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Kumamoto ... Kurma

Kumamoto: city and prefectural capital, Kumamoto ken (prefecture), central Kyushu, Japan. Kumamoto has long been the largest and most influential city of central Kyushu. It is known for ...
Kumamoto: ken (prefecture), located in central Kyushu, Japan, facing the Amakusa Sea and including the Amakusa Archipelago. The city of Kumamoto is the prefectural capital.
Kumanovo: city in northern Macedonia. It lies east-northeast of Skopje, on the rail and road link between Nis, Serbia and Montenegro, and Skopje. Agriculture and metal and tobacco processing contribute to ...
Kumarajiva: Buddhist scholar and seer, famed for his encyclopaedic knowledge of Indian and Vedantic learning. He is recognized as one of the greatest translators of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese, ...
Kumaratunga, Chandrika Bandaranaike: member of a prominent Sri Lankan political family, who was the first woman to serve as the country's president (1994-2005).
Kumarila: South Indian dialectician, teacher, and interpreter of Jaimini's Mimamsa-sutras ("The Profound-Thought Sutras"), or Purva-mimamsa system (200 BC).
Kumasi: city, south-central Ghana. Carved out of a dense forest belt among hills rising to 1,000 feet (300 metres), Kumasi has a humid, wet climate. Osei Tutu, a 17th-century Asante king, ...
Kumazawa Banzan: political philosopher who was a Japanese disciple of the Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Yang-ming (d. 1529) and who was one of the first in Japan to attempt to put Wang's ...
Kumba: town, southwestern Cameroon. It is an important regional transportation centre, connected by railway to Douala and by roads to Buea (south), Mamfe (north), Bafang (northeast), and Douala (southeast). Kumba is ...
Kumbakonam: city, east-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, in the Cauvery River delta. It was a Cola (Chola) capital in the 7th century AD and has numerous Vaishnava (see ) and ...
Kumbh Mela: greatest of the Hindu pilgrimage festivals. It is a riverside religious fair held four times every 12 years, rotating between Haridwar on the Ganges River, Ujjain on the Sipra, Nashik ...
Kumbi: last of the capitals of ancient Ghana, a great trading empire that flourished in western Africa from the 9th through the 13th century. Situated about 200 miles (322 km) north ...
Kume Masao: novelist and playwright, one of Japan's most popular writers of the 1920s and '30s.
Kumi: city, Kyongsang-puk do (province), south-central South Korea. It lies near the junction of the Kumi River and the Naktong River. Developed after the Korean War (1950-53) as an industrial city, ...
Kumin, Maxine: American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, novelist, and children's author. Kumin's novels were praised in literary circles, but she was best known for her poetry, written primarily in traditional forms, on the ...
Kummer, Ernst Eduard: German mathematician whose introduction of ideal numbers, which are defined as a special subgroup of a ring, extended the fundamental theorem of arithmetic (unique factorization of every integer into a ...
Kumo: town, Bauchi state, northeastern Nigeria. One of the largest towns of the traditional Gombe emirate, Kumo serves as a collecting point for peanuts (groundnuts), cotton, and corn (maize) and as ...
kumquat: any of several evergreen shrubs or trees of the genus Fortunella (family Rutaceae). Native to eastern Asia, these small trees are cultivated throughout the subtropics, including southern California and Florida. ...
kun: (Japanese: "instruction"), one of two alternate readings (the other is on) for a kanji (Japanese: "character"). The ambiguity of a kanji arises from its having two values: the meaning of ...
Kun, Bela: communist leader and head of the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919.
Kuna: Chibchan-speaking Indian people who once occupied the central region of what is now Panama and the neighbouring San Blas Islands and who still survive in marginal areas.
Kuncewiczowa, Maria: Polish writer of novels, essays, plays, and short stories who was particularly important for her portrayal of women's psychology and role conflicts.
kundalini: in some Tantric (esoteric) forms of Yoga, the cosmic energy that is believed to lie within everyone, pictured as a coiled serpent lying at the base of the spine. In ...
Kundera, Milan: Czech novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and poet who wrote various works combining erotic comedy with political criticism.
Kundiawa: town, central Papua New Guinea. The town, built on an old Lutheran mission site, is located on a pine-covered hilltop surrounded by mountains, waterfalls, coffee plantations, and vegetable gardens. It ...
Kundt, August: German physicist who developed a method for determining the velocity of sound in gases and solids.
Kunene River: river rising in west-central Angola, southwestern Africa, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Huambo. Its total length is 587 miles (945 km).
Kunene, Mazisi: South African-born poet, whose work reflects the influences of traditional Zulu poets.
Kung Ch'in-wang: leading official in the closing years of the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911), who tried to repair a weakened government and to effect a rapprochement with the West.
kung fu: a martial art, both a form of exercise with a spiritual dimension stemming from concentration and self-discipline and a primarily unarmed mode of personal combat often equated with karate or ...
Kung, Hans: Swiss Roman Catholic theologian whose controversial liberal views led to his censorship by the Vatican in 1979.
Kungur: city, Perm oblast (province), western Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Sylva, Iren, and Shakva rivers, 45 miles (72 km) south of Perm city. Founded ...
Kungurian Stage: lowest stage of rock strata of the Late Permian Period (258 to 245 million years ago) in Russia and Kazakstan, with well-developed exposures in the Ural region. The Kungurian exhibits ...
Kunikida Doppo: also called Kunikida Kamekichi writer whose short stories, deeply imbued with a Wordsworthian awareness of nature, brought to Japanese literature a new attitude toward the individual.
Kunitz, Stanley: American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet noted for his subtle craftsmanship and his treatment of complex themes.
Kuniyoshi, Yasuo: Japanese-born American painter who was an influential teacher and a leader of artists' organizations.
Kunlun Mountains: mountain system of Asia. The Kunluns extend east to west some 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometres) from the Pamirs in Tajikistan on the west to the Kunlun Pass and the adjacent ...
kunqu: form of Chinese drama that developed in the 16th century.
Kunsan: city, Cholla-puk do (province), western South Korea. Kunsan is situated 25 miles (40 km) west-northwest of the provincial capital, Chonju, and 7.5 miles (12 km) from the mouth of the ...
Kunst, Jaap: Dutch ethnomusicologist who was one of the founders of modern ethnomusicology.
Kunsthaus Zurich: (German: "Zurich Art House"), museum of art in Zurich, established in 1787 and, since 1910, occupying a building designed by Karl Moser. It houses a varied collection of European painting ...
Kunsthistorisches Museum: art museum in Vienna. In addition to its many famous paintings, the museum contains important collections of sculpture, Oriental art, and decorative arts.
Kunstlerroman: (German: "artist's novel"), class of Bildungsroman, or apprenticeship novel, that deals with the youth and development of an individual who becomes-or is on the threshold of becoming-a painter, musician, or ...
Kunstmuseum-Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel: (German: "Basel Art Museum-Public Art Collection"), museum of art in Basel, Switz., established in 1662 by the city and its university. The founding collection, the first publicly owned art collection ...
Kuntaur: town, port on the Gambia River, MacCarthy Island division, central Gambia. Oceangoing vessels of 17-ft (5-m) draft navigate 150 mi (240 km) upstream to Kuntaur to load peanuts (groundnuts) for ...
Kuo Hsiang: Chinese philosopher, a Neo-Taoist thinker to whom is attributed a celebrated commentary on the Chuang-tzu, one of the basic Taoist writings.
Kuo Sung-tao: Chinese diplomat and liberal statesman who was his country's first resident minister of modern times to be stationed in a Western nation.
Kuo T'ai-ch'i: also spelled Quo Tai-chi Chinese official and diplomat who played a major role in determining his country's foreign policy during the 1930s and '40s.
Kuo Tzu-i: one of the greatest of Chinese generals, later deified in popular religion.
Kuopio: city, south central Finland, on the Kallavesi (lake). Originally founded in 1653, Kuopio existed as little more than a village until 1776, when King Gustav III ordered new city plans ...
Kupang: city, kabupaten (regency), and capital of Nusa Tenggara Timur propinsi (East Nusa Tenggara province), Timor island, Indonesia, located near the southwestern tip of the island on Teluk (bay) Kupang of ...
Kupffer cell: any of the stellate (star-shaped) cells in the linings of the liver sinusoids. The sinusoids are microscopic blood channels. The Kupffer cells are phagocytic, i.e., capable of ingestion of other ...
Kupka, Frantisek: Czech-born French pioneer of abstract painting and one of the first completely nonrepresentational artists. His mature works contributed much to the foundations of purely abstract painting in the 20th century.
Kuprin, Aleksandr Ivanovich: Russian novelist and short-story writer, one of the last exponents of the great tradition of Russian critical realism.
Kura River: river in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The Kura is the largest river in Transcaucasia. It rises on the slopes of Mount Kisirindagi in extreme eastern Turkey and cuts northward through ...
Kurakin, Boris Ivanovich, Prince: (Knyaz) one of the first professional diplomats of Russia, who represented Peter I the Great in western Europe.
Kurashiki: city, Okayama ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It is situated on the eastern bank of the lower Takahashi River. During the Tokugawa period (1603-1867), it was an important trading centre ...
Kurath, Hans: American linguist, best known as the chief editor of the Linguistic Atlas of New England, the first comprehensive linguistic atlas of a large region.
Kuratsukuri Tori: the first great Japanese sculptor of the Asuka period (552-645).
Kurayoshi: city, Tottori ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies along a tributary of the Tenjin River and occupies a strategic position on a plain bounded (south) by the Chugoku Range. The ...
Kurbsky, Andrey Mikhaylovich, Prince: Russian military commander who was a close associate and adviser to Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible of Russia during the 1540s and '50s.
Kurchatov, Igor Vasilyevich: Soviet nuclear physicist who guided the development of his country's first atomic bomb, the world's first practical thermonuclear bomb, and the first atomic electric-power station in the Soviet Union.
Kurd: member of an ethnic and linguistic group living in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Anatolia, the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, northern Iraq, and adjacent areas. Most of the Kurds ...
Kurdish language: West Iranian language spoken in Kurdistan; it ranks as the third largest Iranian language group, after Persian and Pashto, and has numerous dialects. There are two main dialect groups. The ...
Kurdish rug: floor covering handcrafted by people of Kurdish stock in Iran, eastern Anatolia, perhaps to a limited extent in Iraq, and in the southernmost Caucasus. These rugs are stout and solid ...
Kurdistan: traditional region, an extensive plateau and mountain area inhabited mainly by Kurds, including large parts of what are now eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran and smaller parts of ...
Kurdzhali: town, south-central Bulgaria, in a broad valley on the Arda River between the Kurdzhali and Studen Kladenets dams, both important hydroelectric power and irrigation stations. The town became part of ...
Kure: city, Hiroshima ken (prefecture), southwestern Honshu, Japan, on the Inland Sea. Its excellent natural harbour is surrounded by mountains and screened from the sea by mountainous islands. Because of its ...
Kurenberger, Der: the earliest of the German poet-musicians called minnesingers known by name.
Kurgan: oblast (province), west-central Russia, on the southern edge of the West Siberian Plain, in the Tobol Basin. It is a level plain with innumerable small lakes, often saline, in shallow ...
Kurgan: city and administrative centre of Kurgan oblast (province), west-central Russia, on the Tobol River. In 1553 the fortified settlement of Tsaryovo Gorodishche was founded on a large ancient tumulus or ...
Kurgan culture: . By about 2300 BC the Kurgans arrived in the Aegean and Adriatic regions. The Kurgans buried their dead in deep shafts within artificial burial mounds, or barrows. The word ...
Kurgan-Tyube: city, southwestern Tajikistan. It lies in the Vakhsh River valley, 62 miles (100 km) south of Dushanbe. Kurgan-Tyube has existed since the 17th century. It is on the railway line ...
Kuril Islands: archipelago in Sakhalin oblast (province), far-eastern Russia. The archipelago extends for 750 miles (1,200 km) from the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) to the northeastern corner of Hokkaido ...
Kuril Trench: deep submarine depression in the western Pacific Ocean, situated on the east side of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido island, Japan. Extending for about 1,800 miles (2,900 ...
Kurma: (Sanskrit: "Tortoise"), second of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. In this incarnation Vishnu is associated with the myth of the churning of the cosmic ocean. The ...