originally referred to sites in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

famous for their associations with specific poetic or literary references. With the development of woodblock printing and newer styles of tourism during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, the term came to denote a wider range of places of interest.

Literary meisho

Used in conjunction with '' utamakura'', ''meisho'' add layers of allusion to poetry and literary and dramatic works which would not otherwise be present. Many of the most famous ''meisho'' derive from references in the Genji Monogatari, Heike Monogatari, and

Ise Monogatari is a Japanese ''uta monogatari'', or collection of ''waka (poetry), waka'' poems and associated narratives, dating from the Heian period. The current version collects 125 sections, with each combining poems and prose, giving a total of 209 poems i ...

. In addition to being referenced in poetry and literature, ''meisho'' very often make appearances in

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

, and jōruri theatre, and in

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

and other visual art forms. One example is that of the '' miyakodori'', or "birds of the capital", originally referenced in the ''Ise monogatari''. As most ''meisho'' derive from Heian era source, this is among the very few which related to the

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

area. The protagonist of the ''monogatari'', having been exiled from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, finds his way to the

Sumidagawa The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Arakaw ...

in what is today Tokyo; at a particular point in the river, he spots a particular type of

plover Plovers ( , ) are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. Description There are about 66 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfa ...

s which he has not seen before. Asking the boatman what kind of bird they are, he receives the reply that they are ''miyakodori'', "capital birds," which makes him long for the capital and weep, asking the birds what they know of events in Kyoto. This episode was later referenced in the Noh play ''

'', in which a woman journeys to the region seeking her kidnapped son. Her boatman does not know the name of the birds, and she reprimands him for not being more cultured and knowing that they are ''miyakodori''. Once the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

was established at Edo in 1603, this spot on the river where the birds were said to be found became a very popular site for restaurants and other forms of entertainment. Many people would stop here and ponder the poetic resonances, or just enjoy seeing a famous site, while on their way upriver to the Yoshiwara. The spot also appeared frequently in ''ukiyo-e'' representations of famous sites or famous restaurants in the capital. Another keen example is that of Suma shore, a beach near modern-day

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

, where one episode of the Tale of Genji took place. The

battle of Ichi-no-Tani was a Taira defensive position at Suma-ku, Kobe, Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe, Japan. It sat on a very narrow strip of shore, between mountains on the north, and the sea to the south. This made it quite defensible, but also made it d ...

, related in the Tale of the Heike, also took place there, and thus many of the Noh, jōruri and kabuki plays which involve that battle, such as ''

Atsumori (1169–1184) was a ''samurai'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He was a member of the Taira clan. He fought in the Genpei War against the Minamoto. Career Atsumori was a warrior during the Genpei War. He is famous for his early death at ...

'' and '' Ichi-no-tani Futaba Gunki'', make reference, either outright or silently implied, to the poetic associations of Genji's episode there.

Popularization of meisho

With the development of

woodblock printing in Japan Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...

and newer styles of tourism during the

(including literary tourism), the use of the term "meisho" broadened considerably. Meisho were featured in various types of books, including travel guides as well as travelogues and regional histories, with names such as '' Edo meisho zue'' (Illustrated famous Edo places, 1834) and ''

Owari meisho zue is an illustrated guide describing famous places, called ''meisho'', and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Owari province in central Japan. It was printed using Japanese woodblock printing techniques in books divided among volumes. The ''Owa ...

'' (Illustrated famous Owari places). Meisho also provided a popular subject for numerous series of

ukiyoe Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ...

prints such as the famous '' One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'', a late series by Hiroshige completed by

Hiroshige II was a Japanese designer of ukiyo-e art. He inherited the name Hiroshige II following the death in 1858 of his master Hiroshige, whose daughter he married. In 1865 he moved from Edo to Yokohama after dissolving his marriage and began using ...

between 1856 and 1859.

Literary meisho

Popularization of meisho

See also