A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 30 August 2022 - T for Japan, white wine and Clutton

 Hello lovely ladies, 

We are still on our travels. In fact today we are in a village called Clutton, near Bristol. We are staying with our eldest son and his family. A bit further down I will post some photos of Clutton.

I'm scheduling this post as I always have issues when I try to write on my iPad.

Let me start with my postcard:

It comes from Japan and is entitles "Daimo's Procession" by Yoshu Chikanobu. Itoh, who sent it to me writes: "The picture is ancient people in Edo era. It was about 250 years ago. The dictator 'Shogun' forced local rulers to visit his palace ar Tokyo (Edo) from everywhere in Japan, so local rulers had to spend a lot of money and couldn't invest in their army. It's clever governance".

The stamps are cute with a white rabbit, a monkey mum and baby, and a pagoda (Tennei-ji Temple Three-Story Pagoda)

In the same week I received this card:

Also from Japan and according to the sender it depicts a firefighter from the Edo period. 

During the 267 years of the Edo period, there were approximately 1,800 fires, with 49 being Great Fires. When you break that down, it means there was a Great Fire every five years. The largest was the Great fire of Meireki which killed over 107,000 people. So fires in the city of Edo had the potential to have devastating consequences.

There were a couple of reasons for this. The dominant building material at the time was wood and bamboo, the city was densely populated and expanding every year, and Edo’s local climate also being a factor. There was even a fire season (January until April.) During which time women would typically leave the city for their own safety.

The Hikeshi (firemen) were a unique phenomenon of Edo. A cross between gangsters and firefighters, these men were heroes to the urban population and feared by the authorities for their lawlessness and bravado.

Japan's Tokugawa (or Edo) period, which lasted from 1603 to 1867, would be the final era of traditional Japanese government, culture and society before the Meiji Restoration of 1868 toppled the long-reigning Tokugawa shoguns and propelled the country into the modern era.

What was special about the Edo period in Japan?

Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, perpetual peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture.

This is a beautiful stamp released in April 2022.

Kitagowa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿; c. 1753 – 31 October 1806 Woman Exhaling Smoke from a Pipe from his Ten Classes of Women’s Physiognomy.

It comes from a sheet:

I don't know much about Japan, so I'm finding all this very interesting.

A few days before we left for England, we  were invited by our Danish friends to go out for lunch. And as today we celebrate the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard, I will show you some photos which have a drink in them. We went to a little restaurant just outside our village on the way to Baza, called Pata Negra. 

I am drinking white wine

And my lunch was a Cesar salad. Very nice it was.

Now, changing the subject, I promised some photos of Clutton:

Below on the map you can see where it is:

For those of you who are fans of Midsummer Murders, you can spot the village of Midsummer Norton just next to Clutton. I'm sure the village in Midsummer Murders is named after this one..

Happy T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca

The stamp features an elegant lady, but I have no idea who it is.