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Ishikawa Goemon
was the leader of a group of bandits during the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan. Over time, and especially during the Edo period (1603-1867), his life and deeds became a center of attention, and he became known as a legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and other valuables to give to the poor. He and his son were boiled alive in public after their failed assassination attempt on the Sengoku period warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His legend lives on in contemporary Japanese popular culture, often giving him greatly exaggerated ninja skills. Biography There is little historical information on Goemon's life, and as he has become a folk hero, his background and origins have been widely speculated upon. In his first appearance in the historical annals, in the 1642 biography of Hideyoshi, Goemon was referred to simply as a thief. As his legend became popular, various anti-authoritarian exploits were attributed to him, including a supposed assassination attempt against the O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kabuki
is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to have originated in the early Edo period, when the art's founder, Izumo no Okuni, formed a female dance troupe that performed dances and light sketches in Kyoto. The art form later developed into its present all-male theatrical form after women were banned from performing in kabuki theatre in 1629. Kabuki developed throughout the late 17th century and reached its zenith in the mid-18th century. In 2005, kabuki theatre was proclaimed by UNESCO as an intangible heritage possessing outstanding universal value. In 2008, it was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansai Region
The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolitan region of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto ( Keihanshin region) is the second-most populated in Japan after the Greater Tokyo Area. Name The terms , , and have their roots during the Asuka period. When the old provinces of Japan were established, several provinces in the area around the then-capital Yamato Province were collectively named Kinai and Kinki, both roughly meaning "the neighbourhood of the capital". Kansai (literally ''west of the tollgate'') in its original usage refers to the land west of the Osaka Tollgate (), the border between Yamashiro Province and Ōmi Province (present-day Kyoto and Shiga prefectures).Entry for . Kōjien, fifth edition, 1998, During the Kamakura period, this border was redefined to include Ōmi a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kawachi Province
was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in the past, with Kawachi Bay and lake dominating the area over what is now land. That the became the plains in the west of the province was in part due to the sediment flowing from the Yodo River, Yodo and Yamato Rivers. ''Chiku'' Kawachi was divided into three : , , and . * The northern county comprised the modern Hirakata, Osaka, Hirakata, Neyagawa, Osaka, Neyagawa, Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Shijōnawate, Osaka, Shijōnawate, Daitō, Osaka, Daitō, and Katano, Osaka, Katano, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka areas. * The central county comprised the modern Higashiōsaka, Osaka, Higashiōsaka, Yao, Osaka, Yao, and Kashiwara, Osaka, Kashiwara, Osaka areas. * The southern county comprised the modern Sakai, Osaka, Sakai's eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninjutsu
, and are terms for the techniques and skills used by spies and scouts in pre-modern Japan known as ninja. Some of these techniques are recorded in ninja scrolls, some which have been published and translated. The study of these scrolls have changed the perception of ninja and ninjutsu. While there are martial arts schools that claim to be Modern schools of ninjutsu, modern styles of ''ninjutsu'', the historical lineage of these styles only go as far back as the 1950s. Training The skills required of the ninja have come to be known in modern times as , but it is unlikely they were previously named under a single discipline, rather distributed among a variety of espionage and survival skills. Some view ''ninjutsu'' as evidence that ninja were not simple mercenaries because texts contained not only information on combat training, but also information about daily needs, which even included mining techniques. The guidance provided for daily work also included elements that enable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iga-ryū
is an umbrella term for ninjutsu traditions that come from the Iga region, according to Japanese legend. It became one of the two most well-known ninja traditions in Japan. The ''Iga-ryū'' traditions originated in the Iga Province in the area around the towns of Iga, Ueno, and Nabari (modern Iga City and Nabari City in Mie Prefecture). ''Iga-mono'' is a synonym for Iga ninja. History Since the Nara period, the Iga district had supplied lumber to jisha (寺社, temple-shrines). But in the Kamakura period, jisha declined in influence while shugo (governors) and jitō (manor administrators) grew dominant. The power of these functionaries then waned in Iga while that of bushi (warriors) rose instead. Iga was divided into local jizamurai regions locked in guerrilla war for which Iga warriors developed specialized skills and tactics. During the early Muromachi period, the people of Iga became independent of their feudal overlords and established a kind of republic—'' Iga Sokoku ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iga Province
was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō (region), Tōkaidō. Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Iga was ranked as an "inferior country" ( ''gekoku'') and a "near country" ( ''kingoku''). Iga was bordered by Ise Province, Ise to the east and south, Ōmi Province, Ōmi to the north, Yamato Province, Yamato to the west and south, and Yamashiro Province to the northwest. It roughly coincides with the modern municipalities of Iga, Mie, Iga and Nabari, Mie, Nabari in Mie Prefecture as well as Yagyu in Nara Prefecture. Surrounded by mountains, historically, Iga Province was rather inaccessible due to extremely poor road conditions. However, the area is now relatively easy to access from nearby Nara, Nara, Nara and Kyoto, as well as the larger cities of Osaka and Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miyoshi Clan
is a Japanese family descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and the Minamoto clan (Seiwa-Genji). They are a cadet branch of the Ogasawara clan and the Takeda clan. At the beginning of the 14th century AD, settled in Shikoku. His eighth generation descendant Yoshinaga settled in the district of Miyoshi (Awa province) and took the name of the place. They were vassals of the Hosokawa clan, then powerful in Shikoku. During the Sengoku period, they controlled several provinces, including Settsu and Awa. Though they would fade from prominence, the Ogasawara, a clan closely related to them, would continue as a major political force throughout the Edo period. Among the retainers to the clan were Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide and his son Hisamichi from the Matsunaga clan during the Sengoku period. Ancestry The family name of the clan is Genji (Minamoto Clan). It descends from one of the lineages of the Seiwa Genji (the that falls into the branch family of Kawachi Genji) and is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court downsized the national army and delegated the security of the countryside to these privately trained warriors. Eventually the samurai clans grew so powerful that they became the ''de facto'' rulers of the country. In the aftermath of the Gempei War (1180-1185), Japan formally passed into military rule with the founding of the first shogunate. The status of samurai became heredity by the mid-eleventh century. By the start of the Edo period, the shogun had disbanded the warrior-monk orders and peasant conscript system, leaving the samurai as the only men in the country permitted to carry weapons at all times. Because the Edo period was a time of peace, many samurai neglected their warrior training and focused on peacetime activities such as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Turnbull (historian)
Stephen Richard Turnbull (born 6 February 1948) is a British historian concentrating on Japanese military history, especially the samurai period, and has published numerous books. He has worked as a historical consultant for the film '' 47 Ronin'', as well multiple television documentaries, and the '' Shogun: Total War'' series of video games. Biography Turnbull attended Cambridge University where he gained his first degree. He currently holds 2 MAs in Theology and Military History and a PhD for his research on Kakure Kirishitan from the University of Leeds, where he is presently a lecturer in Far Eastern Religions, in a program of study jointly overseen by both the Departments of East Asian Studies and Theology and Religious Studies. He was on the editorial board of the short-lived ''Medieval History Magazine'' (2003–2005), which was published in association with the Royal Armouries. He was a consultant for the PC game '' Shogun: Total War'' and also its sequel '' Total W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demon King of the Sixth Heaven". Nobunaga was an influential figure in Japanese history and is regarded as one of the three great unifiers of Japan, along with his Affinity (medieval), retainers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nobunaga paved the way for the successful reigns of Hideyoshi and Ieyasu by consolidating power, as head of the very powerful Oda clan, through a series of wars against other ''daimyō'' beginning in the 1560s. The period when Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were in power is called the Azuchi–Momoyama period. The name "Azuchi–Momoyama" comes from the fact that Nobunaga's castle, Azuchi Castle, was located in Azuchi, Shiga; while Fushimi Castle, where Hideyoshi lived after his retirement, was located in Momoyama. Nob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
