1.
Okinawan name
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Okinawan names today have only two components, the family names first and the given names last. Okinawan family names represent the historical and cultural background of the islands which now comprise Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Expatriates originally from Okinawa also have these names, as Japanese citizens, Okinawans today comply with the Japanese family register system. Accordingly, an Okinawan name has two components, a family name and a given name. A family name is called myōji, uji or sei, the family name precedes the given name. The given name may be referred to as the name because, in vertically-written Japanese. Japanese family names generally show regional variation, but Okinawan family names are known for its distinctiveness, in contrast it becomes increasingly difficult to find unique Okinawan given names. This top 10 list is based on the name as written in kanji, since the Japanese language allows for multiple possible readings for each character, the reading of Okinawan family names written with the same characters varies. In addition, the Okinawan language has its own means of reading Japanese kanji, as in mainland Japan, historical names in Okinawa are more complicated. People with different social statuses bore different kinds of names, maintained several names to use in different occasions, Okinawan names underwent great changes after the Ryūkyū Kingdom fell under the Satsuma Domains control. For example, the warabi-naa of Tamagusuku Chōkun was Umi-guraa, warabi-naa were most prevalent among Okinawans, from the king to commoners, both male and female. They were the oldest component of Okinawan names as, like people in mainland Japan and they were used as the official names during the early era of the Ryukyu Kingdom. They appeared even in appointment letters by the king, written mostly in hiragana and it was during the 17th century that other name components prevailed among the pechin class. A warabi-naa was given soon after birth, although literally meaning childhood name, it was used by commoners for their entire life. While it was overshadowed by other components, even adult male members of the pechin class used warabi-naa at home. Later in history, stylized use of prefixes and suffixes differentiated social statuses, a commoner used neither a prefix nor suffix, a samurai used either a prefix or suffix, and an aristocrat used both a prefix and a suffix. For example, Tukū was a name for commoners, Umi-tukū for samurai, a set of warabi-naa appeared in the very beginning of recorded history and has not been changed since then. The number of warabi-naa pooled in society was extremely small and it was not uncommon for a warabi-naa to be shared by more than one person in a household
2.
Shuri, Okinawa
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Shuri is a district of the city of Naha, Okinawa. It was formerly a city in and of itself. Originally established as a town surrounding the royal palace, Shuri ceased to be the capital when the kingdom was abolished and incorporated into Japan as Okinawa prefecture. In 1896, Shuri was made a ward of the new capital, Naha. In 1954, it was merged again into Naha, Shuri Castle was first built during the reign of Shunbajunki, who ruled from nearby Urasoe Castle. The island was not yet an organized or unified kingdom, historian George H. Shō Hashi, first king of the unified Ryūkyū Kingdom, made Shuri his capital, and oversaw expansion of the castle and the city. Shuri would remain the capital for roughly 550 years. The castle was burned to the ground during succession disputes in the 1450s, but was rebuilt, throughout the medieval and early modern periods, the residents of Shuri were primarily those associated with the royal court in some way. While Naha was the center of the kingdom, Shuri was the political center. Residence at Shuri was prestigious into the 20th century, samurai forces from the Japanese feudal domain of Satsuma seized Shuri Castle on 5 April 1609. The American Commodore Perry, when he came to Okinawa in the 1850s, King Shō Tai and his court were removed from the castle, which was occupied by a Japanese garrison, and the main gates of which were sealed. The castle, along with the mansions of former court nobles, fell into disrepair and decay over the ensuing years. Royal pensions were shrunk or abolished, and income from nobles nominal domains in the countryside likewise dried up, servants were dismissed, and the aristocratic population of the city scattered, seeking employment in Naha, the countryside, or the Japanese Home Islands. Census figures from 1875-79 show that half of the population of Okinawa Island were living in the greater Naha-Shuri area. Shuri had fewer households than Naha, but each household consisted of more people, over the following years, however, Shuri shrank in both population and importance, as Naha grew. Pressure to restore, conserve, and protect the sites of Shuri began in earnest in the 1910s. A four-year plan was out for the restoration of the structure. Other historical monuments came under protection soon afterward, the city first suffered Allied air attack in October 1944
3.
Ryukyu Kingdom
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The Ryukyu Kingdom was an independent kingdom that ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th to the 19th century. The kings of Ryukyu unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, despite its small size, the kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia. In the 14th century, small domains scattered on Okinawa Island were unified into three principalities, Hokuzan, Chūzan and Nanzan and this was known as the Three Kingdoms or Sanzan period. Hokuzan, which constituted much of the half of the island, was the largest in terms of land area and military strength. Nanzan constituted the southern portion of the island, Chūzan lay in the center of the island, and was economically the strongest. Its political capital at Shuri, Nanzan was adjacent to the port of Naha and Kume-mura. These sites, and Chūzan as a whole, would continue to form the center of the Ryukyu Kingdom until its abolition, many Chinese moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or to engage in business during this period. At the request of the Ryukyuan King, the Ming Chinese sent 36 Chinese families from Fujian to manage oceanic dealings in the kingdom in 1392 during the Hongwu emperors reign, many Ryukyuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers. They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations, according to statements by Qing imperial official Li Hongzhang in a meeting with Ulysses S. These three principalities, or tribal federations, led by major chieftains, battled, and Chūzan emerged victorious, the Chūzan leaders were officially recognized by Ming dynasty China as the rightful kings over those of Nanzan and Hokuzan, thus lending great legitimacy to their claims. The ruler of Chūzan passed his throne to King Hashi, Hashi conquered Hokuzan in 1416 and Nanzan in 1429, uniting the island of Okinawa for the first time, Hashi received the surname Shō 尚 from the Ming emperor in 1421, becoming known as Shō Hashi 尚巴志. Shō Hashi adopted the Chinese hierarchical court system, built Shuri Castle and the town as his capital, and constructed Naha harbor. When in 1469 King Shō Toku, who was a grandson of Shō Hashi, died without a male heir and this pretender, Shō En, began the Second Shō Dynasty. Ryukyus golden age occurred during the reign of Shō Shin, the king of that dynasty. For nearly two hundred years, the Ryukyu Kingdom would thrive as a key player in trade with Southeast and East Asia. In the late 16th century, however, the commercial prosperity fell into decline. The decline of the wokou threat among other factors led to the loss of Chinese preferential treatment. Around 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi asked the Ryukyu Kingdom to aid in his campaign to conquer Korea, if successful, Hideyoshi intended to then move against China
4.
Okinawa Prefecture
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The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller ones are mostly coral islands. The largest of the islands is Okinawa, the climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate in the north to tropical rainforest climate in the south. Precipitation is very high, and is affected by the rainy season, the islands beyond the Tokara Strait are characterized by their coral reefs. The Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama Islands have a native population collectively called the Ryukyuan people, the varied Ryukyuan languages are traditionally spoken on these islands, and the major islands have their own distinct languages. In modern times, the Japanese language is the language of the islands. The northern islands are called the Satsunan Islands, while the southern part of the chain are called the Ryukyu Islands in Japanese. Following are the grouping and names used by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard, the islands are listed from north to south where possible. Nansei Islands Satsunan Islands Ōsumi Islands with, Tanegashima, Yaku, Kuchinoerabu, Mageshima in the North-Eastern Group and they agreed on February 15,2010, to use Amami-guntō for the Amami Islands, prior to that, Amami-shotō had also been used. The English and Japanese uses of the term Ryukyu differ, in English, the term Ryukyu may apply to the entire chain of islands, while in Japanese Ryukyu usually refers only to the islands that were previously part of the Ryūkyū Kingdom after 1624. Nansei-shotō is the name for the whole island chain in Japanese. Japan has used the name on nautical charts since 1907, based on the Japanese charts, the international chart series uses Nansei Shoto. Nansei literally means southwest, the direction of the chain from mainland Japan. Some humanities scholars prefer the uncommon term Ryūkyū-ko for the island chain. In geology, however, the Ryukyu Arc includes subsurface structures such as the Okinawa Trough, the name of Ryūkyū is strongly associated with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, a kingdom that originated from the Okinawa Islands and subjected the Sakishima and Amami Islands. The name is considered outdated in Japanese although some entities of Okinawa still bear the name. In Japanese, the Ryukyu Islands cover only the Okinawa, Miyako, the northern half of the island chain is referred to as the Satsunan Islands in Japanese, as opposed to Northern Ryukyu Islands in English. Humanities scholars generally agree that the Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, there is, however, no good name for the group. The native population do not have their own name, since they do not recognize themselves as a group this size, Ryukyu is the principal candidate because it roughly corresponds to the maximum extent of the Ryūkyū Kingdom
5.
Okinawan martial arts
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Okinawan martial arts refers to the martial arts, such as karate, tegumi and Okinawan kobudō, which originated among the indigenous people of Okinawa Island. In 1429, the three kingdoms on Okinawa unified to form the Kingdom of Ryukyu, when King Shō Shin came into power in 1477, he banned the practice of martial arts. Tō-te and Ryukyu kobudō continued to be taught in secret, the ban was continued in 1609 after Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma Domain of Japan. The bans contributed to the development of kobudō which uses common household, the Okinawans combined Chinese martial arts with the existing local variants to form Tōde, sometimes called Okinawa-te. By the 18th century, different types of Te had developed in three different villages – Shuri, Naha and Tomari, the styles were named Shuri-te, Naha-te, and Tomari-te, respectively. Well into the 20th century, the arts of Okinawa were generally referred to as te and tii 手 in Japanese. Te often varied from one town to another, so to distinguish among the types of te. Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te belong to a family of martial arts that were defined as Tode-jutsu or To-de. Karate was systematically taught in Japan after the Taisho era, Shuri-te is a pre-World War II term for a type of indigenous martial art to the area around Shuri, the old capital city of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Tomari-te refers to a tradition of martial arts originating from the village of Tomari, Okinawa Karate Japanese martial arts Peichin
6.
Gichin Funakoshi
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Gichin Funakoshi is the founder of Shotokan Karate-Do, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and is attributed as being the father of modern karate. Following the teachings of Anko Itosu and Anko Asato, he was one of the Okinawan karate masters who introduced karate to the Japanese mainland in 1922 and he taught karate at various Japanese universities and became honorary head of the Japan Karate Association upon its establishment in 1949. Gichin Funakoshi was born on November 10,1868, the year of the Meiji Restoration, in Shuri, Okinawa, to a low-rank Ryūkyūan Pechin and originally had the family name Tominakoshi. After entering primary school he became friends with the son of Ankō Azato. Being trained in both classical Chinese and Japanese philosophies and teachings, Funakoshi became an assistant teacher in Okinawa, during this time, his relations with the Azato family grew and he began nightly travels to the Azato family residence to receive karate instruction from Ankō Azato. Funakoshi had trained in both of the styles of Okinawan karate of the time, Shōrei-ryū and Shōrin-ryū. Shotokan is named after Funakoshis pen name, Shōtō, which means waving pines, kan means training hall, or house, thus Shōtōkan referred to the house of Shōtō. This name was coined by Funakoshis students when they posted a sign above the entrance of the hall at which Funakoshi taught reading Shōtō kan. In addition to being a master, Funakoshi was an avid poet. By the late 1910s, Funakoshi had many students, of which a few were deemed capable of passing on their masters teachings, continuing his effort to garner widespread interest in Okinawan karate, Funakoshi ventured to mainland Japan in 1917, and again in 1922. In 1930, Funakoshi established an association named Dai-Nihon Karate-do Kenkyukai to promote communication and information exchange among people who study karate-dō, in 1936, Dai-Nippon Karate-do Kenkyukai changed its name to Dai-Nippon Karate-do Shoto-kai. The association is known today as Shotokai, and is the keeper of Funakoshis karate heritage. In 1939, Funakoshi built the first Shōtōkan dojo in Tokyo and he changed the name of karate to mean empty hand instead of China hand as it was referred to in Okinawa, the two words sound the same in Japanese. It was his belief that using the term for Chinese would mislead people into thinking karate originated with Chinese boxing, Karate had borrowed many aspects from Chinese boxing which the original creators say as being positive, as they had done with other martial arts. In addition, Funakoshi argued in his autobiography that an evaluation of the use of empty seemed to fit as it implied a way which was not tethered to any other physical object. Funakoshis interpretation of the kara in karate to mean empty rather than Chinese was reported to have caused some recoil in Okinawa. In 1949 Funakoshis students created the Japan Karate Association, with Funakoshi as the head of the organization. However, in practise this organization was led by Masatoshi Nakayama, the JKA began formalizing Funakoshis teachings
7.
Kenwa Mabuni
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Kenwa Mabuni was one of the first karateka to teach karate on mainland Japan and is credited as developing the style known as Shitō-ryū Immovable heart, immovable mind. Funakoshi Gichin learned kata from Kenwa Mabuni, In order to expand his knowledge he sent his son Gigō to study kata in Mabunis dōjō in Osaka. Kenwa Mabuni, Motobu Chōki and other Okinawans were actively teaching karate in Japan prior to this point when Gichin Funakoshi officially brought karate from Okinawa to mainland Japan, Shitō-ryū is a school of karate that was founded by Kenwa Mabuni in 1931. In 1939 the style was registered in the Butoku Kai headquarters. The development of the katas Aoyagi/Seiryuu and Meijou/Myoujo, specifically for women, born in Shuri on Okinawa in 1889, Mabuni was a 17th generation descendant of the famous warrior Uni Ufugusuku Kenyu. Perhaps because of his constitution, he began his instruction in his home town in the art of Shuri-Te at the age of 13. He trained diligently for years, learning many kata from this great master. It was Itosu who first developed the Pinan kata, which were most probably derived from the Kusanku form, one of his close friends, Chōjun Miyagi introduced Mabuni to another great of that period, Higaonna Kanryō, and began to learn Naha-Te under him as well. Shitō-ryū focuses on hard and soft techniques to this day. In fact, Mabuni was legendary for his knowledge of kata. By the 1920s, he was regarded as the foremost authority on Okinawan kata, there is even some evidence that his expertise was sought out in China, as well as Okinawa and mainland Japan. As a police officer, he taught local law enforcement officers and at the behest of his teacher Itosu, began instruction in the grammar schools in Shuri. In an effort to popularize karate in mainland Japan, Mabuni made several trips to Tokyo in 1917 and 1928, during this period, Mabuni also taught many other prominent martial artists, such as Otsuka Hironori and Yasuhiro Konishi. Both men were students of Funakoshi, by 1929, Mabuni had moved to Osaka on the mainland, to become a full-time karate instructor of a style he originally called Hanko-ryū, or half-hard style. Around the same time, perhaps when first introducing his style to the Butokukai, is when its believed the name of the changed to Shitō-ryū. Mabuni derived the name for his new style of Shitō-ryū from the first Kanji character in their names, Shi for Higashionna, with the support of Sakagami, he opened a number of Shitō-ryū dojo in the Osaka area, including Kansai University and the Japan Karate-dō Kai dojo. To this day, the largest contingent of Shitō-ryū practitioners in Japan is centred in the Osaka area, however, Mabunis contemporary Shinpan Shiroma remained in Shuri, Okinawa, and established Okinawan Shito-ryu. Mabuni published a number of books on the subject and continued to systematize the instruction method, to this day, Shitō-ryū recognizes the influences of Itosu and Higashionna, the kata syllabus of Shito-ryū is still often listed in such a way as to show the two lineages
8.
Karate
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Karate is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the martial arts of Ryukyu Islands under the influence of Chinese martial arts. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital-point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a karateka, Karate developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was brought to the Japanese mainland in the early 20th century during a time of cultural exchanges between the Japanese and the Chinese and it was systematically taught in Japan after the Taishō era. In 1922 the Japanese Ministry of Education invited Gichin Funakoshi to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration, in 1924 Keio University established the first university karate club in mainland Japan and by 1932, major Japanese universities had karate clubs. After World War II, Okinawa became an important United States military site and karate became popular among servicemen stationed there, Karate schools began appearing across the world, catering to those with casual interest as well as those seeking a deeper study of the art. Shigeru Egami, Chief Instructor of Shotokan Dojo, opined that the majority of followers of karate in overseas countries pursue karate only for its fighting techniques, depict karate as a mysterious way of fighting capable of causing death or injury with a single blow. The mass media present a pseudo art far from the real thing, shōshin Nagamine said, Karate may be considered as the conflict within oneself or as a life-long marathon which can be won only through self-discipline, hard training and ones own creative efforts. On September 28,2015, karate was featured on a shortlist along with baseball, softball, skateboarding, surfing, on June 1,2016, the International Olympic Committees executive board announced they were supporting the inclusion of all five sports for inclusion in the 2020 Games. Web Japan claims there are 50 million karate practitioners worldwide, while the World Karate Federation claims there are 100 million practitioners around the world, Karate began as a common fighting system known as te among the Pechin class of the Ryukyuans. There were few formal styles of te, but rather many practitioners with their own methods, one surviving example is the Motobu-ryū school passed down from the Motobu family by Seikichi Uehara. Early styles of karate are often generalized as Shuri-te, Naha-te, each area and its teachers had particular kata, techniques, and principles that distinguished their local version of te from the others. Members of the Okinawan upper classes were sent to China regularly to various political and practical disciplines. The incorporation of empty-handed Chinese Kung Fu into Okinawan martial arts occurred partly because of these exchanges, Traditional karate kata bear a strong resemblance to the forms found in Fujian martial arts such as Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors, and Gangrou-quan. Many Okinawan weapons such as the sai, tonfa, and nunchaku may have originated in, Sakukawa Kanga had studied pugilism and staff fighting in China. In 1806 he started teaching an art in the city of Shuri that he called Tudi Sakukawa. This was the first known recorded reference to the art of Tudi, around the 1820s Sakukawas most significant student Matsumura Sōkon taught a synthesis of te and Shaolin styles
9.
Pechin
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Pechin, or Pekumi, was a rank among the Yukatchu class of the former Ryukyu Kingdom, above the rank of Satunushi and below the rank of Ueekata. As scholar-officials, they served in administrative positions in the Ryukyuan government. Placed in the class, the Pechin would often travel with a servant at their side. There were three ranks of Pechin, Chikudun Pechin, Satunushi Pechin, and Pekumi or Pechin, Ryukyu Kingdom Okinawa Prefecture Ryukyuan people Gushiken surname Pechin Oyadomari of Tomari Pechin Takahara Arakaki Seishō Pechin Higa Okinawa, The History of an Island People by George H
10.
Calligraphy
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Calligraphy is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument, brush, a contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as, the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner. Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable, classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both. It is also used for props and moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, the principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush. Calligraphy pens write with nibs that may be flat, round, for some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens—steel brushes—can be used. However, works have also created with felt-tip and ballpoint pens. There are some styles of calligraphy, like Gothic script, which require a stub nib pen, Writing ink is usually water-based and is much less viscous than the oil-based inks used in printing. Normally, light boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work, ruled paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often ruled every quarter or half inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used. This is the case with litterea unciales, and college-ruled paper often acts as a guideline well, common calligraphy pens and brushes are, Quill Dip pen Ink brush Qalam Fountain pen Western calligraphy is recognizable by the use of the Latin script. The Latin alphabet appeared about 600 BC, in Rome, and by the first century developed into Roman imperial capitals carved on stones, Rustic capitals painted on walls, in the second and third centuries the uncial lettering style developed. As writing withdrew to monasteries, uncial script was more suitable for copying the Bible. It was the monasteries which preserved calligraphic traditions during the fourth and fifth centuries, at the height of the Empire, its power reached as far as Great Britain, when the empire fell, its literary influence remained. The Semi-uncial generated the Irish Semi-uncial, the small Anglo-Saxon, each region developed its own standards following the main monastery of the region, which are mostly cursive and hardly readable. Christian churches promoted the development of writing through the copying of the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Two distinct styles of writing known as uncial and half-uncial developed from a variety of Roman bookhands, the 7th-9th centuries in northern Europe were the heyday of Celtic illuminated manuscripts, such as the Book of Durrow, Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. Charlemagnes devotion to improved scholarship resulted in the recruiting of a crowd of scribes, according to Alcuin, Alcuin developed the style known as the Caroline or Carolingian minuscule. The first manuscript in hand was the Godescalc Evangelistary — a Gospel book written by the scribe Godescalc. Carolingian remains the one hand from which modern booktype descends
11.
Yukatchu
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Yukatchu were the aristocracy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the scholar-bureaucrats of classical Chinese studies living in Kumemura, they held the majority of government positions. The Yukatchu were part of a caste system that existed in Ryukyu for centuries. They were the feudal scholar-officials class that was charged with enforcing the law and providing military defense to the nation, the specific rank of a Yukatchu was noted by the color of his hat. The Ryukyuan Yukatchu kept their fighting techniques secret, usually passing down the most devastating fighting forms to one member of the family per generation. He confiscated weapons from commoners and Yukatchu who werent part of the Ryukyuan military to lower the possibility of rebellion, the second time that the Yukatchu were disarmed was after the invasion of 1609 by Satsuma Domain, which prohibited the carrying of weapons by the Yukatchu. The Yukatchu were not completely without weapons however, undoubtedly the Yukatchu class was the hardest hit by the changing times. They were the class that did not have a clear place in the modern world. In 1872, the Japanese Meiji government unilaterally proclaimed that the Ryukyu Kingdom was then Ryukyu Domain, in 1879, the Meiji government abolished the Ryukyu Domain and created Okinawa Prefecture, annexing the former kingdom. Public Proclamation by Chief Secretary Matsuda of Ryukyu Han Because the Imperial Decree issued in Meiji 8th year has not been complied with, any acts of maladministration, and exorbitant taxes and dues levied during the regime of the former clan government will probably be righted upon careful consideration. Do not be misled by irresponsible rumors, all are advised to pursue their respective occupations with ease of mind. The hereditary lords of the Ryukyu Kingdom were strongly opposed to the annexation by Japan. Ryukyu submitted to Japans annexation plans and 300 lords,2,000 aristocratic families, in Okinawa the Yukatchu class lost a major source of income in 1903, when massive peasant protest sparked land reforms and the abolition of peasant taxes that sustained the Yukatchu. Many Yukatchu found themselves having to reveal their secret unarmed fighting techniques to commoners for income, many Okinawan Karate styles list in their genealogy Karate masters of the Yukatchu class in the early stages of the style. Warfare, law enforcement, and fighting systems were the business of the warrior class before the turn of the seventeenth century. The warrior class, however, which was sustained by peasant taxes, could afford the luxury of sending the first born child of a warrior family to be trained in Ti. Okinawan documents will often state that Ti or Kara-Ti was only practiced by the Yukatchu, however, there are early twentieth-century Japanese documents that mention this secret fighting style as being practiced by the peasants of Okinawa. The disconnect often comes from Japanese ignorance of the Ryukyuan caste system, though, around the time of the creation of the Okinawa Prefecture, some Yukatchu were calling themselves Samure, the word derives from the Japanese term Samurai. Shōshin Nagamine states in his book The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do, the Okinawa Prefectural Government in recent years has tried to clarify misunderstandings by the West as to the history and development of Karate in Okinawa
12.
Kata
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Kata, a Japanese word, are detailed choreographed patterns of movements practised either solo or in pairs. The term form is used for the concept in non-Japanese martial arts in general. Kata are used in many traditional Japanese arts such as theatre forms like kabuki and schools of tea ceremony, kata are used by most Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, such as aikido, judo, kendo and karate. Kata originally were teaching and training methods by which successful combat techniques were preserved and passed on, practicing kata allowed a company of persons to engage in a struggle using a systematic approach, rather than as individuals in a disorderly manner. The basic goal of kata is to preserve and transmit proven techniques, by practicing in a repetitive manner the learner develops the ability to execute those techniques and movements in a natural, reflex-like manner. Systematic practice does not mean permanently rigid, the goal is to internalize the movements and techniques of a kata so they can be executed and adapted under different circumstances, without thought or hesitation. A novice’s actions will look uneven and difficult, while a master’s appear simple, in Japanese martial arts practice, kata is often seen as an essential partner to randori training with one complementing the other. However, the type and frequency of kata versus randori training varies from art to art. In iaido, solo kata using the Japanese sword comprises almost all of the training, whereas in judo, kata training is de-emphasized and usually only prepared for dan grading. In kenjutsu, paired kata at the level can appear to be stilted. At higher levels serious injury is prevented only by a sensitivity of both participants to important concepts being taught and trained for. These include timing and distance, with the kata practiced at high speed and this adjustability of kata training is found in other Japanese arts with roles of attacker and defender often interchanging within the sequence. Many martial arts use kata for public demonstrations and in competitions, awarding points for such aspects of technique as style, balance, timing, the most popular image associated with kata is that of a karate practitioner performing a series of punches and kicks in the air. The kata are executed as a series of approximately 20 to 70 moves, generally with stepping and turning. There are perhaps 100 kata across the forms of karate. The number of moves in a kata may be referred to in the name of the kata, e. g. Gojū Shiho, the number of moves may also have links with Buddhist spirituality. The number 108 is significant in Buddhism & Hinduism, signifying the 108 ways the mind can behave and kata with 54,36, or 27 moves are common. The practitioner is generally counselled to visualize the enemy attacks, and his responses, as actually occurring, kata can contain techniques beyond the superficially obvious ones
13.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
14.
Confucianism
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Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or simply a way of life. In the Han dynasty, Confucian approaches edged out the proto-Taoist Huang-Lao, the disintegration of the Han political order in the second century CE opened the way for the doctrines of Buddhism and Neo-Taoism, which offered spiritual explanations lacking in Confucianism. A Confucian revival began during the Tang dynasty of 618-907, in the late Tang, Confucianism developed in response to Buddhism and Taoism and was reformulated as Neo-Confucianism. This reinvigorated form was adopted as the basis of the imperial exams, the abolition of the examination system in 1905 marked the end of official Confucianism. The New Culture intellectuals of the twentieth century blamed Confucianism for Chinas weaknesses. In the late twentieth century Confucian work ethic has been credited with the rise of the East Asian economy, with particular emphasis on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on an otherworldly source of spiritual values, the core of Confucianism is humanistic. While Tiān has some characteristics that overlap the category of deity, it is primarily an impersonal absolute principle, Confucianism focuses on the practical order that is given by a this-worldly awareness of the Tiān. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rén, yì, and lǐ, and zhì. Rén is the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion and it is the virtue-form of Heaven. Yì is the upholding of righteousness and the disposition to do good. Lǐ is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life according to the law of Heaven. Zhì is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of rén and yì. In the 20th century Confucianisms influence diminished greatly, in the last decades there have been talks of a Confucian Revival in the academic and the scholarly community and there has been a grassroots proliferation of various types of Confucian churches. In late 2015 many Confucian personalities formally established a national Holy Confucian Church in China to unify the many Confucian congregations, strictly speaking, there is no term in Chinese which directly corresponds to Confucianism. In the Chinese language, the character rú 儒 meaning scholar or learned man is used both in the past and the present to refer to things related to Confucianism. The character rú in ancient China has diverse meanings, Some examples include, weak, soft, to tame, to comfort and to educate or to refine. Rújiā contains the character jiā, which means family. Rújiào and Kǒngjiào contain the Chinese character jiào, the teaching or transmission, used in such terms as education
15.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
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His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britains military heroes. Wellesley was born in Dublin, belonging to the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland and he was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons and he was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, following Napoleons exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the army which defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellesleys battle record is exemplary, he participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career. Wellington is famous for his defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against numerically superior forces while minimising his own losses. He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive commanders of all time, after ending his active military career, Wellington returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as part of the Tory party, from 1828 to 1830 and he oversaw the passage of the Catholic Relief Act 1829, but opposed the Reform Act 1832. He continued as one of the figures in the House of Lords until his retirement. As such, he belonged to the Protestant Ascendancy and his biographers mostly follow the contemporary newspaper evidence in saying that he was born 1 May 1769, the day that he was baptised. He was most likely born at his parents townhouse,24 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, but his mother Anne, Countess of Mornington, recalled in 1815 that he had been born at 6 Merrion Street, Dublin. He spent most of his childhood at his familys two homes, the first a house in Dublin and the second Dangan Castle,3 miles north of Summerhill on the Trim Road in County Meath. In 1781, Arthurs father died and his eldest brother Richard inherited his fathers earldom and he went to the diocesan school in Trim when at Dangan, Mr Whytes Academy when in Dublin, and Browns School in Chelsea when in London. He then enrolled at Eton, where he studied from 1781 to 1784, moreover, Eton had no playing fields at the time. In 1785, a lack of success at Eton, combined with a shortage of funds due to his fathers death, forced the young Wellesley. Until his early twenties, Arthur showed little sign of distinction and his mother grew concerned at his idleness, stating. A year later, Arthur enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he progressed significantly, becoming a good horseman and learning French, upon returning to England in late 1786, he astonished his mother with his improvement
16.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
17.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
18.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
19.
A & C Black
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A & C Black is a British book publishing company. The firm was founded in 1807 by Adam and Charles Black in Edinburgh, in 1851, the firm bought the copyright of Sir Walter Scotts Waverley novels for £27,000. In 1902 they published P. G. Wodehouses first book, The Pothunters, the company is best known as the publisher of the annual Whos Who and also, since 2002, the Whitakers Almanack. Other notable works include Blacks Medical Dictionary and the Know The Game series of sports rules, a & C Black purchased both Christopher Helm Publishers and later the Pica Press, publishers of the Helm Identification Guides, from Christopher Helm. In June 2002, T. & A. D. Poyser, a & C Black purchased Methuen Drama from Methuen Publishing in 2006, and acquired Arden Shakespeare from Cengage Learning in 2008. The company is now part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, who purchased it in 2000, in 2016, A & C Black Music list has moved to Collins Learning, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
