113-554: The Mihashira or Onbashira ( Japanese : 御柱 , honorific prefix 御 on- / mi- + 柱 hashira 'pillar') are four wooden posts or pillars that stand on the four corners of local shrines in the Lake Suwa area of Nagano Prefecture (historical Shinano Province ), Japan. The largest and most famous set of onbashira are those that stand on the four shrines that make up the Suwa Grand Shrine complex. By custom,
226-575: A sugi tree in the Harumiya , and a yew tree in the Akimiya . Unlike today, there were originally far fewer buildings in the precincts: in the Kamisha Honmiya 's case, medieval records for instance indicate that the shrine's most sacred area where a worship hall ( haiden ) now stands once featured only a torii gate and the god's dwelling place, the iwakura , demarcated by
339-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
452-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
565-594: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
678-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
791-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
904-524: A god of wind and water , as well as a patron of hunting and warfare . In this latter capacity, he enjoyed a particularly fervent cult from various samurai clans during the Middle Ages. The Upper Shrine is dedicated to Suwa Daimyōjin himself, while his consort, the goddess Yasakatome , is worshipped in the Lower Shrine. Like others among Japan's oldest shrines, the Kamisha Honmiya and
1017-511: A kind of fence ( kakusu ( 格子 ) ). All four shrines of the Suwa Shrine complex are each surrounded on their four corners by large wooden pillars known as the onbashira . These pillars are all currently made out of momi fir tree trunks, though wood from other trees such as larch or Japanese cedar were also used in the past. The largest of a set of four onbashira , measuring 5 jō and 5 shaku (approx. 16.6 meters) high,
1130-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
1243-497: A local legend. It apparently took some time for others to imitate Nakamura: a photograph attached to a newspaper article about the festival in 1920 distinctly shows no one on the onbashira depicted. It was only from the festivals of 1926 and 1932 that reports of log-riding began to appear. During the final years of World War II , as Japan's military situation became more desperate, the government began altering its original conscription laws, so that in 1943, all male students over
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#17327944065771356-488: A log was being pulled across a river. In 2010, two men, Noritoshi Masuzawa, 45, and Kazuya Hirata, 33, died after falling from a height of 10 metres (33 ft) as a tree trunk was being raised on the grounds of the Suwa Grand Shrine. Two other men were injured in the same accident, which organizers say occurred when a guide-wire supporting the 17-metre (56 ft) tree gave way. In 2016, one man died falling from
1469-423: A month later, the logs are paraded to the four shrine buildings where they will be erected: Honmiya, Maemiya, Harumiya, and Akimiya. Four onbashira are erected at each building, one at each corner. The logs are raised with ropes by hand, and while they are being raised, a ceremonial group of log bearers ride the logs and sing and perform other feats. This ceremony was performed as part of the opening ceremonies of
1582-706: A mountain, where they are then erected at the four corners of each shrine. Festival participants ride the onbashira as they are slid down the mountain, dragged to the shrine, and raised, and the festival has the reputation of being the most dangerous in Japan due to the number of people regularly injured or killed while riding the logs. This festival, which lasts several months, consists of two main segments, Yamadashi and Satobiki . Yamadashi traditionally takes place in April, and Satobiki takes place in May. For 2022,
1695-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
1808-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
1921-588: A tree as it was being raised at the shrine. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes
2034-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2147-423: Is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae . It includes only one species , Cryptomeria japonica ( syn. Cupressus japonica L.f. ). It used to be considered by some to be endemic to Japan, where it is known as Sugi ( 杉 ) . The tree is called Japanese cedar or Japanese redwood in English. It has been extensively introduced and cultivated for wood production on
2260-545: Is a major cause of hay fever in Japan . The earliest fossil record of Cryptomeria are descriptions based on vegetative organs of † Cryptomeria kamtschatica of the Late Eocene from Kamchatka , Russia and † Cryptomeria protojaponica and † Cryptomeria sichotensis from the Oligocene of Primorye , Russia. Several fossil leafy shots of † Cryptomeria yunnanensis have been described from Rupelian stage strata of
2373-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
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#17327944065772486-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
2599-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
2712-647: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
2825-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
2938-453: Is called Dhuppi and is favoured for its light wood, extensively used in house building. In Japan, the coppicing method of daisugi (台杉) is sometimes used to harvest logs. In dry air conditions, the initial density of Japanese cedar timber has been determined to be about 300–420 kg/m . It displays a Young's modulus of 8017 MPa, 753 MPa and 275 MPa in the longitudinal, radial and tangential direction in relation to
3051-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
3164-407: Is designated as the 'first pillar' or ichi no hashira ( 一の柱 ) , while the remaining three pillars—the second pillar ( 二の柱 , ni no hashira ) , third pillar ( 三の柱 , san no hashira ) , and fourth pillar ( 四の柱 , yon no hashira ) —are five jō (approx. 15 m), four jō and five shaku (approx. 13.6 m), and four jō (approx. 12 m), respectively. An onbashira 's girth
3277-475: Is frequently thought to be native there. Forms selected for ornament and timber production long ago in China have been described as a distinct variety Cryptomeria japonica var. sinensis (or even a distinct species, Cryptomeria fortunei ), but they do not differ from the full range of variation found in the wild in Japan, and there is no definite evidence the species ever occurred wild in China. Genetic analysis of
3390-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
3503-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
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3616-453: Is much valued. Resin from the tree contains cryptopimaric and phenolic acid . The wood is pleasantly scented, reddish-pink in colour, lightweight but strong, waterproof and resistant to decay. It is favoured in Japan for all types of construction work as well as interior panelling , etc. In Darjeeling district and Sikkim in India, where it is one of the most widely growing trees, C. japonica
3729-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
3842-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
3955-453: Is superficially similar to the related giant sequoia ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ), from which it can be differentiated by the longer leaves (under 0.5 cm or 1 ⁄ 4 in in the giant sequoia) and smaller cones ( 4–6 cm or 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in in the giant sequoia), and the harder bark on the trunk (thick, soft and spongy in giant sequoia). Sugi has been cultivated in China for so long that it
4068-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
4181-435: Is traditionally determined by measuring the uncut tree's circumference at eye level, medōri ( 目通り ) . The actual thickness of the logs used may vary: the largest onbashira in recent history in terms of girth is the Akimiya 's ichi no hashira used in the festival of 1950 ( Shōwa 25). Aside from the large onbashira at Suwa Shrine, smaller onbashira are also erected in its branch shrines throughout
4294-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
4407-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
4520-690: The Yamadashi portion has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic , but the Satobiki is still scheduled to begin on 3 May. What is known today as 'Suwa (Grand) Shrine', Suwa Taisha ( 諏訪大社 ) , was originally two distinct sites made up of four individual shrines: the Honmiya ( 本宮 ) and the Maemiya ( 前宮 ) comprise the Upper Shrine Kamisha ( 上社 ) located in
4633-637: The onbashira are replaced every six ( traditionally reckoned as seven) years, in the years of the Monkey and the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac . In Suwa Shrine, this occurs during the Onbashira Festival ( 御柱祭 , Onbashira-sai ) , which also functions as a symbolic renewal of the shrine's buildings. During the festival, sixteen specially chosen fir trees are felled and then transported down
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4746-634: The onbashira are slid down a steep hill (the Kiotoshi-zaka ) as men attempt to ride it, originated from the Meiji period onwards. Unlike the Upper Shrine, which had a specially-designated area from which to obtain the wooden logs, the Lower Shrine originally used tree trunks obtained from different nearby mountains; it was not until 1895 that the forest of Higashimata ( 東俣 ) in Shimosuwa
4859-517: The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. After the two festivals, there is an important event, the "Building of Hoden ". This event, which marks the end of Onbashira , is not as famous as Yamadashi and Satobiki . Onbashira has a reputation for being the most dangerous festival in Japan, and it has led to the injury and death of participants. There were fatal incidents in 1980, 1986, 1992, 2010, and 2016. In 1992, two men drowned while
4972-488: The Azores . Cryptomeria is a very large evergreen tree , reaching up to 70 m (230 ft) tall and 4 m (13 ft) trunk diameter, with red-brown bark which peels in vertical strips. The leaves are arranged spirally, needle-like, 0.5–1 cm ( 1 ⁄ 4 – 3 ⁄ 8 in) long; and the seed cones globular, 1–2 cm ( 1 ⁄ 2 – 3 ⁄ 4 in) diameter with about 20–40 scales. It
5085-530: The Earthly Branches in the ceremony of erecting onbashira —at least that of the Upper Shrine—have been observed. For instance, the ritual roughly reflects the elements' cycle of generation (wood begets fire, fire begets earth, earth begets metal), in that the Upper Shrine's onbashira are made out of trees from a mountain to the east (associated with the element of wood) and are brought to
5198-517: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
5311-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
5424-582: The Pliocene of Honshu , Japan, Late Pliocene of Osaka , Japan and from the Pleistocene of Kyushu , Japan. Cryptomeria japonica timber is extremely fragrant, weather and insect resistant, soft, and with a low density. The timber is used for the making of staves, tubs, casks, furniture and other indoor applications. Easy to saw and season, it is favoured for light construction, boxes, veneers and plywood. Wood that has been buried turns dark green and
5537-517: The Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from
5650-458: The Sengoku period . The Ekotoba describes the preparations for the rebuilding thus: at the onset of spring, the governor ( kokushi ) of Shinano would appoint officials who collected the necessary funds from the populace from checkpoints or toll booths ( seki ( 関 ) ) set up in provincial roads in exchange for mifu ( 御符 ) , official certifications stamped with the sacred seals of
5763-534: The Southern Yatsugatake Mountains —in the village of Hara , while those of the Lower Shrine are taken from the forest of Higashimata ( 東俣 ) in the town of Shimosuwa . Yamadashi literally means "coming out of the mountains". Sixteen fir trees, usually about 17 to 19 metres (56 to 62 ft) tall, are selected and cut down in a Shinto ceremony using specially-made axes and adzes . The logs are decorated in red and white regalia,
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#17327944065775876-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
5989-469: The Yang Wood Monkey ). The introduction of the bakuhan system in the Edo period effectively ended the 'perpetual' obligation of periodically rebuilding the shrines and replacing their onbashira being imposed on the whole province of Shinano. Since then, these duties became the sole affair of the villages of Suwa (a.k.a. Takashima) Domain , where the shrines were. It is from around
6102-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
6215-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,
6328-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
6441-465: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of
6554-422: The Edo and the following Meiji periods that the raising of the onbashira gradually turned into a grand festival, overshadowing the zōei itself. It is thought that some of the current practices associated with the event may have been influenced by the rebuilding ceremony practiced at Ise Shrine . By the later half of the period, viewing galleries were being built for the huge crowds who gathered to witness
6667-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
6780-929: The Lühe Basin in Yunnan , China. From the Neogene , Cryptomeria is well represented as seed cones, leafy shoots and wood in the fossil records of Europe and Japan. † Cryptomeria rhenana was described from the early Late Miocene to the Late Miocene of Rhein in Morsbach , Germany, from the Early and Middle Pliocene of Northern Italy, to the Middle Pliocene of Dunarobba, Italy and to the Early Pleistocene of Umbria , Italy. † Cryptomeria anglica
6893-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
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#17327944065777006-492: The Onbashira Festival itself underwent massive changes. Formerly, the task of procuring and raising the onbashira were assigned to different villages every time via mutual agreement. In 1890, it was decided that lottery will be used henceforth to determine which villages will be assigned which onbashira during a given festival. While the villages under the Upper Shrine's jurisdiction (currently districts in
7119-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
7232-546: The Shrines and the) Mihashira "), is popularly reckoned to have a 1,200 year history. The Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba (written 1356) claims that the custom of reconstructing ( zōei ( 造営 ) ) shrine edifices during the years of the Monkey and the Tiger started during the reign of Emperor Kanmu in the late 8th to early 9th century (early Heian period ). One legend concerning Suwa Daimyōjin claims that he appeared to
7345-461: The Upper and Lower Shrines such as the 'treasure halls' or hōden ( 宝殿 ) where the shrines' mikoshi are kept was decreed to be a 'perpetual duty' ( eidai no kayaku ( 永代の課役 ) ) of the whole province of Shinano , with the inhabitants of the various districts of the province responsible for organizing the event. Such was indeed the case until the shrines experienced a period of decline during
7458-448: The Upper and Lower Shrines. The rebuilding of the shrines was undertaken by artisans assembled from all across the province, while thousands of people were assigned the task of erecting the onbashira into place, one or two thousand for each pillar. Due to the exorbitant amount of money required for the project, locals traditionally avoided or postponed special occasions like marriages, coming-of-age ceremonies , or even funerals during
7571-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
7684-408: The age of 20 became subject to the draft, whereas they had formerly been exempted. By 1944, men under 20—some as young as 15—were being pressured to serve in the military. Due to the lack of able-bodied adult men, the Onbashira Festival of 1944 ( Shōwa 19) was performed mainly by women (who formerly did not take part in the proceedings) and by older men who were not pressed into military service. During
7797-421: The country. Onbashira are also found in many local shrines in historical Suwa district (see pictures on left). The onbashira 's origins and original purpose are shrouded in mystery. They have been variously interpreted among other things as relics of much larger structures, a kind of barrier or boundary marker (cf. the Korean jangseung ), as totem poles , or even as symbolic substitutes for rebuilding
7910-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
8023-533: The element of metal overcoming wood, with the sickle being thought to pacify or 'cut' violent winds, which is associated with the wood element (cf. Suwa Daimyōjin being a wind god). The generating relationship between wood and fire and their connection with the Suwa deity is also seen in a medieval document known as the Suwa Shichū ( 陬波私注 ) , which associates Suwa Daimyōjin's birth and later 'disappearance' with
8136-468: The entire shrine complex. Some scholars meanwhile consider the practice of erecting sacred pillars to derive ultimately from prehistoric tree worship , citing the remains of wooden poles or slabs discovered in various Jōmon period sites in apparently ritualistic contexts as potential parallels to the Suwa onbashira . Possible influences by the Chinese theory of the five elements and the concept of
8249-532: The festival commences with the process of selecting the trees that will be turned into onbashira , the Mitate ( 見立て ) . In the Upper Shrine's case, a preliminary inspection ( Kari-mitate ( 仮見立 ) ) is performed two years before a given festival, with the formal selection process ( Hon-mitate ( 本見立 ) ) being held a year after this. The Upper Shrine's onbashira are made from momi fir trees procured from Mount Okoya ( Okoya-san ( 御小屋山 ) )—part of
8362-404: The festival, then-mayor of Shimosuwa, Tokichi Takagi ( 高木十吉 ) , died from an accident during the Yamadashi . It has since become customary to pray for safety during the proceedings before a monument dedicated to his memory. The festival of 1950 ( Shōwa 25), the first to be held after the war, marked the first time women were officially allowed to participate in the event. Preparations for
8475-528: The festival. The establishment of State Shinto after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 changed the religious landscape of Suwa. As the union between Shinto and Buddhism that existed then at the shrines—as in most places in Japan—was brought to an end and control over the Upper and Lower Shrines (merged into a single institution in 1871) was turned over from local priestly families to the government,
8588-578: The five elements are assigned three branch signs each, representing 'birth' ( 長生 ) , 'peak' ( 帝旺 ) , and 'burial' ( 墓 ) . The zodiac signs of the Tiger and the Horse are both associated with the 'birth' and 'peak' aspects of fire. Suwa Shrine's Onbashira Festival, officially known as the Shikinen Zōei Mihashira Taisai ( 式年造営御柱大祭 , lit. "Great Festival (of the) Periodic Building (of
8701-566: The general Sakanoue no Tamuramaro , appointed by Emperor Kanmu to subjugate the indigenous Emishi of northeastern Japan. In thanksgiving for the god's miraculous assistance in Tamuramaro's campaign, the imperial court was said to have decreed the establishment of the various religious ceremonies of Suwa Shrine. According to the Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba , the periodic rebuilding ( zōei ( 造営 ) ) of structures (every six years) in
8814-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
8927-534: The god himself. This was later joined by two Buddhist structures (no longer extant since the Meiji period ): a stone pagoda in the shrine's inner sanctum known as the Tettō ( 鉄塔 ) , ' iron tower ', and a sanctuary to the bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Fugen)—Suwa Daimyōjin being considered to be a manifestation of this bodhisattva—on the sacred mountain. Meanwhile, the Lower Shrine's objects of worship are sacred trees:
9040-547: The instance of a daimyō (feudal lord) who was too poor to donate a stone lantern at the funeral of the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) at Nikkō Tōshō-gū , but requested instead to be allowed to plant an avenue of sugi, so that "future visitors might be protected from the heat of the sun". The offer was accepted; the Cedar Avenue of Nikkō , which still exists, is over 65 km (40 mi) long, and "has not its equal in stately grandeur". Jōmon Sugi ( 縄文杉 )
9153-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
9266-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
9379-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
9492-481: The modern-day cities of Chino and Suwa , the town of Fujimi , and the village of Hara ) are still allotted their respective onbashira via lottery to this very day, the responsible villages for the Lower Shrine's onbashira soon decided to do away with the lottery for the 1902 festival and instead permanently assigned particular villages to a particular onbashira , an arrangement that continues to this day. The Lower Shrine's iconic Kiotoshi , wherein
9605-414: The modern-day cities of Suwa and Chino on the southeastern side of Lake Suwa, respectively, while the spring shrine ( 春宮 , Harumiya ) and autumn shrine ( 秋宮 , Akimiya ) in the town of Shimosuwa on the opposite (northern) side of the lake make up the Lower Shrine ( 下社 , Shimosha ) . The shrine's deity, known either as Suwa Daimyōjin or Takeminakata , was worshipped since antiquity as
9718-422: The most famous Chinese population, on Tianmu Mountain , containing trees estimated to be nearly 1000 years old, supports the hypothesis that the population originates from an introduction. Outside of its native range, Cryptomeria was also introduced to the Azores in the mid 19th century for wood production. It is currently the most cultivated species in the archipelago, occupying over 12,698 hectares, 60% of
9831-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
9944-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
10057-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
10170-635: The picture with different shoots). It makes a small, shrubby tree 5–10 m (16–33 ft) tall. There are numerous dwarf cultivars that are widely used in rock gardens and for bonsai, including 'Tansu', 'Koshyi', 'Little Diamond', 'Yokohama' and 'Kilmacurragh.' The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society 's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017): Sugi is commonly planted around temples and shrines , with many hugely impressive trees planted centuries ago. Sargent (1894; The Forest Flora of Japan ) recorded
10283-447: The production forest and about 1/5 of the region's total land area. Cryptomeria grows in forests on deep, well-drained soils subject to warm, moist conditions, and it is fast-growing under these conditions. It is intolerant of poor soils and cold, drier climates. It is used as a food plant by the larvae of some moths of the genus Endoclita including E. auratus , E. punctimargo and E. undulifer . Sugi (and hinoki ) pollen
10396-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
10509-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
10622-403: The shrine, located south (fire) of Lake Suwa (north, water) in order to replace old onbashira (earth), which are taken down and brought to Hachiryū Shrine in the former village of Chū-kaneko ( 中金子 , with 金 meaning metal), now a part of Suwa City . The custom of hammering ornamental sickles ( nagikama ) to the trees selected to become onbashira has also been linked to the idea of
10735-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
10848-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
10961-576: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Cryptomeria Cryptomeria (literally "hidden parts")
11074-477: The traditional colors of Shinto ceremonies, and ropes are attached. During Yamadashi , teams of people drag the logs down the mountain towards the shrine. The course of the logs goes over rough terrain, and at certain points the logs must be skidded or dropped down steep slopes. Young men prove their bravery by riding the logs, which can weigh as much as 12 tons, down the hill in a ceremony known as Kiotoshi ("tree falling"). During Satobiki , held about
11187-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
11300-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
11413-468: The two shrines of the Shimosha do not have a honden , the building that normally enshrines the shrine deity . Instead, the Upper Shrine's objects of worship were the sacred mountain behind the Honmiya , a sacred rock ( 磐座 , iwakura ) upon which Suwa Daimyōjin was thought to descend, and the shrine's former high priest or Ōhōri 大祝 who was considered to be the physical incarnation of
11526-413: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
11639-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
11752-531: The whole of Shinano Province, Shingen issued an order for the reinstitution of the religious rites of both the Kamisha and the Shimosha , the zōei being one of them. In 1582 ( Tenshō 10), the eldest son of Oda Nobunaga , Nobutada , led an army into Takeda -controlled Shinano and burned the Upper Shrine of Suwa to the ground. The shrine, which was destroyed in the invasion, was subsequently rebuilt on schedule two years later, in 1584 (Tenshō 12, year of
11865-452: The wood fibers. Cryptomeria japonica is extensively used in forestry plantations in Japan, China and the Azores islands, and is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree in other temperate areas, including Britain, Europe, North America and eastern Himalaya regions of Nepal and India. The cultivar 'Elegans' is notable for retaining juvenile foliage throughout its life, instead of developing normal adult foliage when one year old (see
11978-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
12091-714: The year of the Yang Wood Horse , kinoe-uma ( 甲午 ) , the Horse being associated with the south , the direction of fire. The timing of the Onbashira Festival, which falls during the Zodiac years of the Tiger and the Monkey , and the rebuilding of the Upper Shrine's hōden or treasure halls (see below) at noon—the hour of the Horse—are seen as corresponding with the concept of the Three Unities ( 三合 , Chinese: Sānhé , Japanese: Sangō ), where four of
12204-468: The year. In addition, observance of the event in the proper time was considered essential: failure to obey these taboos was thought to incur divine punishment. The upheavals of the Sengoku period threatened Suwa Shrine and its religious rites. Indeed, the shrine's ceremonies would have been lost to oblivion had not the warlord Takeda Shingen , a staunch devotee of the Suwa deity, took steps to revive their performance. In 1565, after he had fully conquered
12317-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
12430-510: Was described from the Late Miocene of La Cerdana, Spain, to the Late Middle Miocene of Brjánslækur, Iceland and from the Late Miocene to the early Pliocene Brassington Formation of Derbyshire , England. † Cryptomeria miyataensis was described from the Late Miocene of Akita, Japan. Cryptomeria japonica was described from the Late Miocene of Georgia and from the Pliocene of Duab, Abkhazia . It has also been described from
12543-399: Was established as the sole source for the Lower Shrine's onbashira and the current route which passes through the hill was adopted. In 1914 ( Taishō 3), 21-year-old Tomoya Nakamura ( 中村知也 ) became the first known person to ride an onbashira as it was being slid down the Kiotoshi-zaka . He is said to have repeated the same feat during the subsequent five festivals, making him
12656-680: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
12769-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
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