The origins of some countries’ names are not clear. For illustration, before World War II, the Japanese name for China was Shina. When these two names are plainly related, the origin of the name China is not clear. There are several theories why China was called China a noteworthy just one currently being a corruption of Qin, China’s first dynasty. The Chinese name for China is Zhongguo. It sounds comparable to China and usually means heart state in Chinese.

Japanese name of Japan is Nihon or Nippon. It signifies the country of the mounting sun. The name arrives from an ancient letter sent from the Japanese authorities to China-the opening terms of the letter said this is the letter from the region of the increasing sun to the place of sunset. This will come from the relative locale of Japan, which is found to the east of China. So how did the English identify arrive about? A lot of Japanese imagine that it came from the book, The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo, the thirteenth-century service provider who travelled to the Orient. He did not visit Japan, but he mentions in his e book there is a region entire of gold and silver referred to as Zipangu.

This guide brought on European adventurers to journey to the Significantly East to find the land of gold and silver. Later, it resulted in Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the Americas in 1492. Japan currently is much from the nation of gold and silver launched in Marco Polo’s ebook. Why was Japan noticed as a golden utopia by European explorers?

In the eleventh and twelfth century, the Fujiwara clan of the Tohoku district created a golden utopia. The clan was related to aristocrats in the central government in Kyoto. Although the clan experienced a shut romantic relationship with Kyoto central governing administration, it taken care of its independence due to its distance from Kyoto. Kyoto authorized this independence on the condition the clan remained faithful to the central government.

Hidehira Fujiwara was the head of the clan at the peak of its affect. Getting edge of gold produced in the region, the clan created a golden Buddhist temple, Chuson-ji. The temple’s most important corridor, called Konjiki-do, was loaded with golden decoration. The identify suggests golden hall. People today of that time talked about the hall hunting like a building in heaven. Plainly, this golden utopia attracted Marco Polo’s interest, alongside with other adventurers later on in the fifteenth century, which include Christopher Columbus.

Lately, the Tohoku district was strike by the recent earthquake and tsunami. The good thing is, none of the buildings of this utopia have been weakened. The author hopes the Tohoku district swiftly recovers from the damage of the earthquake and tsunami and the travellers come back again to admire the buildings.