September 2024 Updates This month we added a new family to the website, the Amago Family, got several new yōkai on the website as well as all information concerning Emperor Keikō that resides in the nihongi. We have plans to finish off the yōkai in the konjaku hyakki shūi this[...]

August 2024 Updates We made good progress this month with the August 2024 Updates! Continuing adding information about Emperor Keikō’s reign from the nihongi and almost all of his children. We also have some new yōkai and clans added to the website. We aim to try and add a bit[...]

July 2024 Updates This month was definately an interesting month, so here we go with the July 2024 Updates. We did endeavour to finish all of the information pertaining to Emperor Keikō, but there is just so much we are still working through it. Progress has been made though thankfully[...]

June 2024 Updates It has been a few months since we were last able to update the website, and we apologise for that. Work gets in the way, yuu know how it is. When you have a full time job, passion projects often have to wait. Hoping one day we[...]

Show Notes for episode 92 of our Podcast – The Descent of Ninigi. Story Notes The grandchild of Amaterasu was known as Ninigi, or Amatsuhikohohoninigi for his full name. This boy was a child through the sun kami’s son Masayaakatsukatsuhayahi Amanooshihomimi and his wife Takuhatachihime A meeting is held by[...]

Show Notes for episode 91 of our Podcast – Blind Bankers of Edo. Story Notes During the Edo Period, also known as the Tokugawa Period, there was a surprising amount of professions that were available to the blind or visually impaired. From acupuncture, to playing the koto, to even performing[...]

Show Notes for episode 90 of our Podcast – Jesus in Japan. Story Notes The podcasts return has aligned with Christmas Day, so why not talk a little about Jesus. For there are some that believe Jesus didn’t die on the cross, but in fact made his way to Japan[...]

Show Notes for episode 89 of our Podcast – The Golden Tea Room. Story Notes The Golden Tea Room, or as it is known Japanese, the 黄金の茶室, Ōgon no chashitsu was not a permanent structure that people could visit to should they wish to go and experience a tea ceremony.[...]

December 2023 Updates Things are slowly coming together in the December 2023 Updates as we bring back the podcast. And we thank you all for your patience as we get it going again and endeavour to keep the website expanding with the addition of our youtube channel which we are[...]

October 2023 Updates Hey everyone, the with our October 2023 Updates turned into a quiet month in regards to new pages on the site. But we did update several other pages as well. This month we focused on all the information surrounding the reign of Emperor Seimu and so his[...]

September 2023 Updates So it has been a little while, but we are here now with our September 2023 Updates. We have been making a move to bring many different projects together in the future and we can’t wait to show you what we have planned for this site, the[...]

June 2023 Updates In the June 2023 Updates, like we mentioned last month we wanted to use the month of May to make everything a little more consistent on the website and change terms such as God/Deity/Spirit to all be matching and use the term kami as this is the[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 23 of our Podcast – The Demon Candlestick. Story Notes Now this particular tale I came across when doing research into the yokai from the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Toriyama Sekien. And notes alongside this creature in the book I was using also led us[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 22 of our Podcast – A Dead Secret. Story Notes A long time ago, in the province of Tamba, there lived a rich merchant named Inamuraya Gensuké. He had a daughter called O-Sono. As she was very clever and pretty, he thought it would be[...]

As you can see below in the May 2023 Updates not much was actually added to the website, nor was much updated. We decided to have a much slower month after the productivity of April and we are happy to see we are still getting consistently high visits to the[...]

Show Notes for episode 84 of our Podcast – The Three Bonsai. Story Notes In the reign of the Emperor Go-Fukakusa there lived a celebrated Regent, Saimyoji Tokiyori. When thirty years of age this Regent retired to a monastery for several years, and not infrequently his peace of mind was[...]

Show Notes for episode 84 of our Podcast – The Tale of Priest Zōga. Story Notes This is the tale of Priest Zōga (蔵賀), a man who we known lived from 917-1003. This particular tale concerning him can be found in several different documents, these being the Konjaku Monogatari Shu,[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 21 of our Podcast – Night Moving. Story Notes This was a strange things I came across in my feed one day, and I knew it was something that was worth talking about on our show. In Chiba, you can find a man by the[...]

Show Notes for episode 82 of our Podcast – Eugenics in Japan. Story Notes It seems that in almost every country at some point the idea of eugenics has been spread through the country and even utilised with that country. So we are going to take a look at how[...]

Well as you can see in the April 2023 Updates we did what we set out to do for the month. All the notes I have right now for members of the Fujiwara Clan are now on the website and so I will be taking a break from them. When[...]

Show Notes for episode 81 of our Podcast – A Troubled Stomach. Story Notes Now this is a tale which can be found in the konjaku monogatari shū, a tale revolving around a man known as Fujiwara no Tamemori from the Province of Echizen. A Province he was made Governor[...]

February is over already. And we have had another productive month. The podcast continues its return and we have many new ideas we want to bring to you soon. We did a lot of pages surrounding the reign of Emperor Sujin, as well as several new Yokai and people from[...]

Show Notes for episode 80 of our Podcast – Hoichi the Earless. Story Notes More than seven hundred years ago, at Dan-no-ura, in the Straits of Shimonoséki, was fought the last battle of the long contest between the Heiké, or Taira clan, and the Genji, or Minamoto clan. There the[...]

Show Notes for episode 79 of our Podcast – The Plague of Emperor Sujin. Story Notes These notes are taken from the corrosponding page concerning the Emperor, with some ommisions. Emperor Sujin (崇神 天皇) was the 10th Emperor of Japan also known as Mimakiiribikoiniye (御眞木入日子印恵命) or Mimaki Irihiko Isachi. He[...]

Show Notes for episode 78 of our Podcast – The Song the Sea God Sang. Story Notes The Song the Sea God Sang is said to be a critique on the connections that exist between humans and the kamui (gods of the Ainu). For this particular story it revolves around[...]

February 2023 Updates The first month of the new year is over. And this month has seen one of the busiest months I have ever had for the website. I have added more than 70 pages to the site, and still been able to work with Heather to bring back[...]

Show Notes for episode 77 of our Podcast – To Live Forever. Show Notes This is another story by Yei Theodora Ozaki, a woman who sorely deserves her own episode on our show some time soon! Long, long ago there lived a man called Sentaro. His surname meant “Millionaire,” but[...]

Show Notes for episode 76 of our Podcast – A Cautionary Buddhist Tale. Story Notes This particular tale comes from the Uji shui monogatari and centers around the character of Fujiwara no Toshiyuki. A man who died in either 901 or 907AD. Toshiyuki was a celebrated caligrapher and many people[...]

Show Notes for episode 75 of our Podcast – The 1,000,000円 Question. Story Notes The government in Japan has increased it’s incentives to get people moving out of the capital and surrounding districts to help with the overcrowding they are seeing in Tokyo; one of the biggest cities in the[...]

January 2023 Updates A New Year has started and I am more motivated than ever with this website, bringing back the podcast and all the new things I have started to do like Youtube. This month was getting a lot of pages created that have been waiting to be made[...]

December 2022 Updates Hey everyone, hope you are preparing for the Holiday Season and can all relax soon over the New Year. We made some small progress this month with the children of Takeuchi no Sukune as we have also been working on a secret new project that will be[...]

November 2022 Updates Hey everyone, here is our November 2022 Updates for you all. This month ended up being rather productive. Like we said in the previous update post we are still working through all of the members of the Fujiwara Clan we currently have notes for and have added[...]

October 2022 Updates Hey there. Another update for you all as our podcast continues its little break. Many things happening right now in our lives that are keeping us away from our show right now. But don’t worry, we will be coming back to you soon! As for the website.[...]

September 2022 Updates Well we have been busy with life lately, but we have been slowly adding to the website still since our last post in June. We’re kinda of unsure which pages we have Updated since the last post, but we can still list for you all the new[...]

Show Notes for episode 74 of our Podcast – Protectors. Story Notes Today we finish of Women’s History month. Yes, we know it took us a while. (But as future Thomas writes here, we were in a very bad place with my mental health, I even used soley wikipedia for[...]

June 2022 Updates Well it definately turned in to a most productive for us on the website, so here are the June 2022 Updates. We are drawing very close to completing all the members of the Fujiwara Clan we can that are mentioned in the books we currently have. We[...]

Show Notes for episode 73C of our Podcast – The Road to being Geisha. Story Notes When life began as a maiko all of Mineko’s time disappeared. Her schedule seemed a little grueling. And don’t forget she is only 15 still at this time. Her days would begin at 6[...]

May 2022 Updates It has been a pretty good month overall for the website so here are the May 2022 Updates. Right now we are in Kyoto on a little holiday exploring the places we have talked about on some of our episodes. As for the website, almost everything is[...]

Show Notes for bonus 20 of our Podcast – Pearl Diving in Japan. Story Notes Pearl Diving in Japan is carried out by a group of women known as Ama or to us Diving Women. Their jobs consisted of catching seafood to sell, but over time these women had grown[...]

Show Notes for episode 73B of our Podcast – Becoming Maiko. Story Notes We continue today the tale of Mineko, as she comes ever closer to becoming a fully fledged Geisha. But it is not going to be an easy time for her. On January 9th one of her nephews[...]

April 2022 Updates We have been keeping the ball rolling since we hit 1000 pages last months. Alot of updates and a lot of new pages for the first time in a long while all listed here for you in the April 2022 Updates. Total Pages: 1048 Wanted Pages: 834[...]

Show Notes for episode 73A of our Podcast – Adopted into the Geisha World. Story Notes Our story now looks into the life of the woman called. Mineko Iwasaki, a woman who was actually interviewed for the book Memoirs of a Geisha. Her original name was Masako Tanaka Still alive[...]

Show Notes for episode 72 of our Podcast – Higuchi Ichiyo. Story Notes Today we finally delve into the life of Higuchi Ichiyo, the woman you can see on the 5000円 note. Ichiyo was born on May 2, 1872. Her name at birth was Natsu, although she also called herself[...]

Show Notes for episode 71 of our Podcast – Hidden Names. Story Notes Our first episode during Womens History Month, so I wanted to do an episode on 3 women I have come across in my time making the website and they are women we do not know the names[...]

March 2022 Updates Here are our March 2022 Updates. Well we finally did it! We have hit over 1000 pages on the website! Heres to another productive year for the website and our podcast: Japan Archives. Total Pages: 1009 Wanted Pages: 828 Culture Human Sacrifice Literature Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga Bunbuku Chagama Engi[...]

Show Notes for episode 70 of our Podcast – Making Withered Trees Bloom. Story Notes Long, long ago there lived an old man and his wife who supported themselves by cultivating a small plot of land. Their life had been a very happy and peaceful one save for one great[...]

Show Notes for bonus 19 of our Podcast – Forgotten Pantomime – Gigaku. Story Notes Today we talk of an almost forgotten part of Japanese History. Japanese pantomime. Known as Gigaku. Now as for its origins it looks like it was an import from Korea during the Nara Period around[...]

Show Notes for bonus 18 of our Podcast – The Horse Slaying Sword. Story Notes Today a look into the sword which was known as the ‘zanbato.’ Was this sword real? Or is it merely the stuff of legend? Well lets look into that today. Now first lets look at[...]

Show Notes for bonus 17 of our Podcast – Frolicking Animals. (Chōjū-giga) Story Notes We return to Kyoto as we often do on our show, this time to a temple known as Kōzan-ji. It is not really a centralised temple in Kyoto, located in the north-west outskirts of the city.[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 16 of our Podcast – The Crucifixion of Sogoro. Story Notes The Crucifixion of Sogoro occoured to the man known as Sakura Sōgorō (佐倉 惣五郎) also known as Kiuchi Sōgorō (木内 惣五郎) was a peasant living in the village of Kozu, now close to modern[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 15 of our Podcast – The Courtesan’s Abyss. Story Notes The story of The Courtesan’s Abyss take places in a gorge/waterfall located in Yamanashi Prefecture. In Japanese it goes by the name of Oiran Buchi. The area is known from an event from around the[...]

Show Notes for episode 67 of our Podcast – The Song the Marsh Demon Sang. Story Notes The Song the Marsh Demon Sang involves the kamui Okikirmui and Apehuchi, an important kamui in charge of the fire and hearth. One day the Marsh Demon poked his eyes out from under[...]

October 2021 Updates Lets get into the October 2021 Updates. This has been a good month for the website, we dug out a dusty journal we have had for a while that we once used when doing our Human Sacrifice episode. And so we have looked through it and been[...]

Show Notes for episode 66C of our Podcast – Tattooing – The Suikoden. Story Notes So lets us bring to a close our episodes on the history of tattoos.  We have mentioned throughout the popularity of the heroes from the Suikoden so I feel it makes sense to bring it[...]

September 2021 Updates Since the last update we have concentrated on getting the Shinto mythologies all the way up to the birth of Ōkuninushi onto the website. We’re happy to say this is all done now and we also added a few new members of the Fujiwara Clan. So please[...]

Show Notes for episode 66B of our Podcast – Tattooing – Animal Imagery. Story Notes Well today I must start off by saying the Dragon which I was calling Yamato no Orochi is Yamata no Orochi. I completely misread the name and have been doing so for years!   So[...]

Show Notes for episode 66A of our Podcast – Tattooing a History. Story Notes Now first off I want to say there was an unfortunate death in my family recently, hence the break in episodes. But we are here now. And I am much better than I was.   But[...]

Show Notes for episode 65 of our Podcast – Urashima Taro the Fisher Lad. Story Notes Long, long ago in the province of Tango there lived on the shore of Japan in the little fishing village of Mizu-no-ye a young fisherman named Urashima Taro. His father had been a fisherman[...]

Show Notes for bonus 14 of our Podcast – Proverbs Pt.2 Proverb Notes Todays Bonus episode was a short one, one to showcase a few new proverbs we have come across during our research into Japanese History. So lets get into it. 出る杭は打たれる。 Deru kui wa utareru. Literally: The stake[...]

Show Notes for episode 64 of our Podcast – To Hell and Back. Story Notes Listeners discretion advised for this episode. It is gory, and graphic, and due to the age of the document translated, sexist.   Now you may recall this from Yasuke, but I mentioned a tale known as[...]

June 2021 Updates This past month we had a push to get the nihongi and kojiki finished up to the end of Susano-o and his exploits in Heaven. There is of course much more to come in the Shinto mythologies, but we are slowly getting there we promise. We have[...]

Show Notes for episode 63 of our Podcast – Turtle Folklore. Story Notes There are four divine beasts in Chinese culture, and it’s from this that Japanese culture derives some of the basis for its own turtle folklore   The four divine beasts are the dragon, bird, and tiger. Each of[...]

Show Notes for episode 62 of our Podcast – The Exploits of Okuninushi. Story Notes Now we haven’t been here since Episode 44, a long time ago now, but we will be continuing on with the story of Shinto.   And so we left it off last time with Susano-o having[...]

Show Notes for episode 61 of our Podcast – Golden Week. Story Notes Today Heather brought us the history of Golden Week so lets get into it. Golden week got its start in 1948. The Japanese government established a “public holiday law” designating 9 official holidays as well as stating[...]

Show Notes for episode 60E of our Podcast – War and Betrayal – Honnō-ji Incident Story Notes We jump to late autumn when Yasuke is in attendance to Nobunaga. A messanger arrives at Azuchi castle bringing a message from General Hideyoshi. His siege at Tottori Castle against the Mori (the[...]

May 2021 Updates Well after last months big update of everything from the last year, the May 2021 Updates are super tiny. We are on track to getting all our projects up to date around new work schedules, so here are the 4 new pages that got added since the[...]

Show Notes for episode 60D of our Podcast – To Become Samurai. Story Notes After, Yasuke waited a while for another summons. Nobunaga all focused on the umazoroe (horse racing event) to come. And so Yasuke waited… and waited. Now separate from the Jesuits he had spent so long with.[...]

Show Notes for bonus 13 of our Podcast – Jimmu’s Successors. Story Notes Here follows the events, as detailed in the nihongi, of Jimmu’s Successors. These are the reigns of the 2nd to 9th Emperors of Japan. There are a few extra pieces of information from other sources as well.[...]

April 2021 Updates Well it has certainly been a long time since we did this hasn’t it? But it is time for the April 2021 Updates. Corona, moving house, looking for a new job. All these things have been keeping us away from the website when we have sorely been[...]

Show Notes for episode 60C of our Podcast – Meeting Nobunaga Story Notes We left off with them all entering finally into Kyoto for their fated meeting with Oda Nobunaga. But I failed to mention that as they neared Kyoto their small procession had grown and grown so when they[...]

Show Notes for episode 60B of our Podcast – The Road to Kyoto Story Notes We carry on from where we left off. With Yasuke and Allesandro finishing up their meeting with Lord Arima. And so it was time for the two of them to return home, through the territory[...]

Show Notes for episode 60A of our Podcast – Yasuke arriving in Japan Updates on Last Week Episode One of our listeners chimed in about us saying perhaps the Knights were Samurai, reminding us that Samurai didn’t come into existence in the 12th century, however, the story of the Bamboo[...]

Show Notes for episode 59 of our Podcast – The Bamboo Cutters Daughter. Story Notes Long, long ago, there lived an old bamboo wood-cutter. He was very poor and sad also, for no child had Heaven sent to cheer his old age, and in his heart there was no hope[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 12 of our Podcast – The Vampire Cat. Story Notes This is an old tale, from 1871 by A.B.Mitford. Due to the age of the tale it is now out of copyright and so we have the entire original story here for you to enjoy.[...]

Show Notes for episode 58 of our Podcast – The Yokai behind Pokemon. Story Notes Pokemon is a world wide phenomenon which was first thought up around 1989 by Pokemon executive director Satoshi Tajiri when the Game Boy was released. And the item behind Pokemon came from a popular hobby[...]

Show Notes for episode 57 of our Podcast – A Brief History of Noodles. Story Notes If you mention Japan and noodles in the same sentence, most people in America would, I assume, think you are talking about ramen. Ramen has become so ingrained in American culture that, along with[...]

Show Notes for episode 56 of our Podcast – The Tongue Cut Sparrow. Today we read the translation from 1901 by Yei Theodora Ozaki. As it is now in the public domain here is the story in full for you. Story Notes Long, long ago in Japan there lived an[...]

Show Notes for episode 55 of our Podcast – The Life and Poems of Manzei. Story Notes Now the poems we will talk of today come from the man’yōshū, a large poetry collection of 20 volumes and more than 4,500 waka poems. The document in question was divided into three[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 11 of our Podcast – Santa Kuro. Story Notes Looking around to find a topic themed around Christmas for the end of the year I stumbled upon the short tale of Santa Kurō  (三太九郎) and we first find this tale all the way back in[...]

Show Notes for episode 54C of our Podcast – Reigns End. Story Notes So answering our little query we gave ourselves last week. The Emperor Jimmu would be 100% divine. Today we finish our look into the Emperor Jimmu and so we pick up where we left off. On the[...]

Show Notes for episode 54B of our Podcast – Divine Crow. Story Notes Reading through my notes and the books again to double check everything before todays episode I came across a mistake from the last episode so lets quickly rectify that.   We talked about Naga-sune-hiko and how he attacked[...]

Show Notes for episode 54A of our Podcast – The First Emperor. Story Notes Today we are going to talk about Jimmu Tenno 神武天皇, or to the Western world, the Emperor Jimmu.   Now he is going to act as we have said as the first in our chronological telling of[...]

Show Notes for episode 53 of our Podcast – Kettles and Sparrows. Story Notes Today we had two folktales from a very old source, The Folk Lore Record dating to 1878. So sit back and enjoy the tales. The Bewitched Tea-Kettle This story is originally called the Bunbuku Chagama. A[...]

Show Notes for episode 52 of our Podcast – The Love of Asagao. Story Notes This story originally came from 1913 and so is available free of copyright and so we can include the story in full for you here today. “The morning gloryHer leaves and bells has boundMy bucket-handle[...]

Show Notes for episode 51 of our Podcast – Kintaro the Golden Boy. Story Notes Long, long ago there lived in Kyoto a brave soldier named Kintoki. Now he fell in love with a beautiful lady and married her. Not long after this, through the malice of some of his[...]

Show Notes for episode 50 of our Podcast – Worlds Oldest Companies.   Story Notes In the world there exists 67 companies which have existed since before 1300AD, and out of those 67. 34% of them are located in Japan. So today let’s dive into some of them shall we? [...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 10 of our Podcast – Ninja Magician. Story Notes Kashin Koji (果心居士) was said to have been a magician born in 1524 who also went by the name of Shippo Gyoja (Pilgrim of the Seven Treasures). His ancestry is unfortunately not known and we can[...]

Show Notes for episode 49 of our Podcast – The Sacred Regalia. Story Notes Today I wanted to try and piece together the history of the Sacred Regalia in Japan. Where as England has their crown jewels for example, in Japan they have these Regalia, or the Sanshu no Jingi[...]

Show Notes for episode 48 of our Podcast – Iroha and Dragonflies. Story Notes So if I was to ask you what a pangram was, what example could you give?  If you are an English speaker you may already know of one, even if you didn’t realise such a thing[...]

Show Notes for episode 47 of our Podcast – Sushi. Story Notes What do you think of when you think about sushi? Maybe you think about the rolls served with avocado, mayonnaise, fried seafood… Maybe you think about the cute little egg omelettes or raw fish like tuna served on[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 9 of our Podcast – Momiji Meat. Story Notes All the way back in Episode 16 we heard of a poem from Sarumaru Taifu that went as follows.  (From the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.) 奥山に 紅葉踏みわけ 鳴く鹿の 声きく時ぞ 秋はかなしき  Okuyama ni momoji mireba naku shika no koe kiku toki zo aki wa kanashiki  In[...]

Show Notes for episode 46 of our Podcast – The Peony Lantern. Story Notes I There once lived in the district of Ushigome, in Yedo, a hatamoto called Iijima Heizayemon, whose only daughter, Tsuyu, was beautiful as her name, which signifies “Morning Dew.” Iijima took a second wife when his[...]

 Show Notes for episode 45 of our Podcast – Beginning Basho. Story Notes 古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音  furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto   Breaking the silence of an ancient pond, a frog jumped into water – A deep resonance We’ve encountered Basho so many times during the podcast, that[...]

Show Notes for episode 44 of our Podcast – Yamata no Orochi. Story Notes So finally Susano-o is leaving Heaven, he has caused offence, he caused the sun kami to flee for a time causing the land to fall into darkness, and generally he has proven to be not a[...]

Show Notes for episode 43 of our Podcast – Kappa. Story Notes Names The Kappa (河童) has had various name throughout it long history including Midzuchi, Kawatarō and Kawa-warawa just to name a few. Appearance and Interests When it comes to appearance for this creature which is particular to the[...]

Show Notes for episode 42B of our Podcast – Falling Blossoms. Story Notes We want to make you aware of the sensitive topics we will be sharing today. We will do our best to present this information to you as educational, and encourage you to do further research as well.[...]

Show Notes for bonus episode 8 of our Podcast – Imaro and the Wani. Story Notes Imaro and the Wani is a short myth written down in the Izumo Fudoki. A kind of record and history of the old Japanese Province of Izumo.  We have talked about this document before[...]

Show Notes for episode 42A of our Podcast – A Passion for Cherry Blossoms. Story Notes In ancient Japan, blossoms were a symbol of new life, new beginnings. But this began to change through in second half of 19th century, accelerating dramatically in the 1930’s. They changed them to be[...]

Show Notes for episode 41 of our Podcast – Hokusai. Story Notes Hokusai, is the name he is most well known by, but his given name when he was born in 1760 was Tokitaro. Born some believe in the Warigesui section of the Honjo District in Edo.  People believe his[...]

Show Notes for episode 40 of our Podcast – Cat Folklore #1. Cat Folklore covers so much in Japan, and there is no way we could do it all in one episode for you all, so lets delve into a little part of the Cat Folklore that fills Japan. Story[...]