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Aoba Castle
260px, Layout of Aoba Castle is a Japanese castle located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Aoba Castle was home to the Date clan, ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain. The castle was also known as or as . In 2003, the castle ruins were designated a National Historic Site. Design Aoba Castle is located on a plateau overlooking the city of Sendai on the opposing bank of the Hirose River. The site is protected by cliffs to the south and east, and by a deep forest to the west. This forest was strictly guarded in the Edo period and is a rare survivor of the original virgin forests in Honshū. The area is now managed as a botanical garden by Tohoku University. The castle hill is partially surrounded by the Hirose River to the north and east, and a steep slope protects the south. The ''Honmaru'' (inner bailey) is about 115 meters high, and is a roughly square-shaped area 250 meters long surrounded by stone walls, in some places 15 meters high. It contained th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sendai, Miyagi
is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the '' daimyō'' Date Masamune. It is nicknamed the ; there are Japanese zelkova trees lining many of the main thoroughfares such as and . In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the , lasting through most of December. On 11 March 2011, coastal areas of the city suffered catastrophic damage from a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake,UK Foreign Office 9.0 assessment [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yagura (tower)
is the Japanese word for "tower", "turret", "keep", or "scaffold". The word is most often seen in reference to structures in Japanese castle compounds but can be used in other situations as well. The bandstand tower erected for Bon Festival is often called a ''yagura'', as are similar structures used in other festivals. ''Yagura-daiko'' (''taiko'' drumming from atop a ''yagura'') is a traditional part of professional sumo competitions. Etymology There were signs that the first written form of kanji was (櫓) during ancient periods, simply being a character representing a tower before being changed to (矢倉) – in which the former replaced the latter once again. The term originally derives from the use of fortress towers as high/tall or arrow (矢, ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Date Tadamune
was an early Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd '' daimyō'' of the 625,000 ''koku'' Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. He was the half-brother of Date Hidemune of Uwajima Domain. Biography Tadamune was born as Torakikumaru (虎菊丸) later Sōjirō (総次郎) the second son of Date Masamune. Although he was the second son, his elder half-brother Date Hidemune was born by Lady Iisaka, a concubine, and was thus not eligible to rule. At the age of seven, he was betrothed to Ichi-hime, the 5th daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu; however, she died three years later, and he was betrothed again to the daughter of Ikeda Terumasa, who was also Ieyasu's grand-daughter. In 1611, ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Hidetada presided over his '' genpuku'' ceremony, and he received courtesy title was ''Mimasaka-no-kami'', and Senior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade Court rank. He also received permission from the ''shōgun'' to use the Matsudaira surname as an honorific. At the time of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inner Bailey
The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer ward and, sometimes also a ''Zwinger'', moats, a curtain wall and other outworks. Depending on topography it may also be called an upper bailey or upper ward. The inner bailey enclosed the most important living quarters and defensive elements for the lord and his family, e.g. the great hall, the ''palas'', the tower house and the keep or ''bergfried''. The castle well or cistern was usually found in the inner bailey, because water supplies were particularly important in the past in order to be able to withstand a siege for any length of time. The inner bailey is usually the oldest part of a castle, because it contains those buildings that were the first to be built during its construction. It often has flanking towers that enabled grazi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The son of a minor daimyo, Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as a vassal and general of the Oda clan, and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga. After Oda Nobunaga's death, Ieyasu was briefly a rival of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, before declaring his allegiance and fighting on his behalf. Under Toyotomi, Ieyasu was relocated to the Kanto plains in eastern Japan, away from the Toyotomi power base in Osaka. He built his castle in the fishing village of Edo (now Tokyo). He became the most powerful daimyo and the most senior officer under the Toyotomi regime. Ieyasu preserved his strengt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 ( Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of the Sengoku period. This battle was fought by the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu against a coalition of Toyotomi loyalist clans under Ishida Mitsunari, several of which defected before or during the battle, leading to a Tokugawa victory. The Battle of Sekigahara was the largest battle of Japanese feudal history and is often regarded as the most important. Toyotomi's defeat led to the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. Tokugawa Ieyasu took three more years to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the various ''daimyō'', but the Battle of Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for another two and a half centuries until 1868. Background Toyotom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ji-samurai
The were lords of smaller rural domains in feudal Japan.Harold Britho, 'The Han', in John Whitney Hall, ed., ''The Cambridge History of Japan, volume 4: Early Modern Period'' (Cambridge UP, 1988), 183–234, They often used their relatively small plots of land for intensive and diversified forms of agriculture. One of the primary causes for the rise in the number of smaller land holders was a decline in the custom of primogeniture. Towards the end of the Kamakura period, inheritance began to be split among a lord's sons, making each heir's holdings, and thus their power, smaller. Over time, many of these smaller fiefs came to be dominated by the ''shugo'', constables who were administrators appointed by the shogunate to oversee the provinces. Resentful and mistrustful of the interference of government officials, people under their control banded together into leagues called ''ikki''. The uprisings that resulted, particularly when the ''shugo'' tried to seize control of entire p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muromachi Period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336) of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga. From a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama cultures (later 15th – early 16th centuries). The early years from 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period are known as the '' Nanboku-chō'' or Northern and Southern Court period. This period is marked by the continued resistance of the supporters of Emperor Go-Daigo, the emperor behind the Kenmu Restoration. The Sengoku period or Warring States period, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamakura Period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The period is known for the emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, and for the establishment of feudalism in Japan. During the early Kamakura period, the shogunate continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara which was only defeated in 1189. Then, the authority to the Kamakura rulers waned in the 1190s and power was transferred to the powerful Hōjō clan in the early 13th century with the head of the clan as regent (Shikken) under the shogun which became a powerless figurehead. The later Kamakura period saw the invasions of the Mongols in 1274 and again in 1281. To reduce the amount of chaos, the Hōjō rulers decided to decentralize power by allowing two imperial lines – Northern and S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutsu Province
was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the combined area of Mutsu and the neighboring province Dewa, which together make up the entire Tōhoku region. History Invasion by the Kinai government Mutsu, on northern Honshū, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the largest as it expanded northward. The ancient regional capital of the Kinai government was Tagajō in present-day Miyagi Prefecture. * 709 ('' Wadō 2, 3rd month''), an uprising against governmental authority took place in Mutsu and in nearby Echigo Province. Troops were dispatched to subdue the revolt. * 712 (''Wadō 5''), Mutsu was separated from Dewa Province. Empress Genmei's ''Daijō-kan'' made cadastral changes in the provincial map of the Nara period, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kokushi (official)
were provincial officials in Classical Japan. They were nobles sent from the central government in Kyoto to oversee a province, a system that was established as part of the Taika Reform in 645, and enacted by the ''Ritsuryō'' system. There were four classes of ''kokushi'', from the highest to the lowest: ''Kami'' (守), ''Suke'' (介), ''Jō'' (掾), and ''Sakan'' (目). In the Middle Ages, an acting governor called ''mokudai'', the '' daikan'' of the ''kokushi'', took over the local government of the province, while the ''kokushi'' returned to the capital to take on a supervising role. History The oldest reference to the term ''kokushi'' appears on the Seventeen-article constitution from 604. As part of the Taika Reform in 645, a new system of provincial government was established, marking the beginning of the ''kokushi''. Before this, the governors were called ''mikotomochi'' (宰 or 使者). This term was replaced with the ''kanji'' characters 国 (province) and 司 (gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such as the Ōnin War, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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