1.
Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
2.
Japanese people
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Japanese people are an ethnic group native to Japan. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of the population of their country. Worldwide, approximately 129 million people are of Japanese descent, of these, people of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries are referred to as the Japanese diaspora. The term ethnic Japanese may also be used in some contexts to refer to ethnic groups, including the Yamato, Ainu. The Japanese language is a Japonic language that in the past was treated as a language isolate, the Japanese language has a tripartite writing system using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Domestic Japanese people use primarily Japanese for daily interaction, the adult literacy rate in Japan exceeds 99%. Japanese religion has traditionally been syncretic in nature, combining elements of Buddhism, Shinto, a polytheistic religion with no book of religious canon, is Japans native religion. Mahayana Buddhism came to Japan in the century and evolved into many different sects. Today, the largest form of Buddhism among Japanese people is the Jōdo Shinshū sect founded by Shinran, most Japanese people profess to believe in both Shinto and Buddhism. Japanese peoples religion functions mostly as a foundation for mythology, traditions, Christianity in Japan is among the nations minority religions. Just under 2%, or about 2.5 million, of Japans population are Christians, many Japanese practice Christianity in the diaspora in Brazil, which is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. About 60% of Japanese Brazilians are Roman Catholics, while 90% of Japanese Mexicans are Roman Catholic, certain genres of writing originated in and are often associated with Japanese society. These include the haiku, tanka, and I Novel, although modern writers generally avoid these writing styles, historically, many works have sought to capture or codify traditional Japanese cultural values and aesthetics. Twentieth-century Japanese writers recorded changes in Japanese society through their works, some of the most notable authors included Natsume Sōseki, Junichirō Tanizaki, Osamu Dazai, Yasunari Kawabata, Fumiko Enchi, Yukio Mishima, and Ryōtarō Shiba. In contemporary Japan, popular authors such as Ryū Murakami, Haruki Murakami, decorative arts in Japan date back to prehistoric times. Jōmon pottery includes examples with elaborate ornamentation, in the Yayoi period, artisans produced mirrors, spears, and ceremonial bells known as dōtaku. Later burial mounds, or kofun, preserve characteristic clay haniwa, beginning in the Nara period, painting, calligraphy, and sculpture flourished under strong Confucian and Buddhist influences from China. Among the architectural achievements of this period are the Hōryū-ji and the Yakushi-ji, after the cessation of official relations with the Tang dynasty in the ninth century, Japanese art and architecture gradually became less influenced by China
3.
Akira Kurosawa
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Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director in 1943, during World War II. The two men would go on to collaborate on another 15 films, Kurosawas wife, Yōko Yaguchi, was also an actress in one of his films. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa directed approximately a film a year, including a number of highly regarded films such as Ikiru, Seven Samurai, in 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Kurosawa was born on March 23,1910 in Ōimachi in the district of Tokyo. In addition to promoting physical exercise, Isamu Kurosawa was open to western traditions and considered theater and he encouraged his children to watch films, young Akira viewed his first movies at the age of six. During this time, the boy also studied calligraphy and Kendo swordsmanship, another major childhood influence was Heigo Kurosawa, Akiras older brother by four years. In the aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, which devastated Tokyo, some commentators have suggested that this incident would influence Kurosawas later artistic career, as the director was seldom hesitant to confront unpleasant truths in his work. In the late 1920s, Heigo became a benshi for Tokyo theaters showing foreign films, Akira, who at this point planned to become a painter, moved in with him, and the two brothers became inseparable. Through Heigo, Akira devoured not only films but also theater and circus performances, while exhibiting his paintings, with the increasing production of talking pictures in the early 1930s, film narrators like Heigo began to lose work, and Akira moved back in with his parents. In July 1933, Heigo committed suicide, only four months later, Kurosawas eldest brother also died, leaving Akira, at age 23, the only one of the Kurosawa brothers still living, together with his three surviving sisters. In 1935, the new film studio Photo Chemical Laboratories, known as P. C. L and his half-mocking view was that if the deficiencies were fundamental, there was no way to correct them. Kurosawas essay earned him a call to take the exams, and director Kajirō Yamamoto. The 25-year-old Kurosawa joined P. C. L. in February 1936, during his five years as an assistant director, Kurosawa worked under numerous directors, but by far the most important figure in his development was Kajiro Yamamoto. Of his 24 films as A. D. he worked on 17 under Yamamoto, many of them featuring the popular actor Kenichi Enomoto. Yamamoto nurtured Kurosawas talent, promoting him directly from third assistant director to assistant director after a year. In the last of Kurosawas films as an assistant director, Horse, Kurosawa took over most of the production, One important piece of advice Yamamoto gave Kurosawa was that a good director needed to master screenwriting
4.
Shizuoka Prefecture
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Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. The capital is the city of Shizuoka, while Hamamatsu is the largest city by population, Shizuoka Prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces. The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu held the region until he conquered the lands of the Hōjō clan in the Kantō region and placed land under the stewardship of Oda Nobunaga. After becoming shogun, Tokugawa took the back for his family. With the creation of Shizuoka han in 1868, it again became the residence of the Tokugawa family. Shizuoka Prefecture is an elongated region following the coast of the Pacific Ocean at the Suruga Bay, in the west, the prefecture extends deep into the Japan Alps. In the east, it becomes a narrower coast bounded in the north by Mount Fuji, until it comes to the Izu Peninsula, throughout history, a disastrous earthquake called the Tokai earthquake has hit Shizuoka every 100 to 150 years. On Tuesday, March 15,2011, Shizuoka Prefecture was hit with a magnitude 6.2 earthquake approximately 42 km NNE of Shizuoka City, ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official Shizuoka Prefecture website Official Shizuoka Guide
5.
Engaku-ji
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Not to be confused with Enryaku-ji in Kyoto. Zuirokuzan Engaku Kōshō Zenji, or Engaku-ji, is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakuras Five Mountains and it is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture to the south of Tokyo. The temple was founded in 1282 by a Chinese Zen monk at the request of the ruler of Japan. The fortunes of the temple have waxed and waned over the centuries and its present form is owed to the Zen priest Seisetsu, who reconstructed and consolidated it towards the end of the Edo era. Zazen courses are held in the temple. Fire has damaged many of the buildings at different times, there are altogether 18 temples on the site.5 metres tall the largest of all the many temple bells of Kamakura. Grave of film director Yasujirō Ozu, marked mu Of these, the Shari-den, there is an admission fee for visitors to enter the temple complex, and additional similar charges to enter a few of the buildings. For an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, list of National Treasures of Japan Richmond, S. & Dodd, J. Rough guide to Japan, 3rd edn. Information leaflet issued by the temple authorities Kamakura travel guide from Wikivoyage Official website Engakuji Temple at Kamakura, History & Historic Sites Engakuji
6.
Kamakura
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Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about 50 kilometres south-south-west of Tokyo. Kamakura was designated as a city on November 3,1939, as of September 1,2016, the modern city has an estimated population of 172,302 and a population density of 4,358.77 persons per km². The total area is 39.53 km2, as a coastal city with a high number of seasonal festivals, as well as ancient Buddhist and Shinto shrines and temples, Kamakura is a popular tourist destination within Japan. Surrounded to the north, east and west by hills and to the south by the water of Sagami Bay. The natural fortification made Kamakura an easily defensible stronghold, to the north of the city stands Mt. Genji, which then passes behind the Daibutsu and reaches Inamuragasaki and the sea. From Kamakuras alluvional plain branch off numerous narrow valleys like the Urigayatsu, Shakadōgayatsu, Ōgigayatsu, Kamegayatsu, Hikigayatsu, Kamakura is crossed by the Namerigawa river, which goes from the Asaina Pass in northern Kamakura to the beach in Yuigahama for a total length of about 8 kilometres. The river marks the border between Zaimokuza and Yuigahama, in administrative terms, the municipality of Kamakura borders with Yokohama to the north, with Zushi to the east, and with Fujisawa to the west. North-west of Kamakura lies Yamanouchi, commonly called Kita-Kamakura because of the presence of East Japan Railway Companys Kita-Kamakura Station, Yamanouchi, however, was technically never a part of historical Kamakura since it is outside the Seven Entrances. Yamanouchi was the border of the city during the shogunate. Its name at the used to be Sakado-gō. The border post used to lie about a hundred meters past todays Kita-Kamakura train station in Ofunas direction. Although very small, Yamanouchi is famous for its traditional atmosphere and these three great temples were built here because Yamanouchi was the home territory of the Hōjō clan, a branch of the Taira clan which ruled Japan for 150 years. Among Kita-Kamakuras most illustrious citizens were artist Isamu Noguchi and movie director Yasujirō Ozu, Kamakuras defining feature is Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, a Shinto shrine in the center of the city. A1. 8-kilometre road runs from Sagami Bay directly to the shrine and this road is known as Wakamiya Ōji, the citys main street. Built by Minamoto no Yoritomo as an imitation of Kyotos Suzaku Ōji, Wakamiya Ōji used to be much wider, delimited on both sides by a 3 metre deep canal and flanked by pine trees. Walking from the beach toward the shrine, one passes through three torii, or Shinto gates, called respectively Ichi no Torii, Ni no Torii and San no Torii. Between the first and the second lies Geba Yotsukado which, as the name indicates, was the place where riders had to get off their horses in deference to Hachiman and his shrine. Approximately 100 metres after the second torii, the dankazura, a raised pathway flanked by trees that marks the center of Kamakura
7.
Fenghuang
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Fenghuang are mythological birds of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The fenghuang is also called the August Rooster since it takes the place of the Rooster in the Chinese zodiac. In the West, it is called the Chinese phoenix or simply Phoenix. A common depiction of fenghuang was of it attacking snakes with its talons and its wings spread. The fenghuangs body symbolizes the celestial bodies, the head is the sky, the eyes are the sun, the back is the moon, the wings are the wind, the feet are the earth, the fenghuang is said to have originated in the sun. Its body contain the five colors, black, white, red, yellow. It sometimes carries scrolls or a box with sacred books and it is sometimes depicted with a fireball. It is sometimes depicted as having three legs and it is believed that the bird only appears in areas or places that are blessed with utmost peace and prosperity or happiness. Chinese tradition cites it as living atop the Kunlun Mountains in northern China, some believe they may have been a good-luck totem among eastern tribes of ancient China. During the Han dynasty two phoenixes, one a male and the other a female were often shown together facing one other. Later, during the Yuan dynasty the two terms were merged to become fenghuang, but the King of Birds came to symbolize the empress when paired with a dragon as a dragon represented the emperor. Also during this period, the fenghuang was used as a representing the direction south. This was portrayed through a male and female facing each other and their feathers were of the five fundamental colors, black, white, red, green, and yellow. The phoenix represented power sent from the heavens to the Empress, if a phoenix was used to decorate a house it symbolized that loyalty and honesty were in the people that lived there. Or alternatively, a phoenix only stays when the ruler is without darkness, the fenghuang has very positive connotations. It is a symbol of virtue and grace. The fenghuang also symbolizes the union of yin and yang, in ancient and modern Chinese culture, they can often be found in the decorations for weddings or royalty, along with dragons. This is because the Chinese considered the dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife, another common yang and yin metaphor
8.
Shochiku
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Shochiku Company Limited is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films and its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada. Shochiku has also produced films by highly regarded independent and loner directors such as Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Akira Kurosawa, the company was founded in 1895, which makes it the oldest company in Japan involved in film production. The name was changed in 1937 to the reading of Shōchiku. The company began making films in 1920, about a decade after its main rival Nikkatsu, renaming itself “Shochiku Kinema”, the company sought to break away from the prevailing pattern of jidai-geki and to emulate Hollywood standards. It was the first film studio to abandon the use of female impersonators and brought new ideas, including the star system and the sound stage to Japan. It built its main studio at Kamata, between Tokyo and Yokohama, and hired Henry Kotani, an American-born Japanese who had worked in Hollywood as an actor to direct its first film, “Island Woman”. With the reopening of its Kamata studios, Shochiku also introduced the shomin-geki genre and these dramas proved immensely popular, and marked the start of the careers of many prominent directors and actors. In 1931, Shochiku released the first “talkie” made in Japan, The Neighbors Wife, the following year, Shochiku Kinema was merged with its parent company, Shochiku Entertainment, and adopted the new name of Shochiku Corporation. During the war years, Shochikus President, Shiro Kido, helped establish the Dai Nippon Eiga Kyokai, from the mid-1930s until 1945, the films produced by Shochiku and other Japanese movie companies were propagandistic. After the Surrender of Japan, Kido and Shochikus co-founder Otani were arrested and charged with Class-A war crimes by the Allied occupation authorities. In 1953, after the end of the Occupation, Kido returned to Shochiku, directors associated with Shochiku in this era included Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Noboru Nakamura and Hideo Oba. Many of the films during the 1950s were aimed primarily at female audiences, in particular, Hideo Oba’s “What is Your Name. ” was the most commercially successful film of the period. By the start of the 1960s, Shochiku’s films were criticized as “old-fashioned” with the popularity of rival Nikkatsu’s Taiyo-zoku youth-orientated movies, Shochiku continued to maintain its family-orientated audience largely due to the phenomenal success of the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series directed by Yoji Yamada from 1969 through 1997. However, with the death of its star Kiyoshi Atsumi, the series came to an end, and the company faced increasing financial difficulties. The Ofuna studio was transformed into a theme park, Kamakura Cinema World, but this was closed in 1998. Since that time, Shochiku has relied on its film studio, yoji’s “The Twilight Samurai” was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Picture. Shochiku has also served as a distributor of theatrical anime. as of October 2015 Kabuki-za Theatrical Corp.3. 44% Mizuho Corporate Bank,3. 22% Asakusa International Theater, media related to Shochiku at Wikimedia Commons Shochiku Co. Ltd
9.
Order of the Rising Sun
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The Order of the Rising Sun is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, the badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun. The design of the Rising Sun symbolizes energy as powerful as the sun in parallel with the rising sun concept of Japan. Prior to the end of World War II, it was awarded for exemplary military service. While it is the third highest order bestowed by the Japanese government, the modern version of this honour has been conferred on non-Japanese recipients beginning in 1981, and women were awarded the Order starting in 2003. The awarding of the Order is administered by the Decoration Bureau of Office of the Prime Minister and it is awarded in the name of the Emperor and can be awarded posthumously. It can be awarded to Japanese as well as non-Japanese nationals, the Order was awarded in nine classes until 2003, when the Grand Cordon with Paulownia Flowers was made a separate order, and the lowest two classes were abolished. Since then, it has awarded in six classes. Conventionally, a diploma is prepared to accompany the insignia of the order, and in rare instances. The star for the Grand Cordon and Second Class is a star of eight points. It is worn on the left chest for the Grand Cordon, on the right chest for the 2nd Class. The badge for the Seventh and Eighth Classes consisted of a medal in the shape of three paulownia leaves, enamelled for the 7th Class and plain for the 8th Class. Both were suspended on a ribbon, again in white with red border stripes, both classes were abolished in 2003 and replaced by the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, a single-class order that now ranks above the Order of the Rising Sun. Order of Civil Merit Order of Chula Chom Klao and Order of the White Elephant Order of St. Michael and St. Barry C. Weaver, Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States. San Ramon, California, Orders and Medals Society of America, Japan, Cabinet Office, Decorations and Medals Decoration Bureau, Order of the Rising Sun Japan Mint, Production Process
