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Say, Allen

(Encyclopedia)Say, Allen, 1937–, Japanese-American writer and illustrator of children's books, b. Yokohama, Japan, as James Allen Koichi Moriwaki Seii. After an apprentceship with a well-known cartoonist, the bas...

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke

(Encyclopedia)Akutagawa, Ryunosuke chōkōˈdō sho͞oˈjĭn [key], 1892–1927, Japanese author. One of Japan's finest short-story writers, he derived many of his tales from historical Japanese sources, but told t...

dwarf tree

(Encyclopedia)dwarf tree, in horticultural practice, a tree artificially kept to a smaller size than is normal for average members of the species. This is usually accomplished either by limiting its root space and ...

Murasaki Shikibu

(Encyclopedia)Murasaki Shikibu mo͞oˌräsäˈkē shēˌkēbo͞oˈ [key], c.978–1031?, Japanese novelist, court figure at the height of the Heian period (794–1185). Known also as Lady Murasaki, she is celebrate...

Fujiwara Teika

(Encyclopedia)Fujiwara Teika fo͞oˈjēˈwäˈrä tāˈkä [key], 1162–1241, Japanese poet and literary theorist of the early medieval period. Son of the poet Shunzei, Teika ranks among the greatest of Japanese p...

Murakami, Haruki

(Encyclopedia)Murakami, Haruki häro͞oˈkē mo͝orˌäkäˈmē [key], 1949–, Japanese novelist. He lived in Europe and the United States from 1986 to 1995. Widely considered one of Japan's most important contemp...

Meiji restoration

(Encyclopedia)Meiji restoration, The term refers to both the events of 1868 that led to the “restoration” of power to the emperor and the entire period of revolutionary changes that coincided with the Meiji emp...

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro

(Encyclopedia)Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro dīˈsĕts tātäˈrō so͞ozo͞oˈkē [key], 1870–1966, Japanese Buddhist scholar, educated at Tokyo Univ. After studying (1897–1909) in the United States, he became a lec...

Sesshu

(Encyclopedia)Sesshu sĕsˈsho͞oˌ [key], 1420–1506, foremost Japanese master of ink painting (suiboku) and Zen Buddhist priest, also known as Sesshu Toyo. He may have studied under Shubun in Kyoto. He made a tr...

devaluation

(Encyclopedia)devaluation, decreasing the value of one nation's currency relative to gold or the currencies of other nations. It is usually undertaken as a means of correcting a deficit in the balance of payments. ...