Kagoshima and other stories
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"There is sunshine in the people too, this is a happy and friendly place".
Autumn days in Kyushu in the far west of Japan and we catch the train south to the City of Kagoshima. This is to be a journey of reflection.
As I write this, the Japanese earth shakes beneath our feet. The journey south through Kyushu takes us through the City of Kumamoto. In April 2016 two major earthquakes and their aftershocks hit the city hard. The Geological Survey of Japan describes the quakes on the Richter Magnitude Scale:
“A magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, south-western Japan, at 21:26 JST on April 14, 2016. It was generated on a right-lateral strike-slip fault, northern part of the Hinagu fault zone. Following this earthquake, a larger earthquake of magnitude 7.3 occurred at 1:25 JST on April 16, 2016 on the Futagawa fault zone, which is the northern neighbour of the Hinagu fault zone”.
The quakes destroyed or damaged 172,077 dwellings as hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes. Fifty people died as a direct result of the quakes and others died later of stress and trauma related to the destruction of their homes and neighbourhoods. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to these events and there are a lot of elderly people in Japan.
One cultural property to suffer was the Kumamoto Castle, which was damaged badly during the quakes, including the walls of the castle walls (mushagaeshi), which collapsed in a number of places. An immense repair task now lies ahead.
One visitor to the castle following the earthquake makes the following observation:
“I was especially interested to learn that 31 per cent of stone walls restored in the post-Meiji era came crumbling down while only 10 per cent of the original stone walls were damaged. This means that 90 per cent of the original samurai stone walls, built over 400 years ago, withstood the 2016 earthquake. In the earlier construction, the angle and the weight of the stones stabilized the wall, making it harder to dislodge during an earthquake”.
As I write this, the Japanese earth shakes beneath our feet. The journey south through Kyushu takes us through the City of Kumamoto. In April 2016 two major earthquakes and their aftershocks hit the city hard. The Geological Survey of Japan describes the quakes on the Richter Magnitude Scale:
“A magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, south-western Japan, at 21:26 JST on April 14, 2016. It was generated on a right-lateral strike-slip fault, northern part of the Hinagu fault zone. Following this earthquake, a larger earthquake of magnitude 7.3 occurred at 1:25 JST on April 16, 2016 on the Futagawa fault zone, which is the northern neighbour of the Hinagu fault zone”.
The quakes destroyed or damaged 172,077 dwellings as hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes. Fifty people died as a direct result of the quakes and others died later of stress and trauma related to the destruction of their homes and neighbourhoods. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to these events and there are a lot of elderly people in Japan.
One cultural property to suffer was the Kumamoto Castle, which was damaged badly during the quakes, including the walls of the castle walls (mushagaeshi), which collapsed in a number of places. An immense repair task now lies ahead.
One visitor to the castle following the earthquake makes the following observation:
“I was especially interested to learn that 31 per cent of stone walls restored in the post-Meiji era came crumbling down while only 10 per cent of the original stone walls were damaged. This means that 90 per cent of the original samurai stone walls, built over 400 years ago, withstood the 2016 earthquake. In the earlier construction, the angle and the weight of the stones stabilized the wall, making it harder to dislodge during an earthquake”.
Kagoshima days
And so to Kagoshima in the Kagoshima Prefecture, Kagoshima, city in the sun, port city, hot springs and city of the volcano, Sakurajima with its smoking vents.
The prefecture is composed of the Satsuma and Ōsumi Peninsulas, which form the southernmost tip of the Kyushu mainland. The prefecture includes the islands surrounding the two peninsulas and islands extending southwest.
The prefecture is in many ways spectacular, as a sub-tropical zone with high mountains and belt of volcanos and seas of coral.
It is hard to describe but the feeling you get when you visit Kagoshima is a bit like the feeling you have when you set off to the sun on a long deserved holiday, city hassles and grime behind you.
There is sunshine in the people too, this is a happy and friendly place. We walk the city and docks, visit a farmer's market, spend time in the Kagoshima City Art Museum and the Kagoshima Prefecture History Museum. As an agricultural centre the food in Kagoshima is wonderful.
Kagoshima City Museum of Art
Founded in 1954, the current art gallery building (1985) was constructed on the ruins of Tsurumaru Castle, the fortress of the Lords of Satsuma and Shimazus. The gallery collects works by Kagoshima based artists and also has a small but fine collection of oil paintings and sculptures including works by Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Cezanne, Redon, Ernst, Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, Bourdelle, Maillol, Moore, Rodin and Zadkine.
Shirasu
It is the intersection of agriculture and a fiery land that shapes culture here. Folk beliefs were strong in the everyday lives of the population who believed that their lives co-existed with the many gods and goddesses around them. Worship of these gods was a source of both awe and inspiration.
Farming in the hot and volcanic region of Southern Kyushu with its typhoon season was not an easy task. Not least of the difficulties faced by farmers is shirasu, a compound of pyroclastic flow of pumice and volcano ash that covers 60 per cent of the prefecture to the depth of 200mm.
This volcanic glass like substance does not retain moisture and this meant collecting drinking water was difficult and agricultural productivity was low. Originally crops were those that could grow in dry soil and included sweet potatoes, soybeans and rapeseed. As agriculture evolved in its level of sophistication and irrigation techniques improved, tea, vegetables and flowers were added to the regions agricultural production.
Early histories
During the Palaeolithic, the ice age meant lower sea levels and this meant that the Japanese Archipelago and the Asian mainland were connected. The first humans, nomadic hunters, to arrive in Japan came via this land bridge. They brought with them their technologies of tools made from stone, bone and horn and a range of wooden implements as evidenced in the regions archaeology.
Human migration out of Africa looks like it occurred between 50,000 and 77,000 years ago. It now looks likely that in the case of India, which has the highest levels of genetic diversity outside of Africa (an indicator of very early migration), migration to India may have occurred as long ago as 70,000 years, probably in a range of 66,000 to 70,000 years. India was the pathway to both East Asia and Australasia.
Early archaeological evidence in Japan dates back 30,000 years or so and it is likely that human settlement occurred around 40,000 years ago. DNA evidence points to a series of distinct migrations out of Africa to various parts of the Asia Pacific. As well as the ‘Japanese’ population, Japan also has its important and distinctive populations of Okinawans in the south and Ainu in the north, human societies that have evolved in distinctly different climate zones.
Kagoshima days
And so to Kagoshima in the Kagoshima Prefecture, Kagoshima, city in the sun, port city, hot springs and city of the volcano, Sakurajima with its smoking vents.
The prefecture is composed of the Satsuma and Ōsumi Peninsulas, which form the southernmost tip of the Kyushu mainland. The prefecture includes the islands surrounding the two peninsulas and islands extending southwest.
The prefecture is in many ways spectacular, as a sub-tropical zone with high mountains and belt of volcanos and seas of coral.
It is hard to describe but the feeling you get when you visit Kagoshima is a bit like the feeling you have when you set off to the sun on a long deserved holiday, city hassles and grime behind you.
There is sunshine in the people too, this is a happy and friendly place. We walk the city and docks, visit a farmer's market, spend time in the Kagoshima City Art Museum and the Kagoshima Prefecture History Museum. As an agricultural centre the food in Kagoshima is wonderful.
Kagoshima City Museum of Art
Founded in 1954, the current art gallery building (1985) was constructed on the ruins of Tsurumaru Castle, the fortress of the Lords of Satsuma and Shimazus. The gallery collects works by Kagoshima based artists and also has a small but fine collection of oil paintings and sculptures including works by Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Cezanne, Redon, Ernst, Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, Bourdelle, Maillol, Moore, Rodin and Zadkine.
Shirasu
It is the intersection of agriculture and a fiery land that shapes culture here. Folk beliefs were strong in the everyday lives of the population who believed that their lives co-existed with the many gods and goddesses around them. Worship of these gods was a source of both awe and inspiration.
Farming in the hot and volcanic region of Southern Kyushu with its typhoon season was not an easy task. Not least of the difficulties faced by farmers is shirasu, a compound of pyroclastic flow of pumice and volcano ash that covers 60 per cent of the prefecture to the depth of 200mm.
This volcanic glass like substance does not retain moisture and this meant collecting drinking water was difficult and agricultural productivity was low. Originally crops were those that could grow in dry soil and included sweet potatoes, soybeans and rapeseed. As agriculture evolved in its level of sophistication and irrigation techniques improved, tea, vegetables and flowers were added to the regions agricultural production.
Early histories
During the Palaeolithic, the ice age meant lower sea levels and this meant that the Japanese Archipelago and the Asian mainland were connected. The first humans, nomadic hunters, to arrive in Japan came via this land bridge. They brought with them their technologies of tools made from stone, bone and horn and a range of wooden implements as evidenced in the regions archaeology.
Human migration out of Africa looks like it occurred between 50,000 and 77,000 years ago. It now looks likely that in the case of India, which has the highest levels of genetic diversity outside of Africa (an indicator of very early migration), migration to India may have occurred as long ago as 70,000 years, probably in a range of 66,000 to 70,000 years. India was the pathway to both East Asia and Australasia.
Early archaeological evidence in Japan dates back 30,000 years or so and it is likely that human settlement occurred around 40,000 years ago. DNA evidence points to a series of distinct migrations out of Africa to various parts of the Asia Pacific. As well as the ‘Japanese’ population, Japan also has its important and distinctive populations of Okinawans in the south and Ainu in the north, human societies that have evolved in distinctly different climate zones.
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