Japanese language

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Japanese calligraphy

Map of Japan and surrounding seas, showing and labeling the major Japanese islands including Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Sado, Tsushima, Okinawa, Tanegashima, Yakushima, Amami Great Island, as well as the Ryukyu, Izu, and Bonin Islands. Neighboring countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, and South Korea are also partially visible.

Yellow letter tiles on a teal background spell 'what is a haiku?' with abstract calligraphic scribbles in the background

Tokugawa Nariaki: calligraphy

A crowd of spectators watches as bonfires form the Japanese character for large, dai, illuminated on Mount Nyoigatake during Kyoto's Gozan Okuribi Bonfire Festival at night.

Site of the outbreak of the Ōnin War

Six red kanji characters are shown in two rows, each labeled in English: bridge, flower, moon, friend, eye, and color. The note below states that kanji characters stand for words.

Calligraphy from the 11th century

A pathway lined with numerous bright orange torii gates inscribed with black Japanese characters at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan.

At a Glance

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Japanese language summary

Japanese language: Media

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Yellow letter tiles on a teal background spell 'what is a haiku?' with abstract calligraphic scribbles in the background

The History of the Haiku, and How to Write One

Three lines. Five, seven, five.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

Japanese calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy

Record of a haiku exchange on kaishi writing paper by Japanese poet Bashō and...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2018 (accession no. 2018.853.20); www.metmuseum.org

Map of Japan and surrounding seas, showing and labeling the major Japanese islands including Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Sado, Tsushima, Okinawa, Tanegashima, Yakushima, Amami Great Island, as well as the Ryukyu, Izu, and Bonin Islands. Neighboring countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, and South Korea are also partially visible.

Major islands of Japan

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Refugio Mariscal

Tokugawa Nariaki: calligraphy

Tokugawa Nariaki: calligraphy

Flower calligraphy, one of a set of three hanging scrolls, ink and gold pigment on...

Photograph by Howard Cheng. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of 2008 Japanese Art Acquisitions Committee, M.2008.11.1-3

A crowd of spectators watches as bonfires form the Japanese character for large, dai, illuminated on Mount Nyoigatake during Kyoto's Gozan Okuribi Bonfire Festival at night.

Bon festival

Giant bonfires create the Japanese character dai ‘large' on Mount Nyoigatake...

© JIJI PRESS—AFP/Getty Images

Site of the outbreak of the Ōnin War

Site of the outbreak of the Ōnin War

A stone marker denotes the location of the outbreak of the Ōnin War, Kyōto, Japan.

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Six red kanji characters are shown in two rows, each labeled in English: bridge, flower, moon, friend, eye, and color. The note below states that kanji characters stand for words.

Japanese language

Kanji characters.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Calligraphy from the 11th century

Calligraphy from the 11th century

Three poems from the Kokinshū, the first anthology of Japanese poetry, compiled...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015, 2015.300.230, www.metmuseum.org

A pathway lined with numerous bright orange torii gates inscribed with black Japanese characters at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan.

Inscribed gates

The torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyōto, Japan, bear the names of their...

© Eudaemon/Dreamstime.com

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