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Pillowbook
is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 1000s in Heian-period Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002. The work is a collection of essays, anecdotes, poems, and descriptive passages which have little connection to one another except for the fact they are ideas and whims of Shōnagon's spurred by moments in her daily life. In it she included lists of all kinds, personal thoughts, interesting events in court, poetry, and some opinions on her contemporaries. While it is mostly a personal work, Shōnagon's writing and poetic skill makes it interesting as a work of literature, and it is valuable as a historical document. Shōnagon meant her writing in ''The Pillow Book'' for her eyes only, but part of it was accidentally revealed to the Court during her life: "she inadvertently left it er writingon a cushion she put out for a visiting guest, who eagerly carried it off d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamo No Chōmei
was a Japanese author, poet (in the waka form), and essayist. He witnessed a series of natural and social disasters, and, having lost his political backing, was passed over for promotion within the Shinto shrine associated with his family. He decided to turn his back on society, took Buddhist vows, and became a hermit, living outside the capital. This was somewhat unusual for the time, when those who turned their backs on the world usually joined monasteries. Along with the poet-priest Saigyō he is representative of the literary recluses of his time, and his celebrated essay '' Hōjōki'' ("An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut") is representative of the genre known as "recluse literature" (sōan bungaku). Early life Born with the name Kamo no Nagaakira, he was the second son of Kamo no Nagatsugu, ''sho-negi'' or superintendent, of the Lower Kamo ( Shimogamo) shrine. He was also known by the title Kikudaifu. The exact year of his birth is unknown, but thought to be either 115 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. Since 2019, the station controller has been Mohit Bakaya. He replaced Gwyneth Williams, who had been the station controller since 2010. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM broadcast band, FM, Longwave, LW and Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it List of most-listened-to radio programs#Top stations in the United Kingdom, the UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2. BBC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Forrest (dramatist)
Robert Forrest is a Scottish three-time Sony Award winning dramatist (playwright) who has created many radio shows for BBC Radio and a stage play 'Jason and the Argonauts' for children that toured internationally and on Broadway. He has also adapted The Exorcist for BBC Radio 4 (Feb 2014). History and personal life Forrest lives in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Radio adaptations * The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, BBC Radio 4, February 2014 * The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, BBC Radio 4, 6–13 May 2012 * The Pillow Book by Robert Forrest, BBC Radio 4, 2009–2012 * Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler, BBC Radio 7, 28 February – 4 March 2011 * Adam Bede by George Eliot, BBC Radio 7, 3–17 July 2010 * The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré, BBC Radio 4, 24 January – 7 February 2010 * The Secret Pilgrim by John le Carré, BBC Radio 4, 13–27 June 2010 * Smiley's People by John le Carré, BBC Radio 4, 11–25 April 2010 * The Voyage of the Demeter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and charity. While studying drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, McGregor began his career with a leading role in the British series '' Lipstick on Your Collar'' (1993). He gained international recognition for starring as drug addict Mark Renton in '' Trainspotting'' (1996) and as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy (1999–2005). His career progressed with starring roles in the musical '' Moulin Rouge!'' (2001), action film '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), fantasy film '' Big Fish'' (2003), and thriller '' Angels and Demons'' (2009). He gained praise for his performances in the thriller '' The Ghost Writer'' (2010) and romantic comedy '' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'' (2011). McGregor made his directorial debut with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vivian Wu
Vivian Wu ( Wu Junmei; ; born February 5, 1966) is a Chinese and American actress.Chen Nan ''China Daily'', 27 April 2007. Starring in a variety of North American and Chinese productions, her big break came in 1987, when she appeared in the biographical film ''The Last Emperor''. She later went to starring in films '' Iron & Silk'' (1990), '' The Guyver'' (1991), '' Heaven & Earth'' (1993), ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III'' (1993), '' The Joy Luck Club'' (1993), and most notably playing the leading roles in ''The Pillow Book'' (1996) and '' The Soong Sisters'' (1997). In 2020, she starred as Dr. Lu Wang in the Netflix science fiction drama series '' Away'', while in 2023, she portrayed Vivian Zhu in the Apple TV+ murder mystery comedy series '' The Afterparty''. Early life Wu Junmei was born in Shanghai, China. Wu is the daughter of Zhu Manfang, one of the leading actresses in China during the 1940s and 1950s. She attended Shanghai Shixi High School and began acting at the ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pillow Book (film)
''The Pillow Book'' is a 1996 erotic drama film written and directed by Peter Greenaway, which stars Vivian Wu as Nagiko, a Japanese model in search of pleasure and new cultural experience from various lovers. The film is a melding of dark modern drama with idealised Chinese and Japanese cultural themes and settings, and centres on body painting. Plot The film's title, "''The Pillow Book''", refers to an ancient Japanese diary written by Sei Shōnagon, whose actual name is believed to have been Kiyohara Nagiko, from whence the protagonist's name in the film. The film is narrated by Nagiko, a Japanese-born model living in Hong Kong. Nagiko seeks a lover who can match her desire for carnal pleasure with her admiration for poetry and calligraphy. The roots of this obsession lie in her youth in Kyoto, when her father would write characters of good fortune on her face. Nagiko's father celebrates her birthday retelling the Japanese creation myth and writing on her flesh in beautiful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a British film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Mannerist painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the scenic composition and illumination and the contrasts of costume and nudity, nature and architecture, furniture and people, sexual pleasure and painful death. Early life Greenaway was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, to a teacher mother and a builder's merchant father. Greenaway's family had relocated to Wales prior to his birth to escape the Blitz. They returned to the London area at the end of World War II and settled in Woodford, then part of Essex. He attended Churchfields Junior School and later Forest School in nearby Walthamstow. At an early age Greenaway decided on becoming a painter. He became interested in European cinema, focusing first on the films of Ingmar Bergman, and then on the French '' nouvelle vague'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matsudaira Sadanobu
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief of the Tokugawa shogunate, from 1787 to 1793. Early life Matsudaira Sadanobu was the seventh son of Tokugawa Munetake, of the Tayasu branch of the Tokugawa clan. The Tayasu was one of the '' gosankyō'', the senior-most of the lesser cadet branches of the Shōgun's family, and was thus the grandson of the reform-minded eighth shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune. The Tayasu house stood apart from the other cadet branches resident in Edo Castle, living a more austere lifestyle, following the example set by Yoshimune—in Munetake's words, the praise of manly spirit (''masuraoburi'') as opposed to feminine spirit (''taoyameburi''). It also set itself apart from the other branches due to its history of thwarted political ambition—the founder, Munetake, had hoped to become his father's heir but was passed over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yokoi Yayu
Yokoi is Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Gunpei Yokoi, designer of the Game Boy and other Nintendo products *Hirotaka Yokoi, professional mixed martial arts fighter *Shoichi Yokoi was a Japanese soldier who served as a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War, and was one of the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945. He was discovered in the jungle ..., soldier and celebrity * Yokoi Shōnan, political reformer * Mitsuo Yokoi, a Japanese voice actor (known as "Tesshō Genda") * Yokoi Yayū, 18th-century poet {{surname, Yokoi Japanese-language surnames ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese people, Japanese scholar of active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies. Life Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka, Mie, Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie Prefecture). His ancestors were vassals of the Kitabatake clan in Ise Province for many generations. However, in the early Edo period they abandoned their samurai status, changing their surname to Ozu, and relocated to Matsusaka, where they became cotton wholesalers. The family initially prospered and had a store in Edo as well. (The film director Yasujirō Ozu was a descendant of the same line). After his elder brother's death, Norinaga succeeded to the Ozu line. At one stage he was adopted out to a paper-making family but the bookish boy was not suited to business. It was at his mother's suggestion that, at the age of 22, Norinaga went to Kyoto to study medicine. In Kyoto, he also studied Chinese and Japanese philology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
