Japanese History and Media

Japanese History has become more and more popular in popular culture both inside and outside of Japan. Japanese History is all over the media, even in some places we wouldn't expect them to be such as their highly trained rescue teams.This can be seen in the Sendai area’s rescue team mascot that is based off of their warlord from the early 1600’s Date Masamune. Japanese History is everywhere in Japanese society and culture and can sometimes be found outside of Japan thanks to social media.

This is a picture of  the city Sendai's mascot. It is a rice ball dressed as the lord Date Masamune. Found off of google search.

Social media has helped to spread knowledge about Japanese History through people telling others to look at or watch Japanese History movies, books, comic books and video games. People are also encouraged to learn more about history through music videos. These often end up being extremely romanticized version of true events which can be seen as bad by older generations but it does what it is meant to do and teaches the important facts of large battles. Even though the events are romanticized some of them are true to the facts when it comes to things like the number of soldiers lost, the people involved, tactics used in battle and especially who won and who lost. These are the main points that one would normally learn about so they are the details that are right usually. 

 Here is another example of Date Masamune as a Mascot, this time with his wife and retainers. They are the official mascots of Sendai Castle. Credits for this piece of art go to masamunerevolution.deviantart.com

The mediums used to spread the knowledge through Society, as I have already mentioned, are many. Everything from visual to audio mediums are used to tell people fictional and non-fictional stories about History. These mediums are sold and seen all over the consumer market and people take to them very quickly. People often look to the warlords of their area and buy merchandise related to those warlords or families. People from those areas grow up hearing about these warlords and these warlords become the heroes of their childhood. Because of this people often feel more inclined to buy things related to Japanese history and learn more about their country’s history. History has been utilized as a tool to sell more products which is good and bad. It has encouraged people to think about their history but some people feel it taints the history of their country. Either way it is undeniable that it has become a good marketing scheme in Japan and has been heavily taken advantage of.

Popular Japanese musician Gackt dressed in a somewhat traditional samurai type outfit on the cover of one of his albums. He has also appeared in some live action dramas dressed as famous warlords. Picture taken off google search.

Personally I think it is a good thing. It raises peoples awareness of History and I find Japan's History to be very interesting. But I can understand why other people would not be happy about it. Still it is unavoidable and many products and a lot of media has chosen to embrace the often redesigned historical figures and their great battles.

Battle of Agrigentum

As this most probably will be the last post to go up, I thought I would turn this time to one of the victories of the Romans, the Battle of Agrigentum, which happened in 261 B.C.

This battle was fought between the forces of the Republic of Rome and Carthage. According to Adrian Goldsworthy, the Romans numbered at around 40,000 men and were led by the consuls Lucius Postumius Megellus and Quintus Mamilius Vitulus, while the other side was led by Hannibal Gisco and consisted of around 50,000 men, many of them gathered from outside the city walls of Agrigentum. When they realized that Hannibal did not want to fight them outside the city walls, the Romans decided to set up camp a mile outside the city walls and gathered up the crops that were there.Hannibal made his move while the Romans were harvesting the crops. Fleeing, the Romans retreated back to their camp, where they were able to keep another group from attacking their camp. This first encounter made Hannibal realize he could not afford to lose anymore men, while the Romans acknowledged they had underestimated the enemy.

The consuls decided on a new strategy: cut off Agrigentum from the world and blockade it in order to starve the residents and make them give up. This caused a five month long stalemate during which time Agrigentum began to run low on supplies, which caused Hannibal to send to Carthage for help, who sent a relief headed by Hanno, who was believed to have been Hannibal’s son (John Francis Lazenby, Adrian Goldsworthy).

Hanno captured the Romans’ only supply provider at Herbesos, which caused shortages that led to diseases and deprivation. Further encounters would extend the siege for another two months, bringing the Romans closer to starvation and causing the consuls to offer the other side to do battle. At first, Hanno refused, but when Hannibal sent desperate pleas saying the city was on the verge of starvation, he had no choice but to agree (John Francis Lazenby).

The battle ended with the Carthaginians being defeated; they lost 3000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and 4000 of them were taken prisoner. On the other hand, the Romans lost 1200 men (the number would be at around 30,000, but this high number counts for the whole siege, not just the battle).

Marshall McLuhan once said: “The medium is the message”. My understanding of this sentence is that, instead of writing out a message, one would use a symbol or perhaps an action in order to convey said message. So, in the case of the Battle of Agrigentum and its aftermath (the Romans sold the entire population into slavery), could the message have been that the victor will do what they want to the defeated? In that case, I can only wonder if the message was meant for the people of the time, or maybe if it was meant for us in an attempt to teach future generations about their era. When Rome sold the entire population into slavery, it made things difficult for her because any cities that could have been friendly with her ended up hardening themselves. As for those among us who love history of any kind, we would have seen that similar things had perhaps happened quite often and so it would not have as much of an impact as it did back then, though it might serve as a basis for many ideas…

Warring States: Far or Close?

Historical figures are everywhere around us whether we notice them or not. Sometimes we see them and we know exactly who it is. Other times we see them and have no idea who it is. Still these people have made names for themselves and we can see them today in various representations. Both in art and in media, we can see them today. We have no real way of knowing what they were really like but we have an idea of them through their recorded actions and the art that has made them modern.

The Japanese were very committed to recording events and information. This commitment allowed us to know a lot about the warlords that ruled during the Warring States period. Along with the records of their actions they also left behind some art for us to remember them by. This art is anything from armour and pictures to buildings and cities. These memoirs that they left behind bring them so close to the people of Japan. When you go to Japan you can see for yourself these reminders of the powerful warlords that once ruled Japan. You can see how far each Warlord’s influence spread through the emblems embedded into their architecture that mark their territory of influence. You can find hundreds of family crests of the powerful feudal lords all over Japan.

However these are not the only ways in which the powerful warlords are remembered. They are also remembered through modern media. Many of these warlords have live action television dramas dedicated to them. And even more often they have cameo appearances in cartoons, books and comic books. Some of these depictions are accurate and some of them are extremely romanticized.

This is Akechi Mitsuhide. The Sengoku Musou version.

One of the more common Media representations of these historical figures is actually through video games. Two of the more well known video game series that famously deal with this time period are Koei's Sengoku Musou series and Capcom's Sengoku Basara series. Both of these series have had at least one game translated into English. The English version of Sengoku Musou being Samurai Warriors and the English version for Sengoku Basara being Devil Kings. Of the two Sengoku Musou was the more down to earth tale of events. The characters wear clothing that is very similar to the clothing of the time and their weapons were somewhat more conventional. This has made it very popular and brings in more fans of the original history. Sengoku Basara however chose to ignore most of this and went off to romanticize these historical figures to an extreme level. The characters are a lot more unbelievable but that was always part of the appeal.

This is Akechi Mitsuhide. The Sengoku Basara Version.

These portrayals end up doing one of two things. They either made the characters more believable or they made them very foreign. By making the characters appeal to the younger generations, they brought these characters closer to us. But at the same time they made them see farther away. They became less real. It stopped being a history lesson and became more of a fantasy story. However it was a noble effort to try and bring people a better understanding of Japanese history. The Sengoku Musous series was actually quite accurate with quite a few of the events that happen such as large betrayals and alliances.

Although these extreme portrayals make it difficult to really connect with the historical figures it is always nice to have a more interesting look at how these places may have been 400 years ago.

Battle of the Allia

Long time, no posted. Last time I posted I talked about the Greeks, so this time I thought I would to the Romans. However, instead of talking about them being victorious, I will talk about their defeat at the hands of the Gaul, so without further ado…

The Battle of the Allia involved the first invasion of Rome by the Celts. It was fought near the river of the same name in 387 B.C, and it ended in a Roman defeat.

According to Ellis, author of The Celts: A History, before the battle happened, the Senones, the Celtic band in question,settled outside the city of Clausium. This upset the citizens, who called upon Rome for help, who in turn sent in three ambassadors to talk things over. When it did not work out, the Clausians decided to force the Senones to leave. It is said the Romans broke an oath of neutrality by siding with the Clausians. In the conflict, Quintus Fabius, one of the ambassadors, killed a Gaelic chieftain.

Livy notes that, afterwards, when the Celts sent their own ambassador to Rome to demand justice in the form of the surrender of the murderer, they were enraged to find that not only would there be no justice, but that the ones who should be punished were rewarded instead by being given higher ranks. In the end, the Celts marched on Rome to take revenge.

Now, one would think that, with the Romans numbering 24,000 and the Celts being half that number, the Romans would win (Elis, Celts And Roman: The Celts in Italy). However, due to having the best equipped people in the center of the formation, and those with lesser quality equipment on the sides, it ended with a center massacre, and the survivors fled either to Veii or to Rome.

Meanwhile, citizens of Rome barricaded themselves on Capitoline Hill. Although the Senones tried a direct assault, they were unsuccessful due to quick thinking and a straight-on charge from the Romans, and as a result lost many of their numbers. Also, the rest of the city was plundered, and nearly all of the records were lost. An epidemic broke out among the Celts, which was likely due to them not being adequately prepared for a siege (reason being they did not bury the dead). The siege ended when the Romans negotiated to pay 1000 pounds of gold to the other side. The defeat did bring about two good things: the construction of the Servian Wall to protect the city and the restructuring of the military (exchanged Greek phalanx for something furnished with better armor and weapons.) (Livy, V. 48)

Weighing of Gold- ancienthistory.about.com

According to Will Straw, when it comes to communication, speed is an important factor and is seen as a fundamental value, a goal, and an end in itself. Media scholar Todd Gitlin says this: “never have so many communicated so much, on so many screens, through so many channels, absorbing so many hours of irreplaceable human attention”, talking about the number of ways we obtain information (books, magazines, internet, television) and also how the media of today is more adaptable to mobility (Mp3 on our ears when we go out, reading newspapers on the bus, updating our Facebook status wherever there is an available connection, and so on). Also, if a natural disaster happens in an area of a country, people can stay connected and thus reassure themselves that everything will be alright. If speed is such an important aspect of communication, as in the faster we receive the information the better, then how important was this concept when the Romans sent a runner to request aid when some of them were trapped at Veii? No matter how fast he must have gone, he is still a human being, and thus limited by the terrain around him, not to mention his own body. But I cannot help but wonder, what would happen if the Ancient Romans could send emails and text messages the same way we could, or at least in a similar fashion? For one, they could send messages and receive replies faster than with using a human, although I imagine if they were sending a message to the Senate asking for help, they would probably wait awhile for a reply. For another, rebellions and assassination plots would be put down faster, easier to track down and all; although they could just as easily be developed and concealed. I wonder what their MSN screen name would be....

 It was the first defeat of the Romans at the hands of the Celts, but it would not be the last. Don’t believe me? Just ask Asterix….

 

Religious Ideology in Japan

The Japan of today has many religious ideologies practiced in its borders. The main ones being the native Shintoism, Buddhism from across the sea and Christianity. Although there has been a rather large Christian influence in Japan, with some major holidays stemming from Christian roots, it was not always welcome in Japan. In the early 1600’s Japan banned Christianity and thousands of Japanese people were put to death for being Christian while Buddhism suffered much less harshly in Japan.

 The hollow Buddha statue in Kamakura.

 Taken from bestsingletravel. (Being inside it is so cool and there are some interesting things to see in the area around the statue.)

Originally the Christian missionaries and merchants were welcome in Japan and their ideologies were not persecuted. However as the missionaries started to feud with missionaries from other western countries  and as the shoguns were further lead to believe they were being set up to be taken down by the western countries, it was only a matter of time before the shogun decided to fix the problem. It is possible that the way in which the missionaries conveyed their messages about Christianity made the Japanese believe they were a threat though more likely it was just the fact their religion separated the people that made the Japanese reconsider letting them walk free on Japanese soil. From the perspectives of the Japanese shoguns this was turning into a major problem and weakening their country to outside influence.They solved their problem by banning Christianity and killing all who practiced while probably getting rid of the missionaries. It was about 250 years later that Christian missionaries were allowed to go to Japan and spread their beliefs. People didn’t necessarily convert but it was accepted and no longer persecuted. The number of Christians in Japan did go up again during this time.

Japan's oldest church in Nagasaki.Picture taken from bookhostelbook guide Nagasaki.

Buddhism had been in Japan for quite a long time by the time Christianity arrived. It was an ideology that was fairly easy to accept for the Japanese people. The nobles accepted Buddhist practices and many  of them chose to follow it. Over time various Buddhist temples were raised in Japan and many people followed Buddhism. In fact one of the most famous places in Japan is a hollow statue of Buddha that you can actually go inside and see. It wasn’t until the time of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi that Buddhism faced any real threats. These two great leaders of the Japanese Sengoku era were strong believers in Shintoism and did not want Buddhism to distract people from their Shinto beliefs. The result of this was a decline in Buddhist practices and temple building but now many Japanese consider themselves Buddhist. It’s quite common for Japanese people to Practice Shintoism in everyday life even if they consider themselves Buddhist. The most common time for Japanese people to practice Buddhist beliefs is funerals. Japanese people often have traditional Buddhist funerals and memorials.

Kiyomizu Dera a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Picture from khiart.com. (I highly suggest looking up pictures of this temple. Pictures aren't enough to truly capture how beautiful it is but they get close.)

Contrary to Christianity, Shinto and Buddhist beliefs and practices can co-exist as seen in Japan. Christian rules and beliefs are fairly strict in comparison and practitioners of Christian beliefs at the time seemed to have believed that all non-Christians would go to hell. However Buddhism and Shintoism have a very different take on this that allows people to practice both beliefs. Buddhism is all about finding inner peace and enlightenment which can be done without intruding on their Shinto beliefs. Some Buddhist and Shinto beliefs are very similar so to practice one isn’t disregarding the other.Their teachings are fairly peaceful making them pleasant to follow. 

Sensoji Shrine in Asakusa. Taken from dreamstime. (This place gets really busy but it is a really cool experience and there are tons of shops leading up to the shrine itself so you won't get bored.)

So by the time we reach the present day and age we see how these ideologies have been received in Japan. The Shinto beliefs originated in Japan and have been generally accepted, Christianity was not accepted very well since their ideologies clashed with the resident Shinto beliefs and Buddhism was well received most of the time. The 1600’s was a time where control was everything so any religion that wasn’t Shintoism suffered quite harshly but they still survived to this day in Japan. Christianity aside, Japan is a good example and perhaps one of the few examples of a place where two separate religions can practiced side by side without conflict by the same person. 

Picture of Kinkakuji in Kyoto. Taken from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Absolutely gorgeous. Definitely go see it if you get the chance. You're not allowed inside but the outside and the surrounding area is really breathtaking.)

(Fun Fact! Except for the Church I have been to all of the places seen in this post! Sadly I couldn't use my pictures because they are on my mother's computer.)

Information sources:
http://www.omf.org/omf/japan/about_japan/christianity_in_japan
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2298.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2055.html

The Battle of Thermopylae

Does anybody know about the Battle of Thermopylae? Yes? No? Well, I hope those who know will forgive me as I give those who don’t some information on it.

Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques Louis David, 1814

The Battle of Thermopylae happened in the year 480 B.C.; it was a clash between the allied forces of the Greek-city states led by King Leonidas of Sparta and the Persian army led by Xerxes I. It lasted for three days, but things took a turn for the worse on the second day when the Greek forces were betrayed by a man named Ephialtes, who led the enemy behind the Greek’s lines. It was the first battle out of three which would eventually end in a victory for the Greeks, although this particular battle would not end well for them. The size of both armies varies; for the Greeks, Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus have given numbers ranging from 5200 to 7400, although modern historians tend to add 1900 more people to Herodotus’s number, making both of them more or less equal. As for the Persian army, ancient historians claimed about a million people, but modern historians believe the numbers are more between 100,000 and 300,000, which is more believable considering all they had to do.

This was all about the technical side of things. But, if we were to look at the battle from another angle…

The Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in Smyrna in 1680

The ancient Greeks practiced polytheism, which is the belief in multiple gods. Many of these were associated with certain aspects of nature (Zeus and lightning, Poseidon and earthquakes, and so on) while others were in charge of abstract notions, such as love (Aphrodite). They also believed in the Underworld, divided into sections which you were sent to depending on your behavior (neither good nor bad = Fields of Asphodel, great = Elysium, and bad = Tartarus).

As for the Persians, they practiced Zoroastrianism, based on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster. It tells of how there is one universal god named Ahura Mazda, who created truth and order, which is the opposite of falsehood and disorder. The basic thing of it is that if you do good deeds it will help keep chaos at bay. Also, since Ahura Mazda is not manifested in the world, then what he has created is being continued through the Amesha Spentas, divine entities who carry out his will. I know there is more to both religion, but I wanted to keep it simple.   

According to Will Straw, an ideology is a value or a belief system that is accepted as either fact or truth by some group. So, if we go by this definition, then we can definitely count religion as being an ideology. Then, if we follow this train of thought, could we not say the battle was also a clash of ideologies? The Greeks have their multiple gods; the Persians have their single universal one who has his work carried on by other divinities. So, when the two sides clashed, and the Greeks lost, history has it was because they were betrayed. But when you count in the gods, who were involved, could it be the Greeks lost because the gods turned on them, or simply because they did not give enough care when it came to making the sacrifices in order to gain their favor? It is a mystery that probably will never be solved. As for me, I would rather believe in multiple gods. When you are a child, and even while you are growing into an adult, you are taught teamwork, to share duties, which is something polytheistic religions do. One person doing everything on their own does not really agree with me. But then, this is my opinion. Everyone has the right to their own, as long as they respect those of others.

Did The Message Go Through?

In this present day and age we take communication over distances for granted. We look at the miscommunications that transpire and the messages that fail to send with annoyance, expecting them to always be successful %100 of the time. We forget that these technologies haven’t been around very long and that nothing is perfect. To us, the messages we try to send out and the ideas we try and get across are for  a moment the most important things in the world. What we fail to realize is that in the past, especially in times of war, these same miscommunications could be deadly.
Over 400 years ago Japan was in a state of almost constant war. The warlords of Japan were fighting each other for wealth and power in an attempt to take over all of Japan. thousands of people lost their live and among them some of the most important yet underappreciated people. Messengers were all over the country, delivering messages from warlord to warlord outside of battle and delivering messages from officer to officer in a battle. As you will find out in virtually any warring state type simulation game, messengers can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Often times you’ll find yourself trying to protect your messenger as the rush to carry out important messages to the warlords or other important figures. The death of that one messenger could spell disaster for your entire army. On the flip side you could be trying to kill the enemy messenger to stop them from delivering a potentially dangerous message to their warlords. These situations are a good reminder that during those times of war these messengers could be killed and those important messages could be lost to enemies or to bandits much in the same way that one’s text message may get blocked or fail to send. For some people it may not be to the same degree of importance but for others it could feel like losing a battle.
We treat these losses of communication as the greatest horror in our lives but is it really all that bad? Right now miscommunication could cost us a part of our reputation. In the past miscommunication could cost lives. Sometimes hundreds and sometimes thousands of lives could be lost due to one small error. In order to do something like call a friend could be misinterpreted to not call them and cause a lot of confusion. We have gotten to a point with technology where we take long distance communication for granted. When waiting for emails we often complain that it will take too long to arrive and when we receive mail through the post we react the same way. In more ancient times it took months to get mail across the ocean and this was assuming the boat didn’t sink along the way. Now we complain that it takes weeks to get mail which in comparison isn’t very long at all. Small countries like Japan were able to get mail across the country somewhat faster than in Canada but it may have been even more dangerous. Canada in the 16th century wasn’t exactly known for things like bandits and thieves lurking around its roads. However in Japan there were thousands of bandits, thieves and pirates all over the country. Rarely did these people discriminate against messengers and nobles when picking targets to attack and steal from. In this way avoiding getting attacked by animals and criminals made messages even more likely to be lost en route to their destinations in Japan than in Canada. So should we really be complaining about our “snail mail”? The only real concern we have is that it’ll be delivered to the wrong address.