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Ogyū Sorai
(March 21, 1666 – February 28, 1728), pen name Butsu Sorai, was a Japanese Confucian philosopher. He has been described as the most influential such scholar during the Edo period Japan. His primary area of study was in applying the teachings of Confucianism to government and social order. He responded to contemporary economic and political failings of the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as the culture of mercantilism and the dominance of old institutions that had become weak with extravagance. Sorai rejected the moralism of Neo-Confucianism and instead looked to the ancient works. He argued that allowing emotions to be expressed was important and nurtured Chinese literature in Japan for this reason. Sorai attracted a large following with his teachings and created the Sorai school, which would become an influential force in further Confucian scholarship in Japan. Biography Grave of Ogyū Sorai Sorai was born in Edo the second son of a samurai who served as the personal physi ... [...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 Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu
was a Japanese samurai of the Edo period. He was an official in the Tokugawa shogunate and a favourite of the fifth shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. His second concubine was Ogimachi Machiko, a writer and scholar from the noble court who wrote monogatari.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu''" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File. Career The Yanagisawa house traced descent to the "Kai-Genji," the branch of the Minamoto clan which had been enfeoffed with the province of Kai in the eleventh century. Yoshiyasu served Tsunayoshi from an early age, becoming his ''Wakashū'' and eventually rose to the position of ''soba yōnin''. He was the ''daimyō'' of the Kawagoe han, and later of the Kōfu han in Kai Province, a signature honour as it has been the fief held by Tsunayoshi before becoming ''shōgun'', and of Ienobu, his heir apparent, as well as having an historic familial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mita, Minato, Tokyo
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was once home to grand estates of several , and now is one of Tokyo's most expensive upscale residential districts; it is home to many artists, CEOs, and celebrities. Mita is bordered by Higashi-Azabu on the north, Azabu-Jūban and Minami-Azabu to the west, and Shirokane and Takanawa to the south. Mita is home to Keio University, Mita Hachiman Jinja, and the diplomatic missions of Kuwait, Italy, Hungary, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. Geography Mita consists of five chōme: * Mita 1-chōme and 5-chōme are low lands by Furu River and consist of a mix of both residential and commercial areas. * Mita 2-chōme, once known as , is on high, elevated land and is a historically wealthy part of Mita, once home to grand estates of several Daimyo. Some of these estates remain to this day: the Tsunamachi Mitsui Club, Australian Embassy, and Italian Embassy are all on former Daimyo estates. * Mita 3-chōme mostly consists of commercial buil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshimune was not the son of any former ''shōgun''. Rather, he was a member of a cadet branch of the Tokugawa clan. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, well aware of the extinction of the Minamoto line in 1219, had realized that his direct descendants might die out, leaving the Tokugawa family at risk of extinction. Thus, while his son Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'', he selected three other sons to establish the ''gosanke,'' hereditary houses which would provide a ''shōgun'' if there were no male heir. The three ''gosanke'' were the Owari, Kii, and Mito branches. Yoshimune was from the branch of Kii. The founder of the Kii house was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's sons, Tokugawa Yorinobu. Ieyasu appointed him ''daimyō ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nihonbashi
is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current bridge, designed by Tsumaki Yorinaka and constructed of stone on a steel frame, dates from 1911. The district covers a large area to the north and east of the bridge, reaching Akihabara to the north and the Sumida River to the east. Ōtemachi is to the west and Yaesu and Kyobashi to the south. Nihonbashi, together with Kyobashi and Kanda, is the core of Shitamachi, the original downtown center of Edo-Tokyo, before the rise of newer secondary centers such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. History The Nihonbashi district was a major mercantile center during the Edo period: its early development is largely credited to the Mitsui family, who based their wholesaling business in Nihonbashi and developed Japan's first department store, Mitsukoshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kōfu Domain
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain was centered at Kōfu Castle what is now the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi."Kai Province" at JapaneseCastleExplorer.com retrieved 2013-7-8. History Kai Province was initially entrusted to important members as Kōfu Domain, and later to the highly placed '''' Yanagisawa clan, with periods of direct shogunal rule ( '' |
Seppuku
, sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people during the Shōwa period (particularly officers near the end of World War II) to restore honour for themselves or for their families. As a samurai practice, ''seppuku'' was used voluntarily by samurai to die with honour rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely be tortured), as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offences, or performed because they had brought shame to themselves. The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a ''tantō'', into the belly and drawing the blade from left to right, slicing the belly open. If the cut is deep enough, it can sever the abdominal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muro Kyūsō
or Muro Naokiyo () (March 30, 1658 – September 9, 1734), was a Edo neo-Confucianism, Neo-Confucian scholar and an official of the Tokugawa shogunate during the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune. Muro was responsible for the reintroduction of orthodox neo-Confucianist thought into government and societal life, attempting to reverse the growth of unorthodox views that were becoming popular during this time. He was also an author of Neo-Confucianist works, such as the ''Shundai Zatsuwa'' and ''Rikuyu engi taigi'', although much of his work would only be known posthumously. Muro was a proponent of the Chu Hsi school of thought. Life Muro was born in Yanaka, Musashi Province (modern day Tokyo) and from an early age loved books and study. At the age of 15, he travelled to the Kaga Domain and was able to gain employment by the ''daimyō'' of the region. The cottage he lived in was given the name "Pigeon Nest" and from this he adopted the name Kyuso, a name he would keep until the end of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kira Yoshinaka
was a '' kōke'' (master of ceremonies). His court title was '' Kōzuke no suke (上野介)''. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the Forty-seven rōnin. Although his name (義央) has been long pronounced as "Yoshinaka" especially in dramas and novels, , written by an anonymous contemporary in 1703, recorded that his name was "Yoshihisa." Life Family and early life Born in 1641, he was the eldest son of Kira Yoshifuyu. His mother was a member of the high-ranking Sakai clan. On the death of his father in 1668, Yoshinaka became the 17th head of the household, inheriting lands evaluated at 4200 ''koku''. His wife was from the Uesugi clan, and his eldest son was adopted by Uesugi Tsunakatsu, the head of the Dewa Yonezawa ''han'', taking the name Tsunanori. Yoshinaka named his second son as his heir, but when that heir died, Yoshinaka adopted Tsunanori's second son, strengthening the connection between the Kira and the Uesugi. Career As a ''kōke'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forty-seven Rōnin
The revenge of the , also known as the or Akō vendetta, is a historical event in Japan in which a band of ''rōnin'' (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is one of the three major ''adauchi'' vendetta incidents in Japan, alongside the Revenge of the Soga Brothers and the Igagoe vendetta. The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless after their ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to perform ''seppuku'' (ritual suicide) for assaulting a powerful court official named Kira Yoshinaka. After waiting and planning for a year, the ''rōnin'' avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, knowing full well that the authorities would likely not tolerate this vendetta's completion. They were then obliged to commit ''seppuku'' for the crime of murder. This true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chūshingura
is the title given to fictionalized accounts in Japanese literature, theater, and film that relate to the historical incident involving the forty-seven ''rōnin'' and their mission to avenge the death of their master, Asano Naganori. Including the early , the story has been told in kabuki, bunraku, stage plays, films, novels, television shows and other media. With ten different television productions in the years 1997–2007 alone, ''Chūshingura'' ranks among the most familiar of all historical stories in Japan. Historical events The historical basis for the narrative begins in 1701. The ruling ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Tsunayoshi placed Asano Takumi-no-kami Naganori, the ''daimyō'' of Akō, in charge of a reception of envoys from the Imperial Court in Kyoto. He also appointed the protocol official ('' kōke'') Kira Kōzuke-no-suke Yoshinaka to instruct Asano in the ceremonies. On the day of the reception, at Edo Castle, Asano drew his short sword and attempted to kill Kira. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
