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Hayashi, Fumiko

(Encyclopedia)Hayashi, Fumiko fo͞oˈmēˈkō häˈyäˈshē [key], 1903–51, Japanese novelist and short-story writer. The daughter of an itinerant peddlar, Hayashi was raised in abject poverty. After finishing s...

Kukai

(Encyclopedia)Kukai or Kobo-Daishi ko͞oˈkī, kōˈbō-dīˈshē [key], 774–835, Japanese priest, scholar, and artist, founder of the Shingon or “True Word” sect of Buddhism. Of aristocratic birth, he studie...

Liancourt Rocks

(Encyclopedia)Liancourt Rocks, Jap. Takeshima, Korean Dokdo or Tokdo, island group, 58 acres (23 hectares), in the SW Sea of Japan, roughly midway between the Japanese island of Honshu and the Korean peninsula. Con...

Pu Yi

(Encyclopedia)Pu Yi po͞o yē [key] or Henry Pu-yi, Manchu Aisin Gioro, 1906–67, last emperor (1908–12) of China, under the reign name Hsuan T'ung. After his abdication, the new republican government granted hi...

salamander

(Encyclopedia)salamander, an amphibian of the order Urodela, or Caudata. Salamanders have tails and small, weak limbs; superficially they resemble the unrelated lizards (which are reptiles), but they are easily dis...

pear

(Encyclopedia)pear, name for a fruit tree of the genus Pyrus of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for its fruit, a pome. The common pear (P. communis) is one of the earliest cultivated of fruit trees, both in i...

Hosokawa, Morihiro

(Encyclopedia)Hosokawa, Morihiro mōˌrēhēˈrō hōˌsōkäˈwä [key], 1938–, Japanese politician, a member of a noble family and grandson of Fumimaro Konoye. A journalist and member of the Liberal Democratic ...

Miyazawa, Kiichi

(Encyclopedia)Miyazawa, Kiichi kē-ēˈchē mēˌäzäˈwä [key], 1919–2007, Japanese politician, b. Fukuyama. A member of an eminent political family, he graduated from Tokyo Univ. and served in the finance min...

Zen Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Zen Buddhism, Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its centra...

redstart

(Encyclopedia)redstart, common name for an Old World thrush of the genus Phoenicurus, family Turdidae. A small, slender-legged songbird, it is found in woodlands, parks, and heaths. The European redstart, P. phoeni...