Guru’s debut solo studio album, Jazzmatazz Volume 1, is titled “An Experimental Synthesis of Hip-Hop and Jazz.” Guru is an American hip hop recording artist. It was made available through Chrysalis Records on May 18, 1993. Recording sessions were held in New York’s D&D Studios. Guru personally oversaw production and shared the role of executive …
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. The Wu-Tang Clan are often considered one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time, and for a reason. Their unique approach to rap and …
American rapper Ghostface Killah’s debut solo album, titled Ironman, was released on October 29, 1996, by Epic Records. RZA, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, produced it. Blaxploitation movies and soul music samples are key influences on the album’s sound. Ironman features more allusions to the Nation of Gods and Earths than other solo debuts …
Jamel Irief (born Elgin Turner; August 18, 1969), better known by his stage name Masta Killa, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Though one of the lesser-known members of the group (he was featured on only one track on their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)), he has been …
The Tokyo Imperial Palace (皇居, Kōkyo, literally ‘Imperial Residence’) is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the main palace (宮殿, Kyūden), some residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums and …
Nojiri Kazutoshi (1590-1680), a rônin who served two different daimyo but found himself masterless at the time of Banzan’s birth, three years after the passing of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the father of Banzan when he was born in Kyoto (1543–1616). The daimyos Sakuma Jinkurô and Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) were served by Banzan’s grandfather (1556–1631). His …
During the Tenpô era (1830–1843), a period of famine and political upheaval that many historians believe to represent the start of the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate, Kido Kôin, a samurai from Chôshû, was born. He was a staunch supporter of the imperial dynasty who made a significant contribution to overthrowing the Tokugawa regime. He …
Itô Hirobumi (then known as Hayashi Risuke) was raised as a samurai after being adopted from a farming family in the village of Tsukari in the Chôshû domain (modern-day Yamaguchi prefecture). He studied under the late Tokugawa loyalist scholar Yoshida Shôin and was a key figure in the Meiji Restoration and the early development of …
During the Tokugawa era, samurai were expected to balance their study of martial techniques and literary (civil) subjects. This idea was known as bunbu. Early in the seventeenth century, maintaining a state of readiness for battle was essential because, under the Tokugawa shogun’s new leadership, the nation faced political instability and, in 1614–1615, conflict broke …
Around 1716, Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719), a ward of the Saga domain in Kyushu, finished writing Hagakure (In the Shadow of Leaves). With 1,300 brief anecdotes and reflections on life, it was designed as a sort of samurai guidebook. It is incorrectly regarded as one of the essential writings that define the “way of the samurai” …