User talk:VsevolodKrolikov/Yamanote and Shitamachi

This is the talk page to discuss this new article, which is designed to replace the older articles of yamanote and shitamachi, as per an agreement mediated partly at the talk:yamanote talk page.

I have dumped some quotable sources gained from google books at the bottom of the article. There is more out there, but it's a start.

I have also put in place a suggested structure.

It seems that the two words are part of a social phenomenon, a geographical space, and a cultural image. VsevolodKrolikov (talk) 04:09, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Map
Hi, VK. I read the info you gathered so far. Good work.

I took the liberty to add a map, rough and ready. Unfortunately this kind of thing doesn't look so good at that size. Will write more tomorrow. urashimataro (talk) 09:54, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Can you change the colour on the map? All different shades of yellow is the problem. VsevolodKrolikov (talk) 03:46, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Downtown and Shitamachi
There's conflicting information about whether the two terms are false friends or not, and in my view this is an issue that must absolutely be solved. At least, I want to get to the bottom of this story.

Please try reading first Downtown. It seems well referenced and reliable.

Then try these links from the online version of the Shogakukan encyclopedia, which offer a different view. What they say contradicts also what Seidensticker says. Seidensticker claims it was just a matter of temperature. The samurai caste lived in the hills because it was cooler, there, and there were no marshes. I think Shogakukan may well be wrong: not all harbors have mountains behind, rather the opposite.
 * Shitamachi
 * Downtown

This is also interesting material that we could use. [東京語]

Tomorrow I will go to Kamakura's public library and consult the Kokushi Daijiten to see what I can find. The subject looks tougher than thought. I propose we gather material and we investigate before we proceed. -- urashimataro (talk) 11:21, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Excellent - thank you! I've put material from the original articles here, as a way of seeing what's missing in those sections. For example, in history, detail about the alluvial plain that became shitamachi, the professions of people in the two areas etc. The etymology also needs more info as well.

I think the most important thing we can do before putting the thing up is the organisation - what should be mentioned, which can be put up as stub-sections for others to fill out once we've got enough meat here. VsevolodKrolikov (talk) 03:46, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

More material
Hi. I went to the library and I think I have the subject historically covered up from very authoritative sources (Nihonshi Daijiten and others). I also found material about 東京語. I will try to translate it ASAP, but first I have to provide inline citations for the article. BTW, I never thought I would trigger this kind of thing. urashimataro (talk) 09:12, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Excellent about the sources. I think the topic is something that people may not have known about, or didn't realise it was much deeper than an uptown downtown thing. I certainly didn't know about it. The shitamachi boom looks really interesting; it makes sense of a lot of the Edo period TV dramas that have been made. Studying smaller topics is so often a gateway to understanding the larger ones.VsevolodKrolikov (talk) 09:45, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Today
As you can see, I provided references for almost everything. Because I had other Wikipedia work to do, I just used the Kojien, which is enough for now, for speed, but I plan to replace it with something nicer soon. Tomorrow I will start working on the material I got fom the library. Will let you know the URL. urashimataro (talk) 07:32, 16 June 2009 (UTC)