Japan's Plan to Drop Swastikas as Temple Symbol Sparks Backlash

choi

BBC, Jan 19, 2016.
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35349619

Note:
(a) "Japan's official map-making body * * * Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI)"

Geospatial Information Authority of Japan  国土地理院
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge ... _Authority_of_Japan
(1949- ; an organization attached to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism 国土交通省; based in Tsukuba City of Ibaraki Prefecture 茨城県 筑波市 [a man-made city built first 'developed in the 1960s'; a Tokyo suburb 69km northeast of Tokyo; named after the local Mount Tsukuba 筑波山 (origin of mountain name is unsettled: ja.wikipedia.org)])
(b) "Many say the ancient Sanskrit symbol [swastika] - which has been adopted into Japanese where it is pronounced manji 卍字/万字 - has long been associated with Buddhism and Japanese culture, and that the tourists should learn this."

swastika
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
(The name swastika comes from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning "lucky or auspicious object"/ section 7 Use in Nazism)
(c) photo caption: "One of Japan's most famous Buddhist temples is the ancient Sensoji temple in Tokyo"

Sensō-ji 金龍山 浅草寺
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensō-ji
("Tokyo's oldest temple [founded 628], and one of its most significant")

The temple is not on a mountain. 金龍山 is 山号 (which is attached before the name of a temple; in ancient times, temples were built on mountains. And in Japan many temples, as well as jinja 神社, share the same name. So they need to invent a mountain name to distinguish themselves.

In Japan, a temple is always Buddhist, whereas jinja, Shinto 神道.
(d) The text quotes a posting by a Japanese, taht mentions Union Jack. The posting actually uses katakana of "Union flag."
(e) "GSI's executive officer for national mapping, Takayuki NAKAMURA 中村 孝之"

(f) "Then there were uniquely Japanese symbols that baffled some, such as that for post offices. The symbol is derived from an old Japanese term dating back to the 19th Century meaning 'communication.' "
(i) Japanese English dictionary:
* yūbin 郵便(P); 〒 【ゆうびん】 (n): "mail service; postal service; mail; post"
(ii) 〒
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/〒
("The postal mark (郵便マーク), written before Japanese postal codes [郵便番号], as in 〒123-4567")

What the en.wiktionary.com calls 郵便マーク [the katakana is pronounced 'mark'] is what ja.wikipedia.org (which indicates Japan’s 逓信省 adopted 〒 in 1887 or 明治20年) calls 郵便記号.

For 逓 in Japan, “正字は遞.”
(iii) Japan Post
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Post
(section 4 Postal symbol)

Both hiragana 平仮名 (て) and katakana 片仮名 (テ) of “te” are simplified from Chinese character 天 -- with て from 草書. see the table in te (kana)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_(kana)