Eijirō Tōno
was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting more than 50 years, appeared in over 400 television shows, nearly 250 films and numerous stage productions. He is best known in the West for his roles in films by Akira Kurosawa, such as ''Seven Samurai'' (1954) and ''Yojimbo'' (1961), and films by Yasujirō Ozu, such as ''Tokyo Story'' (1953) and ''An Autumn Afternoon'' (1962). He also appeared in ''Kill!'' by Kihachi Okamoto and ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'', a depiction of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His final film was Juzo Itami's ''A-ge-man'' (''Tales of a Golden Geisha'') in 1990. Tōno also starred as the title character in the long-running television ''jidaigeki'' series ''Mito Kōmon'' from 1969 to 1983. In the early years of his career he acted under the name of Katsuji Honjo (本庄克二). Early life Eijirō Tōno was born on 17 September 1907 in Tomioka City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Born to a sake brewery, his father was a Hino merchant (Ōmi merchant), who had move ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tomioka, Gunma
250px, Nukisaki Shrine is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 57,013 in 20,367 households, and a population density of 390 persons per km². The total area of the city is . It is the location of the Tomioka Silk Mill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Geography Tomioka is located in the southwestern portion of Gunma Prefecture. *Mountains: Mount Myōgi (1103m) *Rivers: Kabura River *Lakes: Oshio Dam Surrounding municipalities Gunma Prefecture * Takasaki * Annaka * Shimonita * Kanra Climate Tomioka has a Humid continental climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Tomioka is 13.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1207 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.4 °C. Demographics Per Japanese census data, the population of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hell'', for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular setting. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants of their time. ''Jidaigeki'' films are sometimes referred to as chambara movies, a word meaning "sword fight", though chambara is more accurately a subgenre of ''jidaigeki''. ''Jidaigeki'' rely on an established set of dramatic conventions including the use of makeup, language, catchphrases, and plotlines. Types Many ''jidaigeki'' take place in Edo, the military capital. Others show the adventures of people wandering from place to place. The long-running television series ''Zenigata Heiji'' and ''Abarenbō Shōgun'' typify the Edo ''jidaigeki''. ''Mito ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shōchiku
() is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all, anime films produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks). Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada. It has also produced films by highly regarded independent and "loner" directors such as Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi and Taiwanese New Wave director Hou Hsiao-hsien. Shochiku is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ), and the oldest of Japan's "Big Four" film studios. History As Shochiku Kinema The company was founded in 1895 as a kabuki production company and later began producing films in 1920. Shochiku is considered the oldest company in Japan involved in present-day film production, b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Teinosuke Kinugasa
was a Japanese filmmaker. He was born in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture and died in Kyoto. Kinugasa won the 1954 Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival for '' Gate of Hell''. Biography Kinugasa began his career as an onnagata (actor specializing in female roles) at the Nikkatsu studio. When Japanese cinema began using actresses in the early 1920s, he switched to directing and worked for producers such as Shozo Makino, before becoming independent to make his best-known film, '' A Page of Madness'' (1926). It was considered lost for 45 years until the director rediscovered it in his shed in 1971. A silent film, Kinugasa released it with a new print and score to world acclaim. He also directed the film ''Crossroads'' in 1928. He directed jidaigeki at the Shochiku studios, where he helped establish the career of Chōjirō Hayashi (later known as Kazuo Hasegawa). After the war, he helmed big-budget costume productions for Daiei studios. On February 26, 1982, Kinugasa died at the age of 86 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". There are many works that have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play—from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan plays. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kokutai
is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as "system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitution" or nation. The word is also a short form of the (unrelated) name for the National Sports Festival of Japan. Etymology ''Kokutai'' originated as a Sino-Japanese loanword from Chinese ''guoti'' (; "state political system; national governmental structure"). The Japanese compound word joins and . According to the ''Hanyu Da Cidian'', the oldest ''guoti'' usages are in two Chinese classic texts. The 2nd century BCE ''Guliang zhuan'' () to the Spring and Autumn Annals glosses ''dafu'' () as ''guoti'' metaphorically meaning "embodiment of the country". The 1st century CE ''Book of Han'' history of Emperor Cheng of Han used ''guoti'' to mean "laws and governance" of Confucianist officials. Pre-1868 The historical origins of ''kokutai'' go b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peace Preservation Law
The was a Japanese law enacted on April 22, 1925, with the aim of allowing the Special Higher Police to more effectively suppress socialists and communists. In addition to criminalizing forming an association with the aim of altering the ''kokutai'' ("national essence") of Japan, the law also explicitly criminalized criticism of the system of private property, and became the centerpiece of a broad apparatus of thought control in Imperial Japan. Altogether more than 70,000 people were arrested under the provisions of the Peace Preservation Law between 1925 and its repeal by American Occupation authorities in 1945. Passage Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, socialist and communist ideas began spreading in Japan, and the government became increasingly concerned that socialism and communism represented a threat to the emperor system and Japan's divine ''kokutai'' (国体, "national essence"). The 1918 Rice Riots and the assassination of Prime Minister Hara Kei only deepened ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Meiji University
, abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-era lawyers, Kishimoto Tatsuo, Miyagi Kōzō, and Yashiro Misao, Meiji University is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in Japan. The university has a total of approximately 33,000 students on all four campuses around the Greater Tokyo Area: Surugadai, Izumi, Ikuta, and Nakano. Meiji is organized into 10 undergraduate, 12 graduate, 4 professional graduate schools; and operates 15 world-class research centers and a museum. It began its first partner agreement in 1986 with York University in Canada, and currently partners with 363 universities and institutions in 56 countries. Some of the university's partners include: Stanford University, Columbia University, the University of Oxford, the University of Ca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ōmi Province
was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大国) in terms of importance, and one of the "near countries" (近国) in terms of distance from the capital. Ōmi bordered on Wakasa and Echizen Provinces to the north, Mino and Ise Provinces to the east, Iga and Yamato Provinces to the south, and Yamashiro and Tanba Provinces to the east. Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province. History The area of Ōmi has been settled since at least the Yayoi period, and the traces of several large settlements have been found. During the Kofun period, the area appears to have been dominated by several powerful immigrant clans, most notably the Wani clan, originally from Baekje. The names of "Ōmi" or "Lake Biwa" do not appear in the ''Kojiki'', '' Man'yōs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kantō Region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slightly more than 45 percent of the land area within its boundaries is the Kanto Plain. The rest consists of the hills and mountains that form land borders with other regions of Japan. As the Kanto region contains Tokyo, the capital and largest city of Japan, the region is considered the center of Japan's politics and economy. According to the official census on October 1, 2010, by the Japan Statistics Bureau, the population was 42,607,376, amounting to approximately one third of the total population of Japan. Other definitions The Kantō regional governors' association (関東地方知事会, ''Kantō chihō chijikai'') assembles the prefectural governors of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry, commerce, and trade have existed. In 16th-century Europe, two different terms for merchants emerged: referred to local traders (such as bakers and grocers) and ( nl, koopman) referred to merchants who operated on a global stage, importing and exporting goods over vast distances and offering added-value services such as credit and finance. The status of the merchant has varied during different periods of history and among different societies. In modern times, the term ''merchant'' has occasionally been used to refer to a businessperson or someone undertaking activities (commercial or industrial) for the purpose of generating profit, cash flow, sales, and revenue using a combination of human, financial, intellectual and physical capit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of beer has taken place since at least 2500 BC; in ancient Mesopotamia, brewers derived social sanction and divine protection from the goddess Ninkasi. Brewing was initially a cottage industry, with production taking place at home; by the ninth century, monasteries and farms would produce beer on a larger scale, selling the excess; and by the eleventh and twelfth centuries larger, dedicated breweries with eight to ten workers were being built. The diversity of size in breweries is matched by the diversity of processes, degrees of automation, and kinds of beer produced in breweries. A brewery is typically divided into distinct sections, with each section reserved for one part of the brewing process. History Beer may have been known in Neol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |