National Foundation Day 2017/2/11
February 11th is National Foundation Day of Japan.
I attended tea ceremony which was held at an old temple in west Tokyo. It was cold but sunny day and I could enjoy the ceremony together with beautiful red and white plum blossoms.
There are many such cultural events in Japan on this Foundation Day, however there are few events which celebrate the foundation of Japan and furthermore there are no governmentally sponsored events at all.
Regretfully schools do not teach pupil on the meaning of National Foundation Day.
In Japan, there is still atmosphere which prevents society from celebrating or discussing about the meaning of National Foundation Day.
Because there are still strong powers remained which accuse the Day of reminding us of pre-war military Japan.
Japan is old nation which has one of the oldest cultures in the world.
Jomon era (around BC14500 –BC1000) developed various advanced cultures including Jomon vessel which is 16500 years old and by far the oldest vessel in the world.
Thanks to kind climate and circumstances, there were ample foodstuffs available and they did not need crop production until 3000 years ago.
An ancient centralized kingdom was presumably established around AD200 while the name of the nation, Japan was introduced around AD700.
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Nation’s oldest history book “Kojiki” described the origin of the nation, an era of mythology and a full history of Imperial house from the first Emperor to the 33rd Suiko Emperor.
The nation was found by the basic philosophy of having Emperor as a symbol of nation’s unity and developing the society toward a peaceful prosperous nation by cooperation between Emperor and people.
In “Kojiki” there were little records of armed conflicts which suggest the nation was constructed not through conflicts but thorough well ordered and peaceful corporation.
Japanese society has to teach young Japanese about these proud story of National Foundation.
the temple where tea ceremony was held
