title: Porto

text: Porto plus the conurbation to which it belongs and has Porto municipality as its central core forming the nucleus of the conurbation, is a major industrial and financial center of both Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. As the most important city in the heavily industrialized northwest, many of the largest Portuguese corporations from diverse economic sectors, like Altri, Ambar, Amorim, Bial, BPI, Cerealis, CIN, Cofina, EFACEC, Frulact, Lactogal, Millennium bcp, Porto Editora, RAR, Sonae, Sonae Indústria, and Super Bock Group, are headquartered in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto, most notably, in the core municipalities of Maia, Matosinhos, Porto, and Vila Nova de Gaia.


title: Porto

text: The city's former stock exchange (Bolsa do Porto) was transformed into the largest derivatives exchange of Portugal, and merged with Lisbon Stock Exchange to create the Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto, which eventually merged with Euronext, together with Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris stock and futures exchanges. The building formerly hosting the stock exchange is currently one of the city's touristic attractions, with the Salão Árabe (Arab Room in English) being its major highlight. The Banco Português de Fomento (BPF), a Portuguese state-owned development bank established in 2020, is headquartered in Porto.


title: Porto

text: Porto hosts a popular Portuguese newspaper, "Jornal de Notícias". The building where its offices are located (which has the same name as the newspaper) was at a time one of the tallest in the city (it has been superseded by a number of modern buildings which have been built since the 1990s).


title: Porto

text: Porto Editora, one of the biggest Portuguese publishers, is also located in Porto. Its dictionaries are among the most popular references used in the country, and the translations are very popular as well.


title: Porto

text: The economic relations between the city of Porto and the Upper Douro River have been documented since the Middle Ages. However, they were greatly deepened in the modern ages. Indeed, sumach, dry fruits and nuts and the Douro olive oils sustained prosperous exchanges between the region and Porto. From the riverside quays at the river mouth, these products were exported to other markets of the Old and New World. However, the greatest lever to interregional trade relations resulted from the commercial dynamics of the Port wine ("Vinho do Porto") agro-industry. It decidedly bolstered the complementary relationship between the large coastal urban centre, endowed with open doors to the sea, and a region with significant agricultural potential, especially in terms of the production of extremely high quality fortified wines, known by the world-famous label "Port". The development of Porto was also closely connected with the left margin of River Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia, where is located the amphitheatre-shaped slope with the Port wine cellars.


title: Porto

text: The city is very much the gateway to Portugal's northern region as well as the northern and western areas of Spain. Within a two-hour drive of Porto's airport there are four Unesco World Heritage sites and popular Spanish tourist hotspots such as Santiago de Compostela.


title: Porto

text: In a study concerning competitiveness of the 18 Portuguese district capitals, Porto was the worst-ranked. The study was made by Minho University economics researchers and was published in Público newspaper on 30 September 2006. The best-ranked cities in the study were Évora, Lisbon and Coimbra. Nevertheless, the validity of this study was questioned by some Porto notable figures (such as local politicians and businesspersons) who argued that the city proper does not function independently but in conurbation with other municipalities. A 2007 ranking published in "Expresso" ranked Porto as the third best city to live in Portugal – tied with Évora and below Guimarães and Lisbon.


title: Porto

text: Over the last few years, Porto has experienced significant tourism increases, which may be partly linked to the Ryanair hub at Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport. Porto won the European Best Destination 2012, 2014 and 2017 awards.


title: Porto

text: The city received 2.8 million overnight visitors and 1.4 million day trippers between January and November 2017, with 73% from other countries. Tourism revenue has been increasing by over 11%, according to a 2018 report.


title: Porto

text: According to a February 2019 report, over 10% of economic activity in Porto is generated by tourism. The hotel occupancy rate in 2017 was 77%. A scholarly study published in June 2019 stated that "Porto is one of the fastest-growing European tourist destinations that has experienced


title: Porto

text: The road system capacity is augmented by the "Via de Cintura Interna" or A20, an internal highway connected to several motorways and city exits, complementing the "Circunvalação" 4-lane peripheric road, which borders the north of the city and connects the eastern side of the city to the Atlantic shore. The city is connected to Valença (Viana do Castelo) by highway A28, to Estarreja (Aveiro) by the A29, to Lisbon by the A1, to Bragança by the A4 and to Braga by the A3. There is also an outer-ring road, the A41, that connects all the main cities around Porto, linking the city to other major metropolitan highways such as the A7, A11, A42, A43 and A44. Since 2011, a new highway, the A32, connects the metropolitan area to São João da Madeira and Oliveira de Azeméis.


title: Porto

text: The Dom Luís I Bridge (Ponte de Dom Luís I) is a double-deck metal arch bridge that spans the River Douro between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. Built in 1886, its 172 metres (564 ft) span was then the longest of its type in the world. The top-level is used for the Porto Metro trains, with an option for pedestrians; the lower level carries traffic and pedestrians.


title: Porto

text: During the 20th century, major bridges were built: "Arrábida Bridge", which at its opening had the biggest concrete supporting arch in the world, and connects the north and south shores of the Douro on the west side of the city, "S. João", to replace "D. Maria Pia" and "Freixo", a highway bridge on the east side of the city. The newest bridge is Infante Dom Henrique Bridge, finished in 2003. Two more bridges are said to be under designing stages and due to be built in the next 10 years, one on the Campo Alegre area, nearby the Faculty of Humanities and the Arts, and another one in the area known as the Massarelos valley.


title: Porto

text: Porto is often referred to as "Cidade das Pontes" (City of the Bridges), besides its more traditional nicknames of "Cidade Invicta" (Unconquered/ Invincible City) and "Capital do Norte" (Capital of the North).


title: Porto

text: In July 2015 a new cruise terminal was opened at the port of Leixões, which is north of the city in Matosinhos.


title: Porto

text: Porto is served by Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport which is located in Pedras Rubras, Moreira da Maia civil parish of the neighbouring Municipality of Maia, some to the north-west of the city centre. The airport underwent a massive programme of refurbishment due to the Euro 2004 football championships being partly hosted in the city. It is connected to central Porto by metro’s line E.


title: Porto

text: Porto's main railway station is Campanhã railway station, located in the eastern part of the city and connected to the lines of Douro (Peso da Régua/Tua/Pocinho), Minho (Barcelos/Viana do Castelo/Valença) and centre of Portugal (on the main line to Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon).


title: Porto

text: From Campanhã station, both light rail and suburban rail services connect to the city center. The main central station is São Bento Station, which is itself a notable landmark in the heart of Porto. This station was built between 1900 and 1916, based on plans by architect José Marques da Silva. The large panels of azulejo tile were designed by Jorge Colaço; the murals represent moments in the country's history and rural scenes showing the people of various regions.


title: Porto

text: Porto is connected with Lisbon via high-speed trains, "Alfa Pendular", that cover the distance in 2h 42min. The intercities take slightly more than 3 hours to cover the same distance. In addition, Porto is connected to the Spanish city of Vigo with the Celta train, running twice every day, a 2h 20 min trip.


title: Porto

text: Currently, the major network is the Porto Metro, a light rail system. Consequently, the Infante bridge was built for urban traffic, replacing the Dom Luís I, which was dedicated to the light rail on the second and higher of the bridge's two levels. Six lines are open: lines A (blue), B (red), C (green) and E (purple) all begin at Estádio do Dragão (home to FC Porto) and terminate at Senhor de Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim (via Vila do Conde), ISMAI (via Maia) and Francisco Sá Carneiro airport respectively. Line D (yellow) currently runs from Hospital S. João in the north to Santo Ovídio on the southern side of the Douro river. Line F (orange), from Senhora da Hora (Matosinhos) to Fânzeres (Gondomar). The lines intersect at the central Trindade station. Currently, the whole network spans using 68 stations, thus being the biggest urban rail transit system in the country.


title: Porto

text: The city has an extensive bus network run by the STCP (Sociedade dos Transportes Colectivos do Porto, or Porto Public transport Society) which also operates lines in the neighbouring cities of Gaia, Maia, Matosinhos, Gondomar and Valongo. Other smaller companies connect such towns as Paços de Ferreira and Santo Tirso to the town center. In the past, the city also had trolleybuses. A bus journey is 2.00 €, which must be paid in cash.


title: Porto

text: A tram (streetcar) network, of which only three lines remain one of them being a tourist line on the shores of the Douro, saw its construction begin on 12 September 1895, therefore being the first in the Iberian Peninsula. The lines in operation all use vintage tramcars, so the service has become a heritage tramway. STCP also operates these routes as well as a tram museum. The first line of the area's modern-tram, or light rail system, named "Metro do Porto", opened for revenue service in January 2003 (after a brief period of free, introductory service in December 2002).


title: Porto

text: The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Porto, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 47 minutes. About 6.5% of public transit riders ride for more than two hours every day. The average time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 12 minutes, while 17.4% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people ride in a single trip with public transit is 6 km, while 5% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.


title: Porto

text: In 2001, Porto shared the designation European Culture Capital with Rotterdam. In the scope of these events, the construction of the major concert hall space Casa da Música, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, was initiated and finished in 2005.


title: Porto

text: The first Portuguese moving pictures were taken in Porto by Aurélio da Paz dos Reis and shown there on 12 November 1896 in the Teatro do Príncipe Real do Porto, less than a year after the first public presentation by Auguste and Louis Lumière. The country's first movie studios Invicta Filmes was also erected in Porto in 1917 and was open from 1918 to 1927 in the area of Carvalhido. Manoel de Oliveira, a Portuguese film director and the oldest director in the world to be active until his death in 2015, was from Porto. Fantasporto is an international film festival organized in Porto every year. The DCEU film "The Suicide Squad" (2021) written and directed by James Gunn based on a Suicide Squad story, shows the city twice in the movie, in which shows us Daniela Melchior a Portuguese actress, who portrays Ratcatcher 2 in which the character is the heart of the film, a Portuguese version of Ratcatcher.


title: Porto

text: Many renowned Portuguese music artists and cult bands such as GNR, Rui Veloso, Sérgio Godinho, Clã, Pluto, and Ornatos Violeta are from the city or its metropolitan area.


title: Porto

text: Porto has several museums, concert halls, theaters, cinemas, art galleries, libraries and bookshops. The best-known museums of Porto are the National Museum Soares dos Reis ("Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis"), which is dedicated especially to the Portuguese artistic movements from the 16th to the 20th century, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Serralves Foundation ("Museu de Arte Contemporânea").


title: Porto

text: The city has concert halls such as the Coliseu do Porto by the Portuguese architect Cassiano Branco, an example of the Portuguese decorative arts. Other notable venues include the historical São João National Theatre, the "Rivoli" theatre, the "Batalha cinema" and "Casa da Música", inaugurated in 2005. The city has the Lello Bookshop, which is frequently rated among the top bookstores in the world.


title: Porto

text: Porto houses the largest synagogue in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the largest in Europe – Kadoorie Synagogue, inaugurated in 1938.


title: Porto

text: Porto's most popular event is St. John (São João Festival) on the night of 23–24 June. In this season it's a tradition to have a vase with bush basil decorated with a small poem. During the dinner of the great day, people usually eat sardines and boiled potatoes together with red wine.


title: Porto

text: Another major event is Queima das Fitas, which starts on the first Sunday of May and ends on the second Sunday of the month. Basically, before the beginning of the study period preceding the school year's last exams, academia tries to have as much fun as possible. The week has 12 major events, starting with the Monumental Serenata on Sunday, and reaching its peak with the Cortejo Académico on Tuesday, when about 50,000 students of the city's higher education institutions march through the downtown streets till they reach the city hall. During every night of the week, a series of concerts takes place on the Queimódromo, next to the city's park, where it is also a tradition for the students in their second-to-last year to erect small tents where alcohol is sold to finance the trip that takes place during the last year of their course of study; an average of 50,000 students attend these events.


title: Porto

text: Porto was the birthplace in 1856 of Susanna Roope Dockery, an Anglo-Portuguese watercolour painter who produced many paintings of the city and the people and landscape of the surrounding rural areas. An Englishman, Frederick William Flower, moved to Porto in 1834 at the age of 19 to work in the wine trade and subsequently became a pioneer of photography in Portugal. Like Dockery, he drew his inspiration from the city, the Douro river and the rural areas.


title: Porto

text: In 2005, the municipality funded a public sculpture to be built in the Waterfront Plaza of Matosinhos. The resulting sculpture is entitled "She Changes" by American artist, Janet Echelman, and spans the height of 50 × 150 × 150 metres.


title: Porto

text: Due to its long history, the city of Porto carries immense architectural patrimony. From the Romanesque Cathedral to the Social Housing projects developed through the late 20th century, much could be said surrounding architecture.


title: Porto

text: Porto is home to the Porto School of Architecture, one of the most prestigious architecture schools in Europe and the world. It is also home to two earners of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (two former students of the aforementioned school): Álvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto de Moura.


title: Porto

text: This historic area includes the cathedral with its Romanesque choir, the neoclassical Stock Exchange and the Manueline-style Church of Santa Clara. The entire historic centre has been a National Monument since 2001 under Law No. 107/2001. The "Historic Centre of Porto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar" is a Unesco World Heritage site.


title: Porto

text: Porto is home to a number of dishes from traditional Portuguese cuisine. A typical dish from this city is "Tripas à Moda do Porto" (Tripe Porto style). "Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá" (cod in the style of Gomes de Sá) is another typical codfish dish born in Porto and popular in Portugal.


title: Porto

text: The "Francesinha" is the most popular native snack food in Porto. It is a kind of sandwich with several types of meat covered with cheese and a special sauce made with beer and other ingredients.


title: Porto

text: Rojões (fried pork meat) and sarrabulho (pig blood-based dish) are also typical dishes of Norte Region which are very popular in the regional capital, the city of Porto. Like in almost all coastal areas of the Portuguese littoral with wide availability of fresh fish, sardinha assada (grilled sardine) is also an usual, classic main dish.


title: Porto

text: Port wine, an internationally renowned wine, is widely accepted as the city's dessert wine, especially as the wine is made along the Douro River, which runs through the city.


title: Porto

text: The city has a large number of public and private elementary and secondary schools, as well as kindergartens and nurseries. The oldest and largest international school located in Porto is the Oporto British School, established in 1894. There are more international schools in the city, such as the French School, the Deutsche Schule zu Porto, and the Oporto International School, which were created in the 20th century.


title: Porto

text: Porto has several institutions of higher education, the largest one being the state-managed University of Porto ("Universidade do Porto"), which is the second largest Portuguese university, after the University of Lisbon, with approximately 28,000 students and considered one of the 100 best Universities in Europe. There is also a state-managed polytechnic institute, the Instituto Politécnico do Porto (a group of technical colleges), and private institutions like the Lusíada University of Porto, Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP), the Porto's Higher Education School of Arts ("ESAP- Escola Superior Artística do Porto") and a Vatican state university, the Portuguese Catholic University in Porto ("Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Porto") and the Portucalense University in Porto ("Universidade Portucalense – Infante D. Henrique"). Due to the recognition, potential for employment and higher revenue, there are many students from the entire country, particularly from the north of Portugal, attending a college or university in Porto.


title: Porto

text: For foreigners wishing to study Portuguese in the city there are a number of options. As the most popular city in Portugal for ERASMUS students, most universities have facilities to assist foreigners in learning the language. There are also several private language learning institutions in the city.


title: Porto

text: Porto, in addition to football stadia since football is by far the most popular sport in Porto and across the entire country, is home to many athletic sports arenas, most notably the city-owned Super Bock Arena (formerly Pavilhão Rosa Mota), swimming pools in the area of "Constituição" (between the "Marquês" and "Boavista"), and other minor arenas, such as the "Pavilhão do Académico", as well as to other sports fields. These sports arenas, swimming pools and sports fields are used for the practice of sports, including varsity and competitive professional sports, in a diversity of sport disciplines ranging from handball, basketball, futsal and field hockey to rink hockey, volleyball, water polo and rugby.


title: Porto

text: Porto is home to northern Portugal's only Cricket club, the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. Annually, for more than 100 years, a match (the Kendall Cup) has been played between the Porto Club and the Casuals Club of Lisbon, in addition to regular games against touring teams (mainly from England). The club's pitch is located off the "Rua Campo Alegre".


title: Porto

text: In 1958 and 1960, Porto's streets hosted the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix on the Boavista street circuit, which are reenacted annually, in addition to a World Touring Car Championship race.


title: Porto

text: As in most Portuguese cities, football is the most popular sport. There are two main teams in Porto: FC Porto in the parish of Campanhã, in the eastern part of the city and Boavista in the area of Boavista in the parish of Ramalde, in the western part of the city, close to the city centre. FC Porto is one of the "Big Three" teams in the main Portuguese football league, and was European champion in 1987 and 2004, won the UEFA Cup (2003) and Europa League (2011) and the Intercontinental Toyota Cup in 1987 and 2004. Boavista have won the championship once, in the 2000–01 season and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2003, where they lost 2–1 to Celtic.


title: Porto

text: Formerly, Salgueiros from Paranhos was a regular first division club during the 1980s and 1990s but, due to financial indebtedness, the club folded in the 2000s. The club was refounded in 2008 and began playing at the regional level. They now play at the third level of Portugal's national football pyramid.


title: Porto

text: The biggest stadiums in the city are FC Porto's Estádio do Dragão and Boavista's Estádio do Bessa. The first team in Porto to own a stadium was Académico, who played in the "Estádio do Lima", Académico was one of the eight teams to dispute the first division. Salgueiros, sold the grounds of Estádio Engenheiro Vidal Pinheiro field to the Porto Metro and planned on building a new field in the "Arca d'Água" area of Porto. Located a few hundred metres away from the old grounds, it became impossible to build on this plot of land due to a large underground water pocket, and, consequently, they moved to the Estádio do Mar (owned by Leixões S.C.) in the neighboring Matosinhos municipality. For the Euro 2004 football competition, held in Portugal, the Estádio do Dragão was built (replacing the old Estádio das Antas) and the Estádio do Bessa was renovated.


title: Porto

text: The FC Porto's basketball team plays its home games at the Dragão Caixa. Its squad won the second most championships in the history of Portugal's 1st Division. Traditionally, the club provides the Portuguese national basketball team with numerous key players.


title: Julie Christie

text: Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has appeared in six films ranked in the British Film Institute's BFI Top 100 British films of the 20th century, and in 1997, she received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie's breakthrough film role was in "Billy Liar" (1963). She came to international attention for her performances in "Darling" (1965), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and "Doctor Zhivago" (also 1965), the eighth highest-grossing film of all time after adjustment for inflation. She continued to receive Academy Award nominations, for "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971), "Afterglow" (1997) and "Away from Her" (2007).


title: Julie Christie

text: In the following years, she starred in "Fahrenheit 451" (1966), "Far from the Madding Crowd" (1967), "Petulia" (1968), "The Go-Between" (1971), "Don't Look Now" (1973), "Shampoo" (1975), and "Heaven Can Wait" (1978). She's also known for her performances in the critically acclaimed "Hamlet" (1996), and "Finding Neverland" (2004), and the blockbusters "Troy" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (both 2004).


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie was born on 14 April 1940 at Singlijan Tea Estate, Chabua, Assam, British India. She has a younger brother, Clive, and an older (deceased) half-sister, June, from her father's relationship with an Indian tea picker on his plantation. Her parents separated when Julie was a child, and after their divorce, she spent time with her mother in rural Wales.


title: Julie Christie

text: She was baptised in the Church of England, and studied as a boarder at the independent Convent of Our Lady school in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, after being expelled from another convent school for telling a risqué joke that reached a wider audience than she had anticipated. After being asked to leave the Convent of Our Lady as well, she attended the all-girls Wycombe Court School, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, during which time she lived with a foster mother from the age of six. At the Wycombe school, she played the Dauphin in a production of Shaw's "Saint Joan." She later studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie made her professional stage debut in 1957, and her first screen roles were on British television. Her earliest role to gain attention was in BBC serial "A for Andromeda" (1961). She was a contender for the role of Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, "Dr. No", but producer Albert R. Broccoli reportedly thought her breasts were too small.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie appeared in two comedies for Independent Artists: "Crooks Anonymous" and "The Fast Lady" (both 1962). Her breakthrough role, however, was as Liz, the friend and would-be lover of the character played by Tom Courtenay in "Billy Liar" (1963), for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination. The director, John Schlesinger cast Christie only after another actress, Topsy Jane, had dropped out of the film. Christie appeared as Daisy Battles in "Young Cassidy" (1965), a biopic of Irish playwright Seán O'Casey, co-directed by Jack Cardiff and (uncredited) John Ford.


title: Julie Christie

text: Her role as an amoral model in "Darling" (also 1965) led to Christie becoming known internationally. Directed by Schlesinger, and co-starring Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Harvey, Christie had only been cast in the lead role after Schlesinger insisted, the studio having wanted Shirley MacLaine. She received the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role for her performance.


title: Julie Christie

text: In David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" (also 1965), adapted from the epic/romance novel by Boris Pasternak, Christie's role as Lara Antipova became her best known. The film was a major box-office success. , "Doctor Zhivago" is the 8th highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. According to "Life" magazine, 1965 was "The Year of Julie Christie".


title: Julie Christie

text: After dual roles in François Truffaut's adaptation of the Ray Bradbury novel "Fahrenheit 451" (1966), starring with Oskar Werner, she appeared as Thomas Hardy's heroine Bathsheba Everdene in Schlesinger's "Far from the Madding Crowd" (1967). After moving to Los Angeles in 1967 ("I was there because of a lot of American boyfriends"), she appeared in the title role of Richard Lester's "Petulia" (1968), co-starring with George C. Scott.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie's persona as the swinging sixties British woman she had embodied in "Billy Liar" and "Darling" was further cemented by her appearance in the documentary "Tonite Let's All Make Love in London". In 1967, "Time" magazine said of her: "What Julie Christie wears has more real impact on fashion than all the clothes of the ten best-dressed women combined".


title: Julie Christie

text: In Joseph Losey's romantic drama "The Go-Between" (1971), Christie had a lead role along with Alan Bates. The film won the Grand Prix, then the main award at the Cannes Film Festival. She earned a second Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as a brothel madame in Robert Altman's postmodern western "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (also 1971). The film was the first of three collaborations between Christie and Warren Beatty, who described her as "the most beautiful and at the same time the most nervous person I had ever known". The couple had a high-profile but intermittent relationship between 1967 and 1974. After the relationship ended, they worked together again in the comedies "Shampoo" (1975) and "Heaven Can Wait" (1978).


title: Julie Christie

text: Her other films during the decade were Nicolas Roeg's thriller "Don't Look Now " (1973), based on a story by Daphne du Maurier, in which she co-starred with Donald Sutherland, and the science-fiction/horror film "Demon Seed" (1977), based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz and directed by Donald Cammell. "Don't Look Now" in particular has received acclaim, with Christie nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for "Time Out" magazine ranked it the greatest British film ever.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie returned to the United Kingdom in 1977, living on a farm in Wales. In 1979, she was a member of the jury at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. Never a prolific actress, even at the height of her career, Christie turned down many high-profile film roles, including "Anne of the Thousand Days", "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", "Nicholas and Alexandra", and "Reds", all of which earned Oscar nominations for the actresses who eventually played them.


title: Julie Christie

text: In the 1980s, Christie appeared in non-mainstream films such as "The Return of the Soldier" (1982) and "Heat and Dust" (1983). She had a major supporting role in Sidney Lumet's "Power" (1986) alongside Richard Gere and Gene Hackman, but apart from that, she avoided large budget films. She starred in the television film "Dadah Is Death" (1988), based on the Barlow and Chambers execution, as Barlow's mother Barbara, who desperately fought to save her son from being hanged for drug trafficking in Malaysia.


title: Julie Christie

text: After a lengthy absence from the screen, Christie co-starred in the fantasy adventure film "Dragonheart" (1996), and appeared as Gertrude in Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" (also 1996). Her next critically acclaimed role was the unhappy wife in Alan Rudolph's domestic comedy-drama "Afterglow" (1997) with Nick Nolte, Jonny Lee Miller and Lara Flynn Boyle. Christie received a third Oscar nomination for her role.


title: Julie Christie

text: Appearing in six films that were ranked in the British Film Institute's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century, in recognition of her contribution to British cinema Christie received BAFTA's highest honour, the Fellowship in 1997. In 1994, she had been awarded the title Doctor of Letters from the University of Warwick.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie made a brief cameo appearance in the third "Harry Potter" film, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004), playing Madam Rosmerta. Around the same time, she also appeared in two other high-profile films: Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy" and Marc Forster's "Finding Neverland" (both 2004), playing mother to Brad Pitt and Kate Winslet, respectively. The latter performance earned Christie a BAFTA nomination as supporting actress in a film.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie portrayed the female lead in "Away from Her" (2006), a film about a long-married Canadian couple coping with the wife's Alzheimer's disease. Based on the Alice Munro short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain", the movie was the first feature film directed by Christie's sometime co-star, Canadian actress Sarah Polley. She took the role, she says, only because Polley is her friend. Polley has said Christie liked the script but initially turned it down as she was ambivalent about acting. It took several months of persuasion by Polley before Christie finally accepted the role.


title: Julie Christie

text: In July 2006 she was a member of the jury at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival. Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2006 as part of the TIFF's Gala showcase, "Away from Her" drew rave reviews from the trade press, including "The Hollywood Reporter", and the four Toronto dailies. Critics singled out her performances as well as that of her co-star, Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, and Polley's direction. Christie's performance generated Oscar buzz, leading the distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment, to buy the film at the festival to release the film in 2007 to build momentum during the awards season.


title: Julie Christie

text: On 5 December 2007, she won the Best Actress Award from the National Board of Review for her performance in "Away from Her". She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and the Genie Award for Best Actress for the same film. On 22 January 2008, Christie received her fourth Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 80th Academy Awards. She appeared at the ceremony wearing a pin calling for the closure of the prison in Guantanamo Bay.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie narrated "Uncontacted Tribes" (2008), a short film for the British-based charity Survival International, featuring previously unseen footage of remote and endangered peoples. She has been a long-standing supporter of the charity, and in February 2008, was named as its first 'Ambassador'. She appeared in a segment of the film, "New York, I Love You" (also 2008), written by Anthony Minghella, directed by Shekhar Kapur and co-starring Shia LaBeouf, as well as in "Glorious 39" (2009), about a British family at the start of World War II.


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie played a "sexy, bohemian" version of the grandmother role in Catherine Hardwicke's gothic retelling of "Red Riding Hood" (2011). Her most recent role was in the political thriller "The Company You Keep" (2012), where she co-starred with Robert Redford and Sam Elliott.


title: Julie Christie

text: In the early 1960s, Christie dated actor Terence Stamp. She was in a relationship with Don Bessant, a lithographer and art teacher, from December 1962 to May 1967, before dating actor Warren Beatty for seven on-and-off years (1967–1974).


title: Julie Christie

text: Christie is married to journalist Duncan Campbell; they have lived together since 1979, but the date they married is disputed. In January 2008, several news outlets reported that the couple had quietly married in India two months earlier, in November 2007, which Christie called "nonsense", adding, "I have been married for a few years. Don't believe what you read in the papers."


title: Julie Christie

text: In the late 1960s, her advisers adopted a very complex scheme in an attempt to reduce her tax liability, giving rise to the leading case of "Black Nominees Ltd v Nicol (Inspector of Taxes)". The case was heard by Judge Sydney Templeman (who later became Lord Templeman), who gave judgment in favour of the Inland Revenue, ruling that the scheme was ineffective.


title: Julie Christie

text: She is active in various causes, including animal rights, environmental protection, and the anti-nuclear power movement. She is a Patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, as well as Reprieve, and the CFS/ME charity Action for ME.


title: Edo period

text: The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional "daimyo". Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, perpetual peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo), where on March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, which restored imperial rule to Japan.


title: Edo period

text: The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's regional "daimyo".


title: Edo period

text: A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tennō's court, to the Tokugawa, when the "samurai" became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called a "centralized feudal" form of shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already a powerful "daimyo" (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million "koku" of land, a new headquarters at Edo, a strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo), and also had an additional two million "koku" of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi clan.


title: Edo period

text: Ieyasu's victory over the western "daimyo" at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the Japanese calendar on the 15th day of the ninth month of the fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy "daimyo" houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western "daimyo", but his assumption of the title of "shōgun" helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada (1579–1632) as "shōgun" and himself as retired "shōgun" in 1605. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka.


title: Edo period

text: The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call "bakuhan", a combination of the terms "bakufu" and "han" (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In the "bakuhan", the "shōgun" had national authority and the "daimyo" had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million "koku", control of the most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues.


title: Edo period

text: The feudal hierarchy was completed by the various classes of "daimyo". Closest to the Tokugawa house were the "shinpan", or "related houses". They were twenty-three "daimyo" on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of the hierarchy were the "fudai", or "house "daimyo"", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 "fudai" controlled much smaller "han", the greatest assessed at 250,000 "koku". Members of the "fudai" class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven "han" formed the third group, the "tozama" (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The "tozama" were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million "koku" of productive land. Because the "tozama" were least trusted of the "daimyo", they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions.


title: Edo period

text: The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all "daimyo" and the religious orders. The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the "shōgun", who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter was made an imperial consort in 1619.


title: Edo period

text: A code of laws was established to regulate the "daimyo" houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the "sankin-kōtai" system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; proscribed Christianity; restricted castles to one per domain ("han") and stipulated that bakufu regulations were the national law. Although the "daimyo" were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions for military and logistical support and for such public works projects as castles, roads, bridges and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the "daimyo", thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The "han", once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The "daimyo" did have full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats and commoners. Loyalty was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms.


title: Edo period

text: Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favored ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities.The beginning of the Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships, such as the "San Juan Bautista", a 500-ton galleon-type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to the Americas and then to Europe. Also during that period, the "bakufu" commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships, three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa, used those ships throughout Asia.


title: Edo period

text: The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian "daimyo" in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans. By 1612, the "shōgun"s retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity. More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians). Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from traveling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636, the Dutch were restricted to Dejima, a small artificial island—and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor.


title: Edo period

text: The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked the end of the Christian movement. During the Shimabara Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred. In 50 years, the Tokugawa shoguns reduced the amount of Christians to near zero in Japan. However, some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan. Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled, members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed, all subjects were ordered to register at a Buddhist or Shinto temple, and the Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki. Besides small trade of some outer "daimyo" with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands, to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of "sakoku" to Nagasaki.


title: Edo period

text: The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644 and by the 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated, and its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company, and for a short period, the English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki. Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial.


title: Edo period

text: During the Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the emperor and court nobles ("kuge"), together with the "shōgun" and "daimyo". Below them the population was divided into four classes in a system known as "mibunsei" (身分制): the samurai on top (about 5% of the population) and the peasants (more than 80% of the population) on the second level. Below the peasants were the craftsmen, and even below them, on the fourth level, were the merchants. Only the peasants lived in the rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around "daimyo" castles, each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige.


title: Edo period

text: At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, "daimyo" and layers of feudal lords whose rank was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The "daimyo" comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony.


title: Edo period

text: Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of the total population.


title: Edo period

text: After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained (fairly) stable for the next 250 years, influenced by Confucian principles of social order. Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the "daimyo" took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to the city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the "shōgun", the 5,000 so-called "hatamoto". The "daimyo" were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the "daimyo" themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province ("han") for the next. This system was called "sankin-kōtai".


title: Edo period

text: Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes.


title: Edo period

text: The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 "Gotōke reijō" was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696.


title: Edo period

text: Outside the four classes were the so-called "eta" and "hinin", those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism. "Eta" were butchers, tanners and undertakers. "Hinin" served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included the beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word "eta" literally translates to "filthy" and "hinin" to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the "eta" and "hinin" were not even people. "Hinin" were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and the wearing of hats. Sometimes "eta" villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society. In the 19th century the umbrella term "burakumin" was coined to name the "eta" and "hinin" because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The "eta", "hinin" and "burakumin" classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times.


title: Edo period

text: The Edo period passed on a vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization, increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and a diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, "han" authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts.


title: Edo period

text: By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time. Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%. Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as "chōnin".


title: Edo period

text: In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million. Between the 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost zero population growth, often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine (Great Tenmei famine 1782-1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population. At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around the Meiji Restoration around 150 years later. From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data.


title: Edo period

text: The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control the all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade.


title: Edo period

text: The system of "sankin kōtai" meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country. Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, are accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles. To keep up with growing expenditures, the "bakufu" and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets. As the shogunate only allowed "daimyos" to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there. Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services.The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants. A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge. The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans. The "bakufu" and "daimyos" raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos. Yet it was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government. As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business. The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos.


title: Edo period

text: By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of the samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries. Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity. The eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by the shogun's chief councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation. Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country.


title: Edo period

text: By 1800, the commercialization of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned). They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into the samurai class. There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid class division between samurai and merchants began to break down.


title: Edo period

text: A few domains, notably Chōsū and Satsuma, used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830-1843) promulgated by the chief counselor Mizuno Tadakuni. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy.


title: Edo period

text: Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control the all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The "daimyo" operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade.


title: Edo period

text: Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and the strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship. The "daimyo" collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the "fudasashi" market in Edo. To raise money, the "daimyo" used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading.


title: Edo period

text: It was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion. In response the "shōgun", beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only the "shōgun" and "daimyo" could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry.


title: Edo period

text: The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his "shinpan" domains and other "daimyos" followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as "han" schools (藩校, "hankō"). Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts. These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and the works of Zhu Xi. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools.


title: Edo period

text: The "chōnin" (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called "terakoya" (寺子屋, "temple schools"). Despite being located in temples, the "terakoya" curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy. High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms. In urban areas, children are often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education.


title: Edo period

text: In Edo, the shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country. Besides Shoheikō, other important directly-run schools at the end of the shogunate included the , specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing the rise of kokugaku, and the , focusing on Chinese medicine.


title: Edo period

text: One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a third of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate. According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of the "chōnin" (craftsmen and merchants) class and "nōmin" (peasants) class were literate. Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration.


title: Edo period

text: As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of "bunraku" (puppet theatre), "kibyōshi" (satirical novels), "sharebon" (books on urban culture), "kokkeibon" (comical books), "ninjōbon" (romance novel), "yomihon" and "kusazōshi" were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were "Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko" ("Life of an Amorous Man") by Ihara Saikaku, "Nansō Satomi Hakkenden" by Takizawa Bakin and "Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige" by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times.


title: Edo period

text: The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical humanism, rationalism, and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to the official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the "kokugaku" (national learning) school of thought.Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of the people or Confucian man was gradually replaced by the rule of law. New laws were developed, and new administrative devices were instituted. A new theory of government and a new vision of society emerged as a means of justifying more comprehensive governance by the bakufu. Each person had a distinct place in society and was expected to work to fulfill his or her mission in life. The people were to be ruled with benevolence by those whose assigned duty it was to rule. Government was all-powerful but responsible and humane. Although the class system was influenced by neo-Confucianism, it was not identical to it. Whereas soldiers and clergy were at the bottom of the hierarchy in the Chinese model, in Japan, some members of these classes constituted the ruling elite.


title: Edo period

text: Members of the samurai class adhered to bushi traditions with a renewed interest in Japanese history and cultivation of the ways of Confucian scholar-administrators. A distinct culture known as "chōnindō" ("the way of the townspeople") emerged in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo. It encouraged aspiration to bushido qualities—diligence, honesty, honor, loyalty, and frugality—while blending Shinto, neo-Confucian, and Buddhist beliefs. Study of mathematics, astronomy, cartography, engineering, and medicine were also encouraged. Emphasis was placed on quality of workmanship, especially in the arts.Buddhism and Shinto were both still important in Tokugawa Japan. Buddhism, together with neo-Confucianism, provided standards of social behavior. Although Buddhism was not as politically powerful as it had been in the past, Buddhism continued to be espoused by the upper classes. Proscriptions against Christianity benefited Buddhism in 1640 when the bakufu ordered everyone to register at a temple. The rigid separation of Tokugawa society into han, villages, wards, and households helped reaffirm local Shinto attachments. Shinto provided spiritual support to the political order and was an important tie between the individual and the community. Shinto also helped preserve a sense of national identity.


title: Edo period

text: Shinto eventually assumed an intellectual form as shaped by neo-Confucian rationalism and materialism. The kokugaku movement emerged from the interactions of these two belief systems. Kokugaku contributed to the emperor-centered nationalism of modern Japan and the revival of Shinto as a national creed in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Man'yōshū were all studied anew in the search for the Japanese spirit. Some purists in the kokugaku movement, such as Motoori Norinaga, even criticized the Confucian and Buddhist influences—in effect, foreign influences—for contaminating Japan's ancient ways. Japan was the land of the kami and, as such, had a special destiny.


title: Edo period

text: During the period, Japan studied Western sciences and techniques (called "rangaku", "Dutch studies") through the information and books received through the Dutch traders in Dejima. The main areas that were studied included geography, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy, art, languages, physical sciences such as the study of electrical phenomena, and mechanical sciences as exemplified by the development of Japanese clockwatches, or wadokei, inspired by Western techniques. Among those who studied mechanical science at that time, Tanaka Hisashige, the founder of Toshiba, is worthy of special mention. Because of the technical originality and sophistication of his Myriad year clock and "karakuri" puppet, they are difficult to restore even today, and are considered to be a highly mechanical heritage prior to Japan's modernization.


title: Edo period

text: In the field of art, the Rinpa school became popular. The paintings and crafts of the Rinpa school are characterized by highly decorative and showy designs using gold and silver leaves, bold compositions with simplified objects to be drawn, repeated patterns, and a playful spirit. Important figures in the Rinpa school include Hon'ami Kōetsu, Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Ogata Kōrin, Sakai Hōitsu and Suzuki Kiitsu. Other than the Rinpa school, Maruyama Ōkyo and Itō Jakuchū are famous for their realistic painting techniques. They produced their works under the patronage of wealthy merchants newly emerging from the economic development of this period. Following the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the painters of the Kano school drew pictures on the walls and fusumas of castles and temples with the support of powerful people.


title: Edo period

text: Due to the end of the period of civil war and the development of the economy, many crafts with high artistic value were produced. Among the samurai class, arms came to be treated like works of art, and Japanese sword mountings and Japanese armour beautifully decorated with lacquer of "maki-e" technique and metal carvings became popular. Each "han" (daimyo domain) encouraged the production of crafts to improve their finances, and crafts such as furnishings and "inro" beautifully decorated with lacquer, metal or ivory became popular among rich people. The Kaga Domain, which was ruled by the Maeda clan, was especially enthusiastic about promoting crafts, and the area still boasts a reputation that surpasses Kyoto in crafts even today.


title: Edo period

text: For the first time, urban populations had the means and leisure time to support a new mass culture. Their search for enjoyment became known as "ukiyo" (the floating world), an ideal world of fashion, popular entertainment, and the discovery of aesthetic qualities in objects and actions of everyday life. This increasing interest in pursuing recreational activities helped to develop an array of new industries, many of which could be found in an area known as Yoshiwara. The district was known for being the center of Edo's developing sense of elegance and refinement. Established in 1617 as the city's shogunate-sanctioned prostitution district, it kept this designation about 250 years. Yoshiwara was home to mostly women who, due to unfortunate circumstances, found themselves working in this secluded environment.


title: Edo period

text: Professional female entertainers ("geisha"), music, popular stories, "Kabuki" (theater) and "bunraku" (puppet theater), poetry, a rich literature, and art, exemplified by beautiful woodblock prints (known as "ukiyo-e"), were all part of this flowering of culture. Literature also flourished with the talented examples of the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1724) and the poet, essayist, and travel writer Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694).


title: Edo period

text: Ukiyo-e is a genre of painting and printmaking that developed in the late 17th century, at first depicting the entertainments of the pleasure districts of Edo, such as courtesans and kabuki actors. Harunobu produced the first full-colour "nishiki-e" prints in 1765, a form that has become synonymous to most with ukiyo-e. The genre reached a peak in technique towards the end of the century with the works of such artists as Kiyonaga and Utamaro. As the Edo period came to an end a great diversity of genres proliferated: warriors, nature, folklore, and the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige. The genre declined throughout the rest of the century in the face of modernization that saw ukiyo-e as both old-fashioned and laborious to produce compared to Western technologies. Ukiyo-e was a primary part of the wave of Japonisme that swept Western art in the late 19th century.


title: Edo period

text: The Edo period was characterized by an unprecedented series of economic developments (despite termination of contact with the outside world) and cultural maturation, especially in terms of theater, music, and other entertainment. For example, a poetic meter for music called kinsei kouta-chō was invented during this time and is still used today in folk songs. Music and theater were influenced by the social gap between the noble and commoner classes, and different arts became more defined as this gap widened. Several different types of kabuki emerged. Some, such as shibaraku, were only available at a certain time of year, while some companies only performed for nobles. Fashion trends, satirization of local news stories, and advertisements were often part of kabuki theater, as well. Along with kabuki, storytelling entertainments were popular among the common people, and people enjoyed rakugo, a comical story, and kōdan, a historical story, in a dedicated theater called yose. The most popular sport was sumo.


title: Edo period

text: Eating out became popular due to urbanization. Particularly popular among ordinary people were stalls serving fast food such as soba, sushi, tempura, and unagi, tofu restaurants, teahouses and izakaya (Japanese-style pubs). A number of ryotei also opened to serve high-class food. People enjoyed eating at restaurants by buying books that listed restaurant ratings that imitated sumo rankings.


title: Edo period

text: Gardening were also popular pastimes for the people of the time. Especially in Edo, residences of daimyo (feudal lords) of each domain were gathered, and many gardeners existed to manage these gardens, which led to the development of horticultural techniques. Among people, cherry blossoms, morning glories, Japanese irises and chrysanthemums were especially popular, and bonsai using deep pots became popular. Not only did people buy plants and appreciate flowers, but they were also enthusiastic about improving the varieties of flowers, so specialized books were published one after another. For example, Matsudaira Sadatomo produced 300 varieties of iris and published a technical book.


title: Edo period

text: Traveling became popular among people because of the improvement of roads and post towns. The main destinations were famous temples and Shinto shrines around the country, and eating and drinking at the inns and prostitution were one of the main attractions. And what people admired most was the visit to Ise Grand Shrine and the summit of Mount Fuji, which are considered the most sacred places in Japan. The Ise Grand Shrine in particular has been visited by an enormous number of visitors, and historical documents record that 3.62 million people visited the shrine in 50 days in 1625 and 1.18 million people visited it in three days in 1829 when the grand festival held every 20 years ("Shikinen Sengu") was held. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for people living in remote areas, so they set up a joint fund for each village, saved their travel expenses, and went on a group trip. Local residents of Ise Grand Shrine and Mount Fuji used to send specialized advertising personnel to various parts of Japan to solicit trips to local areas to make money from tourism.


title: Edo period

text: Clothing acquired a wide variety of designs and decorative techniques, especially for kimono worn by women. The main consumers of kimono were the samurai who used lavish clothing and other material luxuries to signal their place at the top of the social order. Driven by this demand, the textile industry grew and used increasingly sophisticated methods of weaving, dyeing, and embroidery. Over this period, women adopted brighter colours and bolder designs, whereas women's and men's kimono had been very similar. The rise of a merchant class fuelled more demand for elaborate costumes. While ordinary kimono would usually be created by women at home, luxurious silk kimono were designed and created by specialist artists who were usually men.


title: Edo period

text: A kind of kimono specific to the military elite is the or "palace court style", which would be worn in the residence of a military leader (a or ). These would have landscape scenes, among which there are other motifs usually referencing classic literature. Samurai men would dress with a more understated design with geometrical designs concentrated around the waist. The , or sleeping kimono, is a thickly wadded form of wearable bedding, usually with simple designs.


title: Edo period

text: A style called had rich decoration from the waist down only, and family emblems on the neck and shoulders. These would be worn by women of the merchant class. The kimono of merchant-class women were more subdued than those of the samurai, but still with bold colours and designs representing nature. Red was a popular colour for wealthy women, partly because of its cultural association with youth and passion, and partly because the dyederived from safflowerwas very expensive, so a bright red garment was an ostentatious display of wealth. Indian fabrics, brought to Japan by Dutch importers, were received with enthusiasm and found many uses. Japanese designers started printing designs that were influenced by the Indian patterns. Some garments used fabric imported from Britain or France. Ownership of these exotic textiles signified wealth and taste, but they were worn as undergarments where the designs would not be seen.


title: Edo period

text: Inro and netsuke became popular as accessories among men. Originally, inro was a portable case to put a seal or medicine, and netsuke was a fastener attached to the case, and both were practical tools. However, from the middle of the Edo period, products with high artistic value appeared and became popular as male accessories. Especially samurai and wealthy merchants competed to buy inro of high artistic value. At the end of the Edo period, the artistic value of inro further increased and it came to be regarded as an art collection.


title: Edo period

text: The end of this period is specifically called the late Tokugawa shogunate. The cause for the end of this period is controversial but is recounted as the forcing of Japan's opening to the world by Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy, whose armada (known by Japanese as "the black ships") fired weapons from Edo Bay. Several artificial land masses were created to block the range of the armada, and this land remains in what is presently called the Odaiba district.


title: Edo period

text: The Tokugawa did not eventually collapse simply because of intrinsic failures. Foreign intrusions helped to precipitate a complex political struggle between the "bakufu" and a coalition of its critics. The continuity of the anti-"bakufu" movement in the mid-19th century would finally bring down the Tokugawa. Historians consider that a major contributing factor to the decline of the Tokugawa was "poor management of the central government by the "shōgun", which caused the social classes in Japan to fall apart". From the outset, the Tokugawa attempted to restrict families' accumulation of wealth and fostered a "back to the soil" policy, in which the farmer, the ultimate producer, was the ideal person in society.


title: Edo period

text: The standard of living for urban and rural dwellers alike grew significantly during the Tokugawa period. Better means of crop production, transport, housing, food, and entertainment were all available, as was more leisure time, at least for urban dwellers. The literacy rate was high for a preindustrial society (by some estimates the literacy rate in the city of Edo was 80 percent), and cultural values were redefined and widely imparted throughout the samurai and "chōnin" classes. Despite the reappearance of guilds, economic activities went well beyond the restrictive nature of the guilds, and commerce spread and a money economy developed. Although government heavily restricted the merchants and viewed them as unproductive and usurious members of society, the samurai, who gradually became separated from their rural ties, depended greatly on the merchants and artisans for consumer goods, artistic interests, and loans. In this way, a subtle subversion of the warrior class by the "chōnin" took place.


title: Edo period

text: A struggle arose in the face of political limitations that the "shōgun" imposed on the entrepreneurial class. The government ideal of an agrarian society failed to square with the reality of commercial distribution. A huge government bureaucracy had evolved, which now stagnated because of its discrepancy with a new and evolving social order. Compounding the situation, the population increased significantly during the first half of the Tokugawa period. Although the magnitude and growth rates are uncertain, there were at least 26 million commoners and about four million members of samurai families and their attendants when the first nationwide census was taken in 1721. Drought, followed by crop shortages and starvation, resulted in twenty great famines between 1675 and 1837. During the Tokugawa period, there were 154 famines, of which 21 were widespread and serious.


title: Edo period

text: The Great Tenmei famine (1782 until 1788) was the worst famine in the Edo period. Many crops were damaged due to bad weather, serious cold and the 1783 eruption of Mount Asama. A worsening factor of the Great Tenmei famine was a drop in global temperatures due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki in 1783. The spread of the famine was largely due to mismanagement of the Shogunate and the clan.


title: Edo period

text: Peasant unrest grew, and by the late 18th century, mass protests over taxes and food shortages had become commonplace. Newly landless families became tenant farmers, while the displaced rural poor moved into the cities. As the fortunes of previously well-to-do families declined, others moved in to accumulate land, and a new, wealthy farming class emerged. Those people who benefited were able to diversify production and to hire laborers, while others were left discontented. Many samurai fell on hard times and were forced into handicraft production and wage jobs for merchants.


title: Edo period

text: Although Japan was able to acquire and refine a wide variety of scientific knowledge, the rapid industrialization of the West during the 18th century created a material gap in terms of technologies and armament between Japan and the West, forcing it to abandon its policy of seclusion, which contributed to the end of the Tokugawa regime.


title: Edo period

text: Western intrusions were on the increase in the early 19th century. Russian warships and traders encroached on Karafuto (called Sakhalin under Russian and Soviet control) and on the Kuril Islands, the southernmost of which are considered by the Japanese as the northern islands of Hokkaidō. A British warship entered Nagasaki harbour searching for enemy Dutch ships in 1808, and other warships and whalers were seen in Japanese waters with increasing frequency in the 1810s and 1820s. Whalers and trading ships from the United States also arrived on Japan's shores. Although the Japanese made some minor concessions and allowed some landings, they largely attempted to keep all foreigners out, sometimes using force. "Rangaku" became crucial not only in understanding the foreign "barbarians" but also in using the knowledge gained from the West to fend them off.


title: Edo period

text: By the 1830s, there was a general sense of crisis. Famines and natural disasters hit hard, and unrest led to a peasant uprising against officials and merchants in Osaka in 1837. Although it lasted only a day, the uprising made a dramatic impression. Remedies came in the form of traditional solutions that sought to reform moral decay rather than address institutional problems. The "shōgun"s advisers pushed for a return to the martial spirit, more restrictions on foreign trade and contacts, suppression of "rangaku", censorship of literature, and elimination of "luxury" in the government and samurai class. Others sought the overthrow of the Tokugawa and espoused the political doctrine of "sonnō jōi" (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians), which called for unity under imperial rule and opposed foreign intrusions. The "bakufu" persevered for the time being amidst growing concerns over Western successes in establishing colonial enclaves in China following the First Opium War of 1839–1842. More reforms were ordered, especially in the economic sector, to strengthen Japan against the Western threat.


title: Edo period

text: Japan turned down a demand from the United States, which was greatly expanding its own presence in the Asia-Pacific region, to establish diplomatic relations when Commodore James Biddle appeared in Edo Bay with two warships in July 1846.


title: Edo period

text: When Commodore Matthew C. Perry's four-ship squadron appeared in Edo Bay in July 1853, the bakufu was thrown into turmoil. The chairman of the senior councillors, Abe Masahiro (1819–1857), was responsible for dealing with the Americans. Having no precedent to manage this threat to national security, Abe tried to balance the desires of the senior councillors to compromise with the foreigners, of the emperor who wanted to keep the foreigners out, and of the "daimyo" who wanted to go to war. Lacking consensus, Abe decided to compromise by accepting Perry's demands for opening Japan to foreign trade while also making military preparations. In March 1854, the Treaty of Peace and Amity (or Treaty of Kanagawa) opened two ports to American ships seeking provisions, guaranteed good treatment to shipwrecked American sailors, and allowed a United States consul to take up residence in Shimoda, a seaport on the Izu Peninsula, southwest of Edo. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the U.S. and Japan (Harris Treaty), opening still more areas to American trade, was forced on the "bakufu" five years later.


title: Edo period

text: The resulting damage to the "bakufu" was significant. The devalued price for gold in Japan was one immediate, enormous effect. The European and American traders purchased gold for its original price on the world market and then sold it to the Japanese for triple the price. Along with this, cheap goods from these developed nations, like finished cotton, flooded the market forcing many Japanese out of business. Debate over government policy was unusual and had engendered public criticism of the "bakufu". In the hope of enlisting the support of new allies, Abe, to the consternation of the "fudai", had consulted with the "shinpan" and "tozama daimyo", further undermining the already weakened "bakufu". In the Ansei Reform (1854–1856), Abe then tried to strengthen the regime by ordering Dutch warships and armaments from the Netherlands and building new port defenses. In 1855, a naval training school with Dutch instructors was set up at Nagasaki, and a Western-style military school was established at Edo; by the next year, the government was translating Western books. Opposition to Abe increased within "fudai" circles, which opposed opening "bakufu" councils to "tozama daimyo", and he was replaced in 1855 as chairman of the senior councilors by Hotta Masayoshi (1810–1864).


title: Edo period

text: At the head of the dissident faction was Tokugawa Nariaki, who had long embraced a militant loyalty to the emperor along with anti-foreign sentiments, and who had been put in charge of national defense in 1854. The Mito school—based on neo-Confucian and Shinto principles—had as its goal the restoration of the imperial institution, the turning back of the West, and the founding of a world empire under the divine Yamato dynasty.


title: Edo period

text: In the final years of the Tokugawas, foreign contacts increased as more concessions were granted. The new treaty with the United States in 1859 allowed more ports to be opened to diplomatic representatives, unsupervised trade at four additional ports, and foreign residences in Osaka and Edo. It also embodied the concept of extraterritoriality (foreigners were subject to the laws of their own countries but not to Japanese law). Hotta lost the support of key "daimyo", and when Tokugawa Nariaki opposed the new treaty, Hotta sought imperial sanction. The court officials, perceiving the weakness of the "bakufu", rejected Hotta's request and thus suddenly embroiled Kyoto and the emperor in Japan's internal politics for the first time in many centuries. When the "shōgun" died without an heir, Nariaki appealed to the court for support of his own son, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (or Keiki), for "shōgun", a candidate favored by the "shinpan" and "tozama daimyo". The "fudai" won the power struggle, however, installing Tokugawa Yoshitomi, arresting Nariaki and Keiki, executing Yoshida Shōin (1830–1859), a leading "sonnō-jōi" intellectual who had opposed the American treaty and plotted a revolution against the bakufu, and signing treaties with the United States and five other nations, thus ending more than 200 years of exclusion.


title: Edo period

text: Recently some scholars have suggested that there were more events that spurred this opening of Japan. Yoshimune, eighth Tokugawa "shōgun" from 1716 to 1745, started the first Kyōhō reforms in an attempt to gain more revenue for the government. In 1767, to 1786 Tanuma Okitsugu also initiated some unorthodox economic reforms to expand government income. This led his conservative opponents to attack him and take his position as he was forced from government in disgrace. Similarly, Matsudaira Sadanobu launched the Kansei Reforms in 1787–1793 to stabilize rice prices, cut government costs, and increase revenues. The final economic reform of the Tenpō era of 1841–1843 had similar objectives. Most were ineffective and only worked in some areas. These economic failings would also have been a force in the opening of Japan, as Japanese businessmen desired larger markets. Some scholars also point to internal activism for political change. The Mito school had long been an active force in demanding political changes, such as restoring the powers of the Emperor. This anger can also be seen in the poetry of Matsuo Taseko (a woman who farmed silkworms in the Ina Valley) from Hirata Atsutane's School of National Learning:


title: Edo period

text: This inspired many anti-Tokugawa activists as they blamed the bakufu for impoverishing the people and dishonoring the emperor.


title: Edo period

text: During the last years of the "bakufu", or "bakumatsu", the "bakufu" took strong measures to try to reassert its dominance, although its involvement with modernization and foreign powers was to make it a target of anti-Western sentiment throughout the country.


title: Edo period

text: The army and the navy were modernized. A naval training school was established in Nagasaki in 1855. Naval students were sent to study in Western naval schools for several years, starting a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders, such as Admiral Enomoto. French naval engineers were hired to build naval arsenals, such as Yokosuka and Nagasaki. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, the Japanese navy of the "shōgun" already possessed eight Western-style steam warships around the flagship "Kaiyō Maru", which were used against pro-imperial forces during the Boshin War under the command of Admiral Enomoto. A French military mission was established to help modernize the armies of the "bakufu".Revering the emperor as a symbol of unity, extremists wrought violence and death against the Bakufu and Han authorities and foreigners. Foreign naval retaliation in the Anglo-Satsuma War led to still another concessionary commercial treaty in 1865, but Yoshitomi was unable to enforce the Western treaties. A "bakufu" army was defeated when it was sent to crush dissent in the Satsuma and Chōshū Domains in 1866. Finally, in 1867, Emperor Kōmei died and was succeeded by his underaged son Emperor Meiji.


title: Edo period

text: Tokugawa Yoshinobu reluctantly became head of the Tokugawa house and "shōgun". He tried to reorganize the government under the emperor while preserving the "shōgun"s leadership role. Fearing the growing power of the Satsuma and Chōshū "daimyo", other "daimyo" called for returning the "shōgun"s political power to the emperor and a council of "daimyo" chaired by the former Tokugawa "shōgun". Yoshinobu accepted the plan in late 1867 and resigned, announcing an "imperial restoration". The Satsuma, Chōshū, and other "han" leaders and radical courtiers, however, rebelled, seized the imperial palace, and announced their own restoration on January 3, 1868.


title: Edo period

text: Following the Boshin War (1868–1869), the "bakufu" was abolished, and Yoshinobu was reduced to the ranks of the common "daimyo". Resistance continued in the North throughout 1868, and the "bakufu" naval forces under Admiral Enomoto Takeaki continued to hold out for another six months in Hokkaidō, where they founded the short-lived Republic of Ezo.


title: Edo period

text: The Edo period is the setting of many works of popular culture. These include novels, comics, stageplays, films, television shows, animated works, and manga.


title: Edo period

text: There is a cultural theme park called Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura in the Kinugawa Onsen area of Nikkō, Tochigi, north of Tokyo.


title: Four Noble Truths

text: In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; ; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones". The truths are:


title: Four Noble Truths

text: The four truths appear in many grammatical forms in the ancient Buddhist texts, and are traditionally identified as the first teaching given by the Buddha. While often called one of the most important teachings in Buddhism, they have both a symbolic and a propositional function. Symbolically, they represent the awakening and liberation of the Buddha, and of the potential for his followers to reach the same liberation and freedom as him. As propositions, the Four Truths are a conceptual framework that appear in the Pali canon and early Hybrid Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures, as a part of the broader "network of teachings" (the ""dhamma" matrix"), which have to be taken together. They provide a conceptual framework for introducing and explaining Buddhist thought, which has to be personally understood or "experienced".


title: Four Noble Truths

text: As a proposition, the four truths defy an exact definition, but refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism: unguarded sensory contact gives rise to craving and clinging to impermanent states and things, which are "dukkha", "unsatisfactory," "incapable of satisfying" and painful.) This craving keeps us caught in "saṃsāra", "wandering," usually interpreted as the endless cycle of repeated rebirth, and the continued "dukkha" that comes with it, but also referring to the endless cycle of attraction and rejection that perpetuates the ego-mind. There is a way to end this cycle, namely by attaining "nirvana", cessation of craving, whereafter rebirth and the accompanying "dukkha" will no longer arise again. This can be accomplished by following the eightfold path, confining our automatic responses to sensory contact by restraining oneself, cultivating discipline and wholesome states, and practicing mindfulness and "dhyana" (meditation).


title: Four Noble Truths

text: The function of the four truths, and their importance, developed over time and the Buddhist tradition slowly recognized them as the Buddha's first teaching. This tradition was established when "prajna", or "liberating insight", came to be regarded as liberating in itself, instead of or in addition to the practice of "dhyana". This "liberating insight" gained a prominent place in the sutras, and the four truths came to represent this liberating insight, as a part of the enlightenment story of the Buddha.


title: Four Noble Truths

text: The four truths grew to be of central importance in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism by about the 5th-century CE, which holds that the insight into the four truths is liberating in itself. They are less prominent in the Mahayana tradition, which sees the higher aims of insight into "sunyata", emptiness, and following the Bodhisattva path as central elements in their teachings and practice. The Mahayana tradition reinterpreted the four truths to explain how a liberated being can still be "pervasively operative in this world". Beginning with the exploration of Buddhism by western colonialists in the 19th century and the development of Buddhist modernism, they came to be often presented in the west as the central teaching of Buddhism, sometimes with novel modernistic reinterpretations very different from the historic Buddhist traditions in Asia.


title: Four Noble Truths

text: The four truths are best known from their presentation in the "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta" text, which contains two sets of the four truths, while various other sets can be found in the Pāli Canon, a collection of scriptures in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition. The full set, which is most commonly used in modern expositions, contains grammatical errors, pointing to multiple sources for this set and translation problems within the ancient Buddhist community. Nevertheless, they were considered correct by the Pali tradition, which did not correct them.


title: Four Noble Truths

text: According to the Buddhist tradition, the "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta", "Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion", contains the first teachings that the Buddha gave after attaining full awakening, and liberation from rebirth. According to L. S. Cousins, many scholars are of the view that "this discourse was identified as the first sermon of the Buddha only at a later date," and according to professor of religion Carol S. Anderson the four truths may originally not have been part of this sutta, but were later added in some versions. Within this discourse, the four noble truths are given as follows ("bhikkus" is normally translated as "Buddhist monks"):


title: Four Noble Truths

text: According to this sutra, with the complete comprehension of these four truths release from "samsara", the cycle of rebirth, was attained:


title: Four Noble Truths

text: The comprehension of these four truths by his audience leads to the opening of the "Dhamma Eye", that is, the attainment of right vision:


title: Four Noble Truths

text: According to K. R. Norman, the Pali canon contains various shortened forms of the four truths, the "mnemonic set", which were "intended to remind the hearer of the full form of the NTs." The earliest form of the mnemonic set was "dukkham samudayo nirodho magga", without the reference to the Pali terms "sacca" or "arya", which were later added to the formula. The four mnemonic terms can be translated as follows:


title: Four Noble Truths

text: According to L.S. Cousins, the four truths are not restricted to the well-known form where "dukkha" is the subject. Other forms take "the world, the arising of the world" or "the āsavas, the arising of the āsavas" as their subject. According to Cousins, "the well-known form is simply shorthand for all of the forms." "The world" refers to the saṅkhāras, that is, all compounded things, or to the six sense spheres.


title: Four Noble Truths

text: The various terms all point to the same basic idea of Buddhism, as described in five skandhas and twelve nidānas. In the five skandhas, sense-contact with objects leads to sensation and perception; the saṅkhāra ('inclinations', c.q. craving etc.) determine the interpretation of, and the response to, these sensations and perceptions, and affect consciousness in specific ways. The "twelve nidānas" describe the further process: craving and clinging ("upādāna") lead to "bhava" (becoming) and "jāti" (birth).


title: Four Noble Truths

text: In the orthodox interpretation, "bhava" is interpreted as "kammabhava", that is , "karma", while "jāti" is interpreted as rebirth: from sensation comes craving, from craving comes karma, from karma comes rebirth. The aim of the Buddhist path is to reverse this causal chain: when there is no (response to) sensation, there is no craving, no karma, no rebirth. In Thai Buddhism, "bhava" is interpreted as behavior which serves craving and clinging, while "jāti" is interpreted as the repeated birth of the ego or self-sense, which perpetuates the process of self-serving responses and actions.