Senria
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Republic of Senria 썬류우꾜우외꼬꾸 Senryuu Kyouwakoku | |
|---|---|
| Motto: 꼬꾸민노이씨가쌔꼬우호우끼 Kokumin no Isi ga Saikou Houki The People's Will Shall be the Supreme Law | |
| Anthem: 꾜우외꼬꾸꼬우씬꾜꾸 Kyouwakoku Kousinkyoku March of the Republic | |
| Seal: 썬류우꾜우외꼬꾸노몬 Seal of the Senrian Republic  | |
 Location of Senria in Kylaris | |
| Capital and largest city | Keisi |
| Official languages | Senrian |
| Recognised regional languages | Isotaman, Esamankur, Cotratic |
| Demonym(s) | Senrian |
| Government | Unitary dominant-party parliamentary republic |
| Reika Okura | |
| Kaori Himura | |
| Seitarou Nakagawa | |
| Legislature | National Assembly |
| History of Senria | |
| 710 BCE | |
| 1869 | |
| 1918 | |
| 1933 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 609,136.64 km2 (235,188.97 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2015 census | 258,751,620 |
• Density | 424.78/km2 (1,100.2/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2015 estimate |
• Total | $7.418 trillion |
• Per capita | $28,670 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2015 estimate |
• Total | $3.808 trillion |
• Per capita | $13,328 |
| Gini (2015) | 42.1 medium |
| HDI (2015) | .863 very high |
| Currency | Senrian yen (圓, ¥) (SNY) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy (CE) |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +30 |
| ISO 3166 code | SN |
| Internet TLD | .sn |
Senria (Senrian: 썬류우꼬꾸, Senryuukoku), known formally as the Republic of Senria (Senrian: 썬류우꾜우외꼬꾸, Senryuu Kyouwakoku), is an island country located in the continent of Coius. It is bordered by the Lumine Ocean to the west and north, the Honghai Sea to the south and southeast, the Rangyoku Strait to the east, and the Bay of Bashurat to the northeast. Senria shares a maritime border with Shangea. Its capital and largest city is Keisi.
The main part of Senria, the Senrian archipelago, is a stratovolcanic archipelago of several thousand islands and islets. Of these, the islands of Kousuu, Tousuu, Yuusuu, and Gyousuu, which make up the majority of Senria's land area and are home to the vast majority of its population, are considered to be the "main islands". Smaller islands within the Senrian archipelago include Kisima, Rousima, Kanasima, Sugisima, and Kaedezima; subarchipelagos within the larger Senrian archipelago include the Isotama and Hibotu island chains. The country also controls the Sunahama Islands, a series of atolls located on the border of the Honghai and Coral seas.
While Senria has been inhabited since the Late Paleolithic, and was supposedly unified by the Emperor Kousou in 710 BCE, traditional records of Senrian history before the 300s CE are typically regarded by historians as heavily mythologized and ultimately unreliable. The first confirmed references to Senria from an external source come in the Yiguoji, a Shangean chronicle from the 4th century CE. The authority of the Senrian monarchy was centralized by a series of reforms in the 5th and 6th centuries, enabling a flourishing of culture and commerce, but began to decline precipitously beginning in the 800s, with power falling into the hands of local lords known as daimyou whose rule was enforced by warrior nobles known as samurai. The ensuing period of prolonged internal division was marked both by regular conflict between rival daimyous and by a renewed flourishing of Senrian culture.
The country was reunified by the Keiou Restoration, beginning in 1869, which saw central authority reestablished under an absolute monarchy; political repression, stalled modernization, and perceived weakness in the face of Shangean and Euclean imperialism in subsequent decades led to the Senrian Revolution, which ended with the formal deposition of the monarchy in 1923. The country played a major role in the Great War, undertaking a program of breakneck industrialization and mass mobilization in response to the invasion of the country and genocide of Senrians by Shangean forces. Senria emerged from the war as an industrial and military power; a new constitution was ratified in 1933, with wartime leader Katurou Imahara establishing a dominant-party regime under his rule. While Senria liberalized somewhat under Prime Minister Kiyosi Haruna, Imahara's Aikokutou remains in power into the present.
Home to 258 million people as of 2015, Senria is the second-largest country in the world by population; its capital, Keisi, is the largest city and metropolitan area in the world. While the Senrian population is overwhelmingly composed of ethnic Senrians, the country is also home to the Isotamans, Esamankur, and Cotratics, as well as Shangean, Ansene, Satrian, Chanwan, and Kuthine populations, and returned members of the Senrian diaspora known as dekasegi. Most Senrians practice a form of Tenkyou, the country's indigenous religion, which has been highly syncretized with Zohism and Badi; noteworthy minority religions in Senria include Sotirianity and several new religious movements known collectively as sinsuukyou. The country's official language is Senrian, though Isotaman, Esamankur, and Cotratic have been accorded limited recognition at the local level.
Senria is formally established as a unitary parliamentary republic, with legislative power vested in an elected unicameral National Assembly and executive power held by a Prime Minister designated by the legislature. While nominally a multi-party democracy, Senria has been dominated politically by the Aikokutou since 1927, and is typically classed as a dominant-party state or a Southern democracy by analysts. Senria's current prime minister is Reika Okura, the first woman to hold the office, who has held the position since 2018. Traditionally split into 21 traditional regions, the country is formally divided into 64 prefectures, which hold relatively little autonomy. The Senrian military, known as the Senrian Republican Armed Forces, consists of the Senrian Republican Army, Navy, and Air Force, and is regarded as among the foremost militaries in Coius, backed by one of the largest military budgets in the world. Senria is one of the seven states permitted to have nuclear weapons under the Treaty of Shanbally.
Senria has the second-largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP. A leading industrial power and major exporter of consumer goods, its economy has steadily become progressively more white-collar since the 1980s, though this has been increasingly marred by economic stagnation in the past five years. The Senrian economy is marked by the domination of a handful of corporate cliques known as keiretu and an emphasis on lifetime employment and seniority-based advancement in the corporate world. While it ranks highly on the Human Development Index, the country also suffers from high levels of income inequality. Senria's currency is the yen.
Senrian culture stands as one of the most prominent and influential cultures in the modern world, having obtained global reach during the 20th century, particularly following the start of the Senrian Wave in the 1980s. Senrian art, cinema, cuisine, literature, music, television, and video games are well-known and capable of exercising worldwide influence, and are regarded by many analysts as an important facet of Senrian soft power.
Senria is commonly considered one of the world's great powers due to its large population, substantial military, nuclear arsenal, high standard of living, and economic and cultural clout. It holds a permanent seat on the Community of Nations's Security Committee, is a prominent member of GIFA, the AEDC, and the ITO, and plays a leading role in SAMSO, COMDEV, and the BCO.
Etymology
The typical name for Senria in the Senrian language, written in Gyoumon as 千龍國 or 千竜国 and in Kokumon as 썬류우꼬꾸, is pronounced Senryuukoku. This name, sometimes clipped to Senryuu, roughly translates as "country of a thousand dragons". It is widely agreed that this name is derived from a traditional legend claiming that the Senrian people are descended from a woman named Toyomike and the kami Pairyuu, typically depicted as a dragon, disguised in human form. The first confirmed use of the term to refer to Senria appears in the Yiguoji, a Shangean chronicle from 372 CE; claims of artifacts or manuscripts showing earlier use within Senria itself are contentious and not universally accepted by historians.
The clipped form Senryuu is sometimes altered to Zensenryuu, "all Senria", or Daisenryuu, "great Senria", in poetic, literary, or patriotic contexts. Senria is also sometimes poetically or euphemistically referred to as Musuuzima-no-Kuni (무쑤우시마노꾸니 in Kokumon, 無数島の国 in Gyoumon and hiragana; literally "country of countless islands"), Mizuho-no-Kuni (미수호노꾸니 in Kokumon, 瑞穗の国 in Gyoumon and hiragana; literally "country of lush ears of grain"), or Akitukuni (아끼뚜꾸니 in Kokumon, 現御国 in Gyoumon; literally "the present country" or "the country we are in").
The earliest known Euclean form of the name "Senria", Tsenliong, appears in the writings of Ponte Pilote, written in Gaullican, and likely derives from the Late Middle Shangean pronunciation of the characters 千龍. The chronicles and letters of Luzelese and Hennish explorers in the 16th century contain several variations more obviously derived from the Senrian form of the name, including Senrijoe, Senriou, Sennrija, and Senreia; these variants rapidly supplanted the earlier Tsenliong and converged into the Gaullican Senrie, which in turn became the modern Estmerish Senria.
History
Prehistory and antiquity
The first archaeological evidence of human habitation in what is now Senria are a series of human fossils found on the island of Iezima, believed to be roughly 32,000 years old. Paleolithic archaeological sites in Senria are often small and fragmentary; the comparative acidity of Senrian soil creates adverse conditions for fossilization, and many sites consist mostly or only of stone tools. Additionally, changes in sea level between the Pleistocene and Holocene likely mean that many early Paleolithic sites are now underwater. However, some remarkable findings have been uncovered; notably, ground stone tools, normally not found until the Mesolithic or Neolithic, appear in Senria during the Paleolithic, far earlier than in most other places. It is unclear why this technique appeared so early in Senria.
The Seidou culture, a sedentary hunter-gatherer culture emerged in Senria circa 14,000 BCE. The culture, named for the village of Seidou, where artifacts from the period were discovered in 1878, is known for its "cord-marked" pottery, ornate earthenware figurines known as doguu, and the construction of pit dwellings. While there is evidence that the Seidou culture engaged in limited horticulture and arboriculture - including the cultivation of Senrian chestnuts, calabashes, adzuki beans, and lacquer trees - it appears that hunting and gathering remained more important overall, enabled by the favorable conditions of the Holocene climatic optimum. Middens from the period suggest a heavy reliance on fish, shellfish, and wild game. Climatic cooling disrupted this lifestyle and caused a rapid population decline, however, and the Seidou archaeological sites largely disappear by 1,000 BCE.
The Seidou culture was succeeded by the Sugawara culture. The advent of the Sugawara period, which lasted from roughly 1,000 BCE to 240 CE, brought a slate of transformations to the Senrian archipelago. Silk making, glass making, bronzeworking, and, towards the end of the period, ironworking all first appear in Senria during this timeframe, as do new methods of making pottery, textiles, and lacquerware. Agriculture also expanded significantly, with the cultivation of rice, barley, buckwheat, soy, and millet becoming widespread; in particular, the arrival of wet-field agriculture allowed for intensive rice farming. The Sugawara period is also marked by the advent of increasingly complex settlements and the construction of ceremonial bronze bells known as doutaku. Most archaeologists agree that the modern Senrian people are the result of genetic admixture between remnants of the Seidou people and the Sugawara people, who are thought to have migrated to the archipelago from an original Senric urheimat on the Kaoming Peninsula, bringing continental technologies with them in the process.
Within traditional Senrian historiography, the period from 710 BCE to 240 CE is typically referred to as the Eiken period (Kokumon: 에껀, Gyoumon: 栄剣). Traditional records claim that Senria was unified by the Emperor Kousou, with the backing of the kami Pairyuu, in 710 BCE, and that Kousou and his successors established several important Senrian political and cultural traditions over the next five centuries; however, most historians regard these claims as myths largely unrelated to historical and archaeological fact. Similarly, some Shangean works from this period - most notably the Histories of Wu Biao, written in the 100s CE - mention "lands to the west" or "islands of the sunset", ruled by shaman-monarchs and home to the elixir of life, but are regarded as too mythical to be reliable sources by most modern historians.
While the archaeological record remains an important source of information, the first reliable written sources detailing Senrian history - including the Yiguoji, which contains the first confirmed reference to Senria - appear during the Sunzuu period (Kokumon: 쑨수우, Gyoumon: 春秋), which lasted from 240 to 558. During this period, the Senrian Empire - whatever the exact nature of its origin - cemented its rule over central Kousuu and expanded across Kousuu into Tousuu and Yuusuu, securing its rule over the three largest islands in the Senrian archipelago by the end of the 400s. These early Senrian monarchs extended their rule both through warfare and by offering the leaders of local clans positions of authority in exchange for their vassalage, incorporating them into the imperial system.
Characteristic to the Sunzuu period are kohun, megalithic tumuli (some up to 400 meters long) which served as monumental aristocratic tombs for the clans who reaped the benefits of the early growth of the nascent Senrian state. The emperors, meanwhile, demonstrated their growing authority by reconstructing Senria's capital, Heikyou, on a grid pattern resembling the one used by the Sun dynasty capital Fuzhou. Growing contact between Senria and its neighbors was also a feature of the Sunzuu period. Much of this contact was mercantile or cultural in nature; however, the period also saw the tbd War, in which the 496-503 tbd kingdom - one of the major kingdoms of Shangea's Four Kingdoms Period - launched an invasion of Senria hoping to take advantage of an ongoing dynastic dispute, only to be repelled after the dispute was resolved while the tbd army was in transit, with Senrian forces launching their own incursions into the Kaoming Peninsula in the final years of the war.
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The Kaihou period (Kokumon: 깨호우, Gyoumon: 改法) lasted from 558 to 774 and saw the rising Senrian state further centralize and reshape itself. Zohism and Taoshi both arrived in Senria in the 500s and, despite initial aristocratic resistance, gained widespread acceptance due to their active promotion by figures including the Emperor Ninmyou; they would come to syncretize heavily with Tenkyou and influence Senrian law, philosophy, and theology for centuries. In the 600s, the Empress Genmei - after successfully defending her claim to the throne in the Genmei War - oversaw a sweeping series of reforms referred to as the Seitenhou Reforms. These reforms, which included equal field-style land reform, the development of a family registry system as part of tax reform, the creation of a council of state and subordinate ministries to oversee administration, and the implementation of the rituryou legal code, greatly enhanced central authority by weakening (though not fully sidelining) the noble clans in favor of a meritocratic imperial court which was able to effectively raise taxes & levies and impose its laws across the country.
The dividends of these reforms manifested in what has traditionally been considered a golden age for Senria. The increased ability of the Senrian state to raise taxes and levies allowed it to conquer Kisima and Rousima, and to begin extending its influence into Gyousuu and the Isotama Islands. Stronger administration bolstered trade, which further increased revenue and in turn enabled patronage of the arts, resulting in an explosion of visual art, architecture, music, and literature & poetry. This flourishing became the foundation of what is now regarded as classical Senrian culture.
The administrative system created by the Seitenhou Reforms remained in place in some form, at least nominally, for roughly six hundred years; the first noteworthy changes occurred only a few decades after the original implementation of the Seitenhou system, during the reign of the Emperor Kenryaku. Notably, Kenryaku's changes included a provision permitting Tenkyou temples and Zohist shrines to avoid taxation entirely, which would have substantial impacts in the centuries to come.
Feudal era
Senria's feudal period is typically held to begin with the Kingen period (Kokumon: 낀건, Gyoumon: 金絹), which lasted from 774 to 1113. During this period, the cultural golden age which began during the Kaihou period intensified, enabled by extensive patronage from the nobility. In particular, the art of the Kingen period shows an increased willingness to diverge from Shangean forms in favor of uniquely Senrian styles and techniques, influenced by a contemporaneous blossoming of vernacular culture, and the period is therefore regarded as essential in shaping the maturation of Senria's national culture. The period also saw the arrival of Badi in the 800s; while Badi did not receive official backing in the way that Zohism and Taoshi had, and therefore did not ingrain itself as widely, it nonetheless firmly established its presence within the country.
Politically, however, the Kingen period saw centralized authority begin to degrade. Amendments to the Seitenhou Reforms which entirely exempted temples and shrines from taxation enabled monks to establish large estates known as souen; this empowered monks to begin seeking key government roles, akin to the sengshui system which emerged in Shangea and the Svai Empire, during the first century of the period. The rising power of the monastic class was derailed, however, once secular nobles figured out how to obtain souen recognition for their own manors; these nobles then used the wealth they obtained from their tax-free estates to purchase hereditary positions for themselves. This reduced government tax revenue and hamstrung any efforts at meritocracy. The degradation of central power was worsened by the imperial court's preoccupation with artistic pursuits, which led to the neglect of government affairs. The administration of Heikyou itself (increasingly known as Keisi by this point) increasingly became the domain of regents known as sessou, while the governance of the rest of the country became the de facto prerogative of the now-hereditary noble magnates, referred to as daimyou. While Senria, through the daimyou, was able to establish its control over Gyousuu by the end of the 9th century, the country lost control of the Isotamas and was defeated by the Tao dynasty in the 1104-1112 Toukou War, nominally ceding control of Tousuu to Shangea for roughly a century.
The degradation of central authority worsened during the subsequent Zakkoku period (Kokumon: 삮꼬꾸, Gyoumon: 弱国), which began in 1113 and ended in 1339. With imperial power collapsing and the specter of domestic & foreign threats looming, the daimyou began to turn their small private retinues into large armies of military nobles known as samurai, who were in turn bound by a moral code known as busidou. In conflicts like the 1165-1169 Zensinen War and 1244-1250 Gorokunen War, the new military aristocracy asserted its power, defeating the Keisi gentry who had monopolized power through the regency and formally entrenching their own power with a treaty known as the Golden Oath. While improvements to irrigation double-cropping permitted increased agricultural yields and some population growth, rising instability blunted any positive developments, and efforts to reassert imperial authority - most notably the 1336-1339 Kouei War, which ended the period - were ultimately unsuccessful and only emphasized the position's powerlessness.
The abdication of the Emperor Kouei in 1339 is generally regarded as marking the start of the Tigoku period (Kokumon: 띠고꾸, Gyoumon: 血国), which lasted until 1667 and was marked by a total collapse of central authority. A string of wars between daimyou, ranging from small clashes to nation-wide conflicts, caused regular turmoil, with the movement of pillaging armies leading to periodic famine and disease outbreaks. The position of sessou was reestablished, this time as a means for daimyou to assert symbolic authority by controlling the emperor. The power of the samurai was further expanded as a result of their central importance to daimyou armies; the perpetual instability of the period and the glorification of martial life also resulted in the rise of the tankenhei, adventurers and conquerors who performed mercenary work across southern Coius. The endemic turbulence resulted in, and was exacerbated by, the spread of apocalyptic strains of Zohism among the peasantry, and was further worsened by the arrival of Sotirianity alongside Euclean merchants in the 1500s.
Anger among the peasantry at the misrule, destruction, and famine emerging from such perpetual bloodshed led to outbreak of the Kyoutoku Rebellion in 1425, the largest such revolt in Senrian history; while the revolt is typically considered to have ended in 1434 with the death of many of its leaders, most famously the rounin Hyouzaemon Nabesima, scattered groups of rebels persisted for decades. The country was invaded by the Jiao dynasty in the 1651-1655 Soukou War, with the war ending inconclusively due to the outbreak of the Red Orchid Rebellion within Shangea. An attempt by the Emperor Ninpei to revoke the Golden Oath instead plunged Senria into chaos, leading to Ninpei's forced abdication and the 1660-1667 Toukei War. At the end of the Toukei War, after more than three centuries of severe instability, the leading daimyou came to an agreement known as the Kamakura Accord, which established a balance of power between the major daimyou, replaced the regency with a body known as the Council of Seven, and banned Sotirianity.
The Kamakura Accord allowed for the restoration of peace to a fractured Senria, and marked the start of the Suikoku period (Kokumon: 쒸꼬꾸, Gyoumon: 睡国), which lasted from 1667 to 1869. In the name of keeping this fragile peace together, the daimyou rigidly maintained the balance of power among themselves and stringently suppressed social unrest and Sotirianity through the application of grievous punishments and the imposition of Neo-Taoshi thought alongside a strict caste system. Nonetheless, the return of some form of peace to the country enabled rapid agricultural, commercial, and population growth, all of which were aided by the construction of infrastructure and standardization of currency under the auspices of the Council of Seven, and by significant improvements in Senrian literacy and numeracy due to the construction of schools by the daimyou and by urban elites. Returning prosperity also enabled a renewed cultural flourishing in the fields of art, literature, poetry, and theater; these cultural developments both reshaped Senrian culture and influenced how it was perceived by Euclea over the next three centuries. Additionally, while large amounts of power remained dispersed among the daimyou, renewed internal stability allowed Senria to begin exerting some external influence again, bringing the Isotamas back into the Senrian sphere in the 1700s and formally annexing them after a brief conflict in 1820.
However, Senria - like the rest of Coius - continued to fall behind Euclea technologically during this timeframe, and was forced to accept increasing Euclean imposition in its affairs. The country was forced to cede the Far Isotamas to Estmere in 1852 and accept the establishment of a legation quarter in Keisi in 1860. To try and counter these developments, the Emperor Youzei worked to formally promote gaigaku (the study of Euclean technology and medicine) and kokugaku (the study of Senrian history and culture) with the aim of fostering Senrian unity and constructing the foundation for the country's modernization. These efforts were repeatedly constrained by his limited authority and interference by the daimyou; in spite of this, by the time Youzei died in 1869 he had succesfully established a framework for the country's modernization.
Modern era
In 1869, the Emperor Youzei was succeeded by his son, the Emperor Keiou, marking the start of the Kaisei period (Kokumon: 깨쎄, Gyoumon: 回生), which lasted from 1869 to 1923. Almost immediately upon taking the throne, Keiou exploited divisions among the leading daimyou between those who opposed any Euclean influence, those who sought to preserve the status quo, and those who sought rapid Northernization to launch the Keiou Restoration. Backed by certain daimyou, and receiving military and financial assistance from Estmere and Werania, Keiou used modernized military forces to reassert imperial authority and break the power of the daimyou, establishing a renewed Senrian Empire under a semi-constitutional monarchy in which almost all power was held by the emperor, who was in turn to be advised by an elected Deliberative Assembly.
Keiou and his allies subsequently undertook a series of reforms aimed at strengthening and modernizing the country, including weakening the Suikoku-period caste system; undertaking land reform to enable private ownership and leasing; standardizing the Senrian language; permitting freedom of religion while simultaneously giving state backing to Tenkyou; modernizing the country's infrastructure, economy, government, and military; and adopting Northern clothing, science, cultural forms, and education. While these reforms were initially undertaken with great vigor, they were halted after Keiou's death by his brother, the Emperor Suizei, who was aligned more closely with traditionalists. Suizei's successor, the Emperor Tenmei, restarted the country's military reforms, but was wary of efforts at economic and social Northernization; this weakened Senria's modernization efforts and left it deeply susceptible to the negative consequences of the 1913 Great Collapse. Additionally, the loss of Sakata to Shangea in the 1909 First Sakata Incident weakened faith in the government, and Tenmei's authoritarian tendencies led him to try realigning the country towards Gaullica, which angered Estmere and Werania.
Public anger at the protracted economic crisis and political repression led to the outbreak of the Senrian Revolution in 1918. While republican revolutionaries, led by Ryuunosuke Miyamoto politically and Souzirou Okada militarily, were able to take control of much of the country's west, imperial forces were better-trained and better-equipped than their republican counterparts, and won several victories during the initial year of the war. The imperial position weakened substantially following the assassination of the Emperor Tenmei, however, as his successor Souhou interfered in military affairs and mismanaged the war effort. The 1923 Great Kinkeidou Earthquake devastated Keisi and further weakened the imperial position, and as republican forces - now led by Miyamoto's protégé Isao Isiyama and receiving assistance from Estmere and Werania - gained the upper hand, dissent grew in the armed forces. A group of generals and admirals, known as the Gang of Six and led by Katurou Imahara, launched a military coup against the Emperor Souhou in November 1923, capturing him and forcing the abolition of the monarchy; a subsequent power-sharing agreement between Isiyama and Imahara ended the revolution shortly thereafter.
The overthrow of the monarchy began what is sometimes known as the Kyouwa period (Kokumon: 꾜우외, Gyoumon: 共和), which continues into the present. The period immediately following the Senrian Revolution saw a remarkable cultural renaissance and several efforts by Isiyama's government to effect social reforms, most notably its successful abolition of the remnants of Senria's caste system. This brief flourishing, however, was brought to a halt by the 1927 Shangean invasion of Senria, which marked the beginning of the Great War. Shangean forces, aided by monarchist & functionalist collaborators, sought to force Senria under Shangean rule and conducted the Senrian Genocide, in which 9.5 million Senrians were murdered as part of a campaign of systemic extermination. Katurou Imahara used the crisis to establish himself as the head of a "government of national preservation", assuring Isiyama that he would relinquish dictatorial power after the Shangean invasion was repelled.
Imahara implemented a three-point program of "mass production, mass industrialization, and mass mobilization" to build up Senria's industry and military for total war, which in turn allowed Senrian forces to halt the advance of Shangean forces; the Government of National Preservation also aided the Senrian Resistance, which conducted sabotage and guerrilla operations against Shangean and collaborationist forces to great effect. The Ukyou Uprising ended any Shangean hopes of launching further offensives in Senria, and Shangean forces were expelled from the Senrian archipelago on June 16, 1932; Senria launched its own invasion of Shangea, marked by a brutality regarded as "retaliation" for the Senrian Genocide, the following year. While Senria initially sought Shangea's total surrender and dismemberment, domestic war-weariness and pressure from its Euclean allies forced Senria to end the conflict on February 12, 1935, with the Treaty of Keisi being signed that April.
While Imahara did concede absolute power as promised and include Isiyama and the Kyouwakai in the negotiations which led to the country's current constitution, which de jure established Senria as a parliamentary republic, Imahara used his public popularity and his control over the military to centralize power in himself, the Aikokutou, and the Senrian Republican Armed Forces. As Prime Minister, Imahara implemented his personal ideology as state doctrine and oversaw a series of sweeping reforms, continuing the country's military modernization, overseeing a period of rapid economic development known as the Keizaikiseki, expanding rights for women and burakumin, ending the concessions granted to Euclean powers, replacing Gyoumon characters with the Kokumon script, bolstering Senrian nationalism, and stringently controlling political dissent. He also sought to secure Senria's position as a world power and as the leading nation in Coius, providing extensive support to the Community of Nations.
Imahara was succeeded by Hatirou Nakayama, who was in turn quickly replaced by Tokiyasu Kitamura. Kitamura sought to shift the center of power in Senria's government from the military towards the Aikokutou, and oversaw an economic and cultural flourishing, as well as efforts to establish a détente with Shangea. Assassinated by a councilist in 1964, he was succeeded by Takesi Takahata, who restored military primacy, cracked down on dissent, and oversaw a more aggressive foreign policy in the name of maintaining Senrian preeminence in Coius; Senria developed nuclear weapons during Takahata's premiership, and the country nearly went to war with Shangea in the 1975 Coastal Crisis. After Takahata was assassinated by Shangea in 1979, he was succeeded by Imahara's adopted son Kitirou, who was forced from power himself due to his inability to handle the fallout of the 1979 Coian economic crisis.
Kitirou Imahara was replaced by Kiyosi Haruna in 1983. Haruna successfully addressed the country's economic crisis by brokering an agreement between the major keiretu and depoliticized the country's military, firmly shifting power to the bureaucracy and Aikokutou. He also ended government censorship of the media, loosened restrictions on opposition groups and civil society (but guaranteed the continued preeminence of the Aikokutou), responded to the 1995 Kinkeidou Earthquake, engaged in both hardline and pragmatic diplomacy with an increasingly resurgent Shangea, and oversaw the start of a global popularization of Senrian culture known as the Senrian Wave; Haruna left office in 2003 as Senria's longest-serving prime minister. In the decades since, Senria has remained a dominant-party Southern democracy, and while its growth has slowed, it continues to be a leading economic, cultural, and military power within both Coius and the world.
Geography
Senria comprises 6,884 islands and islets located to the south and west of Coius. The main portion of the country, the Senrian archipelago, is a stratovolcanic archipelago bordered by the Lumine Ocean to the west and north, the Bay of Bashurat to the northeast, the Rangyoku Strait to the east, and the Honghai Sea to the south and southeast. The four "main islands" of the Senrian archipelago, from east to west, are Tousuu, Kousuu, Yuusuu, and Gyousuu. Smaller islands within the Senrian archipelago include Kisima and Rousima, located north of Yuusuu and west of Kousuu; Kanasima, south of Kousuu; Sugisima, north of Kousuu; and Kaedezima, located between Yuusuu and Gyousuu. Within the larger Senrian archipelago, two subarchipelagos are typically identified - the Isotama Islands, to the northeast of the main islands, and the Hibotu Islands, the westernmost portion of the country. The archipelago also contains several thousand smaller islands and islets, of which about 520 are inhabited.
The Senrian archipelago stretches roughly 2,554 kilometers (1,587 miles) in length, but is comparatively narrow, only about 460 kilometers (285 miles) wide at its widest point, and no point in the archipelago is more than 158 kilometers (98 miles) away from the ocean. Most of the archipelago's terrain is highly mountainous, and, because of this, more than 65% of it is uninhabitable. As a result, the habitable areas - located primarily in coastal regions - are very heavily populated, giving Senria one of the highest population densities in the world, and most land which is suitable for development is in use. Land reclamation has been used to expand the amount of land available for human use, particularly in the years since the end of the Great War; roughly 0.6% of the country's total area is reclaimed land as of 2018. Senria's mountainous terrain also means it has few navigable rivers, though extensive coastal shipping, particularly within the Bay of Hisui, the Nangyoku and Ransou inland seas, and the Kahoumon and Toyozimon straits, compensates for this.
Because of its location along the boundary of the Lumine and Austral tectonic plates, the Senrian archipelago is significantly prone to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunamis. The country has 117 active volcanoes, including three VEI-7 volcanoes and two Decade Volcanoes. Major seismic events, meanwhile, occur within Senria several times each century; the 1923 Great Kinkeidou earthquake killed between 100,000 and 150,000 people, while the 1982 Taiseiyou earthquake caused a tsunami with a maximum run-up height of roughly 10 meters (32 feet), though it caused only 104 fatalities.
Senria also controls the Sunahama Islands, a chain of twenty-eight atolls and islets located on the border of the Honghai and Coral seas. Of these, nineteen atolls are inhabited, while the other nine are uninhabited, either because of environmental factors such as a lack of fresh water or due to contamination from Senrian weapons testing. Obtained from Gaullica following the end of the Great War, the Sunahamas are also claimed by Shangea.
Senria has a total area of 609,136.64 km2 (235,189 sq mi); metropolitan Senria has an area of 589,191.68 km2 (227,488 sq mi) while the Sunahamas have an area of 19,944.96 km2 (7,701 sq mi). The Senrian archipelago lies roughly between latitudes 18° and 33°S and longitudes 146°W and 180°E; the Sunahamas are located roughly between latitudes 44° and 48°S and longitudes 105° to 115°W. The country's highest point is the peak of Mount Senzou, which stands 3,776 meters (12,388 feet) tall; its lowest natural point is Lake Notorigata, a now-partially-reclaimed lagoon located 4 meters (13 feet) below sea level. As an island nation, Senria has no land borders; however, it does share a sea border with Shangea in the Rangyoku Strait.
Islets on the northern coast of the Nangyoku Inland Sea.
Snow-capped mountains in the Senrian Aventines.
Forest and farmland in central Gyousuu.
The Agano River flowing through Nisiyama.
Lake Kimun, a crater lake in Yuusuu.
Climate
The majority of Senria has a temperate climate falling into the Köppen system categories Cfa (humid subtropical climate) or Cfb (temperate oceanic climate); however, some of the southerly regions of the archipelago have continental climates, primarily Dfa (hot-summer humid continental climate) or Dfb (warm-summer humid continental climate). Aventine climates can also be found in parts of Senria on account of its pronounced topography.
The country is generally rainy, though its many mountain ranges mean that parts of the country's east are affected by rain shadows and foehn winds, though these areas are still relatively wet, receiving at least 750 millimeters (30 inches) of rain annually; much of the country sees heavy snowfall during the winter. As a result of the country's heavy rainfall, sunshine is generally modest in quantity. Much of western Senria is at risk of typhoons during the mid-to-late summer and early fall; an average of five or six typhoons pass over the country annually.
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Biodiversity
Senria is the native home of between 4,000 and 6,000 species of plant. The country's north is dominated by a mixture of both deciduous and evergreen broad-leaved trees such as the Senrian elm, spotted laurel, keyaki, Senrian beech, sakaki, Senrian evergreen oak, and Shangean ring-cupped oak. At higher altitudes and in the country's south, by contrast, forests are dominated more by conifers including the hinoki cypress, southern Senrian hemlock, Senrian cedar, Yuusuu spruce, Senrian red pine, and Senrian black pine. The country's national tree is the Senrian maple. Flowering and fruiting plants native to Senria include plums, cherries, chestnuts, azaleas, camellias, wisterias, irises and chrysanthemums. Important or famous food crops originating in Senria include the adzuki vine, water celery, wasabi, and edible seaweeds such as nori and hiziki; the country is also famous for its edible mushrooms, such as the highly-prized siitake and matutake mushrooms.
The country also exhibits great diversity in animal life. Mammal species native to Senria include the Yuusuu brown bear, red fox, tanuki, Senrian marten, Steller's sea lion, sika deer, Senrian serow, Isotama flying fox, and Senrian macaque. Native species of bird include the golden eagle, Senrian sparrowhawk, Blakiston's fish owl, red-crowned crane, Senrian woodpecker, green pheasant, Austral turtledove, and Senrian quail. Reptiles native to Senria include the loggerhead sea turtle, Senrian pond turtle, Shangean sea snake, Isotaman habu, Senrian pit viper, Isigaki's odd-scaled snake, and common lizard. Senria is home to at least forty species of amphibian; the most famous of these is the Senrian giant salamander, the third-largest species of salamander in the world. With regards to insects, Senria has more than 300 species of butterfly, more than 1,000 species of moth, and 190 species of dragonfly; the country is also known for its cicadas, fireflies, crickets, and hornets. Senria is home to more than 3,000 species of fish, including the ayu, common carp, cherry salmon, Senrian taimen, red seabream, whitespotted conger, Lumine saury, Lumine bluefin tuna, and Senrian sea bass.
Environment
Senria suffered severe environmental degradation between the 1930s and 1970s, with environmental concerns downplayed by the Senrian government in favor of an emphasis on rapid industrialization and maximizing economic growth. This had serious consequences, both for the integrity of the environment and public health. Between the 1950s and 1970s, improper handling of industrial waste by Senrian corporations and chemical contamination resulting from unsafe working conditions, corporate error, or deliberate adulteration caused a spate of man-made diseases and mass poisonings popularly known as the Six Big Man-made Diseases - cadmium poisoning, methylmercury poisoning, sulfur dioxide poisoning, arsenic poisoning, diethylene glycol poisoning, and polychlorinated biphenyl poisoning. In response to increasingly widespread public anger, efforts to address the issue were made by the government of Tokiyasu Kitamura through legislation and court action in the early 1960s, but many of these measures lapsed or were overturned during the subsequent government of Takesi Takahata. A renewed push for environmental protection legislation occurred in the 1980s, and several laws aimed at limiting pollution, protecting consumers, and expanding Senria's national park system were passed with the assent of Prime Minister Kiyosi Haruna; these laws served as the basis for stricter legislation passed during the premiership of Sigesato Izumi.
Nonetheless, several issues persist. Air pollution remains a serious problem in Senria, particularly photochemical smog caused by industrial fumes, vehicular emissions, and the incineration of garbage. Senria is a major consumer of fossil fuels; in 2017, roughly 85% of the country's electricity production came from coal, oil, or natural gas. This use of fossil fuels contributes both to the country's own air pollution and to global climate change. While strict standards for the cleanliness of drinking water and treated wastewater have been successfully implemented, water pollution is still a persistent issue, with the damage to aquatic ecosystems being compounded by overfishing, eutrophication, algal blooms, and the destruction of coastal ecosystems by land reclamation efforts. Environmental watchdog groups have alleged that the country's environmental regulations have been poorly and inconsistently enforced by the governments of Hayato Nisimura and Reika Okura. The continued practice of whaling, defended by the Senrian government as a scientific necessity and a cultural tradition, is a source of international controversy. Senria's government has also been accused of participating in and funding the denial of climate change.
The Senrian government has responded to criticism by claiming that the critiques put forward by environmentalists exaggerate the scale of environmental issues within the country, insisting that Senrian environmental protection legislation is strictly enforced and alleging that claims to the contrary are invented or amplified by bad faith actors, particularly the government of Shangea. It has also pointed to the funding put by both the Senrian government and Senrian companies into green technology. Since 2010, the government has also overseen reforestation campaigns aimed at restoring local environments and preventing erosion.
Politics
Governance
Senria is legally established as a unitary parliamentary republic and, accordingly, the country is sometimes characterized as the most populous democracy in the world. The Republic of Senria was originally formed in 1918, following the start of the Senrian Revolution; however, the country's current constitution was not written until 1933. In practice, Senria is often characterized as a dominant-party state or as a Southern democracy as a result of the longstanding preeminence of the Aikokutou, which has ruled the country in some form since 1927.
Senria's legislature, the National Assembly, is a unicameral parliament which consists of 545 members who are directly elected for single-member districts every five years. These elections use a first-past-the-post plurality voting system. The day-to-day operation of the National Assembly is handled by the Chairman of the National Assembly, elected by the National Assembly from among its membership; the chairmanship is currently held by Seitarou Nakagawa, who was first elected to the position in 2013. Thirteen political parties are currently represented in the National Assembly; three of these - the Aikokutou, Justice Party, and Reimeisa - form a political alliance known as the Kokuminsa, the country's governing coalition, de facto dominated by the Aikokutou.
The National Assembly also selects the Prime Minister of Senria, who is traditionally the leader of the largest party within the legislature. The premiership of Senria is unique in that the Prime Minister is both head of government and head of state, instead of being only the former; this differentiates Senria from most other parliamentary republics and emerged as a result of the negotiations that surrounded the drafting of the country's constitution. They are also the country's chief executive and the commander in chief of the Senrian Republican Armed Forces, and appoint the members of the Cabinet of Senria. After being approved by a majority vote of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister holds the position for the remainder of the National Assembly's term, unless removed from office early by resignation, death, or a motion of no confidence. Senria's current prime minister is Reika Okura of the Aikokutou, the ninth person and first woman to hold the office, elected to the position following the 2018 Senrian general election.
While Senria's legal system was historically heavily influenced by a mixture of Shangean law and local traditions, the modern Senrian legal system - following the Keiou Restoration and the Senrian Revolution - is primarily based upon Euclean civil law. The primary body of Senrian law is known as the Six Codes, consisting of the country's constitution, civil code, code of civil procedure, criminal code, code of criminal procedure, and commercial code. The Senrian judiciary has four levels of court: summary courts, district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court of Senria. The judiciary is constitutionally established as independent from the executive and the legislature and the Supreme Court is accorded some powers of judicial review. Judges, including supreme court justices, are nominated by the prime minister and confirmed by a majority vote in the national assembly, holding office until their resignation or death.
While Senria has universal suffrage for all adults over eighteen years of age, the secret ballot, and certain constitutional safeguards for civil and political rights, it also has a long contemporary history of authoritarian rule and is regarded by many scholars as an illiberal or Southern democracy. Most of Senria's prime ministers before 1983 were de facto military dictators who tightly controlled political life and used the Aikokutou as a means of mass mobilization and to provide their rule with a veneer of legitimacy; while civilian control of the military was entrenched in the 1980s and 1990s by the government of Kiyosi Haruna, who also oversaw a period of political liberalization, Senria continues to be a dominant-party state in which power is concentrated in the leadership of the Aikokutou. The country has a mixed record on freedom of speech, with dissidents and opposition figures sometimes facing legal or extralegal harassment, and freedom of the press is de facto limited as a result of close ties between the government and much of the Senrian media. Corruption is endemic within the upper levels of Senrian governance, though corrupt behavior at the lower levels is routinely punished; Senrian politics are also marked by nepotism and cronyism, and these features, combined with the role that the Aikokutou has played in shaping the makeup of Senria's bureaucracy and judiciary and the Aikokutou's close ties to Senria's keiretu and alleged ties to certain yakuza groups, have led some observers to argue that Senria has a nationalistic, illiberal deep state. The Senrian government has largely rejected criticism that it is illiberal or undemocratic, arguing that Senria is "a democratic republic in line with Imaharist doctrine" and claiming that negative reports on human and civil rights in Senria "routinely contain serious misrepresentations and factual errors".
Administrative divisions
Senria is divided into sixty-four prefectures (Senrian: 껀, ken; Gyoumon: 県). Each prefecture is run by a governor and a unicameral prefectural assembly, both directly elected every five years. Prefectural governments are tasked with the organization of schools and hospitals, maintaining infrastructure and managing urban planning, handling administrative affairs, and overseeing local emergency services, including the local branches of the National Police. Prefectures also have a limited ability to pass local regulations and ordinances. However, as Senria is a unitary state, this authority is limited; there must be a national statutory basis for local ordinances, and local ordinances are forbidden from having penalties greater than two years in prison and a fine of ¥1 million. The autonomy of prefectures is further limited by the fact that prefectures are only permitted to operate autonomously within the often-tight framework established by national law, and by the financial dependence of prefectures upon the central government.
Prefectures are further subdivided into municipalities. Municipalities compile the koseki and zuuminhyou civil registries and assist prefectures in organizing the provision of public services. Senrian law establishes three types of municipality: cities (씨, si; 市), towns (마띠, mati; 町), and villages (무라, mura; 村). Cities are divided into a further set of categories based on population; larger cities are granted greater autonomy and authority, sometimes approaching the authority accorded to prefectural governments, and the ability to subdivide themselves into wards (꾸, ku; 区). Towns and villages have little autonomy but are permitted to govern themselves by a general assembly of citizens as opposed to a mayor-council system.
Traditional regions
Traditionally, Senria was divided into twenty-one regions (띠호우, tihou; 地方) or circuits (도우, dou; 道), which were further subdivided into districts (군, gun; 郡); these regions and districts were the country's de jure administrative subdivisions throughout the classical, medieval, and early modern periods, though in practice they were often overshadowed or superseded by the private estates of daimyou (한, han; 藩). Senrian emperors would regularly legitimize the authority of certain powerful daimyou by granting them symbolic dominion over the region where their domains were located.
Han were abolished following the Keiou Restoration, and both the traditional regions and districts were formally dissolved following the Senrian Revolution; as a result, these historic divisions retain no official status or function within contemporary Senria. In practice, however, the country's traditional regions are at times used for statistical purposes by both private and public groups, and they sometimes appear in geography textbooks, maps, and weather reports. Additionally, some government offices organize their geographical subdivisions to correspond with traditional regions, and many private businesses and institutions include their "home region" within their name. They also retain a degree of cultural relevance, with certain traditional regions being associated with certain stereotypes.
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Foreign relations
Senria is a founding member of the Community of Nations and serves as one of the permanent members of the Community of Nations Security Committee; the Senrian language is one of the official languages of the CN. Senria is a prominent member of the Global Institute for Fiscal Affairs, International Trade Organization, and Association for Economic Development and Cooperation, and the leading power behind the Sangang Mutual Security Organization, Bashurat Cooperation Organization, and Council for Mutual Development. The country also has warm ties with, but is not an official member or observer of, the Euclean Community and the North Vehemens Organization. On account of its large population, economic and military power, and global cultural clout, many observers have labelled Senria as a potential superpower. The country's foreign affairs are handled by the Ministry of Rites.
Senria is generally regarded as having warm relations with the leading countries of the Euclean Community. The country has longstanding diplomatic ties, dating back to the Senrian Revolution and the Great War, with Werania and with Estmere, sometimes considered to be Senria's "traditional allies". Senro-Estmerish relations are particularly close; Senria and Estmere are sometimes regarded as having a "special relationship" on account of their warm diplomatic relations over the past 150 years. Senria's relationship with Gaullica is not as strong, Gaullica having historically been an ally of Shangea, but the relationship between the two is typically cordial in the present day. Outside of the Euclean Community, Senria has a longstanding relationship with Etruria; this relationship is commonly regarded as having grown increasingly close since the rise of the Tribune Movement in Etruria as a result of ideological similarities between the Tribunes and Aikokutou. The country is also a part of the "Translumine Triangle", or "Three Ss", alongside Soravia and Satucin. These relationships with Euclean and Asterian nations are important for Senria not only politically, but also economically; many of these countries serve as important markets for Senrian-made goods and products. On account of the importance of exports to the Senrian economy, Senria tends to pursue free trade on the global stage.
Through SAMSO, the BCO, and COMDEV, Senria has close diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military ties with many countries in Coius. Ansan is sometimes considered "Senria's closest Coian ally", the two nations having been closely aligned since Ansan's independence from Gaullica. Since the Shangean invasion of Kuthina in 2007, Senro-Kuthine ties have become increasingly close. Senria is politically and economically involved in Satria, where it has attempted largely unsuccessfully to initiate negotiations between Arthasthan and Padaratha over the issue of Minkathala, and has played an increasingly large role in Bahia in recent years, with Senria providing substantial development aid either directly or through COMDEV and Senrian companies increasingly outsourcing manufacturing jobs to Bahia as Senria shifts more towards the service sector.
Senria's relationship with Shangea is its most ancient, complicated, and acrimonious. Senro-Shangean relations have generally been hostile since the 1860s, and both Senria and Shangea regard the containment of the other as a geopolitical priority; SAMSO, the BCO, and COMDEV are widely regarded as rivals or competitors to the Shangean-dominated Rongzhuo Strategic Protocol Organization and International Forum for Developing States. Causes for Senro-Shangean enmity include geopolitical rivalry for hegemony in southern Coius, economic competition, the unilateral abrogation of the Treaty of Keisi by Shangea, and Shangean denialism of the Senrian Genocide. The two countries are also engaged in a territorial dispute over the Sunahama Islands, claimed by Shangea as the "Haishe Islands". While there have been efforts to promote bilateral negotiation between the countries, most notably the Nuclear Arms Limitation and Non-proliferation Talks, these efforts have stalled in the past decade. Similarly, Senria tends to have poor relations with countries that are regarded as Shangean allies, such as the Union of Zorasani Irfanic Republics and Ajahadya, though these relations are not as uniformly hostile, and certain Senrian administrations have attempted to "pry away" these nations from Shangea, with little success.
Relations between Senria and socialist nations (such as Kirenia and Dezevau) and organizations (such as the Association for International Socialism and Mutual Assistance Organisation) are generally tepid at best on account of economic and ideological differences. However, there are some socialist countries in Senria's diplomatic orbit, most notably Arthasthan, and Senrian governments have generally placed a greater focus upon opposing Shangea and Shangean influence than containing socialism.
Military, intelligence, and law enforcement
Longstanding Senro-Shangean tensions have prompted to Senria to allocate substantial attention to the Senrian military, known as the Senrian Republican Armed Forces or Senkyougun, which is one of the largest and best-funded standing militaries in the world as a result. The Senrian Republican Armed Forces consists of three branches: the Senrian Republican Army, Senrian Republican Navy, and Senrian Republican Air Force; the country's navy and air force in particular are among the country's most important tools of power projection. The Senrian military engages in technology and intelligence sharing with its military allies in the Sangang Mutual Security Organization, and the Senrian military operates deployments in other SAMSO member states.
The Ministry of Defense handles the day-to-day operation of the army while the prime minister serves as the formal commander in chief of the armed forces; both the minister of defense and prime minister are advised by the military's chief of staff. Senrian law permits the conscription of all male citizens between ages 16 and 32; however, as of 2021, the Senrian military operates as a all-volunteer force.
Senria possesses nuclear weapons and is one of the world's nine nuclear states, operating a full nuclear triad structure. The country first successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1964. Senria is a signatory of the Treaty of Shanbally and one of the seven nations authorized by the treaty to maintain a nuclear arsenal. The Senrian government and military insist that the country does not maintain any stockpiles of biological or chemical weapons, in accordance with international law, though some international analysts have argued that Senria is likely maintaining such arsenals, or the ability to quickly establish them in wartime, in secret.
Domestic law enforcement in Senria is primarily handled by the National Police Agency, or Keisatutou, and its network of prefectural police bureaus. The Keisatutou cooperates heavily with the Public Safety Bureau, which oversees various matters of public safety such as emergency services and disaster preparedness & management; the Customs and Tariffs Bureau, the country's border control agency; and the Senria Coast Guard, which handles maritime security and search and rescue.
Senria's primary intelligence agency is the Special Police Corps, commonly referred to as the Tokkeitai. The Tokkeitai hold purview over both domestic and foreign intelligence, and historically also functioned as the country's secret police. Other Senrian intelligence agencies include the Military Intelligence Corps, or Gunzoutai, which has divisions in each branch of the Senrian armed forces and handles military and signals intelligence; the Security Bureau, part of the National Police Agency, specialized in counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and responding to cybercrime; and the Cabinet Research Office, a comparatively small agency which answers directly to the prime minister.
Economy
With a nominal GDP of $3.808 trillion and a GDP PPP of $7.418 trillion, Senria is the second largest economy in the world as of 2015, behind Shangea and ahead of Gaullica. The country has a Human Development Index score of .863 and a Gini coefficient of 42.1, reflecting a high standard of living coupled with pronounced income inequality. The country had an unemployment rate of 5.3%, with unemployment among 15-to-24-year-olds at 11.4%, as of the fourth quarter of 2020. In 2015, 4.1% of the Senrian labor force was employed in agriculture, 33.6% were employed in manufacturing and industry, and 62.3% were employed in the service sector. The country, one of the world's largest manufacturing economies and consumer markets, is both a major importer and exporter of goods; the country usually runs a trade surplus.
Senria has a market economy, and is variously classed as either an emerging, middle-income, or developed country, depending on the exact definition and metrics used for classification. Senria's economy is marked by the dominance of a handful of major corporate conglomerates known as keiretu, which have close, and often corrupt, relations with the Senrian government; Senrian capitalism is also notable for its emphasis on simultaneous recruitment of graduates, lifetime employment, seniority in promotions, and extreme working hours. While Senria's economy is generally strong, its growth has steadily slowed since the turn of the century; some areas of the country have struggled with deindustrialization as the Senrian service sector becomes increasingly important and manufacturing jobs are outsourced, and many analysts believe the country risks falling into the middle income trap. The difficulties associated with Senrian economic conditions, alongside endemic social and economic inequality, have led to the emergence of the so-called "Give-up Generation" among young Senrians.
Senria's currency is the yen, which is among the most traded currencies in the foreign exchange market and a major reserve currency. Its central bank is the Bank of Senria, sometimes referred to as the Sengin for short.
Agriculture and fishery
The Senrian agricultural sector employs about 4 percent of the Senrian workforce and represents roughly 1.4% of the country's gross domestic product. Senrian agriculture is limited by the country's mountainous terrain and extreme urbanization, which limits the amount of land available for cultivation to only about 20% of Senria's land area; as a result, practices such as terracing, multicropping, intercropping, and intensive farming are used to maximize the output of what arable land Senria has. These practices mean that Senria has very high crop yields per unit area. For largely the same reasons, Senria's agricultural sector is heavily protected and subsidized.
Agriculture once dominated the Senrian economy; farming accounted for 80% of the country's employment in 1870, and between 45 and 50 percent of Senrian households made a living from farming in 1925. However, the economic importance of agriculture declined precipitously throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, with farming families largely turning to nonfarming activities or moving into the country's rapidly growing cities to seek higher-paying industrial jobs. This decline in family farming has seen a corresponding rise in factory farming by agribusinesses, though family farms continue to compose a majority of Senrian farms.
Staple crop production in Senria is dominated by rice, which represents a supermajority of the country's cereal production; other important cereal crops include soybeans, wheat, barley, and buckwheat. Senria is also a noteworthy producer of tea, sugar beets, cabbage, onions, peas, eggplants, adzuki beans, persimmons, tangerines, apples, cherries, plums, peaches, and melons. The raising of livestock is a relatively minor activity, on account both of the country's limited arable land and a traditional cultural aversion to animal slaughtering as "unclean", though these norms have largely broken down in the past 150 years. Poultry forms the bulk of Senria's non-fish meat production, followed by pork and beef.
Fishery and aquaculture are important to Senria both economically and culturally. Senria maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly a fifth of the global catch; freshwater fishing and aquaculture represents about 30% of the country's fishing industry, with saltwater fishing and aquaculture comprising the remainder. Important species of fish and shellfish caught or raised in Senria include tuna, salmon, mackerel, pollock, amberjack, sardines, clams, crabs, shrimp, squid, and octopi. Senria's fishing industry is internationally controversial; its scale has sparked concerns of overfishing, particularly of endangered species, and the continued practice of whaling has drawn the ire of environmentalist groups.
Mining and forestry
Mining is an insignificant sector of the Senrian economy, as the Senrian archipelago has very little in the way of mineral deposits. The country has some deposits of iron, copper, gold, and silver, as well as coal and oil, but none of these are particularly significant. Senria is, however, a leading producer of iodine, bismuth, sulfur, and gypsum. Surveying efforts suggest that the country's seabed could potentially contain large deposits of rare-earth elements and methane clathrate, though these deposits are not easily exploitable with current technology.
Senria's forestry sector is limited in size, even though much of the country is forested, on account of the country's rough terrain; forestry comprises only 0.04% of Senria's gross domestic product as of 2015. Nonetheless, Senrian tree farms grow a variety of trees for lumber, including cedar, cypress, spruce, and both red and black pine.
Industry
Industry accounts for 43.9% of Senria's gross domestic product and employs 33.6% of the Senrian workforce; the country's manufacturing output is one of the highest in the world. Senrian industry is concentrated in several locations, with the greater metropolitan areas of Keisi, Tosei, Isikawa, Ubeyama, Nisiyama, and Ukyou all serving as major industrial centers and strings of smaller industrial towns existing on the routes between these major cities. While efforts at industrialization began following the Keiou Restoration, it was ultimately during and after the Great War that the country industrialized, becoming a major industrial power during the postwar period; this industrial boom was the backbone of the Keizaikiseki, the country's postwar economic miracle.
Senrian industry is largely dependent on imported raw materials and fuels on account of Senria's limited mineral resources; it is also regarded as being particularly high-tech, making use of technologically advanced manufacturing techniques. In the past 20 years, an increasing number of Senrian industrial jobs - particularly low-skill jobs - have been outsourced as the country's service sector becomes increasingly prominent. Nonetheless, Senria's manufacturing and industrial sector remains large and highly diversified; key export industries include automobiles, computers, consumer electronics, semiconductors, machinery, metallurgy (particularly the refining of copper and the production of steel), chemicals, arms and armaments, shipbuilding, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, textiles and garments, and food processing.
Services and commerce
Senria's service industries are a major contributor to the national economy, representing 54.7% of the country's gross domestic product, and are the country's fastest-growing economic sector; the service sector as a whole now employs more than sixty percent of the Senrian workforce. Wholesale and retail trade are largely dominant in this area; however, Senria also has substantial advertising, data processing, information technology, real estate, and leisure industries. During the early and mid-20th centuries, these sectors - particularly retail - were largely dominated by small businesses, but globalization, rising land prices, and government collaboration with the keiretu resulted in the steady decline of these small businesses, with "waves" of consolidation occurring in the 1960s and 1980s-1990s. This tendency also intensified in the aftermath of the 2005 global economic crisis, which larger businesses weathered more successfully.
The Senrian financial sector is one of the country's largest and most profitable economic sectors. Keisi is Senria's financial center and one of the leading financial centers in southern Coius, rivalled only by Jindao; the Keisi Stock Exchange is among the largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalization, listing more than 2,300 companies, and the Senkei Stock Average, or Senkei 300, is one of the most important stock market indices globally. Other major stock exchanges in Senria include the Tosei Stock Exchange, Isikawa Stock Exchange, Ueda Stock Exchange, and Ukyou Securities Exchange.
Senria's financial services sector encompasses several major banks, insurance companies, accounting companies, investment funds, brokerage firms, credit bureaus, holding companies, and foreign exchange companies. Senria's government charters and operates the country's central bank, the Bank of Senria, and the Senria Post Bank, which exist alongside several major private commercial banks.
The Senrian banking system is typically regarded as uniquely stable on account of the close ties between the country's major corporate conglomerates, which create a "support structure" that minimizes the risk of any member of the system going under through the joint management of liquidity and risk to assets or liabilities. However, some foreign analysts have cautioned that this risks creating a situation in which, should a severe economic crisis emerge, the entirety of the Senrian financial sector would function as a singular "too big to fail" entity, with potentially catastrophic consequences should it go under.
Infrastructure
Media and telecommunications
Senria has six major national daily newspapers - the Mainiti Sinbun, Tuusen Sinbun, Kokki Sinbun, Senkei Sinbun, Kyouwa Sinbun, and Senkan Sinbun. The Mainiti Sinbun and Tuusen Sinbun are typically classed as conservative, the Kokki Sinbun as right-wing nationalist, the Senkei Sinbun as economically liberal, and the Kyouwa Sinbun and Senkan Sinbun as center-left to left-wing. The Mainiti Sinbun is also typically considered to be Senria's newspaper of record. The country also has a variety of regional and local papers including the Keisi Sinbun, Tosei Sinbun, Nisisenryuu Sinbun, and Tousuu Sinbun. Foreign language newspapers published in Senria include the Estmerish-language Senria Daily Post & Senria Today and the Gaullican-language Courrier de Keisi. Magazines in Senria are typically divided between weekly magazines, or suukansi, and monthly magazines, or gekkansi; many Senrian newspaper companies also publish weekly or monthly newsmagazines. The most prominent foreign-language magazine published in Senria is La Senrie, which is published in both Gaullican and Estmerish and features a mixture of journalism, criticism, commentary, and fiction.
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Senria's public broadcaster is the Senrian Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly referred to as SHK. SHK was founded in 1925 and currently operates three terrestrial television channels (SHK TV 1, SHK TV 2, and SHK Educational TV), two AM radio stations (SHK Radio 1 and SHK Radio 2), and one FM radio station (SHK Radio 3), as well as the SHK World Service for international audiences. Major private radio networks in Senria include the Senria Radio Network, Daisenryuu Broadcasting System, Radio Senkei, Senrian FM Radio System, and Keisi Interwave FM; major commercial television networks include the Senrian Television Broadcasting System, Senzou Network System, Zensenryuu TV, and TV Keisi Network. The Telegraph Agency of Senria is the country's primary wire service.
While the Senrian government ended the country's press censorship during the premiership of Kiyosi Haruna, resulting in a large increase in the number of news outlets operating in Senria, international watchdogs and non-profit organizations have alleged that Senrian press freedom suffers from close ties between the national government and many major media corporations; these bonds allow the government to influence the tone of the coverage provided by the corporations in question. As many important Senrian newspapers, magazines, television networks, and radio broadcasters are affiliated with each other or owned by the same parent companies, this allows the Senrian government to control how news is reported without having to implement any formal restrictions on the press. Senrian dissidents sometimes derisively refer to Senria's mass media (masukomi) as "mass garbage" (masugomi) as a result.
Use of social media is also widespread in Senria. The instant messaging application MelonTalk is widely utilized domestically; internationally, however, Senria's most successful social media services are the microblogging website Chirper, which operates in Senria under the name Berinetto, and the video-sharing and social networking application Pinpin, itself derived from the video-sharing platform Pinpin Douga. In addition, some major foreign social media services have also made footholds in the Senrian market.
Senria possesses one of the world's most advanced telecommunications networks, with advanced broadcasting, telephone, and internet infrastructure broadly available nationwide. As a result of its leading role in technological research and the manufacturing of consumer electronics, services such as mobile broadband were widely available in Senria earlier than most other countries. Cell phones are ubiquitous in Senria; 67% of the Senrian population owned a smartphone as of 2017, and the Senrian Department of Communications reported in 2013 that the number of mobile phones in Senria was larger than the country's total population. Penetration of Internet service in Senria was measured at 92% of households and 99% of businesses as of 2019.
Under Senrian law, the government is required to own one-third of the shares in the Senrian Telegraph & Telephone Corporation and Senria Post Holdings Company, both of which were originally statutory companies turned into "private companies in public ownership" in the 1980s, in order to guarantee steady provision of their services to the general public.
Transportation
As of 2017, Senria had approximately 1,883,250 kilometers (1,170,200 miles) of roads, composed of roughly 1,584,100 kilometers (984,300 miles) of municipal roads, 201,800 kilometers (125,400 miles) of prefectural roads, 84,850 kilometers (52,700 miles) of national highways, and 12,500 kilometers (7,750 miles) of national toll expressways. Just over 90% of Senria's roadways are paved as of 2020. Much of the country's modern road network was constructed during the 1950s and 1960s, when the Senrian government adopted a series of plans aimed at expanding and paving the country's road network, or during the 1980s, when both road passenger and freight transport expanded dramatically. Municipal and prefectural roads are managed by local authorities; the country's highway system is managed by the national government, while the country's expressways are managed by the Zensenryuu Expressway Corporation, a state-owned enterprise originally founded as a public corporation in the 1950s before being privatized in the 1980s. The expressway networks of the islands of Kousuu, Kisima, Kanasima, Tousuu, and Yuusuu are connected by bridges; Gyousuu has a separate network, and Rousima, Narazima, and Kurosima have one expressway each. The Senrian government maintains a series of designated rest areas known as roadside stations alongside highways and prefectural roads, in order to provide travelers with a place to rest and to promote local tourism.
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Though the relative share of railways in total passenger kilometers has fallen since the 1980s, rail remains a crucial means of passenger transport in Senria, particularly for mass transit, commuting, and high-speed travel. It is not nearly as important for freight, however; in 2017, only 6.2% of Senrian freight was transported by rail. The country has 42,132 kilometers (26,179 miles) of railway as of 2021, the large majority of which is narrow gauge, though a noteworthy proportion - particularly in newer sections of the country's rail network - is standard gauge. The Senrian railway network connects all four main islands of the Senrian archipelago through a series of bridges and tunnels. The country's primary rail operator is the Senria Railways Company (or SR), a state-owned company which operates almost all intercity rail services, though several private rail companies also exist and compete with SR on either the local or national level. Senria was a pioneer of high-speed rail, with the first of the country's famous sinkansen lines opening in 1964; these lines now run along roughly 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) of track and can run trains at up to 320 km/h (200 mph).
Senria also has several subway networks that operate in addition to its main rail lines. The largest of these is the Keisi Metro, which is among the largest systems in the world by annual ridership. Other Senrian cities with subway systems include Ubeyama, Isikawa, Tosei, Nisiyama, Kasaoka, Ueda, Koriyama, Hisakawa, Ukyou, and Sakata. Additionally, several Senrian cities operate commuter rail, automated guideway transit, or tramway systems. Most Senrian cities operate municipal bus networks as part of their public transit systems; intercity bus services are offered by the SR Bus Company, a subsidiary of Senria Railways, and by several private operators.
Senria has long been a seafaring country on account of its status as an island nation, and waterborne transport remains important in Senria. The country had 1,011 designated ports as of 2014; of these, twenty-four were designated as "major international ports" by the Senrian government, with another 127 designated as "important ports". The Senrian merchant marine has 996 ships of over 1,000 gross tonnage on its register, totalling 38,361,000 tons deadweight; however, only 18% of Senrian-owned capacity was registered in Senria as of 2008. An extensive network of ferries connect the various islands of the Senrian archipelago to each other; while the overall importance of ferry services has declined with the expansion of Senria's road and rail systems, they nonetheless remain important, particularly for transit to and from smaller islands. Additionally, the country has 1,973 kilometers (1,225 miles) of navigable waterways, though their use tends to be restricted to small craft.
There were 180 airports, of which 144 had paved runways, and 16 heliports in Senria as of 2013. The country's main international gateways are the Kinkeidou, Tosei Kaizuka, Isikawa Katori, Nisiyama Sannomiya, and Ukyou Kitamati international airports; other air traffic hubs include the Keisi Namegawa, New Ueda, Sakata Kurume, and Ubeyama Kunitomi airports. Senria's largest airline and flag carrier is Pan-Senrian Airlines, originally founded in 1926; Pan-Senrian also operates the commuter airline Senria Express Airlines and the low-cost carrier Skyhawk Airways. Other Senrian passenger lines include Austral Air Services, New Senria Airways, Startiger Airlines, and Air Forward. The country's largest cargo airline is Daisenryuu Cargo Airlines.
Energy
Senria's primary electric utility is the National Electric Power Company, or Kokuden, which is responsible for 93% of Senria's electricity generation either directly or through subsidiaries; consumers do have a choice of electricity retailer. Senria lacks a substantial domestic supply of fossil fuels, and relies heavily on imported energy resources; the nation is one of the world's largest importers of coal, oil, and natural gas. This dependence on imports makes electricity comparatively expensive in Senria.
In 2019, fossil fuels supplied 86.7% of Senrian energy needs, with coal representing 24.6% of total energy consumption, oil 38.8%, and natural gas 20.7%. The contribution of coal to Senrian energy generation has steadily fallen since the mid-20th century, when it represented more than half of Senrian energy production, with oil overtaking it by 1988 and natural gas becoming steadily more prominent in the last two decades. Another 8.4% of Senrian energy consumption comes from nuclear power, with the remaining 7.5% of energy consumption coming from renewable sources. The country's primary renewable energy source is hydroelectricity, which represents just over half of the country's renewable energy production; the remainder of the country's renewable electricity generation comes in the form of solar, wind, and geothermal power. While Senria's hydroelectric potential is considered to be almost fully developed, experts have estimated that Senria's wind and geothermal potential in particular are sorely underutilized and could be expanded, though there have been few major efforts in this direction. In 2014, the government of Hayato Nisimura announced plans to construct experimental tidal and wave power facilities; the first of these test facilities, located on the island of Kaedezima, began operations in February 2021.
Tourism
As of 2018, travel and tourist revenues comprised roughly 9.5% of Senria's gross domestic product. Senria's extensive road, rail, and air transport networks make travel within Senria cheap, quick, and efficient, and domestic tourism has flourished in the country as a result; there were 687 million domestic travelers in Senria as of 2016, and travel to famous historic and scenic locations within the country has become ingrained in contemporary Senrian culture. 33.1 million foreign tourists arrived in Senria as of 2019, up from 31.4 million in 2018, and the Senrian government has set a target of attracting 45 million international tourists annually by 2025. Many foreign tourists to Senria come from other Coian countries; however, the country also receives a substantial number of tourists from countries in Euclea and the Asterias.
Tourism for the purposes of leisure or recreation is common, particularly among domestic tourists, though many foreign tourists also come in order to take advantage of the opportunities for hiking, skiing, and sailing provided by Senria's natural geography. Cultural tourism is also popular, with foreign tourists coming to Senria to experience its unique culture and domestic tourists travelling to other parts of the country to experience the meisan, or regional specialties, of those areas. International cultural tourism to Senria has been greatly strengthened by the Senrian Wave phenomenon, which has seen the global stature and popularity of Senrian culture increase since the 1980s. While Keisi is the principal tourist destination for international visitors, Senria offers a variety of destinations and attractions across the whole breadth of the country, and many Senrian prefectures and municipalities have begun their own campaigns to attract international tourism. Senria's systems for the preservation of cultural properties and national parks have allowed for areas of natural beauty, works of art, cultural traditions, and historic sites to be preserved while simultaneously being made open to tourism.
Science and technology
Modern Senria is a leader in scientific research, particularly in the fields of mathematics, engineering, electronics, robotics, medicine, and biotechnology. Senria's national research and development budget is among the largest in the world, and the country has one of the highest number of researchers in science and technology per capita as of 2017. The Senrian government operates and funds a series of major scientific research centers, the most prominent of which is the country's space agency, the Senrian Aerospace Research Agency (or SARA). The element senrium, first synthesized in 2003 by researchers in Arakawa, Nisiyama Prefecture, is named after the country.
Famous Senrian scientists and inventors include Eisen Edamura, first to chemically synthesize ephedrine and methamphetamine; Yasunari Nisida, first to isolate adrenaline; Yosiya Tanayama, first to isolate thiamine; Kazuhiro Huruhata, who invented the Huruhata process for nitrogen fixation; Iemon Kameda, inventor of monosodium glutamate; Daisaku Uekawa, first to describe the Uekawa effect; Sakutarou Hirota, creator of the Hirota scale for measuring tornado intensity; Iwao Ouka, developer of Ouka calculus; Asao Hamayotu, developer of pulse oximetry; Munetosi Sugioka, first to describe dementia with Lewy bodies; and Heisuke Tigusa, inventor of the PIN diode and laser diode. Other prominent or noteworthy Senrian inventions include the camera phone, canned coffee, CD players, electric rice cookers, flash memory, the handheld game console, instant noodles, laptops, LCD televisions, the microprocessor, tactile paving, the VCR, QR codes, and quartz wristwatches.
Demographics
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Senria has a population of 258.75 million as of 2015, making it the second-largest country in both Coius and the world in terms of population, behind only its neighbor Shangea. Senria's population density is 424.78 people per square kilometer (1,100.2/sq mi). However, in practical terms, the high concentration of the Senrian population in the limited regions (roughly 35%) of the country which is suitable for human settlement makes the country's de facto population density much higher. The country is heavily urbanized; 92% of the Senrian population lived in urban areas as of 2015, up from 91.2% in 2010.
The average life expectancy in Senria is 77.7 years. While a consistently pronatalist policy aimed at incentivizing births has historically bolstered the country's population growth rate, increasing participation of women in the workforce, a rising average age at first marriage, and the Give-up Generation phenomenon have caused Senria's population growth and total fertility rates to steadily fall over the past several decades as Senria progresses along the demographic transition; statistics collated by the Community of Nations in 2017 placed the country's population growth rate at 0.44%, down from 0.49% in 2012, and the country's total fertility rate fell from 3.4 in 1950 to 2.1 in 1970 to 1.4 in 2020.
The Senrian government collects census data every ten years; censuses are conducted by the country's Statistics Bureau, which is a part of the Ministry of Personnel. Under the post-Keiou Restoration Empire of Senria, the Senrian census was conducted every five years between 1870 and 1915; however, the Senrian Revolution prevented the carrying-out of the 1920 census. The early Senrian Republic attempted to maintain the five-year structure, carrying out a census in 1925, but any 1930 census was made impossible by the partial occupation of Senria by Shangea during the Great War. Following the end of the Great War, it was decided to change the interval between censuses from five years to ten beginning with the 1935 census. The country's most recent census took place in 2015.
Ethnicity
Senria's Statistics Bureau does not collect information on ethnicity, only on nationality. This makes it difficult to obtain exact numbers on ethnicity, as it means that Senrian citizens who are not ethnically Senrian (like ethnic minorities and naturalized persons) are classified as Senrian, while ethnic Senrians with foreign citizenship are classed by their nationality. The 2015 census found that 98.1% of legal residents in Senria were Senrian citizens, with the remaining 1.9% being foreign nationals; a 2019 Community of Nations report placed these numbers at 97.8% and 2.2%, respectively. The number of foreign nationals in Senria has increased in the past half-century as a result of the country's rising affluence, which has attracted immigrants and temporary workers from other parts of Coius and from the Senrian diaspora. It is expected it will continue to grow as the country's slowing population growth rate increasingly necessitates foreign labor; in recent years the Senrian government has begun to relax the country's immigration laws, particularly those for foreign professionals and skilled workers.
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Estimates of Senria's ethnic demographics show the country to be relatively ethnically homogeneous. Ethnic Senrians of Senrian nationality represent roughly 95.86% of the population, or 248.04 million people, as of 2019, and are easily the country's predominant ethnic group. The modern Senrian people are believed by most geneticists, archaeologists, and anthropologists to be the descendants of both the Seidou people and Sugawara people through miscegenation between the groups after the latter group migrated to the Senrian archipelago in ~1,000 BCE. There is also a large Senrian diaspora, composed of roughly 7.6 million individuals of Senrian origin or descent living elsewhere in Coius, in Euclea, or in the Asterias.
The Isotaman people make up approximately 1.18% of the Senrian population, or 3.05 million people, and are the country's largest ethnolinguistic minority. The Isotamans are the predominant population group in the Isotama Islands and, while they are of the same origin as ethnic Senrians, have their own culture, language, and religion which are distinct from their Senrian equivalents. In spite of this, the Senrian government does not officially recognize them as a minority group, instead considering them to be a subgroup of the Senrian people. Isotamans have historically had to oppose efforts at assimilation and land expropriation, and reports by international human rights groups have found that Isotamans living elsewhere in Senria continue to face discrimination in many areas.
Two other noteworthy ethnolinguistic minorities in Senria are the Esamankur and Cotratic peoples, who are the indigenous populations of western Senria. The Esamankur people represent about 0.64% of Senria's population, or 1.65 million people, and live primarily on the islands of Gyousuu, Kaedezima, and the Hibotu Islands; the Cotratics represent about 0.12% of the country's population, or 310 thousand people, and live primarily on the islands of Kisima and Rousima. Both groups are believed to be descended from the Seidou people, but speak unrelated language isolates, suggesting that the Seidou people were themselves more heterogeneous than previously thought. Senria also has a small population of ethnic Shangeans who make up the indigenous population of the Sunahama Islands, having descended from Shangean settlers who arrived in the archipelago in the 17th and 18th centuries; this population has strong resentment towards the Senrian government as a result of Senria's military presence and weapons testing in the Sunahamas, and has faced discrimination and surveillance as a result of fears that they could serve as a fifth column in a Senro-Shangean conflict.
Most foreign nationals in Senria come from other countries in Coius. Senria has noteworthy populations of Ansenes, Kuthines, Rajyanis, Arthanis, and Duranians as a result of these countries' close diplomatic ties with Senria through organizations such as SAMSO and the BCO. There are also Shangean and Siamati communities in Senria; Senria's Shangean community consists of a mixture of ethnic Shangeans, ethnic Senrians of Shangean origin, and Chanwans, while the Siamati community is dominated by ethnic Senrians of Siamati origin. Some southeast Coians and Bahians live in Senria, though these populations are small.
There are substantial communities from many Asterian countries, particularly the countries of Asteria Inferior, in Senria; these communities consist overwhelmingly of dekasegi, or ethnic Senrians from the Asterias who have travelled to Senria in the hopes of finding work, taking advantage of provisions of Senrian immigration law that make it easier for ethnic Senrians living outside Senria to obtain work visas and residency permits. Tensions exist between the dekasegi community and native Senrians; native Senrians often disdain dekasegi for their inability to "act Senrian", while dekasegi often resent being made to do dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant jobs that native Senrians do not want to fill. Most non-dekasegi Asterians living in Senria are expatriate professionals and their families. Senria has no substantial Euclean communities, though minor Estmerish, Weranian, Gaullican, Etrurian, and Soravian communities exist, again largely composed of expatriate professionals and their relatives.
In addition to the country's ethnic minorities, Senria also has a major social minority group, the burakumin, who are believed to represent 2% to 4% of the Senrian population. The burakumin were a hereditary untouchable group in Senria's pre-modern caste system consisting of those whose work was considered ritually impure due to its proximity to death, such as butchers, tanners, undertakers, and executioners. As a result, burakumin were historically targeted by state-mandated ostracism and discrimination. The Senrian caste system was formally abolished with the Senrian Revolution, and several efforts to integrate the burakumin into broader Senrian society were made by Katurou Imahara and, later, by Kiyosi Haruna, who was himself born into a burakumin family; in spite of this, burakumin continue to face societal stigmatization, and have lower educational attainment and socioeconomic status than other ethnic Senrians.
Religion
Clear data on religious affiliation in Senria can be difficult to obtain, on account of the diffusive and highly syncretistic nature of Senrian religion, the eclectic and often personalized nature of spirituality within the country, the historic lack of religious affiliation as a concept in Senrian culture, and the tendency of some Senrians to identify as "without religion" not as a means of signifying irreligion but rather "normal religiosity" as opposed to zealotry or sectarianism.
Tenkyou, a polytheistic and animistic or pantheistic religion focused upon righteous living and the worship of kami as a means of balancing a vital force known as ki, is Senria's indigenous religion. 69.4% of Senrians, or 179.57 million people, identified Tenkyou as their religion in the country's 2015 census; however, data from 2018 found that as much as 94% of the Senrian population participated in some selection of Tenkyou rituals, whether at private altars, public shrines, or religious festivals. Given Tenkyou's diffusive nature, the term encompasses everything from the "official" version of the religion promulgated by leading shrines and seminaries to the folk practice of the faith, which varies from region to region. Tenkyou shrines are overseen by the World Association of Tenkyou Shrines, which manages more than 100,000 shrines in Senria.
Tenkyou has syncretized particularly heavily with Zohism, which is the second most common faith in Senria; in 2015, 62.6% of Senrians, or 161.98 million people, identified themselves as Zohist, and survey data suggests that 55% to 60% of the Senrian population has a Zohist altar in their home. Zohism arrived in Senria in the 500s CE, and was well-established by the 600s CE, with Senrian monarchs officially taking up patronage of Zohist temples and monasteries. Most Senrian Zohists belong to the Theuku school; several subsets of the Theuku school exist in Senria, including multiple sects which emerged within Senria. Zohism has had a major influence on many areas of Senrian culture, including architecture, poetry, and philosophy; this Zohist influence is sometimes itself mixed with elements of Taoshi, which arrived in Senria alongside Zohism, particularly in areas of philosophy and law.
Syncretism also exists between Tenkyou and Badi. 28.9% of Senrians, or 74.78 million people, identified themselves as Badist; this makes Senria the country with the largest Badi population in the world. Badi arrived in Senria in the 1000s; it generally did not receive the same official patronage that Tenkyou and Zohism did, though it received enough to firmly establish itself within the archipelago. The preeminent elements in Senrian Badi are Water and Salt, though worship of the elements of Earth, Animal life, and Plant life can also be found, particularly in rural areas. As with Zohism, Badi has played an important role in shaping Senrian art and philosophy.
The vast majority of Senrian practicioners of Zohism or Badi practice those religions alongside Tenkyou; many Senrians practice some combination of all three simultaneously, a hallmark of the country's tendency towards religious syncretism, and it is common in Senria to refer to the three collectively as the "three teachings". The mixture of elements of religious architecture, theology, and philosophy from Tenkyou, Zohism, and Badi is relatively common. Furthermore, some religious sites are used simultaneously by two or three of these religious traditions; famously, Kinryuuzan-zi functions simultaneously as a Tenkyou shrine, Zohist monastery, and Badi temple.
The Senrian Empire made efforts to "separate" Tenkyou from Zohism and Badi, and to limit religious syncretism while favoring what has been referred to as "State Tenkyou", following the Keiou Restoration; these efforts saw many Zohist or Badi temples which were attached to Tenkyou shrines closed or relocated, but were ineffective in preventing the public from participating in syncretistic rituals and practicing multiple faiths, and were ended with the abolition of the Senrian monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of Senria in 1923.
4.2% of Senria's population, or 10.87 million people, practice some form of Sotirianity. Sotirianity was first introduced to Senria in the 1500s by Luzelese and Hennish merchants, who brought Solarian Catholicism and Amendism respectively; Sotirian efforts at proselytism were often met with hostility by locals and Senrian authorities, and missionaries and converts were targeted by periodic violence and bans on the religion until the 1800s, when the threat of Euclean intervention forced the Senrian government to suppress anti-Sotirian activity, allowing for an expansion of missionary efforts. Senrian Sotirianity is roughly equally divided between Catholics and Amendists, with small Episemialist, Brethren, restorationist, and nondenominational communities representing the remainder of the country's Sotirian population. While many Senrians continue to regard Sotirianity as a foreign religion, certain customs of Sotirian origin - most notably the celebration of Nativity - have become important secular cultural traditions in Senria.
Senria is home to several new religious movements, collectively referred to as sinsuukyou (literally "new religions"). Collectively, the practicioners of sinsuukyou groups represent 2.1% of the Senrian population, or 5.43 million people. The first of these new religions began to appear following the Keiou Restoration, but they have particularly proliferated since the end of the Great War. These religions typically draw aspects from some combination of Tenkyou, Zohism, Badi, and Sotirianity, and many are salvationist or messianic in character. Sinsuukyou movements are often regarded with suspicion by many Senrians, who perceive them as eccentric, controversial, or cultlike. Most sinsuukyou groups are found only in Senria, though some have successfully expanded to other parts of the world.
Several other religious traditions have minor presences in Senria, largely brought over by migrant populations. 2.3% of Senrians defined themselves as irreligious in 2015, encompassing atheists, agnostics, non-practicioners, and individuals who participate in cultural religious rituals but do not consider themselves active believers. Senria's indigenous ethnic minorities have their own religious traditions - Isotama Shinkō, Esamankur religion, and Cotratic shamanism, respectively - which have syncretized to varying degrees with Tenkyou and are usually regarded as forms of Tenkyou by the Senrian government. These religions have seen a revival in recent decades as part of broader efforts by the Isotamans, Esamankur, and Cotratics to assert their cultural distinctiveness and express pride in their unique traditions in the face of government non-recognition and efforts at assimilation.
The Constitution of Senria guarantees full freedom of religion for all persons within the country and the free operation of religious institutions. While Senria's constitution nominally establishes the country as a secular state lacking a state religion, post-Great War Senrian governments have sometimes been accused of showing favoritism towards Tenkyou, giving Tenkyou shrines financial and other support to a disproportionate degree. The Senrian government, in response to these accusations, has insisted its support is due to the role of Tenkyou shrines as cultural institutions, highlighted its support for non-Tenkyou religious bodies, and alleged that claims of disproportionality are based upon misleading or cherrypicked data.
Education
The basic model of the modern Senrian education system was first implemented in 1873, following the Keiou Restoration, and the underlying framework has remained broadly the same since then in spite of the country's political changes. This educational system begins with preschool for children under the age of three and kindergarten for children under the age of six; this pre-primary education is optional, but has steadily proliferated in Senria due to the increasing prevalence of the nuclear family with both parents actively working and due to the feeling that a preschool education will give children an edge in later educational competition. Children then attend an elementary school until age 12 and a middle school until age 15; these are compulsory for all children. High school, which lasts until age 18, is not legally compulsory; however, the overwhelming majority of middle school students - 94% as of 2010 - do subsequently enroll in high school. Students take a matriculation exam, the National Scholastic Ability Test, at the end of high school; this also functions as an entrance exam for Senrian universities.
Most Senrian students attend public schools for their primary and secondary education; however, private schools also exist. Furthermore, Senria's education system places great emphasis on extracurricular academic activity; private institutions known as zuku, sometimes translated as "cram schools", provide tutoring in both academic & nonacademic fields and exam preparation in exchange for a set fee, and many students take mock exams. Zuku and other forms of "shadow education" are widely used in Senria; a 2012 study found that 86% of Senrian students with college plans used at least one form of shadow education, with 60% participating in two or more.
Senrian students have several options in the area of tertiary and postgraduate education. Many students attend one of the country's 820 universities; 146 of these universities are public institutions operated by the national or prefectural governments, with the remainder being private universities. Many leading Senrian universities - such as the University of Keisi, Keisi Gakuin University, University of Tosei, Tosei Institute of Technology, Yuusuu University, Haneda University, and Nisiyama University - are among the best-rated universities in Coius; the University of Keisi and University of Tosei in particular are regarded as among the best universities in the world. Students pursuing medical education can either attend a university's medical school or a specialized, independent medical college. Alternatively, students can attend one of the country's national academies, aimed primarily at training government employees; the most famous of these is the Tokiyori National Military Academy, but several other national academies offering specialized studies in a variety of fields - including engineering, nursing, meteorology, agronomy, and public administration - exist. Upon graduating from a university or national academy, students obtain a bachelor's degree and can subsequently pursue a master's degree or doctorate. Students may also choose to attend a community college or vocational school, or an institution known as a college of technology if they did not attend high school, in order to obtain an associate degree.
The Senrian school year is divided into trimesters; roughly speaking, the first of these lasts from September to December, the second from February to May, and the third from June to August. Each trimester is separated by a period of vacation - a week of vacation between the second & third terms and the third & first terms, and roughly 40 days between the first & second terms. The curriculum for public primary and secondary schools is set by the national government; however, schools are organized and supervised at the prefectural or municipal level.
International student assessment programs coordinated by the AEDC rank the knowledge and skills of Senrian students as among the best in the world; Senria is one of the top-performing AEDC members in literacy, mathematics, and science, and has one of the world's best-educated labor forces. As of 2017, 51% of Senrians between ages 25 and 64 have completed some form of tertiary education; among 25-to-34 year olds, this number climbs to 62%. Senria is also an attractive country for international education; 40 to 60 international schools were operating in the country as of 2016, and the country is home to several international universities, including the International University of Senria, Keisi University of Foreign Studies, and University of the Community of Nations.
While Senria's education system has been highly praised, it has also been highly criticized. Senrian students are faced with extreme pressure from parents, teachers, peers, and society to excel academically, with students regularly expected to sacrifice free time in favor of studying; this pressure has been linked to worsened mental and physical health, nervous breakdowns, bullying, school violence, cheating, and even suicide. The nature of Senria's education system, with its emphasis on passing exams in order to obtain admission to prestigious institutions, has been linked to academic elitism. The Senrian education system has been further accused of dehumanizing students and failing to foster independent, artistic, or creative thinking. The needs of children with disabilities have also largely been ignored; serious efforts at building a special education program for these students did not begin until 2006, during the premiership of Sigesato Izumi. Senrian history curricula have been accused of propagandizing and whitewashing the country's past, and minority groups such as the Isotamans, Esamankur, and Cotratics have long accused the Senrian government of using the national education system to suppress their languages and identities.
Healthcare
Senria has a universal healthcare system consisting primarily of two programs, National Health Insurance and the National Healthcare Organization. NHI is a form of statutory health insurance, available to all Senrian citizens and permanent residents, which is administered jointly by national and local governments and helps cover the cost of medical treatment; generally speaking, NHI will cover 70% of medical costs with the patient expected to cover 30%, though a variety of factors - most notably the patient's age and family income - can change the exact percentages, or see the government cover the entire cost. Senrian citizens may also obtain insurance through their employers or through private insurers if they so choose. The NHO, meanwhile, operates a network of hospitals, clinics, and public health centers providing a wide variety of healthcare services for low, fixed prices, with emphasis on ease of access. The NHO also manages efforts at protecting public health more broadly; while pricing and certain policies are set by the national government, the actual organization, maintenance, and supervision of NHO hospitals and public health centers occurs at the prefectural and municipal levels. Private hospitals can also be found in Senria, but are generally more expensive.
Traditional medicine - including the practices of herbalism, acupuncture, massage, and other folk remedies - has retained a presence in Senria into the modern period; however, its use has continuously declined since the 1870s and, for the vast majority of Senrians, it plays a subsidiary role to modern medicine and pharmaceuticals, if any role at all. Additionally, Senrian law requires that traditional herbalists also be licensed medical doctors and that herbal remedies be made using government-approved ratios and instructions, with the goal of "professionalizing" traditional medicine and protecting the public from health fraud.
As of 2020, Senria had 2.6 doctors and 11.8 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants; the country had 13.1 hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018, the highest in the world. Senrians visit a doctor fourteen times a year, according to 2009 survey data, and the average Senrian life expectancy has steadily risen throughout the past several decades. Senrian outcomes in the treatment of physical health are competitive with those of Euclea and Asteria Superior; treatment of mental health is comparatively lackluster, however, in spite of several attempts at reform. Advanced medical facilities and equipment are generally available across much of the country, with the NHI and NHO making access to treatment accessible in both urban and rural areas. However, this access is sometimes abused; a 2014 report by the Department of Health and Welfare found that some Senrians with minor illnesses or injuries went to emergency departments instead of seeking more appropriate primary care, making it harder for hospitals to treat those who need treatment more urgently.
While Senrians are generally considered to be among the healthiest people in the world, the country does have several public health issues. Senria has one of the world's highest rates of suicide, driven by a variety of factors; inadequate mental health services, particularly for depressive disorders, are believed to be one of the leading factors in the prevalence of suicide in Senria. Widespread consumption of tobacco and alcohol have also had serious consequences, in the forms of chronic respiratory diseases, cancer, and alcoholism. While obesity rates in the country have remained significantly lower than those in much of the rest of the world, they have steadily risen nonetheless, climbing from 1.6% in 2000 to 4.8% in 2016. Widespread environmental degradation and pollution since the 1970s has caused further problems with both chronic and acute illness, most infamously the Six Big Man-made Diseases in the 1950s-1970s; nowadays, though, the most prevalent example of this are the respiratory issues caused by smog.
Culture
The core of modern Senrian culture derives from the traditions that emerged from the synthesis of the Seidou and Sugawara peoples, shaped in the centuries since both by its own domestic evolution and by a variety of external influences from across the world, creating a unique cultural identity which is simultaneously varied and coherent. These external influences include extensive influence from other Coian cultures, most notably that of Shangea, as well as more recent influences from Euclea and the Asterias. While Senria's culture has changed greatly over the centuries, especially as a result of the societal and technological changes of the modern era, the continuity at its ancient core makes it one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world.
Senria has developed a strong system for the preservation and promotion of its cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible; the national list of cultural properties contains buildings, works of art, folk rituals, craft techniques, monuments, and natural landscapes, among other things, deemed worthy of or requiring protection by the government; in addition to the national list, all Senrian prefectures and many Senrian municipalities maintain their own lists of cultural properties. The country is home to several COMDECS World Heritage Sites. Senrian culture is also one of the most influential cultures globally; the emergence of the Senrian Wave phenomenon in the 1980s has seen Senrian culture - particularly Senrian popular culture - become popular across much of the world, transforming Senria into a global exporter of culture. This international reach is an important facet of the country's soft power, with the Senrian government actively supporting the country's creative industries through subsidies and similar measures.
Art
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Senrian art covers a vast range of styles and media, including painting, woodblock printing, calligraphy, pottery and porcelain, lacquerware, sculpture, weaving and dyeing, papermaking, origami, methods of plant cultivation and arrangement such as bonsai and ikebana, and more contemporary forms such as manga. Uniting these numerous forms of artistic expression are a set of aesthetic ideals such as miyabi (elegance and refinement), wabi-sabi (acceptance of transience and imperfection), sibui (superficial simplicity balanced with subtle complexity), iki (the impression of spontaneity), and yuugen (profound subtlety and allusion).
The earliest artefacts of the Senrian artistic tradition come from the Seidou period in the form of cord-marked pottery, often lavishly decorated, and earthenware figurines known as doguu. Bronze bells known as doutaku are commonly considered emblematic of the subsequent Sugawara period, which saw silk making, glass making, and bronzeworking first appear in Senria, as well as improved methods for making pottery, textiles, and lacquerware. Common throughout early Senrian history, beginning in the late Seidou period and continuing until the end of the Sunzuu period, are comma-shaped beads known as magatama; early magatama were typically made of stone in earlier periods, eventually being made almost exclusively out of jade. Many surviving artifacts from the Sunzuu period were originally intended as funerary objects, interred in tumuli known as kohun; objects commonly found in kohun include magatama, unglazed pottery, bronze mirrors and weapons, and terracotta statues known as haniwa. Some kohun also contain painted murals depicting both geometric and figurative forms.
The Kaihou and Kingen periods, together stretching from the 6th century to the 11th century, saw a flourishing of the arts and were a seminal period for Senrian culture, with the works and techniques of the period extolled as foundational into the present day. The Senryuu-e style of painting, used to decorate sliding doors, folding screens, hanging scrolls, and handscrolls, emerged in the Kaihou period and reached its peak during the Kingen period; Senryuu-e works included depictions of landscapes, religious themes, courtly life, and historical events. Alongside the importation of Shangean characters came Shangean calligraphy, which in turn inspired unique styles of Senrian calligraphy. Also imported from Shangea was the sancai glazing technique, though most Senrian pottery of the period continued to utilize a simple green glaze. Senrian sculpture of the Kaihou period typically had delicate features, naturalistic drapery, and an air of reverie & aloofness, where those of the Kingen period typically had thick limbs, brooding expressions, and heavily-carved drapery. The maki-e lacquer decoration technique also emerged in Senria during this period.
While the Zakkoku and Tigoku periods are commonly regarded as a "low point" for Senrian art, they saw several important artistic developments. Ink wash painting was brought to the country from Shangea. This renewed Shangean influence in turn diverged into two distinct schools of painting - the Hori school, which emphasized bright colors and firm outlines, and the Kanehara school, known for its closer adherence to the monochrome tendencies of Shangean ink painting. Shangean Jian ware, meanwhile, inspired the tenmoku style of pottery and porcelain in Senria, and Shangean carved lacquer inspired Tanigawa-bori, which used different techniques (carving wood and then applying lacquer, rather than carving the lacquer itself) to achieve a similar effect. The period is most famous, however, as a renaissance for Senrian sculpture; the Kei school emphasized realism and the expression of movement and emotion, and produced several masterworks of religious sculpture.
Another flourishing of Senrian art came with the Suikoku period, which lasted from the 1600s to the mid-1800s. Several schools of painting - including the Sakata, Maezuka, Nanga, and Oukawara schools - emerged during this period, as did the koukoku-mozi lettering styles. Ukiyo-e, a genre of painting and woodblock printing known for its use of vivid color now considered emblematic of Senrian visual art, also emerged and flourished during this period. Less famous but widely circulated domestically were woodblock-printed illustrated books covering topics from travel to cooking to fiction to satire. Senrian ceramics also thrived; Senrian export porcelain, known for its high quality and stylistic variety (ranging from blue and white pottery to elaborate polychromatic overglazed enamelling), became highly desired among Euclean elites. Domestically, lacquered holding cases known as inrou and ornate miniature sculptures known as netuke became important fashion items, with a thriving industry developing around their production.
Senrian art continued to flourish throughout the Kaisei period; however, it changed substantially as a result of the country's efforts at modernization. Throughout the later half of the 19th century, Senria's government emphasized Euclean art, particularly realism; the hokuga (literally "Northern painting") style of painting was officially promoted, and Euclean-style sculpture was produced with Senrian alloys and lacquer techniques. At the same time, Senrian aesthetics - particularly those of the Suikoku period - played an important role in shaping contemporaneous Euclean art, a trend known as Senrisme. Within Senria, efforts to promote mainstream Euclean art met a mixed reception; while some artists adopted such Euclean styles unequivocally, others sought a revival of traditional styles or a synthesis of Euclean styles (particularly romanticism and pre-Raphaelism) with Senrian aesthetics, resulting in the Senryuuga movement, while others adopted more transgressive modernist styles such as impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism, and cubism. During the 1900s and 1910s, the imperial government switched from favoring hokuga to favoring Senryuuga.
The deposition of the monarchy in the Senrian Revolution saw a wild flourishing of modern art during the early years of the Senrian Republic. While Aikokutou governments have frequently favored more "traditionally Senrian" styles of art, Senria has nonetheless developed thriving scenes for modern and contemporary art; the country had a prominent Neo-Dada movement in the 1960s and is the birthplace of the postmodern Superflat movement, which draws inspiration from the style used by Senrian comics and graphic novels, known as manga.
Architecture
Traditional Senrian architecture is typified by the widespread use of wood, aversion to stone except in building foundations, elevation of buildings slightly off the ground, large hip-and-gable roofs with curved gables and eaves, use of the post and lintel system, woven flooring mats known as tatami, and the use of sliding partitions such as husuma and souzi. These unique features, shaped by local materials, aesthetic principles, and concerns, coexist alongside architectural and aesthetic choices found in other south Coian countries.
The pit dwellings of the Seidou period, raised-floor granaries and rammed earth fortifications known as tasi of the Sugawara period, and kohun burial mounds of the Sunzuu period serve as some of the earliest examples of Senrian architecture. Shangean architecture was brought to Senria, and adapted to Senrian needs and tastes, during the Kaihou and Kingen periods; this developed into the sinden-zukuri style of architecture among the nobility, and diverged into several forms of Senrian religious architecture. The earliest surviving Senrian gardens are from this period, and mix the principles of feng shui with an aesthetic emphasis on asymmetry, naturalism, and miniaturization. The typical styles used for minka (vernacular houses) and kura (traditional storehouses) also emerged at this time.
During the Zakkoku period, Senrian religious architecture continued to diversify and sinden-zukuri evolved into the simpler, more practical buke-zukuri style. Rock gardens - where the arrangement of rocks, moss, and carefully raked sand is meant to evoke the essence of nature and aid meditation - appeared during this period, partially displacing the water gardens of the Kaihou and Kingen periods. The architectural trends of the Zakkoku period largely continued throughout the early Tigoku period; the late Tigoku period, however, saw several major developments, including the emergence of the soin-zukuri and sukiya-zukuri styles, a turn back towards greenery and water in gardens, and the emergence of the emblematic Senrian castle as a result of the increasing prevalence of arquebuses - but not cannons - in Senrian warfare, which necessitated the replacement of wooden stockades with stone walls. Late Tigoku period trends, in turn, persisted throughout the Suikoku period; other important features of Suikoku-period architecture include the refinement of the matiya, or townhouse, and an emphasis on borrowed scenery (sakkei) in landscaping.
The push for modernization during the Kaisei period resulted in significant changes to Senrian architecture. The restored imperial government encouraged the adoption of Euclean architectural styles and the use of building materials such as brick and stone, inviting Euclean architects and urban planners to the country. Particular favor was shown to the Beaux-Arts school of architecture. Some Senrian architects, meanwhile, sought to develop a style of architecture which superficially looked Euclean, but in fact relied on traditional Senrian techniques, resulting in the gihokuhuu style. During the 1920s, Senrian architects experimented with styles such as rationalism, secessionism, and Bauhaus. Following the Great War, the government of Katurou Imahara developed an officially-favored style of architecture, the New Senria Style, which combined neoclassical buildings with Senrian-style roofs. In spite of this favoritism, however, a variety of other styles have subsequently thrived in Senria, including Art Deco, modernist forms such as the International Style, the Senrian-born metabolist movement, and postmodernism.
A group of typical minka-style farmhouses.
The main pavilion at Saihou-zinza.
The keep of Karasugawa Castle.
A former schoolhouse in the gihokuhuu style.
Senria's National Museum of Fine Arts.
Suminoe National Arena, built for the 1970 Invictus Games.
Cuisine
Senrian cuisine, generally speaking, is marked by a primary reliance on grains and vegetables supplemented by fish and poultry, with comparatively little use of red meat, oils or fats, and dairy, as well as a tendency towards salty and umami flavors, a strong emphasis upon seasonality of ingredients and regional specialties, and use of seasoning as an accent or garnish.
Most traditional Senrian meals are based around the combination of rice, typically steamed short-grain rice, with one or more okazu, or side dishes. Okazu can consist of vegetables, seafood, meat, or tofu, prepared in any number of ways - simmered, steamed, grilled, fried - or served raw. The meal might also be accompanied by pickled vegetables, or tukemono, and miso soup. Each element of the meal is served separately on its own small plate or bowl; this tendency descends from classical Shangean dining etiquette, which regarded placing food on rice as "soiling" the rice, a perception which has mostly persisted in Senrian cuisine while vanishing near-entirely from modern Shangean cooking. Even in Senrian cuisine, however, there are exceptions to this rule in the form of popular dishes such as yakimesi, rice stir-fried with any number of potential ingredients and seasonings; donburi, rice topped with meat, fish, egg, or vegetables; and onigiri, triangular rice pouches filled with savory, salty, or sour ingredients. Milled and polished white rice has long been regarded as more desirable than cheaper and less-refined brown rice, though the latter has grown in popularity in recent years because of its greater nutritional value.
Alternatively, noodles may be served in place of a rice-based meal. Most Senrian noodles are made from wheat flour. Senria's main traditional noodles are udon, thick wheat noodles, and soba, thin buckwheat noodles; soumen and ramen, two other types of wheat noodle often associated with Senria, emerged as a result of cultural contact with Ansan and Shangea. Noodles are typically, but not necessarily, served with broth, and udon, soba, and soumen can be served either hot or cold, depending on the season. Noodle dishes will typically also contain some combination of vegetables, meat, tofu, eggs, fish cakes, and herbs, and are usually served without side dishes. Barley and millet were historically a large part of the Senrian diet due to their role in peasant dishes such as katemesi, but are largely eschewed today for that precise reason.
Senrian cuisine has long been influenced by the cuisine of nearby Coian countries. Kimchi, a staple of Ansene cuisine, is widely popular in Senria, and the country has local variants of Shangean dishes like mapo tofu, baozi, and mingxia; gyouza, a form of jiaozi, are so popular in Senria they are widely thought of as Senrian in much of the world. Curry, similarly, was brought to Senria from Satria by trade across the Bay of Bashurat. Senria is also home to kitasoku (literally "Northern food"), Senrianized forms of Euclean dishes; while some kitasoku dishes date back to the 16th century, this style of cooking was largely popularized after the 1869 Keiou Restoration. Prominent kitasoku dishes include esmeira, a type of sponge cake; hayasi rice, beef and vegetables cooked in a demi-glace sauce and served over rice; korokke, croquettes; katuretu, breaded cutlets; tempura, deep-fried seafood or vegetables; and purin, a type of crème caramel.
Senrian cuisine makes use of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Vegetables commonly found in Senrian cuisine include Napa cabbage, spinach, komatuna, mizuna, cucumbers, eggplant, kabota, scallions, daikon radishes, soybeans and soybean sprouts, adzuki beans, and sisitou peppers. Fruits used widely in Senrian cuisine include mandarin oranges, kumquats, loquats, yuzu, plums, persimmons, Coian pears, and Austral melons. Senrian cuisine is also known for its use of mushrooms - such as the highly-prized siitake and matutake mushrooms - and edible seaweed like kombu and nori. Dishes are commonly seasoned with soy sauce, miso, dasi, mirin, or vinegar; other spices and flavorings include wasabi, ginger, myouga, hurikake, and sitimi. Some less traditional but widely used seasonings are monosodium glutamate, tonkatu sauce, and mayonnaise.
Seafood is central to Senrian cuisine. Sasimi, thinly-sliced raw fish, is an important part of the emblematically Senrian dish susi. Other Senrian seafood dishes include tataki, lightly-seared tuna; ikura, caviar made from salmon roe; oden, a soup of surimi, eggs, and vegetables in a light broth; motoyaki, baked seafood topped with mayonnaise; and takoyaki, fried dumplings made with octopus. The role of poultry, pork, and beef in the Senrian diet was traditionally limited by a lack of arable land and a cultural aversion to the butchering of animals as ritually unclean; it has grown substantially more popular in the past 150 years, however, and dishes containing or based around meat now form an important part of the Senrian diet. Such dishes include nabemono, the blanket term for a variety hot pot dishes including sukiyaki and sabu-sabu; kara'age, marinated deep-fried meat or fish, widely associated with bars known as izakaya; and yakitori, skewered and grilled chicken.
Senkasi is the Senrian term for the country's traditional confections; the term hokugasi is sometimes used to refer to desserts of Euclean origin. Senrian confections and desserts include daihuku, rice cakes filled with adzuki bean paste; kuzumoti, cakes made out of kudzu powder or fermented wheat starch; dango, sweet rice flour dumplings served on a skewer; melonpan, sweetrolls covered with a thin layer of crisp dough; konpeitou, brightly-colored sugar candies; and youkan, small blocks made of adzuki bean paste, agar-agar, and sugar.
Tea, particularly green tea, was introduced to Senria in the early 9th century and remains one of the country's most popular and widely-consumed drinks; tea ceremonies are an important ritual in Senrian culture. Senta is the most popular form of tea in the country; gyokuro is a more exclusive sort of tea, while matta is culturally important and widely used as a flavoring for sweets. Black tea is less commonly consumed; the culture around black tea in Senria is largely derived from Estmerish tea culture. Several brands of soft drink, both carbonated and uncarbonated, are manufactured in Senria; among the most prominent are Asahico, Leona Ion, and Kituris. The most famous alcoholic beverage of Senrian origin is sake, a type of rice wine with 15% to 20% ABV. Other Senrian alcoholic beverages include soutuu, a distilled liquor made from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar; umesu, made by steeping unripe plums in soutuu; and awamori, the traditional liquor of the Isotama Islands. Beer, introduced to the country by Euclean merchants, has become broadly popular in Senria; pale lagers and ales are the most widely produced and consumed beers in Senria. Also popular are happousu, low-malt alcoholic beverages taxed at a lower rate than proper beer. While it is not widely consumed domestically outside of highball cocktails, Senrian whisky has been internationally recognized for its quality and flavor.
Senrian cuisine has been widely spread internationally by the Senrian diaspora and Senrian soft power. Senrian-style dishes created outside of Senria include several types of makizusi, moti ice cream, and the fortune cookie, which is often wrongly thought to be of Shangean origin. Some of these foreign dishes have become so popular that they have in turn been brought back to, and become popular in, Senria itself.
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Holidays
Senria has seventeen official public holidays. Of these holidays, eleven - New Year's Day, Coming of Age Day, Victory Day, National Day, Autumnal Equinox Day, Republic Day, Culture Day, Constitution Day, Memorial Day, Vernal Equinox Day, and Labor Day - were established by the Public Holiday Law of 1936. Children's Day and Respect for the Aged Day were established in 1960, Health and Sports Day in 1966, Marine Day and Mountain Day in 1995, and Greenery Day in 2007. The Public Holiday Law states that, if a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is given as a day off. Additionally, it establishes that a day which falls directly between two other holidays is given as a day off; this turns the period between Culture Day and Constitution Day into a weeklong vacation period known as Golden Week. The dates of Coming of Age Day, Ocean Day, Mountain Day, Respect for the Aged Day, and Health and Sports Day were moved to Mondays by the 2013 Monday Holiday Law, with the goal of creating three-day weekends for Senrian workers.
| Date | Estmerish name | Senrian name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year’s Day | 간시뚜 (元日) Ganzitu |
Marks the first day of the Gregorian calendar year. |
| second Monday in January | Coming of Age Day | 쎄신노히 (成人の日) Seizin no Hi |
Congratulates individuals who have reached the age of maturity (20 years) during the preceding year. |
| February 12 | Victory Day | 쏘우리끼넌노히 (勝利記念の日) Souri Kinen no Hi |
Celebrates the end of the Great War. |
| February 26 | National Day | 껀꼬꾸끼넌노히 (建国記念の日) Kenkoku Kinen no Hi |
Celebrates the unification of Senria by the Emperor Kousou. |
| March 20 or 21 | Autumnal Equinox Day | 수우분노히 (秋分の日) Suubun no Hi |
Marks the autumnal equinox; commemorates ancestors and the dead. |
| April 10 | Republic Day | 꾜우외끼넌노히 (共和記念の日) Kyouwa Kinen no Hi |
Celebrates the start of the Senrian Revolution. |
| May 2 | Culture Day | 분까노히 (文化の日) Bunka no Hi |
Celebrates and promotes Senrian culture. |
| May 4 | Children's Day | 꼬도모노히 (子供の日) Kodomo no Hi |
Celebrates Senrian children and childhood. |
| May 6 | Constitution Day | 껀뽀우끼넌노히 (憲法記念の日) Kenpou Kinen no Hi |
Celebrates the ratification of the Constitution of Senria. |
| June 16 | Memorial Day | 뚜이또끼넌노히 (追悼記念の日) Tuitou Kinen no Hi |
Commemorates Senria's war dead, both military and civilian, particularly those killed in the Great War and Senrian Genocide. |
| third Monday in July | Ocean Day | 우미노히 (海の日) Umi no Hi |
Celebrates Senria's oceans and their bounty. |
| third Monday in August | Mountain Day | 야마노히 (山の日) Yama no Hi |
Celebrates Senria's mountains and their beauty. |
| third Monday in September | Respect for the Aged Day | 께로우노히 (敬老の日) Keirou no Hi |
Celebrates Senrian elders and long life. |
| September 22 or 23 | Vernal Equinox Day | 쑨분노히 (春分の日) Sunbun no Hi |
Marks the vernal equinox; celebrates the end of winter. |
| second Monday in October | Health and Sports Day | 때미꾸노히 (体育の日) Tai'iku no Hi |
Celebrates athletics and physical education. |
| November 3 | Greenery Day | 미도리노히 (緑の日) Midori no Hi |
Celebrates nature and the environment. |
| November 23 | Labor Day | 낀로우깐싸노히 (勤労感謝の日) Kinrou Kansa no Hi |
Celebrates Senrian workers. |
In addition to the country's official public holidays, Senria is home to several unofficial or semiofficial festivals. These include traditional celebrations that are marked nationwide, Senrian equivalents of certain traditional Shangean festivals, secularized versions of select Sotirian holidays, and a litany of local or regional festivals and commemorations ranging from religious rituals to seasonal festivals to cultural celebrations. Many of these local festivals will be backed by area businesses, organizations, and religious institutions, and feature parades, food stalls, carnival games, and similar activities; they may also involve athletic or cultural performances, local sightseeing, fireworks, sailing, gift-giving, and the playing of games with friends and family.
Travelling to visit relatives on holidays and festival days, or to see in festivals from different areas of the country, are important drivers of Senrian domestic tourism; they have also gained popularity with international tourists in recent years. The events of well-known festivals are sometimes broadcast on television. Certain major festivals have been brought to other parts of the world by the Senrian diaspora; furthermore, many diaspora communities have developed their own unique festivals as a means of celebrating their heritage.
Language
The Senrian language is both the sole official language of and the most widely spoken language in Senria; it is overwhelmingly the dominant language for governance, business, education, and media within the country. Senrian is a member of the Senric language family, which has an unclear connection to the languages of continental Coius; attempts have been made to demonstrate a genealogical linguistic relation between Senrian and languages or language families including Ansene, Shangean, Namkho-Chanwan, Shahleghaic, and Austrocoianic, and even Kireno-Kantemoshan and Satro-Euclean; none of these proposals have garnered substantial support among linguists, however.
The vast majority of Senrian speakers reside within Senria itself. However, Senrian-speaking communities exist across much of Coius as a result of the establishment of senryuumati by Senrian merchants, settlers, adventurers, and raiders, and across Euclea and the Asterias as a result of emigration from Senria during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are more than a dozen major dialects of Senrian within the country; these dialects vary primarily in terms of inflectional morphology, vocabulary, use of particles, and pitch accent. Most Senrian dialects spoken within the archipelago can be placed into three groups: Western, Eastern, and Tousuu. The traditional prestige dialect, the Kinkeidou dialect, forms the basis of modern Senrian; however, modern Senrian also incorporates elements of the Saisandou dialect.
Senrian is written in the Kokumon script, a featural alphabet derived from an earlier Ansan script in the 1890s by Yasunari Sekido and implemented by the government of Katurou Imahara beginning in 1939. Prior to this the language used a mixture of adopted Shangean characters, known as Gyoumon, and the hiragana syllabary. Gyoumon and hiragana have been near-wholly replaced by Kokumon; they are nowadays only used for signatures or stylistic effect. Several systems exist for the solarianization of Senrian, known collectively as sorazi; modern Senrian also regularly uses Rahelian numerals.
Languages other than Senrian are primarily spoken by members of their ethnic communities. The Isotaman language, spoken on the Isotama Islands, is technically a collection of Senric languages that are mutually unintelligible with each other and with standard Senrian, with the Naraziman language functioning in practice as "standard Isotaman"; the Senrian government legally regards Isotaman as a dialect of Senrian, however. The Esamankur and Cotratic languages, meanwhile, are language isolates with no known relation to eachother or to any other extant languages. While these languages have been accorded limited recognition by some local governments, they have historically faced organized suppression, and still have no national recognition or protection; as a result, their usage has continuously declined and they are increasingly regarded as endangered.
Literature
While fragmentary inscriptions and artifacts from Senria containing Classical Shangean writing have been found as far back as the 200s CE, the earliest Senrian literary works were created in the early 700s, during the Kaihou period. The oldest extant Senrian work of literature, the Kyuurekiso, is a collection of myths, legends, and semi-historical accounts compiled in 712 by the nobleman Osakabe no Are; Osakabe also assisted with the production of the Senryuugi, another seminal work covering Senrian history and legend, which was finished in 719.
Senrian literature and poetry flourished during the Kingen period thanks to heavy patronage by the nobility. The Man'youkei, a collection of poetry in the senka style and the oldest anthology of Senrian-language poetry, was completed in 762; also popular among the nobility was tousi, poetry written by Senrians in Classical Shangean. It was during this period that the renga style of collaborative poetry became formalized. Noblewomen and ladies-in-waiting, such as Koharu Hou, Mokusei no Kaneko, Kenreimon'in no Rie , and Awate Sikibu, are some of the most acclaimed Senrian authors and poets of the period; Koharu's Tale of the Camellias is often described as the world's first novel. Additionally, the zuihitu genre emerged during the period, and zuihitu works provide invaluable insight into the social dynamics of the period. The Senmonogatari-suu, an anthology of over a thousand folktales, is of unknown authorship and is believed to have been compiled in the 1100s.
The literary trends of the Kingen period by and large persisted throughout the Zakkoku and Tigoku periods. The senka and renga styles of poetry remained preeminent; the zuihitu genre similarly persisted, becoming popular with monks, who used it as a means of meditative introspection and theological expression. The prose of the period became increasingly dominated by historical and military epics, such as those of Toyoda no Yukinaga, Kenkou Iimura, and Sanehira Takehara, reflecting the rise of the busidou code and the samurai as a social caste. Literary production also became increasingly male-dominated, and spread out across the country as the power of the central government collapsed.
Vast changes to Senrian literature came with the Suikoku period, however, as a result of a rising urban middle class and the arrival of the printing press, which created a mass market for literature. Prose writing diversified massively, encompassing everything from war stories to romances to travel guides to works of satire. The ukiyo-zousi, yomihon, kibyousi, and gesaku genres all emerged during the Suikoku period. Prominent authors of the period include Kunpei Kobayasi, Sigenori Nisizawa, Denzou Yokoi, and Akinari Hirata. Poetry saw similarly consequential developments; the haikai no renga style, which put a vulgar or satirical twist on the traditional renga style, appeared during this timeframe. Simultaneously, poets such as Tadahiro Kuzou, Souseki Masaoka, and Hanako Maeda used the format of the opening stanza of a renga to write short, standalone poems, creating the haiku.
Senrian literature and poetry continued to change in the wake of the Keiou Restoration as they were increasingly exposed to Euclean styles of writing. Major authors and poets of this period include the realist authors Kiyosi Nagai, Matuhisa Hamaguti, and Sayuri Minagawa; romanticist authors Isirou Rokkaku and Taisuke Sugita; naturalist author and poet Andou Husae; and satirist Ryouta Rakuyama. Prominent contemporary Senrian authors include Ienaga Bandou, Kisaburou Ezumi, Kakuei Tagawa, Genta Uegaki, Suzue Norimoto, and Kumie Sasabe.
Media
The cinematograph was first exhibited in Senria in 1898, with the first Senrian film, Heinosuke Hayakawa's Tanabata, being made the following year. Early Senrian films drew heavily from traditional kabuki theater, relying on onnagata to play female roles and narrators known as bensi, and, for similar reasons, were overwhelmingly zidaigeki, or period pieces. This led to the emergence of the Pure Film Movement, which called for a more uniquely cinematic approach to film, in the 1910s. The period between the Senrian Revolution and Great War saw the Pure Film Movement prevail, and while zidaigeki remained popular, the gendaigeki, or contemporary drama, became increasingly prominent. Some directors - such as Daisuke Tuburaya and Hirokazu Kitamati - began to create what were known as tendency films, socially-conscious and often left-wing films. The outbreak of the Great War saw the government of Katurou Imahara take control of the film industry, implementing censorship rules and ordering the production of war films; one such film, 1930's Battle of Ogasawara, was the country's first full-length talkie.
Senrian film of the late 1930s and 1940s emphasized realism, and some of the seminal works of the period - such as Keisi Elegy, A Pack of Strays, and Wisterias in the Autumn - are regarded as precursors to the neorealist movement. The relaxing of censorship by the government of Tokiyasu Kitamura led to what is commonly considered the first golden age of Senrian film. Zidaigeki - such as The Nameless Samurai, The Fox in the Moonlight, Nizaemon, and Kakusareta Yousai - flourished throughout the period; gendaigeki such as The Human Condition, Suzuki-sensei, and Nagawamura Station (the first Senrian color film) also did well, as did war films such as Wolves in the Hills and Hanran. Furthermore, this period saw the birth of the internationally popular kaizuu genre with the 1955 film Ebirah, and the rise of the Senrian New Wave. Stricter censorship returned with the rise of Takesi Takahata, however, and, bar a handful of exceptions - such as Love Lost in Spring, Iron Stigmata, and Gin'noken - Senrian film is generally agreed to have stagnated during this period.
A second golden age of Senrian film is held to have occurred in the 1980s and 1990s with the liberalization of the Haruna era; films of the period, including Akayama, Those Who Speak Ill, The Sonata, Kaze no Hai, Uncurable, and Sharks in Dark Waters, saw critical and consumer acclaim both domestically and internationally. Animated films also did remarkably well, particularly abroad; prominent animated films of the period include The Valley of Moss and Steel, Into Kamimori, Valkyries in the Heavens, Keisen'na, and Venator. Prominent Senrian films of the 21st century include Departure, The Depths, Sakiko, Rosemary Tea, Conflagration, and Communion of Blood.
Television arrived in Senria in the 1920s, with the SHK being formed in 1925; the country was a pioneer in both satellite television and HDTV. Since the 1950s, television has been an important part of Senrian soft power; Senrian television dramas, which range from soap operas to police procedurals to comedies to period pieces, are broadcast across much of Coius. Senrian animated shows, or anime, are also internationally popular; frequently but not always adapted from manga, these shows have developed a dedicated following across much of Euclea and the Asterias. Prominent anime series include Rocketboy, King of the Jungle, Space Armada Avalon, Melancholy in Neon, New Spectral Crusaders, Heroines of the Stars, Telefang, Platinum Wind, and Dog Eat Dog. Senria is also well-known for its variety shows, whose fast pace and bizarre challenges have been imitated by their northern counterparts in recent years.
Senria has played a prominent role in the video game industry for as long as it has existed; Senrian companies were early manufacturers of electromechanical and arcade games, have played a leading role in the video game console market since the mid-1980s, and pioneered the handheld game console. The country's mobile phone culture also means that there is a substantial domestic mobile game market. While the share of the video game market dominated by Senrian companies declined during the 2000s and early 2010s, this trend has been mitigated in recent years.
Music
Traditional Senrian music is traditionally grouped into three categories: gagaku (the music of the nobility and imperial court, with a repertoire consisting of Tenkyou religious music and songs derived from Shangean, Ansene, and Satrian music, sometimes further subdivided between exclusively vocal and/or instrumental pieces and bugaku, music that is also accompanied by dance), soumyou (a form of Zohist chant developed by Senrian Zohists), and min'you (Senrian folk music, ranging from work songs to vernacular hymns to nursery rhymes). Traditional Senrian instruments include the biwa, koto, samisen, kokyuu, hitiriki, ryuuteki, sakuhati, and taiko.
The Keiou Restoration and subsequent efforts at modernization introduced Euclean musical styles and instruments to Senria. Euclean classical music was patronized by the imperial government throughout the late 1800s and developed a strong presence in Senria as a result; Euclean-style songs known as souka, compiled into songbooks, were obligatory learning material for Senrian students. Particularly popular between the 1870s and 1950s were gunka, or war songs, often military marches. Multiple styles of popular music, including ryuukoka, enka, and kayoukyoku, emerged in Senria during the early 1900s; these styles by and large dominated the country's music scene until the mid-20th century. These genres also competed with jazz, which developed a devoted following in Senria in the 1920s.
Rock and roll arrived in Senria in the late 1950s; covers of foreign rock and roll songs by Senrian artists like Saburou Dogura and Yosiya Kido and the Tempters caused a public craze for rock and roll music. The arrival of rock music in the 1960s led to the birth of S-rock with the Group Sounds movement, which fused rock with elements of kayoukyoku; successful singers and bands of the genre include the Golden Bears, the Vagrants, the Troubadours, The Grand Finale, and Kouhei Takeda. Increasing censorship in the 1970s contributed to the popularity of metal and punk genres, spearheaded by bands such as the Anywheres, the Kirenians, the Kazemura Rounin, Seikika, and Jealousy; the subsequent liberalization of the 1980s and 1990s allowed for the rise of the visual kei genre, inspired by glam rock, and the rise of alt rock groups like the Alligators, the Glissandos, Souzo Riot, and Jesus Soter and the Avant-Gardes. While some have argued that Senrian rock peaked domestically in the 1990s, its international recognition has grown markedly in recent years.
S-pop began to emerge with the New Music movement in the 1970s; artists of the movement, such as Arinobu Hirakawa, Mineo Sakano, and Emiko Nakaoka produced music focusing on personalistic themes. The New Music movement in turn led to genres such as synthpop and city pop in the 1980s. These genres - spearheaded by groups and artists including the Orions, the Velvet Telegrams, Wataru Utagawa, Keizi Hanamura, Sanae Waseda, and Masako Aihara - saw widespread success throughout the decade, but were overshadowed in the 1990s by Euclobeat artists such as Takeru Yamanisi and Ramona Mandarin and by the rising idol movement, which came to dominate the S-pop scene in the 2010s, typified by groups like SRB18, Go on Three!, Red Enamel, and The Morning Sun Club. As with S-rock, S-pop has developed an increasingly international following in recent years; some contemporary idol groups now have international fanbases, while city pop has become a touchstone for microgenres like vaporwave.
Theater
Nou and kyougen, sometimes collectively referred to as nougaku, are two of the world's oldest continuous theater traditions, emerging in the 14th century from the earlier dengaku and sarugaku traditions. Nou generally retells dramatic stories from mythology, classic literature, and folklore, using masks, costuming, stylistic use of props, dance, and a mix of singing & speaking to convey the plot. Kyougen, by contrast, is generally comedic in nature, relying more heavily on dialogue & action than nou does and often relying on stock characters; kyougen also lacks the signature masks used in nou. Both nou and kyougen were primarily but not exclusively performed for the traditional aristocratic elite; nougaku programs traditionally consisted of several nou plays with kyougen plays in between, with most modern programs consisting of two nou plays separated by a kyougen play as an interlude.
Kabuki, another traditional form of theater, emerged in the 17th century. Where nougaku was by and large reserved for the upper classes, kabuki had widespread public appeal and attracted a socially diverse audience. Kabuki plays cover a variety of subjects and themes, though most fall into the categories of zidaimono (historical plays), sewamono (domestic plays, focusing on drama and romance), and sosagoto (dance plays); they typically rely upon elaborate costumes and makeup, ribald humor, and dramatic, stylized performances emphasizing the roles and abilities of the actors. Kabuki actors traditionally use stage names, which are adopted or inherited in elaborate public ceremonies known as suumei. Other classic types of Senrian theater include yose, a form of spoken vaudeville, and bunraku, a form of puppet theater; both yose and bunraku emerged in roughly the same timeframe as kabuki.
The Kaisei period saw the introduction of Northern theater, and Northern dramatic conventions, to Senria. Euclean-style theatrical and operatic companies were created at the urging of the imperial government as part of the country's modernization efforts, and Euclean forms of theater continue to be widely performed in Senria; there were more than 3,000 performances of Euclean or Euclean-style plays, operas, and musicals given in Keisi in 2014. The arrival of Northern theater also led to efforts at synthesis with traditional Senrian theater; the sinpa style of theater, which was popular from the 1880s to the 1900s, retained certain aspects of kabuki theater while shifting more towards melodrama and the adaptation of Euclean plays, while the competing singeki style drew more heavily from naturalism and remained preeminent in contemporary Senrian theater circles until the 1960s. Also popular in Senria is sougekizou, or "little theater", plays written and performed by amateur theatrical troupes with the goal of making theater accessible to the general public. Sougekizou plays are often regarded as being unphilosophical in nature and aimed primarily at entertainment, but some have become highly acclaimed and sougekizou troupes have become an important source of actors and actresses for other forms of Senrian theater, as well as for cinema and television.
Sports
Many of Senria's traditional sports are martial arts. The most popular of these within Senria is sumou, a form of full-contact wrestling wherein each wrestler seeks to force their opponent out of the ring or into touching the ground with a part of their body other than their feet; sumou is believed to have emerged from ritual dances performed in ancient Tenkyou, with historically-attested sumou matches being recorded as far back as the 640s CE. Some other Senrian martial arts - including zuuzutu, aikidou, zuudou, and karate - are popular both within Senria and internationally. These martial arts - excluding zuuzutu, which emerged in the 1100s - were developed in the late 1800s, and are sometimes referred to as gendai budo ("modern martial arts") as a result; however, because of their origin within Senria, they are simultaneously commonly called "traditional sports" as opposed to sports of Euclean or Asterian origin. Senrian armed martial arts are much less prominent, both domestically and internationally, than the aforementioned martial arts, which are all unarmed in nature; however, armed martial arts such as kendou and kyuudou retain devoted, if comparatively small, domestic followings.
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The most popular modern sport in Senria, both as a participatory and spectator sport, is baseball. Baseball was brought to Senria in the late 1870s by Asterian expatriates brought to Senria as teachers, with its early popularity further strengthened by Senrians who had been sent to study in Estmere and were there exposed to the related sport of rounders; baseball was firmly established in the country by 1900. The highest level of baseball in within Senria is the All-Senria Baseball League, or ASBL, which was formed in 1936; its annual championship is the All-Senria Championship Series. The country has a farm system with two minor leagues, a women's baseball league, a college baseball league, and a thriving high school baseball scene which culminates in a pair of annual tournaments.
Soccer is the country's second most popular sport. Soccer arrived in Senria in the 1870s, with the country's first soccer club being formed in 1915 and its national team being formed in 1935; however, Senria did not have an organized national league until 1965, three decades later. The Senrian Soccer Association manages both the country's national team and the Senria Soccer League, or SSL; the SSL has a three-tier league system, with the S1 League functioning as the top division of the system and the S2 and S3 leagues below it. Senrian soccer's national cup, which is open to all club teams in the Senria Soccer Association, is the Senrian National Cup; the winner of the National Cup and the S1 League champions in turn compete for the Senrian Super Cup. The country also has a women's soccer league, the Senrian Women's Soccer Association; a women's national team; and a futsal organization, the Senria Futsal League, under the authority of the Senrian Soccer Association.
Other modern team sports with professional leagues in Senria include basketball (the Senrian Professional Basketball League and Senrian Professional Women's Basketball League), handball (the Senria Handball League), rugby union (the Senrian Rugby Association) amd rugby league (the All-Senria National Rugby League), gridiron football (the Senrian Gridiron Football League), ice hockey (the Senria Ice Hockey League), and volleyball (the National Volleyball Association).
Euclean-style boxing arrived in Senria by the 1800s; in 1854, local authorities in the port city of Isikawa organized a friendly competition between Euclean boxers and Senrian martial artists for the public, with the competition reportedly ultimately won by a sumou wrestler. Taekwondo has become increasingly popular in recent years thanks to close Senrian-Ansene relations. Senria's official boxing organization is the Senrian Professional Boxing Association. Winter sports are widely popular in the country; Aventine skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, sledding, luge, and bobsledding are particularly popular as either participatory or spectator sports on account of Senria's mountainous terrain, and speed skating and figure skating are both also well-established in Senria. Table tennis is popular as both a competitive and recreational sport; there is a particularly pronounced rivalry in competitive table tennis between Senria and Shangea. Senrian automotive manufacturers have been involved in motorsports since the late 1960s, and particularly successful since the 1980s, regularly performing well against established Euclean manufacturers.
Senria is a regular participant in the Invictus Games. It made its first appearance in 1910, won its first summer medals in 1914, and won its first winter medals in 1940. Senria has hosted the Summer Invictus Games twice, in 1970 and 1990, both times in its national capital, Keisi; the country has also hosted the Winter Invictus Games twice, in Nobeoka in 1976 and Ubeyama in 2000. The 1970 Keisi Invictus Games represented the first time the Summer Invictus Games were held in an independent Coian country; while the 1926 and 1958 Summer Games were held in Adunis and Jindao, those cities were colonies of Gaullica and Estmere, respectively, when they hosted the games.
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