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Kusunoki Masahige
was a Japanese samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the Imperial Court. Kusunoki was a leading figure of the Kenmu Restoration in 1333 and remained loyal to the unpopular Emperor Go-Daigo after Ashikaga Takauji began to reverse the restoration in the Nanboku-chō wars three years later. Kusunoki attacked Takauji in Settsu at the command of the Emperor, an act of obedience surely to result in defeat, and died at the Battle of Minatogawa in 1336. Kusunoki became a popular legend in Japan representing loyalty and virtue, and associated with the phrase "Would that I had seven lives to give for my country!" (七生報國; "''Shichishō Hōkoku!''"). Kusunoki was posthumously awarded the highest court rank in Japan, Senior First Rank (''shō ichi-i)'', by the Meiji government in 1880, over 500 years after his death. Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanō Sanraku
was a Japanese painter also known as Kimura Heizō (his birth name), Shūri, Mitsuyori, and Sanraku. Sanraku's works combine the forceful quality of Momoyama work with the tranquil depiction of nature, and they have a more refined use of color typical of the Edo period. Life His father was the painter Kimura Nagamitsu who flourished circa 1570, and he was born in Shiga Prefecture and died in Kyoto. Sanraku worked as a page in the service of the "second unifier of Japan", Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in the 1570s. While in Hideyoshi's service, Sanraku's talent shined through and led to Hideyoshi introducing the young boy to the famed Kano artist school head artist of the time, Kanō Eitoku. Eitoku was so impressed by the young boy's skills that he adopted Sanraku, making him officially a part of the Kanō school. Originally named Kanō Mitsuyori, he later changed his name to avoid political persecution after the fall of the Toyotomi clan. He also went on to train and work closely with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legend
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time to keep them fresh and vital. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted. Legends are sometimes distinguished from myths in that they concern human beings as the main characters rather than gods, and sometimes in that they have some sort of historical basis whereas myths generally do not. The Brothers Grimm defined ''legend'' as " folktale historically grounded". A by-product of the "concern with human beings" is the long list of legendary creatures, leaving no "resolute doubt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitta Yoshisada
was a samurai lord of the Nanboku-chō period Japan. He was the head of the Nitta clan in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period. He famously marched on Kamakura, besieging and capturing it from the Hōjō clan in 1333. Later he fought the Takauji brothers on the Emperor's behalf in a see-saw campaign which saw the capital change hands several times. After a peaceful compromise was agreed, Yoshisada was entrusted with two royal princes. At the siege of Kanegasaki (1337), both princes were killed, along with Yoshisada's son, although Yoshisada was able to escape. He committed seppuku when his horse was killed at the siege of Kuromaru. Early life Yoshisada was born in 1301, the eldest son of Nitta Tomouji. He succeeded his father and became the lord of Nitta Manor in Kōzuke Province in 1317. At this time, he also became the head of the Nitta clan. Yoshisada courted a daughter of a court noble, Kōtō-Nai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Chihaya
The 1333 siege of Chihaya took place during the final year of Japan's Kamakura period. It was one of several battles of the Genkō War, in which Emperor Go-Daigo sought to eliminate the power of the Hōjō clan regents. Chihaya-jō (千早城, Chihaya fortress) was built atop Mt. Kongō, in Kawachi province, in 1332. Successfully defended the following year by the Imperial forces led by Kusunoki Masashige, it would eventually fall to the Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establi ... in 1390. Kusunoki Masashige's defense of this fortress became a very classic siege in Japanese history. This was because both the Imperial garrison and the besieging force of the Hōjō demonstrated high levels of siegecraft. Kusunoki's success here made up for his loss two yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Akasaka
The siege of Akasaka was one of the earlier battles of the Genkō War between the figurehead Emperor Godaigo and the largely Hōjō controlled Kamakura shogunate during the final years of the Kamakura period in Japan. The battle in question was fought at Shimo Akasaka-jō (下赤坂城), or ( en, Lower Akasaka fortress), a fortress built upon Mount Yoshino near modern-day Osaka in the former Kawachi Province in Osaka Prefecture. Background For most of Japan's history the Emperor was a powerless figurehead while real power rested in the Shogunate, and this was no different for Emperor Godaigo who was overshadowed by the Kamakura Shogunate. But in 1324, in the dying years of the Kamakura period, the Emperor plotted to overthrow the Shogunate but his plan was discovered. Undeterred, he tried again seven years later but was once again discovered due to the treachery of Fujiwara Sadafusa, Godaigo's trusted adviser. Realizing that he was at the end of his rope, the Emperor fled from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chihayaakasaka, Osaka
250px, Kusunoki Masashige's birthplace 250px, Rice Terraces near Shimo-Akasaka Castle is a village located in Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 4,970 in 2267 households and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the village is . Geography Chihayaakasaka is located in the far southeast corner of Osaka Prefecture, bordered by the Yoshino region of Nara to the east. Most of the village area is mountainous and forested, and is within the borders of the Kongō-Ikoma-Kisen Quasi-National Park. Climate Chihayaakasaka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Chihayaakasaka is 13.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1636 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.4&nbs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu, Austroasiatic, Koreanic, and the now-discredited Altaic, but none of these proposals has gained widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), there was a massive influx of Sino-Japanese vocabulary into the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese. Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords. The basis of the standard dial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camphor Tree
''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree that is commonly known under the names camphor tree, camphorwood or camphor laurel. Description ''Camphora officinarum'' is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern Japan, Korea, India and Vietnam, and has been introduced to many other countries. It grows up to tall. In Japan, where the tree is called ''kusunoki'', five camphor trees are known with a trunk circumference above , with the largest individual, , reaching 24.22 m. The leaves have a glossy, waxy appearance and smell of camphor when crushed. In spring, it produces bright green foliage with masses of small white flowers. It produces clusters of black, berry-like fruit around in diameter. Its pale bark is very rough and fissured vertically. Certain trees in Japan are considered sacred. An example of the importance of a sacred tree is the 700-year old camphor growing in the middle of Kayashima Station. Locals protested against moving t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osaka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara Prefecture to the southeast, and Wakayama Prefecture to the south. Osaka is the capital and largest city of Osaka Prefecture, and the third-largest city in Japan, with other major cities including Sakai, Higashiōsaka, and Hirakata. Osaka Prefecture is the third-most-populous prefecture, but by geographic area the second-smallest; at it is the second-most densely populated, below only Tokyo. Osaka Prefecture is one of Japan's two " urban prefectures" using the designation ''fu'' (府) rather than the standard '' ken'' for prefectures, along with Kyoto Prefecture. Osaka Prefecture forms the center of the Keihanshin metropolitan area, the second-most-populated urban region in Japan after the Greater Tokyo area and one of the world ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhism In Japan
Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since about the 6th century CE. Japanese Buddhism () created many new Buddhist schools, and some schools are original to Japan and some are derived from Chinese Buddhist schools. Japanese Buddhism has had a major influence on Japanese society and culture and remains an influential aspect to this day.Asia SocietBuddhism in Japan accessed July 2012 According to the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural Affairs estimate, , with about 84 million or about 67% of the Japanese population, Buddhism was the religion in Japan with the second most adherents, next to Shinto, though a large number of people practice elements of both. According to the statistics by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2021, the religious corporation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan had 135 million believers, of which 47 million were Buddhists and most of them were believers of new schools of Buddh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gentry
Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to landed estates (see manorialism), upper levels of the clergy, and "gentle" families of long descent who in some cases never obtained the official right to bear a coat of arms. The gentry largely consisted of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate; some were gentleman farmers. In the United Kingdom, the term ''gentry'' refers to the landed gentry: the majority of the land-owning social class who typically had a coat of arms, but did not have a peerage. The adjective "patrician" ("of or like a person of high social rank") describes in comparison other analogous traditional social elite strata based in cities, such as free c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kawachi Province
was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in the past, with Kawachi Bay and lake dominating the area over what is now land. ''Chiku'' Kawachi was divided into three : , , and . * The northern county comprised the modern Hirakata, Neyagawa, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Shijōnawate, Daitō, and Katano, Osaka areas. * The central county comprised the modern Higashiōsaka, Yao, and Kashiwara, Osaka areas. * The southern county comprised the modern Sakai's eastern part (all of Higashi-ku and Mihara-ku, and part of Kita-ku), Matsubara, Habikino, Fujiidera, Tondabayashi, Kawachinagano, Ōsakasayama, and Minamikawachi District areas. Development Kawachi province was established in the 7th century. On 11 May 716, the Ōtori, Izumi, and Hine districts were split off to form . In December 720, the and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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