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Tōkaidō (road)
The , which roughly means "eastern sea route," was the most important of the Five Routes of the Edo period in Japan, connecting Kyoto to Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Unlike the inland and less heavily travelled Nakasendō, the Tōkaidō travelled along the sea coast of eastern Honshū, hence the route's name. Traveling the Tōkaidō The standard method of travel was on foot, as wheeled carts were almost nonexistent and heavy cargo was usually sent by boat. Members of the higher class, however, travelled by ''kago''. Women were forbidden to travel alone and had to be accompanied by men. Other restrictions were also put in place for travellers, but, while severe penalties existed for various travel regulations, most seem not to have been enforced. Captain Sherard Osborn, who travelled part of the road in around 1858, noted that: Along the Tōkaidō, there were government-sanctioned post stations (shukuba) for travellers' rest. These stations consisted of porter stations and hor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edo Period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, perpetual peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo), where on March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, which restored imperial rule to Japan. Consolidation of the shogunate The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's regional ''daimyo''. A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tennō's court, to the Tokuga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherard Osborn
Sherard Osborn (25 April 1822 – 6 May 1875) was a Royal Navy admiral and Arctic explorer. Biography Born in Madras, he was the son of an Indian army officer. Osborn entered the navy as a first-class volunteer in 1837, serving until 1844 on , , and . In 1838, he was entrusted with the command of a gunboat at the attack on Kedah in the Malay Peninsula, and was present at the Battle of Canton in 1841, and at the Battle of Woosung in 1842. From 1844 until 1848, he was gunnery mate and lieutenant on , the flagship of Sir George Seymour in the Pacific. He took a prominent part in 1849 in advocating a new search expedition for Sir John Franklin, and in 1850 was appointed to the command of the steam-tender HMS Pioneer (1850) in the Arctic expedition under Horatio Thomas Austin, in the course of which he performed a remarkable sledge-journey to the western extremity of Prince of Wales Island. He published an account of this voyage, entitled ''Stray Leaves from an Arctic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fifty-three Stations Of The Tōkaidō
, in the Hōeidō edition (1833–1834), is a series of ukiyo-e woodcut prints created by Utagawa Hiroshige after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tōkaidō Gojūsan tsugi''" in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 973. The Tōkaidō road, linking the ''shōgun''s capital, Edo, to the imperial one, Kyōto, was the main travel and transport artery of old Japan. It is also the most important of the " Five Roads" (''Gokaidō'')—the five major roads of Japan created or developed during the Edo period to further strengthen the control of the central shogunate administration over the whole country. Even though the Hōeidō edition is by far the best known, ''The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' was such a popular subject that it led Hiroshige to create some 30 different series of woodcut prints on it, all very different one from the other by their size (''ōban'' or ''chuban''), their designs or even their number (some series incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川 広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series ''The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' and for his vertical-format landscape series ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ''ukiyo-e'' genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular series '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints. Subtle use of color was essential in Hiroshige's prints, often printed with multiple impressions in the same area and with extensive use of '' bokashi'' (color gradation), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige
, abbreviated as ''Hizakurige'' and known in translation as ''Shank's Mare'', is a comic picaresque novel (kokkeibon) written by Jippensha Ikku (十返舎一九, 1765–1831) about the misadventures of two travelers on the Tōkaidō, the main road between Kyoto and Edo during the Edo period. The book was published in twelve parts between 1802 and 1822. The two main characters, traveling from Edo to Kyoto on their pilgrimage to Ise Grand Shrine, are called Yajirobē (彌次郎兵衛) and Kitahachi (喜多八). The book, while written in a comical style, was written as a traveler's guide to the Tōkaidō Road. It details famous landmarks at each of the 53 post towns along the road, where the characters, often called Yaji and Kita, frequently find themselves in hilarious situations. They travel from station to station, predominantly interested in food, sake, and women. As Edo men, they view the world through an Edo lens, deeming themselves more cultured and savvy in comparison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jippensha Ikku
was the pen name of Shigeta Sadakazu (重田 貞一), a Japanese writer active during the late Edo period of Japan. He was among the most prolific writers of the late Edo period — between 1795 and 1801 he wrote a minimum of twenty novels a year. He mainly wrote , and over 360 illustrated stories, (, 合巻 ). He also helped create ''kokkeibon'' as a genre. Ikku was one of the most prolific writers of his time, and shaped the literary history that came after him. Life Jippensha Ikuu was born in 1765 in the Suruga Province. Ikku's life story is hard to define, because most of what we know about him comes from his own literary works, and hearsay from his peers. What we do know about his actual upbringing is: that he was born into the high-middle class, his father being a samurai for the magistrate of Fuchu. He lived and worked in Suruga for the daimyo until he was fired. He also worked in Osaka briefly until he was fired again. After this, he decided to follow his two pass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiroshige26 Nissaka
Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川 広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series ''The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' and for his vertical-format landscape series ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo''. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ''ukiyo-e'' genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular series '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'' by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints. Subtle use of color was essential in Hiroshige's prints, often printed with multiple impressions in the same area and with extensive use of '' bokashi'' (color gradation), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Saris
John Saris () was chief merchant on the first English voyage to Japan, which left London in 1611. He stopped at Yemen, missing India (which he had originally intended to visit) and going on to Java, which had the sole permanent English trading station (or 'factory') in Asia. Saris had spent more than five years there before, as a merchant, having gone with the East India Company Second Voyage, under Henry Middleton. He became Chief Factor there, but returned to London in 1610. Now arrived again, in 1612, Saris decided to send his other ships home, taking just one, the ''Clove'', on to Japan, where it arrived in summer 1613. Career Although the better known William Adams was the first Englishman to arrive in Japan in April 1600, he did so as the navigator of the Dutch ship ''Liefde'' (Charity), rather than aboard an English ship. Saris received much aid from Adams, who had become the shogun's advisor on foreign affairs. As a result, Saris was able to meet the retired shogun, Toku ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Adams (pilot)
(24 September 1564 – 16 May 1620), better known in Japanese as , was an English navigator who, in 1600, was the first Englishman to reach Japan in a ship called 'de Liefde' under the leadership of Jacob Quaeckernaeck, the only surviving ship of a five-ship expedition launched by a Rotterdam East India company(which would later be amalgamated into the United East India Company, the VOC). Of the few survivors of the only ship that reached Japan, Adams and his second mate Jan Joosten were not allowed to leave the country while Jacob Quaeckernaeck and Melchior van Santvoort were permitted to go back to the Dutch Republic to invite them to trade. Adams, along with former second mate Joosten, then settled in Japan, and the two became some of the first (of very few) Western samurai. Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ieyasu. Adams directed construction for the shōgun of the first Western-style ships in the country. He was la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuwana-juku
280px, Map showing the routes between Kuwana-juku and Miya-juku 280px, Shichiri no watashi torii was the forty-second of the fifty-three stations (''shukuba'') of the Tōkaidō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in former Ise Province in what is now part of the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. History Kuwana-juku was located in the castle town of Kuwana Domain, which was a major security barrier on the Tōkaidō for the Tokugawa shogunate. The post station was located on the western shores of the Ibi River. Between Kuwana and the next station to the west, Miya-juku, were the Kiso Three Rivers, which included the Nagara River and the Kiso River in addition to the Ibi River. As all three rivers were near their outlets to Ise Bay, their channels were wide, and the shogunate forbid the construction of any bridges, as this would facilitate the crossing of any army from the west across the rivers towards Edo. This posed a problem however for travel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to the emperor and the ''kuge''. In the term, means 'large', and stands for , meaning 'private land'. From the ''shugo'' of the Muromachi period through the Sengoku to the ''daimyo'' of the Edo period, the rank had a long and varied history. The backgrounds of ''daimyo'' also varied considerably; while some ''daimyo'' clans, notably the Mōri, Shimazu and Hosokawa, were cadet branches of the Imperial family or were descended from the ''kuge'', other ''daimyo'' were promoted from the ranks of the samurai, notably during the Edo period. ''Daimyo'' often hired samurai to guard their land, and they paid the samurai in land or food as relatively few could afford to pay samurai in money. The ''daimyo'' era ended soon after the Meiji Restora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sudhana
Sudhanakumāra (), mainly known as Sudhana and Shancai or Shancai Tongzi in Chinese, and translated as ''Child of Wealth'', is the protagonist in the last and longest chapter of the ''Avatamsaka Sutra''. Sudhana appears in Buddhist, Taoist and folk stories; in most of them he is one of the acolytes of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin) and is paired with Longnü "Dragon Girl". He and Longnü being depicted with Guanyin was most likely influenced by Yunü (''Jade Maiden'') and Jintong (''Golden Youth'') who both appear in the iconography of the Jade Emperor. A fictionalised account of Sudhana is detailed in the classical novel ''Journey to the West'', where Sudhana is portrayed as a villain, Red Boy, who is eventually subdued by Guanyin and becomes the bodhisattva's attendant. Gandavyuha Sutra Sudhana was a youth from India who was seeking bodhi (enlightenment). At the behest of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, Sudhana takes a pilgrimage on his quest for enlightenment and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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