Lit.: "Teaching of Divine Reason", a Japanese religion founded in 1838 by Miki Nakayama which focuses on the attainment of joyous life on Earth through charity and abstention from greed, selfishness, hatred, anger and arrogance. It believes in a single god who is the creator of the universe and parent of humanity.

The spiritual headquarters of Tenrikyo is in the city of Tenri, where the religion was created and which was named after the religion. There are around 2 million followers of Tenrikyo today.

In late July-early August, the Children's Pilgrimage, or "Return to the Main Sanctuary", draws around 300,000 to Tenri City. Events are held in which children are encouraged in their growth and broaden their circle of friends.

Vassal of Uesugi Kagekatsu and son of Yoshie Kagesuke who died with his brother, father, and grandfather at Uozu Castle when it fell to Oda forces in June of 1582.

The tide jewels of legend can be used to control the tides. The kanju (干珠, lit. pearl of dryness), the legendary Shiohinotama, when thrown into the sea causes the waters to recede. The manju (満珠, lit. pearl of fullness), the legendary Shiomichinotama, causes the waters to swell.

A prefecture located in the south-central region of Honshu Island, Japan.

Toichi Tookatsu succeeded his father Toichi Tootada as head of the Toichi Clan of Yamato in 1545 at a young age. In 1559, when Miyoshi Nagayoshi became the real power in the capital and sent his vassal Matsunaga Hisahide to take Yamato, Tookatsu formed an alliance with Tsutsui Junkei to resist him. However, his daughter was taken hostage, and Tookatsu submitted to Hisahide.

A brief peaceful interlude dissolved into further conflict when Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Hisahide began battling the Miyoshi Triumvirate. Tsutsui Junkei took the side of the Triumvirate, and the Toichi Clan split between those who wanted to join Hisahide and those who wanted side with the Tsutsui Clan. The Akiyama Clan, who had joined with Hisahide, invaded Toichi terrority in 1568. Unable to defend against the attack, Tookatsu abandoned Ryuuouzan Castle and fled to Toichi Castle.

Hisahide's power and influence grew rapidly under Oda Nobunaga, and Tookatsu turned to him once more. However, he suddenly died of illness the following year without a son to succeed him.

The Tokaido, or East Sea Road, was the major highway that connected Edo and Kyoto during the Edo Period. It followed the sea coast of Eastern Honshuu and originally had 53 government rest stations where travelers had to present traveling permits. It was the most important of the five major roads of the Edo Period in Japan, started by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601 in order to consolidate his power over the country.

Son of Miike Tatsuya, brother of Norihiko, and cousin of Miike Haruya. Appears to be somewhat high-ranking in the Miike family.

A city in Saitama Prefecture, established in 1950 and located about 30 km west of downtown Tokyo.

Also called: Matsudaira Takechiyo, Matsudaira Motoyasu
Titles: Mikawa no Kami, Shogun

Historically: The third of the "Three Unifiers"; an ally of Oda Nobunaga, after Nobunaga's death he first battled against then became an ally of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When Hideyoshi died in 1598, Tokugawa moved against Hideyoshi's son and heir Toyotomi Hideyori and the five regents appointed to protect the Toyotomi rule. Tokugawa, along with his allies the Date and Mogami, and the defected Kobayakawa and Mouri clans, defeated the opposition at the Battle of Sekigahara and established the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Also known as: Tsuruchiyomaru (鶴千代丸)

Eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, he received Mito in Hitachi Province in 1609 and founded the Mito branch of the Tokugawa house.

Also known as: Edo (江戸)

Lit.: "Eastern Capital", the capital of Japan, the administrative center of Japan and its most populous city.

Tokugawa Ieyasu moved into Edo Castle in 1590 and made Edo his base when he became the shogun in 1603.

In 1868 the Emperor Meiji renamed Edo "Tokyo". He moved to Tokyo from Kyoto in 1869, making it the de facto capital of Japan.

A professional baseball team in Japan's Central League, located in Tokyo. Their ballpark is the Meiji-Jingu Stadium.

A train station located in the Tokyo metropolitan area, called the doorway to Tokyo. It is one of the busiet train stations in Japan, with more than 4000 arrivals and departures daily. The station opened in 1914 and is a massive complex with underground passageways to surrounding commercial and shopping buildings.

Shiohara Nagi's true father. He and Nagi's mother, Shiohara Yukiko, elope because their marriage is opposed by everyone around them. He dies in a car accident when Nagi is six.

Also known as: Naomasa (直昌), possibly Tooyama Naotsugu (遠山直次)

Tooyama Yasuhide was a vassal of the Houjou Clan, son of Tooyama Yasumitsu. His family traditionally served the Houjou in the capacity of musicians, but in 1560 became the magistrate of the Miura District in Sagami for Houjou Ujiyasu. He along with his uncle Tooyama Tsunakage held the front line against the Satomi Clan. After Oota Ujisuke's death in 1567, Yasuhide became master of Iwatsuki Castle. He was part of the Houjou force that met Takeda Shingen's invasion of Suruga. He was sent along with his father as a Houjou representative to the peace negotiations with the Uesugi in the Echigo-Sagami Alliance. He later became a close advisor to Houjou Ujimasa and was responsible for contact with the Uesugi Clan.

Opinions differ on how he died. One view hold that he committed suicide with his father and Uesugi Kagetora in the Otate no Ran, while another says that he served Nakamura Kazuuji after the fall of Odawara Castle.

Lit.: "bird abode"

Traditional Japanese gates found at the entrance to, within, or close to Shinto shrines, symbolically marking the transition from the profane to the sacred. They are usually vermilion or unpainted and date from at least the 10th century.

Also known as: Itsu-hime/Princess Itsu (伊都姫)

Itsu was the daughter of Toshima Yasuaki. When her father was killed by Oota Doukan in battle and Nerima Castle fell, she threw herself into the Shakujii River.

Most likely fictional.

Toshimaen is an amusement park owned by the Seibu Group and is one of the biggest in Japan. Parts of it were built in 1926, and it is famous for being Japan's first to have a pool, opened in 1929.

A short section from Kannon's Dharani of Conquest of Wickedness and Harm and Expiation of Sins and Poisons.

Also known as: Kyouou Godoku Ji: "Temple of Ruler of the Faith, Guardian of the Country" (教王護国寺).

Lit.: "Eastern Temple"; the guardian temple of Kyoto, founded by the Muromachi shogun Ashikaga Takauji in 794. The founder of the Shingon sect of Esoteric Buddhism, Kuukai, was put in charge of the temple by Emperor Saga in 823. The principle image of the temple is Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha who cures all ills.

Lit. "Great Eastern Temple". A famous Buddhist temple complex first established by Emperor Shoumu in 743, located in Nara City. It is a World Heritage site, part of the seven "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara", and many of its temples and other structures are listed as National Treasures of Japan. Its Daibutsuden (大仏殿), or Great Buddha Hall, houses a sixteen-meter-high (52-foot) bronze statue of Dainichi Nyorai (also known as Daibutsu) and is reportedly the largest wooden building in the world. Deer roam the grounds freely.

The statue of Dainichi Nyorai, which is the largest in Japan, has been recast several times, and the Daibutsuden has been rebuilt twice after fire, with the current building finished in 1709 after it was burned down during the Matsunaga Hisahide-Miyoshi conflict in 1567. The two 28-foot guardian Niou at the Great Southern Gate temple entrance were dismantled and repaired by two teams of 13 and 12 art experts from 1988 to 1991? 1993?.

The surrounding gardens and temples are today considered part of the Toudai templex complex.

Other structures of the temple complex listed as National Treasures of Japan are:

- Nandai-mon (南大門)—Great Southern Gate: destroyed by a hurricane in 962, rebuilt in 1199 according to an architectural style used in the Chinese Song dynasty.
- Kaizan-dou (開山堂)—Hall of the Founder: a temple built to house the wooden image of the first chief abbot, created in the 9th century. Its inner sanctuary was built in 1200, its nave built in 1250.
- Shourou (鐘楼)—Bell Tower: built in the beginning of the 13th century, the Bell Tower houses a temple bell cast in 752 and was the largest of its kind until the Middle Ages.
- Hokke-dou/Sangatsu-dou (法華堂/三月堂)—Hall of the Flowering Dharma/Hall of the Third Month: this temple stands on the eastern side of the compound at the base of the Wakakusa Mountain Range. It is one of the few structures remaining from the Nara Period and is thought to have been completed in 743. A dozen or so statues of buddhas are enshrined in this temple. Its principle buddha is Fukuukenjaku Kannon.
- Nigatsu-dou (二月堂)—Hall of the Second Month: a temple named after the sacred water-drawing ceremony, a type of Buddhist mass, held in the second month of the lunar calendar. The temple was burned down from a fire set accidentally during one of these rites in 1667 and was rebuilt 2 years later. The temple houses two eleven-faced Goddesses of Mercy called the Large Goddess of Mercy (Oogannon—大観音) and the Small Goddess of Mercy (Kogannon—小観音). No one is allowed to look upon these mysterious goddesses. The temple itself was named a National Treasure in December, 2005.
- Tegai-mon (転害門)—Revolving Evil Gate: an eight-foot gate which stands in the north-west of the compound, one of the few structures that escaped both the battle-fire of Taira no Shigehira in 1180 and the Miyoshi-Matsunaga conflict in 1567. It was repaired in the Kamakura Period, but is still fundamentally the structure as it was built in the Nara Period.

The Touhoku (Northeast) University Hospital is a research hospital affiliated with Touhoku University in Sendai.

Also known as: Michinoku (みちのく)

The northeast area of Japan's main island of Honshuu, the Touhoku consists of the prefectures of Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata. It is a mountainous region which is known for having breathtaking scenery but a harsh climate.

Toushou Shrines (lit. "Light of the East" or "Illumination of the East") are Shinto shrines in which Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined as a holy incarnation of a buddha along the shinbutsu shuugou (merging of Shintoism and Buddhism) beliefs, which put forth the idea that Japanese gods are local manifestations of Indian buddhas come to lead the Japanese people to salvation. Ieyasu is worshiped as such a deity, and around 130 Toushou Shrines are still in existence in Japan.

The Toushou Shrine in Nikkou, the most famous of the Toushou Shrines, was built in 1617 and dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu when his son Tokugawa Hidetada was shogun of Japan. Five structures in the shrine complex are National Treasures of Japan. A bronze urn enshrined there contains Ieyasu's remains.

Another Toushou Shrine is located in the city of Shizuoka in Shizuoka Prefecture on Mount Kunou. It was Ieyasu's original burial site and thus the oldest Toushou Shrine in the country.

A third Toushou Shrine is located on Mt. Hourai in Shinshiro City, Aichi Prefecture. It was built by the third Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, and completed in 1651.

These three shrines are known as the 'Three Great Toushou Shrines.'

In total there around around fifty Toushou Shrines around Japan, including:

- Shiba Toushou Shrine located in Minato Ward, Tokyo
- Nagoya Toushou Shrine located in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture
- Sendai Toushou Shrine located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture