Japan Glossary
The Japan Glossary contains short-form entries relating to Japanese culture, history, and language.
The last part of the Tokugawa era comprised the opening of Japan to foreign trade in 1853 and the Meiji Restoration in 1867. The bakumatsu period is one of the most tumultuous episodes in Japanese history. It is the age of the last samurai, of intense fighting between the pro-emperor ishin...
Large feudal daimyō domain located in present-day Kochi prefecture, South-Western Shikoku.
Tosa Domain (土佐藩 Tosa-han) was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was...
Udaijin (右大臣) – Junior Minister of State overseeing all branches of the Department of State during the late Nara and Heian periods, deputy of the sadaijin.
Minister of the Right (右大臣, Udaijin) was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated...
Tandai (探題) – during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, tandai was a colloquialism for a high-ranking official (for example a shikken or rensho) with governmental, judiciary or military responsibilities within a certain area.
The term tandai (探題) is a Kamakura and Muromachi period...
Taikō (太閤) – a title frequently taken on by retired kampaku (imperial regents). The term is most commonly used in reference to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
In Japan, Sesshō (摂政) was a title given to a regent who was named to act on behalf of either a child Emperor before his coming of age or an...
Shōen (荘園 or 庄園) – a manor and its fields.
A shōen (荘園 or 庄園, shōen) was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: zhuāngyuán, Cantonese: zong1 jyun4).
Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the...
Shikken (執権) – the regent for the shōgun during the Kamakura shogunate. The Hōjō clan monopolised the shikken post and was, therefore, the effective ruler of Japan.
The shikken (執権) was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333...
Sakoku (鎖国) – the "self-isolation" policy followed during the Edo period (1603–1867), under which Japan engaged in limited trade or communication with the outside world.
Sakoku (鎖国, literally "chained country") was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under...
Sadaijin (左大臣) – Senior Minister of State overseeing all branches of the Department of State with his deputy, the udaijin.
The Minister of the Left (左大臣, Sadaijin) was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702...
Rensho (連署) – "co-signatory", the rensho was the assistant to the regent of the Kamakura shogunate.
The Rensho (連署, "co-signatory") was the assistant to the shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan. The rensho placed his signature next to that of the shikken on official orders. In...
Nagaoka-kyō (長岡京) – the capital of Japan from 784 to 794 (after Nara, before Kyoto).
Nagaoka-kyō (長岡京) was the capital of Japan from 784 to 794. Its location was reported as Otokuni District, Yamashiro Province, and Nagaokakyō, Kyoto, which took its name from the capital. Parts of the capital...
Kugyō (公卿) – a collective term for the few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in the pre-Meiji era.
Kugyō (公卿) is the collective term for the few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in the pre-Meiji era. The term generally referred to...
Kubō (公方) – shōgun. The title was later also assumed by the Kantō kanrei, who became known as Kantō kubō.
Kantō kubō (関東公方) (also called Kantō gosho (関東御所), Kamakura kubō (鎌倉公方), or Kamakura gosho (鎌倉御所)) was a title equivalent to shōgun assumed by Ashikaga Motouji after his nomination to...
Koga kubō (古河公方) – title arbitrarily assumed by Ashikaga Shigeuji after his escape from Kamakura to the city of Koga, Ibaraki.
kampaku (関白) – an Imperial regent who served a number of functions, including the chief advisor and secretary.
In Japan, Sesshō (摂政) was a title given to a regent who was named to act on behalf of either a child Emperor before his coming of age or an empress regnant. The Kampaku (関白) was...
Heian-kyō (平安京) – the capital of Japan from 794 to 1185; located in present-day Kyoto.
Heian-kyō (平安京, lit. "peaceful/tranquil capital") 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...
Haimyō (俳名) – a "haiku pen-name". It was common in the Edo period for artists, writers, kabuki actors and others to take part in poetry circles and to take on pen-names under which they would compose poetry or create related works, such as haiga paintings.
Gosho (御所) – The Emperor's throne or his residence. The residence of a member of the Imperial family, and a term to indicate those members. The residence of a prince or shōgun, and a term for prince or shōgun.
Gaikoku bugyō (外国奉行) – commissioners appointed to oversee foreign trade and relations between 1858 and 1868.
Gaikoku bugyō (外国奉行) were the commissioners or "magistrates of foreign affairs" appointed at the end of the Edo era by the Tokugawa shogunate to oversee trade and diplomatic relations...
Bettō (別當) – the head of a civilian, military or religious institution.
A term which originally indicated the head of an institution serving temporarily as the head of another one, but which came to mean also the full-time head of some institution The Kamakura period samurai Wada Yoshimori, for...
Items statistics
- Categories
- 26
- Series
- 0
- Items
- 73
- Views
- 74,443