Sumo is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler (rikishi) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyo) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. It is generally considered to be a gendai budo (a modern Japanese martial art), though this definition is...
The Yonaguni Monument is a massive underwater rock formation off the coast of Yonaguni, the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, in Japan. The Monument consists of medium to very fine sandstones and mudstones of the Lower Miocene Yaeyama Group, deposited about 20 million years ago. Most of the significant formations are connected to the underlying rock mass (as opposed to being assembled out of...
Haiku is one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry. It should register or indicate a moment, sensation, impression or drama of a specific fact of nature. Some people meditate to create inspirational Haiku. Haiku is a very short poetic form. Traditional Japanese haiku consisted of three lines of 5, 7, and 5 units each, which are generally applied as syllables and contained a...
Japanese Gods:Aji-Suki-Taka-Hi-Kone– god of thunderAmatsu Mikaboshi– god of evilBishamon– god of happiness and warChimata-No-Kami– god of crossroads, highways and footpathsHiruko– solar godHo-Masubi– god of fireInari– god of rice (foxes are his messangers)Izanagi– creator godKagu-Zuchi– god of fireKawa-no-Kami– god of riversKura...
In Japanese mythology, the Japanese creation myth (Tenchikaibyaku lit. “creation of heaven and earth”), is the story that describes the legendary birth of the celestial and earthly world, the birth of the first gods and the birth of the Japanese archipelago. This story is described first hand at the beginning of the Kojiki, the first book written in Japan (712), and in the Nihon Shoki...
Stars that played a significant role in the lives of common citizens in Japan were often given the distinction of being called Yowatashi Boshi or passing the night stars. This phrase was applied to prominent star groups which would appear in the East at sunset and set with the dawning sun. Orion is certainly one of the most noticeable Yowatashi Boshi in the sky. In most every culture, it is...
The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human development. The earliest-known pottery belongs to the Jomon period. The first known written reference...