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'Nakamura Shikan V (Nakamura Utaemon V) in Dojoji (A Maiden at Dojoji)' by Okada Saburosuke (1869-1939), 1908.<br/><br/> Okada Saburosuke (12 January 1869 - 23 September, 1939) was a Japanese yōga (Western-style) painter. He was influenced by great yōga painters such as Kuroda Seiki and Kume Keiichiro, and became one of the founding members of Hakuba-kai (White Horse Society), an artists' association. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 1937, the highest honour in the Japanese cultural world.
Chen Hongshou (1598-1652), courtesy name Zhanghou and pseudonym Laolian, was a Chinese painter from Zhuji who lived during the late Ming Dynasty era. Chen trained under the famed artist Lan Ying, and developed a plump and profound brushwork style that lent itself to illustrations and tapestry portraits.
Wang Jian (1598-1677), style name Xuanzhao and pseudonyms Xiangbi and Ranxiang Anzhu, was a Chinese painter born in Taicang. He lived during the end of the Ming Dynasty and the first decades of the Qing Dynasty. His style of painting was influenced by that of notorious painter Dong Yuan, and he would become famous enough himself to be considered one of the Four Wangs and Six Masters of the early Qing period.
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was a renowned arist and ukyo-e painter of the late Edo Period. Born in Edo, Hokusai was from an artisan family and bore the childhood name of Tokitaro. As he grew and became an artist, he would use more than thirty names throughout his lifetime, exceeding that of any other major Japanese artist.<br/><br/> His best known work was the series 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji', which secured his fame not only in Japan but also overseas. Though he had a long career, his most important work was arguably produced after he turned 60, when his work transformed the artwork of ukiyo-e from not just focusing on courtesans and actors to also portraying landscapes, animals and plants.
Shigeru Aoki (1882-1911) was a Japanese painter famed for his combining of Japanese mythology and legends with the Western-style art movement that could be found in some late 19th and early 20th century Japanese paintings.<br/><br/> Aoki was born into an ex-samurai household in northern Kyushu. He left his home in 1899 to pursue artistic studies in Tokyo, and soon began to accumulate critical acclaim for his artwork and its use of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood techniques mixed with Kojiki themes. He died in March 1911 from tuberculosis, aged only 28.
Edwin Arthur Norbury (1849 - 1918) was the Director of the Royal School of Art, Bangkok, in what was then known as Siam.
Yashima Gakutei was a Japanese artist and poet who was a pupil of both Totoya Hokkei and Hokusai. Gakutei is best known for his kyoka poetry and surimono woodblock works.
Mang Huli was a Chinese painter of Manchu ethnicity. He must have been close to, or attached to, the Qing Court.
Northern Thailand has inherited the culinary legacy of the once powerful Lan Na Kingdom, with ties to neighbouring Burma and the Chinese province of Yunnan. One noteworthy feature is the widespread use of tomatoes in curries and other cooked dishes – elsewhere in Thailand the tomato is usually seen as a salad vegetable.<br/><br/> Distinctive dishes include <i>khao soy</i>– a succulent noodle dish introduced by Muslim caravaneers from China. Wheat noodles are served in a chicken or beef broth with an accompaniment of chopped red onions, pickled cabbage, fresh lime and soy sauce. <i>Nam phrik ong</i>– minced pork with tomatoes and chillies, almost like a Bolognese sauce. Not to be missed is <i>kaeng hang lay</i>– curried pork with ginger and peanuts, often served at weddings and other celebrations. Another favourite is the spicy Chiang Mai sausage, made with <i>naem</i>, or preserved pork. Served with a tray of peanuts, fresh ginger and chilli peppers, Northerners consider this to be an ideal <i>kap klaem</i>, or accompaniment to drinks – usually whisky and soda with plenty of ice.<br/><br/> Visitors to Chiang Mai can sample local cuisine at a northern Khantoke dinner – elegantly served on a low table, usually to the accompaniment of traditional Lan Na dancing.
The Ryukyu Kingdom (historical English name: Lewchew, Luchu, or Loochoo) was an independent kingdom that ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th to the 19th century. The kings of Ryukyu unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan.<br/><br/> Despite its small size, the kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia.
Yamamoto Shoun (December 30, 1870 - May 10, 1965), who was also known as Matsutani Shoun, was a Japanese print designer, painter, and illustrator. He was born in Kochi into a family of retainers of the Shogun and was given the name Mosaburo. As a teenager, he studied Kano school painting with Yanagimoto Doso and Kawada Shoryu. At about age 17, he moved to Tokyo, where he studied Nanga painting with Taki Katei. At 20 years of age, he was employed as an illustrator for Fugoku Gaho, a pictorial magazine dealing with the sights in and around Tokyo. In his latter career, Shoun primarily produced paintings. He died in 1965, at the age of 96.<br/><br/> In addition to his magazine illustrations, Shoun is best known for his woodblock prints of <i>bijin</i> or 'beautiful women', especially <i>imasugata</i> a kind of precursor to the 'moderngirls / moga' movement of the 1920s and 1930s. Shoun is considered a bridge between the ukiyo-e and shin hanga schools. His career spans the Meiji (1868-1912), Taisho (1912-1926) and Showa (1926-1989) periods.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Kitagawa Utamaro (ca. 1753 - October 31, 1806) was a Japanese printmaker and painter, who is considered one of the greatest artists of woodblock prints (ukiyo-e). He is known especially for his masterfully composed studies of women, known as bijinga. He also produced nature studies, particularly illustrated books of insects.
Water Margin (known in Chinese as Shuihu Zhuan, sometimes abbreviated to Shuihu), also known as Suikoden in Japanese, as well as Outlaws of the Marsh, Tale of the Marshes, All Men Are Brothers, Men of the Marshes, or The Marshes of Mount Liang, is a 14th century novel and one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.<br/><br/> Attributed to Shi Nai'an and written in vernacular Chinese, the story, set in the Song Dynasty, tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gathered at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces.<br/><br/> In 1827, Japanese publisher Kagaya Kichibei commissioned Utagawa Kuniyoshi to produce a series of woodblock prints illustrating the 108 heroes of the Suikoden. The 1827-1830 series, called '108 Heroes of the Water Margin' or 'Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori', made Utagawa Kuniyoshi's famous.
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<br/><br/> The series opens with spring (春の部). Scenes 1 though 42 represent the First to the Third Months, which are considered in Japan to be the spring season. Typically, early spring is marked by the festivities celebrated at the New Year, which begins the season. Blossoming plum trees are associated with the middle of spring, signifying the end of the cold weather and the beginning of the warm season.<br/><br/> Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).
Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木 春信4, 1724 – July 7, 1770) was a Japanese woodblock print artist, one of the most famous in the Ukiyo-e style. He was an innovator, the first to produce full-color prints (nishiki-e) in 1765, rendering obsolete the former modes of two- and three-color prints.<br/><br/> Harunobu used many special techniques, and depicted a wide variety of subjects, from classical poems to contemporary beauties (bijin, bijin-ga). Like many artists of his day, Harunobu also produced a number of shunga, or erotic images.<br/><br/> During his lifetime and shortly afterwards, many artists imitated his style. A few, such as Harushige, even boasted of their ability to forge the work of the great master. Much about Harunobu's life is unknown.
Hand-coloured illustration from a Japanese miscellany on traditional trades, crafts and customs in mid-18th century Japan, dated Meiwa Era (1764-1772) Year 6 (c. 1770 CE).
Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî was a 13th-century Arab Islamic artist. Al-Wasiti was born in Wasit in southern Iraq. He was noted for his illustrations of the Maqam of al-Hariri.<br/><br/> Maqāma (literally 'assemblies') are an (originally) Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Badī' al-Zaman al-Hamadhāni is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century. Both authors' maqāmāt center on trickster figures whose wanderings and exploits in speaking to assemblies of the powerful are conveyed by a narrator.<br/><br/> Manuscripts of al-Harīrī's Maqāmāt, anecdotes of a roguish wanderer Abu Zayd from Saruj, were frequently illustrated with miniatures.
Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî was a 13th-century Arab Islamic artist. Al-Wasiti was born in Wasit in southern Iraq. He was noted for his illustrations of the Maqam of al-Hariri.<br/><br/> Maqāma (literally 'assemblies') are an (originally) Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Badī' al-Zaman al-Hamadhāni is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century. Both authors' maqāmāt center on trickster figures whose wanderings and exploits in speaking to assemblies of the powerful are conveyed by a narrator.<br/><br/> Manuscripts of al-Harīrī's Maqāmāt, anecdotes of a roguish wanderer Abu Zayd from Saruj, were frequently illustrated with miniatures.
Bo Sang, near the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, is famous for its hand-made brightly colored umbrellas and parasols. Once a year, in late January, the Bo Sang Umbrella and San Kamphaeng Handicrafts Festival is held in the town.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning 'new city'), sometimes written as 'Chiengmai' or 'Chiangmai', is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken) took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the country's 'national legend'. It recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, bushidō.<br/><br/> The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for two years to kill Kira.<br/><br/> In turn, the ronin were themselves ordered to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots.<br/><br/> Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names of the ronin were changed.
The Muslim population of Chiang Mai is not particularly large - according to the 1980 census it comprised a mere 2.5% of the city's overall total - but it is successful, diverse, and (at least in the main Muslim neighbourhoods) very noticeable.<br/><br/> Four main areas of Muslim settlement are readily identifiable by their mosques, halal restaurants, men sporting prayer caps and women wearing head veils. Two of these areas (Chang Pheuak and South Changklan) are predominantly Bengali, or South Asian in character, whilst two others (Baan Haw and Sanphakoi) are predominantly Yunnanese.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai, sometimes written as 'Chiengmai' or 'Chiangmai', is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok, among the highest mountains in the country. The city is on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river.<br/><br/> King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning 'new city') in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom. The ruler was known as the Chao. The city was surrounded by a moat and a defensive wall, since nearby Burma was a constant threat.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1774 by an agreement with Chao Kavila, after the Thai King Taksin helped drive out the Burmese. Chiang Mai then slowly grew in cultural, trading and economic importance to its current status as the unofficial capital of northern Thailand, second in importance only to Bangkok.
The Muslim population of Chiang Mai is not particularly large - according to the 1980 census it comprised a mere 2.5% of the city's overall total - but it is successful, diverse, and (at least in the main Muslim neighbourhoods) very noticeable.<br/><br/> Four main areas of Muslim settlement are readily identifiable by their mosques, halal restaurants, men sporting prayer caps and women wearing head veils. Two of these areas (Chang Pheuak and South Changklan) are predominantly Bengali, or South Asian in character, whilst two others (Baan Haw and Sanphakoi) are predominantly Yunnanese.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai, sometimes written as 'Chiengmai' or 'Chiangmai', is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok, among the highest mountains in the country. The city is on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river.<br/><br/> King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning 'new city') in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom. The ruler was known as the Chao. The city was surrounded by a moat and a defensive wall, since nearby Burma was a constant threat.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1774 by an agreement with Chao Kavila, after the Thai King Taksin helped drive out the Burmese. Chiang Mai then slowly grew in cultural, trading and economic importance to its current status as the unofficial capital of northern Thailand, second in importance only to Bangkok.
The Muslim population of Chiang Mai is not particularly large - according to the 1980 census it comprised a mere 2.5% of the city's overall total - but it is successful, diverse, and (at least in the main Muslim neighbourhoods) very noticeable.<br/><br/> Four main areas of Muslim settlement are readily identifiable by their mosques, halal restaurants, men sporting prayer caps and women wearing head veils. Two of these areas (Chang Pheuak and South Changklan) are predominantly Bengali, or South Asian in character, whilst two others (Baan Haw and Sanphakoi) are predominantly Yunnanese.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai, sometimes written as 'Chiengmai' or 'Chiangmai', is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok, among the highest mountains in the country. The city is on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river.<br/><br/> King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning 'new city') in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom. The ruler was known as the Chao. The city was surrounded by a moat and a defensive wall, since nearby Burma was a constant threat.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1774 by an agreement with Chao Kavila, after the Thai King Taksin helped drive out the Burmese. Chiang Mai then slowly grew in cultural, trading and economic importance to its current status as the unofficial capital of northern Thailand, second in importance only to Bangkok.
Zeng Guofan (traditional Chinese: 曾國藩; simplified Chinese: 曾国藩; pinyin: Zēng Guófān; Wade–Giles: Tseng Kuo-fan, Styled Bóhán 伯函 and variably Díshēng 滌生; Posthumous name: Wenzheng 文正; created Marquis Yiyong of the First Class 一等毅勇侯, 世襲罔替) (November 21, 1811 – March 12, 1872) was an eminent Han Chinese official, military general, and devout Confucian scholar of the late Qing Dynasty in China.<br/><br/> Zeng raised the Xiang Army to fight effectively against the Taiping Rebellion and restored the stability of Qing Dynasty along with other prominent figures, including Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, setting the scene for the era later known as the 'Tongzhi Restoration'（同治中兴). He was known for his strategic perception, administrative skill and noble personality on Confucianist practice, but also sometimes for his ruthlessness on the execution of his policies. Zeng also exemplified loyalty in an era of chaos, but is also regarded as a pre-cursor to the rise of warlordism.
T. Enami (Enami Nobukuni, 1859 – 1929) was the trade name of a celebrated Meiji period photographer. The T. of his trade name is thought to have stood for Toshi, though he never spelled it out on any personal or business document.<br/><br/> Born in Edo (now Tokyo) during the Bakumatsu era, Enami was first a student of, and then an assistant to the well known photographer and collotypist, Ogawa Kazumasa. Enami relocated to Yokohama, and opened a studio on Benten-dōri (Benten Street) in 1892. Just a few doors away from him was the studio of the already well known Tamamura Kozaburō. He and Enami would work together on at least three related projects over the years.<br/><br/> Enami became quietly unique as the only photographer of that period known to work in all popular formats, including the production of large-format photographs compiled into what are commonly called "Yokohama Albums". Enami went on to become Japan's most prolific photographer of small-format images such as the stereoview and glass lantern-slides. The best of these were delicately hand-tinted.
Architectural drawing of art features in the Forbidden City at Huế, the imperial capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). The drawing was made for the Association des Amis du Vieux Hue (Association of the Friends of Old Hue) in the 1920s, before the disasters of 1947 and 1968. Today, less than a third of the structures inside the citadel remain.<br/><br/> In 1947 the French army shelled the building, and removed or destroyed nearly all the treasures it contained. Most of the buildings in the Forbidden City were destroyed by fire. Further massive destruction occurred when Hue’s Citadel became the symbolic centre of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Major artillery battles were fought when the National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces overran Hue. The US forces finally recaptured the citadel 25 days later, but not before shelling the citadel with heavy naval bombardments as well as extensive bombing from the air.<br/><br/> The former Imperial City was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and is gradually being restored.
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was the first great war of the 20th century which grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea.<br/><br/> The major theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, specifically the area around the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden, the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea. The resulting campaigns, in which the Japanese military attained victory over the Russian forces arrayed against them, were unexpected by world observers. As time transpired, these victories would transform the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage.<br/><br/> The embarrassing string of defeats inflamed the Russian people's dissatisfaction with their inefficient and corrupt Tsarist government, and proved a major cause of the Russian Revolution of 1905.
From 1746 to 1749, the Swedish ship Götha Lejon sailed on a mercantile mission to Canton. Several accounts of what transpired have survived. A handwritten journal has been attributed to Carl Fredrik von Schantz (1727-92). Another account of the mission of Götha Lejon was compiled by Carl Johan Gethe (1728-65), a cartographer and natural historian. His diary is titled ‘Diary of a Journey to East India begun on 18 October 1746 and ending June 20, 1749’.<br/><br/> The Swedish East India Company (Swedish: Svenska Ostindiska Companiet or SOIC) was founded in 1731 in Gothenburg, Sweden, for the purpose of conducting trade with the Far East, and grew to become the largest trading company in Sweden during the 18th century. It closed in 1813.
Fan Kuan (Chinese: 范寬; pinyin: Fàn Kuān; Wade–Giles: Fan K’uan) was a Chinese landscape painter of the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE) considered among the great masters of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Almost no biographical details survive about him. He modelled his early work after that of the artist Li Cheng (919–967), but later he concluded that nature was the only true teacher. He spent the rest of his life as a recluse in the rugged Qiantang mountains of Shanxi. Besides his admiration and love for the mountain's of northern China little else is known of his life.<br/><br/> 'Travellers among Mountains and Streams', a large hanging scroll, is Fan Kuan's best known work and a seminal painting of the Northern Song school. It establishes an ideal in monumental landscape painting to which later painters were to return time and again for inspiration. Fan Kuan based the painting on the Taoist principle of reclusion, the composition emphasises the monumentality of nature. A packhorse train can barely be seen emerging from a wood at the base of a huge precipice.<br/><br/> Despite the fact that the painting represents an ideal example of the achievements of the Northern Song landscape styles, the painting still represents several archaic conventions dating back to the Tang Dynasty. The composition remains dominated by a central massif. The foliage are composed of mechanically repeated and narrow texture strokes.<br/><br/> Fan's masterpiece 'Travellers among Mountains and Streams' bears a lost half-hidden signature rediscovered only in 1958.
Oiran (花魁) were the courtesans of Edo period Japan. The oiran were considered a type of yūjo (遊女) 'woman of pleasure' or prostitute. However, they were distinguished from the yūjo in that they were entertainers, and many became celebrities of their times outside the pleasure districts. Their art and fashions often set trends among the wealthy and, because of this, cultural aspects of oiran traditions continue to be preserved to this day.<br/><br/> The oiran arose in the Edo period (1600–1868). At this time, laws were passed restricting brothels to walled districts set some distance from the city center. In the major cities these were the Shimabara in Kyoto, the Shinmachi in Osaka, and the Yoshiwara in Edo (present-day Tokyo).<br/><br/> These rapidly grew into large, self-contained 'pleasure quarters' offering all manner of entertainments. Within, a courtesan’s birth rank held no distinction, which was fortunate considering many of the courtesans originated as the daughters of impoverished families who were sold into this lifestyle as indentured servants. Instead, they were categorized based on their beauty, character, education, and artistic ability.<br/><br/> Among the oiran, the tayū (太夫) was considered the highest rank of courtesan and were considered suitable for the daimyo or feudal lords. In the mid-1700s courtesan rankings began to disappear and courtesans of all classes were collectively known simply as 'oiran'.<br/><br/> The word oiran comes from the Japanese phrase oira no tokoro no nēsan (おいらの所の姉さ) which translates as 'my elder sister'. When written in Japanese, it consists of two kanji, 花 meaning 'flower', and 魁 meaning 'leader' or 'first', hence 'Leading Flower' or 'First Flower'.
The Admonitions Scroll is a Chinese narrative painting on silk that is traditionally ascribed to Gu Kaizhi (c.345-c.406 CE), but which modern scholarship regards as a 5th to 8th century work that may be a copy of an original Jin Dynasty (265–420 CE) court painting by Gu Kaizhi. The full title of the painting is Admonitions of the Court Instructress (Chinese: Nushi Zhentu). It was painted to illustrate a poetic text written in 292 by the poet-official Zhang Hua (232–300). The text itself was composed to reprimand Empress Jia (257–300) and to provide advice to imperial wives and concubines on how to behave. The painting illustrates this text with scenes depicting anecdotes about exemplary behaviour of historical palace ladies, as well as with more general scenes showing aspects of life as a palace lady. The painting is reputed to be the earliest extant example of a Chinese handscroll painting.
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.<br/><br/> A raga uses a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is constructed. However, the way the notes are approached and rendered in musical phrases and the mood they convey are more important in defining a raga than the notes themselves. In the Indian musical tradition, rāgas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons.<br/><br/> Rāginī (Devanagari: रागिनी) is a term for the 'feminine' counterpart or 'wife' to a rāga. The rāga-rāgini scheme dates from about the 14th century and aligns 6 'male' rāgas with 6 'wives'.
With some 2000 religious sites - 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, as well as palaces, gardens and architecture, Kyoto is one of the best preserved and most culturally distinguished cities in Japan.<br/><br/> Among the most famous temples are Kiyomizu-dera, a magnificent wooden temple supported by pillars off the slope of a mountain; Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion; Ginkaku-ji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion; and Ryōan-ji, famous for its rock garden. The Heian Jingū is a Shinto shrine, built in 1895, celebrating the Imperial family and commemorating the first and last emperors to reside in Kyoto.<br/><br/> Three special sites have connections to the imperial family: the Kyoto Gyoen area including the Kyoto Imperial Palace and Sento Imperial Palace, homes of the Emperors of Japan for many centuries; Katsura Imperial Villa, one of the nation's finest architectural treasures; and Shugaku-in Imperial Villa, one of its best Japanese gardens.<br/><br/> The 'Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto' are listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. These include the Kamo Shrines (Kami and Shimo), Kyō-ō-Gokokuji (Tō-ji), Kiyomizu-dera, Daigo-ji, Ninna-ji, Saihō-ji (Kokedera), Tenryū-ji, Rokuon-ji (Kinkaku-ji), Jishō-ji (Ginkaku-ji), Ryōan-ji, Hongan-ji, Kōzan-ji and the Nijo Castle, primarily built by the Tokugawa shoguns. Other sites outside the city are also on the list.
Edwin Lord Weeks (1849 – 1903), American artist and Orientalist, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1849. He was a pupil of Léon Bonnat and of Jean-Léon Gérôme, at Paris. He made many voyages to the East, and was distinguished as a painter of oriental scenes.<br/><br> Weeks' parents were affluent spice and tea merchants from Newton, a suburb of Boston and as such they were able to accept, probably encourage, and certainly finance their son's youthful interest in painting and travelling.<br/><br> As a young man Edwin Lord Weeks visited the Florida Keys to draw and also travelled to Surinam in South America. His earliest known paintings date from 1867 when Edwin Lord Weeks was eighteen years old. In 1895 he wrote and illustrated a book of travels, From the Black Sea through Persia and India.
Charles Thomas Scowen (11 March 1852 - 24 November 1948) was a British photographer active during the late nineteenth century, primarily from 1871-1890. He worked out of Sri Lanka and British India with his own established studio, Scowen & Co. His first studio was in Kandy, but he had opened a second in Colombo by the 1890s. His photos were famed for their lighting, strong compositional qualities and technically superior printing.
Emperor Ingyō (允恭天皇 Ingyō-tennō) was the 19th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 410–453.<br/><br/> Emperor Ingyo's empress is named Oshisaka no Ōnakatsu no Hime in the Japanese annals. Princess Sotori Hime was the concubine of the Emperor Ingyo, so named for the beauty of her skin which seemed to radiate through her robes. Later accounts associated her with the deity Tamatsushima Myojin, enshrined at Wakanoura in Kii Province, and venerated her as one of the three gods of poetry together with Kakimoto no Hitomaro and Yamabe no Akahito.<br/><br/> According to the <i>Nihon Shoki</i> written in 720, Princess Sotori lived in seclusion in the Fujiwara Shrine out of deference to the Empress. The Emperor decided to visit her there in secret, but even before he arrived the Princess had divined that he was coming by noticing a spider building its web in the roots of a dwarf bamboo plant.
Between 1802 and 1945, Hue was the imperial capital of the feudal Nguyen Dynasty, which dominated much of southern Vietnam. In 1775 when Trinh Sam captured it, it was known as Phu Xuan. In 1802, Nguyen Phuc Anh (later Emperor Gia Long) succeeded in establishing his control over the whole of Vietnam, thereby making Hue the national capital. The French administration placed the boy emperor Duy Tan on the throne in 1907, replacing his father Emperor Thanh Thai who was opposed to French colonial rule and sent into exile. Hue remained the Vietnamese capital until 1945, when Emperor Bao Dai abdicated and a communist government was established in Hanoi.
Hand-coloured illustration from a Japanese miscellany on traditional trades, crafts and customs in mid-18th century Japan, dated Meiwa Era (1764-1772) Year 6 (c. 1770 CE).
From 1746 to 1749, the Swedish ship Götha Lejon sailed on a mercantile mission to Canton. Several accounts of what transpired have survived. A handwritten journal has been attributed to Carl Fredrik von Schantz (1727-92). Another account of the mission of Götha Lejon was compiled by Carl Johan Gethe (1728-65), a cartographer and natural historian. His diary is titled ‘Diary of a Journey to East India begun on 18 October 1746 and ending June 20, 1749’.<br/><br/> The Swedish East India Company (Swedish: Svenska Ostindiska Companiet or SOIC) was founded in 1731 in Gothenburg, Sweden, for the purpose of conducting trade with the Far East, and grew to become the largest trading company in Sweden during the 18th century. It closed in 1813.
A scion of the Chao Chet Ton Dynasty that ruled Chiang Mai and the former Lan Na Kingdom as a tributary of the Siamese Chakri Dynasty in Bangkok from 1775 to 1939.
The Eight Immortals (Chinese: Baxian; Pa-hsien) are a group of legendary 'xian' (immortals; transcendents; fairies) in Chinese mythology. Each Immortal's power can give life or destroy evil. Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang Dynasty or Song Dynasty. They are revered in Daoism (Taoism) and are also a popular element in secular Chinese culture. They are said to live on a group of five islands in the Bohai Sea which includes Penglai Mountain-Island. The Immortals are:<br/><br/> 1. Immortal Woman He (He Xiangu)<br/><br/> 2. Royal Uncle Cao (Cao Guojiu)<br/><br/> 3. Iron-Crutch Li (Tieguai Li)<br/><br/> 4. Lan Caihe<br/><br/> 5. Lu Dongbin, (leader) 6. Philosopher Han Xiang (Han Xiang Zi)<br/><br/> 7. Elder Zhang Guo (Zhang Guo Lao)<br/><br/> 8. Han Zhongli (Zhongli Quan)<br/><br/> In literature before the 1970s, they were sometimes translated as the Eight Genies. First described in the Yuan Dynasty, they were probably named after the Eight Immortal Scholars of the Han.
Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.
Hang Trong painting (Vietnamese: Tranh Hàng Trống) is a genre of Vietnamese woodcut painting that originated from the area of Hàng Trống and Hàng Nón streets in Old Hanoi's 36 Streets District.<br/><br/> In the past, Hang Trong painting was an essential element of the Tết holiday in Hanoi, but today this tradition has almost disappeared and authentic Hang Trong paintings are found only in museums or fine art galleries.
Kitagawa Utamaro (ca. 1753 - October 31, 1806) was a Japanese printmaker and painter, who is considered one of the greatest artists of woodblock prints (ukiyo-e). He is known especially for his masterfully composed studies of women, known as bijinga. He also produced nature studies, particularly illustrated books of insects.
T. Enami (Enami Nobukuni, 1859 – 1929) was the trade name of a celebrated Meiji period photographer. The T. of his trade name is thought to have stood for Toshi, though he never spelled it out on any personal or business document.<br/><br/> Born in Edo (now Tokyo) during the Bakumatsu era, Enami was first a student of, and then an assistant to the well known photographer and collotypist, Ogawa Kazumasa. Enami relocated to Yokohama, and opened a studio on Benten-dōri (Benten Street) in 1892. Just a few doors away from him was the studio of the already well known Tamamura Kozaburō. He and Enami would work together on at least three related projects over the years.<br/><br/> Enami became quietly unique as the only photographer of that period known to work in all popular formats, including the production of large-format photographs compiled into what are commonly called "Yokohama Albums". Enami went on to become Japan's most prolific photographer of small-format images such as the stereoview and glass lantern-slides. The best of these were delicately hand-tinted.