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The great Buddhist priest Kûkai (774-835) is credited with the introduction and establishment of tantric -or esoteric -Buddhism in early ninth-century Japan. In Ryûichi Abé examines this important religious figure -neglected in modern academic literatu
Japanese Mythology is a detailed anthology regarding Japanese folk tales, mythology and legends and it presents a wonderful in-depth look into Japanese culture and their culture's beliefs and history. It is a collection of diverse Japanese folk tales, including a variety of topics from creation myths, stories of gods and goddesses, tales of animal spirits, to legends of the sea and of Mount Fuji, as well as analysis of how these stories relate to Japanese culture.
In Turbulent Streams: An Environmental History of Japan’s Rivers, 1600–1930, Roderick I. Wilson shows how rivers have played an important role in Japanese history and moves beyond conventional stories of technological progress and environmental decline to provide a dynamic history of environmental relations.
Many of the ghost stories of Japan came to the fore during the Edo period with its famous woodblocks of ukiyo-e, the floating world. With a new introduction, this collection of Japanese ghost stories brings together fantastic tales of vengeful spirits, mountain-dwelling phantoms, man-eating oni, haunted trees, and child-rearing ghosts, with stories such as Yuki-Onna, Hoichi the Earless, The Ghost of O-Kiku from The Bancho Sarayashiki, the sorry tale of O-Iwa from the Yotsuya Kaidan, The Peony Lantern and The Ghost Who Bought Candy. Japan has a long and ancient custom of sharing stories of the supernatural, brought to fashionable prominence in the Kaidan literature of the Edo period, now presented here for the modern reader. FLAME TREE 451: From myth to mystery, the supernatural to horror, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.
Pierre Loti in Madame Chrysanthème, Gilbert and Sullivan in The Mikado, and Sir Edwin Arnold in Seas and Lands, gave us the impression that Japan was a real fairyland in the Far East. We were delighted with the prettiness and quaintness of that country, and still more with the prettiness and quaintness of the Japanese people. We laughed at their topsy-turvy ways, regarded the Japanese woman, in her rich-coloured kimono, as altogether charming and fascinating, and had a vague notion that the principal features of Nippon were the tea-houses, cherry-blossom, and geisha. Twenty years ago we did not take Japan very seriously. We still listen to the melodious music of The Mikado, but now we no lo...
The essays in this groundbreaking book explore the meanings of manhood in Japan from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. Recreating Japanese Men examines a broad range of attitudes regarding properly masculine pursuits and modes of behavior. It charts breakdowns in traditional and conventional societal roles and the resulting crises of masculinity. Contributors address key questions about Japanese manhood ranging from icons such as the samurai to marginal men including hermaphrodites, robots, techno-geeks, rock climbers, shop clerks, soldiers, shoguns, and more. In addition to bringing historical evidence to bear on definitions of masculinity, contributors provide fresh analyses on the ways contemporary modes and styles of masculinity have affected Japanese men’s sense of gender as authentic and stable.
One of the most prolific and respected directors of Japanese cinema, Naruse Mikio (1905–69) made eighty-nine films between 1930 and 1967. Little, however, has been written about Naruse in English, and much of the writing about him in Japanese has not been translated into English. With The Cinema of Naruse Mikio, Catherine Russell brings deserved critical attention to this under-appreciated director. Besides illuminating Naruse’s contributions to Japanese and world cinema, Russell’s in-depth study of the director sheds new light on the Japanese film industry between the 1930s and the 1960s. Naruse was a studio-based director, a company man renowned for bringing films in on budget and on...
This comprehensive account of the Nagaoka capital discusses the capital's construction and layout, and investigates the motivations behind the establishment and abrupt abandonment of Nagaoka within the context of Kanmu's reign and personal convictions.
The Six National Histories of Japan chronicle the history of Japan from its origins in the 'Age of the Gods' to A.D. 887. Compiled in the imperial court during the eighth and ninth centuries by leading scholars and officials of the day, they have exerted a profound effect on Japanese thought for well over a millenium. In his book, renowned historian Taro Sakamoto interpreted modern scholarly findings, as well as presenting his own views, thus completing the modern re-evaluation of the controversial first history. His study is the only one to survey all six histories, identifying common features and pointing out the special characteristics of each. John Brownlee's translation makes available to English readers a valuable study of the Six National Histories which also provides insights into the methods of contemporary Japanese historians.