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Nichigai WHO, organized by Nichigai Associates, is a searchable database of over 300,000 historical and contemporary figures. The database was created to facilitate research related to publishers, mass communications, research institutes, libraries, and freelancers.
Nichigai Associates (日外アソシエーツ株式会社) was founded in 1965. Its purpose has been to facilitate the acquisition of accurate information. In 1969, Nichigai Associates started a technical information retrieval service and began publishing the encyclopedias, indices, and directories. Following the current digitalization, its main service has been various online databases, such as WHO series, MAGAZINEPLUS and BOOKPLUS, among others. The databases focus on providing the information regarding prominent figures, bibliographies, magazines, awards, translation, and other reference materials.
Nichigai WHO has four series: WHO I, WHO II, WHO III, Sakka shippitsusha jinbutsu file (作家・執筁E��E��物ファイル, lit. Writers EFile), and the latest WHOPLUS. This WHO series is divided by fields of occupational activity. WHO I catalog important figures in economics, society, and politics, WHO II in academic research, literary, and journalism, and WHO III in arts, entertainment, and sports. The Sakka shippitsusha jinbutsu file compiles over 36,000 writers, critics, journalists, and researchers in humanities and social sciences from Meiji period to the present. However, the Sakka shippitsusha jinbutsu file service had finished in March 2006.
Nichigai WHOPLUS is divided into two categories: WHO and Jinbutsu odan file (人物ファイル横断, lit. Figures Cross-reference). WHO provides a full text search with the option to post limits, while Jinbutsu odan file searches name headings and full text.
WHO is a database that catalogs profiles and bibliographic information of over 260,000 prominent figures. The profiles include their notations and readings of names, occupations and position titles, date of birth and death, academic backgrounds, personal history, and awards among others.
Two search methods are available: one is the full text search (全文検索) and the other is the advanced search (条件指定, lit. search by limiting the subjects). If searching Tsuda Umeko by full text, 19 figures related to Tsuda Umeko will be displayed as the search results. If searching Tsuda Umeko, limiting by female, deceased, and Japanese, only Tsuda Umeko will appear as the result. Subject includes full text search by profile, name of the figure, gender, living or deceased, the area of occupational activity, the year of birth and death, place of employment, position title, contact information, hometown, affiliated college, and nationality.
Bibliographic information of the figures are divided into three parts; Jinbutsu bunken, Tosho, and Kiji ronbun. Jinbutsu bunken (人物文献, lit. Literature Concerning Figures) catalogs the books and articles writing about the searched figure. Tosho (図書, lit. Book) and Kiji ronbun (記事・論文, lit. Magazine and Academic Articles) lists the books and articles that the searched figure wrote. Search results in Tosho and Kiji ronbun are based on the results of BOOKPLUS and MAGAZINEPLUS. The result page lists the National Diet Library call numbers which facilitate the book and article search at NDL.
Jinbutsu odan file is a database that combines the function of WHO database with five other databases:
WHO includes not only scholars but also actors, artists, athletes, musicians, politicians, and writers. Although there is no indication of the time range, it roughly covers from ancient times to the present. Unlike printed encyclopedias, information provided in WHO is updated. The bibliographic information page is marked with date of the last update. Nevertheless, the frequency of the update varies. Some bibliographic information was last updated in 1988, while others in 2005. The bibliographic information provided in WHO is self provided and verified by each figure for accuratacy, except for deceased, non-Japanese, and public figures.
Advanced search allows the users to limit various subjects in order to find the figures. One may search for a certain type of person without specifying any names. For instance, by checking female, deceased, Japanese, musician, and Naha-shi, five deceased female musicians in Naha-shi, Okinawa, will be found.
This page is a glossary of library and information science.
Maeda Toshiie was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as "Yari no Mataza" (槍の又左), Matazaemon (又左衛門) being his common name. He was a member of the so-called Echizen Sanninshu along with Sassa Narimasa and Fuwa Mitsuharu. The highest rank from the court that he received is the Great Counselor Dainagon.
Saitō Hajime was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who most famously served as the captain of the third unit of the Shinsengumi. He was one of the few core members who survived the numerous wars of the Bakumatsu period. He was later known as Fujita Gorō and worked as a police officer in Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration where he worked mostly undercover for them and for the Japanese government.
Zasshi Kiji Sakuin, often called Zassaku in short, is a searchable database of scholarly articles in Japanese. The database, produced by the National Diet Library (NDL) in 1948, catalogs selected articles from NDL's extensive collection of periodicals. The database was created for the purpose of facilitating scholastic research in providing citation information. Scholarly journals, specialized magazines, institutional periodical publications and general-interest magazines are included in the database from all areas of academic interest: humanities, social sciences, science and technology, and medical sciences, including pharmacology. Approximately 10,000 periodicals and more than 6,660,000 articles are currently registered in Zasshi Kiji Sakuin. It is updated every two weeks. Zasshi Kiji Sakuin's extensive coverage of periodicals provides an excellent bibliography of research and publications in Japan, which may not necessarily appear in non-Japanese journals of Japanese studies.
Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic dictionaries. According to Nakao Keisuke (中尾啓介):
It has often been said that dictionary publishing in Japan is active and prosperous, that Japanese people are well provided for with reference tools, and that lexicography here, in practice as well as in research, has produced a number of valuable reference books together with voluminous academic studies. (1998:35)
The akaname is a Japanese yōkai depicted in Toriyama Sekien's 1776 book Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, with its precursor or equivalent akaneburi documented earlier in 1686.
Ihei Kimura was a Japanese photographer, known for his portrayal of Tokyo and Akita Prefecture.
Tomio Kondō was an amateur photographer who lived on and energetically photographed Sado island in the Sea of Japan.
Toyoko Tokiwa was a Japanese photographer best known for her 1957 book of text and photographs Kiken na Adabana, and particularly for its portrayal of the red-light district of post-occupation Yokohama, with US servicemen.
The Tottori earthquake occurred in Tottori prefecture, Japan at 17:36 local time on September 10, 1943. Although the earthquake occurred during World War II, information about the disaster was not censored, and relief volunteers and supplies came from many parts of the Empire of Japan, including Manchukuo.
Tachiyaku is a term used in the Japanese theatrical form kabuki to refer to young adult male roles, and to the actors who play those roles. Though not all tachiyaku roles are heroes, the term does not encompass roles such as villains or comic figures, which form their own separate categories. The hero or chief protagonist of a kabuki play is nearly always a tachiyaku role, and the head of a troupe or acting family typically specializes in these roles.
Edo Neo-Confucianism, known in Japanese as Shushi-Gaku, refers to the schools of Neo-Confucian philosophy that developed in Japan during the Edo period. Neo-Confucianism reached Japan during the Kamakura period. The philosophy can be characterized as humanistic and rationalistic, with the belief that the universe could be understood through human reason, and that it was up to man to create a harmonious relationship between the universe and the individual. The 17th-century Tokugawa shogunate adopted Neo-Confucianism as the principle of controlling people and Confucian philosophy took hold. Neo-Confucians such as Hayashi Razan and Arai Hakuseki were instrumental in the formulation of Japan's dominant early modern political philosophy.
Date Shigemura was a mid-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 7th daimyō of Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan, and the 23rd hereditary chieftain of the Date clan.
Nakayama Tadachika was a Japanese court noble and writer during the late Heian and early Kamakura period and a member of the influential Fujiwara family. His works are valuable historical documents describing a pivotal period in Japanese history when power shifted from aristocratic families at the Heian court to regional military rulers such as daimyōs and shōguns.
Unit 88-9 is a glazed stoneware sculpture by contemporary Japanese potter and sculptor Kiyomizu Masahiro, also known by the professional art-name Kiyomizu Rokubei VIII. This piece is held in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
Three Beauties of the Present Day is a nishiki-e colour woodblock print from c. 1792–93 by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro. The triangular composition depicts the profiles of three celebrity beauties of the time: geisha Tomimoto Toyohina, and teahouse waitresses Naniwaya Kita and Takashima Hisa. The print is also known under the titles Three Beauties of the Kansei Era and Three Famous Beauties.
Ono Motohiro, also known as Ono Ranzan (小野蘭山), was a Japanese botanist and herbalist, known as the "Japanese Linnaeus".
Himetataraisuzu-hime(媛蹈鞴五十鈴媛) is a Japanese goddess, a mythological figure in the Nihon Shoki, the first empress of Japan, and the first wife of Emperor Jimmu.
Ishihara Shiko'o was a Japanese historian, educator, and author active during the early 20th century.