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Early Modern Japanese
was the stage of the Japanese language after Middle Japanese and before Modern Japanese. It is a period of transition that shed many of the language's medieval characteristics and became closer to its modern form. The period spanned roughly 250 years and extended from the 17th century to the first half of the 19th century. Politically, it generally corresponded to the Edo period. Background At the beginning of the 17th century, the center of government moved to Edo from Kamigata under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate. Until the early Edo period, the Kamigata dialect, the ancestor of the modern Kansai dialect, was the most influential dialect. However, in the late Edo period, the Edo dialect, the ancestor of the modern Tokyo dialect, became the most influential dialect, and Japan closed its borders to foreigners. Compared to the previous centuries, the Tokugawa rule brought about much newfound stability. That made the importance of the warrior class gradually fall and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated and urbanized. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its population of 123.2 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chōnin
was a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. In the social hierarchy, it was considered subordinate to the samurai warrior class. Social Class The ''chōnin'' emerged in ''joka-machi'' or castle towns during the sixteenth century. The majority of ''chōnin'' were merchants, but some were craftsmen. were not considered ''chōnin''. Later, peasants, servants, and workers were also considered members of the social class. While ''chōnin'' are not as well known to non-Japanese as other social classes in Japan, they played a key role in the development of Japanese cultural products such as ''ukiyo-e'', '' rakugo'', and handicrafts. Aesthetic ideals such as ''iki'', ''tsū'', and '' wabi-sabi'' were also developed among the ''chōnin''. This association with cultural development emerged as a way for members of the class to break the strict social barriers that prevented individuals from ascending in the social hierarchy. Members of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consonants
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; , and , pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and and , which have air flowing through the nose (nasals). Contrasting with consonants are vowels. Since the number of speech sounds in the world's languages is much greater than the number of letters in any one alphabet, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique and unambiguous symbol to each attested consonant. The English alphabet has fewer consonant letters than the English language has consonant sounds, so digraphs like , , , and are used to extend the alphabet, though some letters and digraphs represent more than one consonant. For example, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santō Kyōden
Santō Kyōden (山東 京伝, 13 September 1761 Edo – 27 October 1816) was a Japanese artist, writer, and the owner of a tobacco shop during the Edo period. His real name was Iwase Samuru (岩瀬 醒), and he was also known popularly as Kyōya Denzō (京屋伝蔵, ''kyōya denzō''). He began his professional career illustrating the works of others before writing his own Kibyōshi and Sharebon. Within his works, Kyōden often included references to his shop to increase sales. Kyōden's works were affected by the shifting publication laws of the Kansei Reforms which aimed to punish writers and their publishers for writings related to the Yoshiwara and other things that were deemed to be "harmful to society" at the time by the Tokugawa Bakufu. As a result of his punishment in 1791, Kyōden shifted his writings to the more didactic Yomihon. During the 1790s, Santō Kyōden became a household name and one of his works could sell as many as 10,000 copies, numbers that were prev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shikitei Sanba
, better known by his pen name , was a Japanese comic writer of the Edo period. Major works *''Ukiyoburo'' *''Ukiyodoko'' References 1776 births 1822 deaths Japanese writers of the Edo period {{Japan-writer-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matsuo Bashō
born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). He is also well known for his travel essays beginning with '' Records of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton'' (1684), written after his journey west to Kyoto and Nara. Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned, and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. He is quoted as saying, "Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses." Bashō was introduced to poetry at a young age, and after integrating himself into the intellectual scene of Edo (modern Tokyo) he quickly became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chikamatsu Monzaemon
was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist". His most famous plays deal with double-suicides of honor bound lovers. Of his puppet plays, around 70 are ''jidaimono'' (時代物) (historical romances) and 24 are ''sewamono'' (世話物) (domestic tragedies). The domestic plays are today considered the core of his artistic achievement, particularly works such as '' The Courier for Hell'' (1711) and '' The Love Suicides at Amijima'' (1721). His histories are viewed less positively, though '' The Battles of Coxinga'' (1715) remains praised. Biography Chikamatsu was born Sugimori Nobumori. to a samurai family. There is disagreement about his birthplace. The most popular theory. suggests he was born in Echizen Province, but there are other plausible locations, including Hagi, Nagato P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ihara Saikaku
was a Japanese poet and creator of the " floating world" genre of Japanese prose (''ukiyo-zōshi''). Born as Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin school of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse. Scholars have described numerous extraordinary feats of solo haikai composition at one sitting; most famously, over the course of a single day and night in 1677, Saikaku is reported to have composed at least 16,000 haikai stanzas, with some sources placing the number at over 23,500 stanzas. Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class, whose tastes of entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts. Biography Ihara Saikaku was born in 1642 into a well-off merchant family in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninjōbon
The is a pre-modern Japanese literary genre. Founded and developed in the early nineteenth century, this style of books derived from the early sharebon and kokkeibon genres and is a subgenre of gesaku. ''Ninjōbon'' was one of many genres in the Edo period of Japanese literature. Coming from the genre of “books of manners”, ''ninjōbon'' works were commonly referred to as “sentimental books”. A big difference between these “sentimental books”, often referred to as “weeping books”, and their predecessors –books of manners – ''ninjōbon'' focused more on erotic relationships and featured illustrations and vibrant covers. This style of novels focused on young love and were generally aimed to attract female readers; some common plot points and themes were love, suicide, relationships, family, etc. According to the book, ''An Edo Anthology'', “’Sentimental books’ became the first full-fledged realistic novels complete with descriptive passages” (Jones and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kokkeibon
The was a genre and type of early modern Japanese novel. It came into being late in the Edo period during the 19th century. As a genre, it depicted the comical behavior occurring in commoners' daily lives. The ''kokkeibon'' genre is the successor of the ''dangibon'' genre. Jippensha Ikku's ''Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige'' (1802–1822) is identified as the first representative novel. A less strict definition includes the ''dangibon'' as an "early ''kokkeibon''". ''Kokkeibon'' generally consists of dialogue among the main characters and includes illustrations. The genre was most popular between 1804 and 1830, and is most representative by the works of Jippensha Ikku and Shikitei Sanba. See also *''Gesaku is an alternative style, genre, or school of Japanese literature. In the simplest contemporary sense, any literary work of a playful, mocking, joking, silly or frivolous nature may be called gesaku. Unlike predecessors in the literary field, gesak ...'' References * * E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sharebon
which can be roughly translated as "book of manners", was a pre-modern Japanese literary genre, produced during the middle of the Edo period from the 1720's all the way to the end of the 18th century. Plots almost invariably took place in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, and usually revolved around the misadventures of two contrasting male archetypes, the "Tsu" or "sophisticate", and the Tanketsu or "one who only pretends at sophistication." The writing had a huge emphasis on humor and dialogue, without much in the way of actual dramatic or narrative plot elements. Physically, were produced using woodblock print, and published as individual booklets measuring, on average, in width and in height. The booklets themselves containing anywhere from 60 to 100 pages. Most booklets had an illustration placed either right after the title page or along with the preface. are considered a subgenre of . Characteristics was a satirical genre focused on the culture around the pleasure q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
