cahya/wikipedia-simple-en huggingface dataset:
Sumgait pogrom

The Sumgait pogrom was a pogrom by the local Azerbaijanis that targeted the Armenian population living in the Azerbaijani seaside town of Sumgait on February 1988. An estimated 30 were killed. But most say 200.

Related pages
Anti-Armenianism
Kirovabad pogrom
Khojaly Massacre
Maraghar Massacre
Nagorno-Karabakh War

Other websites 
Sumqait.com  , 
Aslan İsmayılov. Sumqayıt — SSRİ-nin süqutunun başlanğıcı. Bakı: Çaşıoğlu. 2010. 204 səhifə.  
Aslan Ismayilov. Sumgayit — Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR. Baku: Çaşıoğlu. 2010. 
Аслан Исмаилов. Сумгаит — начало распада СССР. Баку: Чашыоглу. 2010. 220 стр.  
Уголовное Дело № 18/55461-88. Сумгаит. 1989. (I) 
Уголовное Дело № 18/55461-88. Сумгаит. 1989. (II) 
Həsənova Rəna, Cəfərova Nazxanım. Sumqayıt danışan tariximizdir. Sumqayıt şəhərinin 60 illik yubileyinə həsr olunmuş Biblioqrafik göstərici. Sumqayıt-2009.  
sumgayit1988.com
Vladimir Kryuchkov. Hardline Soviet Communist who became head of the KGB and led a failed plot to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev
Incomplete list of victims of the massacre

1988
1980s riots
20th century in Armenia
20th century in Azerbaijan
710



Events 
End of the Asuka period, the second and last part of the Yamato period and beginning of the Nara period in Japan; Heijō-kyō (Nara) becomes the capital of Japan.
April 5 — During the Cold Food Festival, Chinese Emperor Zhongzong of Tang had his chief ministers of court, sons-in-law, and high-ranking military officers engage in the festive game of tug of war within a palace of Chang'an City. The Emperor purportedly laughed when two older ministers fell over during the game.
Founding of the Muslim Kingdom of Nekor in Morocco.
Muslim army invited into Ceuta by its governor, Count Julian, who, being an opponent of Roderick, encourages them to invade the Iberian peninsula.
Roderick deposes Achila to become king of the Visigoths.
The first (wooden) Al-Aqsa Mosque is finished.

Deaths 
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, Japanese poet
Saint Adalbert of Egmond
Emperor Zhongzong of Tang China (assassinated, b. 656)
Shangguan Wan'er, female Chinese poet and official of the Tang Dynasty (born 664)
784



Events 
 The Japanese capital moved away from Nara. End of the Nara period.
 The Chinese engineer and prince Li Gao invents a successful model of a paddle-wheel ship.
 August 31—Paul IV abdicates as Patriarch of Constantinople
 December 25—Tarasius elected Patriarch of Constantinople
842



Events 
 February 14 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German sign a treaty.
 Oaths of Strasbourg — alliance of Louis the German and Charles the Bald against emperor Lothar — sworn and recorded in vernacular languages.
 Ramiro I succeeds Alfonso II as king of Asturias.
 Uurad is succeeded by Bred, then Ciniod.
 Charles the Bald marries Ermentrude.
 Three year old Michael III succeeds Theophilus (emperor) as emperor of Byzantium.
 End of the reign of caliph Moqtasim.
 Uyghurs leave the Mongolian plateau.

Deaths 
 January 5 — Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 794)
 Emperor Saga of Japan (b. 786)
 Alfonso II of Asturias (b. 759)
 Theophilus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 813)
 Liu Yuxi, Chinese poet, philosopher, and essayist (born 772)
825

825 (DCCCXXV) was .

Events 
Egbert of Wessex defeats Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellandun. Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex submit to Wessex and East Anglia acknowledges Egbert as overlord.
Emperor Louis the Pious of the Franks wars against the Wends and Sorbs.

Births 
Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 875)

Deaths
880



Events 
 Oldest known mention of the city of Dortmund
 Pope John VIII issued the Bill "Industriae Tuae", creating an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Saint Methodius as its head. The Old Church Slavonic was recognized as the fourth liturgical language, besides Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
Bishopric established in Nitro.

Births
 Fujiwara no Tadahira, Japanese regent
 Louis the Blind, King of Provence (r. 887 – 900), King of Italy (r. 900 – 901), and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 901 – 905)

Deaths
Carloman, King of Bavaria
Emperor Seiwa of Japan
Momijigari

is the Japanese tradition of visiting areas where leaves have turned red in the autumn. The word comes from the two Japanese words  meaning "red leaves" or "maple tree" and , "hunting".  It is also called . "Kōyō" is another pronunciation of the characters for "momiji". In Hokkaidō another word for it is .

Many people in Japan do this. The cities of Nikkō, Tochigi and Kyoto are very popular. The tradition started in the Heian era.

Related pages
 Hanami

References

Other websites
"Momijigari" , Japanese events calendar

Japanese culture
Calm

Calm is an adjective meaning peaceful, quiet; particularly used of the weather, free from wind or storm, or of the sea, opposed to rough. The word appears in French calme, through which it came into English, in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian calma. 

Weather
Himeji Castle

is a Japanese castle which is in Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture. It includes 83 buildings made of wood. It is sometimes known as Hakurojō or Shirasagijō ("White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior.

It is a Japanese National Cultural Treasure.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, it is one of Japan's "Three Famous Castles", and is the most visited castle in Japan.

Several movies have been filmed at the castle, like Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha and Ran; The Last Samurai  starring Tom Cruise; and the Shogun 1980 TV-miniseries/movie starring Richard Chamberlain.

In 2009, Himeiji Castle was recognized as one of the 100 Landscapes of Japan which best show contemporary Japan and its culture in the Heisei period.

Related pages 
 List of World Heritage Sites in Japan

References

Other websites 

 Himeji Castle Guide 
 Himeji castle website  (requires Macromedia Flash plugin)
 Official UNESCO page for Himeji castle
 Himeji Tourist Information・Worlds Cultural Heritege Himeji castle 
 Himeji Castle - LOCATION VIEW Himeji Edition (Tourist Guide with 360 degree movie map)

Castles in Japan
World Heritage Sites in Japan
Japanese culture
Hyōgo Prefecture
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty (Chinese: 唐朝; Pinyin: Táng Cháo) (18 June 618 – 4 June 907) was an imperial dynasty of China. It came after the Sui Dynasty and was followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li (李) family, who came to power during the fall of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted for a short time by the Zhou Dynasty (周) (16 October 690 – 3 March 705) founded by Empress Wu Zetian who managed to claim the throne, becoming the first and only Chinese Empress.

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (today Xi'an), was the biggest city in the world at the time. It is considered by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization—maybe even greater than the earlier Han Dynasty—as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.

Empress Wu, the first woman to ever rule in China, was also included in the Tang Dynasty. Her methods were sometimes vicious, but she was very intelligent and talented.

Other websites 
 The Tang Dynasty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
 Home of 300 Tang Poems, University of Virginia
 The Tang Dynasty  at AsianSpiritGallery

References 

Chinese dynasties
7th-century establishments in Asia
10th-century disestablishments in Asia
618 establishments
907 disestablishments
Divination

Divination (Greek μαντεια, from μαντις "seer") is an attempt to get information through omens or supernatural things. The verb form is to divine, but this should not be confused with the adjective divine. Divining the outcome of things has been done by many different methods, such as the ones listed below.

Divination is different from fortune-telling. Divination is more ritual, usually religious. Fortune-telling is more for personal things.

Types of divination 

 Astrology (by celestial bodies)
 Ailuromancy (by the behaviour of felines)
 Augury (by the flight of birds)
 Aura-Soma, based on colors
 Bibliomancy (by book, frequently but not always a religious text)
 Cartomancy (by cards, e.g., playing cards, tarot cards, and non-tarot oracle cards; see also Taromancy)
 Cheiromancy (by palms; see Palmistry)
 Chronomancy (by time; lucky/unlucky days)
 Coscinomancy (by a sieve)
 Crystallomancy (by crystals or other reflecting objects; see also Scrying)
 Extispicy (from the entrails of sacrificed animals)
 Geomancy (by earth), includes Feng Shui divination
 Graphology (by handwriting)
 I Ching divination (ancient Chinese divination using I Ching): (But using an I Ching manual can make it also a form of Bibliomancy/Stichomancy)
 Heruspicy (by the organs of sacrificed animals)
 Necromancy (by trying to ask the dead)
 Numerology (by numbers)
 Oneiromancy/Incubatio (by dreams)
 Onomancy (by names)
 Ouija board divination
 Palmistry (by palm inspection)
 Phrenology (by the shape of one's head)
 Pyromancy, or pyroscopy (by fire)
 Rhabdomancy divination by rods
 Scrying ("seeing" in a crystal ball, a mirror, or water)
 Runecasting / Runic divination (by runes)
 Sternomancy (by markings or bumps on the chest)
 Taromancy (by specially designed cards: Tarot; see also Cartomancy)

Related pages 
Oracle

Other websites 

Apple Divination
Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web , resources on Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian divination
W. R. Halliday, Greek Divination  (1913), a complete scanned edition of the most recent general treatment of Greek divination
1913 Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination
Divination Methods 
 Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination
Theory of Divination by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities
The Sator Formula engraved on a human skull

Occult
Emperor Saga

was the 52nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.  Saga's reign started in 809 and ended in 823.

Traditional history
Before he became the monarch, this prince's personal name (imina) was .  He was the son of Emperor Kammu, and he was the younger brother of Emperor Heizei by the same mother.

He had nine Empresses and consorts; and 47 Imperial sons and daughters.

Saga was known as a good writer.  He sponsored the first imperial poetry competitions (naien).  According to legend, he was the first Japanese emperor to drink tea.

Events of Saga's life
Before he became the monarch, he was Crown Prince for three years.

 17 June 809 (Daidō 4, 1st day of the 4th month): In the 4th year of Emperor Heizei's reign, he was very sick and he abdicated. The succession (senso) was received by his younger brother  Then the new emperor is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).  This was confirmed in ceremonies.
 24 August 842 (Jōwa 9, 15th day of the 7th month): Saga died at the age of 57.

After his death
According to the Imperial Household Agency, the mausoleum  (misasagi) of Heizei is near Daikaku-ji in Ukyō-ku, Kyoto.  The emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine at this location.

Eras of reign
The years of Kammu's reign are identified by more than one era name (nengō).
 Daidō             (806-810)
 Kōnin (810-824)

Legacy
In ancient Japan, there were four noble clans, the Gempeitōkitsu (源平藤橘).  One of these clans, the Minamoto clan are also known as Genji (源氏). The Saga Genji (嵯峨源氏) are said to be descended from Emperor Saga.

Related pages
 Emperor of Japan
 List of emperors of Japan
 Japanese imperial family tree
 Emperor Go-Saga

References

Other websites 

 Gate at Saga's mausoleum

Emperors of Japan
785 births
842 deaths
Murder of Kriss Donald

Kriss Donald (2 July 1988 – 15 March 2004) was a Scottish boy who was kidnapped, tortured and stabbed to death by five Pakistani Muslims because he was white. The murderers were later convicted of his murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

References 

2004 in the United Kingdom
2000s in Scotland
British murder victims
Kidnapped British people
Murder in 2004
Murder in Scotland
Murders by blade weapons
People murdered in the United Kingdom
Racially-motivated violence
Imperial Court in Kyoto

Imperial Court in Kyoto was the government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji Era, in which the court was moved to Tokyo. It was moved by Empress Gemma.
Since Minamoto no Yoritomo started the shogunate, the true power had been in the hand of the Shoguns, who were mistaken several times for the Emperors of Japan by the Chinese government.

History of Japan
Buildings and structures in Kyoto Prefecture
Kyoto
8th-century establishments in Japan
1860s disestablishments in Japan
794 establishments
Uhorilka

Úhořilka is a small village in the Havlíčkův Brod District, Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. 51 people live in Úhořilka. It covers 2,52 km². It was first documented in 1454.

Villages in the Czech Republic
Ukiyo-e

, "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints. They were produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries and showed landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and brothels. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan.

Ukiyo-e were cheap because they could be mass-produced. They were meant for mainly townsmen, who were generally not rich enough to pay an original painting. The original subject of ukiyo-e was city life, in particular activities and scenes from the entertainment district.  Beautiful courtesans, big Sumo wrestlers and popular actors would be portrayed while doing interesting activities. Later on landscapes also became popular. To this day, Ukiyo-e is still very popular across the world.

A novelist of the time period, Asai Ryōi, in his , gives an insight into the idea of the floating world:

"Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; ... refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world".

References

Other websites 

 A Guide to the Ukiyo-e Sites of the Internet
  Kuniyoshi Project
 Gallery with a lot of info
 Overviews of the Printmaking Process detailed description of the stages of printmaking with many illustrations

Japanese culture
Printmaking
Art movements
Hiroshige

, also called Hiroshige,  was a Japanese artist. He was a master of the ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting.

List of print series

 Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Tōto Meisho jukkei), 1831
 36 Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji Sanjū-Rokkei), 1832
 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Gojūsantsugi), 1832-1834 
 Famous Scenes of Our Country (Honcho meisho), 1832-1837
 Famous Scenes of Kyoto (Kyōto meisho), 1834-1835 
 Famous Scenes of Osaka (Ōsaka meisho), 1834-1835 
 Eight Views of Omi (Ōmi hakkei), 1834-1835
 69 Stations of the Kisokaidō (Kisokaidō Rokujūkyūtsugi no uchi), 1835-1842
 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, Kyōka version (Kyōka Tōkaidō), 1839-1840
 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, Gyōsho version (Gyōsho Tōkaidō), 1841-1842
 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, Reisho version (Reisho Tōkaidō), 1848-1852
 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, Jinbutsu version (Jinbutsu Tōkaidō, 1848-1852).
 Famous Scenes of Edo (Edo meisho, 1853).
 Famous Scenes of the 60 Provincess (Rokujū yoshū meisho zue), 1853-1858
 Famous Scenes of the 53 estaciones (Gojūsantsugi meisho zue, 1855).
 100 Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei), 1856-1858
 36 Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji Sanjū-Rokkei), 1858-1859

Gallery
Ukiyo-e from Kachō-ga : Pictures of Flowers and Birds:

Some Ukiyo-e from 53 Statuibs if the Tōkaidō

Some Ukiyo-e from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

References

Other websites 

 images and descriptions of works by Hiroshige and his contemporaries 
 Hiroshige
 Ando Hiroshige – Free source of information and pictures
 Hiroshige at WebMuseum Paris
 Christian Science Monitor article
 Profile of Hiroshige 
 Brooklyn Museum: Exhibitions: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
 Utagawa Hiroshige at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut 

Japanese printmakers
1797 births
1858 deaths
People from Tokyo
Forecasting

Forecasting is studying and saying what is likely to happen in the future. It is similar to predicting, but usually forecasting is done with scientific methods. Forecasting can be done for many different things, like weather forecasting (predicting the weather) or economy forecasting.  Science cannot know the future for sure, so forecasters try to identify the most probable events, and sometimes they are wrong.

Words
Japan Meteorological Agency

The  or JMA, is the  Japanese government's weather service. It has the duty of getting the information on the weather and making the weather forecasts in Japan. It also must observe and warn about earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.  

The central office of the agency is in Tokyo, and it has six smaller offices at other regions of Japan.

Other websites 
 Official website

Japan
Ariwara no Narihira

Ariwara no Narihira (, 825 - 9 July 880) was a Japanese poet and noble. He was the fifth son of Prince Abo, a son of Emperor Heizei. His mother Princess Ito was a daughter of Emperor Kammu, so he was family to Emperor Kammu by both his mother and father. Along with his other brothers, he was forced to have a civilian life and did not live in the Imperial Court, getting a new clan name, Ariwara.

References 

825 births
880 deaths
Japanese poets
Yoshino, Nara

Yoshino (吉野町; -cho) is a town in Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture, Japan.

As of 2003, the town had an about 10,550 people living there and a density of 110.61 people per km². The total area was 95.65 km². 

Mt. Yoshino is famous for its 500,000 sakura trees.  They are planted in three gardens at different altitude so that they bloom at different times of the spring.

Related pages
Emperor Go-Daigo

Other websites
 Yoshino town Official Site (in Japanese)

Towns in Japan
Settlements in Nara Prefecture
Daigo, Ibaraki

Daigo (大子町; -machi) is a town that is in the Kuji District, Ibaraki, Japan.

In 2003, about 22,813 people lived there, 70.03 people per km². The total area is .

Other websites
Official website 

Towns in Japan
Settlements in Ibaraki Prefecture
Ueno Park

is a big public park in the Ueno section of Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It is in the site of an old Kan'eiji, a temple very related with the Tokugawa shoguns, who had built the temple to guard Edo Castle against the northeast. The temple was destroyed during the Boshin War.

Ueno Park was created through an imperial land grant to the city of Tokyo by Emperor Taishō in 1924. The official name of the park is , which can be translated as "Ueno Imperial Gift Park".

A famous statue of Saigō Takamori walking his dog is in this park.

Geography of Japan
Tokyo
Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa (about 1280 – about 1337) was an emperor (manse) of the Mali Empire during the 14th century. He became emperor in 1312. He was the first African ruler to be famous in all of Europe and the Middle East.  Historians say he was the richest person to have ever lived.  Today, his wealth would be worth about US$400 billion.

Mansa Musa was the great nephew of Sundiata Keita, who started the Mali Empire. He is famous for his Hajj (1324–5). His caravan may have had 60,000 people carrying supplies and bags, 500 slaves each carrying a gold staff, and 80 to 100 camels each carrying 300 pounds of gold dust. On his journey, he is said to have given out millions of dollars worth of gold. He gave out so much gold in Cairo that the price of gold went down and stayed low for many years. Mansa Musa stopped in many places on his way to Mecca for his Hajj. These placed include Timbuktu and Gao. He stopped every Friday at a destination and left enough gold for a mosque to be built.

Mansa Musa made Timbuktu a center of trade, culture and of Islam, which also helped increase the spread of Islam throughout Western Africa. 

Mansa Musa also helped to spread Islam. He was a devoted Muslim, and built many schools based on the teachings of the Qur'an. He sent students to Islamic universities in northern Africa.

After his Hajj, European cartographers began to draw Mansa Musa on maps. As the empire of Mali fell apart, Mansa Musa's reputation did as well; he was no longer drawn as a noble king on maps.  Instead, artists drew him to look uncivilized. He was drawn as a parody of European royalty and a normal person with a crown.

Mansa Musa was married to Inari Kunate.

References 
 "Mansa Musa." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
 MacDonald, Kevin C. "Mansa Musa." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013. Web.  4 Dec. 2013.
 Kane, Ousmane. "Musa, Sultan of Mali." Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Ed. Richard C. Martin. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004.Biography in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.

Other websites 

 History Channel: Mansa Moussa: Pilgrimage of Gold
 Al-Umari's description of Mansa Musa's 1324 visit to Cairo 
 Sondiata and Mansa Musa on the Web  web directory
 African Legends page
 African Events Mansa Musa page 
 Mansa Musa , from Black History Pages

1280 births
1337 deaths
Kings and queens
Malian people
History of Africa
Macon, Georgia

Macon is a city in central Georgia, USA. It is among the largest metropolitan areas in Georgia, and the county seat of Bibb County. It is near the center of Georgia, more or less 75 miles (129 km) south of Atlanta, that's why the city's called the Heart of Georgia. As of the 2000 census, Macon had a population of 97,255. Macon is the sixth-largest city by population of the state.

Other websites 
 Official City Government Website
 Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce
 Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau
 Macon  (the New Georgia Encyclopedia)

 
County seats in Georgia
The Tale of Genji

is a classic work of Japanese literature.

It is believed to have been written by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu at the beginning of the 11th century, around the highest point of the Heian Period. The form of the language used at that time is called Late Old Japanese. The Tale of Genji is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, or the first novel to still be considered a classic, but many readers do not agree on this.

Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga first used the term Mono no aware in his review of the book.  This term in now important in understanding Japanese literature.

The first translation of part of Genji Monogatari into English was by Suematsu Kencho. It was notably translated by Japanese nun Jakucho Setouchi in 1998. Arthur Waley made a free translation of the work, except for one chapter.  Edward Seidensticker made the first complete translation into English, using a more literal way than Waley.  The most recent English translation, by Royall Tyler (2002), also tries to respect the original text.

Other websites 
 The Tale of Genji 1976 Seidensticker translation 
 Tale of the Genji woodcuts 
 Murasaki Shikibu: Genji monogatari (1987) An animated film based on The Tale of Genji.
 The Picture Scroll of The Tale of Genji Some scans of the Genji Monogatari Emaki (Tale of Genji Scroll).
 The Tale of Genji - La novela de Genji Site dedicated to The Tale of Genji .
 The Tale of Genji A photographic guide to The Tale of Genji.
 The Tale of Genji: Genealogical chart

References 

Japanese culture
Tokugawa Yoshimune

was a Japanese shogun of the Edo period.  His ruled started in 1716 and ended in 1745.<ref name="nussbaum979">Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA979&dq= "Tokugawa Yoshimune"] in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 979.</ref>

Early life
Yoshimune was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Shogun
Yoshimune was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Yoshimune's government worked to control the price of rice.  This earned him the nickname "Rice Shogun" or "Shogun of Rice" (kome-shōgun'').

References

1684 births
1751 deaths
Shoguns
People from Wakayama Prefecture
Toyotomi Hideyoshi

(February 2, 1536 or March 26, 1537–September 18, 1598) was a military leader of Japan. He was born in Owari (which is now called Nagoya city, Aichi prefecture). He grew up to become a daimyo. Hideyoshi came to power after his master, Oda Nobunaga, died. He built the Osaka Castle in Osaka. Then, Hideyoshi unified Japan. He became a regent for the Emperor. The time of Hideyoshi's rule is usually called the Momoyama period.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi made many changes in laws and culture. For example, he made a law that only the samurai could carry weapons.

Other websites 

 SengokuDaimyo.com The website of Samurai Author and Historian Anthony J. Bryant

Daimyo
1536 births
1598 deaths
People from Aichi Prefecture
Motojirō Kajii

was a Japanese author of the Shōwa period. He wrote several famous poetic short stories such as "The Lemon", "Winter Days", and "Under the Cherry Trees".

He died at a young age and wrote few works, but his stories have become influential in Japanese culture. For example, many high school students imitate the protagonist of his short story "Lemon", leaving a lemon in a department store. And his first line  is usually said by Japanese people about the cherry-blossoms-watching custom of hanami.

References

Other websites
 A complete list of stories by Kajii (with literal English and Romaji titles) at Griffe - World's Literature
 "An Inner Landscape" (tr. Tony Gonzalez)
 "Caress"  (tr. Ursula Owen)
 "The Feeling on the Bluff" text  and annotated Word format  (tr. Ursula Owen)
 "Lemon"  plus a comment  (tr. Candace Seu)

1901 births
1932 deaths
Japanese writers
People from Osaka
Dumpling

Dumplings may be any of a wide variety of dishes, both sweet and salty, in several different cuisines. They are either made from balls of dough or are small bits of food put into pastry, dough, batter, or leaves.they are mostly cooked in southern Africa in a pot covered by an airtight,strong plastic so that it gets to boil and observe the steam then the dough's size increases while boiling  They can be cooked in different methods, either by boiling or steaming.

References 

Foods
Hank Williams

Hank Williams, Sr. (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musicians. Williams is known as "the Father of Country and Western Music", because his songs were some of the first to come from that . As with many musical , Williams did not set out to create a new kind of music. He simply wanted to make music that his listeners would enjoy, that he would also enjoy making for them.

Some of Williams's songs are "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Hey Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya", and "Cold, Cold Heart". The songs were easy to remember, and many fans sang along when they heard them. Other singers began to include Hank Williams songs in their . Williams made recordings, performed on radio and early television, and also made live appearances.

Early life

Williams's parents, Elonzo Huble "Lon" Williams and Jessie Lillybelle "Lillie" Skipper married on November 12, 1916. Hank Williams was of English-American ancestry. Elonzo Williams worked as an engineer for the railroads of the W.T. Smith lumber company. He was drafted during World War I, serving from July 1918 until June 1919. He was severely injured after falling from a truck, breaking his collarbone and sustaining a severe hit to the head. After his return, the family's first child, Irene, was born on August 8, 1922. Another son of theirs died shortly after birth. Their third child, Hiram, was born on September 17, 1923, in Mount Olive. Since Elonzo Williams was a Mason, and his wife was a member of Order of the Eastern Star the child was named after Hiram I of Tyre (one of the three founders of the Masons, according to Masonic legend), but his name was misspelled as "Hiriam" on his birth certificate.
As a child, he was nicknamed "Harm" by his family and "Herky" or "Poots" by his friends.

Personal life
Williams was one of the first  to have problems with alcohol and drugs. Well-meaning fans and friends would buy Williams drinks, or invite him to parties, and he would lose control. He began to miss shows, and to give bad performances because of the effects of drugs and alcohol. He lost many of his best engagements, and his  suffered.

Death
Williams died at age 29 on January 1, 1953, after a  of alcohol drinking. He left behind a wife and son, Hank Williams Jr., who also grew up to become a country musician. Williams' songs are still popular, and sung by many musicians. Hank Jr. performed his father's music for many years, but later found success with songs of his own.

Discography

Singles
"Lost Highway"

Studio albums
Hank Williams Sings (1951)
Moanin' the Blues (1952)

References

Other websites

 Official website
 Official Hank Williams Fan Club
 Hank Williams' Boyhood Home & Museum
 at the Country Music Hall of Fame – 1961 Inductee
 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame &ndasg 1987 Inductee
 at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame – 1985 Inductee 
 PBS – American Masters
 Image of Hank Williams' death certificate
 Sites related to final day

1923 births
1953 deaths
Country musicians from Alabama
American guitarists
American singer-songwriters
Drug-related accidental deaths
Blues musicians
Gospel musicians
Singers from Alabama
Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty (, ) was an imperial dynasty of China between the years 581 and 618. It followed the "Jin period" and was followed by the Tang Dynasty. It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes.

The Sui Dynasty was founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian. Its capital was Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). The dynasty is important because it reunited Southern and Northern China and the Grand Canal was built in that time.

Related pages
History of China

Other websites

Sui Dynasty at mnsu.edu 

Chinese dynasties
581 establishments
Establishments in China
618 disestablishments
7th-century disestablishments in Asia
6th-century establishments in Asia
Disestablishments in China
Bento

is a meal that is common in Japanese cuisine, made to take away to be eaten somewhere else. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers for bento may be very different, from disposable mass produced to handcrafted lacquerware. While bento meals can be bought at many stores and  in all of Japan, it is still considered a very important skill for a Japanese housewife to be able to prepare a good boxed lunch.

Bento can be very elaborate, aesthetically pleasing cuisine arrangements. Often the food is arranged in such a way as to resemble other objects: dolls, flowers, leaves, and so forth. For some special occasions like hanami, more elaborate and bigger bentos are prepared. People often take bento for a picnic.

Types of bento
Bento are often sold in train stations. These are called ekiben (駅弁). Also,Bento are sold in airports. These are called Soraben (空弁).Kyaraben (キャラ弁), is a shortened form of the two words character and bento and is becoming more popular.

Ingredients 
Here are some foods that are often contained in bento:
 Tamagoyaki (Japanese style omelette)
 Karaage (deep-fried chicken)
 Onigiri (rice ball) 
 Takosan Viennese (sausage like octopus)
 Shogayaki (pork grilled ginger and soy sauce)
 Sandwich
 Fruit

Other websites

 Bento*弁当 An artistic Bento blog site (Japanese & English).
 Bento Corner An English language blog about creating bentos, especially bentos for children.
 O-Bento Net 
 Bento Business  A UK bento site with a gallery of bento shops and accessories in Japan, plus illustrated bento recipes.
 Cooking Cute: a bento site
 Science Channel's The Making Series: #33 Making of Convenience Store Bento (video in Japanese)
 My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch! FAQ An American site on making Bento.
 Instructables How-To How to make a bento, also gives some history on bentos.
 ekiben*駅弁 An explanation of ekiben.
  club of kyaraben*キャラ弁  A Japanese kyaraben site. 

Japanese food
Clown

A clown is a kind of entertainer, or performance artist, who performs physical comedy and stunts to amuse others. They usually wear grease paint makeup that hides their real face, a large wig with brightly-colored hair, and baggy, padded clothing.

Many clowns belong to a circus, while others freelance or have a talent agent who helps them find work. Some clowns study at a clown college or clown school, where they learn acrobatics, juggling and other physical skills, and ways to interact with an audience. Others learn from experienced clowns, or through study and practice.

Clowns in popular culture 

Clowns are sometimes mentioned in other forms of entertainment. Pagliacci is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, about clowns. This theme was borrowed by Smokey Robinson, when he wrote "The Tears of a Clown" working with Stevie Wonder. Red Skelton was a popular entertainer, who performed clown routines on television.

Ronald McDonald is a clown character who is the mascot of McDonald's restaurants. (Jeff Giuliano, who performed Ronald for many years on television, later became a vegetarian.)

In many different media, clowns are often villains due to the possibility of them being creepy. Examples are Pennywise from Stephen King's It and the Joker from the Batman universe.

Entertainment occupations
Comedy
Circuses
Dango

is a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko (rice flour). It is sticky and filling.  It is often served with green tea.

Dango are eaten throughout the year, but the different types are traditionally eaten in certain seasons. Three to four dango are often served on a skewer. One variety of dango from Hokkaidō is made from potato flour and baked with shoyu (soy sauce).

A common Japanese proverb  is related to the custom of cherry blossom viewing (hanami).

Types of dango

There are many different varieties of dango which are usually named after the various seasonings served on or with it.
Botchan dango: Dango that is three colors.  One is colored by red beans, the second by eggs, and the third by green tea.  Botchan dango are often seen in Japanese anime, and are a common dish during hanami.
Chichi dango: Slightly-sweet, usually eaten as a dessert.
Goma: sesame seeds. It is both sweet and salty.
Kinako: A toasted soy flour.
Kushi dango: Dangos held by a skewer
Mitarashi: A syrup made from shoyu (soy sauce), sugar and starch.  Popular with children and women.
Nori: dried and seasoned seaweed
Kibidango: made from millet, and are actually dumplings.

References

Other websites

Japanese food
Music stand

A music stand is something musicians can use to put sheet music on when they are performing.

There are several different sorts of music stand, but almost all of them can be adjusted in height so that they can be used by tall or short players, and by players whether they are sitting down or standing up.

The most popular type of music stand is the metal one that can be folded up so that it is easy to carry about.  Some music stands are made of wood.  These are sometimes very  and therefore quite expensive.  

Orchestras usually give their players very heavy metal music stands.  This is because the light, fold-up ones are easily knocked over.  It is also very difficult to write on music on a fold-up metal stand because there is nothing to press against (in rehearsals musicians often have to write fingering, bowing and other markings in the music).

There are also very small music stands that do not have legs and are designed to be put on a table.  These can be used for any kind of instrument that can be played sitting at a table.

There are also small ones that can be attached to the instrument itself.  These are used in marching bands. Thomas Jefferson, former president of the United States, invented a revolving music stand which he never patented because he wanted people to be able to use his invention for free.

There are also digital music stands.  When the violinist Tasmin Little played the LigetiViolin Concerto at a Prom in 2003 she used a special, computerized music stand that had been made for her.  There were no gaps in the music where she could have turned the pages of an ordinary music score.  Instead, the music was on a computer screen, and she moved to the next page by pressing a pedal with her foot.  There was also another pedal for turning back a page which was important to have when practising and for rehearsal.

References 

Music
Cumulative voting

Cumulative voting is a system for doing an election. There are a certain number of choices. This is a process sometimes known as proportional voting. Each voter has a certain number of points he or she can spread over the choices. That way it is possible to choose more than one option, and to weigh the choices. Usually, this applies when there is more than one position being elected at the same time.  For example, it can be used to elect more than one member of a governing board. In cumulative voting, if five positions are to be elected, a voter could cast one vote for each of five different candidates, or the voter could give all five of his votes to one candidate, or two votes to one candidate and three votes to a different candidate. Bullet voting is giving all of the votes to one candidate.

Cumulative voting is used to elect representatives in many companies. Cumulative voting allow shareholders to vote proportionately to the number of shares they hold. This allows a shareholder with 100 shares to cast the equivalent of 100 votes toward any single issue. 

It is also used to elect some governments. Switzerland and Germany use it for some elections. 

It will lead to a proportional representation.

References 

Voting
Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a system used to elect a country's government. The election gets works by taking the results of an election to decide how many seats each party has. Decisions are then made by the people who are elected.

Another way to do this is to take the first-past-the-post system in which constituencies vote in one member. The United Kingdom works this way.

In most western countries, there is more than one political party. Each elected representative will be a member of one or another party. If one party has an overall majority, then it forms the government. Otherwise the government must have members of more than one party.

Countries which use proportional representation include: Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Countries which have systems that are similar or use semi-proportional representation include: Australia, Germany, Hungary, India, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Thailand. 

Similar principles apply to sub-regions, who may have their own parliament or assembly. 

Politics
Voting systems

tr:Seçim#Nispi temsil sistemi
Smokey Robinson

William ("Smokey") Robinson (born February 19, 1940 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Most of his hit records were on Motown Records or one of its labels, and many of them were performed with The Miracles, his longtime band. 

Robinson is an African American. His mother died when he was young; his sister raised him afterwards. Robinson met Berry Gordy when Motown first became famous. He showed Gordy the lyrics to a song he had written. When Gordy asked if Smokey had any other songs, the young man pulled out a notebook with nearly a hundred of them. Few of the songs had potential, but Gordy liked what he saw in Robinson, and signed him and his band to Motown. Gordy helped Robinson become a better songwriter, and sometimes they wrote together. Some of Robinson's songs, like "My Girl" and "My Guy", were hits for other Motown artists.

Robinson's hits with the Miracles included "Goin' to a Go-Go", "You Really Got a Hold On Me", "Shop Around", "Ooh Baby Baby", "Mickey's Monkey", and "Baby, Baby Don't Cry". Stevie Wonder gave Robinson an unfinished song he'd begun in the studio, to see if he could add lyrics and a tune. The song reminded Robinson of circus music, and he remembered I Pagliacci, an opera about clowns. The finished song was called "The Tears of a Clown", and it became another hit.

Robinson left the Miracles during the 1970s, and began a solo career. The Miracles still had hits (like "Love Machine"), and so did Robinson, with songs like "Cruisin'" and "Being With You".

In the 2000s, Robinson went into the frozen food business, with a line of gumbos and similar cuisine.

Other websites

1940 births
Living people
African American musicians
American R&B musicians
American singer-songwriters
Singers from Detroit, Michigan
Andrew Davis

Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE (born 2 February 1944) is a British conductor.

Andrew Davis was born in Ashridge in Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. (née Badminton), Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. He studied at the Royal College of Music, King's College, Cambridge where he was organ scholar, and in Rome with Franco Ferrara.

In 1970 he took his first important job:  associate conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.  In 1975, he took the job of principal conductor with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.  He gave up this job in 1988, but has continued to be called their Conductor Laureate (honorary conductor).

In 1988, Davis became music director at Glyndebourne, where he met the American soprano Gianna Rolandi, whom he later married.  Davis returned to the BBC in 1989 to become chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he held the post until 2000.

Queen Elizabeth II made Davis a CBE in May 1992.  In January 1999, she appointed him a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List. In 2002, he conducted the Prom at the Palace concert, held in the gardens of Buckingham Palace as part of the celebrations for the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Davis became the music director and principal conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2000.  In 2005, he took on the post of Music Advisor to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for three years.
 
Davis has conducted lots of music.  He is especially fond of music by British composers such as Michael Tippett and Harrison Birtwistle.  He was a great favourite at the BBC Proms during his years with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  He often conducted the Last Night of the Proms and made a witty speech.

Sir Andrew Davis is not related to the conductor Sir Colin Davis

References

Other websites

Sir Andrew Davis official website
 

 

1944 births
Living people
British conductors
Knights Bachelor
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Gennady Rozhdestvensky

Gennady Rozhdestvensky (4 May 1931, Moscow – 16 June 2018) was a Russian conductor. Rozhdestvensky was born into a musical family.  His name at first was Gennady Nikolayevich Anosov. When he started his musical career, he took his mother's maiden name. 

Rozhdestvensky studied conducting with his father Nikolai Anosov at the Moscow Conservatory. He studied piano with the great pianist Lev Oborin. When he was 20 years old, he conducted Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre.  He soon became famous.  He gave the first performances of many works of Soviet composers, as well as the first Russian performance of Benjamin Britten's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''.

Rozhdestvensky has conducted many orchestras and made many recordings.

In 1969, he married the pianist Viktoria Postnikova.

Rozhdestvensky is known for keeping his rehearsals short. He does this so that the orchestra do not get tired and are fresh for the performance.  Sometimes he walks about the stage while he conducts.  He does not stand on a podium (a raised platform).

Orchestras he has conducted

1951-61 Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre (conductor)
1961-74 Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Television (Moscow)
1964-70 Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre (principal conductor)
1974-85 Chamber Theatre Orchestra
1974-77 Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (artistic director)
1978-81 BBC Symphony Orchestra (chief conductor)
1980-82 Vienna Symphony Orchestra
1983-91 USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra
1992-95 Royal Stockholm Philharmonic

He has also conducted many of the world's greatest orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Trivia

His name "Rozhdestvensky" means "Christmas".
Sometimes, when he feels the orchestra are well prepared for a concert, he cancels a rehearsal so that the orchestra have some free time.  In Russia, the players in the orchestra sometimes call this "Rozhdestvensky kanikuli" ("Christmas holidays").

Notes

Rozhdestvensky, Gennady
1931 births
2018 deaths
Waka

Waka () or Yamato uta is a genre of Japanese poetry. Waka literally means "Japanese poem" in Japanese. The word waka was originally created by poets during the Heian Period to make clear the difference between native Japanese poetry and the kanshi (, "Chinese poems"). This meant that they put together several different styles, one of them being tanka ( lit. "short poem") and the other chōka ( lit. "long poem"). There are others: bussokusekika ( lit. "rock of the Buddha's footprint poem"), sedōka ( lit. "whirling head poem") and katauta ( lit. "poem fragment").

These last three forms were no longer used at the beginning of the Heian Period, and chōka also disappeared a short time after. So, the term waka came in time to mean the same as tanka. Tanka is a much older form of Japanese poetry than haiku.

Waka did not follow any rules of rhyme, nor line; it was a free style kind of poetry. This can be seen in this example of tanka written by poet Yamanoue no Okura (660 - 733)

Hyakunin Isshu

Other websites
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu - 100 Poems by 100 Poets at University of Virginia Library Japanese Text Initiative
 2001 Waka for Japan 2001
American Tanka magazine 
Tanka Society of America
Selected Tanka Bibliography with notes 

Japanese culture
Poetry forms
Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka (October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014) was an American writer. He has written poetry, drama, essays and music criticism. He is also the father of Newark city mayor Ras Baraka.

Racism
Baraka's writings have made controversy over the years, mostly because of his advocacy of rape and violence towards (at many times) women, gay people, white people, and Jews. Critics of his work have said such words are examples of racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism in his work.

The following is from a 1965 essay:

Most American white men are trained to be fags. For this reason it is no wonder their faces are weak and blank. … The average ofay [white person] thinks of the black man as potentially raping every white lady in sight. Which is true, in the sense that the black man should want to rob the white man of everything he has. But for most whites the guilt of the robbery is the guilt of rape. That is, they know in their deepest hearts that they should be robbed, and the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence is she likely to get cleanly, viciously popped.

Death
Baraka died January 9, 2014 in Newark, New Jersey after being hospitalized in the facility's intensive care unit for one month prior to his death. He was 79 years old. The cause of death was complications of surgery. Baraka had diabetes.

Works
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, poems, 1961
Blues Peple: Negro Music in White America, 1963
Dutchman and The Slave, drama, 1964
The System of Dante's Hell, novel, 1965
Home: Social Essays, 1965
Tales, 1967
Black Magic, poems, 1969
Four Black Revolutionary Plays, 1969
It's Nation Time, poems, 1970
Raise Race Rays Raize: Essays Since 1965, 1971
Hard Facts, poems, 1975
The Motion of History and Other Plays, 1978
Poetry for the Advanced, 1979
reggae or not!, 1981
Daggers and Javelins: Essays 1974-1979, 1984
The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, 1984
The Music: Reflections on Jazz and Blues, 1987
Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones, 1995Wise, Why’s Y’s, essays, 1995Funk Lore: New Poems, 1996Somebody Blew Up America'', 2001

References

Other websites 

homepage of Amiri Baraka
Modern American Poetry Page: Amiri Baraka

African American writers
American activists
American Muslims
American playwrights
American poets
American communists
Deaths from surgical complications
Writers from Newark, New Jersey
1934 births
2014 deaths