Geiyo Islands 芸予諸島

choi

Tom Schiller, Japan's Little-Known Seafaring Past. BBC, Mar 10, 2022.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/artic ... nown-seafaring-past

Note:
(a) "Geiyo Islands * * * I was driving on the world's longest suspension structure, the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge.  More than 4km in length, the bridge is one of eight long-span bridges on the 60km Nishi-Seto Expressway 西 瀬戸 自動車道, known as the Shimanami Kaidō しまなみ海道 [nami is defined in (b)], which means Island Wave Sea Road. * * * Seto Inland Sea 瀬戸内海 – the expressway connects the islands to Onomichi City 尾道市 [o and michi are both Japanese pronunciations of kanji 尾 and 道, the 'no' is の] on Honshu Island in the north and Imabari City 今治市 on Shikoku Island 四国 [literally 'four provinces'] in the south."
(i) Geiyo Islands  芸予諸島
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/芸予諸島
("広島県と愛媛県に属しているため、両県の旧国名である安芸国と伊予国から一文字ずつ取ってこう呼ばれている")
(A) my translation: Because [Geiyo Islands] belong to both 広島県 and 愛媛県, a character is taken from each's name [before 1868] 安芸国 and 伊予国.
(B) View the map in section 2 自然環境, where greenish territory in the north is Hiroshima Prefecture 広島県 (including 廿日市市), and the pinkish one in the south is Ehime Prefecture 愛媛県 (on Shikoku Island).
(C) Hatsukaichi (Shi)  廿日市 市
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsukaichi

The Kanji 市 has Chinese pronunciation shi and Japanese pronunciation ichi, respectively for different meaning (as you may guess by now).
(ii) Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge 来島 海峡 大橋 connects Ōshima 大島 with Imabari, Ehime 愛媛県 今治市. The bridge 全長 4105 m, with bike lane and 歩行者道 on one side.

So named because the bridge straddles Kurushima Kaikyō 来島海峡を跨ぐ between 大島 and 今治市.

今治市 got its name from 今治藩 within 伊予国, established in 1600.

(b) Japanese-English dictionary:
* hatsuka ２０日(P); 二十日(P); 廿日 【はつか】 (n): "(1) 20th day of the month; (2) 20 days"
* jidōshadō自動車道 【じどうしゃどう】 (n): "expressway; motorway"
   ^ jidōsha 自動車 【じどうしゃ】(n): "automobile"
* nami 波(P); 浪; 濤 【なみ】 (n): "(1) wave"
* kaizoku 海賊 【かいぞく】 (n): "pirate; buccaneer"
   ^ The kanji 賊 has only Chinese pronunciation zoku (meaning burglar), and no Japanese pronunciation.
* michi-no-eki 道の駅 【みちのえき】 (n): "roadside station (government-designated rest area found along roads and highways)"
* min-na みんな 《皆》 (n): "everyone; everybody; all"

(c) "Until the Shimanami Kaido was completed in 1999, the Geiyo Islands were a remote region * * * Today, the Shimanami Kaido stops along * * * mikan 蜜柑 [mandarin orange] tangerine orchards – and even culinary gems like the sushi restaurant Akakichi, which the Michelin Guide highlights as one of the most remote stars in its constellation of restaurants. * * * From the 9th Century to the end of the 16th Century, the Geiyo Islands were home to pirates (kaizoku). * * * In recent years, a new appreciation of the pirates has been popularised in Japan, in part thanks to historian and television presenter Junko Yamada 山田 順子. Her book Kaizoku Ga Tsukutta Nihonshi 海賊がつくった日本史 (Japan's History Made by Pirates), published in 2017, describes the pirates as 'heroes of the sea' * * * 'The most recorded information we have is about the Murakami Kaizoku,' said Ken Tanaka 田中 謙 [born in 1980], curator at the Murakami Kaizoku Museum [今治市] 村上海賊ミュージアム on Oshima Island, an archaeologist by training and one of Japan's foremost experts on the pirates. 'They were the largest group of pirates, three branches of the Murakami family who emerged sometime in the 14th Century.'  This was Japan's Muromachi era 室町時代 (1336-1573), when the former political order of central control under the shogun, Japan's military leader, had broken down. From 1467-1615 戦国時代, samurai warlords across the country divided Japan into independent fiefdoms. * * * It was only once the Tokugawa Shogunate 徳川幕府 disbanded the Murakami, after reunifying Japan in 1615, that it was able to famously close Japan's sea borders and implement its policy of sakoku 鎖国 [antonym 開国 (which, as in Chinese, can also mean 'founding a country' in Japanese)] (national seclusion)."
(i) Akakichi あか吉 is on 愛媛県今治市 伯方島. The aka is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 赤 (meaning red).
(ii) 村上海賊's core was Murakami clan.
(iii) "The [Muromachi] period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, ASHIKAGA Yoshiaki 足利 義昭, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by ODA Nobunaga 織田 信長."  en.wikipedia.org "Muromachi period."


(d) " Japan Heritage programme * * * I visited the largest collection of historical samurai armoury in Japan at Oyamazumi Shrine, which is dedicated to the Shinto gods who protect sailors and warriors, and a Chinese-influenced pagoda at Kojoji Temple, considered one of the finest examples of Muromachi architecture. * * * I joined other motorists and cyclists who had stopped at Tatara Shimanami Park Roadside Station to admire Tatara Bridge, the world's longest cable-stayed bridge when it was built (it now ranks eighth).

(i) Modeled after World Heritage (sites), Japan Heritage 日本遺産 is a program set up by 文部科学省 文化庁 in 2015.
(ii) Ōyamazumi Shrine  大山祇神社
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōyamazumi_Shrine   
(on the island of Ōmishima [大三島] * * * The shrine is in a grove of camphor trees")

祇= god
(iii)
(A) Kōjoji Temple  向上寺
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/向上寺
(B) Please view the second photo (as a thumbnail beneath the main photo) for a sign.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attr ... ecture_Chugoku.html
(iv) Tatara Bridge  多々羅大橋
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatara_Bridge
("The Tatara Bridge was originally planned as a suspension bridge in 1973. In 1989, the design was changed to a cable-stayed bridge with the same span. By building a cable-stayed bridge a large excavation for an anchorage would not be needed, thereby lessening the environmental impact on the surrounding area [and also much cheaper]")

So named as it spans 多々羅海峡, 多々羅大橋 links 広島県尾道市の生口島 with 愛媛県今治市の大三島.
(A) For the difference between suspension bridge and cable-stayed bridge, see suspension bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su ... cable-stayed_bridge
(section 2 Structure, section 2.3        Comparison with cable-stayed bridge)
(B) stay (n; First Known Use "before the 12th century;" etymology: from Old English stæg): "a large strong rope usually of wire used to support a mast" of a ship
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stay
(v) "stopped at Tatara Shimanami Park Roadside Station to admire Tatara Bridge"

Roadside Station  Tatara Shimanami Park   道の駅　多々羅しまなみ公園
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?p ... HbA6AWEQoip6BAg4EAM

道の駅 is defined in (b).

(e)
(i) "Nearly every aspect of the bridges' construction were world firsts, said Toshio Kutsukake 沓掛 敏夫, director of the Expressway Division 道路局 of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism 国土交通省."
(ii) "Among them [new residents] is Arashi Murakami 村上 あらし, who in 2020 opened Wakka 株式会社わっか, a boutique hotel conveniently located midway along the route on Omishima Island, where I stopped for the night. Over a delicious fish stew, I learned that Murakami is a descendant of the pirates"
(iii) "Ryu Morimoto, a founding member of Omishima Minna no Winery, also located on Omishima Island, returned to the islands after living in the UK for 20 years."

About. Omishima Minna no Winery  大三島 みんなのワイナリー, undated
http://www.ohmishimawine.com/about/
was founded by architect Toyo ITO 伊東 豊雄. One of "members" is Ryu Morimoto 森本 りゅう. The minna is defined in (b).