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Azai Nagamasa (浅井長政, 1545–1573) was the last head of the Azai clan (浅井氏), a Sengoku-period daimyō who ruled northern Ōmi Province from Odani Castle (小谷城). Remembered as both the brother-in-law and one of the fiercest opponents of Oda Nobunaga (織田信長, 1534–1582), he occupies a distinctive place in...
History
The Battle of Nomoto (935)
The Battle of Nomoto (野本合戦) was fought in the second month of Jōhei 5 (承平5年, 935) between the forces of Taira no Masakado (平将門, 903–940) and Minamoto no Tasuku (源扶), eldest son of the former governor Minamoto no Mamoru (源護). Fought near Nomoto (野本) on the border of Hitachi Province (常陸国) and...
Shrine
Kanda Myojin Shrine
Tōkyō Travel Guide: Kanda Myōjin Shrine
Kanda Shrine (神田神社 Kanda-jinja), officially known as Kanda Myōjin (神田明神), is located in Chiyoda Ward, Tōkyō, and ranks among the oldest shrines in the Kantō region. It was the main tutelary shrine of Edo, venerated by the edokko (江戸っ子), the inhabitants of...
Castle
Nihonmatsu Castle
Nihonmatsu Castle (二本松城), also known as Kasumigajō (霞ヶ城, "Misty Castle"), is a Japanese hilltop castle in present-day Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. Built atop Shiro-yama (城山), it occupied a strategically important position overlooking the route through central Fukushima. It served as the...
History
The Ritsuryō System 律令
The ritsuryō (律令) system was the legal and administrative system that governed Japan from the late seventh century to the early Heian period. Based on Chinese models, particularly those of the Tang dynasty, it combined a comprehensive criminal code (ritsu) with an administrative code (ryō)...
History
Shizoku 士族
The shizoku (士族) were the descendants of Japan's former samurai class who retained a distinct legal status after the Meiji Restoration. Established in 1869 as part of the new government's sweeping social reforms, the category encompassed most former warriors who were not elevated to the new...
Godai Tomoatsu (五代友厚, 1836-1885), also known as Godai Saisuke, was born in the castle town of Kagoshima, Satsuma domain (modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture), as the second son of Takashi Shigeru Saemon (左衛門秀尭), a local magistrate holding the hereditary title of atai (直, regional administrator) and...
Chōshū samurai and senior Meiji politicianInoue Kaoru (井上薫, 1836-1915) was a senior member of the genrō, the political oligarchy of the Meiji period and yielded significant influence over the policies and political decisions of Meiji-era Japan. He was born into a gōshi (郷士, lower-ranking...
The Father of Japanese Capitalism
Shibusawa Eiichi. entrepreneur and business leader during the Meiji and Taishō periods
Shibusawa Eiichi (渋沢 栄一, 1840-1931) was born in the village of Chiaraijima in modern-day Saitama Prefecture. Although Shibusawa's family consisted of small farmers with only...
History
The Han System
A han (藩), commonly translated as a "domain", was the territory and governing organisation of a daimyō during the Edo period (1603–1868). Although the term is now firmly established in Japanese historiography, it was not the official designation used by the Tokugawa shogunate itself. Instead...
Uesugi Zenshū's Rebellion (上杉禅秀の乱), also known as the Uesugi Zenshū Incident, was a major civil conflict fought in the Kantō region between October 1416 and January 1417 during the early Muromachi period. It began when Uesugi Ujinori (上杉氏憲, d. 1417), better known by his Buddhist name Uesugi...
Oguri Tadamasa (小栗忠順, 1827–1868), also known as Oguri Kōzuke-no-suke (小栗上野介), was one of the most capable and controversial statesmen of the late Tokugawa shogunate. A senior hatamoto and government official, he played a central role in the shogunate's efforts to modernise Japan during the final...
History
Edo Clan
The Edo clan (江戸氏) was the name of two unrelated samurai families that originated in different parts of Japan. The better known of the two was the Musashi Edo clan, a branch of the Chichibu line of the Kanmu Taira (桓武平氏), whose stronghold at Edo gave the settlement its name. That settlement...
Edo (江戸), also written historically as Yedo or Yeddo, was the former name of present-day Tōkyō. From 1603 until 1868, it served as the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate and, in practice, the political centre of Japan. During the Edo period (江戸時代), the city expanded from a modest castle town into...
History
Hōkōshū 奉公衆
The Hōkōshū (奉公衆) were an elite corps of samurai who served as the personal retainers and military guard of the Ashikaga shōgun during the Muromachi period (1336–1573). They formed the shōgun's own standing military force, independent of the provincial military governors (shugo). They played an...
Eight women have ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne throughout Japanese imperial history across ten distinct reigns. These reigning empresses, referred to as josei tennō (女性天皇, "female emperor"), inherited the kōi (皇位, "imperial position") during exceptional periods—typically when no suitable...
History
Shogun
Shōgun is an abbreviation of seii tai shōgun (征夷大将軍), which is customarily translated as "barbarian-subduing generalissimo." Shōgun were military governors whose regimes dominated the Japanese polity for most of Japanese history, from 1192 to 1867. Their regimes were known as bakufu (幕府), or...
History
Yoshida Shoin
Yoshida Shōin (吉田松陰, 1830-1859) was born in 1830 in Matsumoto (松本村), a small village close to the castle town of Hagi (萩), Chōshū Domain (modern-day Yamaguchi prefecture). He was the second son of a lower-ranking samurai named Sugi Yurinosuke (杉百合之介) and was adopted by his uncle, Yoshida Daisuke...
Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794–1858) was a United States naval officer whose 1853–1854 expedition to Japan ended more than two centuries of Japanese isolation and reshaped the country's relationship with the outside world. Best known for leading the squadron of warships remembered in Japan as the...
History
Hiki Incident (比企能員の乱)
The Hiki Incident (比企能員の変 Hiki Yoshikazu no Hen), also known as the Hiki Rebellion (比企能員の乱 Hiki Yoshikazu no Ran) or the Hiki Clan Incident, was a political purge that took place within the Kamakura shogunate on 2 September 1203. It marked a decisive turning point in the early history of the...