown out of work… [Read more]
The sword was the preferred weapon of the samurai as well as the warrior’s symbol of office in the Edo period. All other classes of people were prohibited from bearing any arms. During the Edo period, the social position of the samurai class was ideologically affirmed by the use of Confucian social philosophy under which… [Read more]
Shimazaki Toson (1872-1943) is one of many literary figures with connections to the Nakasendo, but Toson is the one with the closest and longest association. Toson was born and raised in Magome and he wrote about Magome, Kiso-Fukushima (where he had relatives by marriage), and the Nakasendo at length in his autobiographical novels. Toson was… [Read more]
The novel in Japan is both very old and completely modern. Novels in a nearly modern sense were being written in the 10th and 11th century. The most famous novel from this era is The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) written by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady at the imperial court. Genji provides the reader with… [Read more]
Scattered along the Nakasendo, at Shinchaya, Shimo-suwa, and Karuizawa, are rocks on which are inscribed poems. Composed by Basho, the poems evoke the local landscape at a particular time of year and are much appreciated by local residents who have erected the stone memorials to the poet. Basho was a master poet who developed poetry,… [Read more]
Haikai poems developed out of a tradition of renga or linked verse. Haikai was typically a short verse of three lines made up of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. A second verse would have two lines of 7 and 7 syllables. The third verse would repeat the form of the first and the fourth would… [Read more]
Elections in the upper House of Councilors occur every three years when half the members have to stand for election. The 1992 election for the upper house had the potential for dramatic change, but it did not happen. In the previous election, the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party narrowly lost its majority in this House. This forced… [Read more]
Before 1945 Between 1913 and 1941, Japan evolved a two-party parliamentary system. but since other minor parties were able to survive the system is properly called a multi-party system. The history of parties goes back to the 1870s when government leaders from the former Tosa domain, disagreeing with their share of power, left the government… [Read more]
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