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Rajōmon
, also called , was the gate built at the southern end of the monumental Suzaku Avenue in the ancient Japanese cities of Heijō-kyō (Nara) and Heian-kyō (Kyoto), in accordance with the Chinese grid-patterned city layout. At the other far north-end of Suzaku Avenue, one would reach the Suzakumon Gate, the main entrance to the palace zone. , the southern end of Suzaku Avenue and the possible remainder of the equivalent gate in Fujiwara-kyō (Kashihara) are yet to be discovered. Name The gate's name in modern Japanese is ''Rajōmon''. ''Rajō'' (羅城) refers to city walls and ''mon'' (門) means "gate," so ''Rajōmon'' signifies the main city gate. Originally, this gate was known as ''Raseimon'' or ''Raiseimon'', using alternate readings for the kanji in the name. The name ''Rashōmon'', using the kanji 羅生門 (which can also be read ''Raseimon''), was popularized by a noh play Rashōmon (c.1420) written by Kanze Nobumitsu (1435–1516). The modern name, ''Rajōmon'', us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rashomon (film)
is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as various people who describe how a samurai was murdered in a forest, the plot and characters are based upon Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story "In a Grove", with the title and framing story being based on "Rashōmon", another short story by Akutagawa. Every element is largely identical, from the murdered samurai speaking through a Shinto psychic to the bandit in the forest, the monk, the assault of the wife and the dishonest retelling of the events in which everyone shows his or her ideal self by lying. The film is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident. ''Rashomon'' was the first Japanese film to receive a significant international receptio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rashōmon (Noh Play)
''Rashōmon'' (羅生門) is a Noh play by Kanze Nobumitsu (c.1420). Like other celebrated dramas such as the Maodori-hasi and Ibaraki, it is based on the legend of ''Watanabe no Tsuna'' and the demon of Rashōmon. Historical setting The play is set in the context of the final phase of the Heian period, leading up to the rise of rule by the military (by samurai warriors like Tsuna). Title, characters, and settings The title is a pun, which involves the Rajōmon (羅城門) outer castle gate but Kanze changed it by using the kanji shō for "life" rather than the original jō for "castle" (note that 羅城門 was originally read ''raseimon'' and 生 can also be read as ''sei''). It is one of the few Noh plays where the supporting ''waki'' (脇) rather than the normally leading ''shite'' (仕手) dominates the action. It is suggested that this can be attributed to the fact that Nobumitsu used to play ''waki'' roles when he was an actor. The s''hite'' character in this play only ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tō-ji
, also known as is a Shingon Buddhist temple in the Minami-ku ward of Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 796, it was one of the only three Buddhist temples allowed in the city at the time it became the capital of Japan. As such it has a long history, housing treasures and documents from the early Heian period and the Tang dynasty, and with buildings in its complex covering the Kamakura, Muromachi, Momoyama, and Edo periods. Five of these buildings have been designated National Treasures in two different categories: the Lotus Flower Gate (''rengemon''), the Miei Hall (''mieidō''), the Golden Hall (''kondō'') and the five-storied Pagoda (''gojūnotō'') ( temple buildings) and the Kanchiin Guest Hall (''kanchiin kyakuden'') (residences). Tō-ji was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto. History Tō-ji was founded in the early Heian period. The temple dates from 796, two years after the capital moved to Heian-kyō. Together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibaraki-dōji
Ibaraki-dōji (茨木童子 or 茨城童子 "Ibaraki child") is an oni (demon or ogre) featured in tales of the Heian period. In the tales, Ibaraki-dōji is based on Mount Ōe, and once went on a rampage in Kyoto. The "Ibaraki" in his name may refer to Ibaraki, Osaka; "dōji" means "child", but in this context is a demon offspring. Ibaraki-dōji was the most important servant of Shuten-dōji. As for the birthplace, there are theories that it may be Settsu Province (Mio, Ibaraki, Osaka, and Tomatsu, Amagasaki, Hyōgo) or Echigo Province (Niigata, formerly Tochio, now a settlement in Karuizawa, Nanago). Ibaraki-dōji had teeth since birth, and was feared for being a giant. After they became an oni, they met Shuten-dōji and became his subordinate, and together they aimed for the capital. Their gender is ambiguous, in some stories Ibaraki is a kijo (female oni), and in others a male. The female version is theorized to be Shuten-dōji’s lover, son, or his son's lover. The Shuten-d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suzaku Avenue
is the name given to the central avenue leading to the Imperial Palace from the south in Japanese capitals. Traditionally the Imperial palace complex faces south, whilst Suzaku Avenue leads directly away from the main gate. Cities were often based on a traditional Chinese grid pattern. Suzaku Avenue was typically the central road within the city grid, and as a result, the widest. Fujiwara-kyō, Heijō-kyō, and Heian-kyō had their own Suzaku Avenue. The word " Suzaku" refers to the Guardian God of the South, who was said to appear in the form of a bird. Heian-kyō In Heian-kyō, present-day Kyoto, the Rajōmon (Rajōmon, Raseimon) was at the southern end of Suzaku Avenue, flanked on the east by the temple of Tō-ji, and on the west by the temple of Sai-ji, whilst at the northern end there was the main gate Suzakumon of Heian Palace. Of these, only Tō-ji remains. Over time Suzaku Avenue stopped being the central street, due to the gradual abandonment of the west of the cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanze Nobumitsu
Kanze Kojiro Nobumitsu 観世 小次郎 信光 1435 or 1450 – July 7, 1516 was a Japanese noh playwright and secondary actor during the Muromachi period, Muromachi Era, from the house of Kanze (Noh school), Kanze. He was the great nephew of Noh playwright Zeami Motokiyo and is considered one of the last important playwrights of the golden age of Noh. He was the author of around 30 plays. Among his most famous plays is the play ''Rashōmon (Noh play), Rashōmon'', which spelled the title of the Rajōmon gate by using the kanji shō for "life" (羅生門) rather than the original jō for "castle." This reading has been corrected back in modern Japanese but left its trace in the title of later stories named Rashōmon and the film of Akira Kurosawa.Akira Kurosawa ''Something Like an Autobiography'' - - 1983 Page 180 " "Rashomon" actually refers to the Rajomon gate; the name was changed in a Noh play written by Kanze Nobumitsu. "Rajo" indicates the outer precincts of the castle, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heian-kyō
Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, moving the Imperial Court there from nearby Nagaoka-kyō at the recommendation of his advisor Wake no Kiyomaro and marking the beginning of the Heian period of Japanese history. According to modern scholarship, the city is thought to have been modelled after the urban planning for the Tang dynasty Chinese capital of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an).. It remained the chief political center until 1185, when the samurai Minamoto clan defeated the Taira clan in the Genpei War, moving administration of national affairs to Kamakura and establishing the Kamakura shogunate. Though political power would be wielded by the samurai class over the course of three different shogunates, Heian remained the site of the Imperial Court and seat of Imperial p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heijō Palace
was the imperial residence in the Japanese capital city Heijō-kyō (today's Nara), during most of the Nara period. The palace, which served as the imperial residence and the administrative centre of for most of the Nara period from 710 to 794 AD, was located at the north-central location of the city in accordance with the Chinese models used for the design of the capital. The palace consisted of a , a large rectangular walled enclosure which contained several ceremonial and administrative buildings including the government ministries. Inside this enclosure was the separately walled residential compound of the emperor or the ''Inner Palace''. In addition to the emperor's living quarters the Inner Palace contained the residences of the imperial consorts as well as certain official and ceremonial buildings more closely linked to the person of the emperor. The original role of the palace was to manifest the centralised government model adopted by Japan from China in the 7th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suzakumon
The was the main gate built in the center of the south end of the imperial palaces in the Japanese ancient capitals of Fujiwara-kyō (Kashihara), Heijō-kyō (Nara), and later Heian-kyō (Kyoto). The placement followed the ancient Chinese palace model requirements at the time, where , the Vermilion Bird was the Guardian of the South. (''See Four Symbols for more.'') It was said to be the site where foreign dignitaries were received by the Emperor. All of them were destroyed centuries ago along with the old imperial residences. Nara Suzakumon In 1993, it was decided that the gate of Nara would be reconstructed. It proved extremely difficult to work out what Suzakumon had looked like, as there were no surviving structural remnants. A conjectural model was developed, based on comparable architecture elsewhere, and the new gate was constructed from a mixture of traditional building materials (cypress wood and tiles) and concrete, in order to resist earthquakes. The reconstructed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rashōmon (short Story)
is a short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa based on tales from the ''Konjaku Monogatarishū''. The story was first published in 1915 in ''Teikoku Bungaku''. Akira Kurosawa's film ''Rashomon'' (1950) is in fact based primarily on another of Akutagawa's short stories, "In a Grove"; only the film's title and some of the material for the frame scenes, such as the theft of a kimono and the discussion of the moral ambiguity of thieving to survive, are borrowed from "Rashōmon". Plot summary The story recounts the encounter between a servant and an old woman in the dilapidated Rashōmon, the southern gate of the then-ruined city of Kyoto, where unclaimed corpses were sometimes dumped. The current name of the gate in the story, but not the plot, comes from the Noh play ''Rashōmon'' (c. 1420). The man, a lowly servant recently fired, is contemplating whether to starve to death or to become a thief to survive in the barren times. He goes upstairs, after noticing some firelight there, and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto Rajomon C1021
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such as the Ōnin War, the Honnō- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan National Route 1
is a major highway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It connects Chūō, Tokyo in the Kantō region with the city of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture in the Kansai region, passing through the Chūbu region en route. It follows the old Tōkaidō westward from Tokyo to Kyoto, and the old Kyo Kaidō from there to Osaka. Between Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture it parallels the Tomei Expressway; from there to Mie Prefecture, the Higashi-Meihan Expressway, and from Shiga Prefecture to Osaka, the Meishin Expressway. It has a total length of . At its eastern terminus in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, it meets National Routes 4, 6, 14, 15, 17, and 20. At its western terminus in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka, it links with Routes 2, 25, 26 and other highways. National Route 1 links Tokyo to the important prefectural capitals of Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture), Shizuoka, Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture), Otsu (Shiga Prefecture), Kyoto, and Osaka. It is the modern incarnation of the pre-modern Tōkaidō. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
