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Hōten-ryū
is a Japanese martial art founded in 1600 ''CE''. It is a school founded on the use of the sword; however it has several different (old weapons) in its curriculum. It is also notable for its hidden weapons () or items that appear to hide among everyday things. History According to legend, Hōten-ryū was created by a Takizawa Minokami Hōten in the Kii mountain range (Nanzen) of Japan at the end of the Sengoku era. Takizawa was a bushi of the Tachibana family and allegedly a friend of Sesshusai Yagyū of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū fame. Takizawa had learned the martial arts taught in his han (prefecture) and then went to Mount Kiso Ontake to better study himself. He made a pilgrimage to Ontake Shrine and Ontake waterfall in an attempt to purify his spirit and body. At Ontake it is believed that Takizawa decided to become a mountain priest. He then created the techniques for Hōten-ryū based on Shintō teachings and Shugendō practices, conforming his methods to the "laws of na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kii Peninsula
The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. Overview The area south of the “ Central Tectonic Line” is called , and is home to reef-like coral communities which are amongst the northernmost in the world (apart from cold-water corals) due to the presence of the warm Kuroshio Current, though these are threatened by global warming and human interference. Because of the Kuroshio’s strong influence, the climate of Nankii is the wettest in the Earth’s subtropics with rainfall in the southern mountains believed to reach per year and averaging in the southeastern town of Owase, comparable to Ketchikan, Alaska or Tortel in southern Chile. When typhoons hit Japan, the Kii Peninsula is typically the worst affected area and daily rainfalls as high as are known so the Kii Peninsula is often referred to as the Typhoon Ginza (after Ginza in Tokyo). Most of the Kii Peninsula is dense temperate rainforest since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shuriken
A ''shuriken'' ( ja, 手裏剣; literally: "hidden hand blade") is a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect. They are also known as throwing stars, or ninja stars, although they were originally designed in many different shapes. The major varieties of shuriken are the and the or . Shuriken were supplementary weapons to the sword or various other weapons in a samurai's arsenal, although they often had an important tactical effect in battle. The art of wielding the shuriken is known as shurikenjutsu and was taught as a minor part of the martial arts curriculum of many famous schools, such as Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, Ittō-ryū, Kukishin-ryū, and Togakure-ryū. Bo-shuriken A ''Bo-shuriken'' is a throwing weapon consisting of a straight iron or steel spike, usually four-sided but sometimes round or octagonal in section. Some examples have points on both ends. The length ranges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chain Weapon
A chain weapon is a weapon made of one or more heavy objects attached to a chain, sometimes with a handle. The flail was one of the more common types of chain weapons associated with medieval Europe, although some flails used hinges instead of chains. In Japan Various chain weapons were used in feudal Japan. Recognised fighting arts with such weapons include ''gekigan-jutsu'' (using a ball and chain), ''chigiriki-jutsu'' (using a ball and chain on a short stick), and ''kusarigama-jutsu'' (employing a chain-ball-sickle weapon). Ninja were expert at handling kusarigama, the composite sickle and chain with a ball being small enough to be easily concealed, and which was used to haul an enemy close enough to be dispatched by a thrust or slash of the razor-sharp kama.Draeger, D.F. & Smith, R.W. (1969) ''Asian Fighting Arts'', p.127. Kodansha International, Tokyo. The shoge was a ring with a sickle-like knife on a chain that could be used to pierce armor, grapple, and to entangle the leg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tachi
A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and '' katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on the location of the ''mei'' (銘), or signature, on the tang. The ''tachi'' style of swords preceded the development of the ''katana'', which was not mentioned by name until near the end of the twelfth century. ''Tachi'' were the mainstream Japanese swords of the Kotō period between 900 and 1596. Even after the Muromachi period (1336–1573), when ''katana'' became the mainstream, ''tachi'' were often worn by high-ranking samurai. History The production of swords in Japan is divided into specific time periods: * ''Jōkotō'' (ancient swords, until around 900) * ''Kotō'' (old swords from around 900–1596) * ''Shintō'' (new swords 1596–1780) * ''Shinshintō'' (new new swords 1781–1876) * ''Gendaitō'' (modern or contempora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shodō
also called is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. Written Japanese was originally based on Chinese characters only, but the advent of the hiragana and katakana Japanese syllabaries resulted in intrinsically Japanese calligraphy styles. Styles The term shodō (書道, "way of writing") is of Chinese origin, and is widely used to describe the art of Chinese calligraphy during the medieval Tang dynasty. Early Japanese calligraphy was originated from Chinese calligraphy. Many of its principles and techniques are very similar, and it recognizes the same basic writing styles: * seal script (篆書 ''tensho'') (pinyin: ''zhuànshū''). The seal script (tensho) was commonly used throughout the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) and the following Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) of China. After this time period, tensho style fell out of popularity in favor of reisho. However, tensho was still used for titles of published works or inscriptions. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million Military personnel, personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Air warfare of World War II, Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sōke
, pronounced , is a Japanese term that means "the head family ouse" In the realm of Japanese traditional arts, it is used synonymously with the term '' iemoto''. Thus, it is often used to indicate "headmaster" (or sometimes translated as "head of the family" or even " grand master"). The English translation of ''sōke'' as "grand master" is not a literal translation but it does see use by some Japanese sources. It can mean one who is the leader of any school or the master of a style, but it is most commonly used as a highest level Japanese title, referring to the singular leader of a school or style of martial art. The term, however, is not limited to the genre of martial arts. Sōke is sometimes mistakenly believed to mean "founder of a style" because many modern sōke are the first generation headmasters of their art (''shodai sōke''; 初代宗家), and are thus both sōke and founder. However, the successors to the ''shodai sōke'' are also sōke themselves. Sōke are genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyōto
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 city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/ Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such as the Ōnin War, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shugendō
is a highly syncretic religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local folk-religious practices, Shinto mountain worship and Buddhism. The final purpose of ''Shugendō'' is for practitioners to find supernatural power and save themselves and the masses by conducting religious training while treading through steep mountain ranges. Practitioners are called or . The mountains where ''shugenja'' practiced were all over Japan, and include various mountains of the Ōmine mountain range such as Mount Hakkyō and Mount Ōmine. The ''Shugendō'' worldview includes a large pantheon of deities (which include Buddhist and Shinto figures). Some of the most important figures are the tantric Buddhist figures of Fudō Myōō and Dainichi Nyorai. Other key figures are , which are considered to be the manifestation of Buddh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shintō
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists'', although adherents rarely use that term themselves. There is no central authority in control of Shinto, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the . The are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The are worshiped at household shrines, family shrines, and ''jinja'' public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as , who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and and to solicit the latter's blessing. Other common rituals include the dances, rites of passa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Ontake
, also referred to as , is the 14th highest mountain and second highest volcano in Japan (after Mount Fuji) at . It is included in ''100 Famous Japanese Mountains''. Description Mt. Ontake is located around northeast of Nagoya, and around 200 km (125 mi) west of Tokyo, at the borders of Kiso and Ōtaki, Nagano Prefecture, and Gero, Gifu Prefecture. The volcano has five crater lakes, with at being the highest mountain lake in Japan. Ontake is a major sacred mountain, and following older shamanistic practices, actors and artists have gone to the mountain to put themselves into trances in order to get divine inspiration for their creative activities. Eruptions Ontake was thought to be inactive until October 1979, when it underwent a series of explosive phreatic eruptions which ejected 200,000 tons of ash, and had a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 2. There were minor non-explosive (VEI 0) phreatic eruptions in 1991 and 2007. On Saturday, September 27, 2014, at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
