Taifu
''Taifu'' (大夫) was a noble title in Japan, denoting a court rank between First Rank and Fifth Rank under the '' Ritsuryō'' system. It was also commonly used to refer to a holder of Fifth Rank, but also for holders of Fourth and Fifth Rank, to differentiate from holders of First, Second and Third Rank, collectively known as '' kugyō''. History In the ancient Yamato period Japan, the title was used to refer to a close attendant of the Emperor or Okimi. Prior to the Taika Reform in 645, a government official below ''Ōomi'' and ''Ōmuraji'' of the same name was called ''Maetsugimi'', whose duty was to submit matters to the Emperor. According to the ''kushiki-ryō'' of the '' ritsuryō'' law, a ''Taifu'' holds a court rank of Third Rank or higher in the Great Council of State, a court rank of Fourth Rank in a government institution above a bureau, and a court rank of Fifth Rank or higher as a ''shi'' (official in a government department beneath a bureau) or in a ''chūgok ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kugyō
is the collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre- Meiji eras. The term generally referred to the and court officials and denoted a court rank between First Rank and Third Rank under the '' Ritsuryō'' system, as opposed to the lower court nobility, thus being the collective term for the upper court nobility. However, later on some holders of the Fourth Rank were also included. In 1869, following the Meiji Restoration, the court nobility and daimyo were merged into a new peerage, the '' kazoku''. Overview The ''kugyō'' generally refers to two groups of court officials: * the ''Kō'' (公), comprising the Chancellor of the Realm, the Minister of the Left, and the Minister of the Right; and * the ''Kei'' (卿), comprising the Major Counsellor, the Middle Counsellor, and the Associate Counselors, who held the court rank of Third Rank or higher. History The ''kugyō'' originated from the Three Lords an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions (e.g., Order of precedence, precedence), and vary by country and by era. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically Hereditary title, hereditary and Patrilinearity, patrilineal. Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are often a variety of ranks within the noble class. Legal recognition of nobility has been much more common in monarchies, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Karō
were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and another in the home '' han'' (feudal domain). A ''karō'' who was in charge of a castle was called the ''jōdai karō'' (城代家老), while the one in Edo was called the ''Edo karō'' (江戸家老). A general term for a domain-based ''karō'' is ''kunigarō'' (国家老). Some domains referred to this position as '' bugyō'' (奉行) or '' toshiyori'' (年寄). The shogunate post of ''rōjū'' (elder) had many similarities to that of ''karō''. The famous samurai tale, '' Kanadehon Chūshingura'', describes events involving a ''karō''. The final Asano ''daimyō'' of the Ako ''han'' was Asano Naganori. While he was in Edo, he was sentenced to commit seppuku for the offense of drawing a sword against Kira Yoshinaka in Edo Castle. When th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yūkaku
were legal red-light districts in Japanese history, where both brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...s and prostitutes - known collectively as , the higher ranks of which were known as - recognised by the Japanese government operated. 郭大百科事典. 第25巻』 (平凡社, 1939) Though prostitution was, officially, legal to engage in and pay for only in these areas, there were a number of places where prostitutes and brothels operated illegally, known as , the generic name for all unlicensed red-light districts other than Yoshiwara (later including both Shimabara and Shinmachi).平田(1997)109頁。 In January 1946, GHQ issued an order (SCAPIN 642) nationwide to abolish Japan's legalised system of prostitution, with brothels in the areas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jōruri (music)
is a form of traditional Japanese narrative music in which a sings to the accompaniment of a . accompanies , traditional Japanese puppet theater. As a form of storytelling, emphasizes the lyrics and narration rather than the music itself. According to Asai Ryōi, the first performer to have ever employed the during his storytelling, instead of the , was chanter Sawazumi. The story he narrated was , one of the many existing versions of the , which tells the tale of the tragic love between Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Jōruri-hime. Following this event, every tale sung to the accompaniment of a became emblematic of the style. See also * Japanese styles of music Japanese traditional music Japanese words and phrases {{Japan-music-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Performing Arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Performing arts include a range of disciplines which are performed in front of a live audience, including theatre, music, and dance. Theatre, music, dance, object manipulation, and other kinds of performances are present in all human cultures. The history of music and dance date to pre-historic times whereas circus skills date to at least Ancient Egypt. Many performing arts are performed professionally. Performance can be in purpose-built buildings, such as theatres and opera houses, on open air stages at festivals, on stages in tents such as circuses or on the street. Live performances before an audience are a form of entertainment. The development of audio and video recording has allowed for private consumption of the performing arts. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists'', although adherents rarely use that term themselves. There is no central authority in control of Shinto, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the . The are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The are worshiped at household shrines, family shrines, and ''jinja'' public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as , who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and and to solicit the latter's blessing. Other common rituals include the dances, rites of pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sarugaku
was a form of theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ... popular in Japan during the 11th to 14th centuries. One of its predecessors was a , a form of entertainment reminiscent of the modern-day circus, consisting mostly of acrobatics, juggling, and pantomime, sometimes combined with drum dancing. Sangaku came from China to Japan in the 8th century and there mingled with indigenous traditions, particularly the harvest celebrations of dengaku. In the 11th century, the form began to favor comic sketches while other elements faded away. By the late 12th century, the term "sarugaku" had come to include comic dialogues based on word play (toben), improvised comic party dances (''ranbu''), short plays involving several actors, and musical arrangements based on courtesan t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kabuki
is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to have originated in the very early Edo period, when founder Izumo no Okuni formed a female dance troupe who 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 Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Etymology The individual kanji that make up the word ''kabuki'' can be read as , , and . ''Kabuki'' is therefore sometimes tran ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Commoner
A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither royalty, nobility, nor any part of the aristocracy. Depending on culture and period, other elevated persons (such members of clergy) may have had higher social status in their own right, or were regarded as commoners if lacking an aristocratic background. This class overlaps with the legal class of people who have a property interest in common land, a longstanding feature of land law in England and Wales. Commoners who have rights for a particular common are typically neighbors, not the public in general. History Various states throughout history have governed, or claimed to govern, in the name of ''the common people''. In Europe, a distinct concept analogous to ''common people'' arose in the Classical civilization of ancient Rome a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequently-derived syllabic scripts of '' hiragana'' and '' katakana''. The characters have Japanese pronunciations; most have two, with one based on the Chinese sound. A few characters were invented in Japan by constructing character components derived from other Chinese characters. After World War II, Japan made its own efforts to simplify the characters, now known as shinjitai, by a process similar to China's simplification efforts, with the intention to increase literacy among the common folk. Since the 1920s, the Japanese government has published character lists periodically to help direct the education of its citizenry through the myriad Chinese characters that exist. There are nearly 3,000 kanji used in Japanese names and in comm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ukyō-ku, Kyoto
is one of the eleven wards in the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. History The meaning of ''ukyō'' (右京) is "on the Emperor's right." When residing in the Kyoto Imperial Palace the emperor would sit facing south, thus the western direction would be to his right. Similarly, there is a ward to the east called Sakyō-ku (左京区), meaning "the ward on the Emperor's left." In old times, ''ukyō'' was referring to the western part of the capital. The area of ancient Ukyō slightly overlaps the area of present Ukyō-ku. The ward was established in 1931 when nine villages merged to form it. On April 1, 2005, the ward expanded its territory to the area of former town of Keihoku when the town merged into the city of Kyoto. This increased the ward's territory from to , and made it the largest ward in the city by area. As of October 1, 2020, the ward has an estimated population of 202,047, with 97,849 households and a density of . Geography Mountains * Moun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |