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29-538: It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site . The term Kamo- jinja in Japanese is a general reference to Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine, the traditionally linked Kamo shrines of Kyoto. The Kamo -jinja serve the function of protecting Kyoto from malign influences. The jinja name identifies

58-533: A period of time lasting more than 10 hours. In contrast, the much more devastating raid on Dresden on the night of 13/14 of February 1945 by two waves of the RAF Bomber Command's main force, involved their bombs being released at 22:14, with all but one of the 254 Lancaster bombers releasing their bombs within two minutes, and the last one released at 22:22. The second wave of 529 Lancasters dropped all of their bombs between 01:21 and 01:45. This means that in

87-490: A special seal and the practices associated with its use and preservation conformed to a pattern established by Emperor Kōnin (770–781) in 778 ( Hōki 9 ). In 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers were sent to report important events to Japan's guardian kami , including Kamo Wake-ikazuchi. Kamigamo, along with the Shimogamo Shrine, was designated as one of two chief Shinto shrines ( ichinomiya ) for

116-439: Is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area , through the use of fire , caused by incendiary devices , rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary device is used to initiate a fire is often described as a "firebombing". Although simple incendiary bombs have been used to destroy buildings since the start of gunpowder warfare, World War I saw

145-566: The Coventry Blitz on 14 November 1940, and the blitz on London on the night of 29 December/30 December 1940, which was the most destructive raid on London during the war with much of the destruction caused by fires started by incendiary bombs. During the Coventry Blitz the Germans pioneered several innovations which were to influence all future strategic bomber raids during the war. These were:

174-401: The kami of thunder. The shrine became the object of Imperial patronage during the early Heian period . Records from the reign of Emperor Heizei (806-809) mention that Kamo-mioya jinja was amongst a select number of establishments which had been granted a divine seal for use on documents. The seal would have been enshrined in its own unique mikoshi ( Oshite jinja ). This granting of

203-519: The Kamo family of kami or deities who are venerated. The name also refers to the ambit of shrine's nearby woods, which are vestiges of the primeval forest of Tadasu no Mori . In addition, the shrine name references the area's early inhabitants, the Kamo clan , many of whom continue to live near the shrine their ancestors traditionally served. Kamogamo Shrine is dedicated to the veneration of Kamo Wake-ikazuchi ,

232-514: The London blitz that I watched from the roof of the Air Ministry, of setting our cities ablaze by a concentrated attack. Coventry was adequately concentrated in point of space, but all the same, there was little concentration in point of time, and nothing like the fire tornadoes of Hamburg or Dresden ever occurred in this country. But they did do us enough damage to teach us the principle of concentration,

261-597: The World Heritage Site originate from a period between the 10th century and the 19th century, and each is representative of the period in which it was built. The historical importance of the Kyoto region was taken into account by the UNESCO in the selection process. The table lists information about each of the 17 listed properties of the World Heritage Site listing: Download coordinates as: Firebombing Firebombing

290-433: The first raid, on average, one Lancaster dropped a full load of bombs every half a second and in the second larger raid that involved more than one RAF bomber Group, one every three seconds. The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) officially only bombed precision targets over Europe, but for example, when 316 B-17 Flying Fortresses bombed Dresden in a follow-up raid at around noon on 14 February 1945, because of clouds

319-465: The first two hours of the raid, 226 of the attacking aircraft or 81% unloaded their bombs to overwhelm the city's fire defenses. The first to arrive dropped bombs in a large X pattern centered in Tokyo's working class district near the docks; later aircraft simply aimed near this flaming X. Approximately 15.8 square miles (4,090 ha) of the city were destroyed and 100,000 people are estimated to have died in

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348-775: The first use of strategic bombing from the air to damage the morale and economy of the enemy, such as the German Zeppelin air raids conducted on London . The Chinese wartime capital of Chongqing was firebombed by the Imperial Japanese starting in early 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War . London, Coventry , and many other British cities were firebombed during the Blitz by Nazi Germany . Most large German cities were extensively firebombed starting in 1942, and almost all large Japanese cities were firebombed during

377-517: The former Yamashiro Province . From 1871 through 1946, Kamigamo was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha ( 官幣大社 ) , meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines. The jinja is famous for its haiden (worship hall), rebuilt in 1628-1629 ( Kan'ei 6 ). A number of priests' residences are situated on its grounds, and one, the Nishimura House, is open to

406-459: The incendiary bombs to fall into buildings and ignite them. As Sir Arthur Harris , commander of RAF Bomber Command , wrote after the war: In the early days of bombing our notion, like that of the Germans, was to spread an attack out over the whole night, thereby wearing down the morale of the civilian population. The result was, of course, that an efficient fire brigade could tackle a single load of incendiaries, put them out, and wait in comfort for

435-505: The last six months of World War II . This technique makes use of small incendiary bombs possibly delivered by a cluster bomb , such as the Molotov bread basket . If a fire catches, it could spread, taking in adjacent buildings that would have been largely unaffected by a high explosive bomb. This is a more effective use of the payload that a bomber could carry. The use of incendiaries alone does not generally start uncontrollable fires where

464-621: The later waves bombed using H2X radar for targeting. The mix of bombs to be used on the Dresden raid was about 40% incendiaries, much closer to the RAF city-busting mix than the bomb -load usually used by the Americans in precision bombardments. This was quite a common mix when the USAAF anticipated cloudy conditions over the target. In its attacks on Japan, the USAAF abandoned its precision bombing method that

493-430: The next to come along; they might also be able to take shelter when a few high explosives bombs were dropping. ... But it was observed that when the Germans did get an effective concentration, ... then our fire brigades had a hard time; if a rain of incendiaries is mixed with high explosives bombs there is a temptation for the fireman to keep his head down. The Germans, again and again, missed their chance, as they did during

522-491: The night of 9/10 March, dropped 1,665 tons of incendiaries from altitudes of 5,000 to 9,000 ft (1,500 to 2,700 m), mostly using the 500-pound (230 kg) E-46 cluster bomb which released 38 M-69 oil-based incendiary bombs at an altitude of 2,500 ft (760 m). A lesser number of M-47 incendiaries was dropped: the M-47 was a 100-pound (45 kg) jelled-gasoline and white phosphorus bomb which ignited upon impact. In

551-522: The principle of starting so many fires at the same time that no firefighting services, however efficiently and quickly they were reinforced by the fire brigades of other towns could get them under control. The tactical innovation of the bomber stream was developed by the RAF to overwhelm the German aerial defenses of the Kammhuber Line during World War II to increase the RAF's concentration in time over

580-601: The public. Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) The UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) encompasses 17 locations in Japan within the city of Kyoto and its immediate vicinity. In 794, the Japanese imperial family moved the capital to Heian-kyō. The locations are in three cities: Kyoto and Uji in Kyoto Prefecture ; and Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture ; Uji and Ōtsu border Kyoto to

609-534: The road — making it difficult for the fire engines to reach fires started by the successive waves of bombers. The follow-up waves dropped a combination of high explosive and incendiary bombs. There were two types of incendiary bombs: those made of magnesium and iron powders, and those made of petroleum . The high-explosive bombs and the larger air-mines were not only designed to hamper the Coventry fire brigade, they were also intended to damage roofs, making it easier for

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638-431: The site as World Heritage in 1994. Kyoto has a substantial number of historic buildings, unlike other Japanese cities that lost buildings to foreign invasions and war; and has the largest concentration of designated Cultural Properties in Japan. Although ravaged by wars, fires, and earthquakes during its eleven centuries as the imperial capital , Kyoto was spared from much of the destruction and danger of World War II. It

667-424: The south and north, respectively. Of the monuments, 13 are Buddhist temples, three are Shinto shrines , and one is a castle . The properties include 38 buildings designated by the Japanese government as National Treasures , 160 properties designated as Important Cultural Properties , eight gardens designated as Special Places of Scenic Beauty , and four designated as Places of Scenic Beauty . UNESCO listed

696-411: The target. But after the lessons learned during the Blitz, the tactic of dropping a high concentration of bombs over the target in the shortest time possible became standard in the RAF as it was more effective than a longer raid. For example, during the Coventry Blitz on the night of 14/15 November 1940, 515 Luftwaffe bombers, many flying more than one sortie against Coventry, delivered their bombs over

725-632: The targets are roofed with nonflammable materials such as tiles or slates. The use of a mixture of bombers carrying high explosive bombs, such as the British blockbuster bombs , which blew out windows and roofs and exposed the interior of buildings to the incendiary bombs, is much more effective. Alternatively, a preliminary bombing with conventional bombs can be followed by subsequent attacks by incendiary carrying bombers. Early in World War II many British cities were firebombed. Two particularly notable raids were

754-427: The use of pathfinder aircraft with electronic aids to navigate, to mark the targets before the main bomber raid; and the use of high explosive bombs and air-mines coupled with thousands of incendiary bombs intended to set the city ablaze. The first wave of follow-up bombers dropped high explosive bombs, the intent of which was to knock out the utilities (the water supply, electricity network and gas mains), and to crater

783-524: Was another high altitude daylight incendiary raid against Tokyo on 25 February when 172 B-29s destroyed around 643 acres (260 ha) of the snow-covered city, dropping 453.7 tons of mostly incendiaries with some fragmentation bombs. Changing to low-altitude night tactics to concentrate the fire damage while minimizing the effectiveness of fighter and artillery defenses, the Operation Meetinghouse raid carried out by 279 B-29s raided Tokyo again on

812-427: Was saved from the nearly universal firebombing of large cities in Japan in part to preserve it as the primary atomic bomb target. It was later removed from the atomic bomb target list by the personal intervention of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson , as Stimson wanted to save this cultural center which he knew from a diplomatic visit in 1926. As a result, Nagasaki was then added as a target. The 17 properties of

841-645: Was used in Europe before and adopted a policy of saturation bombing , using incendiaries to burn Japanese-held cities including Wuhan , and the cities of the Japanese home islands. These tactics were used to devastating effect with many urban areas burned out. The first incendiary raid by B-29 Superfortress bombers was against Kobe on 4 February 1945, with 69 B-29s arriving over the city at an altitude of 24,500 to 27,000 ft (7,500 to 8,200 m), dropping 152 tons of incendiaries and 14 tons of fragmentation bombs to destroy about 57.4 acres (23.2 ha). The next mission

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