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Historical Biographies

Historical Biographies

Hasekura Tsunenaga, also known as Hasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga (支倉六右衛門常長, 1571-1622) led a Japanese embassy to Mexico City, Madrid, and Rome in the years from 1613 to 1620. He was the first official Japanese envoy to visit the American continent. In July 1611, an embassy under the Spanish...
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10,873
The founder of the Sen school of tea ceremonySen no Rikyū (千利休, 1522-1591) was a tea master of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600) and the founder of the Sen school of tea ceremony. His grandfather, Tanaka Sen'ami, is said to have been one of the dōbōshū (同朋衆, special retainers to the...
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14,772
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Fukuzawa Yukichi (福澤諭吉, 1835-1901) was a prominent educator, writer, and propagator of Western knowledge during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), founder of Keio Gijuku (慶應義塾, a private college, later Keio University), of Japan's first daily newspaper Jiji Shinpō (時事新報), and introduced the art of...
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Date Masamune was a warrior of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600) and the early part of the Edo Period (1600-1868) and one of the greatest daimyō of northern Japan. Succeeding his father at 17, he defeated most of his rivalling neighbours, thereby significantly expanding his territories...
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48,271
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Japan's fabled shaman queen Himiko (卑弥呼, c. 170–248 CE), also known as Pimiko, was a female ruler of the early Japanese political entity known as Yamatai (邪馬台国 Yamataikoku), as described in the Wei Zhi (魏志, "Records of Wei"), a Chinese chronicle of the 3rd century CE. The location of Yamatai...
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The Father of Japanese CapitalismEntrepreneur and business leader during the Meiji and Taishō periods Shibusawa Eichii (渋沢 栄一, 1840-1931) was born in the village of Chiaraijima in modern-day Saitama Prefecture. Although Shibusawa's family were small farmers with only a few hectares of land his...
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4,361
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Iwakura Tomomi (岩倉具視, 1825-1883) was a courtier and statesman who played a vital role in the Meiji Restoration. The only court noble in the early Meiji government, he was described as shrewd and cunning, but instrumental in mediating between Satsuma and Chōshū and with a strong influence on...
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Tsuda Umeko (津田梅子, 1864-1929) was a Japanese educator and the founder of Tsuda College. Tsuda Umeko (津田梅子) was born in Edo (modern-day Tōkyō) as the second daughter of Tsuda Sen (津田仙, 1837-1908). Sen, a low-ranking samurai of Sakura Domain (present-day Chiba Prefecture) was an expert on...
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9,406
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Matsudaira Katamori (松平容保, 1836-1893) was the ninth and last daimyō of Aizu Domain. In the Bakumatsu, the final days of the Edo period, he served as Kyōto Shugoshoku (京都守護職, military commissioner) in the capital. Although he fought the imperial forces in the Boshin War, his life was spared...
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The God of the Japanese ConstitutionOzaki Yukio (尾崎 行雄, 1858-1954), pen name Ozaki Gakudō (咢堂), was a liberal politician elected 25 times to the House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet. Born into a samurai family in Tsukui, Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture), he moved to...
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Inage Shigenari (稲毛 重成, d. 1205) was a military commander of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods and a retainer of the Kamakura shogunate. Shigenari was a member of the Chichibu clan, which descended from the Kanmu Taira. He ruled Inage-sō (稲毛荘) in Musashi Province. He was the son of...
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In Japan, she is considered a feminist icon; elsewhere, she is little known: Beate Sirota Gordon. Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, she drafted the articles of the Japanese Constitution guaranteeing women's rights. Sirota was born 100 years ago, on 25 October 1923. In February 1946, Beate...
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1,049
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Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀, 1528-1582), also known under the title Koretō Hyūga no Kami (惟任日向守), was one of the principal captains of hegemon Oda Nobunaga and his assassin. A man of obscure origins, Mitsuhide was said to have been born into the Toki-Akechi family of the Toki clan (土岐氏) and sided...
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266
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) was the fifth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate (ruled 1680-1709), the fourth son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, and known by the moniker "dog shogun". Born to Iemitsu, the third shōgun, Tsunayoshi (徳川綱吉, 1646-1709) spent most of his childhood under the supervision of his...
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Tokugawa Ienobu (徳川 家宣, 1662-1712) was the sixth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and ruled for just three years, from 1709 to 1712. Ienobu was the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige (徳川綱重, 1644-1678), the daimyō of the Kōfu domain (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture). Tsunashige was the brother...
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146
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