title: Guanajuato

text: The situation stabilized over much of the government of Porfirio Díaz at the end of the 19th century and the economy improved, but the Diaz government was oppressive. Diaz installed Francisco Mena as governor of the state, who made a fortune through the concession of railway lines which were being built to modernize the country. Even though slavery was officially abolished during the War of Independence, most laborers in farms and mines were extremely underpaid and in a number of cases not paid at all. Agricultural production reached a peak at the end of the 19th century, earning the state the nickname of the "granary of the Republic". Industrialization took hold in cities such as León, Salvatierra, Celaya and San Francisco del Rincón, making shoes, textiles and hats. One battle of the Mexican Revolution occurred in Celaya in 1915 between the troops of Álvaro Obregón and Francisco Villa. Many from the state fought and died in other parts of Mexico, leaving behind widows and children. After the war, the large landholdings were broken up and land redistributed into ejidos, or commonly held land, which benefitted many rural families.


title: Guanajuato

text: After the end of the Mexican Revolution, fighting in Mexico continues with the Cristero War. Fighting related to this was most prominent in Pénjamo and León, but occurred in other areas as well. In 1946, an uprising against the government by a group called the Sinarquistas occurred in Leon. However, most of the state was peaceful most of the time, allowing the economy to recover. This was especially true of the agricultural sector, producing wheat, corn, sorghum, alfalfa, strawberries in Irapuato and goats in various parts. Goat milk cajeta candy from Celaya is known in most of Mexico. The first Festival Internacional Cervantino occurred in 1972. In the 1980s, two of the state's cities, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende were declared World Heritage Sites.


title: Guanajuato

text: Today, the Bajio is one of the major grain producing regions in Mexico. The Guanajuato congress has asked for help against the theft of religious art in the state, which has the third highest incidence of such. One of the major occurrences was the theft of the gold crown of the Black Christ of Salamanca in 2010. The celebration of Mexico's Bicentennial was particularly important to the state as initial events of the War in Independence occurred here. The state set up a Bicentennial Route to encourage visitors to the cities associated with Miguel Hidalgo's first campaigns. The state held a marathon from San Miguel Allende to Dolores Hidalgo for the Bicentennial with Omar Luna winning with a time of 2h23m14s. The state sponsored the Expo Bicentenario 2010 from 17 July to 20 November just outside the capital city. The site was marked by a giant Mexican flag flying alongside older historic flags, including a replica of the standard with an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe that Miguel Hidalgo carried as the insurgent banner. The Expo was housed in a series of pavilions which demonstrated the Mexican culture, history, traditions and customs. There were also pavilions hosted by various Latin American countries who also celebrated their Bicentennials around the same time.


title: Guanajuato

text: As of 2005, the state had a population of 4,893,812, which is the sixth largest population in Mexico. About 67% live in urban areas, with the rest in rural areas, and women slightly outnumbering men. The largest population centers are León with 1,134,842 people, Irapuato with 440,134, Celaya with 382,958, and Salamanca with 226,654.


title: Guanajuato

text: Over 94% of the population professes the Catholic religion, and the state is considered to be very conservative and adherent to Catholic principles both socially and politically.


title: Guanajuato

text: Guanajuato has the fourth lowest number of people who can speak an indigenous language. However, the ethnically indigenous population is about 10,347 (2005) or 2.6% of the population over the age of five. The languages spoken are Chichimeca Jonaz, Otomi and Nahuatl. The two most important indigenous groups are the Chichimeca Jonaz and the Otomi, both of which are concentrated in the Valles de Sur area. Culturally, both groups show significant Purépecha influence. Both live in arid regions, where rainfall is precious and the diet includes foods such as pitayas, Myrtillocactus geometrizans (garambullo), cactus pear, nopal and agave. Hunting was an important source of protein but the scarcity of game has all but extinguished this practice. Subsistence agriculture forms the basis of the economy and provides much of the current diet. However, these peoples are extremely poor, and many migrate to other places to find work.


title: Guanajuato

text: In what is now the state of Guanajuato, there were a number Nahua) groups who built cities in the first millennium CE. but then abandoned them long before the arrival of the Spanish. It is believed that the Chichimeca came to dominate the area after the fall of these cities, and the Chichimeca Jonaz believe that the eagle, which is sacred to them, led them here. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the only Chichimeca group left were the Chichimeca Jonaz, who were semi-nomadic and warlike. These qualities allowed these Chichimecas to resist Spanish domination for many years. However, the deterioration of the environment by the Spanish depleted resources for these people and finally made them submit.


title: Guanajuato

text: The Chichimeca Jonaz refer to themselves and other indigenous as "uza" (singular) or "ézar" (plural), which roughly translates to "Indian". Their language is Oto-Pamean and related to their neighbors, the Otomi. Most Chichimecas are found in the municipality of San Luis de la Paz, in the community of Rancho Uza or Mision Chichimeca. This community subdivides into the Mision de Abajo in the east and Mision de Arriba in the west. This area borders lands of the Huasteca and Pame groups, and there have been conflicts among the three. The Chichimeca Jonaz have a mixed Catholic-indigenous belief system. While outwardly Catholic, many rituals still follow the cycles found in nature, such as planting and harvesting and lunar cycles. The most important "spirit guides" are the eagle and water, with the Virgin of Guadalupe playing an important role as Universal Mother. One important saint is Isidore the Laborer, who is connected to the bringing of rain.


title: Guanajuato

text: The Otomis of the state are concentrated in the community of Cieneguilla in the municipality of Tierra Blanca. In pre-Hispanic times, these people were semi-nomadic, desert dwellers. During the Conquest, these and other Otomi groups allied themselves with the Spanish, in part because the Aztecs and others considered the Otomi to be backwards and barbaric. The Otomi also speak an Oto-Pamean language and are related to other Otomi groups scattered around the central and southern areas of Mexico. Today, however, most children are not learning the language from their parents, putting it in danger of extinction in spite of efforts to introduce bilingual education.


title: Guanajuato

text: Concentrating in San Miguel de Allende, foreign residents from the United States and Canada came, in the early 2000s, because of the area's mild climate, cultural opportunities, and low crime rate. While accounting for only about ten percent of San Miguel's total population, they had a large impact on the area economically, accounting for most home buyers. Estimates of foreign residents range from 8,000 to 12,000 with about 7,000 of these from the United States alone. This makes San Miguel one of the largest American communities in Mexico, large enough to warrant its own U.S. consulate to provide services such as notary and passport.


title: Guanajuato

text: Since that time, Guanajuato has had a significant rise in violent crime, the second highest homicide rate in the nation, with Mexican President López Obrador calling out the state's attorney general for inaction on the matter.


title: Guanajuato

text: There is a growing presence of East Asians, primarily Japanese, in the Bajio region. As of early 2014, there were more than three thousand Japanese immigrants in the Bajio area, and it's claimed that this population is larger than the historical Japanese community in Mexico City. The Guanajuato government believes that by 2016 there will be five thousand families installed in the region. This immigration is being driven by foreign investment in the Bajio, especially in the automotive sector. The large Japanese community prompted the opening of a Japanese consulate in Leon. There is also a Korean community in the area that is likewise growing as a result of foreign investment.


title: Guanajuato

text: Being located in the center of the country has important economic implications for the state, as a number of major national highways and railways pass through. The state is also a center of industry with most of the state's major cities and economy located in the La Sierra Central and El Bajío regions. It has equal access to both the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico as well as the major metropolitan areas of Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2008, the total GDP for the state was US$38,204,000,000 (427,503,000,000 MXN) or 3.88% of the total for the country. From 2003 to 2008, the economy grew 1.06% (adjusted for inflation). The state has the sixth-largest economy in Mexico behind Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Nuevo León, Jalisco, and Veracruz. As of 2008, Guanajuato ranks fourth in per capita income at US$7,609, behind Mexico City, Nuevo León and Jalisco, with a rate of increase of 2.04%. Manufacturing accounts for 28% of total GDP, down slightly from a high of over 30%. Its importance is followed by commerce at 16.3% and real estate at 11.2%. Agriculture, which includes forestry, fishing and hunting accounts for 4.6. Other activities include financial and other professional services (17.6%) and transportation and storage at 11.8%. Employment figures break down differently with 13.2% employed in agriculture, 36.4% in mining and industry and 47.3 percent in commerce, services and tourism. There are two significant migration patterns in the state. Twenty-seven of 46 municipalities have a high level of migration out to other areas, with 19 having a moderate to low level of the same. The annual rate of migration to the United States is 7.07 people per thousand.


title: Guanajuato

text: Industry is the most important segment in the modern state economy, accounting for about 30%. Most of this is the production of automobiles and automobile parts, pharmaceuticals and other modern items. It also includes more traditional items such as processed foods (cheese, canned items and more) as well as shoes and other leather goods in León and a variety of crafts. The economy in this area continues to grow although there has been some drop in its percentage of GDP due to drop in prices for a number of manufactured products. The state has two large thermoelectrical plants in Salamanca and Celaya. Oil refining in Salamanca received raw material through pipelines from Poza Rica, Veracruz and from Tabasco.


title: Guanajuato

text: One traditional industry is the making of shoes and other leather items, especially in León. This industry grew 50% from 2009 to 2010 in the number of enterprises dedicated to it. They now total 7,981 and employ 297,413 people directly and indirectly according to INEGI. In 2010, Volkswagen announced a new motor plant to be built in Silao. The project is projected to cost US$550 million and will employ 700 people making 330,000 motors per year starting in 2013. A spokesman for the company acknowledged that part of the reason to build the plant was the existence of a General Motors plant in the same area as well as the existence of the Parque Industrial Puerto Interior which offers access to different transportation modes. The Centro de Innovación (Innovation Center) of Microsoft was inaugurated in 2010 in León. This establishment is meant to support businesses and governments to form software and technology enterprises with the goal of starting fifty new businesses with ten to twenty employees each.


title: Guanajuato

text: Almost all handcrafts (98%) are made in micro and small enterprises, most of which are family-owned. Almost all them, which mostly consist of glass, wrought iron, ceramic and wooden items, are exported to the United States (91%). However, craft items are under pressure from imitations from Central America and Asia. The crafts sector of industry is not considered a particularly active segment of the state's population with no data as to the percentage of the state's GDP it represents. Most crafts over time have become specialties of more or more municipalities.


title: Guanajuato

text: Majolica pottery has been made in the state since colonial times after being introduced by the Spanish. Since then, areas have developed specialties in form and decoration, but techniques have not changed much for over 400 years. Most clay is extracted from the Dolores Hidalgo region and most is produced in Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende and the city of Guanajuato. Another area noted for its work is Tarandacuaro, which makes high-fire ceramics. The two best-known workshops are Fabrica Javier Servin and Taller Checuan. The ceramics of this area have distinctive, very intricate, mostly geometric designs, which are painted on by hand. The municipality promotes the work through its Centro Turistico de Desarrollo de Tarandacuao.


title: Guanajuato

text: Acámbaro is noted for its bread. The city has two well-known bakeries by the name of Panificadora Loaeza and La Antigua Panificadora El Triunfo. One local bread specialty is the "tallado", which has a base of egg and butter and can have fillings such as fig, coconut, raisins and chocolate. This bread is the result of recipes brought by the Franciscans, modified over time by the native indigenous potters’ community.


title: Guanajuato

text: San Francisco del Rincón has had a tradition of making hats since the 18th century. Traditionally, the hats were made from palm fronds brought from the Michoacán coast area, but today many workshops and factories use synthetic fibers. In traditional workshops, the work is divided by sex, with women weaving the fibers together and men pressing it into shape, putting in the supports and other details. The quality of the hats made here has made them exportable.


title: Guanajuato

text: In San Luis de la Paz and Coroneo, wool is worked into clothing, especially into coats, gloves, vests, scarves and other items for winter wear. Some of the workshops still work with large old weaving looms. In addition, there are workshops which make rugs, zarapes, and other items for the home. In Coroneo, the craft 100 years ago was practiced only by women. The most common item is still the zarape, which is decorated with figures such as horse heads and deer as well as fretwork on the edges. However, sweaters, capes, rebozos, bags and even wool shoes can also be found for sale. One other specialty is rugs woven on large looms.


title: Guanajuato

text: Apaseo el Alto is known for its work in fine woods, which began with the workshop of Domingo Garcia sixty years ago. Since then, about 150 workshops have been established in the municipality, employing about 500 craftsmen. Items include sculptures such as religious figures and animals and utilitarian items such as utensils and furniture. Craftsmen first began working with a wood called "patol" and juniper, but today they work with various woods such as walnut, cedar, mahogany and kapok (palosanto).


title: Guanajuato

text: Celaya is known in much of Mexico for its cajeta, a kind of spreadable caramel, often made with goat's milk, sugar and cinnamon. The mixture can be eaten straight from a spoon or used in a variety of recipes. The best known outlet for cajeta in the city is Cajetas La Tradicional, which has been in business for over 70 years.


title: Guanajuato

text: Metalworking can mostly be found in the communities of Guanajuato and Salamanca. Although the capital's mines no longer produce large quantities of gold and silver, silver items are still made and sold in the city. Wrought iron work for doors, windows and railings are also a specialty in certain areas of the city. Oxidized bronze items are a specialty of Salamanca, producing mostly decorative items. Most of the items made in Guanajuato city are still done Baroque style and sold in the city center. Pénjamo is one of very few places outside of the state of Jalisco to produce tequila. It is the home of the Tequila Corralejo brand, which is still made on the now former hacienda of Corralejo. The installation gives tours and has a museum called the Museo del Vino y la Botellas (Museum of Spirits and Bottles). The museum contains a collection of about 3,000 bottles, almost all of which with their original contents. Nearby is the factory that makes the distinctive blue bottles of this brand.


title: Guanajuato

text: Glass making was brought to Mexico during the early colonial period. Most items made in Guanajuato are single-colored items in blue, green, yellow and red. San Miguel de Allende has the best-known tradition where curiously shaped bottles, vases, glass sets and small cups for tequila are produced. Wax candles and other items are a specialty in Salamanca, where they are especially in demand during Holy Week. Comonfort is known for the making of molcajetes from volcanic stone, and San Miguel is known for figures and other items made from brass. Dolores Hidalgo is known for ice cream and ices, much of which is simply sold next to the parish church. Flavors include sapote, mango, honey, aloe, tequila and banana.


title: Guanajuato

text: Mining, manufacturing and construction accounts for over 27% of the state's GDP. Mining is a traditional economic activity for the state, with deposits making it one of the world's richest areas in the past. However, in comparison gold and silver ores are mostly depleted today. Gold and silver ore is still mined with silver still the major ore produced, followed by gold, lead, copper, zinc and sulfur. Most employed in mining are still related to metals rather than non-metals. Other products being mined or being studied are mercury, tin, copper, lead, sand, fluorite, feldspar, lime, kaolin, and more.


title: Guanajuato

text: While the agricultural sector, which includes crops, livestock, fishing and forestry activities, accounts for only 4.6% of Guanajuato's current GDP, the sector is an important part of the state's identity and is still a major producer of a number of items nationally. The state has 1.1 million hectares suitable for agriculture, over 36% of the state's territory. Over of land is under cultivation, with the main crops being corn, sorghum, beans, wheat, barley and broccoli. Today, the Bajio is still one of the major grain producing regions in Mexico. Certain areas of the state have large orchards producing peaches, strawberries, cactus pear, avocado, grapes, apples, quince, walnuts, apricots and guava.


title: Guanajuato

text: Livestock raising is an important economic activity and can be found in all parts of the state, with animals such cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and domestic fowl, with hectares dedicated to this activity. The Los Altos and Bajío are the state's livestock producing regions, especially dairy cows. It is one of the most important dairy producing states in Mexico. By volume, most of the meat produced is from domestic fowl, with pork coming in second, followed by beef, goat and sheep. Guanajuato produces 25.4% of the goat meat in the country.


title: Guanajuato

text: Only a very small percentage of the economy is based on fishing and forestry. Fishing is not a major economic activity as it is limited to the small rivers and lakes of the region. Of the two major lakes, one is shared with neighboring Michoacán state. Of the fish is that is caught or raised, most is carp, followed by mojarra. There are 150,000 hectares of forest in the state, which about half theoretically exploitable. However, forests in this state have been historically depleted with species such as holm oak, pine and oyamel in danger of extinction. The lack of forest cover has led to erosion and other environmental problems. Most forestry products come from pine and holm oak, with most being harvested in the area around the city of Guanajuato.


title: Guanajuato

text: About 95% of the state's visitors are from Mexico, with the rest from other countries. Within the state, there are about seventy hotels ranked as four or five stars. The three main cities for tourism are the capital city of Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo. Guanajuato is visited for its colonial architecture and its role in Mexico's history, especially during the War of Independence. Similarly, San Miguel has cultural and historical value. Both have been designated World Heritage Sites. Although not a World Heritage Site, Dolores Hidalgo is particularly important as the site as it is where Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla gave the cry called "El Grito" which began the War of Independence.


title: Guanajuato

text: The state has set up tourist routes such as the Ruta de Independencia, Ruta de Aventura (Aventure Route), Ruta Arqueológica (Archeological Route), Ruta de los Conventos (Monastery Route) and Ruta Artesanal (Handcrafts Route). The Ruta de la Independencia or Independence Route comprises ten municipalities through which the insurgent army under Miguel Hidalgo passed. These include San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, León, Irapuato, Pénjamo, Salamanca, Celaya, Salvatierra and Acámbaro. In preparation for the Bicentennial of Mexico's independence, the state rehabilitated and marked the sites in which the significant historic events occurred in each of these locations.


title: Guanajuato

text: The Ruta de Aventura connects ghost towns and abandoned mines with natural areas for hiking, mountain biking and ATV as well as other extreme sports such as paragliding. One of the ghost towns is Mineral de Pozos in the northeast of the state. The town still has its cobblestone streets with names such as Relámpago (lightning), Estrellas (stars) and Flores (Flowers). The houses here are abandoned, many in ruins and none with roofs. The town reached its height during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was called Ciudad Porfirio Díaz, but the mines later gave out and the population left. In 1982, the town was declared a Historic Monument Zone. Although no one lives there, tourism keeps a few businesses alive around the main square such as the Pozos cantina, which exhibits photographs and other memorabilia on its walls. Outside the town is the Santa Brigida mine which sustained the town until it gave out. It is marked by three large ovens with tall pyramid roofs. These were constructed by the Jesuits to work ore from the mine. The Ruta Arqueológica (Archeological Route) links the two pre-Hispanic sites of Plazuelas and Peralta which are currently open to visitors with two others which are scheduled to be opened sometime in the future: La Virgen de la Cañada in San Miguel de Allende and El Cóporo in Ocampo.


title: Guanajuato

text: The Ruta de los Conventos or Monastery Route is concentrated in the south of the state, where a number of large religious complexes were built in the early colonial period for evangelization purposes. The Agustino de San Pablo Church and Monastery is located in Yuriria founded by the Augustinians who arrived from Michoacán in the 16th century. It is a monumental fortress-like construction designed by Friar Diego de Chávez y Alvarado and Pedro del Toro and constructed in an area with relatively little population. The monastery became a center from which missionaries would be trained and then sent forth and its size and battlements helped to protect it from Chichimeca attacks. The church retains its original function and Plateresque facade, but the monastery area has been converted into a museum. The Las Capucinas Church and Convent is in Salvatierra and is one of only three complexes built for nuns in the entire state during the colonial period. It has a fortress like appearance and its construction is attributed to Joaquin de Heredia, of the San Carlos Academy. During the Porfirio Díaz presidency, the convent was used as a Civil Hospital and later as a school, which still remains with the name of Colegio José María Morelos. The San Francisco Church and Monastery is in Acámbaro and built between 1734 and 1743. Its facade is Baroque of light pink stone. Inside, the church contains one of the most notable main altars in the Bajio region. It is Neoclassical built of gray and pink stone with gilded details, with an image of the Virgen María Refugio de Pecadores (Virgin Mary Refuge of Sinners), which is replica of an image in Zacatecas.


title: Guanajuato

text: The Ruta Artesanal (Handcrafts Route) connects a number of municipalities which specialize in one or more handcrafted items, including food. These include Acámbaro, noted for its bread, Coroneo for its wool items and Tarancuaro for ceramics.


title: Guanajuato

text: The state also has a large number of water parks and thermal springs converted into water parks. Some of these include El Trébol, Villa Gasco and Comanjilla near León, Caldera Abasolo near Irapuato and Abasolo and Los Arcos and Agua Caliente near Celaya.


title: Guanajuato

text: Culturally, the state is best known for the annual Festival Internacional Cervantino, which takes place in the city of Guanajuato and some other affiliated venues in the state. The event sponsors a large number of artistic and cultural events with artists invited from Mexico and other parts of the world. The festival hosts events such as opera, theater productions, film showings, art exhibitions, academic conferences and talks, concerts and dance recitals. The performances occur in 70 different venues over most of the month of October. In addition to the major events in venues, artists such as dancers, clowns and more, give small and sometimes impromptu shows on the streets, sidewalks and small plazas that are located in the city. Because of this, the event brings many visitors to the city who wander the streets, visiting the many sights of the city. During the event, hotel occupancy rates are as high as 98%. In 2010, invited artists included the Da Motus! Swiss dance company. The event is named in honor of Miguel de Cervantes, author of "Don Quixote". The festival began in 1972, as short plays performed by University of Guanajuato students based on the works of Cervantes. In 2010, special guests included the state of Querétaro and the country of Colombia. The 2010 edition of the festival included performers such as Tangokineses from Argentina, Cumbia Cienaguera from Colombia. In total, there were 424 events over 26 days.


title: Guanajuato

text: A parallel event is the Festival International Cervantino Callejero which is sponsored by an organization called the Centro Libre de Experimentacion Teatral y Artistica (CLETA). In 2010, this event had 300 performances with social themes. This annual event was begun in 1975, in part inspired by the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album cover. The Festival Internacional de Cine en Corto began in 1997 and today is one of the most important cinematographic events in the country. It was established in Guanajuato in an effort to decentralize cultural events away from Mexico City. Most events associated with the festival take place in the city of Guanajuato and San Miguel Allende and awards prizes in various categories including commercials. The showing of films is sometimes in unusual locations such as one of Guanajuato's tunnels under the city or in the municipal cemetery at midnight.


title: Guanajuato

text: Many of the dishes that are traditionally eaten in Guanajuato are regional variations of dishes known in other parts such as carnitas, tamales, birria and pozole. A version of the enchilada is called the "enchilada minero" (miners’ enchilada), which is a tortilla fried in lard and then filled with chicken and covered with a sauce made with guajillo chili peppers, a ranchero cheese and chopped potatoes and carrots. Recently, there has been a movement to update many of these dishes, keeping to traditional ingredients, called "Guanajuato fusion". This is most popular in upscale restaurants in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato and can include dishes such as tuna with chili peppers and duck with mesquite honey.


title: Guanajuato

text: The state is better known as the producer of a number of food products such as cajeta, bread, candy, and ice cream. The best-known food product is "cajeta", a soft, spreadable sweet product made with goat's milk, sugar, and flavorings. The best known place for this is Celaya. The cajeta can be flavored with vanilla, coconut, strawberry, and others; it is eaten with a spoon from the container, spread on bread, or made into candies. Another typical sweet in the state is called charamuscas. It is made with piloncillo, which is melted to form shapes. In the city of Guanajuato, one can find charamuscas in the shape of mummies. Alfeñique refers to glass sugar based candies used to form figures and is most popular for Day of the Dead. Chilacayote is a candy made from a type of melon of the same name, which is prepared by soaking pieces of the fruit in sugar solution. Handmade ice cream is a specialty of Dolores Hidalgo, made with all natural ingredients, often using recipes passed down for generations. While ice cream and ices are made in other parts of the state, these stand out because of the many unusual flavors offered such as beer, pulque, chile relleno, even shrimp and mole. The Franciscans taught the indigenous how to work with wheat and bake bread. Because there had already been a tradition of kneading clay for pottery, the kneading and baking of wheat bread became established quickly, adapting the original recipes to local tastes. The best known breads are those from Acámbaro, especially the type called "pan grande". Other well-known types are pan ranchero, tallado, pan huevo and pan leche. The first indigenous master baker in Guanajuato was Abraham de Silva Cuín, who, in 1526, began to make breads in unique forms and flavors.


title: Guanajuato

text: Most of the state's architecturally significant buildings are in Mexican Baroque style, especially in the capital city. This was because the mines of the state were at maximum production during the 18th century, when this style was fashionable. It can be found in mansions and civil buildings of that time but the most ornate examples are churches, with intricate facades and altarpieces both which often use the "estipite" column (inverted, truncated pyramid). A number of Baroque altarpieces from this time are also gilded with gold from local mines. Within the city of Guanajuato, the most notable examples are the San Cayetano or La Valenciana Church, the Basilica of Guanajuato, the Temple of the Company of Jesus and the San Roque Church. Outside the capital, notable examples include the Parish of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, the La Tercera Orden Temple and the Casa de Visitas in Dolores Hidalgo, the San Francisco Church and Monastery and the San Agustin Church in Celaya, and the Basilica Cathedral and the Nuestra Señora de los Angeles Church in León. There are some examples were the Baroque also contains indigenous elements such as the San José Church in Irapuato and the San Agustin Monastery and Church in Yuriria. At the beginning of the 19th century, Baroque was giving way to Neoclassical. The Mexican War of Independence ended most major constructions, but in many churches in the state, Baroque altarpieces were replaced with Neoclassical ones. A few Neoclassical constructions did manage to be built, mostly by Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras and include the obelisk monument to Charles IV of Spain, the Del Carmen Church, The San Agustin Tower and the Dolores Chapel. Neoclassical works by others include the Entrance Arch of León, the Teatro Principal in Guanajuato and the Santiago Apostól Parish in Silao. From the 19th century on, trends became more modern with one notable exception. The Parish of San Miguel in San Miguel Allende had its facade redone by self-taught architect Zeferino Gutierrez. Working from only images from postcards of Gothic cathedrals in Europe, Gutierrez created the imposing Gothic-like front, which is unique in the state.


title: Guanajuato

text: The uniqueness of the state of Guanajuato even led Disney's Coco team to be inspired by the city. The colorful buildings all over Mexico gave the animators inspiration to bring the culture and heritage to the film.


title: Guanajuato

text: Guanajuato is home or place of origin of three important painters: Diego Rivera, José Chávez Morado and Olga Costa. Rivera was born in the city of Guanajuato and spent his early childhood there. When he was older, he moved to Mexico City to study painting and eventually became one of Mexico's most famous muralists. José Chávez Morado was a prolific painter who lived and worked in the city of Guanajuato. He initially worked with José Clemente Orozco, who impressed him both with art as well as politics. Chávez Morado's most prolific period was between 1955 and 1967, when he realized works in the Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City, the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation building in Mexico City and the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in his hometown. Olga Costa's real last name was Kostakowsky, but it was Hispanicized to Costa. She was born in Leipzig, Germany but she and her family moved to Mexico when she was very young. She was friends with and contemporaries of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo and Carlos Mérida, as well as wife to José Chávez Morado. She is best known for founding the Galería Espiral and co-founder of the Sociedad de Arte Moderno and the Salon de Plastica Mexicana. Her best known work is titled "Vendedora de Frutas".


title: Guanajuato

text: Other artists include Manuel Leal, whose works are mostly scenes from the state, Romualdo Garcia, better known as a photographer than painter, Hermenegildo Bustos, Hilario Gómez Sánchez and Luis Ferro Márquez. The state also produced one well-known sculptor by the name of Tomás Chávez Morado, brother of José. His works can be seen at the Museo Regional de la Alhóndiga de Granaditas and the Museo del Caracol in Mexico City.


title: Guanajuato

text: Guanajuato's three main literary figures are Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Juan Ibáñez and Efraín Huerta. Ibargüengoitia was one of Mexico's most important writers of the 20th century, noted for his satirical works with social themes. Examples of his work include Los relámpagos de agosto, Los pasos de Lopez and Estas ruinas que ves. Ibáñez was a dramatist who was active in the second half of the 20th century. His best known work is Los caifanes, produced as a movie in 1966. Huerta began as a journalist and movie critic but his fame came as a poet. Some of his works include Absoluto amor, Línea del alba, Poemas de guerra y esperanza, and La rosa primitiva.


title: Guanajuato

text: Politically the state is divided into eight regions: Region I North/Dolores Hidalgo, Region II North-East/San Luis de la Paz, Region III/León, Region IV Center-West/Guanajuato, Region V East/Celaya, Region VI South-West/Irapuato, Region VII Center-South/Salamanca and Region VIII/South-East/Acambaro. It is also divided into 46 municipalities for local government purposes. The municipalities are grouped into 15 political regions for elections.


title: Guanajuato

text: The state government is headed by an elected governor who controls the executive branch of government. The governor has one six-year term with no reelection. The governor is required to report on the state of the government each year on August 1. This branch contains a large number of secretariats and other offices related to social issues, economic issues, education, law and administration. The legislative branch is unicameral with 36 elected representatives. Elections for congress occur every three years. This branch has various commissions related to legal, municipal and economic issues. The judicial branch consists of various levels of courts as well as the attorneys general offices. They are all presided over by a "presidencia".


title: Guanajuato

text: Guanajuato ranks seventh in the country in the number of schools per capita and sixth in teacher-student ratio. The state has over 4,000 preschools, 4,600 primary schools, about 1400 middle schools, about 650 high schools, 73 teachers’ colleges, 125 institutions offering bachelor's degrees and 60 offering advanced degrees. 12.1% of the population over 15 is illiterate according to the 2005 census.


title: Guanajuato

text: About half of the state's municipalities have one or more institutions of higher education, with the most important being the University of Guanajuato. This university is in the city of Guanajuato, and began as a Jesuit school for children in the first half of the 18th century. The establishment of this school was sponsored by Josefa Teresa de Busto y Moya, sister of the Marquis of San Clemente, who obtained permission for the school from the Spanish Crown in 1732 and established the institution in her home. She donated a fifth of her fortune to it and worked to obtain donations from other wealthy families in the city. Over time, the school grew and began to offer high school and professional level studies. It had several names over its history, from Real Colegio de la Purísima Concepción (1767), Colegio del Estado (1828), and Colegio Nacional de Guanajuato (1867) to its current name, adopted in 1945. The name "Colegio del Estado" was prompted by the fact that the institution became property of the state in 1828. In 1945, it gained university status.


title: Guanajuato

text: Today the institution serves approximately 30,000 students at the high school, bachelor's and graduate levels. In addition to the main campus in the city, there are nine others in other parts of Guanajuato state. The university hosts a number of the events of the Festival Cervantino, with its famous stairway acting as seating. The institution's best-known facility is the main building in Guanajuato city, which was built in Neoclassical style in green stone. It houses the Dean's office, administrative offices and a number of the institution's departments. The main building is recognizable by its long staircase with 113 steps, which empties onto the Callejon del Estudiante. Under the main roof is a 16th-century chapel that was sponsored by Vasco de Quiroga for indigenous mine workers, the Templo de los Hospitales (Temple of the Hospitals). It is also the place that received the image of the Virgin of the Rosary, now called the Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato.


title: Guanajuato

text: Other institutions include Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) campus León and Irapuato, Universidad de León (UDL), Politécnico de Guanajuato, Universidad De La Salle Bajío, Universidad Iberoamericana, Universidad Santa Fe, Universidad de Celaya, Universidad Quetzalcóatl, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingeniería (UPIIUG). Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya (ITC), Instituto Tecnológico Roque (ITR), Instituto Tecnológico de León (ITL), Universidad Tecnológica del Norte de Guanajuato (UTNG), Universidad Tecnológica de León (UTL), Universidad Tecnológica del Suroeste del Estado (UTSOE), Universidad Tecnológica de San Miguel de Allende, Universidad Tecnológica de Salamanca, Universidad Politécnica de Guanajuato (UPG), Universidad Politécnica de Penjamo (UPPE), Universidad Politécnica de Juventino Rosas (UPJR) and Universidad Politécnica del Bicentenario (UPB), Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Irapuato (ITESI), Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Guanajuato (ITESG), Instituto Tecnológico Superior del Sur de Guanajuato (ITSUR), and Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Salvatierra. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) has begun to build a campus in the city of León to serve 15,000 students in the west of Mexico. The project will be built on a 60-hectare site in the south of the city to serve students in Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán and Zacatecas, starting in 2011. The first major to be offered is orthodontics, which is not offered by any other school in the region and will be followed by 11 others. Guanajuato also has the research centers CIMAT, CINVESTAV, CRODE, CIATEC, CIO, CICSUG, CIQI, IIBE, IIEDUG, IIC, IIM, INIFAP, and the laboratories CFE LAPEM and LANGEBIO.


title: Guanajuato

text: Newspapers of Guanajuato include: "a. m. de Guanajuato", "a. m. de Irapuato", "a. m. de San Francisco del Rincón", "a. m. el periódico libre de Celaya", "Al Día", "El Heraldo de León", "El Sol de Irapuato", "El Sol de Salamanca", "El Sol del Bajío", "Esto del Bajío", "La Prensa del Bajío", "Milenio León", "Noticias Vespertinas", "Periódico AM, líder en noticias de León", and "Periódico Correo."


title: Guanajuato

text: Guanajuato's highways directly connect to three of Mexico's ten major highways (Mexico City-Nuevo Laredo, Querétaro-Ciudad Juárez and Manzanillo-Tampico). The state has 11,061 km of highway, 5,281 km of which are rural. It also has 1,249 km of federal highways and 2,462 of state highways. In July 2010, the state government of Guanajuato in Mexico awarded the 30-year concession of


title: Guanajuato

text: the US$122 million Libramiento de Celaya toll road to consortium Concesionaria Bicentenario. The consortium will be responsible for constructing, operating and maintaining two highway sections. Work on the 12.9 km Libramiento Nororiente stretch was scheduled to start in September 2010 and on the 16.5 km Libramiento Sur stretch on August 9, 2010.


title: Guanajuato

text: Like in the rest of Mexico, rail lines are almost exclusively used for the transportation of freight in the industrial areas of the state and, like the highway system, connects to most of the major national lines, with a total of 1,085 km in the state. The most important line is the Empalme Escobedo in the municipalities of Comonfort, Acámbaro and Irapuato. In Celaya, there is a "ferropuerto" (rail-port), an installation on 57 hectares used to transfer 1 million tons of freight each year. The facility has customs and other offices to facilitates international shipments.


title: Guanajuato

text: The Guanajuato International Airport, formerly the Bajío International Airport is located in the municipality of Silao between the cities of Silao and León. The airport currently serves ten airlines and serves many domestic and international destinations. There is one other airport in Celaya which serves domestic destinations as well as airfields in San Miguel Allende, Doctor Mora, Irapuato, Manuel Doblado and San Francisco del Rincón.


title: Guanajuato

text: Chupícuaro is a site located in the south of the state on one side of the Lerma River. It is one of the older sites of Mesoamerica, having been active from 800 BCE to 300 CE and shows some of the earliest evidence of agriculture. The site has low flat rectangular platforms, with evidence of earlier structures below, which were probably the foundation of multigenerational houses; however most of the site is now under the waters of the Solís Dam. This site, along with some nearby contemporary sites, is known for its pottery called "Blanco Levantado", characterized with red and other colored lines on a light or cream background. This pottery has been shown to have elements in common with pottery in Zacatecas, other areas in northwest Mexico and even that of the Hohokam in Arizona and researchers believe that these people had trade relations that far north even finding turquoise. While the site has been extensively studied, it has also suffered looting, including some at the hands of Guanajuato authorities.


title: Guanajuato

text: Tierra Blanca is a large site which was a true city, not a ceremonial site, but most of the site had been sacked and practically destroyed when it fell and later as an archeological site although early photographs of it remain. There is evidence in Tula that this city, or one like it, had had significant influence on the Tula civilization. For this reason, the time span for Tierra Blanca is placed at before 950 CE although there is little evidence at the site itself to date it.


title: Guanajuato

text: Carabino is located in the northeast of the state. At this site items from and influenced by the city of Tula are found dating the city to about 900 to 1150 CE. There is some evidence to suggest that the city was a colony of one of the cities of the center of Mexico. In Villa de Reyes in the far north in the Valley of San Luis, there also evidence of Toltec presence or influence. However, this later site was occupied first between 550 and 710 CE, then again in the Toltec era 200 to 300 years later. Evidence suggests that groups in these parts of Guanajuato had an effect on the organization of the Toltec Empire as settlements were abandoned sometime between 600 and 900 CE. Through the Toltecs' influence in the Valley of Mexico, Guanajuato cultures eventually had some influence on the much later Aztec.


title: Guanajuato

text: Plazuelas is located just west of Pénjamo in the foothills of the Sierra de Pénjamo. The site, which is noted for the complexity of its architecture, was occupied during the first millennium of the Common Era with its height at around 600 to 900 CE. The site was constructed over three hillsides separated by two large arroyos called Los Cuijes and Agua Nacida. The ethnicity of its occupants is not known nor is its original name. It appears to have been a theocracy with the elite inhabiting the hillsides and the rest of the population on flatter lands below. The most important construction at the site is the complex called Casas Tapadas, which contains several large structures and one Mesoamerican ball court.


title: Guanajuato

text: Peralta is located on Abasolo, 21 km from Pénjamo. It developed between 300 and 700 CE, at the time that Teotihuacan was declining and Tula was rising. According to archeologists, the city declined and collapsed due to the overexploitation of the surrounding deciduous rainforest and it was abandoned around 900 CE. The site occupies 150 hectares divided into a center with five surrounding settlements. The most important structure is called the "Patio Hundido" (Sunken Patio), whose name comes from the four pyramids that are at the corners. Another important building is the La Mesita (The Small Table) or Recinto de los Gobernantes (Governors’ Precinct). It has a large plaza which is considered to have been the main square for the city. Among the walls and other structures a semicircle dedicated to the Danza de Voladores has been discovered.


title: Guanajuato

text: Cañada de la Virgen contains a number of closely related architectonic complexes. Complex A, also called the Casa de los Trece Cielos (House of the Thirteen Heavens or Skies), consists of a large "sunken" patio like that in Peralta surrounded a pyramidal base over 25 meters high and platforms that enclose the west, north and south sides. El Cóporo is situated on a small mountain and probably used by a group related to the Toltecs. It was at its height between 500 and 600 CE. but abandoned by 900 CE. It is a ceremonial center constructed of adobe and earth. One unique aspect of its construction is a series of columns which sink into the earth to a depth of about two and a half meters.


title: Guanajuato

text: Other archeological sites in the state include Morales in San Miguel and El Cóporo in the northwest. The latter has figurines that show influence from groups in Zacatecas.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Quebecer Bloc") is a federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was formed by Members of Parliament (MPs) who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party during the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord. Founder Lucien Bouchard was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc seeks to create the conditions necessary for the political secession of Quebec from Canada and campaigns actively only within the province during federal elections. The party has been described as social democratic and separatist (or "sovereigntist"). The Bloc supports the Kyoto Protocol, abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, legalization of assisted suicide, abolition of the Canadian Senate, abolition of the monarchy, the Quebec Secularism law, and supports exempting Quebec from the requirements of the "Multiculturalism Act."


title: Bloc Québécois

text: From the 1993 federal election until 2011, the Bloc was the largest party in Quebec and either the second- or third-largest party in the House of Commons through seven straight federal elections. The 2011 election saw the party win just four seats and lose official party status after a wave of support for the New Democratic Party. By 2014, the party had been reduced to two seats because of resignations and expulsions. In the 2015 election, the Bloc won 10 seats, even though the party's leader Gilles Duceppe failed to win a seat. In the 2019 election, the party won 32 seats, regaining official party status as a result. In the 2021 election, their seat count remained the same as the 2019 election. Due to the 2019 and 2021 elections resulting in a Liberal minority government, the Bloc shares the balance of power with the New Democratic Party.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc has strong informal ties to the Parti Québécois (PQ, whose members are known as '), a provincial party that advocates for the secession of Quebec from Canada and its independence, but the two are not linked organizationally. As with its provincial counterpart, the Bloc Québécois has been supported by a wide range of voters in Quebec, from sections of organized labour to more conservative rural voters. Members and supporters are known in French as ' ().


title: Bloc Québécois

text: An incomplete list of Bloc Québécois political positions. Among other things the Bloc Québécois has advocated:


title: Bloc Québécois

text: During the 2015 Canadian federal election, the Bloc Québécois supported banning the face covering during the citizenship ceremony and voting.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc Québécois was formed in 1991 as an informal coalition of Progressive Conservative and Liberal Members of Parliament from Quebec, who left their original parties around the time of the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord. The party was intended to be temporary and was given the goal of the promotion of sovereignty at the federal level. The party aimed to disband following a successful referendum on secession from Canada. As with most parties, it has gained and lost prominent supporters over the years.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The initial coalition that led to the Bloc was headed by Lucien Bouchard, who had been federal Minister of the Environment in the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. Bouchard abandoned the government in May 1990 in response to the report of a commission headed by Jean Charest that suggested changes to the Meech Lake Accord. Bouchard felt the recommendations for change undermined the objectives and spirit of the accord. According to "The Secret Mulroney Tapes" he was fired by Prime Minister Mulroney. Bouchard was joined by five of his fellow Tories (Nic Leblanc, Louis Plamondon, Benoît Tremblay, Gilbert Chartrand, and François Gérin), along with two Liberals (Gilles Rocheleau and Jean Lapierre). The first Bloquiste candidate to be elected was Gilles Duceppe, then a union organizer, in a by-election for the Montreal riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie on 13 August 1990. He ran as an independent, since the Bloc had not been registered as a federal party.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In the 1993 federal election, the Bloc won 54 seats (out of 75) in Quebec, sweeping nearly all of the francophone ridings. Because the opposition vote in the rest of Canada was split between the Reform Party, the Progressive Conservative Party, and the New Democratic Party, the Bloc narrowly won the second largest number of seats in the House of Commons, and therefore became the official opposition. While Reform finished second in the national popular vote, the Bloc's heavy concentration of support in Quebec was slightly larger than Reform's concentration in the West.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Soon after the 35th Parliament convened, Bouchard announced that Bloquiste MPs would only speak French on the floor of the House of Commons, a policy that remains in force to this day. This was out of necessity; although Bouchard and most of the Bloc's founding members were fluently bilingual in French and English, Bouchard had discovered that most of his large caucus could not speak English well enough to use it in debate.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The election of such a relatively large number of Bloquistes was the first of The Three Periods, a plan intended to lay out the way to sovereignty created by PQ leader Jacques Parizeau. Parizeau became Premier of Quebec in the Quebec election of 1994 (the second of the "Three Periods").


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Because the Bloc was the official opposition, it had considerable privileges over the other parties although all of its MPs had been elected in one province. For instance, Question Periods during the 35th Parliament were dominated by issues of national unity. However, the governing Liberals regarded Reform as their main opposition on non-Quebec matters. Also, in 1995, when Bouchard garnered an invitation to meet visiting US President Bill Clinton by virtue of being Opposition Leader, Reform leader Preston Manning was also given a meeting with Clinton in order to defuse Bouchard's separatist leverage.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In 1995, the PQ government called the second referendum on independence in Quebec history. The Bloc entered the campaign for the "Oui" (Yes) side (in favour of sovereignty). The "Oui" side's campaign had a difficult beginning, so the leadership of the campaign was shifted from PQ leader Jacques Parizeau to Bloc leader Lucien Bouchard. Bouchard was seen as more charismatic and more moderate, and therefore more likely to attract voters.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: A "tripartite agreement" mapping out the plan for accession to independence was written and signed by the leaders of the Parti Québécois, the Bloc Québécois and the Action démocratique du Québec on 12 June 1995. It revived René Lévesque's notion that the referendum should be followed by the negotiating of an association agreement between an independent Quebec and the rest of Canada. This provision was inspired by Bouchard. Parizeau had previously wanted a vote simply on independence. The difference became moot when 50.6% of voters taking part in the referendum rejected the sovereignty plan. An overwhelming "Non" vote in Montreal tipped the balance.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The day after the referendum, Parizeau announced his pending resignation as PQ leader and Premier of Quebec. Bouchard left federal politics and succeeded Parizeau in both posts on 26 January 1996.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Following Bouchard's departure from Ottawa, Michel Gauthier became leader of the Bloc. In the wake of the referendum defeat, Gauthier proved unable to hold the fractious caucus together and resigned as leader just one year later. Gilles Duceppe, who had served as interim leader between Bouchard and Gauthier, became leader of the Bloc in 1997.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In the 1997 federal election, the Bloc Québécois dropped to 44 seats, losing official opposition status to the Reform Party. The 1997–2000 term was marked by the Bloc's fight against the passage of the Clarity Act, the attempt by Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (himself a Quebecer who represented a strongly nationalist riding) and Stéphane Dion, a Quebec minister in Chrétien's cabinet, to codify the Supreme Court of Canada's 1998 decision that Quebec could not secede unilaterally.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In the 2000 election, the Bloc dropped further to 38 seats, despite polling a larger percentage of the vote than at the previous election. One factor was the forced merger of several major Quebec cities, such as Montreal, Quebec City and Hull/Gatineau. The merger was very unpopular in those areas, resulting in Liberal wins in several of the merged areas. This was still more than the number of seats the Liberals had won in Quebec. However, the Liberals won several subsequent by-elections during the life of the 37th Parliament, until the Liberals had held the majority of Quebec's seats in the Commons for the first time since the 1984 federal election. From then to the subsequent election, the Bloc continued to denounce the federal government's interventions in what the Bloc saw as exclusively provincial jurisdictions. The Bloc credits its actions for the uncovering of what has since become the sponsorship scandal.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc continued to slide in most of the 2003 opinion polls following the 2003 Quebec election which was won by the federalist Quebec Liberal Party led by Jean Charest. However, things changed during the winter of 2003. The federalist Charest government lost popularity. Then, in February 2004, the Auditor General of Canada uncovered the sponsorship scandal, suggesting illegality in the spending of federal monies in Quebec in support of Canadian unity. As well, the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien passed party financing legislation that resulted in the Bloc receiving millions of dollars in subsidies that helped to stabilize its organization.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: For the 2004 election the Bloc adopted the slogan "Un parti propre au Québec", a play on words that can be translated either as "A party of Quebec's own" ("a party proper to Quebec") or as "A clean party in Quebec". The Bloc won 54 seats in the House of Commons, tying its previous record from the 1993 campaign. For the 2006 election, the Bloc used the slogan "Heureusement, ici, c'est le Bloc!" ("Fortunately, the Bloc is here!"). The Bloc were expected to easily win more than 60 seats at the start of the campaign, and they did in fact take six seats from the Liberals. However, the unexpected surge of the new Conservative Party of Canada in parts of Quebec, particularly in and around Quebec City, led to the Bloc losing eight seats to the Tories. Coupled with an additional loss to André Arthur, an independent candidate, the Bloc recorded a net loss of three seats.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Conservative Party won a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, thus forming a minority government. There was persistent speculation as to the possibility of the Bloc forming alliances with other opposition parties to wrest the government away from the Conservatives. Duceppe, whose leadership was confirmed after the election, maintained that the Bloc would continue to co-operate with other opposition parties or with the government when this advantaged Quebec, but would not participate in a federal government.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: On 2 May 2006, a poll revealed that for the first time, the Conservatives were ahead of the Bloc among Quebec voters (34% against 31%). Duceppe announced the Bloc would support Prime Minister Stephen Harper's budget that same day. By October polls showed that the Bloc was up to mid forties whereas the Conservatives fell into the teens behind Liberals in their poll numbers in Quebec.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Gilles Duceppe announced on 11 May 2007 that he would run for the leadership of the Parti Québécois to replace André Boisclair, who resigned on 8 May 2007, after the poor performance in the March 2007 Quebec provincial election and internal dissent forced him to step down. Duceppe announced the next day that he was withdrawing from the race, and that he would support Pauline Marois who had also announced her intention to run.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc made slight gains following the 2008 federal elections as they won 49 seats, one more than the number they had before the previous parliament was dissolved. In that election, they used the slogan """" ("Present for Quebec"). Although they made small gains in relation to the number of seats at dissolution, they fell by 2 seats to 49 in comparison to the 51 they received in 2006. Also, the proportion of popular votes in the province was down 4 points to 38.1%, the Bloc's lowest score since 1997.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In a speech in front of his supporters following the election, BQ leader Gilles Duceppe claimed to have achieved his objectives, adding: "without the Bloc Québécois tonight, Mr. Harper would have formed a majority government".


title: Bloc Québécois

text: At the end of November 2008, the Bloc indicated that it would support a possible motion of no confidence against the governing Conservatives by the two other opposition parties, and would support the resulting Liberal-NDP coalition government at least until June 2010, without actually being part of the government.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: On 26 March 2011, Bloc Québécois leader Duceppe stated that Conservative leader Stephen Harper had in 2004 tried to form a coalition government with the Bloc and NDP in response to Harper's allegations that the Liberals intended to form a coalition with the Bloc and the NDP. Two months after the 2004 federal election, Stephen Harper privately met with BQ leader Gilles Duceppe and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton in a Montreal hotel. On 9 September 2004, the three signed a letter addressed to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, stating,


title: Bloc Québécois

text: On the same day the letter was written, the three party leaders held a joint press conference at which they expressed their intent to co-operate on changing parliamentary rules, and to request that the governor general consult with them before deciding to call an election. At the news conference, Harper said: "It is the Parliament that's supposed to run the country, not just the largest party and the single leader of that party. That's a criticism I've had and that we've had and that most Canadians have had for a long, long time now so this is an opportunity to start to change that." However, at the time, Harper and the two other opposition leaders denied trying to form a coalition government, despite the letter written to the governor general. Harper said, "This is not a coalition, but this is a co-operative effort."


title: Bloc Québécois

text: One month later, on 4 October 2004, journalist Mike Duffy, (later appointed as a Conservative senator by Harper in December 2008), said "It is possible that you could change prime minister without having an election", and that some Conservatives wanted Harper as prime minister. The next day Layton walked out on talks with Harper and Duceppe, accusing them of trying to replace Paul Martin with Harper as prime minister. Both Bloc and Conservative officials denied Layton's accusations.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In the 2011 federal election, in the wake of a surge of support for the New Democratic Party, the Bloc received less than a quarter of the popular vote in Quebec (and less than 6% of the national vote). It lost 44 of the 47 seats it held at parliament's dissolution, and only added one seat, which had been vacated by a Bloc Québécois member six months prior to the election. The seats lost included that of Duceppe, who resigned as party president and leader. It also lost all but one of its seats in Montreal.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: By winning only four seats the Bloc failed to reach the minimum of 12 seats required for official party status in the House of Commons. MPs without official party status are treated as independents and must sit in the back row of the opposition benches. They are permitted just a few questions each week in question period and cannot sit as voting members on parliamentary committees.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Elected to Parliament in this election were incumbents Louis Plamondon, André Bellavance, Maria Mourani and rookie MP Jean-François Fortin. When the 41st Parliament convened on 2 June 2011, Plamondon became the Bloc's interim parliamentary leader. Vivian Barbot served as interim leader and party president following Duceppe's resignation until the party's 2011 leadership election.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Bloc Québécois leadership election campaign to choose a permanent successor to Duceppe began on 17 September 2011 and concluded on 11 December with the election of former MP for Hochelaga Daniel Paillé as party leader. Plamondon, the longest-serving member of the Commons, served as parliamentary leader during Paillé's tenure as he did not have a seat.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: On 28 February 2013, Claude Patry defected from the New Democratic Party and joined the Bloc, citing his disagreement with the New Democratic Party on the subject of Quebec sovereignty, bringing the party's total seats in Parliament up to five.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The caucus fell back to 4 MPs on 12 September 2013 when Mourani, the party's only remaining member from Montreal, was expelled for her comments criticizing the Parti Québécois government's proposed Charter of Quebec Values.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Paillé stepped down as leader on 16 December 2013 because of health reasons. A leadership election was held the following June.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Hardliner Mario Beaulieu, a former president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste who had never been either a Member of Parliament or a member of Quebec's National Assembly, was elected party leader after running on a platform of prioritizing Quebec independence above all else. He defeated BQ Member of Parliament André Bellavance, who had campaigned on a platform of broadening the Bloc beyond being a coalition of sovereigntists and had been endorsed by the rest of the party's caucus.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: On 12 August 2014, the caucus was reduced to three MPs when the Bloc's interim parliamentary leader, Jean-François Fortin, quit the party to sit as an independent saying that the Bloc Québécois he had joined no longer exists and that Beaulieu had destroyed its credibility. On 25 August 2014, former interim parliamentary leader and failed leadership contender André Bellavance also resigned, reducing the Bloc to two MPs – one of whom, Claude Patry, had announced that he would not run for re-election. On 31 December 2014, the party's vice president, Annie Lessard, resigned after a personality conflict with leader Mario Beaulieu.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: With two seats left in parliament, and with the party languishing in the polls a few months before an expected election campaign, it was announced 10 June 2015 that Gilles Duceppe would be returning to lead the party into the campaign; Beaulieu would relinquish the leadership but remain party president. The party executive agreed on 9 June 2015, to split the positions of president and party leader in order to facilitate Duceppe's return. The changes were approved by the party's general council on 1 July.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: During the 2015 federal election the Bloc Québécois had hoped to pick up seats from the collapsing NDP vote; however, most Quebecers instead switched their allegiance to the Liberals and Conservatives rather than back to the Bloc. While the Bloc managed to win 10 seats, more than twice that of the previous election, it was not enough to gain official party status. The party's share of the popular vote in Quebec fell to 19%, its lowest point up until that time. As in 2011, Duceppe failed to win his own seat, and resigned again as party leader.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The party was led on an interim basis by Rhéal Fortin until the Bloc Québécois leadership election in March 2017 acclaimed Martine Ouellet, a member of the provincial National Assembly of Quebec, as party leader. Ouellet is not a Member of Parliament and intended to see out her term in the provincial legislature until the next provincial election in October 2018.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: On 28 February 2018, seven of the Bloc's ten MPs quit the party's caucus to form the Groupe parlementaire québécois (later called "Québec debout") citing conflicts with Ouellet's leadership style and her insistence that the Bloc should emphasize promoting Quebec independence over "defending Quebec's interests". Three MPs remained in the Bloc's caucus: Mario Beaulieu (La Pointe-de-l'Île), Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères), and Marilène Gill (Manicouagan).


title: Bloc Québécois

text: More than 20 ex-Bloc MPs, including Gilles Duceppe, issued an open letter supporting the seven current MPs who had resigned from caucus and demanding Ouellet's resignation. Nevertheless, after a lengthy meeting, the party's executive issued a statement supporting Ouellet's leadership but also stating that the seven rebels could keep their Bloc Québécois memberships and would not be expelled from the party for quitting the caucus, inviting them to return to the caucus in the future. A Léger Marketing poll conducted shortly after put the Bloc Quebecois at 12 per cent among Quebec voters, its lowest rating ever. Following an election this would likely translate into zero seats, putting the survival of the party into question for the 2019 federal election.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: A leadership review referendum was held on Ouellet's leadership on 1 and 2 June 2018 resulting in the party membership rejecting her leadership by 67%, while a proposal that the party prioritize Quebec independence on a daily basis above all other issues also passed with 65% support. Ouellet subsequently announced her resignation as party leader effective 11 June 2018.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Following the announcement of Ouellet's resignation, MPs Michel Boudrias and Simon Marcil announced they would rejoin the party, while party president and MP Mario Beaulieu was named Ouelett's successor on an interim basis until her successor could be chosen. On 22 August 2018, as part of an agreement to reunite the party, Beaulieu ceded the party presidency to Yves Perron; on 17 September 2018, the remaining MPs who had defected from the Bloc rejoined the party and dissolved their breakaway group, "Québec debout".


title: Bloc Québécois

text: As the only candidate to have entered the race by 15 January 2019 deadline, former Parti Québécois cabinet minister Yves-François Blanchet was named leader on 17 January 2019. Since Blanchet became leader the BQ has seen their support increasing in Quebec during the 2019 federal election which some considered to have exceeded expectations. The BQ increased its number of seats from 10 in 2015, to 32 seats in 2019, both over taking the NDP to become the third largest party in Canada and regaining official party status.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In the 2021 Canadian federal election, the Bloc Québécois led by Blanchet won 32 seats, unchanged from the prior election.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: The Parti Québécois has close ties to the Bloc and shares its principal objective of independence for Quebec. The two parties have backed each other during election campaigns, and prominent members of each party often attend and speak at the other's public events. In addition, the majority of each party's membership holds membership in both parties. However, on an organizational level the parties are separate entities – the Bloc is not the federal wing of the Parti Québécois, nor the PQ the provincial wing of the Bloc.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Lucien Bouchard has been the leader of both parties. Michel Gauthier, once Bloc's leader, was a PQ member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1981 until 1988. Former party leader Daniel Paillé was also a PQ member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1994 to 1996, and a BQ member of Parliament from 2009 to 2011.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In June 2014, Mario Beaulieu, a former PQ riding president and Bloc candidate, was elected leader of the Bloc Québécois. Notwithstanding his previous ties to both parties, Beaulieu has been critical of what he sees as a too timid approach to sovereignty by both the Bloc and PQ. Beaulieu's election as Bloc leader was more warmly received by the PQ's rival party, Option nationale, than by the PQ.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Martine Ouellet was a PQ MNA from 2010 until 2017 and ran twice for the PQ leadership. She continued to sit in the Quebec National Assembly, as an Independent MNA, after she was elected Bloc leader.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: In the 2015 election, Parti Québécois leader Pierre Karl Péladeau officially endorsed the Bloc, despite earlier calling the party useless.


title: Bloc Québécois

text: Several incumbent PQ MNAs including Bernard Drainville, Stéphane Bergeron, Maka Kotto, Dave Turcotte and Agnès Maltais also endorsed the Bloc and campaigned for local candidates.


title: Concept album

text: A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Sometimes the term is applied to albums considered to be of "uniform excellence" rather than an LP with an explicit musical or lyrical motif. There is no consensus among music critics as to the specific criteria for what a "concept album" is.


title: Concept album

text: The format originates with folk singer Woody Guthrie's "Dust Bowl Ballads" (1940) and was subsequently popularized by traditional pop/jazz singer Frank Sinatra's 1940s–50s string of albums, although the term is more often associated with rock music. In the 1960s several well-regarded concept albums were released by various rock bands, which eventually led to the invention of progressive rock and rock opera. Since then, many concept albums have been released across numerous musical genres.


title: Concept album

text: There is no clear definition of what constitutes a "concept album". Fiona Sturges of "The Independent" stated that the concept album "was originally defined as a long-player where the songs were based on one dramatic idea – but the term is subjective." A precursor to this type of album can be found in the 19th-century song cycle which ran into similar difficulties in classification. The extremely broad definitions of a "concept album" could potentially encompass all soundtracks, compilations, cast recordings, greatest hits albums, tribute albums, Christmas albums, and live albums.


title: Concept album

text: The most common definitions refer to an expanded approach to a rock album (as a story, play, or opus), or a project that either revolves around a specific theme or a collection of related materials. AllMusic writes, "A concept album could be a collection of songs by an individual songwriter or a particular theme – these are the concept LPs that reigned in the '50s ... the phrase 'concept album' is inextricably tied to the late 1960s, when rock & rollers began stretching the limits of their art form."<ref name="AllMusic/Concept albums"></ref> Author Jim Cullen describes it as "a collection of discrete but thematically unified songs whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts ... sometimes [erroneously] assumed to be a product of the rock era." Author Roy Shuker defines concept albums and rock operas as albums that are "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical. ... In this form, the album changed from a collection of heterogeneous songs into a narrative work with a single theme, in which individual songs segue into one another."


title: Concept album

text: Speaking of concepts in albums during the 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in "" (1981), because "overall impression" of an album matters, "concept intensifies the impact" of certain albums "in more or less the way "Sgt. Pepper" intended", as well as "a species of concept that pushes a rhythmically unrelenting album like "The Wild Magnolias" or a vocally irresistible one like Shirley Brown's "Woman to Woman", to a deeper level of significance."


title: Concept album

text: In the 2016 documentary "When Pop Went Epic: The Crazy World of the Concept Album", narrated by Rick Wakeman, it is suggested that the first concept album is Woody Guthrie's 1940 album "Dust Bowl Ballads". "The Independent" regards it as "perhaps" one of the first concept albums, consisting exclusively of semi-autobiographical songs about the hardships of American migrant labourers during the 1930s. In the late 1940s, the LP record was introduced, with space age pop composers producing concept albums soon after. Themes included exploring wild life and dealing with emotions, with some albums meant to be played while dining or relaxing. This was accompanied in the mid 1950s with the invention of the gatefold, which allowed room for liner notes to explain the concept.


title: Concept album

text: Singer Frank Sinatra recorded several concept albums prior to the 1960s rock era, including "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955), and "Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely" (1958). Sinatra is occasionally credited as the inventor of the concept album, beginning with "The Voice of Frank Sinatra" (1946), which led to similar work by Bing Crosby. According to biographer Will Friedwald, Sinatra "sequenced the songs so that the lyrics created a flow from track to track, affording an impression of a narrative, as in musical comedy or opera. ... [He was the] first pop singer to bring a consciously artistic attitude to recording."


title: Concept album

text: Singer/pianist Nat "King" Cole (who, along with Sinatra, often collaborated with arranger Nelson Riddle during this era) was also an early pioneer of concept albums, as with his "Wild Is Love" (1960), a suite of original songs about a man's search for love.


title: Concept album

text: In the early 1960s, concept albums began featuring highly in American country music, however the fact went largely unacknowledged by rock/pop fans and critics who would only begin noting "concept albums" as a phenomenon later in the decade, when albums became closely aligned with countercultural ideology, resulting in a recognised "album era" and the introduction of the rock concept album. The author Carys Wyn Jones writes that the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" (1966), the Beatles' "Revolver" (1966) and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), and the Who's "Tommy" (1969) are variously cited as "the first concept album", usually for their "uniform excellence rather than some lyrical theme or underlying musical motif".


title: Concept album

text: Other records have been claimed as "early" or "first" concept albums. The Beach Boys' first six albums, released over 1962–64, featured collections of songs unified respectively by a central concept, such as cars, surfing, and teenage lifestyles. Writing in "101 Albums That Changed Popular Music", Chris Smith commented: "Though albums such as Frank Sinatra's 1955 "In the Wee Small Hours" and Marty Robbins' 1959 "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" had already introduced concept albums, [the Beach Boys' 1963 album] "Little Deuce Coupe" was the first to comprise almost all original material rather than standard covers." Music historian Larry Starr, who identifies the Beach Boys' 1964 releases "Shut Down Volume 2" and "All Summer Long" as heralding the album era, cites "Pet Sounds" as the first rock concept album on the basis that it had been "conceived as an integrated whole, with interrelated songs arranged in a deliberate sequence."


title: Concept album

text: "The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time" (2015) states that the Ventures "pioneered the idea of the rock concept album years before the genre is generally acknowledged to have been born". Writing in his "Concise Dictionary of Popular Culture", Marcel Danesi identifies the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" (1965) and the Who's "The Who Sell Out" (1967) as other examples of early concept albums. Brian Boyd of "The Irish Times" names the Kinks' "Face to Face" (1966) as the first concept album: "Written entirely by Ray Davies, the songs were supposed to be linked by pieces of music, so that the album would play without gaps, but the record company baulked at such radicalism. It’s not one of the band’s finest works, but it did have an impact."


title: Concept album

text: "Popular consensus" for the first rock concept album, according to AllMusic, favours "Sgt. Pepper". According to music critic Tim Riley, "Strictly speaking, the Mothers of Invention's "Freak Out!" [1966] has claims as the first 'concept album', but "Sgt. Pepper" was the record that made that idea convincing to most ears." Musicologist Allan Moore says that "Even though previous albums had set a unified mood (notably Sinatra's "Songs for Swinging Lovers"), it was on the basis of the influence of "Sgt. Pepper" that the penchant for the concept album was born." Adding to "Sgt. Pepper"s claim, the artwork reinforced its central theme by depicting the four Beatles in uniform as members of the Sgt. Pepper band, while the record omitted the gaps that usually separated album tracks. Music critic and journalist Neil Slaven stated that Frank Zappa's "Absolutely Free", released the same day as "Sgt. Pepper", was "very much a concept album, but The Beatles effortlessly stole his thunder", and subsequently "Sgt. Pepper" was hailed as "perhaps the first 'concept album' even though the songs were unrelated."


title: Concept album

text: "Popmatters" Sarah Zupko notes that while the Who's "Tommy" is "popularly thought of as the first rock opera, an extra-long concept album with characters, a consistent storyline, and a slight bit of pomposity", it is preceded by the shorter concept albums "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" (Small Faces, 1968) and "S.F. Sorrow" (The Pretty Things, 1968). Author Jim Cullen states: "The concept album reached its apogee in the 1970s in ambitious records like Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" (1973) and the Eagles' "Hotel California" (1976)." In 2015, "Rolling Stone" ranked "Dark Side of the Moon" at number one among the 50 greatest progressive rock albums of all-time, also noting the LP's stature as the second best-selling album of all time. Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (1979), a semi-autobiographical story modeled after the band's Roger Waters and Syd Barrett, is one of the most famous concept albums by any artist. In addition to "The Wall", Danesi highlights Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974) and Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage" (1979) as other culturally significant concept albums.


title: Concept album

text: According to author Edward Macan, concept albums as a recurrent theme in progressive rock was directly inspired by the counterculture associated with "the proto-progressive bands of the 1960s", observing: "the consistent use of lengthy forms such as the programmatic song cycle of the concept album and the multimovement suite underscores the hippies' new, drug-induced conception of time." Progressive soul musicians inspired by this approach conceived concept albums during this era reflecting themes and concerns of the African-American experience, including Marvin Gaye (1971's "What's Going On") and George Clinton (the 1975 Parliament album "Mothership Connection").


title: Concept album

text: With the emergence of MTV as a music video network which valued singles over albums, concept albums became less dominant in the 1980s. Some artists, however, still released concept albums and experienced success in the 1990s and 2000s. "NME"s Emily Barker cites Green Day's "American Idiot" (2004) as one of the "more notable" examples, having brought the concept album back to high-charting positions. My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade (2006) is another example of a modern concept album. Dorian Lynskey, writing for "GQ", noted a resurgence of concept albums in the 2010s due to streaming: "This is happening not in spite of the rise of streaming and playlists, but because of it. Threatened with redundancy in the digital era, albums have fought back by becoming more album-like." Cucchiara argues that "concept albums" should also describe "this new generation of concept albums, for one key reason. This is because the unison between the songs on a particular album has now been expanded into a broader field of visual and artistic design and marketing strategies that play into the themes and stories that form the album."


title: Concept album

text: In the 21st century, the field of classical music has adopted the idea of the "concept album", citing such historical examples as Schubert's "Winterreise" and Schumann's "Liederkreis" as prototypes for contemporary composers and musicians. Classical composers and performers increasingly adopt production and marketing strategies that unify otherwise disparate works into concept albums or concerts. The classical music magazine "Gramophone" includes a special category for "concept album" in its annual "Recordings of the Year Awards", to celebrate "albums where a creative mind has curated something visionary, a programme whose whole speaks more powerfully than its parts. A thought-through journey, which compels to be heard in one sitting."


title: Concept album

text: In a year-ending essay on the album in 2019, Ann Powers wrote for "Slate" that the year found the medium in a state of flux. In her observation, many recording artists revitalized the concept album around autobiographical narratives and personal themes, such as intimacy, intersectionality, African-American life, boundaries among women, and grief associated with death. She cited such albums as Brittany Howard's "Jaime", Raphael Saadiq's "Jimmy Lee", Jamila Woods' "Legacy! Legacy!", Rapsody's "Eve", Jenny Lewis' "On the Line", Julia Jacklin's "Crushing", Joe Henry's "The Gospel According to Water", and Nick Cave's "Ghosteen".


title: Masamune

text: , was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as "tachi" and "tantō", in the "Sōshū" school. However, many of his forged "tachi" were made into "katana" by cutting the tang ("nakago") in later times. For this reason, his only existing works are "katana" and "tantō". No exact dates are known for Masamune's life. It is generally agreed that he made most of his swords between 1288 and 1328. Some stories list his family name as Okazaki, but some experts believe this is a fabrication to enhance the standing of the Tokugawa family.


title: Masamune

text: Masamune is believed to have worked in Sagami Province during the last part of the Kamakura period (1288–1328), and it is thought that he was trained by swordsmiths from Bizen and Yamashiro provinces, such as Saburo Kunimune, Awataguchi Kunitsuna and Shintōgo Kunimitsu. He was the father of Hikoshiro Sadamune, also a famous Sōshū master.


title: Masamune

text: An award for swordsmiths called the Masamune Prize is awarded at the Japanese Sword Making Competition. Although not awarded every year, it is presented to a swordsmith who has created an exceptional work.


title: Masamune

text: The swords of Masamune possess a reputation for superior beauty and quality, remarkable in a period where the steel necessary for swords was often impure. He is considered to have brought to perfection the art of .


title: Masamune

text: Masamune studied under Shintōgo Kunimitsu and made blades in "suguha" (straight temper line), but he made "notare hamon", where the finish on the leading edge of blade slowly undulates where it was quenched. There are also some blades with "ko-midare" (small irregularities), a style which appears to have been copied from the Old Bizen and Hōki Province styles. His works are well-characterized by striking "chikei" (dark lines following the grain pattern in the steel above the hamon), "kinsuji" (lightning shaped lines of nie) and "nie" (crystals of martensite embedded in a pearlite matrix).


title: Masamune

text: Swords created by Masamune often are referred to with the smith's name (as with other pieces of artwork) and often with a name for the individual sword as well. The "Honjo Masamune", a symbol of the Tokugawa shogunate and passed down from shōgun to shōgun, is perhaps the best known Masamune sword.


title: Masamune

text: Signed works of Masamune are rare. The examples "Fudo Masamune", "Kyōgoku Masamune", and "Daikoku Masamune" are accepted as his genuine works. Judging from his style, he was active from the late Kamakura period to the Nanboku-chō period.


title: Masamune

text: His swords are the most frequently cited among those listed in the "Kyōho Meibutsu Cho", a catalogue of excellent swords in the collections of daimyō edited during the Kyōhō era by the Hon'ami family of sword appraisers and polishers. The catalogue was created on the orders of the Tokugawa Yoshimune of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1714 and consists of three books. The first book, known as the "Nihon Sansaku", is a list of the three greatest swordsmiths in the eyes of Toyotomi Hideyoshi including Etchu Matsukura Go Umanosuke Yoshihiro, Awataguchi Toshiro Yoshimitsu, and lists forty-one blades by Masamune. The three books together list sixty-one blades by Masamune. There are far more blades listed for Masamune than the next two swordsmiths combined. It is known that Hideyoshi had a passion for Soshu swordsmiths which may explain this. A third of all swords listed are Soshu blades by many of the greatest Soshu masters including Masamune's students.


title: Masamune

text: A legend tells of a test where Muramasa challenged his master, Masamune, to see who could make a finer sword. They both worked tirelessly, and when both swords were finished, they decided to test the results. The contest was for each to suspend the blades in a small creek with the cutting edge facing against the current. Muramasa's sword, the cut everything that passed its way; fish, leaves floating down the river, the very air which blew on it. Highly impressed with his pupil's work, Masamune lowered his sword, the , into the current and waited patiently. Only leaves were cut. However, the fish swam right up to it, and the air hissed as it gently blew by the blade. After a while, Muramasa began to scoff at his master for his apparent lack of skill in the making of his sword. Smiling to himself, Masamune pulled up his sword, dried it, and sheathed it. All the while, Muramasa was heckling him for his sword's inability to cut anything. A monk, who had been watching the whole ordeal, walked over and bowed low to the two swordmasters. He then began to explain what he had seen.


title: Masamune

text: In another account of the story, both blades cut the leaves that went down on the river's current equally well, but the leaves would stick to the blade of Muramasa whereas they would slip on past Masamune's after being sliced. Alternatively, both leaves were cut, but those cut by Masamune's blade would reform as it traveled down the stream. Yet another version has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade while the leaves were repelled by Masamune's, and another again has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade and healed by Masamune's.


title: Masamune

text: In yet another story Muramasa and Masamune were summoned to make swords for the "shōgun" or emperor, and the finished swords were held in a waterfall. The result is the same as the other stories, and Masamune's swords are deemed holy swords. In one version of the story, Muramasa is killed for creating evil swords.


title: Masamune

text: While all known legends of the two ever having met are historically impossible, both smiths are widely regarded as symbols for their respective eras.


title: Masamune

text: Masamune is believed to have trained a great number of sword smiths; 15 are known, 10 of whom are considered to be the "Juttetsu" or "Ten Famous Students" or "10 Great Disciples of Masamune".


title: Masamune

text: Although probably not a direct student of Masamune because of the dates when he was forging, his works are greatly influenced by Masamune's work and the Soshu tradition as well as the work of the Soden Bizen swordsmiths. Though the kanji characters are pronounced in Japanese as 'Nagayoshi', by convention the "on'yomi" (Sino-Japanese reading) pronunciation of 'Chogi' is used for this smith and a handful of others (less commonly for his student Kanenaga, pronounced in "on'yomi" as 'Kencho').


title: Masamune

text: Considered to have created some of the sharpest swords ever known, he is one of a handful of smiths rated at "Sai-jo O-wazamono" (grandmaster of great sharpness) with famous swords named "Kabutowari" (Helmet Cutter), "Ishikiri" (Stone Cutter), and "Teppokiri" (Gun Cutter) as relayed in Fujishiro's writings. Kanemitsu produced swords used by renowned men and generals. He likely was not taught directly by Masamune, however, but was influenced by the Soshu, crafting swords in addition to serving himself as a leader in the Soden Bizen revolution.


title: Masamune

text: Lived in Yamato province before going to Mino to study under Masamune where his style radically changed. His swords are most like those of Masamune and quite often confused with his. The Mishina school can trace its history back to Kaneuji and Masamune.


title: Masamune

text: Kinju, like Chogi, by convention is pronounced in "on'yomi". He is also known as Kaneshige using the Japanese pronunciation of his name. He and Kaneuji are founders of the Mino style. He was a monk at the Seisen-ji in Tsuruga and led to the creation of Echizen swordmaking like Kuniyuki, moving to Mino around the time of Ryakuo (1338–1342) creating the Seki tradition.


title: Masamune

text: Created the Hasebe school producing swords in the style of the second period of Soshu and Yamashiro. His swords are considered by some to be equal to Akihiro and Hiromitsu. He created the "Heshikiri Hasebe" (The Forceful Cutter) listed in the Kyoho Meibutsu Cho, owned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and then by Oda Nobunaga. It bears a gold appraisal inlay of Honami Kotoku called a Kinzogan (金象嵌). Today the sword is a family heirloom of the Kuroda Daimyō Ke. The sword takes its name from the story of Oda Nobunaga drawing it to cut through a table to kill Kannai, a tea master who betrayed him.


title: Masamune

text: Also goes by the name Kamakura Rai as he is the grandson of Rai Kuniyuki. The influence of the Soshu and Yamashiro traditions can be observed in his works.


title: Masamune

text: Believed to go by the name Yasuyoshi but signed his work using the first two letters of his given name. Considered by some to be one of the greatest of Masamune's students. As well as being a Soshu swordsmith he also created the Chikuzen tradition.


title: Masamune

text: Historically considered one of the best of Masamune's students, he is numbered among the Juttetsu. However, current research indicates that he was a senior student to Masamune, junior to Yukimitsu, under the great teacher Shintōgo Kunimitsu. He, like Go, hailed from Etchu province and is well known as the only smith to have mastered the style of matsukawa-hada (pine tree bark pattern steel), making his work unique.


title: Masamune

text: Very few works exist by this swordsmith because of his death at age 27. No known signed works exist. He is believed to have gone by the name of Go Yoshihiro or simply Go, the name of the town from which he came. As well as being a Soshu swordsmith he is a member of the Etchu tradition. He is considered to have the highest skill in forging swords among the Masamune Juttetsu .


title: Masamune

text: Many theories exist that he may in fact have been a student of Saemonzaburo among others. His work is considered by many to have been influenced by Soshu(相州) even if not taught by Masamune directly, he is also influenced by the Soden Bizen(備前) and Iwami province (石州) style.


title: Masamune

text: Many of his forged "tachi" were made into "katana" by cutting the tang ("nakago") in later times. For this reason, his only existing works are "katana" and "tantō". In this way, cutting the tang of an old "tachi" and remaking it into a "katana" in accordance with the popularity of "katana" was called "suriage", which was common in Japanese history.


title: Masamune

text: The "Honjō Masamune" represented the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period and was passed down from one "shōgun" to another. It is one of the best known of the swords created by Masamune and is believed to be among the finest Japanese swords ever made. It was made a Japanese National Treasure ("Kokuhō") in 1939.


title: Masamune

text: The name Honjō probably came about by the sword's connection to General Honjō Shigenaga (1540-1614) who gained the sword after a battle in 1561. Shigenaga was attacked by Umanosuke who already possessed a number of trophy heads. Umanosuke struck Shigenaga with the Honjō Masamune which split his helmet, but he survived and took the sword as a prize. The blade had a number of chips from the great battle but was still usable. It was kept by Shigenaga until he was sent to Fushimi Castle around 1592.


title: Masamune

text: Shigenaga was later forced to sell the sword to Toyotomi Hidetsugu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew and retainer. It was bought for 13 Mai, 13 ōban, which was 13 large gold coins. The blade was later valued in the Kyoho Meibutsu Cho at 1,000 Mai. It then went to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shimazu Yoshihiro, again to Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa Yorinobu, and finally Tokugawa Ietsuna. It remained in the Kii (紀伊) branch of the Tokugawa family, and this ownership continued after the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1868). The last known owner was Tokugawa Iemasa at the end of World War II.


title: Masamune

text: Under the United States occupation at the end of World War II, all production of nihontō with edges was banned except under police or government permit. The Americans required that all swords be surrendered to the Foreign Liquidation Commission. Tokugawa Iemasa turned in the Honjō Masamune and 13 other "prized heirloom" swords to a police station at Mejiro in December 1945.