Irrigation: Did you mean...?

The Ise Grand Shrine or Ise Jingu, located in the heart of a sacred forest in the Mie Prefecture of Japan, is the most important Shinto shrine in the country and is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu with a separate shrine...

Gordium was the capital of ancient Phrygia, modern Yassihüyük. It is situated on the place where the ancient Royal road between Lydia and Assyria/Babylonia crosses the river Sangarius, which flows from central Anatolia to the Black Sea...

The 'Tale of the Genji' or Genji Monogatari, written in the 11th century CE by Murasaki Shikibu, a court lady, is Japan's oldest novel and possibly the first novel in world literature. The classic of Japanese literature, the work...

Nara, located around 30 km south of modern Kyoto, was the capital of ancient Japan between 710 and 784 CE. It gave its name to the Nara Period (710-794 CE), although the name during the 8th century CE was Heijokyo. Modelled on the...

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns organised by popes and Christian western powers to take Jerusalem and the Holy Land back from Muslim control and then defend those gains. There were eight major official crusades between...

Sugawara no Michizane, aka Tenman Tenjin (845-903), was a scholar, poet, and high-level administrator in the Japanese court during the Heian Period. Badly treated and exiled, he would gain a spectacular revenge on his political rivals...

The Kojiki ('Record of Ancient Things') is the oldest book of Japanese history and the oldest text of any kind from Japan. Compiled in 712 CE by the court scholar Ono Yasumaro, the work begins with the gods and the creation...

Izumi Shikibu was a writer, poet, and member of the Japanese court during the Heian Period (794-1185 CE). Her birth date is variously given as sometime in the 970's CE, and she died in the 1030's CE. In her celebrated memoirs, known...

The Enryakuji is a Buddhist monastic complex on the sacred Mt. Hiei, near Kyoto, Japan. The site was selected by the monk Saicho to become the headquarters of the Tendai sect, which he founded in Japan in the early 9th century CE...

Sanjusangendo is a Buddhist temple which is part of the Rengeo-in monastery in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1164 CE, the temple is famous for its impressive dimensions and the 1,001 golden Buddha figures and 28 guardian statues which...