After one month travelling in Japan, I have visited several places of interest in the archipelago, from Kyushu to the heart of Honshu.
There is a priori no reason to find remains of Ancient Greek and Latin cultures here! However, in many towns, I have seen living traces of these cultures that modern Japanese people have borrowed and still carry into their way of living.
In this post you will discover a few proofs.
First, in parks and gardens, flowers and trees have both Japanese and Latin names, as Latin is the universal language of botanics. For example, near the famous shrines of Izumotaisha (close to the Sea of Japan), I saw this blossoming ‘Prunus‘.
Second, in places dedicated to knowledge or teaching, it is also possible to see Latin words in mottos. Among several universities, I mention here Kamakura University for Women, whose Latin motto is: ‘Gratia et ministerium‘ (meaning: ‘Grace and Service’).
Another use of Latin language is Catholic Church’s Latin. In Nagasaki, where Portuguese Jesuits opened a Christian mission at the end of the XVIth century, whose members were persecuted, one may find ecclesiastical Latin language, as it is visible, for example, on this store’s window: ‘oratio‘ (meaning: ‘speech’).
Moreover, Latin language of the religious calendar of the Middle Ages may be seen on a wall in a street of Matsue. ‘Aprilis, Maius, Augustus’. It is easy to recognize the months ‘April, May, August‘, as their names come from Latin!
To come back to Ancient Greek and Latin cultures, it is interesting to see Ancient characters used as logos or trademarks. For example, in Hiroshima the god Jove (Jupiter, Jovis – in Latin) or the winged horse Pegasus are used to sell food!
Other characters also take their place, like the Roman orator (symbolizing ‘Eloquence’) by the French sculptor Bourdelle (c.1918) in Fukuoka (a replica of this statue may be seen in Hakone):
and even the Greek goddess of cereals Demeter:
still modern! This statue was erected in 1975.
To finish with this small sample of Ancient cultures as seen in a short time spent in Japan, here is (below) a stone laid near the Kurashiki Hotel Ivy Square, where I stayed:
It is written: ‘Pax intrantibus, salus exeuntibus‘, which means: ‘Peace to people coming in, salvation to people going out’.
What a nice symbol of Japanese hospitality!