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Kurosawa, Akira

(Encyclopedia)Kurosawa, Akira äkēˈrä ko͞orōˈsäwä [key], 1910–98, Japanese film director, scriptwriter, and producer, b. Tokyo. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest directors. In Rashomon (1950),...

Ban, Shigeru

(Encyclopedia)Ban, Shigeru, 1957–, Japanese architect. After graduating (1984) from the Cooper Union School of Architecture, New York City, he established (1985) a practice in Tokyo, later adding offices in Paris...

Isozaki, Arata

(Encyclopedia)Isozaki, Arata äräˈtä ēˌsōzäˈkē [key], 1931–, Japanese architect, b. Oita. One of his nation's most important contemporary architects, he has an international reputation and has designed n...

Kawabata, Yasunari

(Encyclopedia)Kawabata, Yasunari yäso͞onäˈrē käwäˈbätä [key], 1899–1972, Japanese novelist. His first major work was The Izu Dancer, (1925). He came to be a leader of the school of Japanese writers that...

Noguchi, Isamu

(Encyclopedia)Noguchi, Isamu ēsäˈmo͞o nōgo͞oˈchē [key], 1904–88, American sculptor, b. Los Angeles. The son of a Japanese poet father and an American mother, he was a student of Gutzon Borglum and won Gug...

Nouvel, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Nouvel, Jean zhäN no͞ovĕlˈ [key], 1945–, French architect, grad. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1971). He opened his own firm in 1975, and became known for innovative techniques, the use of moder...

Ieyasu

(Encyclopedia)Ieyasu (Ieyasu Tokugawa) ēāˈyäso͞o tōko͞ogäˈwə [key], 1542–1616, Japanese warrior and dictator. A gifted leader and brilliant general, he founded the Tokugawa shogunate. Early in his caree...

shogun

(Encyclopedia)shogun shōˈgŭnˌ [key], title of the feudal military administrator who from the 12th cent. to the 19th cent. was, as the emperor's military deputy, the actual ruler of Japan. The title itself, Sei-...

Endo, Shusaku

(Encyclopedia)Endo, Shusaku shəsäˈko͝o ĕnˈdō [key], 1923–1996, one of the finest 20th-century Japanese novelists, b. Tokyo. Baptized a Roman Catholic at 11, he is often compared to Graham Greene for his de...

Hashimoto, Ryutaro

(Encyclopedia)Hashimoto, Ryutaro rēˌo͞otärˈō häˌshēmōˈtō [key], 1937–2006, Japanese politician, b. Tokyo, grad. Keio Univ. He entered politics in 1963, when he was elected to parliament from Okayama p...