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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...

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 from early times, but it was an idea which grew in popularity in the Edo period (1603-1868). To make a pilgrimage is, usually, to travel…. [Read more]

Ise Shrines

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]

Ontake

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]

Sengoku daimyo
Sengoku daimyo, or Warring States period daimyo, were feudal lords similar to those who preceded and followed them except that the Warring States period placed different requirements on these feudal lords. Civil war disrupted the entire country and all traces of central authority and power very nearly disappeared because these sengoku daimyo took for themselves as much power and authority as they could. Slowly these daimyo grew more powerful (or were eliminated by their neighbors) and they eventually turned their attention to re-establishing a central government. The successful sengoku daimyo proved to be the ones who had a genius for refining tools of government. At the end of the Warring States period, three unifiers (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu) emerged from among the sengoku daimyo to enforce claims to authority.

The Ashita Honjin

Castle Towns

Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Landslides

Namiki

Pilgrimage

Kyoto Development Issues

The Shinkansen

Pilgrimage

Ise Shrines

Ontake

Honjin (primary inn)

River and Sea Transport

Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

The Kiso Forest

The Meiji Constitution

Pilgrimage

Company Profile

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