A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (120 page)
Read A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower Online
Authors: Kenneth Henshall
BOOK: A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower
4.11Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
| haiku | | form of 17-syllable poetry popular in Tokugawa period |
| han | | feudal domain |
| haniwa | | ancient burial object of hollow clay |
| harakiri | | ‘stomach cutting’, a method of honourable suicide for samurai, often in lieu of execution |
| heimin | | commoners |
| hikikomori | | withdrawal from society; also applied to those who withdraw |
| hinin | | ‘non-person’, nowadays burakumin |
| honne | | true inner feelings |
| horo | | a billowing cloak used to deflect arrows |
| ianfu | | ‘comfort women’ |
| ichioku gyokusai | | ‘self-destruction of the jewel-like hundred million’, belief that the entire Japanese nation in World War Two might commit mass suicide rather than surrender |
| insei | | ‘cloister government’ by retired emperors esp. of late Heian period |
| jinrikisha | | rickshaw |
jit | | medieval steward (of land) |
jiy minken und | | ‘freedom and people’s rights’ movement of early-mid Meiji |
| jmon | | cord pattern on ancient pottery, and period name |
| j-k-ch-dai | | ‘heavy-thick-long-big’, catchphrase for economic focus of early postwar period |
| juku | | ‘after hours’ supplementary schools |
| junshi | | ‘following one’s lord in death’ |
| kabuki | | colourful form of drama esp. favoured by Tokugawa period merchants |
| kamikaze | | ‘divine wind’, originally used of storms that helped save Japan from Mongol invasion in the 13th century, later used of World War Two suicide-pilots trying to protect nation |
| kana | | Japanese phonetic script |
| kanri shakai | | ‘controlled society’, used of complacent society of 1960s and 70s that meekly accepted government control in return for material benefits |
| kare | | aesthetic value of severity and naturalness |
| kawaisa | | cuteness |
| kazoku | | nobles, from early Meiji period |
| kegare | | impurity |
| kei-haku-tan-sh | | ‘light-thin-short-small’, catchphrase for economic focus of postwar period after j -k-ch-dai |
| keiretsu kigy | | ‘aligned company’, postwar zaibatsu |
Other books
Good Oil by Buzo, Laura
City of God by Cecelia Holland
The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch by Anne Enright
The Earl and His Virgin Countess by Dominique Eastwick
Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgway
Becoming Sir by Ella Dominguez
Quipu by Damien Broderick
An Echo of Death by Mark Richard Zubro
Demontech: Gulf Run by David Sherman
Murray Leinster by The Best of Murray Leinster (1976)