Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan The revolt that reshaped Tokugawa foreign policy In the autumn of 1637, peasants on the Shimabara Peninsula in western Kyushu rose in rebellion, sparking what would become the largest uprising of the Edo era (1603-1867). At the time, much of the population was Christian, the area having been ruled by devout daimyō who promoted…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Bribery, forgery, and betrayal Background Christianity reached Japan in 1549, when the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed on the southern island of Kyushu. With the permission of the local daimyō, or feudal lord, he began to preach. The new faith spread rapidly throughout Kyushu, aided by the conversion of influential…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Loyalty, Vengeance, and the Akō Incident of 1703 The story of the 47 rōnin begins in 1701, when two daimyō, feudal lords, were tasked with organizing a reception at Edo Castle for Emperor Higashiyama s envoys. These men, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori, the youthful ruler of the Akō Domain in western Honshū, and Kamei Korechika,…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan A tragic woman and her cat, now Shinto deities Down a narrow road beside the Naka River in rural Tokushima Prefecture, a two-meter-tall Maneki Neko cat statue beckons all passersby to visit the Omatsu Daigongen Shrine, お松大権現. I was one of those beckoned. I followed cat footprints up the steps through the torii entrance gate The…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Bringing green tea to the tables of the West Born in 1828 into a Nagasaki family whose rapeseed oil business stretched back to the 17th century, Oura Kei entered a world where women rarely ventured from traditional roles. Yet, throughout her storied life, she moved among Japanese and foreign traders and dignitaries,…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Kagoshima s Unique Cat Shrine Decades before Europeans started using pocket watches, Shimadzu Yoshihiro relied on a different, more cuddly timepiece. This valorous samurai was the 17th head of the Shimadzu family, feudal lords of all of southern Kyushu since 1185. By Yoshihiro s time in the late 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan After surviving centuries of persecution, the Hidden Christians are quietly disappearing Traveling around Japan, I ve come upon some unusual statues, testaments to the years Christianity was deemed a crime punishable by death. From the Maria Jizo of Narai in Nagano, to the Maria Kannon s of Nagasaki, Christians made do with…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Low-calorie and high-fiber—konnyaku has been a health food in Japan for centuries You re seated before the first course of what is to be a masterpiece of kaiseki, Japanese multi-course cuisine. Along with your exquisite appetizers, you have a piece of something, well, rubbery. You poke it with your chopsticks, and it bounces…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Why it s not just another bowl of carbs Known as soba in Japan, buckwheat, despite its name, is not related to wheat at all. It is a pseudocereal—a non-grass plant whose seeds are used like grains. You are probably familiar with other pseudocereals, such as quinoa, amaranth, and chia. Unlike true cereal grains like wheat The…
More Than Tokyo More Than Tokyo - Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan A Brief History of (Nearly) Forgotten Island Nation I wrote a detailed history of the Ryukyu Kingdom here; this article offers a shorter version. For 450 years, Okinawa was the seat of the refined Ryukyu Kingdom, a Chinese tributary, and a pivotal hub of East Asian trade. Strategically positioned at the crossroads of Japan,…