Gazu Hyakki Yagyō
Gazu Hyakki Yagyō is the first book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yagyō e-hon tetralogy, published in 1776. A version of the tetralogy translated and annotated in English was published in 2016. Although the title translates to "The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons," it is based on an idiom, hyakki yagyō, akin to pandemonium in English and implies an uncountable horde; the book is followed by Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, Konjaku Hyakki Shūi, Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro. The book is a supernatural bestiary, a collection of ghosts, spirits and monsters from literature and other artwork; the art of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō references a 1737 scroll-painting called the Hyakkai Zukan by artist Sawaki Sūshi. Intended as a parody of then-popular reference books such as the Wakan Sansai Zue, it ended up becoming a reference book in its own right, profoundly influencing subsequent yōkai imagery in Japan; the book proved popular enough to be reprinted three times over the course of the Edo era by various book-sellers.
The book is compiled in three sub-volumes: Yin and Wind. Yin features a foreword by poet Maki Tōei; the first volume of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, called "Yin", includes the following yōkai. The second volume of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, called "Yang", includes the following yōkai; the third volume of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, called "Wind", includes the following yōkai. Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki Konjaku Hyakki Shūi Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro Yoda, Hiroko. Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-80035-6. Toriyama, Sekien. Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō Zen Gashū. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. Ltd. pp. 10–65. ISBN 978-4-04-405101-3. "Hyakki Zufu Obake Iroha Sakuin". CSK Pavilion: Hyakki Yagyō. Retrieved 2007-04-22
Kodansha
Kodansha Ltd. is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Japan. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, it produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon and Weekly Shōnen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. Kodansha was founded by Seiji Noma in 1909, members of his family continue as its owners. Seiji Noma founded Kodansha in 1909 as a spin-off of the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai and produced the literary magazine Yūben as its first publication; the name Kodansha originated in 1911 when the publisher formally merged with the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai. The company has used its current legal name since 1958, it uses the motto "omoshirokute, tame ni naru". Kodansha Limited owns the Otowa Group, which manages subsidiary companies such as King Records and Kobunsha, publishes Nikkan Gendai, a daily tabloid, it has close ties with The Walt Disney Company, sponsors Tokyo Disneyland. Kodansha is the largest publisher in Japan.
Revenues dropped due to the 2002 recession in Japan and an accompanying downturn in the publishing industry: the company posted a loss in the 2002 financial year for the first time since the end of World War II. Kodansha sponsors the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award, which has run since 1977. Kodansha's headquarters in Tokyo once housed Noma Dōjō, a kendo practice-hall established by Seiji Noma in 1925; the hall was demolished in November 2007, replaced with a dōjō in a new building nearby. The company announced that it was closing its English-language publishing house, Kodansha International, at the end of April 2011, their American publishing house, Kodansha USA, will remain in operation. Kodansha USA began issuing new publications under the head administrator of the international branch Kentaro Tsugumi, starting in September 2012 with a hardcover release of The Spirit of Aikido. Many of Kodansha USA's older titles have been reprinted. According to Daniel Mani of Kodansha USA, Inc. "Though we did stopped publishing new books for about a year starting from late 2011, we did continue to sell most of our older title throughout that period."In October 2016, Kodansha acquired publisher Ichijinsha and turned the company into its wholly owned subsidiary.
The Kodansha company holds ownership in various broadcasting companies in Japan. It holds shares in Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, along with Kobunsha. In the 2005 takeover-war for Nippon Broadcasting System between Livedoor and Fuji TV, Kodansha supported Fuji TV by selling its stock to Fuji TV. Kodansha has a somewhat complicated relationship with Nippon Hoso Kyokai, Japan's public broadcaster. Many of the manga and novels published by Kodansha have spawned anime adaptations. Animation such as Cardcaptor Sakura aired in NHK's Eisei Anime Gekijō time-slot, Kodansha published a companion-magazine to the NHK children's show Okāsan to Issho; the two companies clash editorially, however. The October 2000 issue of Gendai accused NHK of staging footage used in a news report in 1997 on dynamite fishing in Indonesia. NHK sued Kodansha in the Tokyo District Court, which ordered Kodansha to publish a retraction and to pay ¥4 million in damages. Kodansha appealed the decision, reached a settlement where it had to issue only a partial retraction, to pay no damages.
Gendai's sister magazine Shūkan Gendai nonetheless published an article which probed further into the staged-footage controversy which has dogged NHK. Japan Foundation: Japan Foundation Special Prize, 1994. Disney Ehon Disney Gold Bedtime Tales This is a list of the manga magazines published by Kodansha according to their 2012 Company Profile. Kodomo manga magazinesComic Bom Bom Shōnen manga magazinesWeekly Shōnen Magazine Monthly Shōnen Magazine Shōnen Sirius Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine DiscontinuedShōnen Magazine Wonder Monthly Manga Shōnen Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine Magazine Special Monthly Shōnen Rival Seinen manga magazinesWeekly Young Magazine Monthly Young Magazine Morning Morning 2 Afternoon Good! Afternoon, Evening DiscontinuedMagazine Z Young Magazine Uppers Shōjo manga magazinesNakayoshi Bessatsu Friend Betsufure Dessert Nakayoshi Lovely The Dessert DiscontinuedShōjo Club Shōjo Friend Mimi Aria Josei manga magazinesBe Love Kiss Kiss Plus ITAN Gunzo, monthly literary magazine Mephisto, tri-annual literary maga
Shōgun
The Shōgun was the military dictator of Japan during the period from 1185 to 1868. The shogunate was their government. In most of this period, the shōguns were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally they were appointed by the Emperor as a ceremonial formality; the shōguns held absolute power over territories through military means. An unusual situation occurred in the Kamakura period upon the death of the first shōgun, whereby the Hōjō clan's hereditary titles of shikken and tokusō dominated the shogunate as dictatorial positions, collectively known as the Regent Rule; the shōguns during this 134-year period met the same fate as the Emperor and were reduced to figurehead status until a coup d'état in 1333, when the shōgun was restored to power in the name of the Emperor. Shōgun is the short form of Sei-i Taishōgun, the individual governing the country at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to Emperor Meiji in 1867; the tent symbolized the field commander but denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary.
The shōgun's officials were collectively the bakufu, were those who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the imperial court retained only nominal authority. In this context, the office of the shōgun had a status equivalent to that of a viceroy or governor-general, but in reality, shōguns dictated orders to everyone including the reigning Emperor. In contemporary terms, the role of the shōgun was equivalent to that of a generalissimo; the title of Sei-i Taishōgun was given to military commanders during the early Heian period for the duration of military campaigns against the Emishi, who resisted the governance of the Kyoto-based imperial court. Ōtomo no Otomaro was the first Sei-i Taishōgun. The most famous of these shōguns was Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. In the Heian period, one more shōgun was appointed. Minamoto no Yoshinaka was named sei-i taishōgun during the Genpei War, only to be killed shortly thereafter by Minamoto no Yoshitsune. In the early 11th century, daimyō protected by samurai came to dominate internal Japanese politics.
Two of the most powerful families – the Taira and Minamoto – fought for control over the declining imperial court. The Taira family seized control from 1160 to 1185, but was defeated by the Minamoto in the Battle of Dan-no-ura. Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the central government and aristocracy and established a feudal system based in Kamakura in which the private military, the samurai, gained some political powers while the Emperor and the aristocracy remained the de jure rulers. In 1192, Yoritomo was awarded the title of Sei-i Taishōgun by the Emperor and the political system he developed with a succession of shōguns as the head became known as a shogunate. Yoritomo's wife's family, the Hōjō, seized power from the Kamakura shōguns; when Yoritomo's sons and heirs were assassinated, the shōgun himself became a hereditary figurehead. Real power rested with the Hōjō regents; the Kamakura shogunate lasted for 150 years, from 1192 to 1333. In 1274 and 1281, the Mongol Empire launched invasions against Japan.
An attempt by Emperor Go-Daigo to restore imperial rule in the Kenmu Restoration in 1331 was unsuccessful, but weakened the shogunate and led to its eventual downfall. The end of the Kamakura shogunate came when Kamakura fell in 1333, the Hōjō Regency was destroyed. Two imperial families – the senior Northern Court and the junior Southern Court – had a claim to the throne; the problem was solved with the intercession of the Kamakura shogunate, who had the two lines alternate. This lasted until 1331, when Emperor Go-Daigo tried to overthrow the shogunate to stop the alternation; as a result, Daigo was exiled. Around 1334 -- 1336, Ashikaga Takauji helped; the fight against the shogunate left the Emperor with too many people claiming a limited supply of land. Takauji turned against the Emperor when the discontent about the distribution of land grew great enough. In 1336 Daigo was banished again, in favor of a new Emperor. During the Kenmu Restoration, after the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, another short-lived shōgun arose.
Prince Moriyoshi, son of Go-Daigo, was awarded the title of Sei-i Taishōgun. However, Prince Moriyoshi was put under house arrest and, in 1335, killed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi. In 1338, Ashikaga Takauji, like Minamoto no Yoritomo, a descendant of the Minamoto princes, was awarded the title of sei-i taishōgun and established the Ashikaga shogunate, which lasted until 1573; the Ashikaga had their headquarters in the Muromachi district of Kyoto, the time during which they ruled is known as the Muromachi period. While the title of Shōgun went into abeyance due to technical reasons, Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who obtained the position of Imperial Regent, gained far greater power than any of their predecessors had. Hideyoshi is considered by many historians to be among Japan's greatest rulers. Tokugawa Ieyasu seized power and established a government at Edo in 1600, he received the title sei-i taishōgun in 1603, after he forged a family tree to show he was of Minamoto descent.
The Tokugawa shogunate lasted until 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned as shōgun and abdicated his authority to Emperor Meiji. Ieyasu set a precedent in 1605 when he retired as shōgun in favour of his son Tokugawa Hidetada, though he maintained power from b
Japanese mythology
Japanese mythology embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally-based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami; this article will discuss only the typical elements present in Asian mythology, such as cosmogony, important deities, the best-known Japanese stories. Japanese myths, as recognized in the mainstream today, are based on the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki, some complementary books; the Kojiki, or "Record of Ancient Matters", is the oldest surviving account of Japan's myths and history. The Shintōshū describes the origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective, while the Hotsuma Tsutae records a different version of the mythology. One notable feature of Japanese mythology is its explanation of the origin of the Imperial Family, used to assign godhood to the imperial line; the title of the Emperor of Japan, tennō, means "heavenly sovereign". Japanese is not transliterated across all sources, see: #Spelling of proper nouns In the Japanese creation myth, the first deities which came into existence, appearing at the time of the creation of the universe, are collectively called Kotoamatsukami.
The seven generations of kami, known as Kamiyonanayo, following the formation of heaven and earth. The first two generations are individual deities called hitorigami, while the five that followed came into being as male/female pairs of kami: brothers and sisters that were married couples. In this chronicle, the Kamiyonanayo comprise 12 deities in total. In contrast, the Nihon Shoki states that the Kamiyonanayo group was the first to appear after the creation of the universe, as opposed to the Kamiyonanayo appearing after the formation of heaven and earth, it states that the first three generations of deities are hitorigami and that the generations of deities are pairs of the opposite gender, as compared to the Kojiki's two generations of hitorigami. Japan's creation narrative can be divided into the birth of the land; the seventh and last generation of Kamiyonanayo were Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto, they would be responsible for the creation of the Japanese archipelago and would engender other deities.
To help them to achieve this and Izanami were given a naginata decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko. The two deities went to the bridge between heaven and earth and churned the sea below with the halberd. Drops of salty water formed Onogoro; the deities made their home on the island. They fell in love and wished to mate. So they built. Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, when they met on the other side, the female deity, spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was proper, they had two children and Awashima, but the children were badly formed and are not considered gods in their original form. The parents, who were dismayed at their misfortune, put the children into a boat and sent them to sea, petitioned the other gods for an answer about what they had done wrong, they were informed that Izanami's lack of manners was the reason for the defective births: a woman should never speak prior to a man. So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, this time, when they met, Izanagi spoke first.
Their next union was successful. From their union were born the Ōyashima, or the eight great islands of Japan: Awaji Iyo Oki Tsukushi Iki Tsushima Sado Yamato Note that Hokkaidō, Chishima and Okinawa were not part of Japan in ancient times. Izanami died giving birth to Kagutsuchi called Homusubi due to severe burns, she was buried on Mount Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hoki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. In anger, Izanagi killed Kagutsuchi, his death created dozens of deities. The gods who were born from Izanagi and Izanami are symbolic aspects of culture. Izanagi undertook a journey to Yomi. Izanagi found little difference between Yomi and the land except for the eternal darkness. However, this suffocating darkness was enough to make him ache for life, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her, he asked her to return with him. Izanami informed him that he was too late, she had eaten the food of the underworld and now belonged to the land of the dead.
Izanagi was shocked at this news, but he refused to give in to her wishes to be left to the dark embrace of Yomi. Izanami first requested to have some time to rest, she instructed Izanagi to not come into her bedroom. After a long wait, Izanami did not come out of her bedroom, Izanagi was worried. While Izanami was sleeping, he took the comb that set it alight as a torch. Under the sudden burst of light, he saw the horrid form of the once graceful Izanami; the flesh of her ravaged body was rotting and was overrun with maggots and fou
Hakuzōsu
Hakuzōsu written Hakuzousu, is the name of a popular kitsune character who pretended to be a priest in Japanese folklore. The Buddhist monk Hakuzōsu lived in Osaka at the temple Shōrin-ji, he kept a few kitsunes in his temple. He used these kitsunes to foretell the future; the legend of Hakuzōsu became a Kyōgen play, Tsurigitsune / Konkai In this story, a hunter is visited by his uncle, the priest Hakuzōsu, who lectures his nephew on the evils of killing foxes. The hunter is nearly convinced, but after the priest departs, he hears the cry of the fox and realizes it wasn't his uncle at all but a fox in guise; the fox resumes his natural form and reverts to his wild ways, takes the bait in a trap and is captured. Stevenson, John. Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Aspects of the Moon. San Francisco Graphic Society. ISBN 978-0-9632218-0-3. "Plays Kyôgen In English". Retrieved 2017-03-30
Kachi-kachi Yama
Kachi-kachi Yama known as Kachi-Kachi Mountain and The Farmer and the Badger, is a Japanese folktale in which a tanuki is the villain, rather than the more usual boisterous, well-endowed alcoholic. As the story goes, a man caught a troublesome tanuki in his fields, tied it to a tree to kill and cook it later; when the man left for town, the tanuki cried and begged the man's wife, making some mochi, a sweet rice dish, to set him free, promising he would help her. The wife freed the animal, only to have it kill her; the tanuki planned a foul trick. Using its shapeshifting abilities, the tanuki disguised itself as the wife and cooked a soup, using the dead woman's flesh; when the man came home, the tanuki served him the soup. After the meal, the tanuki reverted to its original appearance and revealed its treachery before running off and leaving the poor man in shock and grief; the couple had been good friends with a rabbit. The rabbit told him that it would avenge his wife's death. Pretending to befriend the tanuki, the rabbit instead tortured it through various means, from dropping a bee's nest on it to'treating' the stings with a peppery poultice that burned.
The title of the story comes from the painful trick that the rabbit played. While the tanuki was carrying a heavy load of kindling on his back to make a campfire for the night, he was so burdened that he did not notice when the rabbit set fire to the kindling. Soon, the crackling sound reached its ears and it asked the rabbit what the sound was. "It is Kachi-Kachi Yama" the rabbit replied. "We are not far from it, so it is no surprise that you can hear it!". The fire reached the tanuki's back, burning it badly, but without killing it; the tanuki challenged the rabbit to a life or death contest to prove, the better creature. They were each to build a race across a lake in them; the rabbit carved its boat out of a fallen tree trunk. In other versions the rabbit built both boats; the two competitors were evenly matched at first, but the tanuki's mud boat began dissolving in the middle of the lake. As the tanuki was failing in its struggle to stay afloat, the rabbit proclaimed its friendship with the human couple, that this was the tanuki's punishment for its horrible deeds.
In other versions the rabbit strikes the tanuki with his oar to ensure he sinks. The rabbit goes back to the old man's home and tell him about the vengeance, much to the relief of the old man, he thanks the rabbit for his deed. There are other versions that alter some details of the story, such as the severity of what the tanuki did to the woman and how the tanuki got the mud boat. Mt. Kachi Kachi and its Tenjō-Yama Park Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway refer to this story and have statues depicting portions of the story. Shikoku Tanuki Train Line railway station in Japan uses the slogan "Our trains aren't made of mud", a direct reference to the "Kachi-Kachi Yama" tale. In the video game Super Mario Sunshine, in the level "Noki Bay", Mario meets a "Tanooki" who gives free rides on mud boats, a clear reference to the boat that the tanuki in this tale used. While these boats can stay afloat, they will dissolve if they stay still for too long or if they bump into something. In the anime Hoozuki no Reitetsu, the rabbit is one of the best torturers in Hell, who goes into a blind rage when someone says the word tanuki/racoon.
Bunbuku Chagama, another Japanese folktale on the tanuki Media related to Kachi-kachi Yama at Wikimedia Commons English Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Farmer and the Badger Kach-Kachi Mountain facsimile of a late 19th-century illustrated child's story-book version of the tale, in English
Anime
Anime is hand-drawn and computer animation originating from or associated with Japan. The word anime is the Japanese term for animation. Outside Japan, anime refers to animation from Japan or as a Japanese-disseminated animation style characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical themes; the culturally abstract approach to the word's meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. For simplicity, many Westerners view anime as a Japanese animation product; some scholars suggest defining anime as or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of Orientalism. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917, Japanese anime production has since continued to increase steadily; the characteristic anime art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of Osamu Tezuka and spread internationally in the late twentieth century, developing a large domestic and international audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, by way of television broadcasts, directly to home media, over the Internet.
It is classified into numerous genres targeting diverse broad and niche audiences. Anime is a diverse art form with distinctive production methods and techniques that have been adapted over time in response to emergent technologies, it consists of an ideal story-telling mechanism, combining graphic art, characterization and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. The production of anime focuses less on the animation of movement and more on the realism of settings as well as the use of camera effects, including panning and angle shots. Being hand-drawn, anime is separated from reality by a crucial gap of fiction that provides an ideal path for escapism that audiences can immerse themselves into with relative ease. Diverse art styles are used and character proportions and features can be quite varied, including characteristically large emotive or realistically sized eyes; the anime industry consists of over 430 production studios, including major names like Studio Ghibli and Toei Animation.
Despite comprising only a fraction of Japan's domestic film market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD sales. It has seen international success after the rise of English-dubbed programming; this rise in international popularity has resulted in non-Japanese productions using the anime art style. Whether these works are anime-influenced animation or proper anime is a subject for debate amongst fans. Japanese anime accounts for 60% of the world's animated cartoon television shows, as of 2016. Anime is an art form animation, that includes all genres found in cinema, but it can be mistakenly classified as a genre. In Japanese, the term anime is used as a blanket term to refer to all forms of animation from around the world. In English, anime is more restrictively used to denote a "Japanese-style animated film or television entertainment" or as "a style of animation created in Japan"; the etymology of the word anime is disputed. The English term "animation" is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション and is アニメ in its shortened form.
The pronunciation of anime in Japanese differs from pronunciations in other languages such as Standard English, which has different vowels and stress with regards to Japanese, where each mora carries equal stress. As with a few other Japanese words such as saké, Pokémon, Kobo Abé, English-language texts sometimes spell anime as animé, with an acute accent over the final e, to cue the reader to pronounce the letter, not to leave it silent as Standard English orthography may suggest; some sources claim that anime derives from the French term for animation dessin animé, but others believe this to be a myth derived from the French popularity of the medium in the late 1970s and 1980s. In English, anime—when used as a common noun—normally functions as a mass noun. Prior to the widespread use of anime, the term Japanimation was prevalent throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to supplant Japanimation. In general, the latter term now only appears in period works where it is used to distinguish and identify Japanese animation.
The word anime has been criticised, e.g. in 1987, when Hayao Miyazaki stated that he despised the truncated word anime because to him it represented the desolation of the Japanese animation industry. He equated the desolation with animators lacking motivation and with mass-produced, overly expressionistic products relying upon a fixed iconography of facial expressions and protracted and exaggerated action scenes but lacking depth and sophistication in that they do not attempt to convey emotion or thought; the first format of anime was theatrical viewing which began with commercial productions in 1917. The animated flips were crude and required played musical components before adding sound and vocal components to the production. On July 14, 1958, Nippon Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru, both the first televised and first color anime to debut, it wasn't until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has remained a popular medium since. Works released in a direct to video format are called "original video animation" or "original animation video".
The emergence of the Internet has led some animators to distribute works online in a format called "original net anime". The home distribution of anime releases were
