ISHIYAMA HONGAN-JI: SHOGUN, SAMURAI & BUSHIDO

Marta & Joaquín Jones at Ishiyama Hongan-ji

Yesterday, The Jones visited the Ishiyama Hongan-ji in Osaka because they were interested in knowing more things about samurais and shoguns. It was an amazing trip and the family took lots of photos and bought dozens of souvenirs.

More info: Likes & Dislikes

Today, the family is visiting the island of Itsukushima. They must take a boat to arrive there and they have taken profit to review some English grammar like The Conditional Tense, Likes & Dislikes and One/Ones. The family has also read another new chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

More information: Conditional (Would)

After reading, The Jones have been talking about the importance of blood in our lives and how many people have done terrible things to get it. 

Eli Jones is sailing at Ishiyama Hongan-ji

The Grandma has talked about famous characters like Vlad Tepes, Jack The Ripper and Enriqueta Martí and she has also remembered the interesting character of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle, and his obsession for drugs and forensic medicine. Moreover, they have talked about the hara-kiri, a form of Japanese ritual suicide.

While they were sailing to Itsukushima, the family remembered how important is to prevent natural disasters like volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. Japanese scientists work very hard to find solutions to try to understand our planet and predict its movements.

More information: One-Ones I & II

On one hand, architecture is also an important fact to help to construct buildings more secure and better infrastructures. On another hand, the animals' behaviour can help scientists to determinate future catastrophes. Species like dolphins, birds, worms and turtles are decisive to understand Earth's next movements. Tomorrow, The Jones are visiting the Todaiji Temple.

The Ishiyama Hongan-ji was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, leagues of warrior monks and commoners who opposed samurai rule during the Sengoku period. It was established in 1496, at the mouth of the Yodo River, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. 

Michelle, Silvia & Claudia Jones at the castle

At the time, this was just outside the remains of the ancient capital of Naniwa, in Settsu Province. In fact, recent archaeological research has determined that the temple was established atop the ruins of the old imperial palace. The city, now called Osaka, has since grown around the site, incorporating the Ishiyama.

Rennyo, the great revivalist abbott of Jōdo Shinshū, retired to the area in 1496, initiating the series of events that would end in the formation of Japan's second-largest city. Contemporary documents describing his retirement site as being on a long slope are the first to call the area by that name, which has changed only slightly over time to Osaka, and become Japan's second largest city. Although Rennyo sought isolation in retiring to this quiet place, he very quickly attracted a great number of devotees and followers. 

More information: Osaka Castle

The tiny temple Rennyo built for his own personal devotions was expanded, and many homes and other buildings were erected to accommodate the new residents. By the time of Rennyo's death, three years later, the general shape and size of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji was already in place.

Joaquín, Merche, Ana & Paqui Jones out the castle

After the 1532 destruction of Yamashina Mido in Kyoto, the Ishiyama Hongan-ji acted as the primary temple for the Ikkō sect, from which the Ikkō-ikki had sprouted. Contributions from devotees were collected through a system of brokers, primarily those based in Sakai in nearby Izumi Province.

The cathedral-fortress was considered impenetrable, due largely to its location and orientation. In addition, roughly a hundred monks were on patrol at any given time, and upwards of ten thousand could be summoned to battle simply by ringing a bell. 

More information: Kansai Odyssey

The monks of the fortress came not only from Osaka and the surrounding areas, but also from the Ikko sect's home provinces of Kaga and Echizen. The monks also had many allies, including the Mōri clan, who supplied the fortress when it was under siege. Ironically, both Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, both of whom were rivals of Oda Nobunaga, simply by keeping Nobunaga and each other occupied, did the Ikki a great service.

The Grandma inside Ishiyama Hongan-ji

The Hongan-ji came under siege from the forces of Oda Nobunaga in 1576, but, due in part to its position on the coast, managed to hold out for 11 years, making this the longest siege in Japanese history. In August 1580, the Abbot Kōsa was persuaded to surrender, ending the 11-year-long siege.

At the time of the surrender, the entire temple complex was set aflame. According to some sources, this was done from within, to deny Nobunaga any true material gains from having defeated the Ikki. Though some members of the group fled to Kaga Province to make a final stand, the destruction of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji was truly the killing blow which marked the destruction of the sect as a militant force.

Three years later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began the construction of Osaka Castle on the same site.

More information: Japan Guide

Why did the earthquake and tsunami occur in Japan? 

Was it the act of an angry God? 
No, it was the result of the movement 
and collision of the Earth's tectonic plates, 
a process driven by the Earth's need to regulate 
its own internal temperature. 

Without the process that creates earthquake, 
our planet could not sustain life.

 Adam Hamilton

Samurai were the military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan. In Japanese, they are usually referred to as bushi or buke to those who serve in close attendance to the nobility. An early reference to the word samurai appears in the Kokin Wakashū (905–914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the 10th century.

Samurai

By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. 

The samurai were usually associated with a clan and their lord, and were trained as officers in military tactics and grand strategy. While the samurai numbered less than 10% of then Japan's population, their teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in modern Japanese martial arts.

The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching, because it offered a process to calm one's mind. The Buddhist concept of reincarnation and rebirth led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing, while some samurai even gave up violence altogether and became Buddhist monks after coming to believe that their killings were fruitless. 

More information: History

Some were killed as they came to terms with these conclusions in the battlefield. The most defining role that Confucianism played in samurai philosophy was to stress the importance of the lord-retainer relationship—the loyalty that a samurai was required to show his lord.

Literature on the subject of bushido such as Hagakure, Hidden in Leaves, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo and Gorin no Sho, Book of the Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi, both written in the Edo period (1603–1868), contributed to the development of bushidō and Zen philosophy.

The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, are attributed to the development of the samurai culture.

More information: Japan Guide

 

Samurai culture did exist really, for hundreds of years 

and the notion of people trying to create some sort of a moral code, 

the idea that there existed certain behaviors that could be celebrated and that could be operative in a life.

Edward Zwick