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The Sarashina Diary
The is a memoir written by the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue, a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of the first in the genre of travel writing. Lady Sarashina was a niece on her mother's side of Michitsuna's Mother, author of another famous diary of the period, the ''Kagerō Nikki'' (whose personal name has also been lost). Other than the ''Sarashina Diary'', she also authored '' Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari'', Self-reproach (''Mizukara kuyuru''), Tale of Nezame (''Yoru no Nezame'' or ''Yowa no Nezame''), and Tale of Asakura. This work is one of the major six literary memoir/diaries written in the mid-Heian period, roughly from 900 to 1100. Lady Sarashina wrote her work while being conscious of her distinguished lineage. She had a desire to produce something that would be worthy for her family line. This desire came from her knowledge tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiography since the late 20th century, the genre is differentiated in form, presenting a narrowed focus. A biography or autobiography tells the story "of a life", while a memoir often tells the story of a particular event or time, such as touchstone moments and turning points from the author's life. The author of a memoir may be referred to as a memoirist or a memorialist. Early memoirs Memoirs have been written since the ancient times, as shown by Julius Caesar's ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', also known as ''Commentaries on the Gallic Wars''. In the work, Caesar describes the battles that took place during the nine years that he spent fighting local armies in the Gallic Wars. His second memoir, ''Commentarii de Bello Civili'' (or ''Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugawara No Takasue No Musume
, also known as Takasue's Daughter, was a Japanese noble woman, poet, and author best known for writing the '' Sarashina Nikki,'' a Heian period travel diary recording her life and travels from her teenage years to her fifties. She is also attributed by some scholars as the author of ''Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari'' and ''Yoru no Nezame.'' Her personal name is unknown. Name "Sugawara no Takasue no musume" means a daughter of Sugawara no Takasue. In ancient Japanese society, women's personal names were generally not recorded in genealogical records. British scholar Ivan Morris, a translator of her diary, referred to her as Lady Sarashina. Her surname distinguishes her as a direct descendant of Sugawara no Michizane, a prominent statesman, scholar, and poet of the Heian period. In the Heian period, there was a cultural practice of avoiding the use of personal names, as people feared someone could control them by a message sent to their true name with the power of kotodama. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom she attended. Although she may either have received a retainer or may not have received compensation for the service she rendered, a lady-in-waiting was considered more of a secretary, courtier, or companion to her mistress than a servant. In other parts of the world, the lady-in-waiting, often referred to as ''palace woman'', was in practice a servant or a slave rather than a high-ranking woman, but still had about the same tasks, functioning as companion and secretary to her mistress. In courts where polygamy was practised, a court lady was formally available to the monarch for sexual services, and she could become his wife, consort, courtesan, or concubine. ''Lady-in-waiting'' or ''court lady'' is often a generic term for women whose r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heian Period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. It is a period in Japanese history when the Chinese influences were in decline and the national culture matured. The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature. Two types of Japanese script emerged, including katakana, a phonetic script which was abbreviated into hiragana, a cursive alphabet with a unique writing method distinctive to Japan. This gave rise to Japan's famous vernacular literature, with many of its texts written by court women who were not as educated in Chinese compared to their male counterparts. Although the Imperial House of Japan had power on the surface, the real power was in the hands of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful aristocratic f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kagerō Nikki
is a work of classical Japanese literature, written around 974, that falls under the genre of '' nikki bungaku'', or diary literature. The author of ''Kagerō Nikki'' was a woman known only as the Mother of Michitsuna. Using a combination of waka poems and prose, she conveys the life of a noblewoman during the Heian period. ''Kagerō Nikki'' is often called ''The Gossamer Years'' in English, which is the title given to the first English translation by Edward Seidensticker. The term ''kagerō'' has three possible meanings: it may mean a mayfly; a heat wave; or a thin film of cobweb, which is the meaning proposed by English Orientalist Arthur Waley. Origin During the Heian Period, prominent families often collected and compiled their poems in a family collection, or '' kashū''. It is likely that Fujiwara no Kaneie, her husband, asked the Mother of Michitsuna to create such a collection for their family. However, because she decided to add her own experiences along with the poem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari
, also known as , is an eleventh-century Japanese ''monogatari'' that tells about a ''chūnagon'' who discovers his father has been reborn as a Chinese prince. He visits his reincarnated father in China and falls in love with the Hoyang Consort, consort to the Chinese Emperor and mother to his reborn father. It is told in six chapters, but the first has been lost to antiquity. The tale was written by a female author who employed several exotic locations in the work. The author considers the love between a parent and a child to be "deeper, lasting and more tender" than a romantic love between a man and a woman, which follows traditional virtues of filial piety. Plot ''Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari'' is the tale of a ''chūnagon'' who lost his father when he was very young. His mother marries a widower with two daughters and he fell in love with the older daughter, Taishō no Kimi. The Chūnagon learns in a dream that his father has been reborn as the Third Prince of the Emperor o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoru No Nezame
is a c. 11th century Japanese story. It is one of the major representative Heian period texts. It is a courtly romance and belongs to the '' tsukuri monogatari'' genre.Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Henshū Iinkai (1986:1898-1900) Composition The text exists in both three- and five-volume editions. Beside the title ''Yoru no Nezame'', it was also known as ''Yowa no Nezame'' and ''Nezame''Kubota (2007:198-199) . Which was the original title is unclear. Also unclear is the author. The Teika manuscript of '' Sarashina Nikki'' identifies the author as the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue (1008 – c. 1059); however, there are no other means to corroborate this. Linguistic analysis suggests a post-1086 composition. The text as a whole is judged to be a c. 11th-century work. Major portions of the middle and end are no longer extant. Their contents may be inferred from other sources such as ''Mumyōzōshi'', '' Shūi Hyakuban Utaawase'', '' Fūyō Wakashū'', ''Yoru no Nezame Monogatari' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth. Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted from 1707 to 1708. The mountain is located about southwest of Tokyo and is visible from there on clear days. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is covered in snow for about five months of the year, is commonly used as a cultural icon of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photography, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers. Mount Fuji is one of Japan's along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging, and most are found underwater. For example, a mid-ocean ridge, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, has volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates whereas the Pacific Ring of Fire has volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates. Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the crust's plates, such as in the East African Rift and the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and Rio Grande rift in North America. Volcanism away from plate boundaries has been postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs from the core–mantle boundary, deep in the Earth. This results in hotspot volcanism, of which the Hawaiian hotspot is an example. Volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarashina District, Nagano
was a district located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 1,467 and a density of 31.99 persons per km2. The total area was 45.86 km2. The district had only one village the day before the dissolution. * Ōoka On January 1, 2005, the village of Ōoka, along with the town of Toyono, and the villages of Togakushi and Kinasa (all from Kamiminochi District), was merged into the expanded city of Nagano. Therefore, Sarashina District was dissolved as a result of this merger. District Timeline * January 14, 1879 - Due to the district, ward, town and village status enforcement, the district seat was located at the village of Shiozaki. * April 1, 1889 - Prior to the city, town, and village status enforcement, Sarashina District created the town of Inariyama and 26 villages. (1 town, 26 villages) * May 17, 1890 ** The village of Kamihyoho was renamed as the village of Sasai. ** The village of Okada was renamed as the village to Ky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
