Wednesday, January 06, 2010

"unto the uttermost part of the earth."







I do not dislike dogs which respect human beings on any occasions.

There are several types of dogs indigenous to Japan, but basically it is Shiba-Inu, a smaller type, that is the most unique and basic as a Japanese dog.

The Shiba-Inu dog is believed to have come to the Japanese Islands tens of thousands years ago with people who had reached this easternmost land of the Eurasia Continent from Siberia down to Hokkaido and Honshu Islands.

Ancient Japanese of thousands years ago buried their dogs with love as
unearthed objects tell.

Anyway, DNAs of those dogs reveal that they are different from Japanese wolves that became extinct in the early 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiba_Inu

In addition, there are no evidences that the tiger ever lived on the Japanese islands, though mammoths and dinosaurs did.

(Note: "Inu" means a dog in Japanese, "Oh-Kami" a wolf, and "Tora" a tiger.)



SECTION I: Japan in 1760's

There are three prominent figures in Japan of 1760's under the Tokugawa samurai feudalistic regime.

Empress Go-Sakuramachi () (September 23, 1740 – December 24, 1813) was the 117th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She is the last and most recent woman to reign as Empress regnant, out of eight in the history of Japan. She was the eighth woman to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.[1] The years of her reign spanned the period from 1762 to 1771.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Go-Sakuramachi

Tanuma Okitsugu ()(September 11, 1719, Edo, Japan - August 25, 1788, Edo) was a rōjū (senior counselor) of the Tokugawa shogunate who introduced monetary reform. He was also a daimyo, and ruled the Sagara han. He used the title Tonomo-no-kami.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanuma_Okitsugu


Motoori Norinaga (Japanese:; 21 June 1730–5 November 1801) was a Japanese scholar of Kokugaku during the Edo period. He is probably the best known and most prominent of all scholars in this tradition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motoori_Norinaga

Japan closed the door to foreigners in those years for Tokugawa's policy of seclusion implemented from 1639 to 1853.

However, China and the Kingdom of the Netherlands kept trading relations with Japan, so that Japanese elite samurais comprehended what was going on in the world. However, world information, including knowledge of Christianity, was blocked from diffusing among ordinary farmers, craftsmen, and merchants.

Accordingly, the very unique culture power Japan further deepened its features in this period without influences of China and Europe in large.

In this context, it is noteworthy that Motoori Norinaga dedicated his 35 years, from his age of 35 to 69, to sincere study in the "Kojiki," an old document of imperial history and myths reportedly written in 712, respecting Japanese traditions rather than teaching of ancient Chinese philosophers the samurai regime paid much regard to.

Even today, the "Kojiki" and the "Nihon-shoki," the imperial and official classical history book written in 720, are the two major sources for studying and understanding Japan before the 8th century.

As Koran was first compiled around 650, the Kojiki and the Nihon-shoki could be regarded as a kind of religious books of Shintoism or Japanese spiritualism.

If you are studyng Japan and Japanese, one of your highest goals is to understand the Kojiki and the Nihon-shoki, though the Nihon-shoki is written in classical Chinese and Kojiki is written in mainly classical Japanese with some classical Chinese.

Without 35-year work by Motoori Norinaga, Japan today should have only the Nihon-shoki written in classical Chinese, as the oldest, authentic history book of Japan.


(Note 1: As Japan had been under strong and difficult military, diplomatic, and political pressure from superior China in the 7th century, the Japanese Imperial court prepared the Nihon-shoki to claim its historical independence from Chinese dynasties. For this purpose, it was written in Chinese of the era to claim that Japan was as civilized as China, since Japan had an official history book like each Chinese dynasty had.)

(Note 2: "Kojiki" means an old-thing document in Japanese; "Nihon-shoki" a Japan's authentic document.)



SECTION II:




(To be continued...)


*** *** *** ***

Everybody is talking about BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Their combined share of GDP in the world is expected to get 20% or more in 2010. However, they are not Islamic nations. They are rather socialism-oriented economies.

In any way of grouping, Japan (GDP share 6%) is unique like America (20%) because of religion.

So, history first, religion second, and economy third.

Respect historians more than religious professionals and economists.



Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.