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28-548: Ashikaga Gakkō ( 足利学校 , "Ashikaga School") is Japan's oldest standing academic building. It is located in the city of Ashikaga , Tochigi Prefecture , about 70 kilometres north of Tokyo . It was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1928. There are various theories and controversies as to when the Ashikaga Gakkō was founded, ranging from the early Heian period to the Kamakura period , with sometime around

56-647: A mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 24 members. Ashikaga contributes four members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tochigi 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . Ashikaga has long been noted for its textile industry, but in recent years, it has also become known as an industrial and commercial city producing various aluminum , machine metal works and products. In

84-459: Is recorded several times during the winter. Throughout the year, the entire Kanto Plain, especially the inland areas, are easily affected by radiative cooling due to clear skies and north winds, so the minimum temperature before sunrise can drop to about 5 degrees below zero in winter. Even on days when the temperature drops at dawn, the daytime temperature rises to about 7 to 10 degrees Celsius on sunny days, and on days with strong dry north winds,

112-702: The Ashikaga Gakkō . During the Edo period , it was the center of Ashikaga Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate . Following the Meiji restoration , the town of Ashikaga within Ashikaga District, Tochigi was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was elevated to city status on January 1, 1921. Ashikaga annexed the neighboring village of Keno on March 3, 1951, and

140-709: The Edo period , its teachings were increasingly regarded as obsolete, as the Neo-Confucianism of the Cheng–Zhu school became orthodoxy. By the end of the Edo period, the Ashikaga Gakkō was regarded by leading scholars as little more than a library. After the Meiji Restoration , Confucianism itself fell from favor. Ashikaga Gakkō was closed and half the site was converted into a local elementary school. Many of its buildings were removed or destroyed. In addition,

168-644: The Kantō region of central Honshu , is the largest plain in Japan . Its 17,000 km covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo , Saitama Prefecture , Kanagawa Prefecture , Chiba Prefecture , Gunma Prefecture , Tochigi Prefecture , and Ibaraki Prefecture . The northern limit borders on the Abukuma Highlands , Yamizo Mountain Range , Ashio Mountain Range, and a volcanic field associated with

196-421: The 1980s, which involved removing the elementary school and restoring the buildings and gardens to reproduce the Ashikaga Gakkō as it was during the middle of the Edo period. [REDACTED] Media related to Ashikaga School at Wikimedia Commons Ashikaga, Tochigi Ashikaga is located in the northern Kanto plain in the far southwestern corner of Tochigi Prefecture , bordering on Gunma Prefecture to

224-588: The Kanto basin-forming movement, which has continued since the Neogene period . This movement is what caused sedimentation in the center of the present-day Kanto Plain and uplift of the surrounding mountains. As a result, sediment from the surrounding mountains was deposited very thickly (the Tertiary layer reaches as high as 3,000 meters) and further uplifted to form many hills and plateaus. Large tectonic lines such as

252-574: The Kantō Plain stand on Tertiary strata and rise higher than surrounding plateaus, exemplified by the Sayama Hills and Tama Hills , typically, undulating between 100 and 200 m above sea level. Hills located at the western edge of the Kantō Plain, the Hiki Hills, Koma Hills, Kusahana Hills, and Kaji Hills, also reach approximately 200 m (660 ft) above sea level. The overall tilt of

280-726: The Nasu Volcanic Belt. The western coincides with the Kantō Mountain Range , and the southern edge is defined by the Bōsō Peninsula , the Miura Hills , Tokyo Bay , and Sagami Bay . The Kashima Sea and Kujūkuri Beach define the eastern end of the plain. Most of its rivers originate in the northern or western mountain ranges and flow east or southeast into the Pacific Ocean , Tokyo Bay , or Sagami Bay . In

308-435: The agricultural sector, Ashikaga is noted for its tomatoes. [REDACTED] JR East – Ryōmō Line [REDACTED] Tōbu Railway – Tobu Isesaki Line [REDACTED] Media related to Ashikaga, Tochigi at Wikimedia Commons Kanto plain 36°00′N 140°00′E  /  36.000°N 140.000°E  / 36.000; 140.000 The Kantō Plain ( Japanese : 関東平野 , Hepburn : Kantō heiya ) , in

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336-465: The alluvial lowland of the Kantō Plain. A collection of plateaus constitute a large part of the plain. Among them are the Ōmiya, Musashino , Sagamino , Jōsō , and Shimōsa Plateaus. These large plateaus are divided into smaller ones by shallow river valleys. A common feature of the plateaus is that their surfaces are covered with a thick layer of loam of volcanic origin. Volcanic ash from surrounding volcanoes, Mounts Asama , Haruna , and Akagi to

364-736: The central part of the plain is the Tone River ; in the northern part the Watarase River , Kinu River , Kokai River, Naka River , and Kuji River ; and in the southern part the Arakawa River , Tama River , and Sagami River . Of these, the Tone River encompasses a large area of floodplain, for its drainage area of 16,840 km (6,500 sq mi) is the largest in Japan. The drainage areas covered by these rivers account for

392-516: The country. He also fixed the curriculum around Chinese classical literature , Confucianism , Liezi , Zhuangzi , Shiji , I Ching and Chinese medicine . Although the instructors were mostly Zen monks , the school was a center for Confucianism and secular learning, with the teaching of Buddhist theology and doctrines expressly excluded. During the Sengoku period studies also included practical sciences, and an alternative "light curriculum"

420-544: The eastern margin of the Fossa Magna and the Median Tectonic Line are thought to exist in the central part of the plain, but this thick accumulation of soft sedimentary layers makes it difficult to find active faults that can cause earthquakes (faults exist in the base 3000m below the sedimentary layers). In addition, natural sediments such as sediment carried by rivers have been used to create land, and

448-399: The estates that provided it with financial support and a part of its collection was looted by Hideyoshi and taken to Kyoto . Under the Tokugawa shogunate , the Ashikaga Gakkō's fortunes revived, but only slightly. Tokugawa Ieyasu granted the school a fief of 100 koku for its upkeep, and the school was also protected by the daimyō of Ashikaga Domain . However, by the middle to end of

476-578: The new Tochigi Prefecture attempted to appropriate its library. In 1903, the local government established the first public library in Tochigi Prefecture, on the grounds of the Ashikaga Gakkō to preserve the old collections and to collect general books. In 1928, the site of Ashikaga Gakkō and existing buildings such as the Confucius Temple and gate received protection as a National Historic Site. A large scale restoration project began in

504-569: The north and Mounts Hakone and Fuji to the southwest, are thought to have been deposited on these plateaus. Among the plateaus, the Musashino Plateau has the largest stretch of land, extending from the western edge of Ōme to the eastern edge of Yamanote , which borders the alluvial plains of the Arakawa and Sumida Rivers. Its elevation gradually declines from west to east, measuring 190 m at Ōme and 20 m at Yamanote. Hills in

532-455: The north, west and south. The Watarase River flows through the center of the city. It is located approximately 80 km north of Tokyo . Gunma Prefecture Tochigi Prefecture Ashikaga has a Humid continental climate (Köppen Cfa ) characterized by warm summers. The average annual temperature in Ashikaga is 14.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1280 mm with September as

560-543: The northern part. Due to the influence of the Black Current (warm current) flowing along the coast, the climate is mild, especially in the southern part. In summer, rainfall is heavy due to the rainy season front caused by monsoon, and typhoons are often seen. Thunderclouds that form in the northern to western mountains areas before noon reach the plains in the early afternoon, often resulting in evening showers (thunderstorms). In years when Okhotsk anticyclone prevails,

588-410: The plateaus and hills is noteworthy. In general, the whole area is slightly bent and forming a basin centered in the Tone River and Tokyo Bay. The ongoing process of tectonic extension continues as the plain's central region gradually sinks. The Kantō Plain witnessed its greatest devastation from an earthquake on 1 September 1923 , with a death toll calculated of 142,807. Kanto Plain was formed by

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616-520: The terrain was almost the same as it is today in the Late Jomon to Early Yayoi Period (more than 3,000 years ago). The climate of the Kanto Plain is temperate, with a Pacific Ocean side climate. Winters are cold and summers are hot. The further inland, the greater the temperature difference between summer and winter, and within a day. There are relatively many hours of sunshine, especially in

644-439: The town of Yamabe on April 1, 1953. This was followed on August 1, 1954, by the villages of Mie and Yamamae, and on November 1, 1954, by the villages of Kitago and Nagusa. On April 1, 1959, Ashikaga annexed the village of Tomita, and the northern half of the village of Yabagawa on July 1, 1960. On October 1, 1962, Ashikaga annexed the towns of Mikuriya and Sakanishi. Ashikaga District was dissolved by this final merger. Ashikaga has

672-641: The wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.9 °C. Per Japanese census data, the population of Ashikaga has declined over the past 30 years. During the Heian Period , Ashikaga was developed by Minamoto no Yoshikuni , whose descendants later became the Ashikaga clan . The area was noted from this period for its academy,

700-910: The winds from this anticyclone become northeasterly winds, and temperatures do not rise due to the cool air brought in by the Yamase, resulting in a cold summer. In winter, the monsoon from the Sea of Japan is blocked by the Mikuni Mountains, and the moisture falls as snow along the mountains to the north, and the monsoon that has lost its moisture blows through the Kanto Plain as a strong gale carrying dry air (such as Akagi Orosi in Gunma Prefecture , Tsukuba Orosi in Ibaraki Prefecuture and Futaara Orosi). Snowfall has been decreasing year by year, but snow accumulation of around 10–20 cm

728-495: The year 839 or 842 being the most likely based on documentary evidence. The school had declined in the first half of the Muromachi period but was revived by Uesugi Norizane in 1432 when he became lord of the surrounding Shimotsuke Province . Ujizane invited priest from Engaku-ji in Kamakura and donated books from his own collection to revitalize the schools and as a result Ashikaga Gakkō again attracted students from all over

756-409: Was devised for the sons of military commanders rather than full-time scholars. Tuition was free and students were expected to find accommodation at local private houses. The school had a garden to grow its own food and an herb garden to raise medicinal herbs. The Ashikaga Gakkō suffered from a fire in 1530, but was rebuilt under the patronage of Hōjō Ujimasa and its number of students around that time

784-514: Was estimated at 3000. The Jesuit missionary Francisco Xavier described the school in his reports to Rome as "the largest and most famous academy in Bando" and the largest of the eleven universities and academies in Japan. However, with the rise to power of Toyotomi Hideyoshi , the Late Hōjō clan was destroyed in 1590 and the Ashikaga clan no longer had any power or influence. The Ashikaga Gakkō lost

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