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89-507: Okuizumo is located in the mountains of North East Shimane. The steep mountains are limited to the area near the prefectural border and the border with Unnan, and the entire town is covered in heavy snowfall. The area is the headwaters of the Hii River , and the main mountains include Mt. Sarumasa (1267m), which is the highest peak in the Izumo region. Parts of the town are within the borders of

178-712: A mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 14 members. Okuizumo contributes one member to the Shimane Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Shimane 1st district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . The economy of Okuizumo is centered on agriculture and forestry. Komaki mine was used to produce tungsten from 1911 to 1984. Okuizumo has ten public elementary school and two public junior high schools operated by

267-403: A "centralized feudal " form of the shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu , the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . Already a powerful daimyo (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million koku , or thirty-six hectares of land, a new headquarters at Edo ,

356-517: A Buddhist or Shinto temple. The Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki . Besides small trade of some outer daimyo with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands , to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of sakoku to Nagasaki. The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644. By

445-561: A diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time. Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo

534-662: A discharge channel connecting Hii and Kando rivers. It diverts the excess water through Kando river into the Taisha Bay Since then the Kando river is regarded as a part of Hii river system. The channel, completed in 2013, received the 2014 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award. Additional elements of the flood control system are the Obara dam on Hii river and the Shitsumi dam on Kando river, as well as renovation of

623-457: A length of 153 km and catchment of 2540 km , it is the largest river in the east of Shimane Prefecture. It flows through the cities of Izumo and Matsue and through the lakes Shinji and Nakaumi and discharges into the Sea of Japan . In antiquity the river was known as "Izumo-no-okawa" (出雲大川, "The great Izumo river"). The River Hii significantly changed its course and transformed

712-634: A result of an eruption of Mount Sanbe about 1600 BC and the obstruction of the bay by pyroclastic flow that connected it again to Honshu. Afterwards rivers Hii and Kando discharged into the Kandono-mizuumi lagune and deposited their sediment there. According to some researchers, this change may have been reflected in the Kunibiki-shinwa ("Land-pulling myth"). It tells the story of the expansion of Izumo land by pulling to it pieces of "land in excess" from neighbouring areas. According to

801-517: A significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka . The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan , a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In

890-520: A strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo ), and also had an additional two million koku of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control of the Toyotomi clan . Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the old Japanese calendar , on the 15th day of the ninth month of

979-461: A vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization , increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and

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1068-635: Is 11,849 people. Okuizumo has been conducting censuses since 1920. The area of Okuizumo was the center of ancient Izumo Province , and was one of the early centers of Tatara steel production from the Kofun period . During the Edo Period , the area was mostly under the control of Matsue Domain , which was ruled mostly by various branches of the Matsudaira clan under the Tokugawa shogunate . After

1157-544: Is 153 km long and the catchment area is 2540 km ; the population of the catchment is about 500.000. It is 19th longest river in Japan, and 29th largest by its catchment area. It is designated as a Class A river system by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The bottom gradient is about 1/160-1/700 in the upper reaches and 1/860-1/1500 in the lower part. The mean annual precipitation

1246-415: Is about 2300 mm in the upper reaches and 1700–1845 mm in the lower reaches, most of it occurring in the southwestern part of the basin. The annual discharge in the midstream (Otsu, Izumo city) is 1.4 bln m . The main tributaries of Hii are Ai, Ohmaki, Kuno, Mitoya and Akagawa. In addition, rivers Iinashi and Hakuta discharge into lake Nakaumi. In the upper part of the catchment over 80% of

1335-472: Is an example of a raised-bed river ( 天上川 , tenjougawa ) , which are common in Japan. The accumulation of sediment in lake Shinji stopped the outflow into lake Nakaumi, transforming the former into a freshwater lake. In order to both prevent flooding and expand the agricultural land, in the 17th - 19th centuries the river was artificially diverted every 40–60 years; that was called the kawa-tagae ( 川違え ) technique. The greatest change came in 1924 with

1424-612: Is an important source of drinking and irrigation water. During the Edo period the upper Hii catchment was the largest iron-producing region in Japan. Nowadays the river is dammed for the production of hydropower. The largest dams are Obara and Hinobori. The river's source is located on the slopes of Mount Sentsū , in the town of Okuizumo . The river flows northwards through the Chūgoku Mountains and Yokota Basin (横田盆地). Below Kisuki it joins Mitoya river (三刀屋川). In Izumo city it enters

1513-505: Is located. Its original name was Kidzuki-oyashiro and it was dedicated to Yatsukamizu-omitsuno. In another local myth the fight of Susanoo against Yamata no Orochi serpent may represent the flood control efforts of people living along Hii. Till the mid-18th century, after reaching Izumo plain, the Hii turned west and discharged into Taisha Bay of the Sea of Japan. The sediments accumulated in

1602-1119: The chōnin (craftsmen and merchants) class and nōmin (peasants) class were literate. Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration. As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of bunraku (puppet theatre), kibyōshi (satirical novels), sharebon (books on urban culture), kokkeibon (comical books), ninjōbon (romance novel), yomihon and kusazōshi were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko ( Life of an Amorous Man ) by Ihara Saikaku , Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Takizawa Bakin and Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times. The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism

1691-585: The Hiba-Dogo-Taishaku Quasi-National Park . Hiroshima Prefecture Shimane Prefecture Tottori Prefecture Okuizumo has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ) with very warm summers and cool winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year. The average annual temperature in Okuizumo is 12.3 °C (54.1 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,754.6 mm (69.08 in) with July as

1780-618: The Izumo plain  [ ru ] , where it is connected to Kando River  [ ru ] by the Hiikawa River discharge channel. Then it turns eastwards and flows through Lake Shinji and then through lake Nakaumi , discharging through the Sakai channel into Miho-wan bay of Sea of Japan . The part of the river that connects two lakes and crosses Matsue city is called Ohashi River  [ ja ] (大橋川). The Hii river

1869-454: The Meiji restoration , the village of Minari (三成村) was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on July 1 , 1941. Minari merged with four surrounding villages to form the town of Nita (仁多町) on April 15, 1955. The town of Okuizumo was formed on March 31, 2005 from the merger of the towns of Nita and Yokota . Okuizumo has

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1958-667: The Tokugawa period ( 徳川時代 , Tokugawa jidai ) , is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan , when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyo . Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period , the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, overall peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture , colloquially referred to as Ōedo ( 大江戸 , Oo-Edo , "Great Edo") . The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo ), where on March 24, 1603,

2047-658: The bakufu and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets. As the shogunate only allowed daimyos to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there. Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In

2136-411: The bakuhan , the shōgun had national authority, and the daimyo had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million koku , control of

2225-419: The emperor , the court, all daimyo, and the religious orders. The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the shōgun , who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter

2314-648: The shōgun ' s retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity. More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians). Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from travelling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636,

2403-707: The shōgun and daimyo could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry . The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his shinpan domains and other daimyos followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as han schools (藩校, hankō ). Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts. These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and

2492-482: The terakoya curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy. High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms. In urban areas, children were often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education. In Edo,

2581-725: The 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated. Its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company , and for a short period, the Portuguese, Spanish and English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki. Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial. During

2670-412: The 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost zero population growth , often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine ( Great Tenmei famine 1782–1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population. At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around

2759-415: The 20th and 21st centuries devastating floods occurred in years 1943, 1945, 1972, 2003 and 2006. In 2003 the flood caused the death of 3, 1460 homes were flooded. The catastrophic 1972 flood resulted in death of 12 and damaged 24953 homes. Over 70 km was flooded and the area remained submerged for over a week. In the 1990s works commenced on a vast flood control system, including the construction of

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2848-399: The 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification. Only

2937-455: The 60 million m large Sakura-Orochi lake that is used for drinking water supply, irrigation, flood control and recreation. In total there 14 hydropower plants on the Hii river, which together generate up to 55000 kWh of electricity. Downstream of the dams ayu (the main fishery resource) and carp are caught in the river. The catches are smaller compared to other rivers in the prefecture and to lakes Shinji and Nakaumi. In many locations

3026-625: The Americas and then to Europe. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships , three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa , used those ships throughout Asia. The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans . By 1612,

3115-471: The Dutch were restricted to Dejima , a small artificial island —and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor. The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked

3204-526: The Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships , such as the San Juan Bautista , a 500- ton galleon -type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to

3293-589: The Izumo-fudoki annals, the local deity Yatsukamizu-omitsuno(-no-mikoto) said: "The country Izumo, of the clouds rising, is a land like a pile of narrow cloth. First the land was made small. Therefore, it ought to be sewn larger". Using a hoe he pulled pieces of land from Shiragi (eastern Silla ), Saki Country and other areas and connected them to Izumo to form the Shimane peninsula. The land pulled from Shiragi became Kidzuki Cape, beside which Izumo Taisha shrine

3382-668: The Meiji Restoration around 150 years later. From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data. The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

3471-541: The Ohashi river. In the Middle Ages the river comprised an important transport corridor, through which rice and iron were shipped downstream. Typically the goods were shipped using the takasebune boats up to Shoubara (on lake Shinji), where they could be loaded on larger sailing ships. An additional route was created in the late 17th century with the construction of a canal between Kurihara and Taisha Bay. It that case

3560-432: The Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ), together with the shōgun and daimyo . Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 , four classes ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under

3649-496: The all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The daimyo operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and

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3738-480: The all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. The system of sankin kōtai meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country. Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, were accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles. To keep up with growing expenditures,

3827-400: The beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word eta literally translates to "filthy" and hinin to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the eta and hinin were not even people. Hinin were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and

3916-515: The chief counselor Mizuno Tadakuni. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy. Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

4005-935: The cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants. A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge. The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans. The bakufu and daimyos raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos. Yet it

4094-575: The city government, and one public high schools operated by the Shimane Prefectural Board of Education. [REDACTED] JR West (JR West) - Kisuki Line This Shimane Prefecture location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Hii River The Hii River ( 斐伊川 , Hii-kawa ) is a river on the island of Honshu in Shimane Prefecture and Tottori Prefecture , Japan. With

4183-414: The city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the shōgun , the 5,000 so-called hatamoto . The daimyo were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the daimyo themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province ( han ) for the next. This system

4272-475: The commercialization of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned). They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into

4361-447: The dredging of Ohashi River that connected again the lakes Shinji and Nakaumi. In addition, the dams built since the 1960s reduced the volume of sediment transported by the river. Since the 1980s till 2010s there was an improvement in the BOD values of Hii water. Since 2003 it did not exceed the required value of 1 mg/L (except one instance in 2015). From 1980s until the early 2000s

4450-605: The end of the Christian movement. During the Shimabara Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred. In 50 years, the Tokugawa shoguns reduced the amount of Christians to near zero in Japan. Some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan . Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled. Members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed. All Japanese subjects were ordered to register at

4539-415: The felling of trees needed for the furnaces operation led to deforestation and erosion and increased the amount of sediment. The accumulation of sediment in the riverbed increased the flood hazard, causing the locals to construct consequently elevated river banks. As a result today the river flows higher than the surrounding land, at some points the riverbed is elevated 3–4 m above the nearby plain. It

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4628-606: The fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyo houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyo , but his assumption of the title of shōgun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada (1579–1632) as shōgun and himself as retired shōgun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still

4717-413: The goods were shipped to Uryu port at the west end of Shimane peninsula. 70% of rice paddies in Hii catchment are irrigated used its water. Most of the paddies are located in the east of Izumo plain. The river is used to supply drinking water to Matsue and Izumo cities. The Obara and Hinobori dams are located on the river. They are the main obstacles for fish migration on Hii. The Obara dam impounds

4806-455: The hierarchy was the fudai , or "house daimyo ", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 fudai controlled much smaller han , the greatest assessed at 250,000 koku . Members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the third group, the tozama (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on

4895-578: The land is covered by forests and around 10% by rice paddies. During the Last Glacial Maximum , the Shimane Peninsula  [ ja ] was fully connected to Honshu . The Old Shinji river flowed in the place of modern lake Shinji and Izumo Plain. About 9000 BC the sea level began to rise and seawater intruded into the low-lying areas in the east and the west ends, between the hilly peninsula and Chūgoku Mountains . During

4984-407: The land several times during last 7 millennia. Alluvial deposits carried by the river joined the Shimane peninsula to the mainland, which may have been represented in the "Kunibiki-shinwa" myth. Since the 17th century it flows into lake Shinji, and since the early 20th century continues to the Sea of Japan. Hii river frequently caused floods in its catchment. On the other hand, it was and currently

5073-421: The most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the various classes of daimyo . Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan , or "related houses". There were twenty-three daimyo on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of

5162-629: The national law. Although the daimyo were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to military and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the daimyo , thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The han , once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyo had full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats , and commoners. Loyalty

5251-409: The official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku (national learning) school of thought. Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of

5340-498: The peasants lived in rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around daimyo castles , each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, daimyo and layers of feudal lords whose rank

5429-420: The peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million koku of productive land. Because the tozama were the least trusted of the daimyo , they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over

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5518-423: The plain and after large floods in years 1635 and 1639 the river changed its course and it has discharged since then into lake Shinji. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the mountains in the upper Hii basin became the most important source of iron production from ironsand in the tatara furnaces. For this process a technique called kanna-nagashi  [ ja ] ( 鉄穴流し ) was used: channels were built on

5607-586: The problem, in 1689 the Tenjin-gawa channel connected lakes Shinji and Nakaumi, and in 1787 the Sada-gawa channel was constructed and linked lake Shinji directly to the sea. However, their outflow was not enough for flood control. In 1832 Hii was linked to lake Shinji by the Shin River, which was constructed to the south of its former course, but accumulation of sediment led to its closure in 1939. In

5696-485: The rise of kokugaku , and the Igakukan ( 医学間 , "Institute of medicine") , focusing on Chinese medicine. One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a fifth of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate. According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of

5785-572: The riverbanks are a popular tourist destination. The riverbanks in Mitoya ( Unnan ) and Kisuki are famous for sakura blossoms. The Horanenya  [ ja ] matsuri (shinto festival) is held every 10 years on the Ohashi river in Matsue. During the festival the shintai of Jozan-Inari shrine is shipped on a boat. It is one of three major ship festivals of Japan. Edo period The Edo period ( 江戸時代 , Edo jidai ) , also known as

5874-439: The samurai class. There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid class division between samurai and merchants began to break down. A few domains, notably Chōshū and Satsuma, used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830–1843) promulgated by

5963-459: The samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries. Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity. The eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by

6052-447: The shogun's chief councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation. Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country. By 1800,

6141-600: The shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian Shōheikō ( 昌平黌 ) acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country. Besides Shoheikō, other important directly run schools at the end of the shogunate included the Wagakukōdansho ( 和学講談所 , "Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics") , specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing

6230-639: The shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu . The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War , which restored imperial rule to Japan . A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate , which existed with the Tennō 's court, to the Tokugawa , when the samurai became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called

6319-405: The slopes, then filled with weathered granite earth. When they were washed with water the lighter earth was pulled away leaving concentrated iron ore (up to 80%) that was collected. In the late Edo era about 80% of iron in Japan was produced in Izumo region. The total amount of sediment resulting from this process that was discharged into the river up to 1950s is estimated at 200,000,000 m³. Moreover,

6408-408: The strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship. The daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyo used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading . It

6497-519: The temperature peak of the warm Atlantic period (early Jomon ) the sea probably separated the peninsula almost entirely from the mainland. At that point the Hii river flowed into the Old Shinji Bay, located at the place of modern lake Shinji and Izumo Plain. Later the sea level receded again. In addition, sediments from Hii and other rivers accumulated in the bay, cutting it off the sea. The final step in this change may have happened as

6586-575: The title of Danzaemon ( ja:弾左衛門 ) and had the authority to issue orders to eta and hinin throughout the country, as well as jurisdiction within the eta and hinin . In the 19th century the umbrella term burakumin was coined to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The eta , hinin and burakumin classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times. The Edo period passed on

6675-460: The total nitrogen concentration has risen while phosphorus concentration decreased. Since the early 21st century efforts have been undertaken for restoration of wetlands along the river, since these are important for the local ecosystem. The first reports of floods along Hii river are from Yoro period (717-723 AD). According to later reports, significant flooding occurred about every 4 years, frequently following typhoons. As an attempt to solve

6764-457: The total population. After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained (fairly) stable for the next 250 years, influenced by Confucian principles of social order . Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the daimyo took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to

6853-491: The wearing of hats. Sometimes eta villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society. On the other hand, in practice, both eta and hinin were recognized as owners of fields, some with very large incomes ( koku ) and some economic power. Their chief held

6942-532: The wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.6 °C (76.3 °F), and lowest in January, at around 0.7 °C (33.3 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Okuizumo was 36.3 °C (97.3 °F) on 19 August 2010; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −13.1 °C (8.4 °F) on 28 February 1981. Per Japanese census data, the population of Okuizumo in 2020

7031-516: The works of Zhu Xi .When the clergy of Shinto religion were alive, samurai, Buddhist monks were also there. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools. The chōnin (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called terakoya (寺子屋, "temple schools"). Despite being located in temples,

7120-413: Was called sankin-kōtai . Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes. The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges

7209-411: Was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion. In response the shōgun , beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only

7298-612: Was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms. Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favoured ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities. The beginning of

7387-571: Was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government. As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business. The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos. By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of

7476-529: Was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The daimyo comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony. Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there

7565-434: Was made an imperial consort in 1619. A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyo houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the sankin-kōtai system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain ( han ) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were

7654-452: Was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 Gotōke reijō was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696. Outside the four classes were the so-called eta and hinin , those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism . Eta were butchers, tanners and undertakers. Hinin served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included

7743-444: Was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%. Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as chōnin . In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million. Between

7832-410: Was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical humanism , rationalism , and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to

7921-443: Was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of

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