Japan - Asakusa Sanja Festival

JAPAN
Akasuka Sanja Festival or Sanja Matsuri, Tokyo.

Sent by Yuki, a postcrosser from Tokyo, Japan.

Sanja Matsuri (三社祭^?, literally "Three Shrine Festival"), or Sanja Festival, is one of the three great Shinto festivals in Tokyo. It is considered one of the wildest and largest. The festival is held in honor of Hinokuma Hamanari, Hinokuma Takenari and Hajino Nakatomo, the three men who established and founded Sensō-ji. Sanja Matsuri is held on the third weekend of every May atAsakusa Shrine. Its prominent parades revolve around three mikoshi (three portable shrines referenced in the festival's name), as well as traditional music and dancing. Over the course of three days, the festival attracts 1.5 to 2 million locals and tourists every year. (read further)

Japan - Okinawa (5)

OKINAWA in Japan.
Eisa Dance
A traditional dance performed during the lunar-calendar Obon holiday season. The powerful drum sound and splendid dancing are impressive.

Sent by Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB).

Japan - Okinawa (4)

Kuroshima Island, OKINAWA in Japan.
Folk Dwelling & Hibiscus
You see more cows than people on Kuroshima Island. Okinawa's original scenery, made up of red tile roof houses, captures your heart.

Sent by Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB).

Japan - Okinawa (3)

Kuroshima Island, OKINAWA in Japan
Honen-sai Festival
A post-harvest festival of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest and praying for bumper crops. The island bustles with various dedicatory dances.

Sent by Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB).

Japan - Okinawa (2)

Naha City, OKINAWA in Japan.
Shuri-jo Castle
A grand festival with traditional performing arts and Ryukyu Kingdom Picture Scroll Parade - where the ancient culture comes to life

Sent by Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB).

Japan - Okinawa (1)

Hatenohama Beach / Kumejima Island
A sand-covered deserted island that floats east of Kumejima Island. The world of white sand and azure blue sea and sky stretches on forever.

Sent by Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB).

The Okinawa Islands (沖縄諸島 Okinawa Shotō^?) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group, and are located between the Amami Islands ofKagoshima Prefecture to the northeast and the Sakishima Islands of Okinawa Prefecture to the southwest.

The Okinawa Islands, apart from the four main islands, contain three smaller island groups: the Kerama, Yokatsu, and Iheya-Izena island groups.

The Okinawa Islands are the political, cultural and population center of Okinawa Prefecture. The prefectural capital of Naha is within the island group. 90% of the population of the prefecture reside within the Okinawa Islands, primarily on the largest island of the group,Okinawa Island. Access to the various Okinawa Island is primarily via small airports which connect to Okinawa Airport. Additionally, the islands are connected via ferry service to the Port of Naha in the prefectural capital.

The Okinawa Islands are within the subtropical climate zone, which supports the production of sugarcane, pineapples and cut flowers. The military bases of the United States in Okinawa Prefecture are located on the Okinawa Islands.

Historically the rule of the Ryūkyū Kingdom roughly overlapped the Okinawa Islands and Amami Ōshima. (Source)

Japan - Nagasaki - Ja-odori Dance

Ja-odori Dance or Dragon Dancing / NAGASAKI

Sent by Jun, a postcrosser from Japan.

Japan - Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (7) - Nijō Castle

 

INNER MOAT AND GATE TO THE HOMMARU PALACE (Viewed from Seiryu-en Garden)/NIJO CASTLE, KYOTO

Sent by Yuki, a postcrosser from Tokyo, Japan.

 

Japan - Ogasawara Islands

Nakayama Pass, Chichi Pass, Ogasawara Islands.

Sent by Miki, a postcrosser who lives near Tokyo, Japan.

This is from UNESCO : The Ogasawara Islands are located in the North-Western Pacific Ocean roughly 1,000 km south of the main Japanese Archipelago. The serial property is comprised of five components within an extension of about 400 km from north to south and includes more than 30 islands, clustered within three island groups of the Ogasawara Archipelago: Mukojima, Chichijima and Hahajima, plus an additional three individual islands: Kita-iwoto and Minami-iwoto of the Kazan group and the isolated Nishinoshima Island. These islands rest along the Izu-Ogasawara Arc Trench System. The property totals 7,939 ha comprising a terrestrial area of 6,358 ha and a marine area of 1,581 ha. Today only two of the islands within the property are inhabited, Chichijima and Hahajima.

The landscape is dominated by subtropical forest types and sclerophyllous shrublands surrounded by steep cliffs. There are more than 440 species of native vascular plants with exceptionally concentrated rates of endemism as high as 70% in woody plants. The islands are the habitat for more than 100 recorded native land snail species, over 90% of which are endemic to the islands.

The islands serve as an outstanding example of the ongoing evolutionary processes in oceanic island ecosystems, as evidenced by the high levels of endemism; speciation through adaptive radiation; evolution of marine species into terrestrial species; and their importance for the scientific study of such processes.

Japan - Sirakawa-Go - Gasshō-zukuri

"Gasshō-zukuri" houses in Sirakawa-Go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sent by Masayo, a postcrosser from Tokyo, Japan.

This is from UNESCO : The historic villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are outstanding examples of traditional human settlements that are perfectly adapted to their environment and their social and economic raison d'être and have adjusted successfully to the profound economic changes in Japan in the past half-century.

In the 8th century AD this area was opened up as a place for ascetic religious mountain worship, centred on Mount Hakusan, for an order that combined ancient pre-Buddhist beliefs with esoteric Buddhism. In the 13th century it came under the influence of the Tendai Esoteric sect, and then by the Jodo Shinshu sect, which is still influential in the area. Its teachings played an important role in the development of the social structure of the region, based on the kumi system of mutual cooperation between neighbouring households.

Shirakawa-go was part of the territory of the Takayama Clan at the beginning of the Edo period, but from the late 17th century until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 it was under the direct control of the Edo Bakufu (military government). Gokayama was under direct rule by the Kanazawa Clan throughout the Edo period.

Because of the mountainous terrain, traditional rice-field production was not wholly successful in the area, and so the farmers turned to alternative grains such as buckwheat and millet, cultivated in small fields, but even with these the farming was at little higher than subsistence level. The few marketable products from the area were Japanese paper, made from the fibres of the paper mulberry, which occurs naturally in the area, nitre (calcium nitrate) for gunpowder production, and the basic products of sericulture (silkworms and raw silk thread). Paper production declined in the 19th century, and nitre production was brought to an end with the importation of cheap saltpetre from Europe at the same time. The silk industry survived longer, from the late 17th century until the 1970s; its requirement of large enclosed spaces for silkworm beds and storage of mulberry leaves was an important factor in the development of the gassho -style house.

The central part of Ogimachi is located on a terraced plateau east of the Sho River. Most of the houses are on individual lots separated by cultivated plots of land, reflecting traditional land use. On the sloping land near the base of the mountain the houses are on terraces supported by stone retaining walls. Their boundaries are defined by roads, irrigation channels or cultivated plots rather than walls or hedges, and so the landscape is an open one. Most have ancillary structures such as wooden-walled storehouses and grain-drying shelters, which are usually well away from the dwelling houses to minimize fire risk. The house lots are surrounded by irrigated rice fields and city-crop fields, also small and irregular in shape.

The designated group of historic buildings is composed of 117 houses and seven other structures. Of these, six are in the gassho style, most built during the 19th century; they are all aligned parallel to the Sho River, giving a very harmonious and impressive landscape. Seven houses are post-and-beam structures with rafter-framed roofs, built in the 20th century and with an overall resemblance to the gassho style. The village has two Buddhist temples, Myozen-ji and Honkaku-ji. The guardian deity of the village is housed in the Shinto shrine, Hachiman Jinja, situated at the base of the mountain and surrounded by a cedar grove.

Ainokura village is similarly located on a terraced plateau above the Sho River. Its layout is focused on the old main road. The houses and plots are broadly identical in form and size with those at Ogimachi. The group of historic buildings includes twenty gassho -style houses, most with a four-room square layout. The guardian deity of the village is housed in the Jinushi Jinja Shinto shrine, and the Buddhist centre is the Shonen-ji temple of the Jodo Shinshu sect.

The site of Suganuma is similar to those of Ogimachi and Ainokura, on a terrace overlooking the Sho River, but it is much smaller, with only eight households and a population of 40 people. Nine gassho houses survive, the most recent built as late as 1929. They resemble those of Ainokura rather than Ogimachi.

Japan - Yakushima

Yakushima
Island 60km south of the Ohsumi Peninsula, Kagoshima Perfecture, southern Kyushu, Japan.

Sent by Eiko, a postcrosser from Tokyo, Japan.

This is from UNESCO : Yaku Island, in the northern end of the Ryukyu archipelago, is separated from the southernmost tip of Kyushu mainland by a 120 m deep, 60 km wide strait. The nominated area has a complex, sinuous boundary, which is less than 1 km wide in some places. The site lies, in the centre of the island, with arms stretching west, south and east. The western arm extends down to the coast.

Yakushima is almost 2,000 m high and is the highest mountain in southern Japan. Several peaks are over 1,800 m with mountain ridges over 1,000 m surrounding these central high peaks. Topography from coastline to the mountainous summits is extremely steep. The predominant bedrock is granite. At the foot of the central mountain areas are small areas of sand stone and shale.

Vegetation is significantly different from the mainland. Vertical vegetation distribution is distinct, with subtropical vegetation near the coastline, and warm temperate, temperate, cool temperate and subalpine species further inland as altitude increases. Cool temperate zone coniferous forest occurs, rather than the cool temperate beech forests typical of the mainland. Warm temperate broad leaved forest previously covered extensive areas of south Japan. This has largely been removed, due to high human population pressure, and the warm temperate forest trees in Yakushima are thus some of the few remaining in Japan.

Of great significance to the area is the presence of indigenous Japanese cedar, known colloquially as 'sugi'. Sugi can reach more than 1,000 years of age on stable sites under the climate of the island: specimens younger than 1,000 years are known as 'Kosugi'; older specimens, which may reach 3,000 years, are known as 'Yakusugi' and are found between 600 m and 1,800 m.

The flora is very diverse for such a small island, comprising more than 1900 species and subspecies. Of these, 94 are endemic, mostly concentrated in the central high mountains. More than 200 species are at the southern limit of their natural distribution and a number are at their northern limit. A distinctive characteristic of the vegetation is the exuberance of epiphytes, particularly at higher elevations.

The fauna of the island is diverse, with 16 mammal species. Four mammal subspecies, including Japanese macaque and sika deer, are endemic to the island. A further four subspecies are endemic to both Yaku Island and the neighbouring island of Tanegashima. Among the 150 bird species present, four, including Ryukyu robin and Japanese wood pigeon, have been designated as Natural Monuments.

Traditionally, the Island Mountains have been considered to have a spiritual value and the 'Yakusugi' were revered as sacred trees.

Yakushima occupies a strategic situation on the boundary between the Holoarctic and Palaeotropic biogeographic regions, and much of its conservation value is reflected in the 200 plant species which have the southern limit of their natural distribution on the island. The altitudinal continuum of the forests across some 2,000 m is considered to be not only the best in the Japanese archipelago, but the best remaining in East Asia. Ancient yakusugi trees are of prime conservation value to the island.

Japan - Kompira Autumn Festival

Kompira Autumn Festival.

Sent by Chika, a postcrosser from Japan.

Japan - Sirakawa-Go

The World Heritage. Sirakawa-Go.

Sent by Emi, a postcrosser from Osaka, Japan.

This is from UNESCO : The historic villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are outstanding examples of traditional human settlements that are perfectly adapted to their environment and their social and economic raison d'être and have adjusted successfully to the profound economic changes in Japan in the past half-century.

In the 8th century AD this area was opened up as a place for ascetic religious mountain worship, centred on Mount Hakusan, for an order that combined ancient pre-Buddhist beliefs with esoteric Buddhism. In the 13th century it came under the influence of the Tendai Esoteric sect, and then by the Jodo Shinshu sect, which is still influential in the area. Its teachings played an important role in the development of the social structure of the region, based on the kumi system of mutual cooperation between neighbouring households.

Shirakawa-go was part of the territory of the Takayama Clan at the beginning of the Edo period, but from the late 17th century until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 it was under the direct control of the Edo Bakufu (military government). Gokayama was under direct rule by the Kanazawa Clan throughout the Edo period.

Because of the mountainous terrain, traditional rice-field production was not wholly successful in the area, and so the farmers turned to alternative grains such as buckwheat and millet, cultivated in small fields, but even with these the farming was at little higher than subsistence level. The few marketable products from the area were Japanese paper, made from the fibres of the paper mulberry, which occurs naturally in the area, nitre (calcium nitrate) for gunpowder production, and the basic products of sericulture (silkworms and raw silk thread). Paper production declined in the 19th century, and nitre production was brought to an end with the importation of cheap saltpetre from Europe at the same time. The silk industry survived longer, from the late 17th century until the 1970s; its requirement of large enclosed spaces for silkworm beds and storage of mulberry leaves was an important factor in the development of the gassho -style house.

The central part of Ogimachi is located on a terraced plateau east of the Sho River. Most of the houses are on individual lots separated by cultivated plots of land, reflecting traditional land use. On the sloping land near the base of the mountain the houses are on terraces supported by stone retaining walls. Their boundaries are defined by roads, irrigation channels or cultivated plots rather than walls or hedges, and so the landscape is an open one. Most have ancillary structures such as wooden-walled storehouses and grain-drying shelters, which are usually well away from the dwelling houses to minimize fire risk. The house lots are surrounded by irrigated rice fields and city-crop fields, also small and irregular in shape.

The designated group of historic buildings is composed of 117 houses and seven other structures. Of these, six are in the gassho style, most built during the 19th century; they are all aligned parallel to the Sho River, giving a very harmonious and impressive landscape. Seven houses are post-and-beam structures with rafter-framed roofs, built in the 20th century and with an overall resemblance to the gassho style. The village has two Buddhist temples, Myozen-ji and Honkaku-ji. The guardian deity of the village is housed in the Shinto shrine, Hachiman Jinja, situated at the base of the mountain and surrounded by a cedar grove.

Ainokura village is similarly located on a terraced plateau above the Sho River. Its layout is focused on the old main road. The houses and plots are broadly identical in form and size with those at Ogimachi. The group of historic buildings includes twenty gassho -style houses, most with a four-room square layout. The guardian deity of the village is housed in the Jinushi Jinja Shinto shrine, and the Buddhist centre is the Shonen-ji temple of the Jodo Shinshu sect.

The site of Suganuma is similar to those of Ogimachi and Ainokura, on a terrace overlooking the Sho River, but it is much smaller, with only eight households and a population of 40 people. Nine gassho houses survive, the most recent built as late as 1929. They resemble those of Ainokura rather than Ogimachi.

Japan - Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (6)

KYOTO, JAPAN
KINKAKU-JI TEMPLE, World Heritage.

Sent by Yuka, a postcrosser from Japan.

Japan - Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (5) - Ryōan-ji Temple

Ryōan-ji Temple, Rock Garden, Kyoto - No trees are to be seen. Only 15 rocks and white gravel are used in the garden. It is up to each visitor to find out for himself what this unique garden signifies.

The place is within the enclavement of Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sent by Junko, a postcrosser from Osaka, Japan.

Japan - Himeji-jo

Himeji Castle in Japan. World cultural inheritance. It's part of Himeji-jo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sent by Tomomi, a postcrosser from Shizuoka in Japan.

Himeji-jo is a masterpiece of wooden construction, the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture, and preserves all its significant features intact. The castle is also a powerful and evocative symbol of the feudalism that prevailed in Japan until the Meiji restoration of 1868.

Himeji is situated at an important communications centre and as a result the regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi built a castle there in the closing years of the 16th century, part of the network of such fortresses that he created all over Japan to ensure its continued unification. The first castle was destroyed by Ikeda Terumas, who became the feudal lord of the area under the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1600, but he quickly erected a new fortress, most of which survives to the present day. It comprised two concentric enclosures defined by walls and moats, containing keeps and turrets as well as residences for his samurai (warriors). Part of the west bailey (Nishi-no-maru) was remodelled by Honda Tadamasa, lord of the castle in 1617, as quarters for his wife, daughter of the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. It remained the centre of this feudal domain for 270 years and a town grew up around it.

With the end of the shogunate and the restoration of the Meiji dynasty in 1868, Himeji-jo was taken over by the new government as a military establishment, when part of the west bailey and the samurai houses were demolished and replaced by military structures. Unlike many other feudal castles in Japan, Himeji-jo was preserved in its original form, thanks to the intervention of army officers such as Colonel Nakamura Shigeto, and it was given protection under successive monuments protection acts.

In 1945 the military facilities in and around the castle were demolished and replaced by public buildings for official use. The inner buildings were, however, not touched and retained their 17th-century form.

Himeji-jo is an archetypal early 17th-century castle complex in design and layout, comprising 83 buildings in all. Only the east gate of one section of the second bailey survives from the castle built by Hideyoshi; the remainder dates from 1601-9, plus the towers of Nishi-no-Maru (after 1617).

The centre of the complex is the Tenshu-gun, consisting of a main keep and three subsidiary keeps, with connecting structures. This is surrounded by a system of watchtowers, gates and plastered earthen walls. Set on a low hill, it is visible from every part of the city. The main keep (Dai-Tenshu) has six interior storeys and a basement. The main access is from the south-west, through a covered corridor.

The striking appearance of this great wooden structure with its white plastered walls is the source of the name by which it is often known, the Castle of the White Heron (Shirasagi-jo).

Many castles were built in Japan in the early years of the shogun period. Most of these have subsequently been demolished and others were destroyed during the Second World War. Of the handful that survives, Himeji-jo is the most complete and unaltered, largely thanks to the efforts of army officers after the Meiji restoration. The conservation work between 1934 and 1964 was carried out using the advanced techniques developed in Japan for large wooden structures and in conformity with established principles of authenticity in design, materials, techniques, and environment. (Source)

Japan

Sent by Evita, a postcrosser from Japan.

Several words of wisdom/thoughts to live by :

* The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second; listening, the third; memory, the fourth; practice, the fifth; teaching others.
* The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.

Japan - Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (4) - Kinkakuji Temple Golden Pavilion

Kinkakuji Temple Golden Pavilion, Kyoto.

Sent by Reiko, a postcrosser from Kyoto, Japan.

Japan - Mount Fuji & Cherry Blossoms

MOUNT FUJI AND CHERRY BLOSSOMS
The symbols of Japan, as viewed from Kawaguchi Lake.

Sent by kogi, a postcrosser from Japan.

This is from Wikipedia : Mount Fuji (富士山, Fuji-san?, IPA: [ɸɯꜜdʑisaɴ]) is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 m (12,388 ft).[1] Along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku, it is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains" (三霊山 Sanreizan). An active stratovolcano[3] that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji is just west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Japan - Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (3) - Nijō Castle

Nijō Castle in Kyoto, Japan. A part of world heritage site by UNESCO.

Sent by Yoko, a postcrosser from Sendai in the north east part of Japan.