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The Mikado

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.

The Mikado is the most internationally successful Savoy opera and has been especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has been translated into numerous languages and is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history. The Mikado is a satire of late 19th century British institutions, society and politics. By setting the opera in a fantasy Japan, an exotic locale far away from contemporary Britain, Gilbert was able to satirise British politics more freely and soften the impact of his criticisms of British social institutions, in a similar way that he used other "foreign" settings in Princess Ida, The Gondoliers, Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke. Nevertheless, some 21st-century productions of the opera in the United States have drawn criticism for promoting stereotypes of East Asians.

Origins
Gilbert and Sullivan's opera immediately preceding The Mikado was Princess Ida (1884), which ran for nine months, a short duration by Savoy opera standards. When ticket sales for Princess Ida showed early signs of flagging, the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte realised that, for the first time since 1877, no new Gilbert and Sullivan work would be ready when the old one closed. On 22 March 1884, Carte gave Gilbert and Sullivan contractual notice that a new opera would be required within six months. Sullivan's close friend, the conductor Frederic Clay, had suffered a serious stroke in December 1883 that effectively ended his career. Reflecting on this, on his own precarious health, and on his desire to devote himself to more serious music, Sullivan replied to Carte that "it is impossible for me to do another piece of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself". Gilbert, who had already started work on a new libretto in which people fall in love against their wills after taking a magic lozenge, was surprised to hear of Sullivan's hesitation. He wrote to Sullivan asking him to reconsider, but the composer replied on 2 April 1884 that he had "come to the end of my tether" with the operas: "I have been continually keeping down the music in order that not one [syllable] should be lost. ... I should like to set a story of human interest & probability where the humorous words would come in a humorous (not serious) situation, & where, if the situation were a tender or dramatic one the words would be of similar character."

Gilbert wrote that Sullivan's letter caused him "considerable pain". Sullivan responded that he could not set the "lozenge plot", stating that it was too similar to the plot of their 1877 opera The Sorcerer. As April 1884 wore on, Gilbert tried to modify his plot, but he could not satisfy Sullivan. The parties were at a stalemate, and Gilbert wrote, "And so ends a musical & literary association of seven years' standing – an association of exceptional reputation – an association unequaled in its monetary results, and hitherto undisturbed by a single jarring or discordant element." But by 8 May 1884, Gilbert was ready to back down, writing: "am I to understand that if I construct another plot in which no supernatural element occurs, you will undertake to set it? ... a consistent plot, free from anachronisms, constructed in perfect good faith & to the best of my ability." The stalemate was broken, and on 20 May, Gilbert sent Sullivan a sketch of the plot to The Mikado. It would take another ten months for The Mikado to reach the stage. A revised version of The Sorcerer coupled with their one-act piece Trial by Jury (1875) played at the Savoy while Carte and their audiences awaited their next work. Gilbert eventually found a place for his "lozenge plot" in The Mountebanks, written with Alfred Cellier in 1892.

In 1914, Cellier and Bridgeman first recorded the familiar story of how Gilbert found his inspiration: "Gilbert, having determined to leave his own country alone for a while, sought elsewhere for a subject suitable to his peculiar humour. A trifling accident inspired him with an idea. One day an old Japanese sword that, for years, had been hanging on the wall of his study, fell from its place. This incident directed his attention to Japan. Just at that time a company of Japanese had arrived in England and set up a little village of their own in Knightsbridge."

The story is an appealing one, but it is largely fictional. Gilbert was interviewed twice about his inspiration for The Mikado. In both interviews the sword was mentioned, and in one of them he said it was the inspiration for the opera, though he never said the sword had fallen. What puts the entire story in doubt is Cellier and Bridgeman's error concerning the Japanese Village exhibition in Knightsbridge: it did not open until 10 January 1885, eight months after Gilbert sent the outline of the plot to Sullivan and almost two months after Gilbert had completed Act I. Gilbert scholar Brian Jones, in his article "The Sword that Never Fell", notes that "the further removed in time the writer is from the incident, the more graphically it is recalled." Leslie Baily, for instance, told it this way in 1952:

"A day or so later Gilbert was striding up and down his library in the new house at Harrington Gardens, fuming at the impasse, when a huge Japanese sword decorating the wall fell with a clatter to the floor. Gilbert picked it up. His perambulations stopped. 'It suggested the broad idea,' as he said later. His journalistic mind, always quick to seize on topicalities, turned to a Japanese Exhibition which had recently been opened in the neighbourhood. Gilbert had seen the little Japanese men and women from the Exhibition shuffling in their exotic robes through the streets of Knightsbridge. Now he sat at his writing desk and picked up the quill pen. He began making notes in his plot-book."

The story was dramatised in more or less this form in the 1999 film Topsy-Turvy. But although the 1885–87 Japanese exhibition in Knightsbridge had not opened when Gilbert conceived of The Mikado, European trade with Japan had increased in recent decades, and an English craze for all things Japanese had built through the 1860s and 1870s. This made the time ripe for an opera set in Japan. Gilbert told a journalist, "I cannot give you a good reason for our ... piece being laid in Japan. It ... afforded scope for picturesque treatment, scenery and costume, and I think that the idea of a chief magistrate, who is ... judge and actual executioner in one, and yet would not hurt a worm, may perhaps please the public."

In an 1885 interview with the New-York Daily Tribune, Gilbert said that the short stature of Leonora Braham, Jessie Bond and Sybil Grey "suggested the advisability of grouping them as three Japanese school-girls", the opera's "three little maids". He also recounted that a young Japanese lady, a tea server at the Japanese Village, came to rehearsals to coach the three women in Japanese dance. On 12 February 1885, one month before The Mikado opened, The Illustrated London News wrote about the opening of the Japanese Village noting, among other things, that "the graceful, fantastic dancing featured ... three little maids!" In the Tribune interview, Gilbert also related that he and Sullivan had decided to cut the only solo sung by the opera's title character (who appears only in Act II, played by Savoy veteran Richard Temple), but that members of the company and others who had witnessed the dress rehearsal "came to us in a body and begged us to restore the excised 'number'".

Roles

 * The Mikado of Japan (bass or bass-baritone)
 * Nanki-Poo, His Son, disguised as a wandering minstrel and in love with Yum-Yum (tenor)
 * Ko-Ko, The Lord High Executioner of Titipu (comic baritone)
 * Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything Else (baritone)
 * Pish-Tush, A Noble Lord (baritone)
 * Go-To, A Noble Lord (bass-baritone)
 * Yum-Yum, A Ward of Ko-Ko, also engaged to Ko-Ko (soprano)
 * Pitti-Sing, A Ward of Ko-Ko (mezzo-soprano)
 * Peep-Bo, A Ward of Ko-Ko (soprano or mezzo-soprano)
 * Katisha, An Elderly lady, in love with Nanki-Poo (contralto)
 * Chorus of School-Girls, Nobles, Guards and Coolies

Act I
Gentlemen of the fictitious Japanese town of Titipu are gathered ("If you want to know who we are"). A handsome but poor minstrel, Nanki-Poo, arrives and introduces himself ("A wand'ring minstrel I"). He inquires about his beloved, a schoolgirl called Yum-Yum, who is a ward of Ko-Ko (formerly a cheap tailor). One of the gentlemen, Pish-Tush, explains that when the Mikado decreed that flirting was a capital crime, the Titipu authorities frustrated the decree by appointing Ko-Ko, a prisoner condemned to death for flirting, to the post of Lord High Executioner ("Our great Mikado, virtuous man"). As Ko-Ko was the next prisoner scheduled to be decapitated, the town authorities reasoned that he could "not cut off another's head until he cut his own off", and since Ko-Ko was not likely to execute himself, no executions could take place. But all the town officials, except the haughty nobleman Pooh-Bah, proved too proud to serve under an ex-tailor and resigned. Pooh-Bah now holds all their posts and collects all their salaries. He informs Nanki-Poo that Yum-Yum is scheduled to marry Ko-Ko on the very day that he has returned ("Young man, despair").
 * Courtyard of Ko-Ko's Official Residence

Ko-Ko enters ("Behold the Lord High Executioner") and asserts himself by reading off a list of people "who would not be missed" if they were executed ("As some day it may happen"), such as people "who eat peppermint and puff it in your face". Yum-Yum appears with Ko-Ko's other two wards, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing ("Comes a train of little ladies", "Three little maids from school"). Pooh-Bah does not think that the girls have shown him enough respect ("So please you, sir"). Nanki-Poo arrives and informs Ko-Ko of his love for Yum-Yum. Ko-Ko sends him away, but Nanki-Poo manages to meet with his beloved and reveals his secret to Yum-Yum: he is the son and heir of the Mikado, but travels in disguise to avoid the amorous advances of Katisha, an elderly lady of his father's court. They lament that the law forbids them to flirt ("Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted").

Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah receive news that the Mikado has just decreed that unless an execution is carried out in Titipu within a month, the town will be reduced to the rank of a village, which would bring "irretrievable ruin". Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush point to Ko-Ko himself as the obvious choice for beheading, since he was already under sentence of death ("I am so proud"). But Ko-Ko argues that it would be "extremely difficult, not to say dangerous", for someone to attempt to behead himself, and that suicide is a capital offence. Fortuitously, Ko-Ko discovers that Nanki-Poo, in despair over losing Yum-Yum, is preparing to commit suicide. After ascertaining that nothing would change Nanki-Poo's mind, Ko-Ko makes a bargain with him: Nanki-Poo may marry Yum-Yum for one month if, at the end of that time, he allows himself to be executed. Ko-Ko would then marry the young widow.

Everyone arrives to celebrate Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum's union ("With aspect stern and gloomy stride"), but the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Katisha, who has come to claim Nanki-Poo as her husband. But the townspeople are sympathetic to the young couple, and Katisha's attempts to reveal Nanki-Poo's secret are drowned out by their shouting. Outwitted but not defeated, Katisha makes clear that she intends to be avenged.

Act II
Yum-Yum's friends are preparing her for her wedding ("Braid the raven hair"). She muses on her own beauty ("The sun whose rays"), but Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo remind her of the limited duration of her approaching union with Nanki-Poo. Joined by Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush, they try to keep their spirits up ("Brightly dawns our wedding-day"), but soon Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah enter to inform them of a twist in the law that states that when a married man is beheaded for flirting, his wife must be buried alive ("Here's a how-de-do"). Yum-Yum is unwilling to marry under these circumstances, and so Nanki-Poo challenges Ko-Ko to behead him on the spot. It turns out that the soft-hearted Ko-Ko has never executed anyone and cannot execute Nanki-Poo. Instead, he sends Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum away to be wed (by Pooh-Bah, as Archbishop of Titipu), promising to present to the Mikado a false affidavit in evidence of the fictitious execution.
 * Ko-Ko's Garden

[[File:BabMikadoTeeth.jpg|left|thumb|220px|"His teeth, I've enacted, Shall all be extracted

By terrified amateurs."

(Cartoon by W. S. Gilbert)]] The Mikado and Katisha arrive in Titipu accompanied by a large procession ("Mi-ya Sa-Ma", "From Every Kind of Man"). The Mikado describes his system of justice ("A more humane Mikado"). Ko-Ko assumes that the ruler has come to see whether an execution has been carried out. Aided by Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah, he graphically describes the supposed execution ("The criminal cried") and hands the Mikado the certificate of death, signed and sworn to by Pooh-Bah as coroner. Ko-Ko notes slyly that most of the town's important officers (that is, Pooh-Bah) were present at the ceremony. But the Mikado has come about an entirely different matter: he is searching for his son. When they hear that the Mikado's son "goes by the name of Nanki-Poo", the three panic, and Ko-Ko says that Nanki-Poo "has gone abroad". Meanwhile, Katisha is reading the death certificate and notes with horror that the person executed was Nanki-Poo. The Mikado, though expressing understanding and sympathy ("See How the Fates"), discusses with Katisha the statutory punishment "for compassing the death of the heir apparent" to the Imperial throne – something lingering, "with boiling oil ... or melted lead". With the three conspirators facing painful execution, Ko-Ko pleads with Nanki-Poo to reveal himself to his father. Nanki-Poo fears that Katisha will demand his execution if she finds he is alive, but he suggests that if Katisha could be persuaded to marry Ko-Ko, then Nanki-Poo could safely "come to life again", as Katisha would have no claim on him ("The flowers that bloom in the spring"). Though Katisha is "something appalling", Ko-Ko has no choice: it is marriage to Katisha or painful death for himself, Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah.

Ko-Ko finds Katisha mourning her loss ("Alone, and yet alive") and throws himself on her mercy. He begs for her hand in marriage, saying that he has long harboured a passion for her. Katisha initially rebuffs him, but is soon moved by his story of a bird who died of heartbreak ("Tit-willow"). She agrees ("There is beauty in the bellow of the blast") and, once the ceremony is performed (by Pooh-Bah, the Registrar), she begs for the Mikado's mercy for him and his accomplices. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum then reappear, sparking Katisha's fury. The Mikado is astonished that Nanki-Poo is alive, as the account of his execution had been given with such "affecting particulars". Ko-Ko explains that when a royal command for an execution is given, the victim is, legally speaking, as good as dead, "and if he is dead, why not say so?" The Mikado deems that "Nothing could possibly be more satisfactory", and everyone in Titipu celebrates ("For he's gone and married Yum-Yum").

Musical numbers

 * Overture (a potpourri, which includes "Mi-ya Sa-ma", "The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze", "There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast", "Braid the Raven Hair" and "With Aspect Stern and Gloomy Stride"). This was arranged, under Sullivan's direction, by Hamilton Clarke.

Act I

 * 1. "If you want to know who we are" (Chorus of Men)
 * 2. "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" (Nanki-Poo and Men)
 * 3. "Our Great Mikado, virtuous man" (Pish-Tush and Men)
 * 4. "Young man, despair" (Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush)
 * 4a. Recit., "And have I journey'd for a month" (Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo)
 * 5. "Behold the Lord High Executioner" (Ko-Ko and Men)
 * 5a. "As some day it may happen" (Ko-Ko and Men)
 * 6. "Comes a train of little ladies" (Girls)
 * 7. "Three little maids from school are we" (Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, and Girls)
 * 8. "So please you, Sir, we much regret" (Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, and Girls)
 * 9. "Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted" (Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo)
 * 10. "I am so proud" (Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush)
 * 11. Finale Act I (Ensemble)
 * "With aspect stern and gloomy stride"
 * "The threatened cloud has passed away"
 * "Your revels cease!" ... "Oh fool, that fleest my hallowed joys!"
 * "For he's going to marry Yum-Yum"
 * "The hour of gladness" ... "O ni! bikkuri shakkuri to!"
 * "Ye torrents roar!"

Act II

 * 12. "Braid the raven hair" (Pitti-Sing and Girls)
 * 13. "The sun whose rays are all ablaze" (Yum-Yum) (Originally in Act I, moved to Act II shortly after the opening night)
 * 14. Madrigal, "Brightly dawns our wedding day" (Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush)
 * 15. "Here's a how-de-do" (Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko)
 * 16. "Mi-ya Sa-ma" "From every kind of man obedience I expect" (Mikado, Katisha, Chorus)
 * 17. "A more humane Mikado" (Mikado, Chorus) (This song was nearly cut, but was restored shortly before the first night. )
 * 18. "The criminal cried as he dropped him down" (Ko-Ko, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, Chorus)
 * 19. "See how the Fates their gifts allot" (Mikado, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Katisha)
 * 20. "The flowers that bloom in the spring" (Nanki-Poo, Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, and Pooh-Bah)
 * 21. Recit. and song, "Alone, and yet alive" (Katisha)
 * 22. "On a tree by a river" ("Willow, tit-willow") (Ko-Ko)
 * 23. "There is beauty in the bellow of the blast" (Katisha and Ko-Ko)
 * 24. "Finale Act II" (Ensemble)
 * "For he's gone and married Yum-Yum"
 * "The threatened cloud has passed away"

Productions
The Mikado had the longest original run of the Savoy Operas. It also had the quickest revival: after Gilbert and Sullivan's next work, Ruddigore, closed relatively quickly, three operas were revived to fill the interregnum until The Yeomen of the Guard was ready, including The Mikado, just 17 months after its first run closed. On 4 September 1891, D'Oyly Carte's touring "C" company gave a Royal Command Performance of The Mikado at Balmoral Castle before Queen Victoria and the Royal Family. The original set design was by Hawes Craven, with men's costumes by C. Wilhelm. The first provincial production of The Mikado opened on 27 July 1885 in Brighton, with several members of that company leaving in August to present the first authorised American production in New York. From then on, The Mikado was a constant presence on tour. From 1885 until the company's closure in 1982, there was no year in which a D'Oyly Carte company (or several of them) was not presenting it.

The Mikado was revived again while The Grand Duke was in preparation. When it became clear that that opera was not a success, The Mikado was given at matinees, and the revival continued when The Grand Duke closed after just three months. In 1906–07, Helen Carte, the widow of Richard D'Oyly Carte, mounted a repertory season at the Savoy, but The Mikado was not performed, as it was thought that visiting Japanese royalty might be offended by it. It was included, however, in Mrs. Carte's second repertory season, in 1908–09. New costume designs were created by Charles Ricketts for the 1926 season and were used until 1982. Peter Goffin designed new sets in 1952.

In America, as had happened with H.M.S. Pinafore, the first productions were unauthorised, but once D'Oyly Carte's American production opened in August 1885, it was a success, earning record profits, and Carte formed several companies to tour the show in North America. Burlesque and parody productions, including political parodies, were mounted. More than 150 unauthorised versions cropped up, and, as had been the case with Pinafore, Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan could do nothing to prevent them or to capture any license fees, since there was no international copyright treaty at the time. Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte tried various techniques for gaining an American copyright that would prevent unauthorised productions. The U.S. courts held, however, that the act of publication made the opera freely available for production by anyone. In Australia, The Mikado ' s first authorised performance was on 14 November 1885 at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, produced by J. C. Williamson. During 1886, Carte was touring five Mikado companies in North America.

Carte toured the opera in 1886 and again in 1887 in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. In September 1886 Vienna's leading critic, Eduard Hanslick, wrote that the opera's "unparalleled success" was attributable not only to the libretto and the music, but also to "the wholly original stage performance, unique of its kind, by Mr D'Oyly Carte's artists ... riveting the eye and ear with its exotic allurement." The Mikado was performed more than 200 times in Berlin alone by 1891 and 100 times in Vienna, of just one of the translations available, by 1894; Sullivan went to Berlin in 1900 to conduct the opera at the Royal Opera as a command performance for Kaiser Wilhelm II. Productions continued in German-speaking countries, both authorised and unauthorised by D'Oyly Carte, and productions were also seen in France, Holland, Hungary, Spain, Belgium, Scandinavia, Russia and elsewhere. Thousands of amateur productions have been mounted throughout the English-speaking world and beyond since the 1880s. One production during World War I was given in the Ruhleben internment camp in Germany.

After the Gilbert copyrights expired in 1962, the Sadler's Wells Opera mounted the first non-D'Oyly Carte professional production in England, with Clive Revill as Ko-Ko. Among the many professional revivals since then was an English National Opera production in 1986, with Eric Idle as Ko-Ko and Lesley Garrett as Yum-Yum, directed by Jonathan Miller. This production, which has been revived numerous times over three decades, is set in a swanky 1920s English seaside hotel, with sets and costumes in black and white "as an homage to the Marx Brothers, Noël Coward, and Busby Berkeley". Canada's Stratford Festival has produced The Mikado several times, first in 1963 and again in 1982 (revived in 1983 and 1984) and in 1993.

The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime:

Themes of death
The Mikado is a comedy, yet it deals with themes of death and cruelty. This juxtaposition works because Gilbert treats these themes as trivial, even lighthearted issues. For instance, in the song "Our great Mikado, virtuous man", Pish-Tush sings: "The youth who winked a roving eye / Or breathed a non-connubial sigh / Was thereupon condemned to die – / He usually objected." The term for this rhetorical technique is meiosis, a drastic understatement of the situation. Other examples of this are when self-decapitation is described as "an extremely difficult, not to say dangerous, thing to attempt", and also as merely "awkward". When a discussion occurs of Nanki-Poo's life being "cut short in a month", the tone remains comic and only mock-melancholy. Burial alive is described as "a stuffy death". Finally, execution by boiling oil or by melted lead is described by the Mikado as a "humorous but lingering" punishment.

Death is treated as a businesslike event in Gilbert's topsy-turvy world. Pooh-Bah calls Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, an "industrious mechanic". Ko-Ko also treats his bloody office as a profession, saying, "I can't consent to embark on a professional operation unless I see my way to a successful result." Of course, joking about death does not originate with The Mikado. The plot conceit that Nanki-Poo may marry Yum-Yum if he agrees to die at the end of the month was used in A Wife for a Month, a 17th-century play by John Fletcher. Ko-Ko's final speech affirms that death has been, throughout the opera, a fiction, a matter of words that can be dispelled with a phrase or two: being dead and being "as good as dead" are equated. In a review of the original production of The Mikado, after praising the show generally, the critic noted that the show's humour nevertheless depends on "unsparing exposure of human weaknesses and follies – things grave and even horrible invested with a ridiculous aspect – all the motives prompting our actions traced back to inexhaustible sources of selfishness and cowardice... Decapitation, disembowelment, immersion in boiling oil or molten lead are the eventualities upon which [the characters'] attention (and that of the audience) is kept fixed with gruesome persistence...  [Gilbert] has unquestionably succeeded in imbuing society with his own quaint, scornful, inverted philosophy; and has thereby established a solid claim to rank amongst the foremost of those latter-day Englishmen who have exercised a distinct psychical influence upon their contemporaries."

Japanese setting
The opera is named after the Emperor of Japan using the term mikado (御門 or 帝 or みかど), literally meaning "the honourable gate" of the imperial palace, referring metaphorically to its occupant and to the palace itself. The term was commonly used by the English in the 19th century but became obsolete. To the extent that the opera portrays Japanese culture, style and government, it is a fictional version of Japan used to provide a picturesque setting and to capitalise on Japonism and the British fascination with Japan and the Far East in the 1880s. Gilbert wrote, "The Mikado of the opera was an imaginary monarch of a remote period and cannot by any exercise of ingenuity be taken to be a slap on an existing institution." The Mikado "was never a story about Japan but about the failings of the British government".

By setting the opera in a foreign land, Gilbert felt able to more sharply criticise British society and institutions. G. K. Chesterton compared the opera's satire to that in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels: "Gilbert pursued and persecuted the evils of modern England till they had literally not a leg to stand on, exactly as Swift did. ... I doubt if there is a single joke in the whole play that fits the Japanese. But all the jokes in the play fit the English. ...  About England, Pooh-bah is something more than a satire; he is the truth." The opera's setting draws on Victorian notions of the far east, gleaned by Gilbert from the glimpses of Japanese fashion and art that immediately followed the beginning of trade between the two island empires, and during rehearsals Gilbert visited the popular Japanese exhibition in Knightsbridge, London. A critic wrote in 2016: "It has been argued that the theatricality of the show was ... a tribute on the part of Gilbert and Sullivan to the growing British appreciation of the Japanese aesthetic [in the 1880s]."

Gilbert sought authenticity in the Japanese setting, costumes, movements and gestures of the actors. To that end, he engaged some of the Japanese at the Knightsbridge village to advise on the production and to coach the actors. "The Directors and Native Inhabitants" of the village were thanked in the programme that was distributed on the first night. Sullivan inserted into his score, as "Miya sama", a version of a Japanese military march song, called "Ton-yare Bushi", composed in the Meiji era. Giacomo Puccini later incorporated the same song into Madama Butterfly as the introduction to Yamadori, ancor le pene. The characters' names in the play are not Japanese names, but rather (in many cases) English baby-talk or simply dismissive exclamations. For instance, a pretty young thing is named Pitti-Sing; the beautiful heroine is named Yum-Yum; the pompous officials are Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush; the hero is called Nanki-Poo, baby-talk for "handkerchief". The headsman's name, Ko-Ko, is similar to that of the scheming Ko-Ko-Ri-Ko in Ba-ta-clan by Jacques Offenbach.

The Japanese were ambivalent toward The Mikado for many years. Some Japanese critics saw the depiction of the title character as a disrespectful representation of the revered Meiji Emperor; Japanese theatre was prohibited from depicting the emperor on stage. Japanese Prince Komatsu Akihito, who saw an 1886 production in London, took no offence. When Prince Fushimi Sadanaru made a state visit in 1907, the British government banned performances of The Mikado from London for six weeks, fearing that the play might offend him – a manoeuvre that backfired when the prince complained that he had hoped to see The Mikado during his stay. A Japanese journalist covering the prince's stay attended a proscribed performance and confessed himself "deeply and pleasingly disappointed." Expecting "real insults" to his country, he had found only "bright music and much fun."

After World War II, The Mikado was staged in Japan in a number of private performances. The first public production, given at three performances, was in 1946 in the Ernie Pyle Theatre in Tokyo, conducted by the pianist Jorge Bolet for the entertainment of American troops and Japanese audiences. The set and costumes were opulent, and the principal players were American, Canadian, and British, as were the women's chorus, but the male chorus, the female dancing chorus and the orchestra were Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur banned a large-scale professional 1947 Tokyo production by an all-Japanese cast, but other productions have occurred in Japan. For example, the opera was performed at the Ernie Pyle Theatre in Tokyo in 1970, presented by the Eighth Army Special Service.

In 2001, the town of Chichibu (秩父), Japan, under the name of "Tokyo Theatre Company", produced an adaptation of The Mikado in Japanese. Locals believe that Chichibu was the town Gilbert had in mind when he named his setting "Titipu", but there is no contemporary evidence for this theory. Although the Hepburn system of transliteration (in which the name of the town appears as "Chichibu") is usually found today, it was very common in the 19th century to use the Nihon-shiki system, in which the name 秩父 appears as "Titibu". Thus, it is easy to surmise that "Titibu", found in the London press of 1884, became "Titipu" in the opera. Japanese researchers speculate that Gilbert may have heard of Chichibu silk, an important export in the 19th century. The town's Japanese-language adaptation of The Mikado has been revived several times throughout Japan and, in 2006, the Chichibu Mikado was performed at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in England.

Criticism
Since the 1990s, some productions of the opera in the United States have drawn criticism from the Asian-American community as promoting "simplistic orientalist stereotypes". In 2014, after a production in Seattle, Washington, drew national attention to such criticism, the Gilbert biographer Andrew Crowther wrote that The Mikado "does not portray any of the characters as being 'racially inferior' or indeed fundamentally any different from British people. The point of the opera is to reflect British culture through the lens of an invented 'other', a fantasy Japan that has only the most superficial resemblance to reality." For example, the starting point for the plot of The Mikado is "an invented 'Japanese' law against flirting, which makes sense only as a reference to the sexual prudishness of British culture". Crowther noted that production design and other features of traditionally staged productions of the opera often "do look somewhat insensitive, not to say insulting. ... It should [be possible] to avoid such things in the future, with a little sensitivity. ... G&S is about silliness, and fun, and ... mocking the powerful, and accepting the fundamental absurdity of life". Some commentators dismissed the criticism as political correctness but a public discussion of the issue in Seattle a month later drew a large crowd who nearly all agreed that, although works like The Mikado should not be abandoned in their traditional form, there should be "some kind of contextualizing apparatus to show that the producers and performers are at least thinking about the problems in the work".

In 2015 a planned production by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players was withdrawn after its publicity materials ignited a similar protest in the Asian-American blogosphere. A Tokyo-based writer who was sympathetic to Gilbert and Sullivan's original setting of the opera later noted: "While as a Japanese residing in Japan I am not offended by the production photos [that offended many Asian-Americans], it is not difficult to imagine how Asian-Americans found the racial cross-dressing unbearable, as it may have reminded them of painful incidents of discrimination that they face as a minority in America." The company redesigned its Mikado production and debuted the new concept in December 2016, receiving a warm review from The New York Times. After Lamplighters Music Theatre of San Francisco planned a 2016 production, objections by the Asian-American community prompted them to reset the opera in Renaissance-era Milan, eliminating all references to Japan. Reviewers felt that the change resolved the issue. Among other productions that have experimented with varying the original setting, a 2022 staging by Gilbert & Sullivan Austin, titled The McAdo, relocated the action to Scotland. A reviewer from CTX Live Theater praised the adaptation, writing that The Mikado's "story is universalizing and could be set anywhere on the planet in any society".

Modernised words and phrases
Modern productions update some of the words and phrases in The Mikado. For example, two songs in the opera use the word "nigger". In "As some day it may happen", often called the "list song", Ko-Ko names "the nigger serenader and the others of his race". In the Mikado's song, "A more humane Mikado", the lady who modifies her appearance excessively is to be punished by being "blacked like a nigger with permanent walnut juice". These references are to white performers in blackface minstrel shows, a popular entertainment in the Victorian era, rather than to dark-skinned people. Until well into the 20th century, British people did not consider the word "nigger" offensive. Audience members objected to the word during the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's 1948 American tour, however, and Rupert D'Oyly Carte asked A. P. Herbert to supply revised wording. These alterations have been incorporated into the opera's libretto and score since then.

Also included in the little list song are "the lady novelist" (referring to writers of fluffy romantic novels; these had been lampooned earlier by George Eliot) and "the lady from the provinces who dresses like a guy", where guy refers to the dummy that is part of Guy Fawkes Night, meaning a tasteless woman who dresses like a scarecrow. In the 1908 revival Gilbert allowed substitutions for "the lady novelist". To avoid distracting the audience with references that have become offensive over time, lyrics are sometimes modified in modern productions. Changes are also often made, especially in the little list song, to take advantage of opportunities for topical jokes. Richard Suart, a singer well known in the role of Ko-Ko, published a book containing a history of rewrites of the little list song, including many of his own.

Enduring popularity
As soon as the opera premiered, Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte began to license numerous products that used the opera's name, characters, lyrics, lines and designs, not just for licensing fees, but to drive ticket sales; the show "was by far the most successful example [of merchandising] in the 19th century". Mikado trading cards were created that advertised various products. Other Mikado products included figurines, fabrics, jewelry, perfumes, puzzles, toothpaste, soap, games, wallpaper, corsets, sewing thread and stoves.

The Mikado became the most frequently performed Savoy Opera and has been translated into numerous languages. It is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history. A feature on Chicago Lyric Opera's 2010 production noted that the opera "has been in constant production for the past 125 years", citing its "inherent humor and tunefulness".

The Mikado has been admired by other composers. Dame Ethel Smyth wrote of Sullivan, "One day he presented me with a copy of the full score of The Golden Legend, adding: 'I think this is the best thing I've done, don't you?' and when truth compelled me to say that in my opinion The Mikado is his masterpiece, he cried out: 'O you wretch!' But though he laughed, I could see he was disappointed."

Historical casting
The following tables show the casts of the principal original productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to the company's 1982 closure:

1Role of Go-To added from April 1885

²For the 1896–97 revival, Temple returned to play The Mikado during January and February 1896, and again from November 1896 – February 1897.

Audio recordings
The Mikado has been recorded more often than any other Gilbert and Sullivan opera. Of those by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the 1926 recording is the best regarded. Of the modern recordings, the 1992 Mackerras/Telarc is admired.

 * Selected audio recordings
 * 1926 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Harry Norris
 * 1936 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
 * 1950 D'Oyly Carte – New Promenade Orchestra, Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
 * 1957 D'Oyly Carte – New Symphony Orchestra of London, Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
 * 1984 Stratford Festival – Conductor: Berthold Carrière
 * 1990 New D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: John Pryce-Jones
 * 1992 Mackerras/Telarc – Orchestra & Chorus of the Welsh National Opera, Conductor: Sir Charles Mackerras

Films and videos
A three-minute silent film of a scene from the opera was made in 1902. This was followed in 1906 by a silent film of the opera by Gaumont Film Company. Sound film versions of 12 of the musical numbers from The Mikado were produced in Britain and presented as programmes in 1907 titled Highlights from The Mikado. Another production was released the same year by the Walturdaw Company, starring George Thorne as Ko-Ko. Both of these programmes used the Cinematophone sound-on-disc system to synchronize phonograph recordings (Phonoscène) of the performers singing and speaking with the silent footage of the performance. The first full-length film of the opera, called Fan Fan, was a 1918 silent film with a cast of children; theatres could show the film with live musical accompaniment.

In 1926, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company made a brief promotional film of excerpts from The Mikado. Some of the most famous Savoyards of the day are seen in this film, including Darrell Fancourt as The Mikado, Henry Lytton as Ko-Ko, Leo Sheffield as Pooh-Bah, Elsie Griffin as Yum-Yum, and Bertha Lewis as Katisha.

In 1939, Universal Pictures released a ninety-minute film adaptation of The Mikado. Made in Technicolor, the film stars Martyn Green as Ko-Ko, Sydney Granville as Pooh-Bah, the American singer Kenny Baker as Nanki-Poo and Jean Colin as Yum-Yum. Many of the other leads and choristers were or had been members of the D'Oyly Carte company. The music was conducted by Geoffrey Toye, a former D'Oyly Carte music director, who was also the producer and was credited with the adaptation, which involved a number of cuts, additions and re-ordered scenes. Victor Schertzinger directed, and William V. Skall received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. Art direction and costume designs were by Marcel Vertès. There were some revisions – The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze is performed twice, first by Nanki-Poo in a new early scene in which he serenades Yum-Yum at her window, and later in the traditional spot. A new prologue which showed Nanki-Poo fleeing in disguise was also added, and much of the Act II music was cut.

In 1966, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company made a film version of The Mikado that closely reflected their traditional staging, although there are some minor cuts. It was filmed on enlarged stage sets rather than on location, much like the 1965 Laurence Olivier Othello, and was directed by the same director, Stuart Burge. It stars John Reed, Kenneth Sandford, Valerie Masterson, Philip Potter, Donald Adams, Christene Palmer and Peggy Ann Jones and was conducted by Isidore Godfrey. The New York Times criticised the filming technique and the orchestra and noted, "Knowing how fine this cast can be in its proper medium, one regrets the impression this Mikado will make on those not fortunate enough to have watched the company in the flesh. The cameras have captured everything about the company's acting except its magic."

Video recordings of The Mikado include a 1972 offering from Gilbert and Sullivan for All; the 1982 Brent-Walker film; the well-regarded 1984 Stratford Festival video; and the 1986 English National Opera production (abridged). Opera Australia have released videos of their 1987 and 2011 productions. Since the 1990s, several professional productions have been recorded on video by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Other adaptations
The Mikado was adapted as a children's book by W. S. Gilbert titled The Story of The Mikado, which was Gilbert's last literary work. It is a retelling of The Mikado with various changes to simplify language or make it more suitable for children. For example, in the "little list" song, the phrase "society offenders" is changed to "inconvenient people", and the second verse is largely rewritten.

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company controlled the copyrights to performances of The Mikado and the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the U.K. until 1961. It usually required authorised productions to present the music and libretto exactly as shown in the copyrighted editions. Since 1961, Gilbert and Sullivan works have been in the public domain and frequently are adapted and performed in new ways. Notable adaptations have included the following:
 * Mikado March (1885) by John Philip Sousa
 * The Jazz Mikado (1927, Berlin)
 * The Swing Mikado was an adaptation of The Mikado by the Federal Theatre Project with an all-black cast, using swing music and set in the South Pacific, that premiered in Chicago in 1938 and transferred to Broadway.
 * The Hot Mikado (1939) was a competing Broadway adaptation of The Mikado produced by Mike Todd, with an all-black cast, using jazz and swing music.
 * Tennessee Ernie Ford, in 1959, broadcast a 30-minute adaptation on his television show; he played Ko-Ko.
 * The Bell Telephone Hour version (1960) featured Groucho Marx as Ko-Ko, Stanley Holloway as Pooh-Bah, and Helen Traubel as Katisha. It was directed by Martyn Green.
 * The Cool Mikado is a 1962 British musical film directed by Michael Winner that adapts The Mikado in 1960s pop music style and reset as a comic Japanese gangster story.
 * The Black Mikado (1975) was a jazzy, sexy production set on a Caribbean island.
 * The Chichibu production of The Mikado by the "Tokyo Theatre Company"
 * Metropolitan Mikado, a political satire adapted by Ned Sherrin and Alistair Beaton, first performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall (1985) starring Louise Gold, Simon Butteriss, Rosemary Ashe, Robert Meadmore and Martin Smith, produced by Raymond Gubbay.
 * Hot Mikado (1986) is a jazz and swing style adaptation that premiered in Washington, D.C. and has been played frequently since then.
 * Essgee Entertainment produced an adapted version of The Mikado in 1995 in Australia and New Zealand.

In popular culture
A wide variety of popular media, including films, television, theatre, and advertising have referred to, parodied or pastiched The Mikado or its songs, and phrases from the libretto have entered popular usage in the English language. Some of the best-known of these cultural influences are described below.

Quotes from The Mikado were used in letters to the police by the Zodiac Killer, who murdered at least five people in the San Francisco Bay area in 1968 and 1969. A second-season (1998) episode of the TV show Millennium, titled "The Mikado", is based on the Zodiac case. The Mikado is parodied in Sumo of the Opera, which credits Sullivan as the composer of most of its songs. The detective novel Death at the Opera (1934) by Gladys Mitchell is set against a background of a production of The Mikado. In 2007 the Asian American theatre company Lodestone Theatre Ensemble produced The Mikado Project, an original play by Doris Baizley and Ken Narasaki. It was a deconstruction of the opera premised on a fictional Asian American theatre company attempting to raise funds, while grappling with perceived racism in productions of The Mikado, by producing a revisionist version of the opera. This was adapted as a film in 2010.

Film and television references to The Mikado include the climax of the 1978 film Foul Play, which takes place during a performance of The Mikado. In the 2010 episode "Robots Versus Wrestlers" of the TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother, at a high-society party, Marshall strikes an antique Chinese gong. The host rebukes him: "Young man, that gong is a 500-year-old relic that hasn't been struck since W. S. Gilbert hit it at the London premiere of The Mikado in 1885!" Marshall quips, "His wife's a 500-year-old relic that hasn't been struck since W. S. Gilbert hit it at the London premiere".

"The Mikado" is a villainous vigilante in the comic book superhero series The Question, by Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan. He dons a Japanese mask and kills malefactors in appropriate ways – letting "the punishment fit the crime". In 1888, Ed J. Smith wrote a stage parody of The Mikado called The Capitalist; or, The City of Fort Worth to encourage capital investment in Fort Worth, Texas. The 2-8-2 railroad locomotive was renamed "The Mikado" when a U.S. production run of these locomotives was shipped to Japan in 1893. Fans even decorated Mikado rooms in their homes, Mikado clubs were established across America, and in 1886 a Michigan town took the name of the opera.

Popular phrases from The Mikado
The phrase "A short, sharp shock", from the Act 1 song "I am so proud" has entered the English language, appearing in titles of books and songs, such as in samples of Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon", as well as political manifestos. "Let the punishment fit the crime" is another often-used phrase from the Mikado's Act II song and has been mentioned in the course of British political debates. Both concepts predate Gilbert. Examples of later use include episode 80 of the television series Magnum, P.I., "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime", which features bits of several songs from The Mikado. The phrase and the Mikado's song also are featured in the Dad's Army episode "A Soldier's Farewell". In The Parent Trap (1961), the camp director quotes the phrase before sentencing the twins to the isolation cabin together. In Season 5, Episode 20 of Seinfeld, George quotes the phrase to Jerry after he and his acquaintances saw George's girlfriend, Jane, topless.

The name of the character Pooh-Bah has entered the English language to mean a person who holds many titles, often a pompous or self-important person. Pooh-Bah is mentioned in P. G. Wodehouse's novel Something Fresh and in other, often political, contexts. In December 2009 BBC presenter James Naughtie, on Radio 4's Today programme, compared UK cabinet member Peter Mandelson to Pooh-Bah because Mandelson held many offices of state, including Secretary of State for Business, First Secretary of State, Lord President of the Council, President of the Board of Trade, and Church Commissioner, and he sat on 35 cabinet committees and subcommittees. Mandelson replied, "Who is Pooh-Bah?" Mandelson was also described as "the grand Pooh-Bah of British politics" earlier the same week by the theatre critic Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph. In the U.S., particularly, the term has come to describe, mockingly, people who hold impressive titles but whose authority is limited. William Safire speculated that invention of Winnie-the-Pooh by the author A. A. Milne might have been influenced by the character. The term "Grand Poobah" has been used on television shows, including The Flintstones and Happy Days, and in other media, as the title of a high-ranking official in a men's club, spoofing clubs like the Freemasons, the Shriners, and the Elks Club.

References to songs in The Mikado
Politicians often use phrases from songs in The Mikado. For example, Conservative Peter Lilley pastiched "As Someday It May Happen" to specify some groups to whom he objected, including "sponging socialists" and "young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue". Comedian Allan Sherman also did a variant on the "Little List" song, presenting reasons one might want to seek psychiatric help, titled "You Need an Analyst". In a Eureeka's Castle Christmas special called "Just Put it on the List", the twins, Bogg and Quagmire, describe what they'd like for Christmas to the tune of the song. Richard Suart and A.S.H. Smyth released a book in 2008 called They'd none of 'em be missed, about the history of The Mikado and the 20 years of little list parodies by Suart, the English National Opera's usual Ko-Ko. In Isaac Asimov's short story "Runaround" a robot recites some of the song.

Other songs in The Mikado have been referenced in films, television and other media. For example, the movie poster for The Little Shop of Horrors (pictured) parodies the song title "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, Tra la!", changing the word "bloom" to "kill". In The Producers, an auditioner for the musical Springtime for Hitler begins his audition with Nanki-Poo's song, "A wand'ring minstrel I". He is quickly dismissed. In the 2006 film Brick, femme fatale Laura (Nora Zehetner) performs a spoken-word version of "The Sun Whose Rays are All Ablaze" while playing piano. In the 1966 Batman episode "The Minstrel's Shakedown", the villain identifies himself as "The Minstrel" by singing to the tune of "A wand'ring minstrel I". In the Top Cat episode "All That Jazz", Officer Dibble woefully sings the same song. In Blackadder Goes Forth a recording of "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" is played on a gramophone at the beginning of the first episode, and a snatch of the song is also sung by Captain Blackadder in the episode involving "Speckled Jim". "There Is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast" is performed by Richard Thompson and Judith Owen on the album 1000 Years of Popular Music.

The song "Three Little Maids from School Are We" is featured in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, where Harold Abrahams first sees his future wife dressed as one of the three little maids. Television programmes that have featured the song include the Cheers episode "Simon Says" (for which John Cleese won an Emmy Award), the Frasier episode "Leapin' Lizards", the Angel episode "Hole in the World", The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", The Suite Life of Zack & Cody episode "Lost in Translation", and The Animaniacs Vol. 1 episode "Hello Nice Warners". The Capitol Steps performed a parody titled "Three Little Kurds from School Are We". On the Dinah Shore Show, Shore sang the song with Joan Sutherland and Ella Fitzgerald in 1963.

References to "Tit-Willow" ("On a tree by a river") have included Allan Sherman's comedy song "The Bronx Bird Watcher", about a Yiddish-accented bird whose beautiful singing leads to a sad end. On The Dick Cavett Show, Groucho Marx and Cavett sang the song. Groucho interrupted the song to quiz the audience on the meaning of the word "obdurate". A Season 1 episode of The Muppet Show (aired on 22 November 1976) featured Rowlf the Dog and Sam Eagle singing the song, with Sam clearly embarrassed at having to sing the word 'tit' (also asking the meaning of "obdurate"). In the film Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Shelley Winters as the title character sings the song just before she is murdered. In John Betjeman's documentary film Metro-Land (1973), the song is heard as Betjeman, looking over the lake at Grim's Dyke, laments W. S. Gilbert's sudden death in 1911.

title: The Mikado


text:
Prince Charles (disambiguation)

Prince Charles is the former title of Charles III (born 1948), King of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms.

Prince Charles may also refer to:

People

 * Charles James, Duke of Cornwall & Rothesay (born and died 1629), son of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria
 * Charles Edward Stuart "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (1720–1788)
 * Charles, Prince of Viana (1421–1461)
 * Prince Charles of Castile, later Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
 * Prince Charles d'Aremberg (died 1669), definitor-general and Commissary of the Capuchin order
 * Charles Stuart, Duke of Cambridge (1660–1661), son of James, Duke of York (later King James II of England)
 * Charles Stuart, Duke of Kendal (1666–1667), brother of the above
 * Charles Stuart, Duke of Cambridge (1677), brother of the above
 * Prince Charles of Denmark (1680–1729)
 * Prince Charles William of Hesse-Darmstadt (1693–1707)
 * Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (1712–1780), son of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans
 * Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne (1735–1814), Field marshal and writer, and member of a princely family of Hainaut
 * Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel (1744–1836)
 * Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (1778–1820)
 * Prince Charles of Prussia (1801–1883)
 * Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine (1809–1877)
 * Charles III, Prince of Monaco (1818–1889)
 * Prince Charles, Duke of Penthièvre (1820–1828)
 * Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1884–1954), grandson of Queen Victoria
 * Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (1903–1983), former Belgian regent, second son of Albert I, King of the Belgians and Duchess Elisabeth
 * Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Nemours (1905–1970)
 * Prince Charles of Luxembourg (1927–1977)
 * Prince Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma (1930–2010)
 * Charles, Prince Napoléon (born 1950)
 * Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro (born 1963)
 * Prince Charles-Henri de Lobkowicz (born 1964)
 * Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma (born 1970)
 * Prince Carlos Hugo de Bourbon de Parme (born 1997)
 * Prince Charles of Luxembourg (born 2020), son of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg and second in line to the throne of Luxembourg
 * Charles Williams (boxer) (born 1962), professional boxer, known as "Prince Charles"

Places

 * Prince Charles Island, Nunavut, Canada
 * Prince Charles (Edmonton), a neighborhood in the city of Edmonton, Canada
 * Prince Charles Secondary School, a high school in Creston, British Columbia, Canada

Ships

 * Prince Charles (Q ship), a British collier converted for naval use in World War I

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Prince Charles (disambiguation)


text:
Virginia opossum

The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), also known as the North American opossum, is the only opossum living north of Mexico, its range extending south into Central America. It is the northernmost marsupial in the world. In the United States and Canada, it is typically called a possum. It is a solitary nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, and a successful opportunist.

Opossums are familiar to many North Americans as they frequently inhabit settled areas near food sources like trash cans, pet food, compost piles, gardens or housemice. Their slow, nocturnal nature and their attraction to roadside carrion make opossums more likely to become roadkill.

Name
The Virginia opossum is the original animal named "opossum", a word which comes from Algonquian wapathemwa, meaning "white animal". Colloquially, the Virginia opossum is frequently just called a "possum". The name opossum is applied more generally to any of the other marsupials of the families Didelphidae and Caenolestidae. The generic name (Didelphis) is derived from Ancient Greek:, "two", and , "womb".

The possums of Australia, whose name derives from their similarity to the opossums of the Americas, are also marsupials, but of the order Diprotodontia.

The Virginia opossum is known in Mexico as tlacuache, tacuachi, and tlacuachi, from the Nahuatl word tlacuatzin.

Range
The Virginia opossum's ancestors evolved in South America, but spread into North America as part of the Great American Interchange, which occurred mainly after the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 million years ago. Didelphis was apparently one of the later migrants, entering North America about 0.8 million years ago. It is now found throughout Central America and North America from Costa Rica to southern Ontario and is expanding its range northward, northwesterly and northeasterly at a significant pace.

Its pre-European settlement range was generally as far north as Maryland; southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois; Missouri and Kansas. The clearing of dense forests in these areas and further north by settlers allowed the opossum to move northward. Elimination of the opossum's main predators in these areas also contributed to their expansion. Since 1900, it has expanded its range to include most of New England (including Maine); New York, extreme southwestern Quebec; most of southern and eastern Ontario; most of Michigan and Wisconsin; most of Minnesota, southeastern South Dakota and most of Nebraska.

Areas such as Rhode Island and Waterloo Region and Simcoe County in southern Ontario rarely had sightings of opossums in the 1960s, but now have them regularly; some speculate that this is likely due to global warming causing winters to be warmer. Some people speculate the expansion into Ontario mostly occurred by opossums accidentally being transferred across the St. Lawrence, Niagara, Detroit and St. Clair rivers by motor vehicles or trains they may have climbed upon. As the opossum is not adapted to colder winters or heavy snow, its population may be significantly reduced if a colder winter with heavier snow occurs in a particular northern region.

The Virginia opossum was not originally native to the West Coast of the United States. It was intentionally introduced into the West during the Great Depression, probably as a source of food, and now occupies much of the Pacific coast. Its range has been expanding steadily northward into British Columbia, Canada.

Description
Virginia opossums can vary considerably in size, with larger specimens found to the north of the opossum's range and smaller specimens in the tropics. They measure 33–55 cm long from their snout to the base of the tail, with the tail adding another 25 –. Males are slightly larger, with an average body length of 40.8 cm with an average tail length of 29.4 cm, while females are 40.6 cm long with a 28.1 cm tail. Weight for males ranges from 2.1–2.8 kg and for females from 1.9 –.

Their coats are a dull grayish brown, other than on their faces, which are white. Opossums have long, hairless, prehensile tails, which can be used to grab branches and carry small objects. They also have hairless ears and a long, flat nose. Opossums have 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal, and opposable, clawless thumbs on their rear limbs. Opossums have 13 nipples, arranged in a circle of 12 with one in the middle.

The dental formula of an opossum is. No other mammal in North America has more than 6 upper incisors, but the Virginia opossum has 10.

Perhaps surprisingly for such a widespread and successful species, the Virginia opossum has one of the lowest encephalization quotients of any marsupial. Its brain is one-fifth the size of a raccoon's.

Tracks
Virginia opossum tracks generally show five finger-like toes in both the fore and hind prints. The hind tracks are unusual and distinctive due to the opossum's opposable thumb, which generally prints at an angle of 90° or greater to the other fingers (sometimes near 180°). Individual adult tracks generally measure 1.9 in long by 2.0 in wide (4.8 × 5.1 cm) for the fore prints and 2.5 in long by 2.3 in wide (6.4 × 5.7 cm) for the hind prints. Opossums have claws on all fingers fore and hind except on the two thumbs (in the photograph, claw marks show as small holes just beyond the tip of each finger); these generally show in the tracks. In a soft medium, such as the mud in this photograph, the foot pads clearly show (these are the deep, darker areas where the fingers and toes meet the rest of the hand or foot, which have been filled with plant debris by wind due to the advanced age of the tracks).

The tracks in the photograph were made while the opossum was walking with its typical pacing gait. The four aligned toes on the hind print show the approximate direction of travel.

In a pacing gait, the limbs on one side of the body are moved simultaneously, just prior to moving both limbs on the other side of the body. This is illustrated in the pacing diagram, which explains why the left-fore and right-hind tracks are generally found together (and vice versa). If the opossum was not walking (perhaps running), the prints would fall in a different pattern. Other animals that generally employ a pacing gait are raccoons, bears, skunks, badgers, woodchucks, porcupines, and beavers.

When pacing, the opossum's 'stride' generally measures from 7 to 10 in, or 18 to 25 cm (in the pacing diagram the stride is 8.5 in, where one grid square is equal to 1 in2). To determine the stride of a pacing gait, measure from the tip (just beyond the fingers or toes in the direction of travel, disregarding claw marks) of one set of fore/hind tracks to the tip of the next set. By taking careful stride and track-size measurements, one can usually determine what species of animal created a set of tracks, even when individual track details are vague or obscured.

"Playing possum"
If threatened, an opossum will either flee or take a stand. To appear threatening, an opossum will first bare its 50 teeth, snap its jaw, hiss, drool, and stand its fur on end to look bigger. If this does not work, the Virginia opossum is noted for feigning death in response to extreme fear. This is the genesis of the term "playing possum", which means pretending to be dead or injured with intent to deceive.

In this inactive state it lies limp and motionless on its side, mouth and eyes open, tongue hanging out, and feet clenched. Fear can also cause the opossum to release a green fluid from its anus with a putrid odor that repels predators. Heart rate drops by half, and breathing rate is so slow and shallow it is hardly detectable. Death feigning normally stops when the threat withdraws, and it can last for several hours. Besides discouraging animals that eat live prey, playing possum also convinces some large animals that the opossum is no threat to their young. "Playing possum" in response to threats from oncoming traffic often results in death.

Diet
Opossums are omnivorous (sometimes said to be insectivorous) and eat a wide range of plant-based food, as well as animal-based food like small invertebrates, carrion, eggs, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, small mammals, and other small animals.

Insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles make up the bulk of the animal foods eaten by opossums. It has been stated that opossums eat up to 95% of the ticks they encounter and may eat up to 5,000 ticks per season, helping to prevent the spread of tick-born illnesses, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. This interpretation has been challenged. A widely publicized 2009 study by the Cary Institute indicated that Virginia opossums in a laboratory setting could eat thousands of ticks per week grooming. However, subsequent studies of the stomach contents of wild Virginia opossums have not found any ticks in their diet.

Small animals include young rabbits, meadow voles, mice, rats, birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, fish, crayfish, gastropods, and earthworms. The Virginia opossum has been found to be very resistant to snake venom. Attracted to carrion on the side of the highway, opossums are at an increased risk of being hit by motor vehicles.

Plant foods are mainly eaten in late summer, autumn, and early winter. These include raspberries, blackberries, apples, acorns, beechnuts, seeds, grains, bulbs, and vegetables. Persimmons are one of the opossum's favorite foods during the autumn. Opossums in urban areas scavenge from bird feeders, vegetable gardens, compost piles, garbage cans, and food dishes intended for dogs and cats.

Opossums in captivity are known to engage in cannibalism, though this is probably uncommon in the wild. Because of this, placing an injured opossum in a confined space with its healthy counterparts is inadvisable.

Seasonality
The Virginia opossum is most active during the spring and summer. It does not hibernate but reduces its activity during the winter. It may not leave its den for several days if the temperature drops below -7 to -4 C. Both males and females are at greater risk of injury during breeding season. Males extend their range in search of mates which puts them at greater risk of injury from motor vehicles and predators due to unknown territory. Females carrying young are slower moving and have to forage earlier in the evening and later into the night, also increasing their risk of injury from motor vehicles and predation.

Reproduction
The breeding season for the Virginia opossum can begin as early as December and continue through October with most young born between February and June. A female opossum may have one to three litters per year. During the mating season, the male attracts the female by making clicking sounds with his mouth. The female's estrus cycle is 28 days and lasts 36 hours. Gestation lasts 11–13 days and the average litter size is 8–9 infants, although over 20 infants may be born. Opossums have a very high mortality rate of their young; only one in ten offspring survive to reproductive adulthood.

Newborns are the size of a honeybee. Once delivered through the median vagina or central birth canal, newborn opossums climb up into the female opossum's pouch and latch onto one of her 13 teats. The young remain latched for two months and in the pouch for $2 1/2$ months. The young then climb onto the mother's back, where she carries them for the remainder of their time together. It is during this time that the young learn survival skills. They leave their mother after about four or five months.

Like all female marsupials, the female's reproductive system is bifid, with two lateral vaginae, uteri, and ovaries. The male's penis is also bifid, with two heads, and as is common in New World marsupials, the sperm pair up in the testes and only separate as they come close to the egg. Males have three pairs of Cowper's glands.

Lifespan
Compared to other mammals, including most other marsupials except dasyuromorphians, opossums have unusually short lifespans for their size and metabolic rate. The Virginia opossum has a maximal lifespan in the wild of only about two years. Even in captivity, opossums live only about four years. The rapid senescence of opossums is thought to reflect the fact that they have few defenses against predators; given that they would have little prospect of living very long regardless, they are not under selective pressure to develop biochemical mechanisms to enable a long lifespan. In support of this hypothesis, one population on Sapelo Island, 5 mi off the coast of Georgia, which has been isolated for thousands of years without natural predators, was found by Dr. Steven Austad to have evolved lifespans up to 50% longer than those of mainland populations.

Historical references
An early description of the opossum comes from explorer John Smith, who wrote in Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion in 1608 that "An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young." The opossum was more formally described in 1698 in a published letter entitled "Carigueya, Seu Marsupiale Americanum Masculum. Or, The Anatomy of a Male Opossum: In a Letter to Dr Edward Tyson", from Mr William Cowper, Chirurgeon, and Fellow of the Royal Society, London, by Edward Tyson, M.D. Fellow of the College of Physicians and of the Royal Society. The letter suggests even earlier descriptions.

Relationship with humans

Opossums are not considered dangerous to humans. Though their open-mouth hiss when frightened is often mistaken as rabid behavior, opossums are naturally resistant to rabies due to their low body temperature. Opossums can however host parasites and carry diseases such as tuberculosis, leptospirosis, and tularemia, among others.

Like raccoons, opossums can be found in urban environments, where they eat pet food, rotten fruit, and human garbage. They also are considered a common predator of poultry farming in North America. Research suggests that proximity to humans causes an increase in body size for opossums living in or near urban environments. Though sometimes mistakenly considered to be rats, opossums are not closely related to rodents or any other placental mammals.

The opossum was once a favorite game animal in the United States, particularly in the southern regions which have a large body of recipes and folklore relating to it. Their past wide consumption in regions where present is evidenced by recipes available online and in books such as older editions of The Joy of Cooking. A traditional method of preparation is baking, sometimes in a pie or pastry, though at present "possum pie" most often refers to a sweet confection containing no meat of any kind.

Around the turn of the 20th century, the opossum was the subject of numerous songs, including "Carve dat Possum", a minstrel song written in 1875 by Sam Lucas.

Although it is widely distributed in the United States, the Virginia opossum's appearance in folklore and popularity as a food item has tied it closely to the American Southeast. In animation, it is often used to depict uncivilized characters or "hillbillies". Not surprisingly, then, the Virginia opossum is featured in several episodes of the hit TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, such as the "Possum Day" episode in 1965. The title character in Walt Kelly's long-running comic strip Pogo was an opossum. In an attempt to create another icon like the teddy bear, President William Howard Taft was tied to the character Billy Possum. The character did not do well, as public perception of the opossum led to its downfall. In December 2010, a cross-eyed Virginia opossum in Germany's Leipzig Zoo named Heidi became an international celebrity. She appeared on a TV talk show to predict the 2011 Oscar winners, similar to the World Cup predictions made previously by Paul the Octopus, also in Germany.

The Perelman Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an annex of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was formerly the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company Building. Built in the late 1920s its facade is decorated with polychrome sculptures of animals symbolizing various attributes of insurance, including a possum to represent "protection".

title: Virginia opossum


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Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits

Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits is the first compilation album from Simon & Garfunkel, which was released on June 14, 1972, two years after Simon & Garfunkel had parted ways.

The album is currently available on CD under Legacy's Playlist banner.

Overview
The album was a mix of original studio recordings and four previously unreleased live recordings. The album's minimalist packaging does not specifically date the latter; however, the live versions of "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" and "Kathy's Song" included on Greatest Hits were also included on the 2008 album Live 1969. The liner notes to Live 1969 state that these two songs were both recorded at a November 1969 concert in St. Louis, Missouri. According to the liner notes from Collected Works, however, the version of "Kathy's Song" was taken from a 1968 concert in Vermont.

In a 1975 BBC Radio 1 interview, Roy Halee identified this version of "The 59th Street Bridge Song" as being from Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 performance at Carnegie Hall, "the last concert they did together" (prior to their disbanding later in 1970). A live version of "Homeward Bound" was also included on the album.

The remaining ten studio songs comprise nine singles released between 1965 and 1972, "America" being issued as a single several years after its appearance as a track on the Bookends album, and one album track, "Bookends" (without its parent song "Old Friends").

All the singles included, except "America," "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)," and "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" made the Top Ten, with the last peaking at No. 11. "Mrs. Robinson" topped the chart aided by its appearance in Mike Nichols' hit movie The Graduate. "The Sound of Silence" and "Bridge over Troubled Water" also peaked at No. 1 as singles in their studio versions, and "The Boxer" peaked as a single at No. 7.

Reception
Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits peaked on the U.S. albums chart at No. 5. On the UK Album Chart, it was a No. 2 hit. The album has proven a long and durable seller, currently being certified for 14 million units sold in the U.S. alone. It is easily their best-selling album in the U.S., and holds the record in the U.S. for the best-selling album by a duo.

In 2003, the album was ranked No. 293 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing
All songs composed by Paul Simon unless otherwise noted.

Side one

 * 1) "Mrs. Robinson" (some pressings use the single mix with an early fade-out at 3:51; later pressings revert to the Bookends album version at 4:02) – 3:51 or 4:02
 * 2) "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" (Live) – 2:25
 * 3) "The Boxer" – 5:11
 * 4) "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" (Live with applause cross-fade into the studio version of "The Sound of Silence") – 1:50
 * 5) "The Sound of Silence" (Acoustic version with electric overdubs) – 3:11
 * 6) "I Am a Rock" – 2:53
 * 7) "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (Traditional; arranged by Simon, Art Garfunkel) – 3:09

Side two

 * 1) "Homeward Bound" (Live with applause cross-fade into the studio version of "Bridge over Troubled Water") – 2:42
 * 2) "Bridge over Troubled Water" – 4:53
 * 3) "America" – 3:33
 * 4) "Kathy's Song" (Live) – 3:23
 * 5) "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" (Daniel Alomía Robles; English lyrics by Simon, arranged by Jorge Milchberg) – 3:08
 * 6) "Bookends" (same track as "Bookends Theme" from the Bookends LP; although cross-faded from "Old Friends" on Bookends, on this album it is a stand-alone track) – 1:21
 * 7) "Cecilia" (some pressings use the single mix from 1970; reissues use a hybrid of the single and the album version from Bridge over Troubled Water) – 2:53

title: Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits


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User talk:The Ostrich

Hello Ostrich.

I was editing the mammal page today and noticed some of your changes. While I appreciate your cleaning up of my sometimes akward language, is there some reason you deleted the line about diphyodonty? Teeth are critical to mammal evolution, both the development of heterodonty and diphyodonty.

Aidan Elliott-McCrea, Saturday, March 30, 2002

Hello there, welcome to the 'pedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. If you need any questions answered about the project then check out Help or drop me a line. It looks like you have been busy. Good work on the Somerville article! Cheers! --maveric149

I'm looking for clarification about what you meant about the invasion of Afghanistan. Were you referring to the late-20th-century Soviet invasion, or to the 2001-2002 US invasion?

Not trying to start a debate: just wondering which one you meant.

... and by the way, welcome to Wikipedia! -- Ed Poor

Paine Elevations
I would be interested in discussing this subject with you because I have researched it myself at some length. In my opinion, the source of the controversies is a gross exaggeration in the claimed 3,050 metre elevation of Cerro Paine Grande. Viewfinder 13:42, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your response on my talk page. If it is OK, I will respond on my talk page too, so that we can keep the discussion together. So watch my talk page. Viewfinder 16:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:51, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:The Ostrich


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Sacred geometry

Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief of a divine creator of the universal geometer. The geometry used in the design and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, and tabernacles has sometimes been considered sacred. The concept applies also to sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens, pagodas and holy wells, Mandala Gardens and the creation of religious and spiritual art.

As worldview and cosmology
The belief that a god created the universe according to a geometric plan has ancient origins. Plutarch attributed the belief to Plato, writing that "Plato said god geometrizes continually" (Convivialium disputationum, liber 8,2). In modern times, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss adapted this quote, saying "God arithmetizes".

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) believed in the geometric underpinnings of the cosmos. Harvard mathematician Shing-Tung Yau expressed a belief in the centrality of geometry in 2010: "Lest one conclude that geometry is little more than a well-calibrated ruler – and this is no knock against the ruler, which happens to be a technology I admire – geometry is one of the main avenues available to us for probing the universe. Physics and cosmology have been, almost by definition, absolutely crucial for making sense of the universe. Geometry's role in this may be less obvious, but is equally vital. I would go so far as to say that geometry not only deserves a place at the table alongside physics and cosmology, but in many ways it is the table."

Natural forms

According to Stephen Skinner, the study of sacred geometry has its roots in the study of nature, and the mathematical principles at work therein. Many forms observed in nature can be related to geometry; for example, the chambered nautilus grows at a constant rate and so its shell forms a logarithmic spiral to accommodate that growth without changing shape. Also, honeybees construct hexagonal cells to hold their honey. These and other correspondences are sometimes interpreted in terms of sacred geometry and considered to be further proof of the natural significance of geometric forms.

Representations in Art and architecture
Geometric ratios, and geometric figures were often employed in the designs of ancient Egyptian, ancient Indian, Greek and Roman architecture. Medieval European cathedrals also incorporated symbolic geometry. Indian and Himalayan spiritual communities often constructed temples and fortifications on design plans of mandala and yantra. Mandala Vaatikas or Sacred Gardens were designed using the same principles.

Many of the sacred geometry principles of the human body and of ancient architecture were compiled into the Vitruvian Man drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. The latter drawing was itself based on the much older writings of the Roman architect Vitruvius.

In Buddhism
Mandalas are made up of a compilation of geometric shapes. In Buddhism, it is made up of concentric circles and squares that are equally placed from the center. Located within the geometric configurations are deities or suggestions of the deity, such as in the form of a symbol. This is because Buddhists believe that deities can actually manifest inside the mandala. Mandalas can be created with a variety of mediums. Tibetan Buddhists create mandalas out of sand that are then ritually destroyed. In order to create the mandala, two lines are first drawn on a predetermined grid. The lines, known as Brahman lines, must overlap at the precisely calculated center of the grid. The mandala is then divided into thirteen equal parts not by a mathematical calculation, but through trial and error. Next, monks purify the grid to prepare it for the constructing of the deities before sand is finally added. Tibetan Buddhists believe that anyone who looks at the mandala will receive positive energy and be blessed. Due to the Buddhist belief in impermanence, the mandala is eventually dismantled and is ritualistically released into the world.

In Chinese spiritual traditions
One of the cornerstones of Chinese folk religion is the relationship between man and nature. This is epitomized in feng shui, which are architectural principles outlining the design plans of buildings in order to optimize the harmony of man and nature through the movement of Chi, or “life-generating energy.” In order to maximize the flow of Chi throughout a building, its design plan must utilize specific shapes. Rectangles and squares are considered to be the best shapes to use in feng shui design. This is because other shapes may obstruct the flow of Chi from one room to the next due to what are considered to be unnatural angles. Room layout is also an important element, as doors should be proportional to one another and located at appropriate positions throughout the house. Typically, doors are not situated across from one another because it may cause Chi to flow too fast from one room to the next.

The Forbidden City is an example of a building that uses sacred geometry through the principles of feng shui in its design plan. It is laid out in the shape of a rectangle that measures over half a mile long and about half a mile wide. Furthermore, the Forbidden City constructed its most important buildings on a central axis. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, which was the Emperor’s throne room, is located at the midpoint or “epicenter” of the central axis. This was done intentionally, as it was meant to show that when the Emperor entered this room, he would be ceremonially transformed into the center of the universe.

In Islam
The geometric designs in Islamic art are often built on combinations of repeated squares and circles, which may be overlapped and interlaced, as can arabesques (with which they are often combined), to form intricate and complex patterns, including a wide variety of tessellations. These may constitute the entire decoration, may form a framework for floral or calligraphic embellishments, or may retreat into the background around other motifs. The complexity and variety of patterns used evolved from simple stars and lozenges in the ninth century, through a variety of 6- to 13-point patterns by the 13th century, and finally to include also 14- and 16-point stars in the sixteenth century.

Geometric patterns occur in a variety of forms in Islamic art and architecture including kilim carpets, Persian girih and Moroccan/Algerian zellige tilework, muqarnas decorative vaulting, jali pierced stone screens, ceramics, leather, stained glass, woodwork, and metalwork.

Islamic geometric patterns are used in the Quran, Mosques and even in the calligraphies.

In Hinduism/ Indic Religion

The Agamas are a collection of Sanskrit, Tamil, and Grantha scriptures chiefly constituting the methods of temple construction and creation of idols, worship means of deities, philosophical doctrines, meditative practices, attainment of sixfold desires, and four kinds of yoga.

Elaborate rules are laid out in the Agamas for Shilpa (the art of sculpture) describing the quality requirements of such matters as the places where temples are to be built, the kinds of image to be installed, the materials from which they are to be made, their dimensions, proportions, air circulation, and lighting in the temple complex. The Manasara and Silpasara are works that deal with these rules. The rituals of daily worship at the temple also follow rules laid out in the Agamas.

Hindu temples, the symbolic representation of cosmic model is then projected onto Hindu temples using the Vastu Shastra principle of Sukha Darshan, which states that smaller parts of the temple should be self-similar and a replica of the whole. The repetition of these replication parts symbolizes the natural phenomena of fractal patterns found in nature. These patterns make up the exterior of Hindu temples. Each element and detail are proportional to each other, this occurrence is also known as the sacred geometry.

In Christianity
The construction of Medieval European cathedrals was often based on geometries intended to make the viewer see the world through mathematics, and through this understanding, gain a better understanding of the divine. These churches frequently featured a Latin Cross floor-plan.

At the beginning of the Renaissance in Europe, views shifted to favor simple and regular geometries. The circle in particular became a central and symbolic shape for the base of buildings, as it represented the perfection of nature and the centrality of man's place in the universe. The use of the circle and other simple and symmetrical geometric shapes was solidified as a staple of Renaissance sacred architecture in Leon Battista Alberti's architectural treatise, which described the ideal church in terms of spiritual geometry.

In the High Middle Ages, leading Christian philosophers explained the layout of the universe in terms of a microcosm analogy. In her book describing the divine visions she witnessed, Hildegard of Bingen explains that she saw an outstretched human figure located within a circular orb. When interpreted by theologians, the human figure was Christ and mankind showing the Earthly realm and the circumference of the circle was a representation of the universe. Some images also show above the universe a depiction of God. This is thought to later have inspired Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Dante uses circles to make up the nine layers of hell categorized in his book, The Divine Comedy. “Celestial spheres” are also utilized to make up the nine layers of Paradise. He further creates a cosmic order of circular forms that stretches from Jerusalem in the Earthly realm up to God in Heaven. This cosmology is believed to have been inspired by the ancient astronomer Ptolemy.

Unanchored geometry
Stephen Skinner criticizes the tendency of some writers to place a geometric diagram over virtually any image of a natural object or human created structure, find some lines intersecting the image and declare it based on sacred geometry. If the geometric diagram does not intersect major physical points in the image, the result is what Skinner calls "unanchored geometry".

Notable artists

 * Hildegard of Bingen
 * Hilma af Klint
 * Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn
 * Carl Jung

title: Sacred geometry