The world of anime

snap shot

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:36:00 +0000

Here Anime we present for your pleasure, some of the best anime and manga themed wallpapers and desktop backgrounds online. Please browse the site, enjoy the anime artworks, use them for your desktop wallpaper. If you have some suggestions, they are welcome, and if you have some graphics talent, your submissions are more than welcome as well.
Fun stuff: inside a series, you can now pick to play a Memory game with the wallpapers in that section, or when viewing a wallpaper, you can make a Jigsaw puzzle out of it. Both good ways to waste some time ^_^more at www.wallpapers008.info

Cross Game: Story

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:50:00 +0000

Mitsuru Adachi is often overlooked by English-speaking fans. Though the majority of his manga is available translated in French, a mere two books of short stories have been released in English by Viz (Short Program and Short Program 2) and are long out of print. Such an attitude is an absolute shame, as Adachi is the master of simple, emotional storytelling as demonstrated by his epics Touch and H2 as well as shorter works such as Slow Step (which inspired a four episode OVA, subsequently released subtitled on VHS in the UK.)

Cross Game is no exception to Adachi’s overall standard of excellence. Kitamura Kou and Tsukishima Wakaba are the closest of elementary school friends, with Kou being the gentle if uninspired half and Wakaba the domineering wife to be. When tragedy strikes at the end of the first episode, their entire circle of friends and family are changed and Kou still lacks the motivation to excel, the remaining survivors do their best to persuade him otherwise.

From the description, Cross Game sounds like a generic series of any form, and fans familiar with the Adachi formula (sports, death, and realisations) will see it in full force here. The truth, however, is that it doesn’t matter: Adachi does it so well that it’s always a joy to watch him pull heartstrings and give the audience clear cut heroes and villains while even managing to explore the darker side of the so-called glory years of Japanese youth.

Read more: "Spring 2009 Anime Roundup - Cross Game: Mitsuru Adachi's newest manga adaptation supplies baseball bliss | Suite101.com" -
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Captain America Marvel Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Xmen and Captain America

Death of Captain America

On his way to an arraignment at the Federal Courthouse in New York City, Captain America was shot in the right shoulder by a sniper's bullet. Several subsequent shots were fired point blank at Rogers by Sharon Carter, brainwashed by Dr. Faustus who was allied with the Red Skull. Sharon, unaware of her actions and concealed by the crowd during the shooting, escorted Rogers to the hospital while the Falcon and the Winter Soldier subdued the sniper, Crossbones (Brock Rumlow). Captain America was pronounced dead on arrival at Mercy Hospital. Sharon's memory was restored by a keyword spoken by the Red Skull's daughter, Sin (Sinthia Shmidt).

Captain America Shield

Captain America Marve

Captain America Gallery

Captain America Desktop Walpaper

Captain America Comics

Real Name: Steve Rogers
Occupation: crimefighter, (former) freelance artist
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Identity: Secret
Other Aliases: Nomad, the Captain
Place of Birth: New York City
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Joseph (father, deceased), Sara (mother, deceased)
Group Affiliation: Former member of the Invaders, former partner to Bucky, the Falcon, and Nomad, current member of the Avengers
Base of Operations: New York City
First Appearance: CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS (1941)

History: Steve Rogers was born during the Depression and grew up a frail youth in a poor family. His father died when he was a child, his mother when he was in his late teens. Horrified by newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to try to enlist in the Army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy's earnest plea to be accepted, General Chester Phillips of the U.S. Army offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment called Operation: Rebirth. Rogers agreed and was taken to a secret laboratory in Washington, D.C. where he was introduced to Dr. Abrahan Erskine (code named: Prof. Reinstein), the creator to the Super-Soldier formula.

After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the Super-Soldier serum. Given part of the compound intravenously and another part orally, Rogers was then bombarded by "vita-rays," a special combination of exotic (in 1941) wavelengths of radiation designed to accelerate and stabilize the serum's effect on his body. Steve Rogers emerged from the vita-ray chamber with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. A Nazi spy who observed the experiment murdered Dr. Erskine mere minutes after its conclusion. Erskine died without fully committing the Super-Soldier formula to paper, leaving Steve Rogers the Sole beneficiary of his genius.

Roger was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program,teaching him gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat and military strategy. Three months later, he was given his first assignment, to stop the Nazi agent called the Red Skull. To help him become a symbolic counterpart to the Red Skull, Rogers was given the red, white, and blue costume of Captain America.

During the war, he served as both a symbol of freedom and America's most effective special operative. Then, during the final days of the war, he was trying to stop a bomb-loaded drone-plane launched by Nazi technician Baron Heinrich Zemo when the plane exploded, killing his partner Bucky; and throwing him unhurt into icy Arctic waters. The Super-Soldier formula prevented crystallization of Captain America's bodily fluid, allowing him to enter a state of suspended animation. Decades later, he was rescued by the newly-formed Avengers and became a cornerstone of the team. His might undiminished. Captain America remains a symbol of liberty and justice.

Height: 6 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 240 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Strength Level: Captain America represents the pinnacle of human physical perfection. While not superhuman, he is as strong as a human being can be. He can lift (press) a maximum of 800 pounds with supreme effort.

Known Superhuman Powers: Captain America has agility, strength, speed, endurance, and reaction time superior to any Olympic athlete who ever competed. The Super-Soldier formula that he has metabolized has enhanced all of his bodily functions to the peak of human efficiency. Notably, his body eliminates the excessive build-up of fatigue-producing poisons in his muscles, granting him phenomenal endurance.

Captain America has mastered the martial art of American-style boxing and judo, and has combined these disciplines with his own unique hand-to-hand style of combat. He engages in a daily regimen of rigorous exercise (including aerobics, weight lifting, gymnastics, and simulated combat) to keep himself in peek condition. Captain America is one of the finest human combatants Earth has ever known.

Limitations: Captain America is subject to all human vulnerabilities, although his immunity to diseases is extraordinary.

Weapons: Captain America's only weapon is his shield, a concave disk 2.5 feet in diameter, weighing 12 pounds. It is made of a unique Vibranium-Adimantium alloy that has never been duplicated. The Shield was cast by American metallurgist Dr. Myron MacLain, who was contracted by the U.S. government to create an impenetrable substance to use for tanks during World War II. During his experiments, MacLain combined Vibranium with an Adamantium-steel alloy he was working with and created the disc-shaped shield. MacLain was never able to duplicate the process due to his inability identify a still unknown factor that played a role in it. The shield was awarded to Captain America by the government several months after the beginning of his career.

The shield has great aerodynamic properties: it is able to slice through the air with minimal wind resistance and deflection of path. Its great overall resilience, combined with its natural concentric stiffness, enables it to rebound from objects with minimal loss of angular momentum. It is virtually indestructible: it is resistant to penetration, temperature extremes, and the entire electromagnetic spectrum of radiation. The only way it can be damaged in any way is by tampering with its molecular bonding.

The anime princess

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Skirt Elf Girl

sexy anime girl

Sea Princess

school anime girl

naughty princess

maple anime girl

japanese robelike girl.

glasses anime girl

girl and diary

flower maid

flower anime girl

Double swords

Cute Maid

cute elf girl

bashful girl

anime girl kiss.

anime beauties

anime

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:13:00 +0000

lala

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:23:00 +0000

LaLa is a monthly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Hakusensha, aimed primarily at teenage girls. It is released on the 24th of each month. LaLa began publication in 1976 as a sister magazine to Hana to Yume, but gradually became its own independent magazine with a sister magazine of its own, LaLa DX. It is still associated with Hana to Yume, however, mainly because Hakusensha publishes tankōbon of the manga in LaLa under the Hana to Yume Comics imprint.

karen

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:13:00 +0000

kaito and Lupin

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:05:00 +0000

Lupin is the world's number one thief. Often in his adventures, he will take it upon himself and his gang to foil other criminals engaged in more violent crimes. He often appears incompetent, but this is mostly a charade to throw his opponents off-guard. While he has been arrested and thrown in jail on a number of occasions, he has always managed to escape. He has a fondness for fancy gadgets from time to time. His infatuation with Fujiko Mine is perhaps his most significant weakness, as it lands him in undesirable situations most of the time.

Hanon

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:58:00 +0000

The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, by Charles-Louis Hanon, is a compilation of 60 exercises meant to train the pianist in speed, precision, agility, and strength of all of the fingers and flexibility in the wrists. The Virtuoso Pianist is Hanon's most well-known work, and still widely used today by piano instructors and pupils.

The exercises address common problems which could hamper the performance abilities of a student. These include "crossing of the thumb," strengthening of the fourth and fifth fingers, and quadruple- and triple-trills. The exercises are meant to be individually mastered and then played consecutively in the sections they are placed in. Apart from increasing technical abilities of the student, when played in groups at higher speeds, the exercises will also help to increase endurance.

Coco

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:46:00 +0000

Coco the Clown is a name given to various circus clowns who traditionally wear "auguste" make-up. Technically, Coco is not a whiteface clown but an auguste, a foolish character who is always on the receiving end of buckets of water and custard pies. The auguste often works with the cleverer whiteface who always gets the better of him.

The most famous bearer of the title "Coco" was Nicolai Poliakoff (or Poliakovs) (1900–74). He was buried in Woodnewton, in Northamptonshire in England and his "Coco" moniker was passed down to his sons (notably Michael, a longtime circus "Producing Clown" and creator of a much imitated "soap gag" entree) and grandsons.

Saint Seiya

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:37:00 +0000

Saint Seiya ( Seinto Seiya?), also known as Knights of the Zodiac, is a manga series authored by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to anime. The story follows five mystical warriors called the "Saints" (or "Knights"; the kanji is properly read as sei-tōshi "holy fighter" but the furigana has it pronounced "saint") who have adopted various constellations as their guardian symbols. The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1987, but was cancelled in 1989 due to low ratings of the anime.[citation needed] In 2002, Toei produced Saint Seiya: Hades, which continued adapting the manga story arcs to animation that remained pending when the anime was canceled in 1989.
Six years before the events at the focus of the series, one hundred orphans from Japan are sent to different parts of the world to become legendary warriors known as "Saints", who are the soldiers under the command of Greek goddess Athena. These warriors are each under the protection of a celestial constellation.

The power of the Saints originates from the understanding of the "Cosmo". The concept of the "Cosmo" advocates that each atom within a human body resembles a small solar system, and since the human body consists of billions of atoms, the totality forms a "small Cosmo" or a "small Universe". Each person's Cosmo has its own unique signature.

The Saints take the knowledge of the Cosmo to the next level: since humans are composed of atoms, humans should be able to use the mysterious forces behind the atoms to achieve super human feats.

The story focuses on one of these orphans named Seiya. He is sent to the Sanctuary in Greece to become the Pegasus Saint. After seven years, Seiya becomes the Pegasus Saint and returns to Japan to find his older sister. Because his sister disappeared the same day Seiya went to the Sanctuary, Saori Kido, the granddaughter of the person who sent all the orphans to train, makes a deal with him to go to fight in a tournament called the Galaxian Wars, where the orphans who survived and became Bronze Saints must fight to win the most powerful cloth: The Sagittarius Gold Cloth. If Seiya goes to compete there, Saori would start a search to find Seiya's sister.

During the series, Seiya becomes the partner and friend of other Bronze Saints: Shun, Shiryu, Ikki, and Hyoga. As the myth of the saints, they must fight together to protect the reincarnation of the goddess Athena from any danger.
The names of most of the characters of Saint Seiya are added to the name of their constellations when they become Saints. For example, the main character, Seiya, starts calling himself Pegasus Seiya when he becomes a Saint and he is in a fight. The attacks of the characters also hold a connection with their constellations.
The first Saint Seiya manga was written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and was published by Shueisha in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from January 1986 to December 1990 and collected in 28 tankōbon volumes. The series has three main parts: Sanctuary (volumes 1 to 13), Poseidon (volumes 14 to 18), and Hades (volumes 19 to 28). Volume 13 also contains a separate short story called "Blue Warriors". The series is licensed in English in North America by Viz Media.[4] Viz released the first collected volume of the series on January 21, 2004,[5] and as of June 3, 2008 twenty-three volumes have been released.

In addition to the original tankōbon volumes listed below, the series has been reissued four times. The first reissue as 15 bunkoban volumes in 1996 is called the "Deluxe Version". The bunkobon edition was reissued in 2001 with additional color images as the "Library Version". The series was rereleased in 2003 in 19 volumes with Setteis from the anime adaptation, and called the "Remix Version". The fourth reissue, in 22 volumes and called the "Complete Version", contains additional colored pages as well as colored armor schematics. In addition, the "Remix Version" was republished at the end of 2007 to coincide with the broadcast of Chapter Elysion of the anime.
During 2002, a new manga called Saint Seiya Episode.G started being serialized. The story is situated 7 years before the events at the beginning of the original Saint Seiya Manga, and 6 years after the death of the Gold Saint Sagittarius Aiolos, making Leo Aiolia the main character. During the series, Titans are brought back to life with the mission of recovering their realm, and the Gold Saints are assigned to stop them to protect the humans. This new manga series is written and drawn by Megumu Okada, under the authorization of Masami Kurumada. The individual chapters are published in Akita Shoten's Champion RED, with fourteen volumes being currently released.

Also, during 2006, two new manga series started being published. These two manga tell the story of the previous Holy War that took place in the 18th century, 250 years before the original series in the Saint Seiya universe. The story centers on the relations between Tenma, the Pegasus Saint and his beloved friend, Alone, who would eventually become his greatest enemy, Hades. Both manga series are published in Akita Shoten's Shōnen Champion magazine. The first one, named Saint Seiya: Next Dimension, is drawn and written by Masami Kurumada but at irregular dates. The second one, Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, is written and drawn by Shiori Teshirogi, under the authorization of Masami Kurumada.
The anime is based on the manga series of the same title (above). The animation series by Toei Animation first premiered on Japan's TV Asahi on October 11, 1986. Masami Kurumada has said that he does not like the anime, but he agreed to transfer the manga to anime because of a tradition of making an anime from every manga.
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samurai

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:53:00 +0000

Samurai (Samurai?) is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility," the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai." According to Wilson, an early reference to the word Samurai appears in the Kokinshu, the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the tenth century. By the end of the 12th century, saburai became synonymous with bushi almost entirely and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.

t is believed warriors and foot-soldiers in the sixth century may have formed a proto-samurai class. Following a disastrous military engagement with Tang China and Silla, Japan underwent widespread reforms. One of the most important was that of the Taika Reform, issued by Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji) in 646 AD. This edict introduced Chinese cultural practices and administrative techniques throughout the Japanese aristocracy and bureaucracy[1]. As part of the Taihō Code, of 702 AD and the later Yōrō Code,, the population was required to report regularly for census, which was used as a precursor for national conscription. With an understanding of how the population was distributed, Emperor Mommu introduced the law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males were drafted into the national military. These soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in return were exempted from duties and taxes.[1] This was one of the first attempts by the Imperial government to form an organized army modeled after the Chinese system. It was called gundan-sei by later historians and is believed to have been short lived.

The Taihō Code classified Imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks, each divided into two sub-ranks, 1st rank being the highest adviser to the emperor. Those of 6th rank and below were referred to as "samurai" and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these "samurai" were civilian public servants, the name is believed to have derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be referred to as "samurai" for many more

In the early Heian period, the late 8th and early 9th centuries, Emperor Kammu (桓武天皇) sought to consolidate and expand his rule in northern Honshū, but the armies he sent to conquer the rebellious Emishi people lacked motivation and discipline, and were unable to prevail.[citation needed] Emperor Kammu introduced the title of Seiitaishogun or shogun, and began to rely on the powerful regional clans to conquer the Emishi. Skilled in mounted combat and archery (kyūdō, these clan warriors became the emperor's preferred tool for putting down rebellions.[citation needed] Although these warriors may have been educated, at this time (7th to 9th century) the Imperial court officials considered them to be little more than barbarians.

Ultimately, Emperor Kammu disbanded his army, and from this time, the emperor's power gradually declined . While the emperor was still the ruler, powerful clans around Kyoto assumed positions as ministers, and their relatives bought positions as magistrates.[citation needed] To amass wealth and repay their debts, magistrates often imposed heavy taxes, resulting in many farmers becoming landless.

As the threat of robbery rose, the clans began recruiting these exiles in the Kanto plains. Because of their intense training in the martial arts, they proved to be effective guards.[citation needed] Small numbers would accompany tax collectors and, merely by their presence, deter thieves and bandits from attacking. They were saburai, armed retainers, yet their advantage of being the sole armed party quickly became apparent.[citation

Through protective agreements and political marriages, they accumulated political power, eventually surpassing the traditional aristocracy.

Some clans were originally formed by farmers who had taken up arms to protect themselves from the imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes.[citation needed] These clans formed alliances to protect themselves against more powerful clans, and by the mid-Heian period they had adopted characteristic Japanese armour and weapons, and laid the foundations of Bushido, their ethical code.[citation needed]

Samurai warriors described themselves as followers of "The Way of the Warrior" or Bushido. Bushidō is defined by the Japanese dictionary Shogakukan Kokugo Daijiten as "a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the Muromachi (chusei) period. From the earliest times, the Samurai felt that the path of the warrior was one of honor, emphasizing duty to one's master, and loyalty unto death.

Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) for example, was one of the most powerful and well known lords of the Sengoku Era. He commanded most of Japan's major clans during the invasion of Korea (1592-1598). In a handbook he addressed to "All Samurai, regardless of rank" he told his followers that a warrior's only duty in life was to "grasp the long and the short swords and to die". He also orders his followers to put forth great effort in studying the military classics, especially those related to loyalty and filial piety. He is most well known for his quote:

"If a man does not investigate into the matter of Bushido daily, it will be difficult for him to :die a brave and manly death. Thus it is essential to engrave this business of the warrior into :one's mind well."

Nabeshima Naoshige (1538-1618 A.D.) was another Sengoku Daimyo who fought alongside Kato Kiyomasa in Korea. He simply stated that it was shameful for any man to have not risked his life at least once in the line of duty, regardless of his rank. Nabeshima's sayings would be passed down to his son and grandson and would become the basis for Tsunetomo Yamamoto's Hagakure. He is most well known for his saying: "Bushido is in being crazy to die. Fifty or more could not kill one such a man."

Torii Mototada (1539-1600) was a feudal lord in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. On the eve of the battle of Sekigahara, He volunteered to remain behind in the doomed Fushimi Castle while his lord advanced to the east. Torii and Tokugawa both agreed that the castle was indefensible. In an act of loyalty to his lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, Torii chose to remain behind, pledging that he and his bastion would fight to the finish. As was custom, Torii vowed that he would not be taken alive. In a dramatic last stand, the garrison held out against overwhelming odds for ten days against the massive army of Ishida Mitsunari. In a moving last statement to his son Tadamasa, he wrote:

"It is not the Way of the Warrior to be shamed and avoid death even under circumstances that are :not particularly important. It goes without saying that to sacrifice one's life for the sake of :his master is an unchanging principle. That I should be able to go ahead of all the other warriors :of this country and lay down my life for the sake of my master's benevolence is an honor to my :family and has been my most fervent desire for many years."

It is said that both men cried when they parted ways, because they knew they would never see each other again. Torii's father and grandfather had served the Tokugawa before him and his own brother had already been killed in battle. Torii's actions changed the course of Japanese history. Ieyasu Tokugawa would successfully raise an army and win at Sekigahara.

The translator of Hagakure, William Scott Wilson observed examples of warrior emphasis on death in clans other than Yamamoto's: "he (Takeda Shingen) was a strict disciplinarian as a warrior, and there is an exemplary story in the Hagakure relating his execution of two brawlers, not because they had fought, but because they had not fought to the death."

The rival of Takeda Shingen was Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578), a legendary Sengoku warlord well versed in the Chinese military classics and who advocated the "way of the warrior as death". Japanese historian Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki describes Uesugi's beliefs in his text "Zen and Japanese Culture" (1959) :

"Those who are reluctant to give up their lives and embrace death are not true warriors.... Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. When you leave the house determined not to see it again you will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always determined.

Families such as the Imagawa were influential in the development of warrior ethics and were widely quoted by other lords during their lifetime. The writings of Imagawa Sadayo were highly respected and sought out by Tokugawa Ieyasu as the source of Japanese Feudal Law. These writings were a required study among traditional Japanese until World War II.

In his book "Japanese Culture" (2000), historian H. Paul Varley notes the description of Japan given by Jesuit leader St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552): “There is no nation in the world which fears death less”. Xavier further describes the honor and manners of the people: “I fancy that there are no people in the world more punctilious about their honour than the Japanese, for they will not put up with a single insult or even a word spoken in anger.” Xavier spent the years 1549-1551 converting Japanese to Christianity. He also observed: “The Japanese are much braver and more warlike than the people of China, Korea, Ternate and all of the other nations around the Philippines.”(11)

In December 1547, Francis was in Malacca (Malaysia) waiting to return to Goa (India) when he met a low ranked samurai named Anjiro (possibly spelled "Yajiro") Anjiro was not a nobleman or an intellectual, but he impressed Xavier because he took careful notes of everything he said in church. Xavier made the decision to go to Japan in part because this low ranked samurai convinced him in Portuguese that the Japanese people were highly educated and eager to learn. They were hard workers and respectful of authority. In their laws and customs they were led by reason, and, should the Christian faith convince them of its truth, they would accept it en mass.
By the 12th century, upper class samurai were highly literate due to the general introduction of Confucianism from China during the 7th to 9th centuries and their perceived need to deal with the Imperial court, who had a monopoly on culture and literacy for most of the Heian period. As a result they aspired to the more cultured abilities of the nobility.
Examples such as Taira Tadanori (a samurai who appears in the Heike Monogatari or "Tale of the Heike") demonstrate that warriors idealized the arts and aspire to become skilled in them.

Tadanori was famous for his skill with the pen and the sword or the "bun and the bu", harmony of fighting and learning. Samurai were expected to be cultured and literate, and admired the ancient saying "Bun Bu Ryo Do" lit. literary arts, military arts, both ways) or "The pen and the sword in accord," By the time of the Edo period, Japan had a higher literacy rate than Europe

The number of men who actually achieved the ideal and lived their lives by it was high. An early term for warrior, "uruwashii", was written with a kanji that combined the characters for literary study and military arts ("bu" 武), and is mentioned in the Heike Monogatari (late 12th century). The Heike Monogatari makes reference to the educated poet-swordsman ideal in its mention of Taira no Tadanori's death:

In his book "Ideals of the Samurai" translator William Scott Wilson states: "The warriors in the Heike Monogatari served as models for the educated warriors of later generations, and the ideals depicted by them were not assumed to be beyond reach. Rather, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the proper form of the Japanese man of arms. With the Heike Monogatari, the image of the Japanese warrior in literature came to its full maturity." Wilson then translates the writings of several warriors who mention the Heike Monogatari as an example for their men to follow.

Plenty of warrior writings document this ideal from the 13th century onward. Most warriors aspired to or followed this ideal otherwise there would have been no cohesion in the samurai armies.

[edit] Kamakura Bakufu and the rise of Samurai

Originally the emperor and nobility employed these warriors. In time, they amassed enough manpower, resources and political backing in the form of alliances with one another, to establish the first samurai-dominated government.

As the power of these regional clans grew, their chief was typically a distant relative of the emperor, and a lesser member of either the Fujiwara, Minamoto, or Taira clans.

Though originally sent to provincial areas for a fixed four-year term as a magistrate, the toryo declined to return to the capital when their terms ended, and their sons inherited their positions and continued to lead the clans in putting down rebellions throughout Japan during the middle and later Heian period.

Samurai fought at the naval battle of Dan-no-Ura in 1185. Because of their rising military and economic power, the warriors ultimately became a new force in the politics of the court. Their involvement in the Hōgen in the late Heian period consolidated their power, and finally pitted the rival Minamoto and Taira clans against each other in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160.

The winner, Taira no Kiyomori, became an imperial advisor, and was the first warrior to attain such a position. He eventually seized control of the central government, establishing the first samurai-dominated government and relegating the emperor to figurehead status.

However, the Taira clan was still very conservative when compared to its eventual successor, the Minamoto, and instead of expanding or strengthening its military might, the Taira clan had its women marry emperors and exercise control through the emperor.

The Taira and the Minamoto clashed again in 1180, beginning the Gempei War which ended in 1185. The victorious Minamoto no Yoritomo established the superiority of the samurai over the aristocracy. In 1190, he visited Kyoto and in 1192, became Seii Taishogun, establishing the Kamakura Shogunate, or Kamakura Bakufu. Instead of ruling from Kyoto, he set up the Shogunate in Kamakura, near his base of power. "Bakufu" means "tent government," taken from the encampments the soldiers would live in, in accordance with the Bakufu's status as a military government.

Over time, powerful samurai clans became warrior nobility, or "buke", who were only nominally under the court aristocracy. When the samurai began to adopt aristocratic pastimes like calligraphy, poetry and music, some court aristocrats in turn began to adopt samurai customs. In spite of various machinations and brief periods of rule by various emperors, real power was now in the hands of the Shogun and the samurai.

Ashikaga Shogunate and the Feudal Period

Various samurai clans struggled for power during the Kamakura and Ashikaga Shogunates.

Zen Buddhism spread among the samurai in the 13th century and helped to shape their standards of conduct, particularly overcoming fear of death and killing, but among the general populace, Pure Land Buddhism was favored.

In 1274, the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongol Empire sent a force of some 40,000 men and 900 ships to invade Japan in northern Kyūshū. Japan mustered a mere 10,000 samurai to meet this threat. The invading army was harassed by major thunderstorms throughout the invasion, which aided the defenders by inflicting heavy casualties. The Yuan army was eventually recalled and the invasion called off. The Mongol invaders used small bombs, which was likely the first appearance of bombs and gunpowder in Japan.

The Japanese defenders recognized the possibility of a renewed invasion, and began construction of a great, stone barrier around Hakata Bay in 1276. Completed in 1277, this wall stretched for 20 kilometers around the border of the bay. This would later serve as a strong defensive point against the Mongols. The Mongols attempted to settle matters in a diplomatic way from 1275 to 1279, but every envoy sent to Japan was executed. This set the stage for one of the most famous engagements in Japanese history.

In 1281, a Yuan army of 140,000 men with 4,400 ships was mustered for another invasion of Japan. Northern Kyūshū was defended by a Japanese army of 40,000 men. The Mongol army was still on its ships preparing for the landing operation when a typhoon hit north Kyūshū island. The casualties and damage inflicted by the typhoon, followed by the Japanese defense of the Hakata Bay barrier, resulted in the Mongols again recalling their armies.
Samurai and defensive wall at Hakata. Moko Shurai Ekotoba,

The thunderstorms of 1274 and the typhoon of 1281 helped the samurai defenders of Japan repel the Mongol invaders despite being vastly outnumbered. These winds became known as kami-no-kaze, which literally translates as "wind of the gods." This is often given a simplified translation as "divine wind." The kami-no-kaze lent credence to the Japanese belief that their lands were indeed divine and under supernatural protection.

In the 14th century, a blacksmith called Masamune developed a two-layer structure of soft and hard steel for use in swords. This structure gave much improved cutting power and endurance, and the production technique led to Japanese swords (katana) being recognized as some of the most potent hand weapons of pre-industrial East Asia. Many swords made using this technique were exported across the East China Sea, a few making their way as far as India.

Issues of inheritance caused family strife as primogeniture became common, in contrast to the division of succession designated by law before the 14th century. To avoid infighting, invasions of neighboring samurai territories became common and bickering among samurai was a constant problem for the Kamakura and Ashikaga Shogunates.

The Sengoku jidai ("warring-states period") was marked by the loosening of samurai culture with people born into other social strata sometimes making names for themselves as warriors and thus becoming de facto samurai. In this turbulent period, bushido ethics became important factors in controlling and maintaining public order.

Japanese war tactics and technologies improved rapidly in the 15th and 16th century. Use of large numbers of infantry called ashigaru ("light-foot," due to their light armour), formed of humble warriors or ordinary people with Nagayari (a long lance) or (Naginata), was introduced and combined with cavalry in maneuvers. The number of people mobilized in warfare ranged from thousands to hundreds of thousands.

The arquebus, a matchlock gun, was introduced by the Portuguese via a Chinese pirate ship in 1543 and the Japanese succeeded in assimilating it within a decade. Groups of mercenaries with mass-produced arquebuses began playing a critical role.

By the end of feudal period, several hundred thousand firearms existed in Japan and massive armies numbering over 100,000 clashed in battles. By comparison, the largest and most powerful army in Europe, the Spanish, had only several thousand firearms and could only assemble 30,000 troops.

In 1592, and again in 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to invade China and sent to Korea an army of 160,000 samurai (Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea, Taking advantage of its mastery of the arquebus, Japanese samurai almost led the war to victory, but were unable to do so, due to the entry of Ming Chinese troops. A few of the more famous samurai generals of this war were Katō Kiyomasa, Konishi Yukinaga, and Shimazu Yoshihiro.

Social mobility was high, as the ancient regime collapsed and emerging samurai needed to maintain large military and administrative organizations in their areas of influence. Most of the samurai families that survived to the 19th century originated in this era, declaring themselves to be the blood of one of the four ancient noble clans, Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara and Tachibana. In most cases, however, it is hard to prove these claims.

See also: Nanban trade period
Oda, Toyotomi and Tokugawa

Oda Nobunaga was the well-known lord of the Nagoya area (once called Owari Province) and an exceptional example of a samurai of the Sengoku Period. He came within a few years of, and laid down the path for his successors to follow, the reunification of Japan under a new Bakufu (Shogunate).

Oda Nobunaga made innovations in the fields of organization and war tactics, heavily used arquebuses, developed commerce and industry and treasured innovation. Consecutive victories enabled him to realize the termination of the Ashikaga Bakufu and the disarmament of the military powers of the Buddhist monks, which had inflamed futile struggles among the populace for centuries. Attacking from the "sanctuary" of Buddhist temples, they were constant headaches to any warlord and even the emperor who tried to control their actions. He died in 1582 when one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, turned upon him with his army.
The Samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga in Rome in 1615, Coll. Borghese, Rome.

Importantly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (see below) and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, were loyal followers of Nobunaga. Hideyoshi was brought up from a nameless peasant to be one of Nobunaga's top generals and Ieyasu had shared his childhood with Nobunaga. Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide within a month and was regarded as the rightful successor of Nobunaga by avenging the treachery of Mitsuhide.

These two were gifted with Nobunaga's previous achievements on which build a unified Japan and there was a saying: "The reunification is a rice cake; Oda made it. Hashiba shaped it. At last, only Ieyasu tastes it."[citation needed] (Hashiba is the family name that Toyotomi Hideyoshi used while he was a follower of Nobunaga.)

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became a grand minister in 1586, himself the son of a poor peasant family, created a law that the samurai caste became codified as permanent and hereditary, and that non-samurai were forbidden to carry weapons, thereby ending the social mobility of Japan up until that point, which lasted until the dissolution of the Edo Shogunate by the Meiji revolutionaries.

It is important to note that the distinction between samurai and non-samurai was so obscure that during the 16th century, most male adults in any social class (even small farmers) belonged to at least one military organization of their own and served in wars before and during Hideyoshi's rule. It can be said that an "all against all" situation continued for a century.

The authorized samurai families after the 17th century were those that chose to follow Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. Large battles occurred during the change between regimes, and a number of defeated samurai were destroyed, went ronin or were absorbed into the general populace.

Tokugawa Shogunate

During the Tokugawa era, samurai increasingly became courtiers, bureaucrats, and administrators rather than warriors. With no warfare since the early 17th century, samurai gradually lost their military function during the Tokugawa era (also called the Edo period).

By the end of the Tokugawa era, samurai were aristocratic bureaucrats for the daimyo, with their daisho, the paired long and short swords of the samurai (cf. katana and wakizashi) becoming more of a symbolic emblem of power rather than a weapon used in daily life.

They still had the legal right to cut down any commoner who did not show proper respect (kiri sute gomen but to what extent this right was used is unknown. When the central government forced daimyos to cut the size of their armies, unemployed ronin became a social problem.

Theoretical obligations between a samurai and his lord (usually a daimyo) increased from the Genpei era to the Edo era. They were strongly emphasized by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius (ca 550 B.C.) which were required reading for the educated samurai class. Bushido was formalized by several influential leaders and families before the Edo Period. Bushido was an ideal, and it remained fairly uniform from the 13th century to the 19th century — the ideals of Bushido transcended social class, time and geographic location of the warrior class.

Bushido was formalized by samurai such as Imagawa Ryoshun as early as the 13th century. The conduct of samurai served as role model behavior for the other social classes. With time on their hands, samurai spent more time in pursuit of other interests such as becoming scholars.

Bushido still survives in present-day Japanese society, as do many other aspects of the samurai's way of life.

Modernization of the samurai (1854-1868)

Main article: Late Tokugawa shogunate

Shogunal samurai troops in 1864 (Illustrated London News).
Shogunal samurai troops in 1864 (Illustrated London News).
Two-sworded samurai in Westernized clothing, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate, 1866.
Two-sworded samurai in Westernized clothing, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate, 1866.

By this time, the Way of Death and Desperateness had been eclipsed by a rude awakening in 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry's massive steamships from the U.S. Navy first imposed broader commerce on the once-dominant national policy of isolationism. Prior to that only a few harbor towns, under strict control from the Shogunate, were able to participate in Western trade, and even then, it was based largely on the idea of playing the Franciscans and Dominicans off against one another (in exchange for the crucial arquebus technology, which in turn was a major contributor to the downfall of the classical samurai).

From 1854, the samurai army and the navy were modernized. A Naval training school was established in Nagasaki in 1855. Naval students were sent to study in Western naval schools for several years, starting a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders, such as Admiral Enomoto.

French naval engineers were hired to build naval arsenals, such as Yokosuka and Nagasaki. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, the Japanese navy of the shogun already possessed eight western-style steam warships around the flagship Kaiyō Maru, which were used against pro-imperial forces during the Boshin war, under the command of Admiral Enomoto. A French Military Mission to Japan (1867) was established to help modernize the armies of the Bakufu.

The last showing of the original samurai was in 1867 when samurai from Chōshū and Satsuma provinces defeated the Shogunate forces in favor of the rule of the emperor in the Boshin War (1868-1869). The two provinces were the lands of the daimyo that submitted to Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara (1600).

[edit] Decline during the Meiji Restoration (1868-)
Samurai of the Satsuma clan, during the Boshin War period, circa 1867. Photograph by Felice Beato
Samurai of the Satsuma clan, during the Boshin War period, circa 1867. Photograph by Felice Beato

Emperor Meiji abolished the samurai's right to be the only armed force in favor of a more modern, western-style, conscripted army in 1873. Samurai became Shizoku who retained some of their salaries, but the right to wear a katana in public was eventually abolished along with the right to execute commoners who paid them disrespect.

The samurai finally came to an end after hundreds of years of enjoyment of their status, their powers, and their ability to shape the government of Japan. However, the rule of the state by the military class was not yet over.

In defining how a modern Japan should be, members of the Meiji government decided to follow the footsteps of United Kingdom and Germany, basing the country on the concept of "noblesse oblige." Samurai were not to be a political force under the new order.

With the Meiji reforms in the late 19th century, the samurai class was abolished, and a western-style national army was established. The Imperial Japanese Armies were conscripted, but many samurai volunteered to be soldiers and many advanced to be trained as officers. Much of the Imperial Army officer class was of samurai origin and they were highly motivated, disciplined and exceptionally trained.

Saigo Takamori (seated, in Western uniform), surrounded by his officers, in samurai attire, during the 1877 Satsuma rebellion. News article in Le Monde Illustré, 1877.

The last samurai conflict was arguably in 1877, during the Satsuma Rebellion in the Battle of Shiroyama. This conflict had its genesis in the previous uprising to defeat the Tokugawa Shogunate, leading to the Meiji Restoration.

The newly formed government instituted radical changes, aimed at reducing the power of the feudal domains, including Satsuma, and the dissolution of samurai status. This led to the ultimately premature uprising, led by Saigō Takamori.

Samurai were many of the early exchange students, not directly because they were samurai, but because many samurai were literate and well-educated scholars. Some of these exchange students started private schools for higher educations, while many samurai took pens instead of guns and became reporters and writers, setting up newspaper companies, and others entered governmental service.

Only the name Shizoku existed after that. After Japan lost the World War II, the name Shizoku disappeared under the law on January 1, 1948
.

Western samurai

The English sailor and adventurer William Adams (1564–1620) seems to have been the first foreigner to receive the dignity of samurai. The Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu presented him with two swords representing the authority of a samurai, and decreed that William Adams the sailor was dead and that Miura Anjin , a samurai, was born. Adams also received the title of hatamoto (bannerman), a high-prestige position as a direct retainer in the Shogun's court. He was provided with generous revenues: "For the services that I have done and do daily, being employed in the Emperor's service, the emperor has given me a living" (Letters). He was granted a fief in Hemi within the boundaries of present-day Yokosuka City, "with eighty or ninety husbandmen, that be my slaves or servants" (Letters). His estate was valued at 250 koku (measure of the income of the land in rice equal to about five bushels). He finally wrote "God hath provided for me after my great misery" (Letters) by which he meant the disaster-ridden voyage that had initially brought him to Japan.

Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn (1556?-1623?), a Dutch colleague of Adams' on their ill-fated voyage to Japan in the ship De Liefde, was also given similar privileges by Tokugawa Ieyasu. It appears Joosten became a samurai[citation needed] and was given a residence within Ieyasu's castle at Edo. Today, this area at the east exit of Tokyo Station is known as Yaesu . Yaesu is a corruption of the Dutchman's Japanese name, Yayousu . Also in common with Adam's, Joostens was given a Red Seal Ship allowing him to trade between Japan and Indo-China. On a return journey from Batavia Joosten drowned after his ship ran aground.

Also, during the Boshin War (1868-1869), French soldiers joined the forces of the Shogun against the Southern Daimyos favorable to the restoration of the Meiji emperor. It is recorded that the French Navy officer Eugène Collache fought in samurai attire with his Japanese brother-in-arms. At the same time, the Prussian Edward Schnell served the Aizu domain as a military instructor and procurer of weapons. He was granted the Japanese name Hiramatsu Buhei , which inverted the characters of the daimyo's name Matsudaira . Hiramatsu (Schnell) was given the right to wear swords, as well as a residence in the castle town of Wakamatsu, a Japanese wife, and retainers. In many contemporary references, he is portrayed as wearing a Japanese kimono, overcoat, and swords, with Western riding trousers and boots.

Culture

As de facto aristocrats for centuries, samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as a whole.

Education

In General, samurai, aristocrats, and priests had a very high literacy rate in Kanji. Recent studies have shown that literacy in Kanji among other groups in society was somewhat higher than previously understood. For example, court documents, birth and death records and marriage records from the Kamakura period, submitted by farmers, was prepared in Kanji. Both the Kanji literacy rate and skills in math both improved toward the end of Kamakura period.
Literacy was generally high among the warriors and the common classes as well. The feudal lord Asakura Norikage (1474-1555 A.D.) noted the great loyalty given to his father, due to his polite letters, not just to fellow samurai, but also to the farmers and townspeople:

"There were to Lord Eirin's character many high points difficult to measure, but according to the elders the foremost of these was the way he governed the province by his civility. It goes without saying that he acted this way toward those in the samurai class, but he was also polite in writing letters to the farmers and townspeople, and even in addressing these letters he was gracious beyond normal practice. In this way, all were willing to sacrifice their lives for him and become his allies."

In a letter dated 29 January 1552, St Francis Xavier observed the ease of which the Japanese understood prayers due to the high level of literacy in Japan at that time:

"There are two kinds of writing in Japan, one used by men and the other by women; and for the most part both men and women, especially of the nobility and the commercial class, have a literary education. The bonzes, or bonzesses, in their monasteries teach letters to the girls and boys, though rich and noble persons entrust the education of their children to private tutors.” "Most of them can read, and this is a great help to them for the easy understanding of our usual prayers and the chief points of our holy religion"

In a letter to Father Ignatius Loyola at Rome, Xavier further noted the education of the upper classes:

“The Nobles send their sons to monasteries to be educated as soon as they are 8 years old, and they remain there until they are 19 or 20, learning reading, writing and religion; as soon as they come out, they marry and apply themselves to politics."

"They are discreet, magnanimous and lovers of virtue and letters, honouring learned men very much"

In a leter dated November 11, 1549, Xavier described a multi-tiered educational system in Japan consisting of "universities", "colleges", "academies" and hundreds of monasteries which served as a principle center for learning by the populace:

"But now we must give you an account of our stay at Cagoxima. We put into that port because the wind was adverse to our sailing to Meaco, which is the largest city in Japan, and most famous as the residence of the King and the Princes. It is said that after four months are passed the favourable season for a voyage to Meaco will return, and then with the good help of God we shall sail thither. The distance from Cagoxima is three hundred leagues. We hear wonderful stories about the size of Meaco : they say that it consists of more than ninety thousand dwellings. There is a very famous University there, as well as five chief colleges of students, and more than two hundred monasteries of bonzes, and of others who are like coenobites, called Legioxi, as well as of women of the same kind, who are called Hamacutis. Besides this of Meaco, there are in Japan five other principal academies, at Coya, at Negu, at Fisso, and at Homia. These are situated round Meaco, with short distances between them, and each is frequented by about three thousand five hundred scholars. Besides these there is the Academy at Bandou, much the largest and most famous in all Japan, and at a great distance from Meaco. Bandou is a large territory, ruled by six minor princes, one of whom is more powerful than the others and is obeyed by them, being himself subject to the King of Japan, who is called the Great King of Meaco. The things that are given out as to the greatness and celebrity of these universities and cities are so wonderful as to make us think of seeing them first with our own eyes and ascertaining the truth, and then when we have discovered and know how things really are, of writing an account of them to you. 10 They say that there are several lesser academies besides those which we have mentioned"

Shudō

Shudō , the tradition of love bonds between a seasoned and a novice samurai was held to be "the flower of the samurai spirit" and formed the real basis of the samurai aesthetic. It was analogous to the educational Greek pederasty and an honored and important practice in samurai society. It was one of the main ways in which the ethos and the skills of the samurai tradition were passed down from one generation to another.[citation needed]

Another name for the bonds was bidō ( "the beautiful way"). The devotion that two samurai would have for each other would be almost as great as that which they had for their daimyo. Indeed, according to contemporary accounts, the choice between his lover and his master could become a philosophical problem for samurai. Hagakure and other samurai manuals gave specific instructions in the way that this tradition was to be carried out and respected. After the Meiji Restoration and the introduction of a more westernised lifestyle, the practice died out.

The bonds of shudo may not have been as widely practiced or as universally praised as some documents suggest. "Keichu Kibun Makurabunko" written in the Edo era by the pseudonymous Insaisen is clearly critical of shudo.

Names

A samurai was usually named by combining one kanji from his father or grandfather and one new kanji. Samurai normally used only a small part of their total name.

For example, the full name of Oda Nobunaga would be "Oda Kazusanosuke Saburo Nobunaga" , in which "Oda" is a clan or family name, "Kazusanosuke" is a title of vice-governor of Kazusa province, "Saburo" is a name before genpuku, a coming of age ceremony, and "Nobunaga" is an adult name. Samurai were able to choose their own last names.

[edit] Marriage

The marriage of samurai was done by having a marriage arranged by someone with the same or higher rank than those being married. While for those samurai in the upper ranks this was a necessity (as most had few opportunities to meet a female), this was a formality for lower ranked samurai. Most samurai married women from a samurai family, but for a lower ranked samurai marriages with commoners were permitted. In these marriages a dowry was brought by the woman and was used to start their new lives.

A samurai could have a mistress but her background was strictly checked by higher ranked samurai. In many cases, this was treated like a marriage. "Kidnapping" a mistress, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not a crime. When she was a commoner, a messenger would be sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax to ask for her parent's acceptance and many parents gladly accepted. If a samurai's wife gave birth to a son he could be a samurai.

A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons with approval from a superior, but divorce was, while not entirely nonexistent, a rare event. A reason for divorce would be if she could not produce a son, but then adoption could be arranged as an alternative to divorce. A samurai could divorce for personal reasons, even if he simply did not like his wife, but this was generally avoided as it would embarrass the samurai who had arranged the marriage. A woman could also arrange a divorce, although it would generally take the form of the samurai divorcing her. After a divorce samurai had to return the betrothal money, which often prevented divorces. Some rich merchants had their daughters marry samurai to erase a samurai's debt and advance their positions.

A samurai's wife would be dishonored and allowed to commit jigai (a female's seppuku) if she were cast off.

Philosophy

The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching due to it offering a process to calm one's mind. The Buddhist concept of reincarnation and rebirth led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing, while some samurai even gave up violence altogether and became Buddhist monks after realizing how fruitless their killings were. Some were killed as they came to terms with these realizations in the battlefield. The most defining role that Confucianism played in samurai philosophy was to stress the importance of the lord-retainer relationship; this is, the loyalty that a samurai was required to show his lord.

Bushidō ("way of the warrior") was a philosophy which developed over hundreds of years prior to the Sengoku period.(10) Its deceptive simplicity led to countless arguments over its interpretation. Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo is a manual of instruction into the way of the samurai.

In an account of Japan sent to Father Ignatius Loyola at Rome, drawn from the statements of Anger (Han-Siro's western name), Xavier describes the importance of honor to the Japanese (Letter preserved at College of Coimbra.):

"In the first place, the nation with which we have had to do here surpasses in goodness any of the nations lately discovered. I really think that among barbarous nations there can be none that has more natural goodness than the Japanese. They are of a kindly disposition, not at all given to cheating, wonderfully desirous of honour and rank. Honour with them is placed above everything else. There are a great many poor among them, but poverty is not a disgrace to any one. There is one thing among them of which I hardly know whether it is practised anywhere among Christians. The nobles, however poor they may be, receive the same honour from the rest as if they were rich"
Maintaining the household, or ie, was the main duty of samurai women. This was especially crucial during early feudal Japan, when warrior husbands were often traveling abroad or engaged in clan battles. The wife, or okusan (meaning: one who remains in the home), was left to manage all household affairs, care for the children, and perhaps even defend the home forcibly. For this reason, many women of the samurai class were trained in wielding a polearm called a naginata or a special knife called the kaiken in an art called tantōjutsu (lit. the skill of the knife), which they could use to protect their household, family, and honor if the need arose.

Traits valued in women of the samurai class were humility, obedience, self-control, strength, and loyalty. Ideally, a samurai wife would be skilled at managing property, keeping records, dealing with financial matters, educating the children (and perhaps servants, too), and caring for elderly parents or in-laws that may be living under her roof. Confucian law, which helped define personal relationships and the code of ethics of the warrior class required that a woman show subservience to her husband, filial piety to her parents, and care to the children. Too much love and affection was also said to indulge and spoil the youngsters. Thus, a woman was also to exercise discipline.

Though women of wealthier samurai families enjoyed perks of their elevated position in society, such as avoiding the physical labor that those of lower classes often engaged in, they were still viewed as far beneath men. Women were prohibited from engaging in any political affairs and were usually not the heads of their household.

This does not mean that samurai women were always powerless. Powerful women both wisely and unwisely wielded power at various occasions. After Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 8th shogun of the Muromachi shogunate lost interest in politics, his wife Hino Tomiko largely ruled in his place. Nene, wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was known to overrule her husband's decisions at times and Yodo, his mistress, became the de facto master of Osaka castle and the Toyotomi clan after Hideyoshi's death. Chiyo, wife of Yamauchi Kazutoyo, has long been considered the ideal samurai wife. According to legend, she made her kimono out of a quilted patchwork of bits of old cloth and saved pennies to buy her husband a magnificent horse on which he rode to many victories. The fact that Chiyo (though she is better known as "Wife of Yamauchi Kazutoyo") is held to such high esteem for her economic sense is illuminating in the light of the fact that she never produced an heir and the Yamauchi clan was succeeded by Kazutoyo's younger brother. The source of power for women may have been that samurai looked down upon matters concerning money and left their finances to their wives.

As the Tokugawa period progressed more value became placed on education, and the education of females beginning at a young age became important to families and society as a whole. Marriage criteria began to weigh intelligence and education as desirable attributes in a wife, right along with physical attractiveness. Though many of the texts written for women during the Tokugawa period only pertained to how a woman could become a successful wife and household manager, there were those that undertook the challenge of learning to read, and also tackled philosophical and literary classics. Nearly all women of the samurai class were literate by the end of the Tokugawa period.

Weapons
Samurai helmet with a half-face mask, made of leather and iron, Edo period, 17th century. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

The samurai used various weapons, but the katana is the weapon that is synonymous with samurai. Bushido teaches that the katana is the samurai's soul and sometimes a samurai is pictured as entirely dependent on the katana for fighting. They believe that the katana was so precious that they often gave them names and considered them as part of the living. However the use of swords did not become common in battle until the Kamakura period (1185–1333), where the tachi and uchigatana (the predecessor to the katana) became prevalent. The katana itself did not become the primary weapon until the Edo period.

After a male child of the bushi was born, he would receive his first sword in a ceremony called mamori-gatana. The sword, however, was merely a charm sword covered with brocade to which was attached a purse or wallet, worn by children under five. Upon reaching the age of thirteen, in a ceremony called Genbuku , a male child was given his first real swords and armour, an adult name, and became a samurai. A katana and a wakizashi together are called a daisho (lit. "big and small").

The wakizashi itself was a samurai's "honour blade" and purportedly never left the samurai's side. He would sleep with it under his pillow and it would be taken with him when he entered a house and had to leave his main weapons outside.

The Tantō was a small dagger sometimes worn with or instead of the Wakizashi in a daisho. The tanto or the wakizashi was used to commit seppuku, a ritualized suicide through disembowelment.
Samurai with assorted weapons.

The samurai stressed skill with the yumi (longbow), reflected in the art of kyujutsu (lit. the skill of the bow). The bow would remain a critical component of the Japanese military even with the introduction of firearms during the Sengoku Jidai period. The yumi, an asymmetric composite bow made from bamboo, wood, rattan and leather, was not as powerful as the Eurasian reflex composite bow, having an effective range of 50 meters (about 164 feet) or 100 meters ([328 feet]) if accuracy was not an issue. It was usually used on foot behind a tedate , a large and mobile bamboo wall, but shorter versions (hankyu) could also be used from horseback. The practice of shooting from horseback became a Shinto ceremony of Yabusame

In the 15th century, the yari (spear) also became a popular weapon. It displaced the naginata from the battlefield as personal bravery became less of a factor and battles became more organized around massed, inexpensive foot troops (ashigaru). A charge, mounted or dismounted, was also more effective when using a spear than a sword and it offered better than even odds against a samurai using a sword. In the Battle of Shizugatake where Shibata Katsuie was defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then known as Hashiba Hideyoshi, the Seven Spearmen of Shizugatake played a crucial role in the victory.

The later half of the 16th century saw the introduction of the teppo or arquebus in Japan through Portuguese trade, enabling warlords to raise effective armies from masses of peasants. The new weapons were highly controversial. Their ease of use and deadly effectiveness was perceived by many samurai as a dishonorable affront to Bushido tradition. Oda Nobunaga made deadly use of the teppo at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, leading to the end of the Takeda clan.
Samurai helmet with a half-face mask, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

After their initial introduction by the Portuguese and the Dutch, the teppo, were produced on a large scale by Japanese gunsmiths. By the end of the 16th century, there were more firearms in Japan than in any European nation. Teppo, employed en masse largely by ashigaru peasant foot troops were in many ways the antithesis of samurai valor. With the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate and an end to civil war, production of the guns declined sharply with prohibitions to ownership. By the Tokugawa Shogunate most spear-based weapons had been phased out partly because they were suboptimal for the close-quarter combat common in the Edo period, this combined with the aforementioned restrictions on fire-arms resulted in the Daisho being the only weapons typically carried by samurai.

In the 1570s cannons became a common part of the samurai's armoury. They often were mounted in castles or on ships being used more as anti-personnel weapons though in the siege of Nagashino castle (1575) a cannon was used to good effect against an enemy siege-tower. The first popular cannon in Japan were swivel-breech loaders nick-named kunikuzushi or "Destroyer of Provinces". Kunikuzushi weighed 264 lb (120 kg). and used 40 lb (18 kg). chambers, firing a small shot of 10 oz. The Arima clan of Kyushu used guns like this at the battle of Okinawate against the Ryozoji clan. By the time of the Osaka campaign (1614-1615) cannon technology had improved in Japan to the point where at Osaka, Ii Naotaka managed to fire an 18 lb (8.2 kg). shot into the castle's keep.

Some other weapons used by samurai were jō, bō, and the Chinese trebuchets (more as an anti-personnel weapon than a siege engine).

Etymology of samurai and related words
Kanji for Samurai

The term samurai originally meant "those who serve in close attendance to nobility", and was written in the Chinese character (or kanji) that had the same meaning. In Japanese, it was originally pronounced in the pre-Heian period as saburau and later as saburai, then samurai in the Edo period. In Japanese literature, there is an early reference to samurai in the Kokinshū , early 10th century):

Attendant to your nobility
Ask for your master's umbrella
The dews 'neath the trees of Miyagino
Are thicker than rain
(poem 1091)

The word bushi , lit. "warrior or armsman") first appears in an early history of Japan called Shoku Nihongi ( 797 A.D.). In a portion of the book covering the year 723 A.D., Shoku Nihongi states: "Literary men and Warriors are they whom the nation values". The term bushi is of Chinese origin and adds to the indigenous Japanese words for warrior: tsuwamono and mononofu.

Bushi was the name given to the ancient Japanese soldiers from traditional warrior families. The bushi class was developed mainly in the north of Japan. They formed powerful clans, which in the 12th Century were against the noble families who were grouping themselves to support the imperial family who lived in Kyoto. Samurai was a word used by the Kuge aristocratic class with warriors themselves preferring the word bushi. The term Bushidō, the "way of the warrior," is derived from this term and the mansion of a warrior was called bukeyashiki.

The terms bushi and samurai became synonymous near the end of the 12th century, according to William Scott Wilson in his book Ideals of the Samurai—Writings of Japanese Warriors. Wilson's book thoroughly explores the origins of the word warrior in Japanese history as well as the kanji used to represent the word.

"Breaking down the character bu reveals the radical , meaning "to stop," and an abbreviation of the radical "spear." The Shuo Wen, an early Chinese dictionary, gives this definition: "Bu consists of subduing the weapon and therefore stopping the spear." The Tso Chuan, another early Chinese source, goes further:

Bu consists of bun : literature or letters, and generally the arts of peace) stopping the :spear. Bu prohibits violence and subdues weapons ... it puts the people at peace, and harmonizes :the masses.

The radical shi (±) on the other hand seems to have originally meant a person who performs some function or who has the ability in some field. Early in Chinese history it came to define the upper class of society, and in the Book of Han this definition is given :

The shi, the farmer, the craftsman, and the tradesman are the four professions of the people. He :who occupies his rank by means of learning is called a shi.

Wilson states that the shi, as the highest of the four classes, brandished the weapons as well as the books. bushi therefore translates as "a man who has the ability to keep the peace, either by literary or military means, but predominantly by the latter".

It was not until the early modern period, namely the Azuchi-Momoyama period and early Edo period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the word saburai was replaced with samurai. However, the meaning had changed long before that.
A Samurai katana in koshirae.

During the era of the rule of the samurai, the term yumitori was also used as an honorary title of an accomplished warrior even though swordsmanship had become more important. (Japanese archery (kyujutsu) is still strongly associated with the war god Hachiman.)

A samurai with no attachment to a clan or daimyo was called a ronin . In Japanese, the word ronin means "wave man", a person destined to wander aimlessly forever, like the waves in the sea. The word came to mean a samurai who was no longer in the service of a lord because his lord had died, because the samurai had been banished or simply because the samurai chose to become a ronin.

The pay of samurai was measured in koku of rice (180 liters; enough to feed a man for one year). Samurai in the service of the han are called hanshi.
Samurai armour Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey

The following terms are related to samurai or the samurai tradition:

* Uruwashii
a cultured warrior symbolized by the kanji for "bun" (literary study) and "bu" (military study or arts)
* Buke
A martial house or a member of such a house
* Mononofu
An ancient term meaning a warrior.
* Musha
A shortened form of bugeisha , lit. martial art man.
* Shi
A word roughly meaning "gentleman," it is sometimes used for samurai, in particular in words such as bushi 士, meaning warrior or samurai).
* Tsuwamono
An old term for a soldier popularized by Matsuo Bashō in his famous haiku. Literally meaning a strong person.

Myth and reality

Most samurai (during the Edo period) were bound by a strict code of honor and were expected to set an example for those below them. A notable part of their code is seppuku seppuku?), which allowed a disgraced samurai to regain his honor by passing into death, where samurai were still beholden to social rules. Whilst there are many romanticised characterisations of samurai behaviour such as the writing of Bushido (Bushidō?) in 1905, studies of Kobudo and traditional Budo indicate that the samurai were as practical on the battlefield as were any other warrior.

Despite the rampant romanticism of the 20th century, samurai could be disloyal and treacherous (e.g., Akechi Mitsuhide), cowardly, brave, or overly loyal (e.g., Kusunoki Masashige). Samurai were usually loyal to their immediate superiors, who in turn allied themselves with higher lords. These loyalties to the higher lords often shifted; for example, the high lords allied under Toyotomi Hideyoshi were served by loyal samurai, but the feudal lords under them could shift their support to Tokugawa, taking their samurai with them. There were, however, also notable instances where samurai would be disloyal to their lord or daimyo, when loyalty to the emperor was seen to have supremacy

Popular culture

Samurai cinema

Actor Kotaro Satomi on the set of Mito Komon

Jidaigeki (lit. historical drama) has always been a staple program on Japanese movies and TV. The programs typically feature a samurai with a kenjutsu who stood up against evil samurai and merchants. Mito Kōmon , a fictitious series of stories about Tokugawa Mitsukuni's travel is a popular TV drama in which Mitsukuni travels disguised as a retired rich merchant with two unarmed samurai disguised as his companions[citation needed]. He finds trouble wherever he goes, and after gathering evidence, he has his samurai knock around unrepentantly evil samurai and merchants, before revealing his identity. It is then obvious to the villains that he can destroy their entire clan and the villains surrender in the hope that his punishments will not extend to their families

The samurai-themed works of film director Akira Kurosawa are among the most praised of the genre, influencing many filmmakers across the world with his techniques and storytelling[citation needed]. Notable works of his include Seven Samurai, in which a besieged farming village hires a collection of wandering samurai to defend them from bandits, Yojimbo, where a former samurai involves himself in a town's gang war by working for both sides, and The Hidden Fortress, in which two foolish peasants find themselves helping a legendary general escort a princess to safety. The latter was one of the primary inspirations for George Lucas's Star Wars, which also borrows a number of aspects from the samurai, for example the Jedi Knights of the series. Darth Vader's costume is largely inspired by a samurai's mask and armour.

Samurai films and westerns share a number of similarities and the two have influenced each other over the years. Kurosawa was inspired by the works of director John Ford and in turn Kurosawa's works have been remade into westerns such as The Seven Samurai into The Magnificent Seven and Yojimbo into A Fistful of Dollars. There is also an anime adaptation (Samurai 7) of "The Seven Samurai" which spans many episodes.

Eiji Yoshikawa is one of the most famous Japanese historical novelists. His retellings of popular works, including Taiko, Musashi and Heike Tale are popular among readers for their epic naratives and rich realism in depicting samurai and warrior culture.

Another fictitious television series, Abarembo Shogun, featured Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. Samurai at all levels from the shogun down to the lowest rank, as well as ronin, featured prominently in this show.

Shōgun is the first novel in James Clavell's Asian Saga. It is set in feudal Japan around the year 1600 and gives a highly fictionalized account of the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Shogunate, seen through the eyes of an English sailor whose fictional heroics are loosely based on William Adams' exploits.
Saigo Takamori (upper right, in Western uniform) directing his troops, some of them in traditional samurai armour, at the Battle of Shiroyama

A Hollywood movie, The Last Samurai, containing a mixture of fact and fiction, was released in 2003 to generally good reviews in North America. The film's plot is loosely based on the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori, and also on the story of Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the Boshin War.

The movie Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, starring actor Forest Whitaker takes as its central character a black assassin in contemporary America who gains inspiration from the Hagakure. The soundtrack album positions hip hop against readings of the Hagakure.

Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino can be described as a glorification of the katana. It is primarily inspired by old kung-fu movies and relates little to the samurai. This same distortion of samurai culture continues onto the low-budget world of the cult film, where in films such as Samurai Vampire Bikers From Hell, the primary characters attempt to portray a lineage to the samurai but are more closely linked to the anime or comic book culture of the late twentieth century.

The samurai have also appeared frequently in Japanese comics (manga) and animation (anime). Most common are historical works where the protagonist is either a samurai or former samurai (or another rank/position) who possesses considerable martial skill. Two of the most famous examples are Lone Wolf and Cub, where the former proxy executioner for the Shogun and his toddler son become hired killers after being betrayed by other samurai and nobles, and Rurouni Kenshin, where a former assassin, after helping end the Bakumatsu era and bringing about the Meiji era, finds himself protecting newfound friends and fighting off old enemies while upholding his oath to never kill again through the use of a reverse-bladed sword.

Samurai-like characters are not just restricted to historical settings and a number of works set in the modern age, and even the future, include characters who live, train and fight like samurai. Notable examples include Goemon Ishikawa XIII from the Lupin III series of comics, television series, and movies, and Motoko Aoyama from the romantic comedy Love Hina. Another more western movie is The Hunted (1995), where a surviving samurai clan protects a witness from evil ninjas. Some relevance to the samurai can even be seen in the show Beyblade, which is set in the present. One character, Jin of the Gale, seems to be a mix of samurai and ninja traits. Another anime involving samurai, which is intended for adult audiences, is 2004's Samurai Champloo, which portrays Edo-period Japan combined with modern street-culture and hip-hop. One of the show's main characters is Jin, once an accomplished samurai who became a wandering ronin after killing his master.
Usagi Yojimbo, the longest running American samurai comic book to date.

American comic books have adopted the character type for stories of their own. For instance, the Marvel Universe superhero Wolverine during the 1980s attempted to use the ideals and concept of the samurai as a means to control his violent urges in a constructive manner. The ronin have also been a feature in popular series such as Ronin by Frank Miller and Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai.

The concept of a samurai, as opposed to that of a knight, has led to a major gap in how a warrior or a hero is characterised in Japan and the rest of the world. A samurai does not have to be tall and heavily muscled to be strong - he can be barely five feet tall, seemingly weak and even handicapped. Females can also be samurai. Equating size with power and strength does not readily appeal to the Japanese aesthetic. Perfect examples of this can be found in the Blind Swordsman Zatoichi movie series.

It is also important to note the uses of samurai in the Hip Hop music in both American and Japanese cultures. It is commonly seen as a tangent to the “gangtas” in rap music. Fusions of this are apparent in collaborations rap artists of both cultures and inclusion of anime.
Influence of Samurai in Science Fiction
The costume of the science fiction character Darth Vader in Star Wars was based on Samurai helmets and armor.

Samurai in computer games

Samurai are also heroes and enemies in many computer games, and can be found especially in RPG, strategy, action, adventure, and fighting game genres.

For example, samurai can be seen in the strategy game series Age of Empires, RTS Battle Realms and in the Ultima Online: Samurai Empire MMORPG. Samurai battles also provide the theme for the strategy simulation Shogun: Total War, which portrays Sun-Tzu war philosophy and realistic battle physics. Samurai character class is available in the famous RPG Wizardry 8. Final Fantasy V, X, X-2 and XI also contain a samurai class. Also in the Final Fantasy series, there is an aeon known as Yojimbo who caries an arsenal of tradition samurai weaponry. In the strategy game Civilization IV, the samurai is a unique unit for the Japanese Empire that replaces the Maceman.

Some popular Japanese titles featuring samurai include Shingen the Ruler, Samurai Warriors, Brave Fencer Musashi, Musashi: Samurai Legend, and Seven Samurai 20XX. Also, there is a lead character portraying a samurai in the sci-fi thriller game Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse named Jin Uzuki. Jin Uzuki, Shion Uzuki's brother, is a samurai who fights with a sword only and wears a traditional kimono. Other popular Japanese games featuring samurai as main characters are the Onimusha, Genji and Way of the Samurai series. In Ninja Gaiden, one boss is a mounted samurai while another is a demonic fiend who takes the form of a

Several fighting games hold samurai fighters, for example, Bishamon from Darkstalkers, and Sodom from Street Fighter Alpha. Samurai Shodown has a roster full of samurai characters. Haohmaru and Genjuro are the most traditional samurai warriors in this fighting game. Soul Calibur offers two samurai characters: Mitsurugi and Yoshimitsu.

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noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:23:00 +0000

Naruto Anime Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:40:00 +0000

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Japanese Anime and Manga Japan is the home for multitude of unique things and two which have become popular worldwide are Anime and Manga. Manga, similar to western comic books, are unbelievably popular in today's modern Japanese culture. Unlike American comic books that are targeted at children and teenagers, Japanese Manga is geared towards an adult audience although many appeals to all age groups. Manga is unique to other sorts of comic books as the stories are usually deep and absorbing. These graphics and artwork are usually highly detailed and can undergo there own styles although they tend to stick to the standard Manga styles. Anime is equivalent to western cartoons and many are in fact established on Manga although adapted for TV. Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura created by CLAMP are both popular Manga which were then made into an Anime. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are examples of Anime which assembled its way outside Japan and became hugely popular. Both Anime and Manga have there own distinctive style that is characterised by large eyes which allow emotions to be of course shown and regularly clearly three colors for the skin tones; one each for the base color, shadows and highlights. Extra features such as “sweat drops” and veins look to enhance the impact of emotions displayed. the world of anime http://animemainglobe.blogspot.com/ abd online ads http://adsvvforums.blogspot.com/ download http://wallpapers008.info and http://www.mainglobe.biz

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Anime and Manga - History Of
The History of Manga starts in the 19th Century. A average misconception made by Westerners is too the term 'manga' simply refers to anime and animated projects. While this is true to a certain extent, the word manga itself actually means 'Comic'.

The first manga appeared the first part of in the 19th Century - in 1814. This was referred to as the Hokusai manga, and consisted of a string of sketchbooks by a Japanese artist named Hokusai. Each sketch in the Hokusai manga is rooted on various problems including gods, monsters, mountains, flowers, and birds - the sketches were loosely if not at all related to each other.

It is important to remember that at the stage, the images in the Hokusai manga weren't representative of the manga we see today. The Hokusai manga style was which of sketchings, and it wasn't until later, when the influence of the western earth set in, that we began to see the drawing style we see in manga today. This was legendary as Ponchi-e - when Japanese artists began to concentrate on effectively using thick lines, colours, and forms. The era of Ponchi-e as well went hand in hand with animated films, and in the 20th Century we saw the first emergence of manga animation - today commonly known as 'anime'.

Animation quickly became very popular in Japan due to the under-developed 'live action' entertainment industry it had at the time. The 1980's saw a boom in production of anime, as mainstream Japan started up accepting it larger number of and more readily. In the 1990's and 2000's Japan's anime influence spread overseas, and currently there are anime series' that broadcast almost on a global scale. An model of this is the always popular Dragon Ball Z anime, which broadcasts all over America, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Europe.

Today, we see western countries like America getting more and more enravelled in the jap-anime style of drawing. Safe is it to anticipate overly anime will live on, and the background and history, of anime and manga will spread and diversify due to exposure from western cultures, and the more advanced animation technologies we have today.

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These sites charge for each download, and though the price can be as low as $1 per full movie, latest additions as well as highly popular stuff will be an expense of more. If you are looking to create your own library of anime movies, this opportunity can turn to be pretty costly.

4. Paid Membership Websites

This choice allows you to pay only once, obtain a membership, and use the entire database of various anime movies for free. In other words, you do not have to pay to download anime movies in this case, and you are free to download as that much as you want.

Clearly, two previous options are not reasonable - your privacy and security do not worth a few anime movies. Other two variants are legal and guarantee your satisfaction amidst the care provided. Moneywise, paid membership allows you to save quite a lot, especially if you download anime movies quite often, so this is definitely a great choice for you.

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Hachirota Hachimaki

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:42:00 +0000

Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino Hoshino Hachirōta?)

Voiced by: Kazunari Tanaka (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)
Hachirota Hoshino is the protagonist of the series. Everyone simply calls him "Hachi" (Japanese for "eight" or "eighth") or "Hachimaki" "Hachimaki"?), because he wears one during his EVAs). His dream has always been to own his own spaceship, but between the cost of purchasing one and his low-paying, seemingly dead-end job, Hachi struggles with even deciding whether or not to pursue his dream. Hachi's father is a renowned engineer, a source of much ambivalence to Hachimaki. Much of Hachi's drive is summed up in "bigger, faster, and further". However, this drive makes him conflicted about his own relationship with space. Loud and brash, Hachi has difficulty expressing himself adequately, especially in romantic matters.

Ai Tanabe
Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)
Ai Tanabe is the newest member of the Debris Section. She is the adopted daughter of a death metal band leader turned engineer and an elementary school teacher. Tanabe did not speak until she was three years old. She is bright and earnest, but mostly unsure of herself. As a newcomer to space, the Debris Section and to extra-vehicular activity all at the same time, she has to slowly learn the ropes from everyone else. She believes that love, or "ai" (possibly a pun intended on her name being the Japanese word for love) is the solution to every problem. Kind and sweet, she is willing to do almost anything to help others. However, her kind spirit also masks a drive to become better than she is.

Fee Carmichael

Voiced by: Ai Orikasa (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)
Fee Carmichael is the American pilot of the "Toy Box", the debris-collecting ship used by the main characters. She was born in Richmond, Virginia, and the daughter of a prominent lawyer. Even more loud and brash than Hachi, Fee often becomes violent at others' actions and inaction, but she always means well. Being a heavy (and slightly ashamed[3]) smoker, she has difficulty finding places to indulge her habit in space, as smoking is a strain on life support systems and is thereby restricted to designated smoking rooms. This often makes her quite irritable, especially after all smoking rooms are shut down as the SDF began planting bombs in them. In the anime, she is able to get around this with an enclosed personal "smoker's seat" (which is prone to inadvertent sabotage). Married with a young son, Fee lives in Florida when not in space, which is not very often

Yuri Mihairokov , Yūri Mihairokofu?, Russian: Юрий Михалков Yuri Mihalkov)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)
Yuri Mihairokov is the Russian member of the Debris team. Calm, stoic, kind and compassionate, Yuri often acts as the level head of the group. Several years before the events of the story, he and his wife were in a low-orbit craft traveling to England when a small bolt slammed into one of the ship's windows at high velocity, causing the plane to depressurize and make an emergency landing. Many died in the highly publicized incident, including Yuri's wife, who was never found. The incident and Yuri's desire to recover his wife's lost keepsake, a compass she wore around her neck, drives him to collect more debris. It is often speculated that Yuri's name is a reference to Yuri Gagarin and Nikita Mihalkov. In the anime, Yuri and the Debris Section Office Staff are responsible for looking after the ISPV 7's resident animals.

he story of Planetes takes place in the near future. Unlike many other anime and science fiction productions, special care was given in Planetes for a very realistic depiction of space and space travel. For instance, when in a weightless environment, the cel count dramatically increases in order to make weightless motion more fluid and realistic. Also, spaceships make no noise in the vacuum of space and astronauts routinely suffer from known space illnesses such as radiation poisoning, decompression sickness, cancer, brittle bones and mental illnesses spawned from isolation in the vacuum of space. One character, born on the Moon, grew to be abnormally tall due to the lesser lunar gravity.

Concepts like momentum in weightlessness are early plot points and are always illustrated naturally. Director Goro Taniguchi stated in the DVD commentary that he learned much about orbital mechanics in the course of making the series. This can be shown in showing specific orbital energy, through changing orbits by applying thrust throughout the series.[4] Even the necessity for the retrieval of space debris that is central to the plot is rooted in the serious and growing problem with space debris today .

The show also works to connect itself to the history of rocketry and space flight. The opening sequence is similar to the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, featuring a montage of the history of space flight from Greek mythology to the "modern" setting outlined in the series. Along the way, animated images of important milestones in space travel like Robert Goddard's early rocket tests, the V-2 rocket, Sputnik 1, Laika the dog, the Vostok spacecraft, Apollo 11, Skylab, Mir, the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Endeavour and other mile stones are displayed. References to early pioneers in rocketry like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert H. Goddard, Wernher von Braun and Hermann Oberth are also made regularly.

The Japanese space agency JAXA served as a technical consultant to the series. The US version of the DVDs featured interviews with two scientists from NASA's Orbital Debris Section. However, both scientists stated that the premise of having to rendezvous with debris in orbit is highly unlikely as it would take an extravagant amount of energy for a relatively small amount of salvageable material. One of the scientists stated that the previous director of the NASA Orbital Debris Section was in fact Donald J. Kessler, the scientist who proposed the eponymous Kessler Syndrome, which is cited and used several times in both the anime and manga

Human elements
Hachimaki in his EVA suit.

The story also depicts the richer countries monopolizing resources in space and the poorer ones falling into civil war and being invaded or needing the assistance of those richer countries, telling a story of dependency theory and the negative side of environmentalism The conflicting views of the terrorist group, the Space Defense Front, who wish to shut human beings off from space, the main characters who believe in the importance of space exploration and development, and the International Treaty Organization (INTO) which wants space development primarily to serve the military needs of developed nations also play major roles. The anime refrains from oversimplification of the various factions, portraying both true believers and those with ulterior motives on all sides. The final settlement of the conflict is also unique in that it is not resolved by any of the main protagonists or antagonists, but by a compromise struck between powers above their heads.

Both the anime and manga set a precedent of portraying a highly multicultural cast of characters respectfully and with minimal use of racial stereotypes as previously seen in almost all manga and anime which features a similar cast (For an example, see G Gundam). In fact, those characters who refer to stereotypes in the anime are usually berated by other characters almost immediately.

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Anime mangga

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Lucky Star is a Japanese four-panel comic strip manga by Kagami Yoshimizu. The strip has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq magazine since January 2004. Cameo strips were published in other magazines such as Shōnen Ace and others. Like many four-panel comic strips, it has no ongoing plot, and typically focuses on the daily lives of the characters.

In August 2005, a drama CD based on the series was released, and in December 2005, a Nintendo DS video game entitled Lucky Star Moe Drill, was released। A sequel, also playable on the DS, called Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill was released in May 2007, and a PlayStation 2 visual novel was released in January 2008. In September 2006, it was released to the press that Kyoto Animation would be animating an anime based on the series; it contains twenty-four episodes. The anime first aired on the Chiba TV Japanese television network between April 8, 2007 and September 16, 2007, though aired concurrently on other networks. A light novel was released in September 2007. The anime has been licensed in the USA by Kadokawa Pictures and distributed by Bandai Entertainment; the first and second of six DVDs were released in North America, respectively, on May 6, 2008, and July 1, 2008, with the third to be released on September 2, 2008. An original video animation episode will be released on September 26, 2008 accompanied by a drama CD.

Lucky Star's story portrays the lives of several girls attending a Japanese high school named Ryōō with a very loose sense of humor। The setting is mainly based on the city of Kasukabe in Saitama Prefecture. main character is Konata Izumi, an athletic and intelligent girl who, despite these attributes, is not in a sports club and has to resort to all-nighter cramming for tests. Her laziness at school is due to her love for anime and video games and lack of interest in anything else. The serialization began with the four main characters in their first year of high school: Konata Izumi, Kagami Hiiragi, Tsukasa Hiiragi, and Miyuki Takara. As the story progresses, they move on to their second and third years. However, the anime starts the story with them beginning their second year. The storyline usually includes numerous references to popular past and present manga and anime series. Konata Izumi (泉こなた, Izumi Konata?) Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi (drama CD), Aya Hirano (anime), Wendee Lee (English) The very representation of an otaku, Konata (or sometimes called 'Kona-chan') is the childish but good-natured leader of the Lucky Star girls. Usually a lazy girl who is 'occupied' with video or online games, manga, anime, or all of the above, Konata is actually capably intelligent and athletic, but does not join any school clubs because of her otaku interests. Konata works at a cosplay café with underclassman Patricia Martin due to her hobbies and often deals with Kagami pestering her for not working hard enough on her studies. She lives with her widowed father (an otaku who often buys adult games for himself and Konata), as well as her younger cousin Yutaka Kobayakawa, who goes to her school (although she is even shorter than Konata). She has a comedic friendship with Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki, although at widely varying degrees. Kagami Hiiragi (柊かがみ, Hiiragi Kagami?) Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (drama CD), Emiri Kato (anime), Kari Wahlgren (English) Kagami is Tsukasa's older fraternal twin sister and is occasionally referred to as "Kagamin". In school, her grades are excellent because she studies very hard. She was even the class president in her first year. She is in a different class than Konata and Tsukasa, but she frequently comes to their class during lunch time to eat with them. Kagami is often shown wishing she could be in the same class as everyone else. Kagami chose the humanities course in her second year so that she could be with her friends, but she was separated into a different classroom; the same thing happened in her third year. Kagami is also a bit egotistical, and is somewhat weak in cooking. Kagami is a stereotypical tsukkomi character, however, she is prone to becoming shy and emotional at times, making her appear as a tsundere character as well. Much like Konata, Kagami likes video games, but plays a different genre than Konata; Kagami likes to play shoot 'em up games. She loves to read light novels, but she feels lonely because no one around her shares this interest. Tsukasa Hiiragi Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (drama CD), Kaori Fukuhara (anime), Michelle Ruff (English) Tsukasa is the younger fraternal twin sister of Kagami and lives in a six-member family household with her parents. She is in the same class as Konata. While she is not good at studying or sports, she excels in cooking. She is portrayed as the stereotypical friendly, good-natured but clumsy person. She is often portrayed as an airhead who is unreliable and is always compared to her twin sister, who generally does better than her in most areas. It is often implied that Tsukasa is unable to follow the gist of complex conversations. Tsukasa will often ask her older sister for help on her homework, though it usually does not make much of a difference. She is also known for having her hair in the same style as Akari Kamigishi from To Heart, something hinted at frequently in the series. Miyuki Takara Voiced by: Erina Nakayama (drama CD), Aya Endo (anime), Karen Strassman (English) Miyuki is a young lady from a wealthy family who is beautiful, smart, and well-mannered. She always uses extremely polite Japanese, even when talking with her closest friends. She was the class president for her grade level in her first year, at the same time that she became good friends with Kagami. Now Miyuki is in the same class as Konata and Tsukasa, and is nicknamed "Yuki-chan" by Tsukasa. Miyuki's classmates often rely on her for help with their studies, and she is often shown giving impromptu but highly-detailed, encyclopedic definitions or explanations on diverse and obscure matters. She is described as a stereotypically friendly meganekko, or glasses-wearing girl. She is scared of contacts, and of putting them in her eyes, thus why she wears glasses. Her vision is less than 20/200, though it had been good until elementary school, when she began reading books in the dark after her mother dozed off while reading to her in bed. She likes to read books, but does not read light novels. Miyuki loves to sleep, and she always goes to bed fairly early. She hates visits to the dentist, but frequently has to go to fix a loose crown or because of tooth decay. On the rare occasion that she plays video games, her personality changes. Due to her embodying such a large number of moe archetypes—as Konata said it—Miyuki is the frequent-victim of Konata's playful bouts of verbal sexual-harassment. The four-panel comic strip manga version of Lucky Star started serialization in the Japanese magazine Comptiq on January 2004 and is still currently running. There are currently five bound volumes of the manga, published by Kadokawa Shoten. Volume one was released on January 8, 2005, volume two on August 10, 2005, volume three on July 10, 2006, volume four on April 10, 2007, and volume five on September 10, 2007. Besides Comptiq, the manga was also featured in other Kadokawa publishings including Shōnen Ace, Newtype, CompAce, Dragon Magazine, Mobile Newtype and Kadokawa Hotline for various lengths of time. The manga has been licensed by Bandai Entertainment for release in English in North America.[6] Lucky Star also has a manga called Lucky Star Pocket Travelers which has the four main characters waking up one morning to discover they have shrunken to doll size. A video game, entitled Lucky Star Moe Drill (らき☆すた萌えドリル, Raki☆Suta Moe Doriru?), was released on December 1, 2005 on the Nintendo DS. A limited edition game with many extras was sold called the "DX Pack" along with the regular version. A sequel, with the title of Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill: Tabidachi (真・らき☆すた萌えドリル~旅立ち~, Shin Raki☆Suta Moe Doriru ~Tabidachi~?) was released on May 24, 2007. The first game tests the player on various subjects and memorizations. The player's main objective is beating other characters in quizzes. There is also a "Drama Mode" where the game plays like a mini-adventure game as you make your way to Akihabara. Math quizzes and mini games (about five in all) pop up as you play along. There are two different types of one-person games: "Hitasura Drill" and "Drama Mode". The player can also link the game with another person. When this occurs, the player can use the character that is built up in Drama Mode as a choosable character. Additionally, if the player wants to use a special battle skill against his or her opponent while in link mode, the player must shout out the name of the skill into the microphone. In Drama Mode, the player partners with one of the characters, and tries to increase her parameters and have her learn new battle skills. There are five different types of "drills". One of the quizzes called "Ondoku" requires the player to shout out the answer into the microphone. Several mascot characters of large anime and dōjin shops (like Broccoli's Di Gi Charat, Animate's Anime Tencho and Toranoana's Miko-chan) make cameo appearances.

Anime:
Fushigi Yuugi
Anime:
Fushigi Yuugi

The anime world today

noreply@blogger.com (Virgilio Vallecera) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Anime listen in Japanese, but typically pronounced in English is animation in Japan and considered Japanese animation in the rest of the world. Anime dates from about 1917.

Anime is widely viewed in Japan and is now widely viewed throughout the world. Anime itself is considered a form of limited animation. Anime can be broadcasted either through television or released directly to video, which are often called OVAs or OAV (Original Animation Video).

Anime can be hand drawn or computer assisted. It is used in television series, films, video, video games, commericals, and internet-based releases, and represents all genres of fiction.

History

The history of anime begins at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with the animation techniques that were being explored in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. The oldest known anime in existence was screened in 1917; it was a two minute clip of a samurai trying to test a new sword on his target, only to suffer defeat.

By the 1930s, animation became an alternative format of storytelling compared to the underdeveloped live-action industry in Japan. Unlike America, the live-action industry in Japan remained a small market and suffered from budgeting, location, and casting restrictions. The lack of Western-looking actors, for example, made it next to impossible to shoot films set in Europe, America, or fantasy worlds that do not naturally involve Japan. Animation allowed artists to create any characters and settings.

The success of Disney's 1937 feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs influenced Japanese animators. Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation techniques to reduce the costs and number of frames in the production. This was intended to be a temporary measure to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with an inexperienced animation staff.

During the 1970s, there was a surge of growth in the popularity of manga—which were often later animated—especially those of Osamu Tezuka, who has been called a "legend and the "god of manga". His work and that of other pioneers in the field, inspired characteristics and genres that are fundamental elements of anime today. The giant robot genre (known as "Mecha" outside Japan), for instance, took shape under Tezuka, developed into the Super Robot genre under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino who developed the Real Robot genre. Robot anime like the Gundam and Macross series became instant classics in the 1980s, and the robot genre of anime is still one of the most common in Japan and worldwide today. In the 1980s, anime became more accepted in the mainstream in Japan (although less than manga), and experienced a boom in production. Following a few successful adaptations of anime in overseas markets in the 1980s, anime gained increased acceptance in those markets in the 1990s and even more in the 2000s.

Terminology

In Japanese, the English term animation is written in katakana as (animēshon, pronounced [ɑnimeːɕoɴ]). The shortened term, anime emerged in the 1970s. Both the original and abbreviated forms are valid and interchangeable in Japanese, but the shorter form is more commonly used.

The pronunciation of anime in Japanese, ɑnime, differs significantly from the Standard English IPA: /ˈænɪmeɪ/ which have different vowels and stress. (In Japanese each mora carries equal stress.) As with a few other Japanese words such as saké, Pokémon, and Kobo Abé, anime is sometimes spelled animé in English (as in French), with an acute accent over the final e, to cue the reader that the letter is pronounced, not silent as would be expected in English. However, this accent does not appear in any commonly used system of romanized Japanese and is not in frequent enough use to be recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Word usage

In Japan, the term does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style; instead, it is used as a blanket term to refer to all forms of animation from around the world.[12][13] In English, dictionary sources define anime as "a Japanese style of motion-picture animation" or "a style of animation developed in Japan". Non-Japanese works that borrow stylization from anime is commonly referred to as "anime-influenced animation" but it is not unusual for a viewer who does not know the country of origin of such material to refer to it as simply "anime". Some works are co-productions with non-Japanese companies, such as the Cartoon Network and Production I.G series IGPX or Ōban Star-Racers, which may or may not be considered anime by different viewers.

In English, anime can be used as a common noun ("Do you watch anime?") or as a suppletive adjective ("The anime Guyver is different from the movie Guyver"). It may also be used as a mass noun, as in "How much anime have you collected?" and therefore is not pluralized as animes.

Synonyms

Anime is occasionally referred to as Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse.[15] Japanimation saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, but was supplanted by anime in the mid-1990s as the material became more widely known in English-speaking countries.[16] In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts.[16] Although the term was coined outside Japan to refer to animation imported from Japan, it is now used primarily in Japan, to refer to domestic animation; since anime does not identify the country of origin in Japanese usage, Japanimation is used to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world.

In Japan, manga can additionally refer to both animation and comics (although the use of manga to refer to animation is mostly restricted to non-fans).[citation needed] Among English speakers, manga usually has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics".[citation needed] An alternate explanation is that it is due to the prominence of Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime to the US and UK markets. Because Manga Entertainment originated in the UK the use of the term is common outside of Japan.[citation needed] The term "animanga" has been used to collectively refer to anime and manga, though it is also a term used to describe comics produced from animation cels.

Anime is commonly referred as an art form. As a visual medium, it naturally places a large emphasis towards visual styles. The styles can vary from artist to artist or by studio to studio. Some titles make extensive use of common stylization: FLCL, for example, is known for its wild, exaggerated stylization. In contrast, titles such as Only Yesterday or Jin-Roh take much more realistic approaches, featuring few stylistic exaggerations.

While different titles and different artists have their own artistic styles, many stylistic elements have become so common such that they are described as being definitive of anime in general. However, this does not mean that all modern anime share one strict, common art style. Many anime have a very different art style from what would commonly be called "anime style", yet fans still use the word "anime" to refer to these titles. Generally, the most common form of anime drawings are "exaggerated physical features such as large eyes, big hair and elongated limbs... and dramatically shaped speech bubbles, speed lines and onomatopoeic, exclamatory typography.

The influences of Japanese calligraphy and Japanese painting also characterize linear qualities of the anime style. The round Ink brush traditionally used for writing Kanji and for painting produces a stroke of widely varying thickness.

Visual characteristics

Anime also tends to borrow many elements from manga including text in the background, and borrowing panel layouts from the manga as well. For example, an opening may employ manga panels to tell the story, or to dramatize a point for humorous effect. This is best demo

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