School of Buddhism in which adherents follow an experienced master and seek to achieve satori, a flash of enlightenment signaling the recovery of one's Buddha nature.
A system of written symbols representing the sounds of syllables, rather than individual consonants and vowels.
A social system in which the mother is head of the family.
A very small blade made of flaked stone and used as a tool, especially in the Mesolithic era.
A Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy.
Relating to, based on, or tracing ancestral descent through the maternal line.
Amount negotiated between the family of the groom and the family of the bride to be paid by the former to the latter in some marriage traditions, as compensation for the loss of her labor.
In linguistics, the family of languages descended from that spoken by inhabitants of the region of the Altai Mountains in central Asia. Examples include the Turkish languages, Mongolian, and Manchu.
The government, rule, or office of a shogun.
Traditional alcoholic drink brewed from rice.
Korean phonetic script, introduced in the middle of the fifteenth century.
The chief military official of Japan. The office was hereditary under the Tokugawa family from 1603 until 1867.