1.
Sengaku-ji
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Sengaku-ji is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist temple located in the Takanawa neighborhood of Minato-ku, near Sengakuji Station and Shinagawa Station, Tokyo, Japan. The temple became famous through the Akō incident of the forty-seven Rōnin in the 18th century, the tomb of Lord Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori is located here, who was forced to commit ritual suicide after he broke protocol and drew a sword in the Edo Castle. His retainers the forty-seven Rōnin led by Oishi Kuranosuke avenged his death, washed his opponents head in a water well, afterwards they were ordered by the Shogun to commit ritual suicide and were also buried here next to their master. Their story became famous through the Kabuki epic Chūshingura and their graves became a site of pilgrimage. Each year on December 14, the temple holds a festival commemorating the 47 Rōnin, media related to Sengakuji at Wikimedia Commons Sengaku-ji - homepage National Diet Library, photograph of Sengaku-ji 35°38′16″N 139°44′11″E
2.
Samurai
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Samurai were the military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan. In Japanese, they are referred to as bushi or buke. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean those who serve in close attendance to the nobility, the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai. According to Wilson, a reference to the word samurai appears in the Kokin Wakashū. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, the samurai were usually associated with a clan and their lord, and were trained as officers in military tactics and grand strategy. While the samurai numbered less than 10% of then Japans population, following the Battle of Hakusukinoe against Tang China and Silla in 663 AD, which led to a retreat from Korean affairs, Japan underwent widespread reform. One of the most important was that of the Taika Reform and this edict allowed the Japanese aristocracy to adopt the Tang dynasty political structure, bureaucracy, culture, religion, and philosophy. As part of the Taihō Code of 702 AD, and the later Yōrō Code, the population was required to regularly for census. With an understanding of how the population was distributed, Emperor Monmu introduced a law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males were drafted into the national military and these soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in-return were exempted from duties and taxes. This was one of the first attempts by the Imperial government to form an organized army modeled after the Chinese system and it was called Gundan-Sei by later historians and is believed to have been short-lived. The Taihō Code classified most of the Imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks and those of 6th rank and below were referred to as samurai and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these samurai were civilian public servants, the word is believed to have derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be referred to as samurai for many more centuries, Emperor Kanmu introduced the title of seii-taishōgun, or Shogun, and began to rely on the powerful regional clans to conquer the Emishi. Skilled in mounted combat and archery, these clan warriors became the Emperors preferred tool for putting down rebellions, though this is the first known use of the Shogun title, it was a temporary title, and was not imbued with political power until the 13th century. At this time, the Imperial Court officials considered them to be merely a military section under the control of the Imperial Court, ultimately, Emperor Kanmu disbanded his army. From this time, the Emperors power gradually declined, while the Emperor was still the ruler, powerful clans around Kyoto assumed positions as ministers, and their relatives bought positions as magistrates. To amass wealth and repay their debts, magistrates often imposed heavy taxes, through protective agreements and political marriages, they accumulated, or gathered, political power, eventually surpassing the traditional aristocracy. Some clans were formed by farmers who had taken up arms to protect themselves from the Imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands
3.
Asano Naganori
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Asano Naganori was the daimyo of the Akō Domain in Japan. His title was Takumi no Kami and he is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as Chūshingura, one of the favourite themes of kabuki, jōruri, and Japanese books and films. He was born in Edo as the eldest son of Asano Nagatomo and his family was a branch of the Asano family whose main lineage was in Hiroshima. His grandfather Naganao was appointed to the position of daimyo of Ako with 50 thousand koku, after Naganao died in 1671, Nagatomo succeeded to the position, but died after three years in 1675. Naganori succeeded his father at the age of nine, as a daimyo with a small fief, he was appointed several times to temporary minor offices of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1683, he was first appointed one of two officials to host the emissaries from the court to the Shogunate. It was the first time he met Kira Yoshinaka, the highest-ranking kōke, the head of ceremonial matters at the Shogunate, in 1694, he suffered from a serious illness. He had no children, thus no heir at that time, when a daimyo died without a determined heir, his house would be abolished by the Shogunate, and his lands confiscated, his retainers would become rōnin. To prevent this, he adopted his younger brother Asano Nagahiro, titled Daigaku, in 1701, he was appointed for the second time to the same office. It is said that he was then on bad terms with Kira Yoshinaka, on the day of his death, he drew his sword and attempted to kill Kira in the Corridor of the Pines at Edo Castle in what is now Tokyo. He was wounded and failed to kill Kira, more than the cherry blossoms, Inviting a wind to blow them away, I am wondering what to do, With the remaining springtime. He was buried in the graveyard of Sengaku-ji and his retainers became ronin when the Shogunate confiscated his fief. Under the leadership of Ōishi Kuranosuke, however, they avenged the death of their lord by killing Kira at his mansion in Edo on December 15,1702. These former retainers became famous as the Forty-seven rōnin, and their ranks as one of the most renowned in Japan. Asano Takumi no Kami ninjō no himitsu, seishinkai no mita Akō Jiken 浅野内匠頭刃傷の秘密, 精神科医の見た赤穂事件
4.
Seppuku
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Seppuku, sometimes metathesized as harakiri which is a native Japanese kun reading, is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai, if the cut, done with a movement, is done deep enough, it sections, cuts, the descending Aorta, inducing a massive blood loss inside the abdomen, with very fast death. A Japanese form of suicide, the term seppuku derives from the two Sino-Japanese roots setsu 切 and puku 腹. It is also known as harakiri, a more widely familiar outside Japan, and which is written with the same kanji as seppuku. In Japanese, the more formal seppuku, a Chinese onyomi reading, is used in writing, while harakiri. Ross notes, It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is a vulgarism, hara-kiri is a Japanese reading or Kun-yomi of the characters, as it became customary to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of ones master, known as oibara or tsuifuku, the word jigai means suicide in Japanese. The usual modern word for suicide is jisatsu, in some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by Lafcadio Hearn in his Japan, An Attempt at Interpretation, joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the female equivalent of seppuku. The first recorded act of seppuku was performed by Minamoto no Yorimasa during the Battle of Uji in the year 1180. Seppuku eventually became a key part of bushido, the code of the warriors, it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands. Samurai could also be ordered by their daimyo to carry out seppuku, later, disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to carry out seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner. This way the head could, both metaphorically and literally, rest in its owners hands and those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to carry out seppuku. Samurai generally could carry out the act only with permission, sometimes a daimyo was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This would weaken the defeated clan so that resistance would effectively cease, toyotomi Hideyoshi used an enemys suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of daimyo. Until this practice became more standardized during the 17th century, the ritual of seppuku was less formalized. In the 12th and 13th centuries, such as with the seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, seppukus defining characteristic was plunging either the Tachi, Wakizashi or Tanto into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally
5.
Kira Yoshinaka
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His court title was Kōzuke no suke. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the Forty-seven Ronin, although his name has been long pronounced as Yoshinaka especially in dramas and novels, Ekisui Rembeiroku, written by an anonymous contemporary in 1703, recorded that his name was Yoshihisa. Recent findings on Kaō marked on his own letter preserved in Kezō Temple confirmed that his name should be read as Kira Yoshihisa. Born in 1641, he was the eldest son of Kira Yoshifuyu and his mother was a member of the high-ranking Sakai clan. On the death of his father in 1668, Yoshinaka became the 17th head of the household and his wife was from the Uesugi clan, and his eldest son was adopted by Uesugi Tsunakatsu, the head of the Dewa Yonezawa han, taking the name Tsunanori. Yoshinaka named his son as his heir, but when that heir died, Yoshinaka adopted Tsunanoris second son. As a kōke, Kira oversaw matters of protocol, in 1701, he was assigned the task of tutoring Asano Naganori in matters of protocol in preparation for an upcoming visit by representatives of the Emperor. According to the stories, Kira was corrupt and demanded bribes for the tutoring, Kira then began to publicly insult Asano, calling him an ignorant and unmannered rural boor. On the day when the envoys were scheduled to meet the shogun at Edo Castle, Asano drew his wakizashi, for this, Asano was sentenced to commit seppuku, his house abolished and his retainers branded ronin, while Kira went unpunished. On the night of January 30,1703, Asanos retainers broke into Kiras mansion and they then surrendered themselves to the shogunate authorities and were ordered to commit seppuku for the murder. The Tokugawa shogunate condemned the grandson of Yoshinaka to death for being incapable of protecting his family like a samurai, after the death of Uesugi Tsunakatsu, the revenues of the Uesugi were reduced from 300,000 koku to 150,000 koku. On the other hand, the brother of Asano Naganori was re–established, received a revenue of 5,000 koku and the rank of hatamoto
6.
Murder
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A murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought. This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, manslaughter is a killing committed in the absence of malice, brought about by reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent, in most countries, a person convicted of murder generally faces a long-term prison sentence, possibly a life sentence where permitted. In many common law jurisdictions, a convicted of murder will receive a mandatory life sentence. In jurisdictions where capital punishment exists, the penalty may be imposed for such an act, however. The modern English word murder descends from the Proto-Indo-European mrtró which meant to die, the Middle English mordre is a noun from Anglo-Saxon morðor and Old French murdre. Middle English mordre is a verb from Anglo-Saxon myrdrian and the Middle English noun, the elements of common law murder are, Unlawful killing through criminal act or omission of a human by another human with malice aforethought. Killing – At common law life ended with cardiopulmonary arrest – the total, with advances in medical technology courts have adopted irreversible cessation of all brain function as marking the end of life. Сriminal act or omission – Killing can be committed by an act or an omission. of a human – This element presents the issue of life begins. At common law, a fetus was not a human being, life began when the fetus passed through the vagina and took its first breath. By another human – In early common law, suicide was considered murder, the requirement that the person killed be someone other than the perpetrator excluded suicide from the definition of murder. With malice aforethought – Originally malice aforethought carried its everyday meaning – a deliberate, Murder necessarily required that an appreciable time pass between the formation and execution of the intent to kill. The courts broadened the scope of murder by eliminating the requirement of actual premeditation and deliberation as well as true malice, all that was required for malice aforethought to exist is that the perpetrator act with one of the four states of mind that constitutes malice. The four states of mind recognized as constituting malice are, Under state of mind, intent to kill, thus, if the defendant intentionally uses a deadly weapon or instrument against the victim, such use authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill. In other words, intent follows the bullet, examples of deadly weapons and instruments include but are not limited to guns, knives, deadly toxins or chemicals or gases and even vehicles when intentionally used to harm one or more victims. In Australian jurisdictions, the risk must amount to a foreseen probability of death. Under state of mind, the doctrine, the felony committed must be an inherently dangerous felony, such as burglary, arson, rape. Importantly, the underlying felony cannot be a lesser included offense such as assault, as with most legal terms, the precise definition of murder varies between jurisdictions and is usually codified in some form of legislation
7.
Meiji period
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The Meiji period, also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from October 23,1868 through July 30,1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being a feudal society to its modern form. Fundamental changes affected its structure, internal politics, economy, military. The period corresponded with the reign of Emperor Meiji after 1868 and it was succeeded by the Taishō period upon the accession of Emperor Taishō to the throne. On February 3,1867, the 14-year-old Prince Mutsuhito succeeded his father, Emperor Kōmei, on November 9,1867, then-Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor, and formally stepped down ten days later. Imperial restoration occurred the year on January 3,1868. The fall of Edo in the summer of 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, and a new era, Meiji, was proclaimed. The first reform was the promulgation of the Five Charter Oath in 1868, implicit in the Charter Oath was an end to exclusive political rule by the bakufu, and a move toward more democratic participation in government. To implement the Charter Oath, a rather short-lived constitution with eleven articles was drawn up in June 1868, the Meiji government assured the foreign powers that it would follow the old treaties negotiated by the bakufu and announced that it would act in accordance with international law. Mutsuhito, who was to reign until 1912, selected a new reign title—Meiji, to further dramatize the new order, the capital was relocated from Kyoto, where it had been situated since 794, to Tokyo, the new name for Edo. Confirmed in their positions, the daimyo became governors. The han were replaced with prefectures in 1871, and authority continued to flow to the national government, officials from the favored former han, such as Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen staffed the new ministries. Formerly old court nobles, and lower-ranking but more radical samurai, replaced bakufu appointees, in as much as the Meiji Restoration had sought to return the Emperor to a preeminent position, efforts were made to establish a Shinto-oriented state much like it was 1,000 years earlier. Furthermore, a new State Shinto had to be constructed for the purpose, in 1871, the Office of Shinto Worship was established, ranking even above the Council of State in importance. The kokutai ideas of the Mito school were embraced, and the ancestry of the Imperial House was emphasized. The government supported Shinto teachers, a small but important move, although the Office of Shinto Worship was demoted in 1872, by 1877 the Home Ministry controlled all Shinto shrines and certain Shinto sects were given state recognition. Shinto was released from Buddhist administration and its properties restored, although Buddhism suffered from state sponsorship of Shinto, it had its own resurgence. Christianity also was legalized, and Confucianism remained an important ethical doctrine, increasingly, however, Japanese thinkers identified with Western ideology and methods
8.
Bunraku
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Bunraku, also known as Ningyō jōruri, is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of 17th century. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance, the Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai. Occasionally other instruments such as taiko drums will be used, the most accurate term for the traditional puppet theater in Japan is ningyō jōruri. The combination of chanting and shamisen playing is called jōruri and the Japanese word for puppet is ningyō and it is used in many plays. Bunraku puppetry has been a traditional activity for Japanese people for hundreds of years. Bunrakus history goes as far back to the turn of the 18th century when Uemura Bunrakuken came to Osaka from Awaji and began his own theatre. The puppets of the Osaka tradition tend to be somewhat smaller overall, the heads and hands of traditional puppets are carved by specialists, while the bodies and costumes are often constructed by puppeteers. The heads can be quite sophisticated mechanically, in plays with supernatural themes, a puppet may be constructed so that its face can quickly transform into that of a demon. Less complex heads may have eyes that move up and down, side to side or close, and noses, mouths, the main puppeteer, the omozukai, uses his or her right hand to control the right hand of the puppet. A third puppeteer, the ashizukai, operates the feet and legs, puppeteers begin their training by operating the feet, then move on to the left hand, before being able to train as the main puppeteer. All but the most minor characters require three puppeteers, who perform in full view of the audience, generally wearing black robes, the shape of the puppeteers hoods also varies, depending on the school to which the puppeteer belongs. Usually a single chanter recites all the parts, altering his vocal pitch. The chanters sit next to the shamisen player, some traditional puppet theaters have revolving platform for the chanter and shamisen player, which rotates bringing replacement musicians for the next scene. The shamisen used in bunraku is slightly larger than other kinds of shamisen and has a different sound, lower in pitch, Bunraku shares many themes with kabuki. In fact, many plays were adapted for both by actors in kabuki and by puppet troupes in bunraku. Bunraku is particularly noted for lovers suicide plays, the story of the forty-seven ronin is also famous in both bunraku and kabuki. Bunraku is a theater, as opposed to kabuki, which is a performers theater. In bunraku, prior to the performance, the chanter holds up the text and bows before it, in kabuki, actors insert puns on their names, ad-libs, references to contemporary happenings and other things which deviate from the script
9.
Kabuki
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Kabuki is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers, the individual kanji, from left to right, mean sing, dance, and skill. Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as the art of singing and dancing and these are, however, ateji characters which do not reflect actual etymology. The kanji of skill generally refers to a performer in kabuki theatre, since the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning to lean or to be out of the ordinary, kabuki can be interpreted as avant-garde or bizarre theatre. The expression kabukimono referred originally to those who were dressed and swaggered on a street. The history of kabuki began in 1603 when Izumo no Okuni, possibly a miko of Izumo-taisha and it originated in the 17th century. Japan was under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate, enforced by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the name of the Edo period derives from the relocation of the Tokugawa regime from its former home in Kyoto to the city of Edo, present-day Tokyo. Female performers played both men and women in comic playlets about ordinary life, the style was immediately popular, and Okuni was asked to perform before the Imperial Court. In the wake of success, rival troupes quickly formed. For this reason, kabuki was also called 遊女歌舞妓 during this period, Kabuki became a common form of entertainment in the ukiyo, or Yoshiwara, the registered red-light district in Edo. A diverse crowd gathered under one roof, something that happened nowhere else in the city, Kabuki theaters were a place to see and be seen as they featured the latest fashion trends and current events. The stage provided good entertainment with exciting new music, patterns, clothing, performances went from morning until sunset. The teahouses surrounding or connected to the theater provided meals, refreshments, the area around the theatres was lush with shops selling kabuki souvenirs. Kabuki, in a sense, initiated pop culture in Japan, the shogunate was never partial to kabuki and all the mischief it brought, particularly the variety of the social classes which mixed at kabuki performances. Women’s kabuki, called onna-kabuki, was banned in 1629 for being too erotic, following onna-kabuki, young boys performed in wakashū-kabuki, but since they too were eligible for prostitution, the shogun government soon banned wakashū-kabuki as well. Kabuki switched to male actors, called yaro-kabuki, in the mid-1600s. Male actors played both female and male characters, the theatre remained popular, and remained a focus of urban lifestyle until modern times. The modern all-male kabuki, known as yarō-kabuki, was established during these decades, after women were banned from performing, cross-dressed male actors, known as onnagata or oyama, took over
10.
Censorship
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Governments, private organizations and individuals may engage in censorship. When an individual such as an author or other creator engages in censorship of their own works or speech, Censorship could be direct or indirect, in which case it is referred to as soft censorship. Direct censorship may or may not be legal, depending on the type, location, there are no laws against self-censorship. In 399 BC, Greek philosopher, Socrates, defied attempts by the Greek state to censor his philosophical teachings and was sentenced to death by drinking a poison, hemlock. Socrates student, Plato, is said to have advocated censorship in his essay on The Republic, in contrast to Plato, Greek playwright Euripides defended the true liberty of freeborn men, including the right to speak freely. In 1766, Sweden became the first country to abolish censorship by law, the rationale for censorship is different for various types of information censored, Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential and away from the enemy. This is used to counter espionage, which is the process of gleaning military information, political censorship occurs when governments hold back information from their citizens. This is often done to control over the populace and prevent free expression that might foment rebellion. Religious censorship is the means by which any material considered objectionable by a religion is removed. This often involves a dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones, alternatively, one religion may shun the works of another when they believe the content is not appropriate for their religion. Strict censorship existed in the Eastern Bloc, throughout the bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers. Cultural products there reflected the needs of the state. Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years, in the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day. Under Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania, weather reports were doctored so that the temperatures were not seen to rise above or fall below the levels which dictated that work must stop. Independent journalism did not exist in the Soviet Union until Mikhail Gorbachev became its leader, pravda, the predominant newspaper in the Soviet Union, had a monopoly. Foreign newspapers were available if they were published by Communist Parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union. Possession and use of copying machines was tightly controlled in order to hinder production and distribution of samizdat, illegal self-published books, possession of even a single samizdat manuscript such as a book by Andrei Sinyavsky was a serious crime which might involve a visit from the KGB
11.
Tokugawa shogunate
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The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu and the Edo bakufu, was the last feudal Japanese military government, which existed between 1600 and 1868. The head of government was the shogun, and each was a member of the Tokugawa clan, the Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle and the years of the shogunate became known as the Edo period. This time is called the Tokugawa period or pre-modern. Following the Sengoku period, the government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu, society in the Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyō were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the farmers, artisans, and traders ranking below. In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions, daimyō and samurai were more or less identical, since daimyō might be trained as samurai, otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value, as a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over time. This often led to confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and well-to-do peasants, ranging from simple local disturbances to much bigger rebellions. None, however, proved compelling enough to challenge the established order until the arrival of foreign powers. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end in 1868 with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The bakuhan taisei was the political system in the Edo period of Japan. Baku is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning military government—that is, the han were the domains headed by daimyō. Vassals held inherited lands and provided service and homage to their lords. The bakuhan taisei split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and provincial domains throughout Japan, provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shogun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national security. The shogun and lords were all daimyō, feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, the shogun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa. Each level of government administered its own system of taxation, the emperor, nominally a religious leader, held no real power, this was invested in the shogun. The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains, the sankin kōtai system of alternative residence required each daimyō to reside in alternate years between the han and the court in Edo
12.
Genroku
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Genroku was a Japanese era name after Jōkyō and before Hōei. This period spanned the years from ninth month of 1688 through third month of 1704, the years of Genroku are generally considered to be the Golden Age of the Edo period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability, there were unanticipated consequences when the shogunate debased the quality of coins as a strategy for financing the appearance of continuing Genroku affluence. This strategic miscalculation caused abrupt inflation, then, in an effort to solve the ensuing crisis, the bakufu introduced what were called the Kyōhō Reforms. Genroku gannen,1688, The new era name was created to mark the beginning of the reign of Higashiyama, the previous era ended and the new one commenced in Jōkyō5, on the 30th day of the 9th month. A sense of optimism is suggested in the era name choice of Genroku,1688, Ihara Saikaku publishes Japans Eternal Treasury. 1688, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu assumes the office of Soba Yōnin,1688, The Tokugawa shogunate revised the code of conduct for funerals, which incorporated a code of conduct for mourning as well. 1689, Foreign settlements in Nagasaki become possible, september 16,1689, German physician Engelbert Kaempfer arrives at Dejima. 1690, The Abandoned Child Ban was officially proclaimed,1692, Building of temples in Edo banned. 1693, Arai Hakuseki becomes tutor to the daimyō of Kōfu-han,1693, The code of conduct for funerals is revised again. 1695, Land survey performed of territory under the control of the bakufu in Kantō. 1695, Minting begun of Genroku coinage, the shogunate placed the Japanese character gen on the obverse of copper coins, the same character used today in China for the yuan. There is no connection between those uses, however,1695, First kennel is established for stray dogs in Edo. This Genroku map was corrected in Kyōhō4 by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro, using high mountain peaks as points of reference, five-storied Pagoda 1698, Another great fire in Edo. A new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of Kanei-ji,1700, Exchange rate of silver coins established. 1703, Akō Domain incident involving the 47 rōnin,1703, First performance of Chikamatsu Monzaemons play The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. December 31,1703, The Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo, the following day, a vast fire spread throughout the city. Parts of Honshūs coast were battered by tsunami, and 200,000 people were killed or injured
13.
Isaac Titsingh
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Isaac Titsingh FRS was a Dutch surgeon, scholar, merchant-trader and ambassador. During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was an official of the Dutch East India Company. He represented the European trading company in exclusive official contact with Tokugawa Japan, traveling to Edo twice for audiences with the shogun and he was the Dutch and VOC governor general in Chinsura, Bengal. Titsingh worked with his counterpart, Charles Cornwallis, who was general of the British East India Company. In China, Titsingh effectively functioned as ambassador for his country at the time as he represented the Dutch East India Company as a trade representative. Isaac Titsingh was born in Amsterdam, the son of Albertus Titsingh and his baptism took place at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam on 21 January 1745. His father, Albertus Titsingh was a successful and prominent Amsterdam surgeon and he thus possessed the means for Isaac Titsingh to be brought up with an ‘enlightened education’ of the 18th century. Isaac Titsingh became a member of the Amsterdam Chirurgijngilde and received the degree of a Doctor of Law from Leiden University in January 1765, in March 1764 Titsingh was appointed as a freeman and 1766 went within his employment to Batavia. Titsingh was the commercial Opperhoofd or chief factor in Japan between 1779-1780, 1781–1783, and in 1784, the singular importance of the head of the VOC in Japan during this period was enhanced by the Japanese policy of sakoku—imposed isolation. The sole exception to this door was the VOC factory on the island of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay. During this period of seclusion, Titsingh is believed to have been the first Freemason in Japan, in this highly controlled context, the traders became the sole official conduit for trade and for scientific-cultural exchanges between Europe and Japan. The VOC Opperhoofd was accorded the status of a tributary of the Shogun, nevertheless, the average Opperhoofd was not interested in the customs or culture of the Japanese. Titsingh showed an almost incredible interest and distinguished himself as an observer of Japanese civilization for a European of his time when compared to his colleagues in Dejima. Titsingh arrived in Nagasaki on 15 August 1779, where he took over the factory from Arend Willem Feith. During his first audience with Ieharu in Edo from 25 March 1780 until 5 April 1780 and he became incredibly prominent within the elite society of Edo and became friends with several daimyōs and retired daimyōs of the area. After a short return to Batavia in 1780, Titsingh returned to Nagasaki on 12 August 1781, there were no Dutch shipments from Batavia in 1782 due to the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and thus the trading post in Dejima was cut off from communication with Java during this year. Titsingh stayed a total of three years and eight months in Japan before finally leaving Nagasaki at the end of November 1784 to return to Batavia, in 1785, Titsingh was appointed director of the trading post at Chinsura in Bengal. Titsingh was described by William Jones, the philologist and Bengal jurist, Titsingh’s return to Batavia led to new positions as Ontvanger-Generaal and later as Commissaris ter Zee
14.
Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale
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Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, GCVO, KCB, DL was a British diplomat, collector and writer. Nicknamed Barty, he was the grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Freeman-Mitford was the son of Henry Reveley Mitford of Exbury House, Exbury, Hampshire and the great-grandson of the historian William Mitford and his parents separated in 1840 when Redesdale was just three years old, and his mother remarried to a Mr. Molyneaux. Like his cousin Swinburne, he was named Algernon after his grandfather Algernon Percy, entering the Foreign Office in 1858, Mitford was appointed Third Secretary of the British Embassy in St Petersburg. Rededale served as secretary under Myburghs replacement, John Frederik Lowder, there he met Ernest Satow and wrote Tales of Old Japan, a book credited with making such Japanese Classics as The Forty-seven Ronin first known to a wide Western public. He resigned from the service in 1873. Following the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, in 1906 he accompanied Prince Arthur on a visit to Japan to present the Emperor Meiji with the Order of the Garter and he was asked by courtiers there about Japanese ceremonies that had disappeared since 1868. He is one of the credited with introducing Japanese knotweed to England. From 1874 to 1886, Mitford acted as secretary to HM Office of Works, involved in the restoration of the Tower of London. From 1887, he was a member of the Royal Commission on Civil Services and he also sat as Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon between 1892 and 1895. According to W. S. Gilbert, Mitford served as a consultant on Japanese culture to Gilbert, a traditional Japanese song hummed by Mitford to Gilbert and Sullivan during a rehearsal was used in the opera for the march accompanying the Mikados entrance. In 1886, Mitford inherited the country estates of his first cousin twice removed, John Freeman-Mitford. In accordance with the will he assumed by Royal licence the surname of Freeman. Appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Gloucestershire, he became a magistrate and took up farming and he was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron from 1889 to 1914. Redesdale was President of the Royal Photographic Society between 1910–1912 and he substantially rebuilt Batsford House beside Batsford in Gloucestershire in the Victorian Gothic manorial style, but at such a cost that it had to be sold within a few years of his death. It was bought by Lord Dulverton and is owned by his descendants. He took the oath and his seat in the House of Lords a week later, during his time in Japan, he was said to have fathered two children with a geisha. Later, he was considered to be one of the fathers of Clementine Hozier
15.
Western world
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The Western world or the West is a term usually referring to different nations, depending on the context, most often including at least part of Europe. There are many accepted definitions about what they all have in common, the Western world is also known as the Occident. The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Roman civilization in Europe, before the Cold War era, the traditional Western viewpoint identified Western Civilization with the Western Christian countries and culture. Its political usage was changed by the antagonism during the Cold War in the mid-to-late 20th Century. The term originally had a literal geographic meaning, Western culture was influenced by many older great civilizations of the ancient Near East, such as Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, Sumer, Babylonia, and also Ancient Egypt. It originated in the Mediterranean basin and its vicinity, Greece, over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and west to include the rest of Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal areas, conquering and absorbing. Later, they expanded to the north of the Mediterranean Sea to include Western, Central, numerous times, this expansion was accompanied by Christian missionaries, who attempted to proselytize Christianity. There is debate among some as to whether Latin America is in a category of its own, specifically, Western culture may imply, a Biblical Christian cultural influence in spiritual thinking, customs and either ethic or moral traditions, around the Post-Classical Era and after. European cultural influences concerning artistic, musical, folkloric, ethic and oral traditions, the concept of Western culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic, much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history is marked by European immigration or settlement, such as the Americas, and Oceania. The geopolitical divisions in Europe that created a concept of East and West originated in the Roman Empire, Roman Catholic Western and Central Europe, as such, maintained a distinct identity particularly as it began to redevelop during the Renaissance. Even following the Protestant Reformation, Protestant Europe continued to see itself as more tied to Roman Catholic Europe than other parts of the civilized world. Use of the term West as a cultural and geopolitical term developed over the course of the Age of Exploration as Europe spread its culture to other parts of the world. Additionally, closer contacts between the West and Asia and other parts of the world in recent times have continued to cloud the use, herodotus considered the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC a conflict of Europa versus Asia. The terms West and East were not used by any Greek author to describe that conflict, the Great Schism and the Fourth Crusade confirmed this deviation. The Renaissance in the West emerged partly from currents within the Roman Empire, Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula about the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its 12-century existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a republic, nonetheless, despite its great legacy, a number of factors led to the eventual decline of the Roman Empire
16.
Takanawa
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Takanawa is a neighborhood in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Sony operates the Takanawa Office in Takanawa, the Takanawa Library is in Takanawa. Takamatsu Junior High School is a high school. Takamatsunomiya contributed some of its own mansions for Minato and a high school was built there
17.
Ukiyo-e
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The ukiyo-e genre of art flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. The term ukiyo-e translates as picture of the floating world, Edo became the seat of government for the military dictatorship in the early 17th century. The merchant class at the bottom of the social order benefitted most from the rapid economic growth. Many indulged in the entertainments of kabuki theatre, courtesans, the term ukiyo came to describe this hedonistic lifestyle. The earliest success was in the 1670s with Moronobus paintings and monochromatic prints of beautiful women, colour in prints came gradually—at first added by hand for special commissions. By the 1740s, artists such as Masanobu used multiple woodblocks to print areas of colour, from the 1760s the success of Harunobus brocade prints led to full-colour production becoming standard, each print made with numerous blocks. Specialists have prized the portraits of beauties and actors by masters such as Kiyonaga, Utamaro, Following the deaths of these two masters, and against the technological and social modernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868, ukiyo-e production went into steep decline. Some ukiyo-e artists specialized in making paintings, but most works were prints, as printing was done by hand, printers were able to achieve effects impractical with machines, such as the blending or gradation of colours on the printing block. Ukiyo-e was central to forming the Wests perception of Japanese art in the late 19th century–especially the landscapes of Hokusai, Prints since the late 20th century have continued in an individualist vein, often made with techniques imported from the West. The Kanō school of painting incorporated features of both, since antiquity, Japanese art had found patrons in the aristocracy, military governments, and religious authorities. Later works appeared by and for townspeople, including inexpensive monochromatic paintings of female beauties and scenes of the theatre and pleasure districts, the hand-produced nature of these shikomi-e limited the scale of their production, a limit that was soon overcome by genres that turned to mass-produced woodblock printing. During a prolonged period of war in the 16th century. In the early 17th century Tokugawa Ieyasu unified the country and was appointed Shogun with supreme power over Japan and he consolidated his government in the village of Edo, and required the territorial lords to assemble there in alternate years with their entourages. The demands of the growing capital drew many male labourers from the country, the village grew during the Edo period from a population of 1800 to over a million in the 19th century. The centralized shogunate put an end to the power of the machishū and divided the population into four classes, with the ruling samurai class at the top. The experience of the quarters was open to those of sufficient wealth, manners. Woodblock printing in Japan traces back to the Hyakumantō Darani in 770 CE, until the 17th century such printing was reserved for Buddhist seals and images. Movable type appeared around 1600, but as the Japanese writing system required about 100,000 type pieces, in Saga Domain, calligrapher Honami Kōetsu and publisher Suminokura Soan combined printed text and images in an adaptation of The Tales of Ise and other works of literature
18.
Edo Castle
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Edo Castle, also known as Chiyoda Castle, is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is today part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and is located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, after the resignation of the shogun and the Meiji Restoration, it became the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Some moats, walls and ramparts of the castle survive to this day, however, the grounds were more extensive during the Edo period, with Tokyo Station and the Marunouchi section of the city lying within the outermost moat. It also encompassed Kitanomaru Park, the Nippon Budokan Hall and other landmarks of the surrounding area, the warrior Edo Shigetsugu built his residence in what is now the Honmaru and Ninomaru part of Edo Castle, around the end of the Heian or beginning of the Kamakura period. The Edo clan perished in the 15th century as a result of uprisings in the Kantō region, and Ōta Dōkan, the castle later came under the control of the Late Hōjō clan in 1524 after the Siege of Edo. The castle was vacated in 1590 due to the Siege of Odawara, Tokugawa Ieyasu made Edo Castle his base after he was offered eight eastern provinces by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He later defeated Toyotomi Hideyori, son of Hideyoshi, at the Siege of Osaka in 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu received the title of Seii Taishōgun in 1603, and Edo became the center of Tokugawas administration. Initially, parts of the area were lying under water, the sea reached the present Nishinomaru area of Edo Castle, and Hibiya was a beach. The landscape was changed for the construction of the castle, most construction started in 1593 and was completed in 1636 under Ieyasus grandson, Tokugawa Iemitsu. By this time, Edo had a population of 150,000, the existing Honmaru, Ninomaru, and Sannomaru areas were extended with the addition of the Nishinomaru, Nishinomaru-shita, Fukiage, and Kitanomaru areas. The daimyōs were required by the shōgun to supply building materials or finances, large granite stones were moved from afar, the size and number of the stones depended on the wealth of the daimyōs. The wealthier ones had to contribute more and those who did not supply stones were required to contribute labor for such tasks as digging the large moats and flattening hills. The earth that was taken from the moats was used as landfill for sea-reclamation or to level the ground, thus the construction of Edo Castle laid the foundation for parts of the city where merchants were able to settle. At least 10,000 men were involved in the first phase of the construction, when construction ended, the castle had 38 gates. The ramparts were almost 20 meters high and the walls were 12 meters high. Moats forming roughly concentric circles were dug for further protection, some moats reached as far as Ichigaya and Yotsuya, and parts of the ramparts survive to this day. This area is bordered by either the sea or the Kanda River, various fires over the centuries damaged or destroyed parts of the castle, Edo and the majority of its buildings being made of timber
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Fief
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The fees were often lands or revenue-producing real property held in feudal land tenure, these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms. However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including office, rights of exploitation such as hunting or fishing, monopolies in trade. In ancient Rome a benefice was a gift of land for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, in medieval Latin European documents, a land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a beneficium. Later, the term feudum, or feodum, began to replace beneficium in the documents, the first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd, in which means cattle and -ôd means goods. When land replaced currency as the store of value, the Germanic word *fehu-ôd replaced the Latin word beneficium. This Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the nineteenth century, a theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis that the origin of fief is not feudum, but rather foderum, the earliest attested use being in Astronomuss Vita Hludovici. In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant, a theory by Alauddin Samarrai suggests an Arabic origin, from fuyū. Samarrais theory is that early forms of fief include feo, feu, feuz, feuum and others, Samarrai, however, also advises medieval and early modern Muslim scribes often used etymologically fanciful roots in order to claim the most outlandish things to be of Arabian or Muslim origin. It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, in English usage, the word fee is first attested around 1250–1300, the word fief from around 1605–15. In French, the fief is found from the middle of the 13th century. In French, one also finds seigneurie, which rise to the expression seigneurial system to describe feudalism. Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings, by the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord, historically, the fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility, the second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. The process occurred later in Germany, and was going on in the 13th century. In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income, the discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed reliefs and other feudal payments under Henrys son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215
20.
Honshu
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Honshu is the largest and most populous island of Japan, located south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to its south and it is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 103 million as of 2005, mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, as the historical center of Japanese culture and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt. The island is linked to the three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. Its climate is humid and mild, the island is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 225,800 km2, 60% of the total area of Japan, making it slightly larger than Great Britain. Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, Honshu has 5,450 kilometres of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes, the highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes Honshu the worlds 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japans longest, the northernmost point on Honshu is the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula in Ōma, Aomori, Cape Kure lies at the southern extreme in Kushimoto, Wakayama. The islands eastern extremity is Todogasaki in Miyako, Iwate, and its western one is Bishanohana in Shimonoseki, Honshu spans more than eight degrees of latitude and 11 degrees of longitude. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels or bridges, the island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some islands are included within these prefectures, notably including the Ogasawara Islands, Sado Island, Izu Ōshima. Fruits, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton are grown in Honshu, niigata is noted as an important producer of rice. The Kantō and Nōbi plains produce rice and vegetables, yamanashi is a major fruit-growing area, and Aomori is famous for its apples. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu, yields of zinc, copper, and oil have been found on Honshu
21.
Tsuwano Domain
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The Tsuwano Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Iwami Province in modern-day Shimane Prefecture, in the han system, Tsuwano was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka and this was different from the feudalism of the West. The Meiji-era author Mori Ōgai was the son of a Tsuwano retainer, the hereditary daimyo were head of the clan and head of the domain
22.
Emperor Higashiyama
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Higashiyama also refers to a ward of Kyoto City. Emperor Higashiyama was the 113th emperor of Japan, according to the order of succession. Higashiyamas reign spanned the years from 1687 through 1709 of what are considered to be the Golden Age of the Edo period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability, before Higashiyamas ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Asahito or Tomohito and his pre-accession title was Go-no-miya Higasiyama was the fifth son of Emperor Reigen. Higashiyamas Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace and this family included at least 11 children. 1682, Tomohito-shinnō is proclaimed Crown Prince, and a ceremonial investiture is held, march 26,1685, Former-Emperor Go-Sai died, and a great comet was observed crossing the night sky. In 1687, he acceded to the throne after the abdication of Emperor Reigen, on the 16th day of the 11th month of that year, he revived the Daijōsai, the first ceremonial offering of rice by a newly enthroned Emperor. Initially, Emperor Reigen continued to rule in Higashiyamas name, which caused friction with the Bakufu. However, Higashiyamas gentle character helped to improve relations with the Bakufu, and imperial property was increased, may 2,1687, Emperor Reigen abdicated, which meant that his son received the succession. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Higashiyama formally acceded to the throne, after abdication, Reigens new home was called the Sentō-gosho. This Shinto ritual is performed once by the emperor in the period of the enthronement ceremonies. 1688, The Tokugawa shogunate revised the code of conduct for funerals, september 16,1689, German physician Engelbert Kaempfer arrives at Dejima for the first time. Bakufu policy in this era was designed to marginalize the influence of foreigners,1695, Minting begun of Genroku coinage. The shogunate placed the Japanese character gen on the obverse of copper coins, There is no connection between those uses, however. 1695, First kennel is established for stray dogs in Edo, in this context, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi comes to be nicknamed the Dog Shogun. 1697, The fourth official map of Japan was made in this year and this Genroku map was corrected in 1719 by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro, using high mountain peaks as points of reference, and was drawn to a scale of 1,21,600. 1697, Another great fire in Edo, a new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of Kanei-ji. 1701, when the Akō Incident took place, due to the bloodshed by Matsuno Ōroku,1703, The Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo and parts of the shoguns castle collapsed
23.
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
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Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada. Tsunayoshi is known for instituting animal protection laws, particularly for dogs and this earned him the nickname of the dog shogun. He had a dog named Takemaru, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was born on February 23,1646, in Edo. He was the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu by one of his concubines, named Otama, Tsunayoshi had an elder brother already five years old, who would become the next shogun after Iemitsus death, Tokugawa Ietsuna. Tsunayoshi was born in Edo and after his birth moved in with his mother to her own apartments in Edo Castle. While his father was shogun, his mother was a daughter of the Honjō family. His mothers natural parent was Rokujo Arizumi, a noble in Kyoto. In 1651, Shogun Iemitsu died when Tsunayoshi was only five years old and his older brother, Tokugawa Ietsuna, became shogun. For the most part, Tsunayoshis life during the reign of his brother Shogun Ietsuna is unknown, june 4,1680, Shogun Ietsunas death leads to the accession of Tsunayoshi as head of the shogunate. 1680–81, Gokoku-ji in Edo is founded in honor of Tsunayoshis mother, a power struggle ensued, and for a time, the succession remained an open question. Finally, in 1681, Tsunayoshis elevation was confirmed, and he was installed as the shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. Immediately after becoming shogun, Tsunayoshi gave Hotta Masatoshi the title of Tairō, almost immediately after he became shogun, he ordered a vassal of the Takata to commit suicide because of misgovernment, showing his strict approach to the samurai code. He then confiscated his fief of 250,000 koku, during his reign, he would confiscate a total of 1,400,000 koku. In 1682, Shogun Tsunayoshi ordered his censors and police to raise the standard of the people. Soon, prostitution was banned, waitresses could not be employed in tea houses, most probably, smuggling began as a practice in Japan soon after Tsunayoshis authoritarian laws came into effect. In 1684, Tsunayoshi also decreased the power of the tairō after the assassination of Masatoshi by a cousin in that same year, nonetheless, due again to maternal advice, Tsunayoshi became very religious, promoting the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi. In 1682, he read to the daimyo an exposition of the Great Learning and he soon began to lecture even more, and in 1690 lectured about Neo-Confucian work to Shinto and Buddhist daimyō, and even to envoys from the court of Emperor Higashiyama in Kyoto
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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
25.
Shoin
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Shoin is a type of audience hall in Japanese architecture that was developed during the Muromachi period. The term originally meant a study and a place for lectures on the sūtra within a temple, from this room takes its name the shoin-zukuri style. In a shoin-zukuri building, the shoin is the zashiki, a dedicated to the reception of guests. The emerging architecture of the Muromachi period was influenced by the increasing use. One of the most noticeable changes in architecture to arise from the shoin came from the practice of lining their floors with tatami mats. Before the shoin popularized the practice of lining floors with tatami mats it had been standard to bring out a single tatami mat for the highest-ranking person in the room to sit on. The architecture surrounding and influenced by the shoin quickly developed many other distinguishing features, since the guests sat on the floor instead of on furniture, they were positioned at a lower vantage point than their Chinese counterparts who were accustomed to using furniture. The new suspended ceilings also allowed for elaborate decoration, resulting in many highly ornate suspended ceilings in addition to the much simpler ones. Another characteristic development to arise from the vantage point were the tokonoma. The tokonoma was a recess built into the wall to create a space for displaying the Chinese art which was popular at the time at a comfortable eye level. The chigaidana, or staggered shelves, were shelving structures built into the tokonoma to display smaller objects, occurring at the same time as the development of the shoin architecture, the fusuma, or sliding doors, were becoming a popular means to divide rooms. As a result, columns began to be created that were square-shaped to accommodate the sliding doors, soon after its advent shoin architecture became associated with these evolving elements as it became the predominant format for formal gathering rooms
26.
Katana
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Historically, katana were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords that were used by the samurai of ancient and feudal Japan. The katana is characterized by its appearance, a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard. These references to uchigatana and tsubagatana seem to indicate a different style of sword, the Mongol invasions of Japan faciliated a change in the designs of Japanese swords. Thin tachi and chokuto style blades were often unable to cut through the boiled leather armour of the Mongols, the evolution of the tachi into what would become the katana seems to have continued during the early Muromachi period. Starting around the year 1400, long swords signed with the signature were made. This was in response to samurai wearing their tachi in what is now called katana style, Japanese swords are traditionally worn with the signature facing away from the wearer. When a tachi was worn in the style of a katana, with the cutting edge up, the fact that swordsmiths started signing swords with a katana signature shows that some samurai of that time period had started wearing their swords in a different manner. The rise in popularity of katana amongst samurai came about due to the nature of close-combat warfare. The quicker draw of the sword was well suited to combat where victory depended heavily on short response times, the katana further facilitated this by being worn thrust through a belt-like sash with the sharpened edge facing up. Ideally, samurai could draw the sword and strike the enemy in a single motion, previously, the curved tachi had been worn with the edge of the blade facing down and suspended from a belt. The length of the katana blade varied considerably during the course of its history, in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, katana blades tended to have lengths between 70 and 73 centimetres. During the early 16th century, the average length dropped about 10 centimetres, by the late 16th century, the average length had increased again by about 13 centimetres, returning to approximately 73 centimetres. The katana was often paired with a smaller companion sword, such as a wakizashi, or it could also be worn with the tantō. The pairing of a katana with a sword is called the daishō. Only samurai could wear the daisho, it represented the social power, during the Meiji period, the samurai class was gradually disbanded, and the special privileges granted to them were taken away including the right to carry swords in public. The Haitōrei Edict in 1876 forbade the carrying of swords in public except for individuals, such as former samurai lords, the military. Skilled swordsmiths had trouble making a living during this period as Japan modernized its military, and many swordsmiths started making other items, such as equipment, tools. Military action by Japan in China and Russia during the Meiji period helped revive interest in swords, Japanese military swords produced between 1875 and 1945 are referred to as guntō
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Satsuma Domain
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Satsuma Domain, also known as Kagoshima Domain, was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with the provinces of Satsuma, Osumi and Hyūga in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, in the han system, Satsuma was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka and this was different from the feudalism of the West. The domain was ruled from Kagoshima Castle in Kagoshima city and its kokudaka was assessed at 770,000 koku, the second highest kokudaka after that of Kaga Domain. The Shimazu family controlled Satsuma province for four centuries prior to the beginning of the Edo period. Despite being chastised by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his 1587 Kyūshū Campaign, during the decisive battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the Shimazu fought on the losing side. Satsuma was one of the most powerful feudal domains in Tokugawa Japan and it was controlled throughout the Edo period by the tozama daimyō of the Shimazu clan. Since the mid-15th century, Satsuma fought with the Ryūkyū Kingdom for control of the Northern Ryūkyū Islands which lay southwest of Japan, in 1609, Shimazu Iehisa requested permission from the shogunate to invade Ryūkyū. After a three-month war which met resistance, Satsuma captured the Ryūkyūan capital of Shuri. In the ensuing treaty, Satsuma annexed the Amami and Tokara Islands, demanded tribute. For the remainder of the Edo period, Satsuma influenced their politics, though not the wealthiest han in terms of kokudaka, Satsuma remained among the wealthiest and most powerful domains throughout the Edo period. The Shimazu exercised their influence to exact from the shogunate a number of special exceptions and they also received special exceptions from the shogunate in regard to the policy of sankin kōtai, another policy meant to restrict the wealth and power of the daimyō. Under this policy, every feudal lord was mandated to travel to Edo at least once a year, the Shimazu were granted permission to make this journey only once every two years. These exceptions thus allowed Satsuma to gain more power and wealth relative to the majority of other domains. Though arguably opposed to the shogunate, Satsuma was perhaps one of the strictest domains in enforcing particular policies, in the 1830s, Satsuma used its illegal Okinawa trade to rebuild its finances under Zusho Hirosato. The Satsuma Daimyo of the 1850s, Shimazu Nariakira, was interested in Western thought and technology. At the time, contacts with Westerners increased dramatically, particularly for Satsuma, as Western ships frequently landed in the Ryukyus and sought not only trade, to increase his influence in the Shogunate, Nariakira engineered a marriage between Shogun Tokugawa Iesada and his adopted daughter, Atsu-hime. In 1854, the first year of Iesadas reign, Commodore Perry landed in Japan, however, the treaties signed between Japan and the western powers, particularly the Harris Treaty of 1858, put Japan at a serious disadvantage
28.
Ichiriki Chaya
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Ichiriki-tei ) is one of the most famous and historic ochaya in Kyoto, Japan. It is located at the southeast corner of Shijō Dori and Hanami Koji and it is considered an exclusive and high-end establishment, access is invitation only and entertainment can cost upwards of 800,000 yen a night. The Ichiriki is over 300 years old, and has been a centerpiece of Gion since the beginning of the entertainment district. Like other ochaya in Gion, Ichiriki was a place where men of status and power went to be entertained by Geisha, who distracted guests through dancing, banter, Ichiriki has traditionally entertained those of political and business power. The house is run by the Sugiura family, and the nameplate on the gate reads Sugiura Jirouemon. The noren curtain at the features the characters ichi and riki printed in black on a dark red ground, stacked vertically and touching. It is said that the establishment was originally called yorozuya, but in the play Kanadehon Chūshingura the name was changed by splitting the character into 一 and 力, disguising the name. Due to the play being a success, this was then adopted by the house itself. The Ichiriki plays a part in the events of the Akō vendetta, Kira Yoshinaka, who incited the attack with a series of verbal abuses, was left unpunished. The ronin samurai, moved to obey the bushido code of honor. The ronin, led by Oishi Kuranosuke, realize they will be monitored in case they enact an attempt at revenge, thus, in an effort to dissuade the suspecting parties and Imperial spies, they send Kuranosuke to Kyoto. Kuranosuke spends many nights in Ichiriki Chaya, earning a reputation as a gambler, as he gives the appearance of becoming more and more relaxed and unprepared, Kira becomes less active in his suspicions and relaxes his security. Because the Ichiriki provided the cover to mount an attack, the ronin eventually killed Yoshinaka and were forced to commit seppuku themselves and this story has been retold numerous times, a genre known as Chūshingura, which has served to increase the fame of Ichiriki Chaya. As modernization spread through Japan during the years of the Edo Period, unrest spread with it. The plans came to fruition in 1868 when the last shogun agreed to dissolve the shogunate at Nijo Castle, access to the Ichiriki is the height of exclusivity, fierce ties to the ochaya must first be established before one can become a patron. Relationships to the ochaya can often be traced back generations, and only these wealthy honored patrons and their guests, the Ichiriki does not prepare food, but customers can order catering a la carte, which is delivered to the house. Guests can also be shown around the house, and see various decorations, such as a display of the forty-seven ronin. The Ichiriki is structured in the style of its original traditional Japanese architecture, the structure of the building is mostly wood, and is designed to protect the privacy of its patrons
29.
Revenge
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Revenge is a form of primitive justice usually assumed to be enacted in the absence of the norms of formal law and jurisprudence. Often, revenge is defined as being an action against a person or group in response to a grievance. It is used to right a wrong by going outside of the law and this is because the individual taking revenge feels as though the law will not do justice. Francis Bacon described it as a kind of justice that does. Offend the law putteth the law out of office, primitive justice or retributive justice is often differentiated from more formal and refined forms of justice such as distributive justice and divine judgment. Detractors argue that revenge is simply wrong, of the design as two wrongs make a right. They dont want to lose face, some societies encourage vengeful behavior, which is called feud. These societies usually regard the honor of individuals and groups as of central importance, thus, while protecting of his reputation an avenger feels as if he restores the previous state of dignity and justice. According to Michael Ignatieff, revenge is a profound desire to keep faith with the dead. Thus, honor may become a heritage that passes from generation to generation, whenever it is compromised, the affected family or community members might feel compelled to retaliate against an offender to restore the initial balance of honor that preceded the perceived injury. This cycle of honor might expand by bringing the family members and they still persist in some areas, notably in Albania with its tradition of gjakmarrja or blood feuds. Blood feuds are still practiced in parts of the world, including Kurdish regions of Turkey. Honoring ones family, clan, or lord through the practice of revenge killings and these killings could also involve the relatives of an offender. Today, katakiuchi is most often pursued by means. The motto of Scotland is Nemo me impune lacessit, Latin for Nobody shall provoke/injure me with impunity, the origin of the motto reflects the feudal clan system of ancient Scotland, particularly the Highlands. Modern Western legal systems usually state as their goal the reform or reeducation of a convicted criminal, Sudan has suffered cycles of revenge for many years, for example tribal conflicts in Darfur. South Sudan is torn by conflicts with ethnic cleansing between the Nuer and Dinka peoples, fueled by appetite for revenge. The French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord has been credited with the saying, La vengeance est un met que lon doit manger froid and it has been wrongly credited to the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses
30.
Kaishakunin
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A kaishakunin is an appointed second whose duty is to behead one who has committed seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide, at the moment of agony. The role played by the kaishakunin is called kaishaku, aside from the purpose of being spared prolonged anguish until death, both the condemned and those on hand to observe are spared the spectacle of the writhing death throes that would ensue. The most recent kaishakunin of the 20th century was Hiroyasu Koga, if seated, the kaishakunin will rise slowly, first on his knees, then stepping with the right foot while drawing the katana very slowly and silently and standing up in the same fashion. If the kaishakunin was in a stance, he will draw his sword slowly and silently as well. In both cases, after the sword is out of the scabbard, he will raise it with the right hand, in any case, the kaishakunin will always keep eye contact with the samurai performing seppuku, and waiting for his cut through his abdomen. Just before making contact, the kaishakunin grips the handle with both hands, giving precision to the blade and strength to the downward cut. The complete cut-slash-withdraw motion is called daki-kubi, in some seppuku rituals, no disembowelment occurs. The condemned person merely moves the dagger, or, sometimes, in this variation, the kaishakunin becomes in effect the executioner, and seppuku becomes effectively a beheading
31.
Ashigaru
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Ashigaru were foot-soldiers employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The first known reference to ashigaru was in the 14th century and these horse-owning landowners were the beginnings of the samurai class and the men who worked the land for the landowners became the common foot soldiers during times of war. These foot soldiers could have ties and loyalty to the landowners which went back many generations. Land-owning samurai, together with peasant foot soldiers, fought in many wars, constant warfare between the 14th and 16th centuries made the hiring of foot soldiers with no particular loyalty necessary at times. Paid only in loot, these mercenaries were not well-trained and thus could not always be depended upon in battle and these wandering foot soldiers eventually became the ashigaru. Ashigaru were commonly armed with naginata, yari, yumi and swords, the warfare of the Sengoku period required large quantities of armour to be produced for the ever-growing armies of ashigaru. In the 16th century the ashigaru were also armed with matchlocks of the known as tanegashima. Small banners called sashimono could be worn on their backs during battle for identification, in the Ōnin War, ashigaru gained a reputation as unruly troops when they looted and burned Miyako. In the following Sengoku period the aspect of the changed from single combat to massed formations. Therefore, ashigaru became the backbone of many armies and some of them rose to greater prominence. Those who were given control of ashigaru were called ashigarugashira The most famous of them was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, yamauchi Kazutoyo was one of such samurai and later daimyo who rose from ashigaru. Ashigaru formed the backbone of samurai armies in the later periods, the real change for the ashigaru began in 1543 with the introduction of matchlock firearms by the Portuguese. Almost immediately local daimyōs started to equip their ashigaru with the new weapon that required little training to use proficiently, as battles became more complex and forces larger, ashigaru were rigorously trained so that they would hold their ranks in the face of enemy fire. The advantage of the guns proved decisive to samurai warfare. After the battle, the role in the armies were cemented as a very powerful complement to the samurai. The advantage was used in the two invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597 against the Koreans and later the Ming-dynasty Chinese. Though the ratio of the guns and the bows was 2,1 at the first invasion the ratio became 4,1 at the invasion since the guns were very effective. Following the rise of the Tokugawa shogunate the conscription of ashigaru fell into disuse, since ashigarus change to the professional soldier was advanced after Oda Nobunaga, the ashigaru separated from the farmer gradually
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Japanese name
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Japanese names in modern times usually consist of a family name, followed by a given name. More than one name is not generally used. Japanese names are written in kanji, which are characters usually Chinese in origin. The kanji for a name may have a variety of possible Japanese pronunciations, Names written in hiragana or katakana are phonetic renderings, and so lack the visual meaning of names expressed in the logographic kanji. Japanese family names are extremely varied, according to estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan, the three most common family names in Japan are Satō, Suzuki, and Takahashi. Many Japanese family names derive from features of the landscape, for example, Ishikawa means stone river, Yamamoto means the base of the mountain. While family names follow relatively consistent rules, given names are more diverse in pronunciation. Unusual pronunciations have especially become common, with this trend having increased significantly since the 1990s, male names often end in -rō or -ta, or contain ichi, kazu, ji, or dai while female names often end in -ko or -mi. Other popular endings for female names include -ka and -na, the majority of Japanese people have one surname and one given name with no other names, except for the Japanese imperial family, whose members bear no surname. The family name – myōji, uji or sei – precedes the given name, the given name may be referred to as the lower name because, in vertically written Japanese, the given name appears under the family name. People with mixed Japanese and foreign parentage may have middle names, historically, myōji, uji and sei had different meanings. Sei was originally the patrilineal surname which is why up till now it has granted only by the emperor as a title of male rank. The lower form of the name sei being tei which is a name in Japanese men. Although there was an ancestor in ancient Japan from whom the name Sei originally came. There were relatively few sei, and most of the noble clans trace their lineage either directly to these sei or to the courtiers of these sei. Uji was another name used to designate patrilineal descent, but later merged with myōji around the same time, myōji was, simply, what a family chooses to call itself, as opposed to the sei granted by the emperor. While it was passed on patrilineally in male ancestors including in male ancestors called haku, multiple Japanese characters have the same pronunciations, so several Japanese names have multiple meanings. A particular kanji itself can have multiple meanings and pronunciations, in some names, Japanese characters phonetically spell a name and have no intended meaning behind them
33.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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Yamamoto Tsunetomo, also read Yamamoto Jōchō, was a samurai of the Saga Domain in Hizen Province under his lord Nabeshima Mitsushige. For thirty years Yamamoto devoted his life to the service of his lord, when Nabeshima died in 1700, Yamamoto did not choose to follow his master in death in junshi because the master had expressed a dislike of the practice in his life. Instead, Yamamoto followed his lords wishes and refrained from junshi, after some disagreements with Nabeshimas successor, Yamamoto renounced the world and retired to a hermitage in the mountains. Later in life, he narrated many of his thoughts to a fellow samurai, many of these aphorisms concerned his lords father and grandfather Naoshige and the failing ways of the samurai caste. These commentaries were compiled and published in 1716 under the title of Hagakure, the Hagakure was not widely known during the years following Tsunetomos death, but by the 1930s it had become one of the most famous representatives of bushido taught in Japan. In 2011 a manga/comic book version was published Hagakure, The Manga Edition, translated by William Scott Wilson, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson, Tsunetomo believed that becoming one with death in ones thoughts, even in life, was the highest attainment of purity and focus. He felt that a resolution to die gives rise to a state of life, infused with beauty. Some viewed him as a man of action due to some of his quotes. Yamamoto Tsunetomo is also known as Yamamoto Jōchō, the name he took after retiring and becoming a monk, Hagakure, The Book of the Samurai. De Bary, William Theodore, Carol Gluck, Arthur E. Tiedemann, Andrew E. Barshay, Samurai, The World of the Warrior. Hagakure Kikigaki, Orated Aphorisms of Yamamoto Jocho Hagakure, zen and the Art of Divebombing, or The Dark Side of the Tao by Kelley L. Ross, Ph. D
34.
Hagakure
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Tsuramoto Tashiro compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716, however, it was not published until many years afterwards. Hagakure is also known as The Book of the Samurai, Analects of Nabeshima or Hagakure Analects, the book records Tsunetomos views on bushido, the warrior code of the samurai. His saying the way of the warrior is death was a summation of the willingness to sacrifice that bushido codified. After his master died, Tsunetomo himself was forbidden to perform junshi, Hagakure may have been written partially in an effort to outline the role of the samurai in a more peaceful society. Several sections refer to the old days, and imply a dangerous weakening of the class since that time. The Hagakure was written approximately one hundred years after the start of the Tokugawa era, with no major campaigns to fight, the samurai were transforming from a warrior to an administrative class. His work represents one approach to the problem of maintaining military preparedness, bushido, The Way of the Samurai, Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Translated by Justin F. Stone and Minoru Tanaka, Square One Publishers,2003, ISBN 0-7570-0026-6
35.
Osaka
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Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Japan. Historically a merchant city, Osaka has also known as the nations kitchen. Some of the earliest signs of habitation in the Osaka area at the Morinomiya ruins comprise shell mounds, sea oysters. It is believed that what is today the Uehonmachi area consisted of a land with an inland sea in the east. During the Yayoi period, permanent habitation on the plains grew as rice farming became popular, by the Kofun period, Osaka developed into a hub port connecting the region to the western part of Japan. The large numbers of increasingly larger tomb mounds found in the plains of Osaka are seen as evidence of political-power concentration, in 645, Emperor Kōtoku built his Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace in what is now Osaka, making it the capital of Japan. The city now known as Osaka was at this time referred to as Naniwa, although the capital was moved to Asuka in 655, Naniwa remained a vital connection, by land and sea, between Yamato, Korea, and China. Naniwa was declared the capital again in 744 by order of Emperor Shōmu, and remained so until 745, in 1496, Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists established their headquarters in the heavily fortified Ishiyama Hongan-ji, located directly on the site of the old Naniwa Imperial Palace. Oda Nobunaga began a siege campaign on the temple in 1570 which ultimately resulted in the surrender of the monks. Toyotomi Hideyoshi constructed Osaka Castle in its place in 1583, Osaka was long considered Japans primary economic center, with a large percentage of the population belonging to the merchant class. Over the course of the Edo period, Osaka grew into one of Japans major cities and returned to its ancient role as a lively and its popular culture was closely related to ukiyo-e depictions of life in Edo. By 1780 Osaka had cultivated a vibrant arts culture, as typified by its famous Kabuki, in 1837 Ōshio Heihachirō, a low-ranking samurai, led a peasant insurrection in response to the citys unwillingness to support the many poor and suffering families in the area. Approximately one-quarter of the city was razed before shogunal officials put down the rebellion, Osaka was opened to foreign trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Hyōgo on 1 January 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration. Osaka residents were stereotyped in Edo literature from at least the 18th century, jippenisha Ikku in 1802 depicted Osakans as stingy almost beyond belief. Edo writers aspired to samurai culture, and saw themselves as poor but generous, chaste, Edo writers by contrast saw zeeroku as obsequious apprentices, stingy, greedy, gluttonous, and lewd. The modern municipality was established in 1889 by government ordinance, with an area of 15 square kilometres, overlapping todays Chūō. Later, the city went through three major expansions to reach its current size of 223 square kilometres, Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Japan. It became known as the Manchester of the Orient, the rapid industrialization attracted many Korean immigrants, who set up a life apart for themselves
