Atami - A resort town with onsen hot springs

Atami City is located in the eastern end of Shizuoka Prefecture which is to the west of Kanagawa Prefecture. So, it takes only 57 minutes from Yokohama Station by the Express Odoriko and 39 minutes from Tokyo Station by the Super Express Hikari.
Atami literally means 'hot ocean', a reference to the town's famous onsen hot springs.

In front of the station a steam locomotive is being displayed.

This SL was used in the early 20th century to bring tourist to Atami.

In 1604 the first shogun Ieyasu of the Tokugawa Government visited Atami.

In 1662 the fourth shogun Ietsuna ordered to bring  barrels which were full of onsen water to Edo Castle.The home delivery service of onsen, so-called 'Onsen purveyor to Tokugawa shogun' peaked at the time of the eighth shogun Yoshimune. From 1726 to 1734, as many as 3,643 barrels were brought to Edo(=Tokyo). It took 15 hours from Atami to Edo Castle. When they arrived in Edo, the hot water tempereture fell to the moderate degree so that the shogun bathed comfortably.

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Ieyasu's stay in Atami, Atami Onsen Association donated a geyser- an intermittent spring -to Atami City so that Atami visitors can warm their legs and feet.
This geyser is also in front of Atami Station.
To be continued to "A nobel that made Atami famous; A statue of Kan-ichi and O-Miya".
Written and posted by Mitsutoshi Masunari.

Japanese Robinson Crusoe in the Edo Period

I have already introduced stories about a castaway 'Jeseph Heco(1837-1897) ' in my yahoo blog several times.
His original name was Hikozo Hamada, a man born in the suburbs of Kobe of the Hyogo Prefecture. It was a fishing village named Harima.
The reason why I introduced him in this google blog: I was so pleased to find a you-tube video about Heco.
The tale of a Japanese castaway by Asian Art Museun in San Francisco
This is a 40 minutes' video. I am sure you will enjoy it.
-Summary-
"When Hikozo was 13 years old, a fishingboat wrecked and drifted in the Pacific Ocean until 17 crews including him were rescued by an American freighter. They were taken to San Francisco. Hikozo was already 21 when he finally came back to Japan as an American -Jeseph Heco."
Written and posted by Mitsutoshi Masunari.
P.S.
Stories about Hikozo Hamada in my yahoo blog
1st :The first Japanese American
2nd : Heco's hometown in Harima of Hyogo Prefecture
3rd: Jeseph Heco in Nagasaki

Hikozo Hamada aka Jesef Heco in his hometown

Meiji-jingu Shrine in Tokyo

The Edo Period started in 1604 when Ieyasu Tokugawa founded the government in Edo. There were 15 Tokugawa Tycoons during the period. Yoshinobu Tokugawa was the 15th and the last Tycoon who  returned the sovereignty to the Imperial Court in 1867. Thus, all through the Edo Period Tokugawa Tycoons governed Japan. Tokyo was called Edo before the Meiji Era(1868-1912). So, we call it the Edo Period.

Meiji-jingu Shrine was built to enshrine Meiji Emperor and his consort Empress Shoken. Construction began in 1915 and completed in 1920.

The picture on the right shows the second torii-gate to the shrine.

This is the main entrance-gate to the shrine.

This is the main hall.

Holy trees.

 Japanese people's staple is rice. We are able to have a bumper harvest in autumn with the help of nature. The above picture shows a twisted rice-straw rope with strips of white paper and some pieces of straw. It represents clouds, lighting and rain respectively, and is a symbol of deitties identical with nature.  

 Every new year between the 1st and the 3rd of Januray 3.2 million people visit and pray for their happiness of the year.In this sense this is the most popular shrine in Japan. The location is at Harajuku of Shibuya Ward in Tokyo.

Written and posted by  Mitsutoshi Masunari. 

Nagasaki-7 ; Other pictures I took in Nagasaki

I walked around Nagasaki and took pictures randomly.

Holland Street which connects Nagasaki Station and Glover Garden

The first bowling arena in Japan

Castella, a sponge cake was introduced by a Portuguese missionary in 1556. This is the head office of a castella cake shop named 'Bunmeido'

The Nagasaki Highway

A public hall along the Nagasaki Highway

A streetcar

Statue of Peace

An atomic bomb was dropped in the Urakami area of Nagasaki City on August 9, 1945. It was the second atomic bomb attack after Hiroshima was hit on August 6, 1945. 
This is the end of my report about my short trip to Nagasaki on June 1, 2011.
PS
After the sightseeing in Nagasaki, I went to Fukuoka to enjoy a baseball game.

Nagasaki-6 ; The first native speaker who taught English to Japanese interpreters

His name is Ranald MacDonald(1824-1894). I am confident in the spelling,'Ranald'. Don't worry!
Believe it or not; he dared to come to Japan in 1848 which was during the period of Japan's national isolationism(1639-1854) with his own will.  His father was a Scottish American and mother was a daughter of a local tribal chief. He believed that his tribe's ancestors were Japanese and had the temptation to go to Japan. 

Click the photo above and you will know the detailed story. Anyway, he became a crew of a whaleship and got off the ship off the coast of Japan and rowed a boat to a small island.In the end, he was sent to Nagasaki as an illegal intruder and detained in a dungeon for six months until he was sent back to the United States by an American ship. 
During his detention in Nagasaki, he taught English to Japanese interpreters. Among them there was a man named Einosuke Moriyama who later played an important role as a chief interpreter between Commodore  Perry and the Japanese government.

His monument was built at the site of the former dungeon.After Ranald MacDonald went back to the States, he reported his experience to the federal government that Japan was not a barbarian country. His report triggered America's policy to let Japan end the national isolationism and send Commodore Perry to Japan. Thus, Ranald contributed to finish Japan's national isolationism smoothly and cultivate a good relationship between Japan and the United States. 

Nagasaki-5 ; Siebold and Narutaki Cram School

This ia a bust of  Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold(1796-1866) at a site where he lived and taught western medicine to Japanese would-be doctors in Nagasaki.

This was the entrance to his house.

I already introduced Siebold and his family in my yahoo blog when I went to see his bust in Tsukiji, Tokyo on February 27, 2011. Click here and you will be able to read it.

Anyway I am pleased to see the historic site where Narutaki Cram School existed.  

Written and posted by Mitsutoshi Masunari.

mitch68canada@yahoo.co.jp

PS

This picture was displayed at Siebold Museum.The left sign(↑) shows Siebold himself and the right one shows his older son who was hired by the British Legation in Tokyo worked with another interpreter Ernest Mason Stow whom I introduced in my yahoo blog.

Nagasaki-4 ; Obaku Buddhism and their temples in Nagasaki

1.Kofuku-ji Temple of Nagasaki

Kofuku-ji Temple of Nagasaki is the oldest Obaku-sect Buddhist Temple in Japan. It was built by a Chinese Buddhist priest Shin-en  (1579-1648) in 1624.

The second chief priest Mokushi-nyojo(1597-1657) was also a Chinese. He was good at architecture, so he instructed to build  Megane-bashi Bridge.

This is Megane-bashi Bridge. Megane means spectacles in Japanese.

Mokushi-nyojo's statue beside the Nakajima River
2. Sofuku-ji Temple

Shortly after the construction of Kofuku-ji Temple, Chinese merchants living in Nagasaki asked the Nagasaki feudal lord for permission to build a temple with their Chinese hometown's temple style. It is recorded that Sofuku-ji temple was built in 1629 by the Chinese merchants who came from Fujian Province. 

This gate named Daiichi-homon is designated as a National Treasure.

About Daiichi-homon.

The main hall called Daiyu-hoden was first prefabricated in China and then transported by a Chinese ship and constructed here in 1646. As the oldest existing structure to retain the Obaku-style of the Ming Dynasty, this hall is highly evaluated and is designated as a National Treasure.

Buddhist statues in the main hall

About the Beddhist statues in the main hall

Maso Gate. Maso was a Chinese woman who actually existed in China about 1,000 years ago. Because of her psychic power she was apotheosized and regarded as a Goddess to save the country and the people.

The outer gate for Maso Gate

This cauldron was made by the second chief priest in 1682 to boil porriadge for the people who were sufferring from starvation.

This bell was forged in 1647 by a famous blacksmith Ayama Kunihisa.

Guan Yu(in Chinese) or Kan-U(in Japanese) was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He was also apotheosized and regarded as a God for merchants.

A statue of Kannon

A statue of Idaten

3. Ingen, the founder of Obaku Buddhism

The Obaku Buddhism is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism with Soto and Rinzai.It was founded by Ingen Ryuki(=Yinquab Longqi,1592-1673) in 1661 after he came to Japan.Ingen arrived in Nagasaki in 1654 at the request of the then chief priest of Kofuku-ji Temple to fill the vacancy of the chief priest's seat of Sofuku-ji Temple in Nagasaki.In 1660 Ingen was allowed to found a temple in Uji, Kyoto by the fourth Shogun Ietsuna Tokugawa. The next year a new temple was completed and Ingen named it Obaku-zan Manpuku-ji Temple which was the same name as the temple in his hometown in China.He didn't use the sect's name Obaku at the time of the foundation but rather he named it as the orthodox Rinzai-sect. When Ingen recognized the difference between the Japanese Rinzai Buddhism and that of China, he began to use the sect's name Obaku Buddhism.

RE: Obaku-sect's temple in Tokyo- Kaifuku-ji Temple

Gohyaku Rakan-ji Temple

Nagasaki-3 ：Glover Garden

After I saw the former British Consulate of Nagasaki, I visited Glover Garden.

Thomas Blake Glover(1838-1911) was a Scottish merchant who came to Nagasaki in 1859. At first he worked for Jardin Matheson and two years later he founded his own firm- Glover Trading Co. His achievement was so great that he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun in 1908.

This is a statue of Puccini(1858-1924).

This is a statue of Tamaki Miura(1884-1946), an opera singer who became famous for her role as Madam butterfly. 

Glover's family picture. From left to right, Tomotaro(his son),sister,brother, daughter,Glover and Tomitaro's wife

At a reception held by Admiral Heihachiro Togo in 1905. Togo is sitting in front of Glover who is wearing a silk hat in the center.

Floats used for the Nagasaki's festival 'Kunchi'

Dragons are also important tools for the Nagasaki festival.

Another soprano, Teiko Kiwa(1902-1983).She was born in Yokohama. When she was 17, she went to Milan. In 1922 she made a debut as an opera singer playing the role as Madam Butterfly. Kiwa was her beloved grandmother's first name who got married to a Dutch pharmacologist. Her mother also got married to a Dutch.

These are the pictures I took at Glover Garden.