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Midway

(Encyclopedia)Midway, island group (2 sq mi/5.2 sq km), central Pacific, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) NW of Honolulu, comprising Sand and Eastern islands with the surrounding atoll. Discovered by Americans in 1859, Midway...

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...

Hamilton, Sir Ian Standish Monteith

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Sir Ian Standish Monteith ēˈən, mŏn-tēthˈ [key], 1853–1947, British general. He served in many campaigns in Asia and Africa, distinguishing himself in the South African War (1899–1...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Takada, Kenzo

(Encyclopedia)Takada, Kenzo, 1939–2020, Japanese fashion designer, the first Japanese designer to win international acclaim. In 1965 he moved to Paris, where he sold sketches to French fashion houses. Five years ...

Burma Road

(Encyclopedia)Burma Road, in China and Myanmar, extending from the railhead of Lashio, Myanmar, to Kunming, Yunnan prov., China. About 700 mi (1,130 km) long and constructed through rough mountain country, it was a...

China Incident

(Encyclopedia)China Incident: see Sino-Japanese War, Second. ...