Japanese History and Culture

Silver, smugglers, and the Daimyo of Western Japan. Part 3.

Part 3. Once Japanese mines became more efficient in extracting silver, production increased twofold. Local daimyo and merchants began trading

The Iwami Silver mine (Shimane Prefecture) was discovered in 1526 and quickly developed in 1527. Legend has it, Kamiya Jyutei,

Part 1. A passage in the Yatsushiro diaries notes that in 1546, Sagara Yoshishige, (1489-1546) daimyo of Higo (modern day

Before writing systems arrived in Japan, the only references we have about ancient Japan is from the Chinese. There is

The traditional lineage of bureaucrats who became part of the samurai feudal lords in Kyushu had two main feeder streams.

End of the year is approaching very quickly. It feels like I haven`t done a lot on this site this

Ancient Castles of Japan – Kikuchi Castle, Kumamoto, Kyushu. Setting the scene. Kikuchi Castle is an ancient mountain castle built

Morning everyone. It has been a little while since my last post and I thought I would give a little

On a very hot summer`s day, on my way home from Mt Aso in Kumamoto I decided to pop into

Alright, so I`ll be the first to admit that I never knew about this place until the other day. I

Had a day trip down to Kurume and popped into Yamaguchi Shuzo. Yamaguchi Brewery is located in the middle reaches

Hi, first I wanna say thankyou to all my followers. I am very happy that you all like my blog

Every year, Japanese commercial breweries produce special seasonal beer. It is nice, and many are produced for a specific region

Pre-war Japanese society and social classes were very different to today. A distinct class of domestics that were filled predominately

I visited the Kameyama Shachu museum on a short trip to Nagasaki. The museum is maintained by the Nagasaki City