Japanese Culture

Table of Contents

Buddhism in Japan

Buddhism is a major religion in Japan, as it is in much of the west. It is founded on the beliefs of Gautama Buddha, who is believed to have lived in India in the fifth century and died at the age of eighty. There are several different sects of Buddhism. In the stories about Buddha’s early life it was said that he was born to a kind and a sage told the king shortly after Buddha’s birth that he could either be a king or a holy man. The determination of what he would become depended on whether or not he ever saw life outside of the palace boundaries.

As much as the king tried to shield Buddha, eventually he came to know and understand suffering through a period of time which is referred to as “The Four Sights.” The four sights referenced a meeting he had with a monk, a rotting body, an elderly gentleman, and a diseased man. These things affected the sheltered man, and Buddha tried to overcome all of the things revealed to him by becoming a monk and running away from palace life.

For awhile Buddha strove to abstain from any from of worldly pleasure through the practice of asceticism, but he decided to instead focus on meditation as a way to inner peace. To achieve this he sat under a fig tree and vowed to stay until his reflections could lead him to the truth. It took him forty-nine days of mediation before he achieved the state of enlightenment he was searching for. It was after this transformation that he officially became known as the Buddha.

Buddhism is broken down into five different periods of the evolution of the religion. Although some periods ran concurrent with others and overlapped, it is generally believed that the order is:

· Early Buddhism
· Sectarian Buddhism
· Early Mahayana Buddhism
· Later Mahayana Buddhism
· Esoteric Buddhism

Buddhism did not become a widely held religion until Asoka the Great became the Mauryan Emperor. The leader believed strongly in the teachings of Buddha and helped to construct many religious st?pas (dome shaped relics that housed Buddhist icons). This helped to spread the word of Buddhism to areas of Central Asia and Sri Lanka, which eventually helped China absorb Buddhism and pinpoints the period in time when the religion began to spread outward from India.

Around the year 538 BC, it is believed that Mahayana Buddhism was culturally integrated into Japan. It is believed that the religion of Buddhism was brought into Japan by the Korean Baekje king Seong. There were some problems getting the religion to the public. Even though a clan closely associated with Emperor Kimmei, the Sogas, wanted to model some governmental policies after facets of Confucianism from China, as well as Buddhism, there were other families like the Nakatomis and the Mononobes, who resisted the influence of such an outside religious doctrine being integrated into Japanese society. Eventually the Soga family won out and not only succeeded in allowing Buddhism into the society, but they also modeled several of Japan’s policies after Chinese ideals. However, despite this, there were tensions between the three clans for more than a hundred years afterward.

This period of Buddhism in Japan was known as the Nara period, which lasted until 784 AD. There were six main beliefs that could be found in the Nara Period. Among these were two of the leading Buddhist viewpoints, and during this time the Mahayana theology was firmly put together through the teachings of the Madhyamaka and the Yogacara schools of thought. These two teachings varied as the Madhyamaka believed that in the end nothing is truly real and that all phenomena in the world can only be counted on to both be impermanent and without substance. The Yogacara believed that the only phenomena that ultimately existed in the world was through the power of the mind mind. Other schools of thought during this period were the Kegon, the Kusha, the Ritsu, and Jojitsu.

The Nara period came to an end when Esoteric Buddhism was introduced to the island country through China around the year 794 AD. This marked the beginning of the Heian Period, which would last until around 1185 AD. The two schools of thought during this time were the Tendai and the Shingon. However, both of these religious variations were cross blendings of teachings which had begun in China and were imported to Japan.

It wasn’t until the beginning of the post-Heian period that Japan began to stabilize its own Buddhist views. During this time Japan would see the start of the two schools of Buddhist thought which would affect the country the most.

One of these was known as the Amidist, or Pure Land, school of thought. This branch of Buddhism currently remains one of the largest sects in Japan and other parts of Asia. One of the core beliefs of those practicing Pure Land Buddhism was that reaching the state of enlightenment or Nirvana is almost impossible through mediation alone and that one must ask for the assistance of the celestial Buddha or Amitabha. This form of Buddhism was especially popular to the lower castes as it taught that anyone could achieve enlightenment and be guaranteed a place in the “Pure Land” if they shoed complete devotion to Amitabha.

Zen Buddhism also had an extreme impact on the whole of Japanese culture as it focuses more on the philosophical impact of the teachings of Buddha and highlighted the ability to achieve awakening though meditation. In doing so it taught that it was not as important to understand the religious texts as it was to experience meditation in order to achieve full realization. This is known as Buddha-nature. To those practicing Zens, all beings with self-awareness in nature are capable of achieving a path to enlightenment through being cognizant of the world around them and watchful of the daily experiences in life. Then, combining these factors with meditation, one could discover his own Buddha-nature though a form of introspection and intuitive nature.

Some modern Japanese practice a sect of known as Nichiren Buddhism, which was established in the twelve hundreds by a monk in Japan. This branch of Buddhism is said to focus on the doctrine of the Lotus Sutra. This is a belief which states that anyone is capable of achieving enlightenment during the current life they are living instead of having to wait for the next level of reincarnation.

It is also important to note that Buddhism in Japan did not just affect the way that people perceived their spiritual selves, but it also began to show its influence in their art as well. Because many were just beginning to understand their religion, they drew on previous examples set forth by other cultures. Sometimes these influences were from as far away as Greece, while others took on more of an East Asia styling. For example, many of the artistic renderings of Buddha himself take on more of an East Asian flair, but there are deities depicted as being in Buddha’s court like the wind god Fujin and the protector Vajrapani, which definitely seem to be similar representations to the Greek’s gods Boreas, and Herakles.

Greek elements can also be found on some of the older tiles of Japanese houses. These tiles depicted scenes of traditional Greek lifestyle like grapes and vines, and there are examples of this dating as far back as the seventh century. It is believed that much of this influence was a result of the massive trading that was done along the Silk Road during this time period. It can be difficult to know for sure, but it is certain that if you directly compare many of the Greek artistic renderings of this time period with some of the Japanese, that you will come across many similarities.

Ultimately the Silk Road was not merely a path for traders to peddle their wares, but it was also a transmission of ideas and sources of beliefs. While Japan may have been introduced to Buddhism through the Baekje king Seong directly, it is certain that this would not have occurred were it not for the exchanging of ideas and beliefs that often occurred along this now famous exchange route. It is through this travel that many different beliefs systems borrowed from one another and melded into something unique for each country, the evolution of Japan’s beliefs in Buddhism was not immune to this and the impact of it can still be felt in the country today.

Confucianism in Japan

Mainly a Chinese philosophical system which was derived from the philosopher Confucius (who lived from 551-479 BC), the principals of Confucianism have influenced Japan and several other Asian countries as well. Confucianism is a set of ethics that focuses mainly on the aspects of human morality and the impact of good deeds. It is a complex and multi-tiered system which has had impacts on the sociology, moral thought, political outlooks, and philosophical realm of many people.

While Confucius is given the credit for setting up this provocative way of thinking that has prevailed for nearly two thousand years, during his lifetime he was frequently expelled from the different states as the kings did not want to hear his ideas and very few people had heard of his teachings outside of his homeland where eventually he returned to spread his wisdom. There were no writing which had been directly passed down from Confucius, but his disciples and their students wrote down the texts that were filled with their recollections about his ideas and principals. However, many of these even were lost during the Qin Dynasty when many of the books were burned and the scholars who taught what was in them were killed.

Confucianism was applied to many societies’ governing principals. This was because one of the main tenets of Confucianism was that in order to learn to govern others one must first learn how to do so for himself by applying the same standards he may of ask of others. The loose understanding of this meaning was that the king’s own personal standards and virtue would spread out to others in the kingdom through example. The wonderful idea behind this for many governments is that by one simple act, the king could eliminate the need to have to meddle into small troubling affairs and can concentrate on much larger issues at hand.

This was all a part of his ideals on social harmony, the larger overall goal of Confucianism. The idea of social harmony stated that when each individual person knows his or her place and can not only accept that idea and stay in the social order, but when each of those same people interacted within the space they could truly achieve a harmonious balance and relationship with the government. Sometimes kingdoms have seized upon this as a means of trying to keep the social caste system in place, but no one is one hundred percent sure if that is what Confucius actually meant through this teaching. The idea of social harmony is more closely tied into that of relationships between different people and how they fill these roles to come together in harmony. Confucius also stressed the importance of how children should respect their parents and elders, while those same elders are supposed to have concern about those who are younger, completing a harmonious cycle of understanding and respect between the two groups.

One of the downsides to the stresses on relationships is that Confucianism is reluctant to use laws to enforce behavior. Confucius believed that if you punished people for breaking a law they would only seek to avid the punishments, but would continue to do bad things without a real sense of shame. His belief was that if you led them with a sense of excellence and continued to show them their place through ritual practices that they would not only learn a sense of self understanding and thereby shame, but they would also learn to conduct themselves in a harmonious way that would better benefit the rest of humanity. However, this ideal of promoting laws through personal responsibility and humility often falls short in governments where corruption can become common place.

A form of Confucianism which was revived many years after the original interest in it died down was called Neo-Confucianism. This would also make its way over to Japan during the early years of the Edo Period. This form of Confucianism in Japan was very important to the way that the early founding blocks of the modern means of political ideology and philosophy.

Some may consider the role of Confucianism a type of religious act, but for many it is just an important set of philosophical goals which are set up in order to help people maintain a sense of harmony with those around them while at the same time coming into a greater sense of self-awareness. One of the more important things that Confucius taught was that if you should conduct yourself with dignity and purpose other people around you will respond to that and through just a few simple steps the world may actually be better for it. It was this kind of belief that helped many of the people and governments of Asia come together under the philosophies of a man who was often shunned in his own lifetime, but who has gained a type of immortality through his time honored teachings.

Godzilla

Godzilla is something of a cultural phenomenon that unexpectedly took Japan, and the rest of the world, by storm in the 1950’s. The first film in which the odd monster was seen was in the 1954 Godzilla where he is awakened and mutated because of the tests that scientists are running on the atomic bombs nearby. To date he has made an appearance in an astonishing twenty eight Japanese films, and there does not seem to be any sign of his popularity slowing down as he has become somewhat of an iconic figure in modern film history. In fact, a complete American remake of the original Godzilla was shot in 2000, starring Matthew Broderick, but most of the Godzilla purists do not consider this as part of the series.

The name “Gojira” from which Godzilla is derived is made up from the combination of the Japanese words “Gorira” and “Kujira,” which mean gorilla and whale, respectively. It was said that the creature was named this because of his large stature and origins in the ocean. And while this may have been some of the reasoning behind it, Godzilla’s appearance is taken mostly from a compilation of different dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, and Iguanodon. Some have claimed that the name Gojira was actually some film hand’s nickname, but that is highly unlikely as there is no real proof to this and to date no one has been able to prove his existence.

Over the years Godzilla’s image has changed a little over the years since his original introduction and there are at least eight different versions of the monster’s appearance in films to date, but he remains largely dinosaur like in nature. One thing that is a constant change is what Godzilla portrays in the different incarnations of his character. Sometimes he is the villain, while others he is the hero or anti-hero. The story of the odd creature has also been carried out in manga, comic books, and cartoon series, and these different versions of the creature help to put him into worlds he would not normally be able to go merely on film. They have also opened up the plight of Godzilla to a whole new audience.

It has been said that a lot of the sustainability of the Godzilla franchise was that it was a way for many of the Japanese to deal with their worries about the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In part this was because they were worried about what the long-term affects of such an unprecedented attack might be, and they were also concerned that some day it could happen again. Through the use of Godzilla to deal with these fears, the monster that they created for the movie not only gave them some form of odd comfort, but it also helped share these fears with the rest of the world in a way that was completely nonthreatening, and perhaps that is one of Godzilla’s greatest legacies.

Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki is somewhat of a Japanese icon and hero as in 2000 when he was bought by the Seattle Mariners from the Orix Blue Wave he became the first person who had been born in Japan to have a starting position in the Major Leagues as an outfielder. This accomplishment for a Japanese player was a major point in proving that those who played in the Japanese leagues could be just as talented as those who played in American leagues.

Part of the credit for Ichuro’s immense talent and drive should go to the fact that when he was only seven years old he joined his first baseball team and immediately wanted to become a beter player. His father, Nobuyuki, began working with him each day by running through a routine which included teaching young Ichuro how to pitch, infield, outfield, and bat. These sessions continued throughout Ichuro’s youth, and although the young player had concentration stenciled on his glove and professional baseball on his mind he began to think of the daily training sessions as tedious.

Once he was accepted into a high school program things began to change a little and Ichuro also changed up his routine some, adding throwing tires and hitting plastic balls with a shovel in order to help bulk up his frame. Since he was only five foot nine and one hundred and twenty five pounds in 1991 when he entered the professional baseball draft many teams did not want to consider him and he wasn’t drafted until the final round despite some impressive numbers put up by Ichuro in school.

In 1992 when he began playing with the Orix he was only eighteen; however, he did not really get to play for almost two years because his manager did not like the way he swung his bat. Ichuro’s swing had been nicknamed the pendulum, and the trademark swing of his leg went against everything that traditionalists believed about batting. He got his break in 1994 when a new manager decided to use him regardless of his swing method and during that year he broke out in a major way, setting a single-season Japanese record with two hundred and ten hits in only one hundred and thirty games. This combined with his powerful .385 batting average helped to get him a Pacific League MVP award. This was the first of an award that would continue for two more years straight.

In 1995 the Orix Blue Wave made it the Pacific League pennant, and in 1996 the team went on to defeat the Central League champions, the Yomiuri Giants in the Japanese equivalent of the World Series. Ichuro never let go of his dream of wanting to play for a baseball team in the United States and even though he was a year away from being released from his contract with the Blue Wave, they allowed him to negotiate with the Major Leagues out of financial stress. Ichuro became the second player from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league to use the posting system as a means of allowing players to transfer between the NPB and MLB. During this time the Seattle Mariners won the right to negotiate with Ichuro and he eventually signed on with a fourteen million dollar contract that lasted for three years. Since then he has continued to play with the Mariners in Major League Baseball.

Once he was in the MLB, Ichuro had to again face the rumors and beliefs that his small frame might be too weak to make it against the professional players in the league. However, during his first season Ichuro proved them all wrong with a rookie record of two hundred and forty two hits and a batting average of .350. The season was extremely successful for the Mariners and Ichuro found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated by the middle of the season. Ichuro’s fan base grew tremendously both in the United States and Japan as people began flying back and forth from Washington to Japan to watch him play.

In 2004 Ichuro had a record breaking season. During this year he actually managed to set records in different categories in the Major Leagues, including the most single-season hits in MLB with an astounding two hundred and sixty two hits. Ichuro has also been an All-Star selection every year that he has played for the Major Leagues from 2001-2008, making it a grand total of eight years in a row. Through Ichuro’s success other Japanese players have been given the chance to come over to the Major Leagues and as such they have made more and more of a splash in the MLB scene in the years preceding his acceptance onto the Seattle Mariners. Hopefully this trend will continue in the upcoming years to provide MLB with a wider breadth of players.

Ikebana - Japanese Flower Arranging

Ikebana is the art of Japanese flower arranging practiced by both men and women. However, it’s not simply putting flowers in a vase. Instead, it’s a very disciplined art that allows for creativity within a strict rule set. The goal of ikebana is to create a beautiful arrangement with an eye towards color combination, shapes, lines and more. In contract to blooming flowers often used in Western arrangements, ikebana focuses on the lines of twigs, branches, and leaves. Most ikebana arrangements have only a few blooming flowers. The vase or container is also chosen very carefully and plays a larger part than it does in Western floral arrangements.

One of the driving concepts of ikebana is the Japanese love of nature and natural beauty. Even those Japanese who live in urban areas always have some potted plants or some form of nature around them. Even Tokyo, a huge city full of concrete and skyscrapers, has many different gardens. Learning how these gardens and nature overall changes and cycles is an important part of ikebana.

Ikebana History

Ikebana has been practiced in Japan for over 600 years. It originated with the Buddhist ritual of offering flowers to the dead that was introduced to Japan during the sixth century, although ikebana didn’t become a high art form until the fifteen century. The first practitioners were, as would be expected, Buddhist priests. However, as time passed, others began practicing ikebana as well.

The rise of ikebana was largely due to the Buddish monk Shiun-ji. He was one of the most skilled flower arrangers in Japan, and many other priests went to him for instruction. His teachings were the basis for the Ikenobo school of ikebana, named after the lake near his home.

Styles of Ikebana

The original 15th century ikebana arrangements were enjoyed by everyone, not just the aristocrats or imperial family. However, the ikebana was very, very simple. Often, arrangements were made of only a few stems and twigs. However, the process soon changed, and by the late 15th century, there were books written on the subject and many fixed rules. Larger arrangements began appearing in castles and at court, including large arrangements called Rikka. These arrangements included seven symbolic branches that had to be arranged in a specific way.

Another style of ikebana was used for the tea ceremony. These arrangements, called chabana, are designed to be as simple yet elegant and contemplative as possible.

Ikebana’s Spiritual Side

There are several spiritual aspects to performing ikebana. Nearly all arranging is done in silence, with no background noise or music. The arrangement is not rushed—ikebana is designed to allow one to take the time to appreciate nature. The arranger should carefully choose each item to add to the arrangement, but it shouldn’t be stressful. One of ikebana’s goals is to relax the mind and body.

Ikebana Today

There are many ikebana practitioners in Japan and around the world today. Some are actual ikebana professionals who teach the skill in schools and on television shows, although most are amateurs who simply enjoy arranging the flowers.

Japanese Baseball and its Importance

Baseball is reported to have been introduced onto the Japanese islands by Horace Wilson in 1872, and the establishment of a formal team actually came six years later in 1878. Since the game was considered a pastime in Japan, it was considered shameful for the players to take money for something they enjoyed doing, and the games were all free until 1906 as a consequence of this shame.

In 1908, professional teams from the United States began touring through Japan and played against several university teams that were made up of amateur players, it wasn’t until 1920 that Japan founded the first two professional teams which held special tours in Manchuria and Korea in an attempt to help spread knowledge and wide-spread acceptance of baseball as a sport in Asia. However, due to financial reasons the professional league disintegrated only three years later in 1923 for financial reasons, and all attempts at reviving its standing were formally dropped in 1929 when the league officially disbanded.

However, this termination of a coalition of professional baseball teams in Japan did not last long as the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club was founded in 1934, and the Osaka Baseball Club began the next year in 1935. In later years these teams would go on to become the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers, respectively. In 1935 the American, Fumito “Jimmy” Horio began playing with the Yomiuri Giants. The success of the professional baseball revival was official in 1936 when five more teams began in Japan and the Japanese Baseball League started in full earnest.

The teams played baseball through most of World War II, only stopping in 1944 for one year, however, they resumed playing a half season shortly after the war had ended in November of 1945, and the next year full schedules started once again. Since then the field of professional baseball has been going strong ever since in Japan.

In fact, in 1986 a group of American Major League All-Stars began making a tour through Japan at the end of their normal season. During this time they played exhibition games against those players and teams who were involved in Japan’s professional league. They continue to do this biennial tour today and play in what is now known as the annual Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series. Also, starting in 2005 professional baseball began hosting the Asia Series. This series combines the champions from leagues in Japan, Taiwan, South Korean, and Mainland China in an effort to showcase these Asian teams’ abilities at the great sport.

Although the Japanese greatly admire American teams like the Cubs, Red Sox, Mariners, Yankees, and Twins, their style of baseball has sometimes been classified as a different style than what most people see in the United States. It is often referred to as Samurai baseball, and some say that it is different because the Japanese way of life and cultural identity is different. There is a stress on not just the sport or the superstar individuals that may play within the game, but also on the group identity as a whole, as well as the team’s hard work, and a sense respect for those who are older and have come before them.

Whatever differences may have arisen between the way that the Japanese and the Americans see the sport, baseball is still the game that binds the two cultures. It is a game of both skill and determination, and sometimes watching a game is the perfect way to kick back and relax no matter which continent you are on.

Japanese Bunraku Puppet Theaters

The Japanese puppet theater known as Bunraku began in Osaka a few hundred years ago; however the modern puppet theaters in Japan today have made the name so well known that it is used to represent almost all of the traditional style of puppet theaters in the country today. The Bunraku puppets are generally large and can vary in size anywhere form four foot tall to the smaller sizes of two and a half feet. The size can vary depending on the region that the theater is located and those of the traditional Bunraku vein tend to be on the smaller side.

The making of a puppet can be a time consuming task as each of the hands and heads are carved out by specialists who have dedicated their lives to the creation of such puppets. With the intricate carvings that are required for some of the puppets this is quite a task and the faces are so mechanically well tuned that in some instances the faces can transform to represent demons. Other heads may not be quite so sophisticated, but they often still have movable eyes, noses, and mouths. The controls for many of the facial mechanisms are located on a special handle that comes down the puppets neck. They are reached through a hole in the back of the puppet’s torso, where the puppeteer can insert his left hand to reach the controls and maneuver the puppet’s expressions. The remaining portions of the puppets are assembled by the puppeteers.

It generally takes three puppeteers to maneuver one puppet fully. There is the main controller, or omozukai, who uses his right hand to maneuver the puppet’s right hand. The left-side puppeteer will use his right hand to make the puppet move their left hand, and a final third puppeteer will have to work separately to correctly operate the feet and legs. Unlike some other puppet performances, those done through the Bunraku style perform in full view of the audience while wearing special black robes and hoods to disguise themselves. However, in some instances the main controller will leave his hood off so that the audience can see him.

Generally, all of the speaking portions of the play are read by a single speaker, and that person will alter their voice slightly in order to portray the varying characters. However, in some plays multiple readers are used. These narrators sit on a moving platform that will turn to showcase different musicians for different scenes. Many of the Bunraku plays are known for their themes of lovers’ suicides, and are sometimes closely linked with kabuki plays.

The National Bunraku Theater is in Osaka and is supported by the government. Each year they offer approximately five shows that will run about three weeks each in Osaka and Tokyo. Sometimes the troupe will have other tours within Japan and even overseas. Puppet Theater is a dying art. In the later part of the nineteenth century there were hundreds of puppeteers that would perform on a variety of professional and amateur levels. Since the end of the Second World War, however, the numbers decreased and now there are fewer than thirty troupes and most of those only perform at special festivals or other yearly activities. There are some exceptions to this rule, though, and the Awaji Puppet Troupe is one of them as they actively tour and even offer very brief daily performances. Also the Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe, which was founded in the early eighteen hundreds, hosts programs for American students who are studying in Japan and wish to learn about the traditional form of Bunraku puppetry.

There is also some good news for the hopeful continuation of Bunraku Puppet Theater as more and more people have become interested in this art form, there are programs which are helping them learn about it at an ocean away. For example, the University of Missouri began a Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe in 2003, and has performed around the United States. Some of their more famous venues were the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They have also toured some in Japan

While the overall future of Bunraku Puppet Theaters is unknown, the increase in those interested in this timeless art form hints to the fact that it is not yet ready to die off. With the skill and mastery that it takes to manufacture and operate these puppets it is certain that this is not a tradition the world wants to see disappear.

Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is widely known as one of the most beautiful writing forms in the world. Heavily based off of Chinese calligraphy, the Japanese style branched off after the introduction of hiragana and katakana symbols despite the fact that these two sets of characters aren’t actually used in calligraphy.

The oldest example of Japanese calligraphy is found on the Bhaisajyaguru statue located at the Horyu-ji Temple. This and some of the notes found in the temple date back to before the Nara period of Japanese history. A hand-copied sutra dating to 686 has also been found. Both these examples and many others from the Nara period show great influence by the Northern Wei style of Chinese calligraphy.

During the seventh century, the Chinese court sent many calligraphic texts to the Japanese. While all of the originals have been lost, several copies still exist. These copies are important in that they show scholars the calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi, one of China’s most famous calligraphers.

The first text that features distinctive Japanese calligraphy is the Soukou Shujitsu. A collection of poetry, this text was written in 749.

During the Heian period, the Imperial capital was moved from Nara to Kyoto. Chinese calligraphy still heavily influenced the Japanese at the beginning of the period, and many copied Chinese poetry texts. However, Japan’s distinctive style continued to emerge during this time.

The style created during the Heian period is still, with few changes, the style of Japanese calligraphy today. It’s taught in elementary schools, is offered as an art elective in high schools, and is even taught in universities. Some even have a department of calligraphic study. While all Japanese learn some calligraphy, it has also become very popular outside of Japan, where both amateur and professional artists practice it.

Japanese Earthquakes

On January 17th, 1995, Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture was struck with an earthquake called the Great Hanshin Earthquake that measured 6.8 on the Moment Magnitude Scale as used by the USGS. It has been estimated that close to six thousand five hundred people lost their lives during that earthquake, and it entered the Guinness Book of Records for the two hundred billion dollar price tag that it caused, making it the “costliest natural disaster to befall any one country.” However, the Great Hanshin Earthquake was not the first of its kind to ever strike Japan, nor was it even the deadliest.

In 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake is estimated to have killed close to one hundred and forty thousand people in Japan, with a magnitude ranging between 7.8 and 8.4 on the Richter Scale. Many of the fatalities in the quake occurred because of fire. In fact thirty eight thousand people lost their lives when they all went into the Army Parade Ground near the downtown Tokyo area seeking shelter and were killed by a fire tornado (also known as a fire whirl) which was caused by a conflux of fire and weather conditions that ignited a nearly city-wide firestorm.

In more recent years the Choetsu Earthquakes struck on October 23rd, 2004 in the Niigata Prefecture. The first quake hit the island at 5:56 p.m., and it rated at 6.9 on the Richter Scale. Sixteen minutes later at 6:12 p.m. a second earthquake struck the region with a magnitude of 5.9. The third and fourth earthquakes followed within the next hour and a half. It has been established since then that a total of fifteen earthquakes would occur in the Chuetsu area over the next two and a half days. However, only about thirty nine fatalities and a little more than three thousand injuries resulted from the earthquakes. Much of the lessening of casualties is attributed to the fact that after the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, Japanese government authorities realized the need for quicker response times to these tragedies. In July of 2007 another earthquake off of the coast of Chuestu measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck, but damage was minimal.

Japan has known several earthquakes over the years and in a general sense those that befall the country can be separated out into three main categories.

1. Plate-Boundary Earthquakes: These quakes occur when two plates overlap; one pushing into the other as it slowly moves below the secondary plate and pushes into the earth. However, the stress will eventually cause a snap between the two plates in order to release the energy caused by the merging. It is this type of problem which is said to have caused the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake.

2. Subducing Sea Plates: This also occurs along the plate boundary, but it is an earthquake that is caused by differeing reasons. For example, in the first type of earthquakes the tension from one plate moving under the other causes the top plate to snap and release pent up energy. In the subducing sea plate method the bottom layer of the plate collapses somewhat and therefore causes the quake.

3. Shallow-Inland Type: This occurs when there is a well-defined break that is unusually long and deep throughout the layers of the earth’s crust. These faults generally have repeated seismic activities, and while the magnitude may not be as high as that occurring in a plate-boundary earthquake, they can still cause a lot of damage. This was the type of earthquake which struck Kobe in 1995, and it was caused by a very long fault line known as the Nojima Fault which appears above the surface of the rock in the north of Awaji Island, but the portion that caused the quake in Kobe was in fact below ground level.

There have been many other earthquakes which have taken place in Japan throughout the years, and because of the highly seismic land that the chain of islands sits on there is little doubt that the country will continue to experience earthquakes for many years to come. In recent years many attempts by the Japanese government have been made to hopefully help prevent as much future damage from these quakes as possible by installing large rubber blocks under many of the bridges to help prevent shock, and ensuring that many of the newly constructed buildings obey earthquake safety codes to prevent them from collapsing in the event of another quake.

Japanese Entertainment

While Japanese entertainment has changed over the years, some of the basic elements have remained the same. Many modern forms of entertainment in Japan are the same as those worldwide, such as music, movies, sports, and books. However, there are some forms of entertainment that either originated in Japan or have become known because of being played in Japan. Two of these are older games, Go and sudoku, while two, anime and manga, are more modern.

Go

Go is a two player board game that actually didn’t originate in Japan. Instead, it was first played in China, although the Western world was first introduced to Go by the Japanese, and it is more widely known as Go, its Japanese name, than its Chinese name of weiqi. Likewise, many of the terms are known by Japanese words and defined in Japanese terms rather than Chinese. No matter the terms used, however, in both cultures, and in other Asian cultures, knowing how to play Go was often one of the marks of a person of learning.

According to legend, Chinese emperor Yao instructed his counselor Shun to create a game for Yao’s son, Danzhu. This game was to teach the boy concentration and discipline. The result was Go. Another story says that the game was created by military men and was based off of their use of stones to mark enemy locations on maps. Still others theorize that Go is based off of a method of fortune telling.

Go spread to Japan in the seventh century and became very popular in court by the eighth. Five centuries later, it was being played by nearly everyone in Japan, no matter what social class they were a part of. When Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun, he named the best Go player in Japan, the Buddhist monk Nikkai, as Godokoro, or Minister of Go. Nikkai then created the Honinbo Go school. This and the several other Go schools were subsidized by the government and participated in tournaments held by the shogun. They created a system of ranks for players and standardized many of the Japanese Go rules.

Go is played on a 19 by 19 (or smaller, in some cases) grid similar to a chess board but without the different colored squares. Players choose either the black or the white stones and then take turns placing them on the board. In Go, black always moves first.
When a group of stones is completely surrounded by the other person’s stones, they become captured and are removed from the game. The overall goal of Go is to have more stones on the board than your opponent. A game of Go ends when players both pass their turn.

Go first came to the West around 1694, when Thomas Hyde wrote about it in his book De Circumveniendi Ludo Chinensium, or About the Chinese Encircling Game. It wasn’t until the 19th century, though, that the game became popular. It first caught on in Germany and Austro-Hungary, then moved to New York. The New York Go Club was created around this time. After that, Go spread across the U.S. The International Go Federation was later formed, and as of 2008, it has over 70 member countries. Go has even been played in space by American and Japanese astronauts.

Sudoku

Sudoku is a number puzzle game that has recently become very popular outside of Japan. However, like Go, sudoku may not have originated in Japan. The goal of sudoku is to fill in a 9 by 9 grid with a number in each square so that each row, column, and box (a 3 by 3 sub-region of the grid) contains only the numbers 1 through 9 once. Each sudoku puzzle has a few numbers already filled in, and the challenge is to work in the rest of the numbers so that the grid is complete and follows the one-number-only rule.

While the grid is generally a 9 by 9, it can be larger or even smaller. Likewise, the numbers 1 through 9 aren’t always used. Sometimes, other symbols or letters are used. For example, there are some hexadecimal sudoku games that are played on a 16 by 16 grid and use 1 through 9 plus the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F. Some sudoku puzzles for children use colored blocks instead of numbers. Some TV show related puzzles will use the faces of characters or other symbols from the show. There are even some giant sudoku puzzles that use a gird of 25 by 25 or larger.

Sudoku is a shortened form of a Japanese sentence that translates to “the numbers must occur only once,” which sums up the basic rule of the game. Puzzles like sudoku first appeared in French newspapers around the end of the 19th century. These “magic square” puzzles weren’t truly sudoku—they used double digit numbers and required players to add or subtract numbers. The goal was for each row, column, and 3 by 3 area to add up to the same number.

Three years after one newspaper began publishing these magic squares, a rival began publishing their own. These puzzles were much closer to today’s sudoku. Only 1 through 9 was used, but the 3 by 3 grids were not marked and each puzzle actually had two different solutions.

Most believe that the sudoku as its known today was created by Howard Garns, a retired architect from Indiana. His puzzles were first published in Dell Magazines in 1979. In 1984, the puzzle appeared in Monthly Nikolist, a magazine in Japan. In 1997, a retired judge saw a sudoku puzzle in a Japanese bookshop. He then created a computer program that produced the puzzles and marketed them to a British newspaper. The paper began publishing his sudoku in November of 2004.

Sudoku rapidly went from a new puzzle to an international sensation. Soon, puzzles were appearing in newspapers and magazines around the world. The game even transitioned to television, with several game shows pitting contestants against each other to see who could complete a puzzle the fastest. Sudoku video games and online games have also become very popular, especially since it’s much easier to change a number on these virtual grids.

Anime

Anime is the common term for Japanese animation, the earliest of which was created in 1917. The name is a shortened form of the word “animation.” While some draw direct parallels between anime and Western cartoons, the two only share the same medium. Anime often contains adult themes and plots, and while some of it, like the incredibly popular Pokemon, is aimed at children, many anime titles are marketed for older teens and adults. Anime comes in several forms, including television shows, movies, and direct to DVD shows. Some video games also incorporate anime videos to advance the plot of the game.

Anime first appeared in the early 20th century. The oldest anime clip from Japan was created in 1917 and runs for about two minutes. It features a samurai practicing with a new sword. By 1930, anime in Japan had become a full-fledged art form, especially when compared to Japan’s small live-action movie industry. Live-action films never really took off in Japan due to low budgets, few locations, and many casting restrictions. Animation allowed for films to feature many different characters and settings.

Anime really took off in the 70s, especially when anime studios began adapting manga, or Japanese comics, into animated series and movies. During this time, several genre unique to anime began to appear, such as the Mecha genre (featuring giant robots like those featured in the Gundam series) and the Magical Girl genre (featuring young girls who transformed into super heroes, such as the popular Sailor Moon series).

While anime became more popular in the 70s, it didn’t go mainstream until the 80s and 90s. The late 90s, especially, saw anime explode into the Western world. While it had been popular in the U.S. since the 80s, it was mostly an underground market. With the Americanization of series like Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Dragon Ball, and Pokemon, anime became more than just a hobby enjoyed by a few.

There are several different styles of anime. Some focuses on being as realistic as possible, drawing people and animals as proportionate as possible. Sometimes, anime characters have large eyes, strangely colored hair, or other very distinctive characteristics. The super deformed style features characters with very large heads and few details, making them look almost like children’s drawings. Often, anime drawn for girls features this style more often than the action anime targeted at boys.

Japanese anime in the U.S. is licensed through specific distribution companies like ADV Films, Manga Entertainment, and Disney. Generally, the scripts are translated to English and the dialogue is re-recorded by English voice actors, although most anime DVDs also include the original Japanese audio with English subtitles. Some anime, especially those series shown on television, are edited to delete scenes found inappropriate for children. Again, most DVDs feature uncensored versions of the shows.

Some of the most well-known anime television series include Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball (one of the longest running anime ever, with over 600 episodes), Mobile Suit Gundam, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Digimon. When it comes to movies, the films of Studio Ghibli, especially those written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, are known throughout the world. Miyazaki’s works include Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Disney has dubbed and distributed most of Miyazaki’s work in the U.S.—a fitting move since Miyazaki is often referred to as the Walt Disney of Japan.

Manga

Manga, the Japanese term for comics, are similar to anime in that, while some Westerners may see them as children’s comics, many feature complex, mature storylines. Manga, which means “whimsical pictures,” cover a wide range of genres. While in the U.S. most comics are either humorous or focus on super heroes, manga are often romances, mysteries, sports-related, historical, and fantasy. Some are even focused on sexual scenes and are definitely not for kids.

Manga became quite popular during the 1950s, although most weren’t translated and disturbed in other parts of the world until the anime boom of the 1990s. Since many anime are based on manga and vice verse, publishers saw a chance to capitalize on the sudden popularity of anime by translating their manga counterparts. As of 2006, over $200 million dollars in manga were sold in a year. While this is a lot, it hardly compares to the $4.4 billion manga industry of Japan.

Not all manga published today is translated from an original Japanese book. Instead, many manga series are created in other countries like Taiwan, China, and France. In the 2000s, many original English language books were created, some of which focused on original stories, while others were based on television series or movies. For example, a recent series of English language manga based on the popular science-fiction series Star Trek has recently been released in 2007.

Early manga appeared in the Meiji period of Japan, but it didn’t really take off until after World War II. While Japan was under U.S. occupation, many soldiers brought U.S. comic books to read. These comics influenced Japanese artists, who began copying the style. One of the most famous early manga writers and artists was Osamu Tezuka, who created the popular Astro Boy series. Astro Boy quickly became a huge success, and it’s still one of the most popular series today.

Women entered the manga market in 1969 when the group Year 24 Group was formed. These female artists created the genre of shojo manga, or manga aimed at girls. While few American comic books are written with girls in mind, in Japan, the genre has a large following. Most shojo books are focused on romance or magical girls, though this does not mean they aren’t as well-written or as complex as manga aimed at boys. In fact, sometimes shojo characters are much more developed.

In Japan, most manga are first published in magazines or small comic books. Once a number of issues are printed, they are usually collected into trade paperback sized volumes. Each volume may contain anywhere from six to a dozen or more of these smaller issues (sometimes called chapters).

One of the most interesting aspects of manga is the fact that, in Japan, copyright laws are quite different. Amateur manga artists are allowed to draw dojinshi, or fan-made manga, using characters created by professional manga artists. Often, dojinshi feature sexual relationships between characters that do not appear in the real manga series. Dojinshi don’t always have to be based on another series, and many who want to be professional manga artists start out by creating original dojinshi.

Japanese Entertainment Around the World

Sudoku, anime, and manga have become almost house-hold words today, and Go, while not quite as popular, is still fairly well known. With the production of original anime and manga in several countries, Japanese entertainment is no longer limited to Japan.

Japanese Gardens

Gardens made in the traditional Japanese style are often found in many places, from the backyard of a home to the grounds of temples and castles. In Japan, creating a garden is considered a high art form and can be compared to painting and calligraphy. The most well known of these traditional gardens are the Japanese rock gardens. Another traditional garden design was created by tea masters. Generally, gardening techniques are passed down from teacher to student, although in modern times, schools offer landscaping classes.

The first Japanese gardens were greatly influenced by the Chinese and by monks. These include the art of bonsai growing and the concept of miniature landscaping. The Asuka period gardens were designed to look like many of the areas in China, which was supposed to help express Buddhist thoughts.

Heian period gardens shifted from being purely religious to being a location for both ceremonies and private enjoyment and contemplation. Many were located in front of buildings and featured water flowing into ponds or in streams through the garden. Later, gardens shifted again, this time influenced by Pure Land Buddhism. These gardens were modeled after those at the Amitabha hall.

During the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, improved gardening techniques allowed for many new styles to develop. Zen also played an important place in garden design, as did the fact that the shogun greatly enjoyed gardens and gardening. During this time, the dry sand garden concept appeared.

Following these periods, the Japanese garden and the tea ceremony slowly started to merge. Visitors to a tea house would walk through a short garden before arriving at the house for tea. During the Edo period, the use of gardens as religious symbols completely vanished and was replaced with gardens as a symbol of the shogun’s power and prestige.

Finally, Meiji period gardens took advantage of many modern gardening practices. Many were created by politicians and wealthy businessmen. Many of these gardens are still in existence today and are open to the public.

Features of a Japanese Garden

Many Japanese gardens share some of the same features, although they many not include all of the traditional ones. Many gardens are designed around a center, or place for viewing the garden. Many contain rocks, streams or ponds, a lantern, a pavilion or tea house, a form of enclosure (fence, hedge, etc.), stepping stones, and a bridge. Many home gardens are not as elaborate due to lack of space and money.

While some gardens are designed to be viewed from one location, the strolling gardens are designed to be viewed as one walks through them. These gardens include a marked path for the visitor to follow. Often, they include uneven areas that allow visitors to look down or out at the rest of the garden or up at hanging ornaments and baskets of flowers.

Stones are used to make paths and bridges in gardens. In symbolic terms, they represent mountains and are often placed in triangular groups. Streams and ponds are added to gardens in as natural a way as possible, and no artificial fountains are added. Most ponds have lanterns placed near them. Sometimes, gardens will be designed around dry waterbeds and ponds. These are just as important as those filled with water.

Japanese Gardens Around the World

Today, many Japanese style gardens are created in other countries. The most popular of these is the rock garden because few other cultures have such a style. Of course, many in the Western world are unaware of the many different religious and symbolic functions of the rock garden. Instead, they’re built because they look different and for aesthetic purposes.

Japanese Haiku

Overview

The traditional Japanese haiku is a unique form of poetry consisting of three lines. This form, however, has not always been classified as a type of poetry in itself. What we call a haiku began as one three-line stanza of a renga, a linked poem written by two or more authors. The first and third lines of a traditional haiku have 5 syllables each, while the second has 7 syllables. Modern or Western haiku writers (haijin), however, have broken these rules.

Traditionally, a haiku includes some aspect of nature and some season-identifying image. In almost every haiku, it is possible to tell the season and the weather. Most of the time, these details aren’t mentioned out-right but must be inferred; a poem might mention cherry blossoms, for example, to indicate springtime.

Another traditional aspect of a haiku is what some call a “a-ha” moment. It usually comes in the third line—a phrase, which sometimes seems like a non sequitur, which ties the other two lines into something meaningful. While this “a-ha” idea is very hard to explain, it works something like this: the first line has an image; the second line builds on this image or idea; the third line, then twists this image around into something the reader wasn’t expecting at all, and makes the reader make the connection between the images and whatever the poet was trying to say.

Many haiku use animals to stand in for humans or humankind. Issa, a very prolific and impoverished haiku writer, wrote many poems about his cricket friends. He often calls them his family or roommates, joking about his own poverty. Issa, more than many other traditional haiku writers, enjoyed injecting humor, silliness, and mockery into his poetry.

Lately, Western poets have been using what they call “modern” haiku form. In this form, it is not necessary to follow the 5-7-5 syllable pattern or even to include nature-related images.

The Beginnings of Haiku

A haiku is actually a small part of a collaborative poem called a renga. The Renga is written between two or more people, with one person writhing a 5-7-5 stanza, the next writing two line 7 syllable, 7 syllable stanza, then another 5-7-5 stanza, and so on. There are different renga patterns, each with its own unique length and topic.

While the haiku, or hokku as it was called then, did not begin as its own independent poem, it was recognized as a stand-alone piece of writing by the 1600s. It was during that time that Matsuo Basho made the hokku very popular. The father of the haiku, Basho wrote many of the small poems. By the nineteenth century, the hokku was renamed the haiku by Makaoka Shiki, and the term was retroactively applied.

In addition to Basho, Ueshima Onitsura was another early haiku writer. Most of the haiku Basho and Onitsura wrote were intended to be the first verses of renga or, in Basho’s case, as short bits for his prose or diaries. One of his collections, the Narrow Roads to the Far North, is still one of Japan’s most famous literary works and has been translated into many different languages.

Following Basho, Yosa Buson (1716-1783) moved the genre of haiku from its more formal form to a more modern style. Buson himself became one of the most well-known haiga artists. Haiga combines painting with a haiku to create one unified piece of art. In fact, Buson was more known as a painter than as a writer. However, his ability to arrange words in conjunction with his art lead to more playful, impulsive haiku formed from the imagination instead of based on experiences.

The next major haiku writer was Kobayashi Issa. Issa brought a more individual, humanistic tone to his haiku, writing about his poverty and his devotion to Buddhism. His haiku were more approachable than those of Basho and Buson, and he is known for making haiku accessible to a much wider audience.

After Issa, the popularity of haiku declined somewhat. It fact, during the eighteenth century, haiku was more or less regarded as trite poetry and not taken seriously at all. It wasn’t until Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) began writing haiku that the verse was taken seriously again. An agnostic, Shiki worked to separate haiku from Buddhism and other religious aspects.

Haiku Today

Today, haiku has spread around the world, and many different writers attempt to create haiku. Some attempt to write in the 5-7-5 syllable count despite the fact that their native language doesn’t carry the same meaning-laden words as Japanese does. Others drop the syllable count and simply write minimalist poems.

Haiku has become especially popular with US writers. The Haiku Society of America was founded in 1968 and has become one of the most renowned haiku publications today. Many top poets write English haiku in either free verse or following the traditional syllable count, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Hass, and Billy Collins.

Kimono

Kimono, which literally means “a thing to wear,” is the garment most closely associated with Japan. The kimono has a long history and has changed over time to reflect the society and culture of that period. There are different kimonos worn on specific occasions and seasons. For women, the kimono will also reflect the wearer’s age and marital status. Men do not wear kimono often in modern Japan, but they do don then occasionally during special ceremonies.

In the spring, bright colors and spring floral patterned clothing are worn, and in the fall, fall colors are worn. The motifs on kimono generally fall into the fallowing categories: (1) the natural world-seasons, flowers, trees, insects, birds, waves, clouds; (2) human-made objects-fans, baskets, bridges, buildings, ribbons; (3) imagery based upon well-known poems, literature, folk tales, and legends that are easily recognized; (4) symbols from Chinese Confucianism and Japanese Buddhism; and (5) small, intricate geometric patterns often based on nature-mountain motifs, tortoise shell grids, thunderbolt zigzags.

An unmarried woman will usually wear a brightly colored kimono with flowing sleeves. The most formal kimono, called a furisode, has an overall design that runs diagonally from the shoulder down to the hem.

For married women, the most formal kimono is the tomesode of black silk crepe with the family crest in five spots. A married woman will also wear kimono with shorter sleeves than her single counterpart.

For less formal festive occasions, both married and unmarried women of all ages can wear homongi, which is made of the same type of silk as the furisode and tomesode and comes in many designs and colors from the shoulder to the hem. During funerals, all women can wear a montsuki of plain black silk over a white silk under-kimono.

With kimono various types of long sashes called obi are worn. Men can wear kaku-obi, three-inch-wide stiff silk tied in a half-bow, or heko-obi, a soft black or gray silk obi that is at least 20 inches wide and long enough to wrap around the body two or three times. The heko-obi are worn tied or tucked in just under the waist.

Women’s obi is made of silk about one foot wide and 10 to 13 feet long. It is tied in the back in various fashions depending on the age and marital status of the wearer. The most common way to tie obi for an adult woman is with otaiko, a square shaped bow.

The kimono has a very long history in Japan, and its design and style has changed over time to reflect the changes in its culture and people.

The Joman period (before 300 A.D.) had kimono which were made of hemp and were loosely fastened with no distinction between male and female clothing.

Between 300-550 A.D., the Yamato period kimono consisted of two pieces, an upper and a lower piece. The upper piece had tight sleeves. During this period the art of raising silk worms was introduced in Japan by Chinese settlers. At this time there was no dying method yet, so the silk remained white.

During the Asuka period (550-710) and the Nara period (710-792) dying techniques were developed. During the Asuka period courtiers’ clothes were divided into three groups: formal clothes, court clothes, and uniforms; the colors varied with rank. Here one can see the influence of tate shakai or “the vertical society” because of the importance of the distinction of rank. For the Nara period, clothing consisted of many pieces including upper and lower garments, jackets, a front skirt, and a back skirt.

In the Heian period of 794-1185, the custom of elaborate layers of colored kimono robes became popular with Japanese women. Jun-hitoe, twelve unlined robes, were frequently worn with the sleeve edges and collars showing the shades of each kimono. People of the royal court sometimes wore up to sixteen kimono layers. Here one can see the Japanese expression of their perception of color and color changes of the four seasons through costumes. Their love of artistic beauty and colors are reflected in the design of these elaborate kimonos. The layered color pattern reflected many things including seasons, directions, virtues, elements of the earth as they related to spirits of nature and others. Even today these kimonos are still worn by the royal court during special ceremonies.

During the Muromachi Period (1192-1573 A.D.) the aristocratic culture decayed and the samurai gained power. Clothes were modified to be simpler and easier to move around in to fit the more active life style of the Samurai. The elaborate kimonos of the Heian period were no longer seen as practical.

The Edo Period (1601-1867 A.D.) saw commerce and industry rapidly developing. Merchants began to have more power than the samurai. The Yuzen dying technique was also developed at this time and became popular because nearly any color could be used and complex patterns could be created. At this time kimono were now made of multicolored, highly decorated fabric, and were worn in a single layer.

Because the kimono has such a deep history with the Japanese, it consequently has a deep reflection on their culture and its people. The wedding kimono shows how the Japanese view what is expected as the proper behavior for a wife. The headdress that the bride wears is called a tsunokakushi, a horn cover. This “horn cover” is worn to symbolically hide the bride’s horns, or her selfishness of ego. It reflects the belief that the bride should hide such “horns” in the presence of her in-laws to convince them that she could live with them harmoniously. This is manifested in the term amae which means indulgent love, or repressing all those selfish instincts and treating people equally, generously, and honestly.

In modern Japan the kimono has become so separated from everyday life that only a small percentage of the population know how to put on one. Some have compared the donning of kimono to the wrapping of a package.

The kimono, in a way, reflects the “perfect fit” mentality. This is shown in several different idioms and saying, such as “the beauty of the kimono lies in the heart of the Japanese people.” The element of one’s kokoro, or heart, is one of much importance to the Japanese and shows its importance here.

Kimono entrepreneurs always emphasize the natural "longing" (akogare) any Japanese girl or woman has (or should have) for donning a kimono. These kinds of advertisements are especially numerous in the months before January 15, the coming-of-age day

This is not a distinction in clothing alone. In order to understand the role of kimono in Japanese culture, it is important to understand the West is a suru bunka, a culture that does things, whereas Japan is a naru bunka, a culture in which things happen because they exist. Japanese culture prizes love, admires beauty, respects courtesy, and fosters harmony with nature. This harmony, regarded by the Japanese as a unique characteristic of their culture, is directly related to their love of kimono. These attributes are deeply incorporated in the popular image of the kimono.

For example, Western people find it hard to see how wearing kimono could feel comfortable. Many Japanese would reply that wearing kimono gives a feeling that a non-Japanese cannot understand because to them, the kimono becomes a part of the body. Through the long process of donning the kimono the cultural element of gambaru, women must learn to be patient and endure through situations even if they are not comfortable.

Japanese women also have said that when one wears kimono it reaches your feelings, it enlarges the mind and makes one calm; even if one wants to run, they cannot. One has to move in a natural way, and if the feelings become calm so are your thoughts. Furthermore it is thought that if something bad happens to you one should not react immediately, you think first before you act. A Japanese woman like this had guarded the Japanese household. Kimono is much more than a constraint on the body. It has a mental influence and its ultimate role is to cultivate the perfect Japanese "good wife, wise mother.”

The kimono-clad Japanese woman has become a symbol in modern Japan, just like cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji. One can see that the process by which kimono and the women who put it on have become symbols of tradition in modern Japan has reinforced cultural thought generation to generation. Even though kimono are not worn that often today, its symbolism and the occasional donning of kimono will most likely continue to influence the Japanese cultural thought.

Kabuki

One of the most common and traditional forms of theater found in Japan is Kabuki theater. Known for its drama, elaborate make up, and the fact that many of its performers are males playing female roles, kabuki can be translated several ways. Its individual kanji mean “sing,” “dance,” and “skill.” However, some believe “kabuki” comes from the verb that means either “to lean” or “to be out of the ordinary.” This means “kabuki” can be interpreted as anything from a story involving singing and dancing to very weird theater.

Origin of Kabuki

Kabuki originated in 1603 when a priestess, Okuni, began dancing a new drama in one of the dry riverbeds near Kyoto. Okuni, a woman, played both male and female roles, making this a very different form of kabuki than what is known today. Okuni’s style of plays quickly became popular, and soon, she was asked to perform at the imperial court. The court loved her dramas, and soon, kabuki theater was performed throughout Japan.

However, these women performers soon brought in the wrong type of audience, especially since many suggestive plays and performances were held and because many of the women performing were also prostitutes. This led to the court deciding that women were degrading kabuki, despite the fact that a woman invented it. This fact apparently forgotten, the court officially banned women from performing kabuki in 1629.

This left a void in kabuki theater that was soon filled by young men. They took on playing women’s roles because they were less muscular and less masculine looking than many of the older performers. However, few were as agile dancers as the women performers had been, so the focus of kabuki shifted from dance to drama. However, many of these actors were also male prostitutes, and kabuki audiences often broke out into brawls over who would bed them. In 1652, then, the shogun banned young male actors from performing kabuki as well.

Kabuki’s thriving time: the Genroku Period

Kabuki was incredibly popular during the Genroku period, and much of what we know as kabuki was set during this time. Kabuki and bunraku, the puppet theater, began influencing each other, intertwining the two forms of drama. Professional kabuki playwrights began appearing during this time, and some of the most influential and well-known plays were written during this time. Many started out as bunraku plays but were adapted for kabuki. Several new forms of make up were created during this time as well.

The government continued to meddle in kabuki during the Genroku period. In 1723, plays featuring lovers both committing suicide were banned.

By the mid 18th century, bunraku was more favored than kabuki, and few kabuki plays were performed. Much of this had to do with the appearance of several very skilled bunkaru playwrights. Towards the end of the century, however, kabuki would once again become popular.

Kabuki During the Meiji Restoration and Beyond

With the fall of the shogun and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, kabuki re-emerged in Japanese culture. Now that the country was no longer isolated, culture was shared and new ideas incorporated into kabuki. However, following World War II, kabuki was banned for several years. By 1947, however, the ban had been lifted, and kabuki was once again performed.

Today, kabuki is the most popular of the traditional Japanese dramas. Kabuki stars often move on to star in television and movies, often in female roles. However, there aren’t as many large kabuki theaters. Most major kabuki theaters are in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, although there are smaller theaters spread across Japan.

Women are once again performing in kabuki theaters, although many men still play female roles. There are even some all-female troupes again, although this time around, the actresses are not prostitutes.

Kabuki has spread throughout the world, and many kabuki troupes go on international tours. Some have even begun performing plays by Shakespeare and other non-Japanese playwrights.

Traditional Elements of Kabuki Theater

There are many different elements that are often seen in kabuki. These include everything from heavy stage makeup to the design of the stage itself. The stage usually includes a walkway that extends out into the audience. This walkway is used when characters enter and exit the stage and also as a place for some important scenes. Some kabuki theaters include features like a revolving stage or trap doors, adding even more drama to the play. Other theaters feature hooks and wires that actors can be attached to, allowing them to fly through the air.

Kabuki plays vary in length. Some are short, while others may go on for several hours. Some focused on historical stories, while others were designed to be purely entertaining. Full length plays were usually split into five acts, with some shorter plays performed in between acts.

Kabuki often features flashy, elaborate costumes, especially those designed for men in women’s roles. Heavy make up, bold poses, and different stage tricks and special effects may also be worked into the performances.

Famous Kabuki Plays

There are a number of famous kabuki plays, but the three that nearly every Japanese knows were written during the 18th century. All three were originally bunraku plays, but their kabuki counterparts are better known. They include Treasury of Loyal Retainers, Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, and Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy.

Karate

Karate is a type of marital art which uses a combination of open-handed chops, knee and elbow strikes, kicks, and punches, to overcome an opponent. It is believed that the art of karate was a combination of a Japanese samurai style Jujutsu and the Chinese’s own methods of fighting. The weaponless style of fighting really took off sometime after the 1609 ban of weapons in Okinawa.

However, the credit for introducing karate to the main islands of Japan usually goes to Gichin Funakoshi as he is considered to be the founder of the Shotokan style of karate. This is a little misleading as many of those who were practicing karate in Okinawa were also actively teaching it, but his name is one of the more commonly recognized ones because of his work to make the sport more integrated and because some of the changes he enacted were some of the more important and lasting ones. For example, since originally the name for karate was a kanji that meant Chinese hand, and at the time he was trying to teach the sport to the Japanese they were fighting with the Chinese, Funakoshi changed the name to karatedo. The do on the end of the word karate indicates that it is a spiritual practice of finding ones self as well as a means of combat.

Besides changing the overall name, Funakoshi also changed many of the names of the fighting styles in karate to try and get the form accepting on mainland Japan. Also in his efforts to modernize and popularize the fighting style, Funakoshi added in the white uniform known as the karategi that is commonly associated with the fighting style today. He also introduced the idea of colored belts in order to convey the level of one’s mastery of the fighting style. This is the look of many karate dojos that people recognize around the world today.

Karate is generally thought of as a sport that works to emphasize exercise and healthy competition, but it an also be used for successful self-defense training. Many of the traditional forms of karate seek to combine the fighting with a sense of self-awareness, while most of the modern schools of thought in karate use it to illustrate important psychological elements of the fight such as leadership, virtue, and fearlessness. There are many different styles and factions of karate, but there are only four which are actually recognized as the traditional methods. The other styles which are out there are not actually considered right or wrong, but they are not commonly associated with those of the traditional school of teaching. These are the methods which are recognized by the Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organization:

  1. Shotokan-ryu
  2. Shito-ryu
  3. Goju-ryu
  4. Wado-ryu

Today, karate is a globally organized sport that is now searching for acceptance into the Olympic Games. They almost succeeded in 2005 when the International Olympic Committee voted on whether or not to include it in the 2012 games, and although they had a majority of the votes, they did not have the two thirds that is needed to classify it as an official Olympic sport. The World Karate Federation (WKF) is responsible for the development of the rules that govern all of the styles and factions of the sport today.

The elements of training in karate are generally broken down into three important sections fundamentals, form, and sparring, which are also known as kihon, kata, and kumite, respectively. When a student is just starting out to learn karate, they must first study the basics. Usually a group will do this through learning and reciting the basics in unison, and they may even recite or practice in pairs if need be.

After they have learned much of the basic techniques and drills, students are then taught a very formula-driven progression of movements which are designed to represent the different postures that one will assume while performing karate maneuvers. The postures that they are taught are based on a configuration of what the ideal fighting stances would be. In traditional teachings the kata would be a long and tedious process of rote memorization so that the techniques were drilled into a student’s mind and they could assume a posture without thinking. One reason for this was the fact that many of the commoners who were learning to use karate could not read and write, and so the best way for them to learn the methods properly was to study them until they were fully absorbed. However, because of this there are also variances in the different forms of kata depending on where you study and what school you attend.

When a student finally moves on to sparring or kumite, they are putting their knowledge into the art of karate against another individual for either the purpose of sport of self-defense. The level to which karate students make contact while sparring also greatly depends on what style of karate they are utilizing. The range varies from that of full-fledged contact to a more choreographed sense of fighting with jabs and blocks to even that involving very light contact between the two participants and points are then awarded by a judge based on style and execution.

Today karate is practiced in many countries outside of Japan such as Korea, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is an important cultural classifier which demonstrates how the combination of a fighting skill as a discipline and the understanding of one’s self can come together harmoniously in this modern combination of an ancient fighting practice.

Noh Japanese Drama

No dramas are one of the most well-known Japanese musicals. Noh began in the 14th century in Japan, although its roots can actually be traced back to China. Noh in its traditional, current form was developed during the Muromachi period, and it would eventually influence (and by influenced by) kabuki and bunraku. Today, Noh is officially recognized as one of the national forms of drama.

Traditionally, Noh actors and musicians do not rehearse together. Each practices his or her own performance separately or with a tutor, but never together. This makes the interaction between the players less set and much more interesting. Almost all Noh actors are men, and a standard Noh play can last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours.

Noh Roles

In Noh dramas, there are four different roles a performer can be cast in. They include shite, or the common role in which the actor serves as the protagonist, moving the plot along. The waki is the counterpart to this role and often has a companion or two. Kyogen players perform an interlude during the play. Finally, the hayashi are the instrumentalists who play flute and drums during the performance.

Noh Plays

Currently, there are around 250 different Noh plays being performed. They include stories about the rise of clans, emperors, and shoguns, other historical events, and stories based on novels such as the Tale of Genji.

Noh Elements

There are a number of different elements that come together for a Noh play. The most basic is the stage, which is generally a pavilion made out of cypress wood. The four pillars that hold up the pavilion are quite important, and certain scenes are performed near the pillars during the play. The floor is highly polished so actors can move easily, and large pots are buried under this floor to create resonance when actors stomp. This also raises the stage several feet above the audience.

There is very little decoration on the stage; generally, only a painting of a pine tree is present. No one is quite certain what it represents, although most believe it is either has a Shinto connection or is there to create a natural background for the performance. A narrow bridge is usually set to the right of the stage and serves as the means by which actors enter and exit. Above the stage is a hook to raise and lower a bell for one specific Noh drama called Dojoji.

The costumes worn during Noh dramas were very symbolic. Many were made of silk and were specifically colored or featured designs that defined their character. Someone playing a kami (spirit or god) associated with fire, for example, would be dressed in a bright red outfit. Musicians and members of the chorus wore special black kimono decorated with family crests, while stage hands wore very simple black outfits similar to stage hands in the West.

Masks also feature in Noh. Generally, only the shite, or main protagonist, wears a mask, but sometimes other characters do as well, especially female characters. The mask helps define these characters as female or as animals, spirits, and gods. Some also wear Noh masks to make themselves appear younger or older. Many of these Noh masks, especially the older ones, are very valuable and rarely used. Most are kept in private collections.

As far as props go, the most used prop is the fan. All characters have a fan even if they aren’t expected to use it during the performance. However, it’s often used during dance sequences to represent weapons or other items. Stage props and decorations are usually placed on the stage before the act in which they are featured begins. Usually, they are very simple, sometimes only shaped like the item the represent and not greatly decorated.

Music is also very important in Noh. Each performance is accompanied by an ensemble and chorus. However, the chorus chants more than it sings, and even the singing is done in a limited range. While the text itself is poetic, it isn’t focused on melodies. Music is usually performed on three different sized drums and a flute.

Railways in Japan

One thing Japan is well-known for is its super fast bullet trains. There are very few forms of land transportation faster than these. However, long before the bullet trains, railways played an important part in Japanese history. While first introduced to Japan through Dutch traders, Russians, and the British, there wasn’t a full scale railway in service in Japan until the Meiji Restoration.

In 1869, the new Japanese government approved the construction of the first railway between Shimbashi and Yokohama. Financed by the United Kingdom, it opened in 1872. Instead of using the standard 4 foot gauge, however, for some unknown reason this first railway used a three foot six inch gauge. Although no one is sure why, this narrower gauge became the standard in Japan.

The railways were at first nationalized, but after the Satsuma Rebellion, the government simply didn’t have the finances to expand the network of railways. To make this expansion faster, Nippon Railway was founded and the railway construction was privatized. The rail network quickly expanded, and soon other railway companies were created. While the national railway did open more tracks, most of the work was done by private companies.

In 1906, the government passed the Railway Nationalization Act. This act nationalized nearly every trunk railway line, putting the national railway back in control of much of the railway network. While the government now controlled these rails, they didn’t have the money to both maintain them and expand the network. Thus, the Light Railway Act was passed to encourage private companies to build more light railways to many country and lesser populated areas.

During World War II, the Japanese government forcibly took over more than twenty railway companies and their lines. They then began limiting the number of civilian passengers on trains and using the railway more and more for military transportation. In 1944, all first class cars, dining cars, and sleeping cars were removed from use. Following this, some railway lines were ordered to remove one track from all double track lines and to turn the metal over to the government so it could be used in military vehicles.

As colonizes and territories of the Japanese empire, Japan oversaw the construction of some railways in Taiwan and Korea as well. After World War II, of course, these railways were given to those countries expand and maintain. In fact, all railways in Japan were under military control following World War II.

During WWII, bombing runs damaged many railways. During the occupation, many railways quickly repaired the damage and began services again. Some lines, however, were completely abandoned. One, the Yui Rail line to Okinawa, wasn’t replaced until 2003.

Following World War II, even though most railways were up and running, many weren’t able to field as many trains as they would have liked due to a lack of coal. This lead to overcrowded trains, which in true lead to many accidents. Also, just like the military-only trains during the world, the US forces were given priority over civilians, and some trains were restricted to Ally personnel only.

Starting in the early 1950s, coal trains were replaced with electric ones. By 1976, all steam locomotives had been replaced, and trains changed over from locomotive propelled systems to the multiple unit systems in which the cars propelled themselves. These self-propelled cars were still controlled by one main engine, but that engine no longer had to pull the entire train.

The 1960s saw Japan’s economy greatly improve, which lead to advancements across the board. The railway wasn’t exempt from this increased economy, and in 1964, the first high-speed railway opened. This began what has been referred to as the golden age of the railways and marked the use of express and overnight trains.

As time went on, more and more people began using city lines instead of those that went out to the country. Competition between private rail companies also increased, and more and more began favoring efficiency over safety. This trend was blamed for the large Amagasaki rail crash that occurred in 2005 and lead many companies to reevaluate their priorities.

However, the efficiently, punctuality, and incredibly fast transportation still remain the trademarks of the Japanese railway system to this day. Japan holds the record for the longest railway tunnel (the Seikan Tunnel) and the record for the fastest train, the JR-maglev train. The railways of Japan have long provided transportation for the citizens of the country, and no one can deny the importance the railway has had on the history of the country.

Sen no Rikyu

Sen no Rikyu, also called Sen Rikyu, is known as the inventor of the modern Japanese tea ceremony. He took the ceremony as it was and added many of today’s traditional concepts and rituals. Rikyu studied tea as a young man, plus he had some training in Zen.

Oda Nobunaga appointed Rikyu as his tea master, a position Rikyu kept when Nobunaga was succeeded by Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi gave Rikyu several large estates for his service, and in 1585, the emperor gave Rikyu the Buddhist name Koji in recognition of his services to the tea ceremony.

During his later years, Rikyu began holding his tea ceremonies in small, rustic tearooms and houses. He was the first to decorate these rooms with flowers and other objects, often finding ways of using the tea ceremony implements as decoration.

Rikyu introduced the use of raku teabowls and other simple items over the expensive, highly decorated Chinese items. Rikyu’s use of only simple items in his tea ceremony was quite different from the tea ceremonies that were performed at the court and by the upper class.

While Hideyoshi and Rikyu were quite close at one point, in 1591, after a falling out between the two, Hideyoshi ordered Rikyu to commit seppuku, or ritual suicide. At age 70 and after holding one of his finest tea ceremonies, Rikyu followed his orders and killed himself. Later, Hideyoshi regretted his decision.

Rikyu was buried at the Jukoin temple in Kyoto.

Shinto

Shinto, a polytheist religion focused on worshipping kami, is the native religion of the Japanese. It was also the state religion for a period of time. The kami, or spirits, are broken down into a hierarchy of local, regional, and global spirits. Shinto is animistic, and its followers believe that everything in nature has a spirit of some sort.

The term Shinto combines two Chinese kanji—shin meaning spirits and to, or path. Most translate the word, therefore, as path of the spirits or of the gods. Today, Shinto has changed from the way it was first practiced and shows influence of Buddhism and other cultural shifts.

Traditionally, there are four different schools within the Shinto belief. Ko Shinto, the oldest, teaches followers its system of training and exercise. Folk Shinto includes many different folk deities and spirits. Those who follow Folk Shinto believe in spirit possessions, shamanic healing, and more. This form of Shinto includes practices from Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism as well.

Sect Shinto, on the other hand, features thirteen different sects. These sects follow the worship of mountains, including Mount Fuji, and some believe in faith-healing and purification. Sect Shinto does not include shrines or other special religious locations; their services are held in plainer meeting halls. Finally, Shrine Shinto, the main branch of Shinto, is the most prevalent and main branch of Shinto.

Of course, there are even more splinter versions of Shinto than these four, but they are not very prevalent, and most are made up of only a small group of followers.

Shinto Defined

Shinto, as an animistic religion, is closely related to other shamanist religions from around the world. Followers concern themselves mainly with dealing with the world around them, not preparing for the afterlife or next life. Shinto has no official set of dogma, no holy cities or locations, no defined list of prayers or rituals that must be performed, and no ruling kami or spirit, characteristics that often make it hard for Westerns to grasp.

While Shinto began in Japan and many Japanese grew up with Shinto beliefs, the religion does not prohibit contact with other religions or including other religious practices. In fact, Shinto includes many elements from China and early Chinese religions

Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism have also had an influence in Shinto, just as many Shinto beliefs and practices have influenced these religions. Buddhism and Shinto, in particular, have melded and borrowed from each other over the centuries. Some of the new religions that have appeared in Japan since World War II also bear marked resemblance to Shinto in some ways.

Despite this open attitude towards other beliefs, Shinto has been the center of some controversy. During the Showa period, for example, Shinto was used almost as a military ideology. Many feel like their religion was hijacked by the government at this point and used to set the Japanese against those of “inferior” religions. Even after World War II and the end of state-supported Shinto, some factions still believe that Shinto should have a more prominent place in Japanese society and that the Emperor should be shown more respect for his role as spiritual leader.

Shinto Themes

One of the most important and central theme to Shinto is to live and revere nature in all its forms. Kami exist in water, rocks, plants, animals, and the moon; in people; and even in some abstract ideas like fertility, death, and change. The concept of kami, in fact, has shifted a bit from being focused on nature to being focus on abstract ideas and anthropomorphic personifications. However, the ancients myths and stories associated with these abstract ideas and with kami themselves are still told, and the nature-based worship of Shinto still plays an important part in the religion.

Kami

The kami, while recognized as spirits and even as gods, are not put on the same level as gods and other deities are in Western religions. They are divine, but they are more closely related to humans than Western deities. Kami live in the same world as people, make mistakes, and even have feelings. Upon death, many believe that people become kami themselves, with their spirit being characterized by their actions in life. This belief even extends to those who are not Shinto themselves. For example, Shinto followers may recognize Mother Theresa as a kami of peace and humbleness even though she herself was not a Shinto believer.

Kami come in two varieties: every thing in nature has its own kami, but there is also a greater kami watching over each type of mineral, animal, plant, and aspect. Every cat has a kami, for example, plus there is a guardian kami over all cats. The kami most widely known and worshipped is that of the sun, the goddess Amaterasu. However, she isn’t worshipped as the leader of the kami or even invoked specifically for aid or advice. Many shrines are dedicated to Amaterasu, with the Ise Shrine being the main shrine. Generally, Amaterasu is symbolized by a mirror, a reference to the myth in which she hid in a cave until her light was reflected in a mirror to draw her out.

Amaterasu was once believed to be the mother of the very first emperor, giving all his descendents the right to rule as divine figures. However, this changes after World War II and the new Japanese constitution that regulated the emperor to more of a figurehead role.

Despite this divine status, the military had no trouble making the emperors into figureheads during the periods when the shoguns ruled Japan. Even though the emperor is no longer considered divine, the imperial family is still heavily involved in Shinto rituals and in symbolically representing Japan.

The Afterlife

One of the most interesting aspects of Shinto is that a person does not have to publicly claim to be Shinto in order to be a part of the religion. When a child is born, the nearest Shinto shrine adds his or her name to the list of children kept at the shrine. When they die, that person’s list is moved over to the family spirit list. If a person moves, they can request that their name be added at the shrine near their new home. Names may be added to the shrine’s list without the knowledge or consent of the person, and their religious beliefs do not matter. However, the person does not have to ever be Shinto, and the Shinto religion is not forced on him or her.

Often, a person will practice both Buddhism and Shinto since the two are very complimentary to each other. Because of this, it’s not unusual for a Shinto person to have a Buddhist funeral.

The Four Affirmations

Shinto has no list of commandments or rules for its followers, many adhere to the concept of the four affirmations of Shinto:
Family and Tradition – one must always remember where one came from and honor one’s family. This is often done with celebrations at marriages and at births.
Nature – reverence for nature and natural objects puts one in closer contact with the kami.
Cleanliness – being physically clean is important to Shinto since physical cleanliness reflects on how one sees themselves and the world.
Matsuri – the matsuri is a festival celebrating the kami, and many are held for various kami every year.

Remaining Pure

In Shinto, certain deeds lead one to becoming impure. Once such a thing happens, one must perform a ritual to cleanse one’s mind and to make certain the kami do not cause bad fortunate. However, it should be noted that being impure is not wrong or evil; it can simply cause one to be upset or anxious over the wrongdoing. These dirty events include anything that does not show respect to others and for nature. If one does not take into account the thoughts, feelings, and well-being of others and of the kami, they become impure. This is especially true if they steal, do something to take away another’s

Failure to show proper respect can be seen as a lack of concern for others, looked down on because it is believed to create problems for all. Those who fail to take into account the feelings of other people and kami will only bring ruin on themselves. The worst expression of such an attitude is the taking of another's life or doing harm to another for personal advancement or enjoyment.

Today, many Shinto place importance on ritual phrases such as those said when meeting another person or before eating. These phrases show thanks to others and, in the case of the phrase said before eating, show respect to the animals and plants the person is about to eat. Not showing respect reveals a person has a lack of concern for people and kami, something that can create many problems for everyone.

Purifying Oneself

If one has become impure due to some event, there is a purification ceremony that can cleanse away the impurity. This is generally done by water. A person may stand under a waterfall, in the ocean, or in any body of water and ask for forgiveness. Another form of purification involves avoiding certain situations, phrases, or activities that one enjoys. This doesn’t always involve being impure. For example, a person who has recently lost their spouse will not attend a wedding for fear that their bereavement would taint the joyful beginning of the new union.

Purification ceremonies are also often used for new buildings and even events. Shinto priests often perform a blessing ceremony at the groundbreaking of new buildings. One notable instance of this is that all Japanese car factories built outside of Japan have been blessed by a priest, and they often re-purify the buildings yearly. Also, events like the crowning of a new emperor or the beginning of a peace conference are often blessed.

Shinto Shrines

Most kami are worshipped at public shrines or at small household shrines. Most public shrines are small and fairly plain, although there are some more elaborate ones. Large shrines have a torii, the traditional Japanese gate, in front of them. These gates are believed to be barriers between the living world and the world of the kami. Guardian animal statues are often places on either side of the gate to guard the entrance. Today, over 100,000 Shinto shrines exist in Japan. Nearly all festivals held in Japan are celebrated at shrines, and they are open to anyone who wishes to visit.

Each shrine has its own Shinto priest, with the larger shrines having groups of them. These priests were a ceremonial jo-e robe when performing rituals. Often, they are asked to petition the kami for assistance, whether it be for a wedding, admission to a good university, or a child. One can even ask for ill fortune to others, but this is generally frowned upon.

Shinto priests generally do not perform funeral rites because most Japanese prefer Buddhist funeral ceremonies. This is because Shinto places little emphasis on the afterlife, and there are few funeral rituals.

Ema

Ema are small pictures or characters written on a small tablet. These tablets are then hung at a Shinto shrine to represent the wish or prayer of the person who hangs it. This practice comes from the medieval times. During that time, the wealthy would donate actual animals or items to the shrine in return for the favor of that shrine’s god. However, this quickly became a rather expensive practice. To curtain this expense, people began leaving pictures of items instead of the item itself when praying for small things. This soon became the practice for all prayers and wishes.

Kagura

The kagura is a ritual dance used in many Shinto ceremonies. According to legend, when Amaterasu hid inside her cave and took away the sun, all of the gods and goddesses gathered outside the cave to lure her out. One, Ame-no-uzeme, began dancing and chanting loudly in an attempt to pique Amaterasu’s curiosity. Eventually, Amaterasu left the cavern and restored light to the world.

The kagura dance is very ritualized. All aspects of the dance are highly ceremonial and crucial, including selecting the instruments, selecting the area in which to dance, setting up the instruments, and dressing for the dance. The music involved often revolves around a pattern of drum beats in either five or seven. The drummer also often sings songs to the kami, although these songs are often overshadowed by the loud drumming and dancing. Many believed that the dancers or drummers were actually possessed by kami during the kagura, although today, that is no longer the case. Today’s kagura are usually very choreographed, although some to recreate the high jumps and wild dancing associated with possession by a kami.

There are several different types of kagura performs today. Those performed at the imperial palace, for example, are different from those performed in shrines in the countryside. The main types of these kagura are miko kagura, Ise kagura, Izumo kagura, and shishi kagura.

Miko kagura, the oldest kagura dance, is performed by women during festivals. While originally these women were all shamans, today, most are priestesses who serve at the Shinto shrine. Miko kagura dances focus on circular movements and make use of bells and fans.

The Ise kagura are ritual dances based on water rituals. These dancers often dip various items into pots of water while dancing. They then sprinkle this water in the four directions of the compass and on observers in order to purify and bless them.

Izumo kagura are generally danced only at the Sada shrine of Izumo. During some of these dances, the dancers were masks and perform dances that retell some of the more traditional Japanese myths.

Finall, shishi kagura are also danced while wearing a mask. Most often, these masks are of lions painted either red or black. Most have special features such as moving ears or mouths. Some of these dances focus more on acrobatics and tricks rather than on the rituals they once were centered around.

Relations Between Shinto and Buddhism

When Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the fifth and sixth centuries, it had an immediate effect on both the Japanese people and on the Shinto religion. The Japanese, seeing much they liked in the new religion, began merging its beliefs with Shinto. Much of this was done in the Nara period with the writing of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. These two collections of myths brought in many Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist thoughts and ideas into the established Japanese religion. These writings also helped cement the idea that the emperor was descended from Amaterasu and was of divine origin.

In fact, it wasn’t until the introduction of Buddhism that Shinto itself was actually named. Before then, the system of beliefs had no need for a name because there was no other system competing against it. While this new religion gave Shinto a name, the two systems of belief were not actually in direct competition. In fact, most Japanese began practicing both religions since the ideas behind them were very compatible. When these ideas did contradict each other, the Japanese found ways of merging them. The Buddhist idea of reincarnation, for example, could apply to the kami if one assumed that kami died and were reborn on earth. Others saw the kami as incarnations of the various Buddhas, a role which also worked quite well.

The two religions began to intertwine, and after several centuries, it was hard to tell which beliefs had originally been Shinto and which were influenced by outside religions. Some scholars have attempted to unravel the various belief systems, but few have had any real success. Shinto and Buddhism beliefs were so intertwined that it wasn’t until after the Meiji Restoration and the establishment of Shinto as the state religion that the two were separated, and even then, it wasn’t entirely possible to separate the two.

Shinto as the State Religion

After the Meiji Restoration, the government proclaimed Shinto the official state religion, even going so far as to ban its combination with Buddhist rituals in 1868. Imperial edicts went out commanding Shinto be restored to its original form and that all inclusion of Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist beliefs and rituals be purged.

Many believed that this state-supported Shinto religion would serve as a way of further unifying the country and empowering the emperor. They feared being invaded and colonized by Western countries and believed that only by forging a strong, unified nation could Japan remain independent.

To this end, the Ministry of Divinities was created in 1871 to oversee Shinto. A system of levels was created that divided shrines according to their importance, with the Ise Shrine at the top. The next year, the Ministry of Divinities was renamed the Ministry of Religion, and its focus changed to teaching moral courses to the people. The ministry also began organizing priests and disseminating Shinto dogma to children, especially those passages and legends pertaining to the emperor’s divine status.

Over the next few decades, Shinto and the nationalist agenda became more and more intertwined. In 1890, students were required to recite a number of oaths to the state and swear to protect the royal family. The emperor became more and more a figure to worship rather than a human. Soon, Shinto and patriotism were intertwined as closely as Shinto and Buddhism once were.

This intertwining was used during the Showa period to convince people to support the more radical military action the government proposed. State-imposed Shinto was one of the main ways the government convinced people to support Japan’s involvement in World War II. However, Shinto would again undergo a major change after the war.

Shinto Following WWII

After Japan lost the war, many changes were introduced. As part of the conditions of surrender, Emperor Showa announced that the imperial line was not divine and that the emperor was to be regarded simply as a man, not as the descendant of the sun goddess. The Ministry of Religion was disbanded, and Shinto was no longer the state religion.

Since 1945, Shinto and Buddhism are once again practiced side by side, and their rituals are often intertwined again. Some Shinto rituals, especially those created or required during the time it was the state religion, are no longer practiced as often as they were. Others, like the new year celebration and the fortune-telling activities, have lost much of their religion connotations and are celebrated by all regardless of their faith.

Shinto Today

Many in Japan today practice some of the various Shinto rituals, and even many of those who claim no religion have a small Shinto altar in their house. Shinto festivals and rituals are held often and are open to all. Most of the Shinto still practiced today is more closely related to the folk religion instead of the state-approved version of Shinto.

While not widely practiced outside of Japan, there are Shinto shrines in Hawaii, Brazil, Canada, and in the Netherlands. There are also some non-Japanese Shinto priests, although this number is quite small. However, there is nothing preventing non-Japanese from practicing Shinto or attending Shinto services at any shrine.

Shinto Effects on Japanese Culture

Because of its status as Japan’s native religion, much of Japanese culture is inseparable from Shinto beliefs and customs. Nearly every major Japanese cultural practice is rooted in Shinto in some way. These practices include flower arranging, garden design, sumo wrestling, architecture, Japanese greetings, removing one’s shoes before entering a home, and using wooden chopsticks can all be traced back to a Shinto idea or practice. Truly, no matter what one does in Japan, one feels the influence of Shinto.

Sumo

One of the most widely known Japanese sports is Sumo. In sumo, two wrestlers grapple with each other, with the goal being either to push one’s opponent outside of the circle or to make them touch the ground with any other part of their body except their feet. Sumo began in Japan, and it’s currently the only country where sumo is considered a professional sport.

However, sumo is more than just a sport like football or basketball. There are many rituals and even religious elements involved in the content of the two wrestlers. Many of these rituals are connected to Shinto. A professional sumo wrestler, or rikishi, have many different rules and regulations they must follow. These rules were created by the Sumo Association and regulate everything from meals to clothing to where they can live.

One interesting note is that, unlike wrestling and some other competitive sports, there are no weight classes in sumo. This means that a wrestler can end up competing against someone double his size in some cases.

The Beginning of Sumo

Sumo actually began as a ritual at court and shrines. The dances carried out as part of the ritual symbolized the fighter wrestling with a divine spirit, or kami. As history progressed, these fights become more open and less choreographed. Some also because using this type of wrestling as combat training.

Sumo began being held in a ring around the 16th century, and most credit Oda Nobunaga for its creation. During the many tournaments he held, wrestlers would strive to throw one another outside of the ring. This ring, called a dohyo, was at first simply a circle drawn in the ground. Today, it’s made out of rice bales set on top of a platform made out of clay and sand. A new ring is created for each tournament.

The tradition of sumo wrestlers wearing only a loincloth can also be traced back to this day. It wasn’t until the Edo period that these loincloths became must stiffer. Many of the other clothing and accessories associated with Shinto also originated during the Edo period, when sumo became a sport. Many early sumo wrestlers were samurai, especially masterless ronin, who needed to find ways of making money.

Religious Aspects of Shinto

Like the Shinto religion, sumo has often been seen as something uniquely Japanese and a symbol around which the Japanese could unite. This was especially true during World War II when the government very heavily promoted Japanese loyalty.

Because Shinto and sumo are so intertwined, it was especially praised during World War II. Before every sumo tournament, two Shinto priests perform a consecration ritual over the freshly created ring. Then there are specific ceremonies for the athletes to perform before they enter the ring, after the bout, and more. Sometimes, the sumo purification rituals are even performed at Shinto shrines to purify a new shrine or location.

Sumo Tournaments

Six major sumo tournaments are held every year. They include three tournaments held in Tokyo at the Sumo Hall, one held in Osaka, one in Nagoya, and one held in Fukuoka. Each tournament runs for 15 days, and attendance is quite large.

Before the tournament begins, the wrestlers enter their changing rooms. The locations are set up in such a way so that those wrestlers who will compete against each other will not see each other before the beginning ritual or their match. In the changing rooms, the wrestlers put on embroidered silk apron-like outfits that are worn during the entering ceremony. At the appointed time, each wrestler proceeds to the ring where they are introduced to the audience. Then the purification ceremony is performed before the wrestlers return to the changing rooms.

After putting on their mawashi, or loin cloths worn during the match, each waits for his bout to begin. They re-enter the arena and, before entering the ring, perform several different Shinto rituals that include clapping, stomping, and drinking a ladle of water. Once these rituals are complete, the two face each other, spread their arms to show that they are unarmed, and then, after returning to their corners, throw salt in the ring to purify it once again.

Finally, the wrestlers will move to the starting lines drawn inside the ring and crouch, staring at each other. There is no signal given to start the match. Either wrestler can make the first move. Once the two have charged each other, the bout begins. However, in some bouts, especially upper division ones, neither will charge forward to begin the bout. In this case, they may return to their corners and then approach again. More salt is thrown into the ring whenever this occurs. Some wrestlers may step back to their corners several times. If the referee feels that this has gone on too many times, he can tell the two wrestlers that they must begin the bout.

The wrestlers must also leap from their crouch at the same time. If they don’t, the referee can restart the match. The referee must also declare the winner when the match is over, and while this is often obvious, sometimes the referee’s decision is disputed. In that case, the five judges spread around the ring will come forward and discuss the decision. Once this is done, the two wrestlers will return to the ring, bow to each other, and then return to the changing rooms.

The audience can be quite vocal if the referee, the judges make a decision they do not like, or a favored wrestler loses to a lower ranked opponent. Despite all of the pomp and rituals surrounding sumo, it’s not uncommon for the audience to throw their seat cushions at wrestlers, even though the official sumo rules forbid this.

While the preparation time may take an hour or more, the bouts themselves are very short. Sometimes, they last a few minutes, but most are finished in less than a minute. If a bout lasts more than four minutes, the referee may call for a water break. After a few minutes, the referee repositions the two wrestlers in exactly the same position as they were in before the break. Then the bout continues. If no winner is declared after four more minutes, the referee calls a second break. Then the wresters completely restart the bout. If there’s still no winner in this second bout, the referee can declare a draw. However, this very, very rarely occurs. In fact, as of 2008, the last draw declared in an upper level division match was in September of 1974.

On the final day of the tournament, the Emperor’s Cup and other sponsored prizes are awarded to the top division winner. Other prizes, such as those for technique and spirit, are also awarded at this time.

Living as a Professional Wrestler

The Sumo Association has a specific list of requirements every professional sumo wrestler must follow. Some laws are based on Shinto rituals or on older traditions, while others are based on more recent events. Wrestlers live in special sumo communes where they train and live under stablemasters, the term used for the commune head. If a sumo wrestler breaks any of the association’s rules, he and his stablemaster will be fined. The stablemasters, former wrestlers, are the only people allowed by the association to train new sumo wrestlers. There are over 50 different stables in Japan.

Sumo wrestlers are instructed to wear specific outfits whenever in public, and they must grow their hair out so that it can be made into a topknot during bouts. The outfits they wear are determined by their rank. The lower ranked wrestlers, for example, are only allowed to wear thin robes no matter what the weather is like. Likewise, the lower ranked wrestlers must wake up earlier and do more menial chores in the commune.

When a new wrestler joins a commune, he is given a shikona, which is basically his wrestling stage name. Sometimes, wrestlers are allowed to choose their own, but often, it is given to him by his stablemaster or by a sponsor. Sometimes, a wrestler will change his name several times during his career, although some never take a stage name.

The rituals of the sumo lifestyle do have many benefits, including discipline and motivation. However, sumo has been criticized as promoting some danger as well. Sumo wrestlers rarely live to be more than 60, and many have high blood pressure or diabetes. Arthritis and other joint pains are also common.

Despite all of this, the higher ranked sumo wrestlers make a nice amount of income, especially if they win sponsored tournaments. Bonuses increase the higher ranked the wrestler is.

While sumo is only practiced professionally in Japan, there are a number of foreign wrestlers. Some have even broken into the top divisions. While there used to be no restrictions on foreign wrestlers competing in professional tournaments, that rule changed in 1992 after one commune recruited six foreign wrestlers in a year. After that, an unofficial ban was placed on recruiting foreign wrestlers. In 2002, an official rule of one foreign wrestler per commune was passed.

Amateur Sumo Wrestlers

In addition to professional wrestlers in Japan, the sport is also practiced on the college and high school levels. There are also some amateur tournaments open to anyone. These amateur contests don’t feature as many rituals or as much prize money. While many participate in these amateur contests for fun, those who seriously want to be a professional sumo wrestler must quickly make their mark—professionals must be recruited into a commune by 23.

Tea Ceremony

One of the most traditional of Japanese ceremonies is the Japanese tea ceremony. This very ritualized way of preparing and serving tea to guests was once a highly respected ceremony performed for all guests. Today, it’s become more of a hobby than an expectation, and many Japanese visit local tearooms or take lessons with a tea ceremony master.

History

While it’s mainly known as a Japanese cultural ceremony, the tea ceremony actually began in China. Tea has been cultivated for over 2,500 years in China, where it was used as a traditional medicine. Buddhist monks used tea to stay alert while medicating, and when they visited Japan around 800 AD, they brought tea with them. While tea was enjoyed as a drink at this time, the tea ceremony had yet to be introduced.

In 1191, Eisai the Buddhism monk returned to Japan with tea seeds to plant. He also brought back the concept of the tea ceremony as it was practiced in Chinese Buddhist temples. His book Preservation of Health Through Drinking Tea introduced many of the Chinese medicinal benefits of tea to Japan as well as the rituals surrounding its preparation and drinking.

The tea ceremony was first used in monasteries. In the fourteenth century, these monks began establishing rules for the “proper” way of serving tea. Their tea ceremony soon spread to the aristocrats and the samurai class. However,, the ceremony shifted away from the religions and became more of a contest involving the use of expensive tea sets from China. The upper classes also started changing the ceremony as they saw fit, eventually changing the entire process of making the tea.

The Ceremony Itself

When people gather for a tea ceremony, they are gathering to meditate and reflect on the ideas of respect, harmony, tranquility, and peace. The ceremony generally takes place in a small room or hut set apart from the main house. Guests wait on the machiai, a small type of porch unattached to the building, until the ceremony master calls them in. They then walk from the machiai down a small path to the hut. This walk acts as a purification rite before the enter the teahouse. Once they do, they settle themselves on the tatami mats. The host is not present at this point; instead, he or she enters the tea area once all of the guests are settled.

The hut itself is decorated quite simply, with only a few flowers and wall scrolls as color. It’s also very small, usually no more than ten by ten. The table used, like most traditional tables in Japan, is low to the ground, and guests sit on the floor. During the warm months, tea ceremonies are held before the heat of the day. During colder months, guests attend tea during the evening.

Special utensils are used as well. They are generally made of lacquer, bamboo, and ceramics, and they’re used together to promote harmony through the contrasting materials.

The host first serves kaiseki, a meal composed of seven light courses. Typically, the serving dishes are ceramic and are presented on black lacquer trays. For an intentional contrast, the fifth course, or Hassun, may be served on a tray made of cedar. Soup, rice, fish, and pickles comprise the usual menu, served with small portions of sake, or rice wine. The final course is a sweet, often made with a bean paste.

After the kaiseki is completed, the host prepares the tea. The matcha, or finely powdered green tea, is kept in a ceramic container in a silk bag. The host scoops a portion of the tea into a ceramic tea bowl and carefully adds simmering water. With a small bamboo whisk the host mixes the tea and the water until the drink is frothy and green. Finally, the tea is served.

While this sounds simple enough, there are a number of rules that apply:

  • Be prompt in arriving so your host can begin on time.
  • Remove your shoes when entering a Japanese home -- the host will provide slippers to wear.
  • Drink the entire portion of tea and eat everything served.
  • Turn the tea bowl slightly to avoid drinking tea from the front side.
  • Smoking is generally prohibited in the tea room.
  • Each implement used in a tea gathering has been thoughtfully selected by the host and has special meaning. They should be treated as objects of appreciation. Admire them and compliment your host with sincerity. This is the most important responsibility of a guest.

After two or three days, call or write a note of thanks to express your appreciation.

Tea in contemporary Japan

Today, the tea ceremony is still an important traditional culture to the Japanese people. In addition to the tea ceremony instructors, students can often join the tea ceremony club in order to learn the tea ceremony in school. While Japan is known as a country on the leading edge of technology, they’re also a country of deep tradition, and the tea ceremony is one of the most important cultural traditions still observed today.

The History of Geishas

Many people who do not understand Japanese culture think of geishas as prostitutes, but this is not the case. Instead, geishas are part of what is considered traditional Japanese entertainment and are skilled in a wide variety of Japanese art forms including the performance of tea ceremonies, music, and dance, which have otherwise fallen by the wayside. The English translation for the word actually means performing artist. However, there are prostitutes that dress up the part of the geisha and they distinguish themselves by wearing the bow of their kimono in the front while traditional geisha wear theirs at the back.

The traditional view of the geisha to the western world is a woman in the full white make-up with an elaborate hairstyle and kimono; however, this is actually an apprentice geisha or maiko. Many women do not have to go through the stage of being a maiko, and if they are over twenty one they go directly into training to become a geisha, but if they choose to go through apprenticeship they are seen as a more prestigious professional. The typical training process for a maiko to become a geisha is anywhere from six months to a years, depending on the regional location of the geisha. This is because the training of an apprentice takes much longer in Kyoto.

In the early days of geisha customs training actually began at a much younger age and it took considerably longer to become a practicing geisha. Most girls that chose to become a geisha were following in the footsteps of their mother, although in some instances it has been reported that some girls were abandoned at geisha houses, but this wasn’t common practice at the more reputable geisha establishments. However they came to be there, one of the very first things that young girls arriving at the geisha house would have to do is work as maids. This first level was known as the shikomi stage. The work was often extremely difficult and many girls did not make it past this stage. The intent was to use this period to help weed out those who were not strong enough to make it as geishas. During this time the shikomi girls would also have to take classes at the geisha school in order to learn as much as they could about the styles, traditions and customs of becoming a geisha.

After the shikomi had become a proficient student, and had passed an exam that demonstrated their dancing abilities, she could go onto the minarai stage of geisha training. At this time the chores and housekeeping work of the minarai ends and she is instead shown a more intensive level of training in which they attend the banquets, but they do not participate in the functions or speak. Most of the training would have taken place at a tea house and they would have learned a great deal of information from the owner of the tea house as most of the traditional skills in geisha interaction with guests are not taught at a school and are instead learned directly in the field.

After about a month, the minarai would progress to the maiko stage of training and would formerly become known as apprentice geisha. Most of their learning then comes from a senior geisha that they adopt as their onee-san, or older sister. The relationship between the two geisha is as important as any apprentice-mentor relationship, and would form the young apprentice’s practices later on in her career. This is because the onee-san would teach the maiko how to properly do things like serve tea, dance, converse with the guests, and play the shamisen. Once the maiko became a geisha, the onee-san would pick the maiko’s new professional name using a different variation of her own name. This is still the custom when incoming geisha elect to go through the maiko stage.

Today, many women begin the preparations to become geisha as early as the completion of junior high, but some wait until after they have finished college to join a geisha house. Even if the woman has finished higher education, she must still go through preparation in order to learn and understand all of the customs and traditions surrounding traditional geisha culture. This includes learning instruments like the bamboo flute and drums as well as songs that can be sung to accompany the music and the traditional Japanese dances. Another important facet of a geisha’s abilities is being able to select the right kimono, take part in the tea ceremony, as well as understand Japanese literature and poetry. Many of these traditions are so complex that a new geisha has to learn through observing others as they deal with clients.

Another highly involved aspect of a geisha is the application of her makeup and the heavily layered kimono that she must wear. The customary white powder base, red lipstick, and black lined eyes of a geisha’s makeup, are one of the most recognizable traits of the profession. The makeup is applied before the girl puts on her kimono, and can take hours for the process to be completed. Before the base can even be applied an oil substance must first be applied to the skin to protect it. Then the rice powder is mixed into a paste and brushed onto the skin until it creates the illusion that the girl is wearing a mask.

The different ways in which the lipstick is applied indicated the different levels for geisha. For example, the maiko will not color in the top lip during her first year and new geisha will often only color in the top lip. Established geisha will wear the top lip completely colored in and the bottom lip will be a stripe that goes through its center. Also, the maiko will often wear their makeup all of the time in a bright, playful style, that will mature as she grows older to symbolize her transition into adulthood.

The kimonos that geisha wear are generally very bright and luxurious. The bow worn at the back of the kimono, or obi, is always going to be more exotic than the rest of the suit in order to maintain a sense of balance. The maiko’s kimono is more extravagant and can be up to fifteen layers. The styles of the kimonos worn by all geisha will change depending on the season and the type of party the geisha is attending. The process of learning to chose the perfect kimono for the occasion is something that is stressed and taught during the apprentice portion of a geisha’s training. The elaborate embroidery and painting that is involved in making a kimono can cause the garment to take up to three years to complete.

Another recognizable trait of a geisha is the hairstyles. While this may have varied throughout the early years of geishas, the style that is seen today was first established during the sixteen hundreds. There are four different variations of the classic shimada hairstyle: the taka, the tsubushi, the uiwata, and the momoware, worn only by maiko. The styles are very elaborate and are highlighted with the use of very beautiful hair bins and combs. In the older era of the geisha women would have to sleep in their hairstyles on special pillows to keep from having to have their hair continuously redone and the hairstyles would often cause such stress to the top of the head that many women would go bald over time. Today maiko still use their real hair, but most modern geisha choose instead to use wigs which must be kept up by professional stylists skilled in the art of hairstyling.

The highly complex and traditional world of the geisha has caused it to be somewhat of a falling practice as it is believed that there are only about two thousand practicing geisha remaining compared to the more than eighty thousand geisha that were a part of the Japanese culture in the nineteen twenties. Most of the geisha who are seen out in public today are either there for publicity purposes or are tourists who have paid a price to be able to dress like the traditional geisha. There are several hypotheses as to why the decline in geishas has occurred, but many believe that it is because of a growing disinterest in the traditional arts and the fact that geishas are supposed to remain single. This restriction sometimes prohibits young women from wanting to take part in the culture. Whatever the reason for the continuing decreasing trend, it is certain that the complex world of the geisha is highly involved and still intriguing to many outsiders.