Download or read book Kyoto A Contemplative Guide written by Gouverneur Mosher and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2005-09-15 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Kyoto travel guide presents the best tourists sites in Japan's spiritual and historical capital. With this guide the visitor needs no further assistance to learn all that a place has to offer. It is factual, concise, and complete. This Japan travel book is generously illustrated with photographs, maps, route plans, and building plans, as well as a selection of reproductions from old prints and picture scrolls. The sights were specifically chosen to give foreign visitors a broad understanding of Kyoto's political, religious, and cultural history. Among them are the ancient Phoenix Hall of the Byodo-in, the famous rock garden at Ryoan-ji, the mountain temples of Enryaku-ji, the lavishly decorated Nijo Castle of the Tokugawas, the Silver Pavilion and its remarkable garden, and the "all-time temple," Kiyomizu. Three appendices--a chart of Japanese art periods, a glossary and a list of useful Japanese phrases--further enhance its value.
Download or read book Kamakura written by Burritt Sabin and published by Partridge Publishing Singapore. This book was released on 2021-08-30 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kamakura rose as the first samurai capital in the 12th century. Shogun Yoritomo chose for the seat of his military government a natural fortress far from the intrigues of the court in Kyoto. He summoned from the capital carpenters to build grand temples and sculptors to carve images for their halls. His successors, the Hj, built the great Zen monasteries Kench-ji and Engaku-ji. Religious figures including Nichiren, Ippen, and Ninsh established temples of their respective Buddhist sects in the new city. Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide introduces the dramatic and often violent lives of these figures and walks you through shrine and temple precincts, illuminating the features of their halls, gardens, and statuary. It takes you over the passes cut sheer through rock to give entrance to the city. It shows Kamakura through the eyes of the writers and artists drawn to the seaside city by its laid-back pace, rich history, and abundant greenery. Rare photographs complement the text. Lucid maps pinpoint places of interest. Finally, Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide explains how the establishment of the first samurai capital, from whence the ethic and spirit of the Eastern warrior spread nationwide, was of significance in the formation of Japan.
Download or read book Kyoto a Cultural Guide written by John H. Martin and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Children turned emperor, emperors turned priest, and priests turned poet are just a few of the colorful characters described in Kyoto: A Cultural Guide. The fascinating facts, larger-than-life characters and grand events described within offer abundant proof that, more than just a treasure house of shrines and temples, Kyoto is indeed one of the most enticing cities in the world. For example, Benkei, an eight-foot-tall monk with a wildly combative nature, was defeated on the Gojo Bridge by a voting warrior who had received his training in swordsmanship from a tengu goblin. Benkei's defeat is memorialized at Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera temple in the form of an oversize iron staff and gela created by a blind blacksmith. Oishi entered into a life of debauchery at the lchiriki tea house in Gion with the sole intention of avenging the disgrace of his former master. After gathering together 46 other samurai, he exacted his revenge. Thus the tale of The Forty Seven Ronin was born. A guidebook to 14 walking tours, Kyoto: A Cultural Guide is also a kaleidoscopic reference and resource book certain to please long-term residents and first-time travelers.
Download or read book Kyoto written by John Dougill and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kyoto, the ancient former capital of Japan, breathes history and mystery. Its temples, gardens and palaces are testimony to many centuries of aristocratic and religious grandeur. Under the veneer of modernity, the city remains filled with countless reminders of a proud past. John Dougill explores this most venerable of Japanese cities, revealing the spirit of place and the individuals that have shaped its often dramatic history. Courtiers and courtesans, poets and priests, samurai and geisha people the pages of his account. Covering twelve centuries in all, the book not only provides a historical overview but brings to life the cultural magnificence of the city of "Purple Hills and Crystal Streams". City of Power: The seat of aristocrats and warriors; military might and spiritual authority; unification and the transition to modernity. City of Ritual: Buddhist sects and Shinto festivals; tea ceremony; the role of the geisha; the influence of Zen. City of Arts: Poetry and fiction; architecture and garden design; Heian verse and Noh theatre; art and handicrafts; the Japanese Hollywood.
Download or read book Kyoto Stories written by Steve Alpert and published by Stone Bridge Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An American student in 1970s Kyoto rambles among the city's beauties and traditions, learning as he goes. Don Ascher is a young American living in Kyoto in the 1970s. He is a student of Japanese. He also teaches English, works at a shabu-shabu restaurant, and hangs out in the company of gangsters, hostesses, housewives, tea teachers, and fellow foreigners. Set amidst the timeless beauty of the ancient capital and its garish modern entertainments, this collection of fanciful episodes from Don’s life is a window into Japanese culture and a chronicle of romance and human connections.
Download or read book Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto written by John Dougill and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ING_08 Review quote
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Osaka and Kyoto written by Ian Martin Röpke and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osaka and Kyoto are often overshadowed in the Western imagination by Tokyo's teeming sea of civilization. Nevertheless, Osaka and Kyoto are the setting for most of Japan's important historical events. From the 5th century B.C.E. to the 17th century, the Osaka-Kyoto region (known as the Kansai today) was the center of Japan politically, culturally, and economically. Today, the region continues to play a leading role in the traditional arts as well as serving as the second most important economic area in the country. This volume begins to address a painful lack of information about Osaka and Kyoto in English. Its dictionary-style entries place concise and important information at researchers' and scholars' fingertips. The introductions and chronologies contribute to the usefulness of this ready-reference, and the bibliography points students of Osaka and Kyoto to starting points for further research.
Download or read book Temples of Kyoto written by Donald Richie and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Temples of Kyoto takes you on a journey through these environs and presents twenty-one of these marvelous structures that are unique creations which, while quintessentially Japanese, somehow speak a universal language readily appreciated by people the world over. Donald Richie, called by Time magazine, "the dean of art critics in Japan," turns his attention to these twenty-one temples with scholarship and an eye for the dramatic. Drawing off such classic sources as The Tale of Genji and Essays in Idleness, he takes the reader on a tour through the ages, first with a comprehensive history of Japanese Buddhism, and then by highlighting key events in the development of these "celestial-seeming cities." Brilliant photographs of the temples, taken by the award-winning photographer Alexandre Georges, complement the text and provide a visual overview of the subject matter. His keen eye captures on film the elements that make each temple noteworthy, including their interiors, and objets d'art, in a fresh and thought provoking manner. The result is this book: a testament and meditation on the power and elegance of these world-renowned structures that are both places of worship and examples of the finest art Japan has ever produced.
Download or read book Another Kyoto written by Alex Kerr and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-07-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Another Kyoto is an insider's meditation on the hidden wonders of Japan's most enigmatic city. Drawing on decades living in Kyoto, and on lore gleaned from artists, Zen monks and Shinto priests, Alex Kerr illuminates the simplest things - a temple gate, a wall, a sliding door - in a new way. 'A rich book of intimate proportions ... In Kyoto, facts and meaning are often hidden in plain sight. Kerr's gift is to make us stop and cast our eyes upward to a temple plaque, or to squint into the gloom of an abbot's chamber' Japan Times 'Kerr and Sokol have performed a minor miracle by presenting that which is present in Kyoto as that which we have yet to see. I know that I will never pass a wall, or tread a floor, or sit on tatami the same way again' Kyoto Journal
Download or read book Kamakura written by Burritt Sabin and published by Partridge Publishing Singapore. This book was released on 2021-08-30 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kamakura rose as the first samurai capital in the 12th century. Shogun Yoritomo chose for the seat of his military government a natural fortress far from the intrigues of the court in Kyoto. He summoned from the capital carpenters to build grand temples and sculptors to carve images for their halls. His successors, the Hj, built the great Zen monasteries Kench-ji and Engaku-ji. Religious figures including Nichiren, Ippen, and Ninsh established temples of their respective Buddhist sects in the new city. Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide introduces the dramatic and often violent lives of these figures and walks you through shrine and temple precincts, illuminating the features of their halls, gardens, and statuary. It takes you over the passes cut sheer through rock to give entrance to the city. It shows Kamakura through the eyes of the writers and artists drawn to the seaside city by its laid-back pace, rich history, and abundant greenery. Rare photographs complement the text. Lucid maps pinpoint places of interest. Finally, Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide explains how the establishment of the first samurai capital, from whence the ethic and spirit of the Eastern warrior spread nationwide, was of significance in the formation of Japan.
Download or read book Lure Of The Japanese Garden written by Alison Main and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002-06-04 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a delightful journey through the gardens of Japan, their art, culture, and history. This beautifully designed book is a guide to gardens in Japan and a revelation of their historical and cultural contexts. Offering a tour of over 120 gardens spanning east, west, north, and south in Japan, the authors provide a brief description, beautiful photographs, and directions for easy reference, interwoven with notes on personal experiences and travel in different seasons. A glossary of terms and a chronological summary of the gardens in different historical periods are included. A perfect reference for visitors to Japan as well as armchair travelers, this book is the first to show such a wide geographical spread of gardens throughout Japan, and will be beloved by all garden lovers and anyone captivated by this unique element of Japanese culture. 120 color photographs and illustrations. - Publisher.
Download or read book The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei written by John Stevens and published by Echo Point Books & Media, LLC. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The greatest athletes in the world today are not the Olympic champions or the stars of professional sports, but the "marathon monks" of Japan's sacred Mount Hiei. Over a seven-year training period, these "running buddhas" figuratively circle the globe on foot. During one incredible 100-day stretch, they cover 52.5 miles daily—twice the length of an Olympic marathon. And the prize they seek to capture is the greatest thing a human being can achieve: enlightenment in the here and now. This book is about these amazing men, the magic mountain on which they train, and the philosophy of Tendai Buddhism, which inspires them in their quest for the supreme. The reader will learn about the monks' death-defying fasts, their vegetarian training diet, their handmade straw running shoes, and feats of endurance such as their ceremonial leap into a waterfall. Illustrated with superb photographs, the book also contains the first full-length study in English of Mount Hiei and Tendai Buddhism.
Download or read book The Official Guide book to Kyoto and the Allied Prefectures written by M. Ichihara and published by . This book was released on 1895 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Daitokuji written by Gregory P. A. Levine and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Zen Buddhist monastery Daitokuji in Kyoto has long been revered as a cloistered meditation centre, a repository of art treasures, and a wellspring of the "Zen aesthetic." Gregory Levine's Daitokuji unsettles these conventional notions with groundbreaking inquiry into the significant and surprising visual and social identities of sculpture, painting, and calligraphy associated with this fourteenth-century monastery and its enduring monastic and lay communities. The book begins with a study of Zen portraiture at Daitokuji that reveals the precariousness of portrait likeness; the face that gazes out from an abbot's painting or statue may not be who we expect it to be or submit quietly to interpretation. By tracing the life of Daitokuji's famed statue of the chanoyu patriarch Sen no Riky-u (1522-91), which was all but destroyed by the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98) but survived in Rash-omon-like narratives and reconstituted sculptural forms, Levine throws light upon the contested status of images and their mytho-poetic potential. Levine then draws from the seventeenth-century journal of K-ogetsu S-ogan, Bokuseki no utsushi, to explore practices of calligraphy connoisseurship at Daitokuji and the pivotal role played by the monastery's abbots within Kyoto art circles. The book's final section explores Daitokuji's annual airings of temple treasures not merely as a practice geared toward preservation but also as a space in which different communities vie for authority over the artistic past. An epilogue follows the peripatetic journey of the monastery's scrolls of the 500 Luohan from China to Japan, to exhibition and partial sale in the West, and back to Daitokuji. Illuminating canonical and heretofore ignored works and mining a trove of documents, diaries, and modern writings, Levine argues for the plurality of Daitokuji's visual arts and the breadth of social and ritual circumstances of art making and viewing within the monastery. This diversity encourages reconsideration of stereotyped notions of "Zen art" and offers specialists and general readers alike opportunity to explore the fertile and sometimes volatile nexus of the visual arts and religious sites in Japan.
Download or read book Sacred K yasan written by Philip L. Nicoloff and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2007-11-08 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes the reader on a pilgrimage to Mount Kōya, the holy Buddhist mountain in Japan.
Download or read book Kyoto written by John Dougill and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating selection of Kyoto-specific literature takes readers through twelve centuries of cultural heritage, from ancient Heian beginnings to contemporary depictions. The city's aesthetic leaning is evident throughout in a mix of well-known and less familiar works by a wide-ranging cast that includes emperors and court ladies, Zen masters and warrior scholars, wandering monks and poet "immortals." We see the city through their eyes in poetic pieces that reflect timeless themes of beauty, nature, love and war. An assortment of tanka, haiku, modern verse and prose passages make up the literary feast, and as we enter recent times there are English-language poems too. Kyoto: A Literary Guide is a labour of love. It arose from the shared passion of a small group of translators, academics and professors of literature chaired by noted Kyoto author John Dougill. For over ten years they have met for monthly discussion, and when they discovered that there was no book dedicated to Kyoto literature they decided to produce their own. This involved sifting through a large number of poems and prose items, with the eventual selection made according to historical importance, literary merit and reference to specific sites. Translations were carefully finessed, with particular regard to the fine balance between linguistic accuracy and literary rendition. Accompanying the translations are the original Japanese with transcription and an informative footnote. The book is generously illustrated with black-and-white photographs, old prints, and picture scrolls, adding visual accompaniment to the verbal description. Given the centrality of Kyoto to the national culture, the book will not only be a must-have for lovers of the city but for anyone with an interest in Japanese literature. It will enhance appreciation for those visiting "the ancient capital" and it will be cherished by those who live there. Above all, it is the hope of the Kyoto-philes who created the book that the pieces collected here will prove an inspiration to readers to go on and explore the larger works from which they were extracted.
Download or read book A Beginner s Guide to Japan written by Pico Iyer and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Arguably the greatest living travel writer” (Outside magazine), Pico Iyer has called Japan home for more than three decades. But, as he is the first to admit, the country remains an enigma even to its long-term residents. In A Beginner’s Guide to Japan, Iyer draws on his years of experience—his travels, conversations, readings, and reflections—to craft a playful and profound book of surprising, brief, incisive glimpses into Japanese culture. He recounts his adventures and observations as he travels from a meditation hall to a love hotel, from West Point to Kyoto Station, and from dinner with Meryl Streep to an ill-fated call to the Apple service center in a series of provocations guaranteed to pique the interest and curiosity of those who don’t know Japan—and to remind those who do of its myriad fascinations.
