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Lake Suwa
is a lake in the Kiso Mountains, in the central region of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Geography The lake is the source of the Tenryū River. It ranks 24th in lake water surface area in Japan. The cities of Suwa and Okaya and the town of Shimosuwa are located on the shores of Lake Suwa. Omiwatari Lake Suwa is the site of a natural phenomenon known as the , large cracks that form in the winter across the surface of the frozen lake. A vertical temperature gradient results in ice pressure ridges forming in the surface ice, reaching heights of or more. Local Shinto tradition holds that the ridges are formed by the gods crossing the lake when traveling between the various buildings of the Suwa Grand Shrine. Folklore says it is the guardian god of Suwa, Takeminakata-no-kami, leaving his sanctuary to meet with his wife, the goddess , joining the opposite bank by walking on frozen water. The record of this crossing is the oldest-known human-observed climate record. This record has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagano Prefecture
is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the northeast, Saitama Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the southeast, Shizuoka Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture to the south, and Gifu Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture to the west. Nagano is the capital and largest city of Nagano Prefecture, with other major cities including Matsumoto, Ueda, and Iida. Nagano Prefecture has impressive highland areas of the Japanese Alps, including most of the Hida Mountains, Kiso Mountains, and Akaishi Mountains which extend into the neighbouring prefectures. The abundance of mountain ranges, natural scenic beauty, and rich history has gained Nagano Prefecture international recognition as a world-class winter sports tourist destination, including hosting the 1998 Winter Olympics and a new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torne (river)
The Torne, also known as the Tornio ( fi, Tornionjoki, sv, Torne älv, , se, Duortneseatnu, fit, Tornionväylä), is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. For approximately half of its length, it defines the border between these two countries. In the upper parts, the river is situated in Sweden before it meets the Muonio River where it adjoins the international border. It rises at the lake Torneträsk near the border with Norway and flows generally southeast for a distance of into the Gulf of Bothnia. It is the largest river in Norrbotten County both by length and by watershed area. At its source, Torne is located close to the North Atlantic and Narvik on the other side of the watershed, with several thousands of kilometres between the locations via waterways. Geography The Torne basin has a total area of or (see sidebar). Of this, or is in Sweden, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Nagashino
The took place in 1575 near Nagashino Castle on the plain of Shitaragahara in the Mikawa Province of Japan. Takeda Katsuyori attacked the castle when Okudaira Sadamasa rejoined the Tokugawa, and when his original plot with Oga Yashiro for taking Okazaki Castle, the capital of Mikawa, was discovered. The Oda arquebusiers decisively defeated the cavalry tactics of the Takeda, who lost two-thirds of their army. The battle is often cited as a turning point in Japanese warfare and the first "modern" Japanese battle. Background Takeda Katsuyori attacked the castle on 16 June, using Takeda gold miners to tunnel under the walls, rafts to ferry samurai across the rivers, and siege towers. On 22 June the siege became a blockade, complete with palisades and cables strewn across the river. Sadamasa's wife, Kamehime, was the daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. She helped to defend the castle by sending a letter with Torii Suneemon which asked her father for reinforcements. Torii reached Okazaki, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takeda Shingen
, of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great skill and military leadership. Name Shingen was called "Tarō" (a commonly used pet name for the eldest son of a Japanese family) or Katsuchiyo (勝千代) during his childhood. When he celebrated his coming of age, he was given the formal name Harunobu (晴信), which included a character from the name of Ashikaga Yoshiharu (足利義晴), the 12th Ashikaga ''shōgun''. It was a common practice in feudal Japan for a higher-ranked warrior to bestow a character from his own name to his inferiors as a symbol of recognition. From the local lord's perspective, it was an honour to receive a character from the shogunate, although the authority of the latter had greatly degenerated in the mid-16th century. Both the Ashikaga and the Takeda cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film '' Sanshiro Sugata''. After the war, the critically acclaimed ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. ''Rashomon'' (1950), which premiered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kagemusha
is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan. ''Kagemusha'' is the Japanese term for a political decoy, literally meaning "shadow warrior". The film ends with the climactic 1575 Battle of Nagashino. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival (tied with '' All That Jazz''). It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received other honours. In 2009 the film was voted at No. 59 on the list of ''The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time'' by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo. Plot During the Sengoku period, Takeda Shingen, ''daimyō'' of the Takeda clan, meets a thief his brother Nobukado spared from crucifixion due to the thief's uncanny resemblance to Shingen; the brothers agree that he would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epson
Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide and manufactures inkjet, dot matrix, thermal and laser printers for consumer, business and industrial use, scanners, laptop and desktop computers, video projectors, watches, point of sale systems, robots and industrial automation equipment, semiconductor devices, crystal oscillators, sensing systems and other associated electronic components. The company has developed as one of manufacturing and research & development companies (formerly known as Seikosha) of the former Seiko Group, a name traditionally known for manufacturing Seiko timepieces since its founding. Seiko Epson was one of the major companies in the Seiko Group, but is neither a subsidiary nor an affiliate of Seiko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodblock Prints
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is created by carving a wooden block to leave only some areas and lines at the original level; it is these that are inked and show in the print, in a relief printing process. Carving the blocks is skilled and laborious work, but a large number of impressions can then be printed. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220 AD. Woodblock printing existed in Tang China by the 7th century AD and remained the most common East Asian method of printing books and other texts, as well as images, until the 19th century. ''Ukiyo-e'' is the best-known type of Japanese woodblock art print. Most European uses of the technique for printing images on paper are covered by the art term woodcut, except for the bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hokusai
, known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print ''The Great Wave off Kanagawa''. Hokusai was instrumental in developing ''ukiyo-e'' from a style of portraiture largely focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. Hokusai created the monumental ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'' as a response to a domestic travel boom in Japan and as part of a personal interest in Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically, ''The Great Wave off Kanagawa'' and ''Fine Wind, Clear Morning'', that secured his fame both in Japan and overseas. Hokusai was best known for his woodblock ukiyo-e prints, but he worked in a variety of mediums including painting and book illustration. Starting as a young child, he continued workin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Suwa In The Shinano Province
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger oceans, they do form part of the Earth's water cycle. Lakes are distinct from lagoons, which are generally coastal parts of the ocean. Lakes are typically larger and deeper than ponds, which also lie on land, though there are no official or scientific definitions. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which usually flow in a channel on land. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams. Natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, where a river channel has widened into a basin. Some parts of the world have many lakes formed by the chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last ice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
