Tag - edo

 
 

EDO

Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 1, 2013
Events mark 1800s castaways who were first Japanese in U.S.
In the late Edo Period 200 years ago, a Japanese ship crippled by a storm drifted for 484 days, the longest period on record.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 26, 2013
Strolling old Fukagawa, where gardens and true glitterati mingle
I may be jumping the gun a bit on fall colors, but early October's glorious weather has got me craving some autumnal arboreality.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2013
'Soul of Meiji: Edward Sylvester Morse, His Day by Day With Kindhearted People'
American zoologist Edward Sylvester Morse was one of the leading figures in the popularization of Japanese ceramic art overseas. While on a science research trip to Japan in 1877, Morse amassed a collection of more than 5,000 pieces of pottery. For his service and academic contributions to Japan, he also received a number of ceramic works from Okuma Shigenobu, who later became prime minister of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Aug 20, 2013
A big day out at the sumo
They're sweaty, they're chubby and they love pushing each other around. But enough about the folks at my family reunion, let's talk about sumo. This quintessentially Japanese sport is a lot of fun to witness with kids, and the Ryogoku neighborhood surrounding Tokyo's Kokugikan sumo stadium has several other places worth visiting, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 24, 2013
'Flowers in Bloom: The Culture of Gardening in Edo'
Japan has a long history of gardening, but the culture truly blossomed during the peace and stability of the Edo Period (1603-1867). As summer kicks in, the Edo Tokyo Museum is showcasing Ukiyo-e prints, screens and guidebooks related to the art of gardening and floristry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 30, 2013
Blazing a woodland trail through Shin Kiba
Even if you can't read the kanji for Shin Kiba, you'll sniff out its meaning of "new wood place" the moment you arrive. The Yurakucho subway line's terminus there in eastern Tokyo smells like a cedar closet. Inside the station, a display of Japanese carpentry — including beams featuring dovetail, mitered and tenon joints — plus the giant stone sumitsubo (carpenter's inkpot) outside drive home the local livelihood.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2013
Art that bloomed with the Feinbergs
As a simple matter of economic convenience, some of the best art collections in the world started out going against established taste. By avoiding what was already highly valued — and therefore expensive — collectors could build up impressive collections that could then help to dictate future tastes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2013
'The Flowering of Edo Period Painting: Japanese Masterworks from the Feinberg Collection'
During a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in the 1970s, Robert Feinberg, a chemist and businessman from Maryland, found himself admiring an Edo Period (1603-1867) painting.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 4, 2013
Master craftsman carries on sashimono tradition
On the floor of an eight-tatami workshop sits master craftsman Yoshio Inoue in a spot he has occupied for decades. His atedai, the long, low slab of wood that serves as a workbench, is in front of him, and within easy reach are scores of tools — chisels, planes, hammers, saws, clamps and other implements of the Edo sashimono.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 2, 2012
Edo-era amazake is back to beat the summer heat
The Edo-era health tonic amazake is back to help Japan beat the summer heat.
LIFE
Oct 11, 2009
Fake names were to the fore in many a rise from humblest to highest
Here's a beguiling irony: Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98), architect of Tokugawa Japan's rigid class structure and the author, in 1587, of a firm ban (not firmly enforced) on surnames for commoners, was himself born without a surname.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 29, 1999
'Kaempfer's Japan': Tokugawa Edo as never before
Engelbert Kaempfer, German physician and historian, first arrived in Japan in 1690 to take up the position of physician at the Dutch trading agency on the island of Deshima in Nagasaki Harbor. Although Japan had already secluded itself, the Dutch traders were allowed a certain amount of freedom. This included traveling to Edo (now Tokyo) on the annual tribute mission. Kaempfer went twice, in 1691 and 1692.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree