The Shimabara Rebellion was an uprising largely involving Japanesepeasants, most of them Christians, in 1637–1638 during the Edo period. It was also one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule. In the wake of the Matsukura clan's construction of a new castle at Shimabara, taxes were drastically raised, which provoked anger from local peasants and lordless samurai. In addition, religious persecution against the local Christians exacerbated the discontent, which turned into open revolt in 1637. The Tokugawa Shogunate sent a force of over 125,000 troops to suppress the rebellion, and after a lengthy siege against the rebels at Hara Castle, defeated them. In the wake of the rebellion, the rebel leader Amakusa Shirō was beheaded, and persecution of Christianity strictly enforced. Japan's national seclusion policy was tightened, and formal persecution of Christianity continued until the 1850s. In the mid-1630s, the peasants of the Shimabara Peninsula and the Amakusa Islands, dissatisfied with overtaxation and suffering from the effects of famine, revolted against their lords. This was specifically in territory ruled by two lords: Matsukura Katsuie of the Shimabara Domain, and Terasawa Katataka of the Karatsu Domain. Though the rebellion is cast by many historians as a religious uprising, this does not address the issues of the discontent from the famine and overtaxation. (Full article...)
Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige), a copy of the ukiyo-e woodblock print Plum Park in Kameido by the Japanese artist Hiroshige. Completed in 1887, this painting is one of several Japanese-influenced works created by Vincent van Gogh after the opening up of Japan. In his copy, van Gogh ignored the shading present in the trunk and background of Hiroshige's image, which there implied age, and instead used colours with more "passion" and "youthfulness".
This large silk-embroidered wall hanging is part of the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art. The embroidery is worked in long and short silk stitch, with a composite imaginary view of Japan, including flowers, shrines, bridges, lakes and forests, with Mount Fuji rising in the distance. The private collection of decorative art, dating from Meiji-era Japan (1868–1912), was assembled by the British-Iranian scholar Nasser D. Khalili. It includes metalwork, enamels, ceramics, and lacquered objects, including works by artists of the imperial court that were exhibited at the Great Exhibitions of the late 19th century.
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1945 one-thousand-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting a bullock cart on the obverse and a man with water buffaloes in a stream on the reverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
Other denominations: '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000000B-QINU`"'
This ukiyo-e print, titled Kinhyōshi yōrin, hero of the Suikoden, is one in a series created by the Japanese artistUtagawa Kuniyoshi between 1827 and 1830 illustrating the 108 Suikoden ("Water Margin"). The publication of the series catapulted Kuniyoshi to fame and helped created a Suikoden craze in Japan. The hero portrayed in this print is Yang Lin.
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.
This note, denominated one gulden, is part of the 1942 series.
A registration card for Louis Wijnhamer (1904–1975), an ethnic Dutch humanitarian who was captured soon after the Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies in March 1942. Prior to the occupation, many ethnic Europeans had refused to leave, expecting the Japanese occupation government to keep a Dutch administration in place. When Japanese troops took control of government infrastructure and services such as ports and postal services, 100,000 European (and some Chinese) civilians were interned in prisoner-of-war camps where the death rates were between 13 and 30 per cent. Wijnhamer was interned in a series of camps throughout Southeast Asia and, after the surrender of Japan, returned to what was now Indonesia, where he lived until his death.
Asahi Breweries is a Japanese global beer, spirits, soft drinks and food business group. This photograph, taken during the blue hour with a full moon, shows the headquarters of Asahi Breweries in Sumida, Tokyo, as viewed from the wharf on the Sumida River near Azuma Bridge. The Asahi Beer Hall, topped by the Asahi Flame, designed by Philippe Starck, is visible on the right, with the Tokyo Skytree in the background on the left.
The siege of Osaka was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in the clan's dissolution. Divided into two stages (the winter campaign and the summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment. This eight-metre-long (26 ft) painting, titled The Summer Battle of Osaka Castle and executed on a Japanese folding screen, illustrates Osaka Castle under siege, and was commissioned by the daimyoKuroda Nagamasa, who took a team of painters with him to the battlefield to record the event. The painting depicts 5071 people and 21 generals, and is held in the collection of Osaka Castle.
Before the outbreak of World War I, German naval ships were located in the Pacific; Tsingtao developed into a major seaport while the surrounding Kiautschou Bay area was leased to Germany since 1898. During the war, Japanese and British Allied troops besieged the port in 1914 before capturing it from the German and Austro-Hungarian Central Powers, occupying the city and the surrounding region. It served as a base for the exploitation of the natural resources of Shandong province and northern China, and a "New City District" was established to furnish the Japanese colonists with commercial sections and living quarters. Tsingtao eventually reverted to Chinese rule by 1922.
670 - The Horyuji Temple burned down. (Japanese Date: Thirtieth Day of the Fourth Month, 670)
905 - The imperial rescript of Kokin Wakashū compiled. (Japanese Date: Eighteenth Day of the Fourth Month, 905)
1878 - The first impaired school in Japan opened in Kyoto.
1900 - The Meiji government banned men and women of mixed bathing for more than twelve years of age.
1903 - Kobe Golf Club perform its opening ceremony in Kobe and Rokko Mountain, which became Japan's first golf course.
1926 - Tokachidake eruption killed 144 people. It caused a large explosion, which is located in the center of Hokkaido, such as Furano pioneer village in the muddy water jet which flowed instantly, and became a catastrophe of 144 dead.
1942 - Professional baseball extended 28 times in Nagoya versus ocean warfare.
1949 - A law is promulgated change people's age calculation from the traditional "Kazoedoshi Formula" to "How to Count the Full". By promulgation, infants born on December will be two years old in January, it can receive a distribution of sweets, and there was a defect such that reduced the distribution to be calculated sixty generations to reverse. A newspaper reported that "people became a rejuvenated thing".
1955 - Emperor Hirohito watched his first sumo in Kokugikan.
Hakuto-R Mission 1, an uncrewed lunar lander built by Japanese aerospace company ispace, is presumed lost after the company lost contact with the spacecraft during descent to the lunar surface. Onboard was the Emirates Lunar Mission rover Rashid, along with a transformable robot, SORA-Q, built by Tomy and JAXA. (CNN)(The New York Times)
Tokyo 2016 is making the environment an absolute priority as we bid to unite Green with 2016. This is a concrete commitment that we will offer the world.
Jigoro Kano (嘉納 治五郎, 10 December 1860 – 4 May 1938) was a Japanese educator, athlete, and the founder of Judo. Along with Ju-Jutsu, Judo was one of the first Japanese martial arts to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport. Pedagogical innovations attributed to Kanō include the use of black and white belts, and the introduction of dan ranking to show the relative ranking among members of a martial art style. Well-known mottoes attributed to Kanō include "good use of energy" (精力善用seiryoku zen'yō) and "mutual welfare and benefit" (自他共栄jita kyōei).
In his professional life, Kanō was an educator. Important postings included serving as director of primary education for the Ministry of Education (文部省, Monbushō) from 1898 to 1901, and as president of Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1900 until 1920. He played a key role in making judo and kendo part of the Japanese public school programs of the 1910s.[citation needed] (Full article...)
Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region on Honshūisland. The capital is the city of Wakayama. Wakayama supplies most of Japan with its high production of mikans (Mandarin Oranges) in October of every year. Mount Kōya in the Ito District is the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. It is home to one of the first Japanese style buddhist temples in Japan and remains a site of pilgrimage and an increasingly popular tourist destination as people flock to see its ancient temples set amidst the towering cedar trees at the top of the mountain. The Kumano Shrines are located on the southern tip of the prefecture. Wakayama Prefecture has friendship and sister relationships with five places outside Japan. These are Shandong, People's Republic of China; Pyrénées-Orientales, France; Florida, United States; Sinaloa, Mexico; and Galicia, Spain.
Image 21Samurai could kill a commoner for the slightest insult and were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798. (from History of Japan)
Image 42Relief map of the land and the seabed of Japan. It shows the surface and underwater terrain of the Japanese archipelago. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 49The Kuril Islands with Russian names. Borders of Shimoda Treaty (1855) and Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875) shown in red. Currently all islands northeast of Hokkaido are administered by Russia. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 55Japanese experts inspect the scene of the 'railway sabotage' on South Manchurian Railway, leading to the Mukden Incident and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. (from History of Japan)
Image 67Japan (Iapam) and Korea, in the 1568 Portuguese map of the cartographer João Vaz Dourado. (from History of Japan)
Image 68Mount Aso 4 pyroclastic flow and the spread of Aso 4 tephra (90,000 to 85,000 years ago). The pyroclastic flow reached almost the whole area of Kyushu, and volcanic ash was deposited of 15 cm in a wide area from Kyushu to southern Hokkaido. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 83Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192. This was the first military government in which the shogun with the samurai were the de facto rulers of Japan. (from History of Japan)
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