Historicity

There’s a small villiage in the Liqian province of China where people have a disturbing color of hair; yellow. Local people have always wondered why they look different from their neighbors, and in the 1950’s it was put forth that they were the descendants of a lost legion of Roman soldiers.

DNA samples were recently taken from male inhabitants to see if we can find a tie between Liqian locals and the Romans.

Wikipedia has a whole page about Roman/Chinese relations as well as a bit about Liqian specifically. The Sydney Morning Herald also has an excellent article.

In depictions of battles in medieval Japan, the beautiful and ornate family crests sported by samurai are sometimes as visually arresting as the actual chaos of battle. These samurai crests can be quite intricate in design, and are often based on specific flower motifs.

Here’s a short essay on the cultural significance of Japanese family crests through the years, and another that focuses on their military and heraldic functions.

If you can tolerate yet another WW2 link, here’s a moving piece about Hiroshima and its place in Japanese cultural memory.

By the early 1600s, the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu had essentially established himself as ruler of a newly-unified Japan. But at least one potential threat to his legitimacy remained: Toyotomi Hideyori, the son of a previous ruler, encamped at Osaka Castle with unclear intentions… and a growing army.

Ieyasu decided to take action, and unleashed his troops against Hideyori in 1614. The resulting conflict is often billed as the last great samurai battle. (No word on whether or not Tom Cruise was involved.)

National Geographic has a beautiful (and zoomable) painted map depicting the siege of Osaka Castle, along with a short history of the conflict.