Fun of Good Old Japanese - 江戸・明治に学ぶ　楽しむ生き方

It was a law of Tokugawa shogunate  in order to dominate daimyos who were the local warlords. The wife and prince of the daimyo had to live in Edo (old name of Tokyo). Every daimyo had to stay in Edo for one year, and then the daimyo could go back to his territory again for one year. The term was half year in the case of daimyos near Edo (Kanto area).   Sankin-koutai developed transportation system like kaidous and post stations , but it cost a lot to daimyos. In the case of Kisyu-Tokugawa lord, he went to Edo with 1500 officials every two years, so he spent a lot of money for it. “Sankin” means “Going and working at the Edo castle”, and “koutai” means “rotation”.   Model of the procession of Kisyu-Tokugawa lord @ Hirakata-shuku Kagiya Museum  枚方宿鍵屋資料館 Drawing of the procession of Kaminyama lord  @ Kaminoyma castle 上山城郷土資料館 Gate of the inn on the kaidou for a daimyo “Honjin”  @ Kusatsu  草津宿本陣 Inside of the “Honjin” @ Kusatsu...

R ice planting @ Hitachi City Museum 、田植＠ 日立市郷土博物館 Rice is very important crop for Japanese. It’s been a staple food for more than two thousand years. The rice was also used for tax paying instead of money. Farmers accounted for 80% of Japanese in the Edo period , so the farming especially rice farming has influenced our life so much. We have a lot of annual events concerning the rice farming. Wet-rice farming is major thing in Japan. I would like to describe the agriculture in the Edo period here. 米は日本人の主食 で、古来、税は米で納められている。稲作は、農民が人口の 80% を占めた江戸時代には、生活の軸であり、稲作に関連する祭りなど年中行事が行われている。 We have an annual event for a good harvest in January. The tools of the rice planting rite are shown below. The rite was a kind of a comedy show which mimicked farming. The actor used the hoe, he also fed the baby doll and he made her pee. The baby doll was the symbol of the god of the rice field. It was called “Ta-asobi”. “Ta” is a rice field and “asobi” is an entertainment. Ceremonial hoe and...

Shintoism and Buddhism are the two major religions in Japan. Shintoism originated in Japan. It is a polytheistic religion. Some of its deities are people who created Japan.  Other deities reside in mountains, trees, rocks and so on. Therefore S hintoism has the characteristics of animism. Its leader was originally the emperor or Tennou/ 天皇 . The distinctive feature of the shrine is the torii gate. There are no statues of deities in the shrine, but Shinto worshipers believe that shrines are inhabited by deities. Torii gate of Hofu shrine, Yamaguchi 、山口県防府天満宮 Main hall of Hofu shrine 、防府天満宮本殿 Buddhism, on the other hand, didn’t originate in Japan but it was practiced in Japan from the mid-6 th century. Buddhism had the philosophy to promote peace and stability of the state, so the Japanese dynasty welcomed it and spread it all over Japan as a national religion. Temples are dedicated to Buddha and/or his disciples. Temples are also training facilities for monks. There...

A samurai was a soldier who guarded the noble class originally. They were also called " bushi 武士" .  A samurai fought in the battle field as a warrior. However, there were seldom battles in the  Edo period . They worked as government officials under the shogun (the big boss of samurai) or daimyos (local lords).　Not warriors at that time. Samurais @ Matsudo Museum、馬揃＠松戸市博物館 Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai Reference (Samurai as a local government official): The diary of samurai officer "Genroku Otatami Bugyo" in the early Edo period、元禄御畳奉行の日記 (published in 1984) 　 Next post : Farmer's diary when samurais ruled Japan Yoshino’s daily life 03, from Jan. to February in 1849（嘉永2年） Previous post : Boss of samurais, Shogun Shogun and Shogunate 将軍と幕府  (Glossary)

 Shogun or shougun was the military head (a big boss of samurai). The emperor and dynasty designated the shogun. However, in the  Edo period , only a family member of Tokugawa could become the shogun and ruled Japan practically. The shogun was a head of the political organization called “shogunate (Bakuhu、幕府)”.  It was a military government. Photo of the last shogun in 1867, Yoshinobu Tokugawa  (東京・春・音楽祭2018@上野） Wikipedia: Shogun   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dgun Next post : Samurai, subordinate of shogun in the Edo period Samurai 侍 Previous post : Big event hosted by shogunate in Chiba O-shishigari　お鹿狩り