Sometimes written KINO TSURAYUKI.
Court noble, government official and noted man of letters in Heian Japan.
While serving as chief of the Imperial Documents Division he took a prominent part in the compilation of the first Imperial anthology Kokin-shü (905). In a prose introduction he discussed the general nature of poetry and the styles of the poets represented. This introduction which was written in the newly developed cursive kana syllabic alphabet is regarded as one of the early masterpieces of Japanese prose.
Tsurayuki was himself a prolific and highly respected writer of Japanese verse (uta) and he ranks among the "36 Japanese poets", the most illustrious of the 8th to 10th centuries.
In 935 he wrote Tosa nikki (The Tosa Diary) a travel book composed in the phonetic script instead of the Chinese that was normal for men´s diaries.
Few details are available about Tsurayuki´s life and character. He appears to have devoted his life chiefly to literature. His son Tokibumi (or Tokifumi) was one of the five poets (later called the Five Men of the Pear-Jar Room) who in 951 compiled the Gosen-shü, the second official poetic anthology.
October 24, 2013
KITAGAWA UTAMARO (1774)
One of the greatest artists of the Ukiyo-e movement (paintings and wood-block prints of the "floating world"), known especially for his masterfully composed portraits of sensous female beauties.
Probably born in a provincial town he went to Edo (now Tokyo) with his mother. There, under the name of Toyoaki, he started painting and designing rather unoriginal woodblock prints of women. He also occupied himself with natures studies and published many illustrated books of which Gahon chüsen (1788, Insects) is best known.
Around 1791 he gave up designing prints for books and concentrated on making half-length single portraits of women rather than prints of women in groups as favoured by other Ukiyo-e artists.
In 1804, at the height of his success, he made some prints depicting the military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi´s wife and concubines. Consequently he was accused of insulting Hideyoshi´s dignity and ordered to be handcuffed for 50 days. The experience crushed him and ended his career as an artist.
Among Utamaro´s famous works are the wood-block-print series Fu ninsogaku jittai (Ten Physiognomies of Women), Seirö juni-toki (Twelve Hours at the Gay Quarters), Seirö nanakomachi (The Seven Beauties of the Gay Quarters) and Kasen koi no fu (Women in Love).
Probably born in a provincial town he went to Edo (now Tokyo) with his mother. There, under the name of Toyoaki, he started painting and designing rather unoriginal woodblock prints of women. He also occupied himself with natures studies and published many illustrated books of which Gahon chüsen (1788, Insects) is best known.
Around 1791 he gave up designing prints for books and concentrated on making half-length single portraits of women rather than prints of women in groups as favoured by other Ukiyo-e artists.
In 1804, at the height of his success, he made some prints depicting the military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi´s wife and concubines. Consequently he was accused of insulting Hideyoshi´s dignity and ordered to be handcuffed for 50 days. The experience crushed him and ended his career as an artist.
Among Utamaro´s famous works are the wood-block-print series Fu ninsogaku jittai (Ten Physiognomies of Women), Seirö juni-toki (Twelve Hours at the Gay Quarters), Seirö nanakomachi (The Seven Beauties of the Gay Quarters) and Kasen koi no fu (Women in Love).
KÁROLY KISFALUDY (1847)
Romantic dramatist, the first Hungarian playwright to achieve considerable popular success.
Károly had an errant youth in which he left school at 16 to become a soldier and fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1811 while leading a precarious existence as a painter in Vienna he tried his hand at a historical drama, A tatárok Magyarországon (The Tartars in Hungary). The play remained unknown until eight years later when it was performed by a repertory company in a provincial town; they repeated their performance in Pest, making Kisfaludy famous overnight.
Among Kisfaludy´s most important works are the tragedy Iréne (1820) and the comedy A kérök (1817, The Suitors).
He stepped into the literary leadership left vacant by Ferenc Kazinczy´s gradual withdrawal from his active career and in 1822, he began to publish his literary almanac Aurora which became the chief literary vehicle of the coming generation of Hungarian Romantics: József Bajza, Mihály Vörösmarty, Ferenc Kölcsey.
Károly had an errant youth in which he left school at 16 to become a soldier and fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1811 while leading a precarious existence as a painter in Vienna he tried his hand at a historical drama, A tatárok Magyarországon (The Tartars in Hungary). The play remained unknown until eight years later when it was performed by a repertory company in a provincial town; they repeated their performance in Pest, making Kisfaludy famous overnight.
Among Kisfaludy´s most important works are the tragedy Iréne (1820) and the comedy A kérök (1817, The Suitors).
He stepped into the literary leadership left vacant by Ferenc Kazinczy´s gradual withdrawal from his active career and in 1822, he began to publish his literary almanac Aurora which became the chief literary vehicle of the coming generation of Hungarian Romantics: József Bajza, Mihály Vörösmarty, Ferenc Kölcsey.
MARY HENRIETTA KINGSLEY (1874)
Traveller who disregarding the convention of her time journeyed through western and equatorial Africa and became the first European to enter parts of Gabon.
A niece of the clergyman and author Charles Kingsley she led a secluded life until she was about 30 when she decided to go to West Africa to study African religion and law with a view to completing a book left unfinished by her deceased father George Kingsley.
During 1893 and 1894 she visited Cabinda, the coastal enclave of Angola lying today between Zaire and the Congo republic, Old Calabar in southeast Nigeria and the island of Fernando Po, now part of Equatorial Guinea, near the Cameron coast.
Around the lower Congo River she collected specimens of beetles and freshwater fish for the British Museum.
Returning to Africa in December 1894 she visited the French Congo and in Gabon ascended the Ogoue River through the country of the Fang, a tribe with a reputation for cannibalism. On this journey she had many harrowing adventures and narrow escapes. She then visited Corisco Island off Gabon and also climbed Mt. Cameroon.
After returning to England with valuable natural history collections she lectured widely throughout the British Isles about her travels (1896-99). Her writings which express her strong sympathies for black Africans include Travels in West Africa (1897) and West Africa Studies (1899).
She died while nursing sick prisoners during the Boer War.
A niece of the clergyman and author Charles Kingsley she led a secluded life until she was about 30 when she decided to go to West Africa to study African religion and law with a view to completing a book left unfinished by her deceased father George Kingsley.
During 1893 and 1894 she visited Cabinda, the coastal enclave of Angola lying today between Zaire and the Congo republic, Old Calabar in southeast Nigeria and the island of Fernando Po, now part of Equatorial Guinea, near the Cameron coast.
Around the lower Congo River she collected specimens of beetles and freshwater fish for the British Museum.
Returning to Africa in December 1894 she visited the French Congo and in Gabon ascended the Ogoue River through the country of the Fang, a tribe with a reputation for cannibalism. On this journey she had many harrowing adventures and narrow escapes. She then visited Corisco Island off Gabon and also climbed Mt. Cameroon.
After returning to England with valuable natural history collections she lectured widely throughout the British Isles about her travels (1896-99). Her writings which express her strong sympathies for black Africans include Travels in West Africa (1897) and West Africa Studies (1899).
She died while nursing sick prisoners during the Boer War.
THOMAS KINSELLA (1947-74)
Poet whose sensitive lyrics deal with human experience -love, death, creativity and suffering- in the chaotic 20th-century world.
After attending University College in Dublin, Kinsella served in the Irish civil service from 1946 to 1965. He was appointed writer in residence at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1965-67), then professor of English at the university (1967).
His early volumes Poems (1956) and Another September (1958) established him as a poet of note. Such later volumes as Downstream (1962) often focus on war and the political and social disruption of modern Ireland. Kinsella´s translation of the ancient Gaelic saga The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cuailnge) was published in 1969.
After attending University College in Dublin, Kinsella served in the Irish civil service from 1946 to 1965. He was appointed writer in residence at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1965-67), then professor of English at the university (1967).
His early volumes Poems (1956) and Another September (1958) established him as a poet of note. Such later volumes as Downstream (1962) often focus on war and the political and social disruption of modern Ireland. Kinsella´s translation of the ancient Gaelic saga The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cuailnge) was published in 1969.
AL-KHIDR
Arabic, contraction of al-Khadir, the Green One.
A legendary Islamic figure endowed with inmortal life who became a popular saint especially among sailors and Sufis (mystics).
The cycle of myths and stories surrounding al-Khidr originated in a vague narrative in the Quran (18:60-82) that describes the long and arduous journey of Musa (moses) and his servant to the meeting of the two seas. in the course of their travels they lose a fish they had taken with them; a man of God appears offering to help them in their search for the fish but performs seemingly senseless deeds alonh the way -he sinks a boat, kills a young man, then restores a wall in a city hostile to them. Musa questions what the man has done and received a satisfactory explanation for everything, but by questioning Musa forfeits his patronage.
Modern scholars have detected similarities between the Quranic original and three earlier sources; the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh who goes in search of an ancestor endowed with eternal life, the Roman d´Alexandre in which Alexander´s cook discovers for him the fountain of life and the Jewish legend concerned Elijah who never tasted death. Atab commentators elaborated and embellished the Quranic story and named the "man of God" Khidr, claiming that he turned green as he dived into the spring of life though variant interpretation identify Khidr with the vegetable world.
On a popular level Khidr has been given a name most frequently Balya ibn Malkan, many different genealogies, and dates that have made him a comtemporary of Abraham or Alexander. Khidr´s inmortality and ability to assume a variety of local characteristics probably account for his widespread popularity among Arabs, Turks, Persians and other Muslims, despite orthodox Islamic opposition. In Syria, Khidr became partially identified with St. George who according to a local tradition is of Syrian birth; in India and Pakistan, Khidr is identified with a water deity (Khwadja Khidr) specializing in the protection of mariners and river travellers; and in Sufi circles he is associated with their founders who were often endowed with holiness and sainthood.
A legendary Islamic figure endowed with inmortal life who became a popular saint especially among sailors and Sufis (mystics).
The cycle of myths and stories surrounding al-Khidr originated in a vague narrative in the Quran (18:60-82) that describes the long and arduous journey of Musa (moses) and his servant to the meeting of the two seas. in the course of their travels they lose a fish they had taken with them; a man of God appears offering to help them in their search for the fish but performs seemingly senseless deeds alonh the way -he sinks a boat, kills a young man, then restores a wall in a city hostile to them. Musa questions what the man has done and received a satisfactory explanation for everything, but by questioning Musa forfeits his patronage.
Modern scholars have detected similarities between the Quranic original and three earlier sources; the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh who goes in search of an ancestor endowed with eternal life, the Roman d´Alexandre in which Alexander´s cook discovers for him the fountain of life and the Jewish legend concerned Elijah who never tasted death. Atab commentators elaborated and embellished the Quranic story and named the "man of God" Khidr, claiming that he turned green as he dived into the spring of life though variant interpretation identify Khidr with the vegetable world.
On a popular level Khidr has been given a name most frequently Balya ibn Malkan, many different genealogies, and dates that have made him a comtemporary of Abraham or Alexander. Khidr´s inmortality and ability to assume a variety of local characteristics probably account for his widespread popularity among Arabs, Turks, Persians and other Muslims, despite orthodox Islamic opposition. In Syria, Khidr became partially identified with St. George who according to a local tradition is of Syrian birth; in India and Pakistan, Khidr is identified with a water deity (Khwadja Khidr) specializing in the protection of mariners and river travellers; and in Sufi circles he is associated with their founders who were often endowed with holiness and sainthood.
October 23, 2013
KICHIZAN MINCHO (1374)
Also called CHO DENSU.
The last major professional painter of Buddhist iconography in Japan.
He was a priest associated with the Zen Buddhist Tofuku-ji (temple) in Kyoto. Of the Buddhist paintings that he did for the temple, the best known is the portrait of Shoichi (1202-80), fouder of the temple. The painting is a chinso, an official portrait of a high-ranking ecclesiastic in which emphasis is placed upon the realistic depiction of the face and the robes. It shows to good advantage the heavy curved outlines for which his painting style of the oldest inl landscapes painting extant in Japan : The Hut in the Valley (dated 1413); located in the Konchi-in monastery in Kyoto. The painting reflects the influence of Chinese landscape art and is an early Japanese example of a shi-ga-jiku, hanging scroll on which poems commenting upon the painting are inscribed.
The last major professional painter of Buddhist iconography in Japan.
He was a priest associated with the Zen Buddhist Tofuku-ji (temple) in Kyoto. Of the Buddhist paintings that he did for the temple, the best known is the portrait of Shoichi (1202-80), fouder of the temple. The painting is a chinso, an official portrait of a high-ranking ecclesiastic in which emphasis is placed upon the realistic depiction of the face and the robes. It shows to good advantage the heavy curved outlines for which his painting style of the oldest inl landscapes painting extant in Japan : The Hut in the Valley (dated 1413); located in the Konchi-in monastery in Kyoto. The painting reflects the influence of Chinese landscape art and is an early Japanese example of a shi-ga-jiku, hanging scroll on which poems commenting upon the painting are inscribed.
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