Download or read book Snakeskin Shamisen written by Naomi Hirahara and published by Delta. This book was released on 2006-04-25 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G.I.’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A.–a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.
Download or read book The Shamisen written by Henry Mabley Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The shamisen is a traditional Japanese musical instrument. It was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century via China and the Ryûkyû Islands, and was quickly established as a culturally significant musical instrument in its new context. The instrument - a three-string lute - developed numerous styles of performance and is found as a solo and ensemble instrument in diverse social and cultural contexts. The shamisen is known as an instrument of geisha in the entertainment districts; it is used in kabuki and bunraku theatre; and also has an established place within a wide-range of performance traditions, many of which are depicted in woodblock prints and other art depicting everyday life of the Edo period. This book, which is based on the author's field research in Japan, is a history of the shamisen. It locates the instrument within its various social and cultural contexts, and includes accompanying illustrations (e.g., woodblock prints, photographs and illustrations) to help show visually the place of the instrument in traditional and modern Japan.
Download or read book The Kumiuta and Danmono Traditions of Japanese Koto Music written by Willem Adriaansz and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Japanese Music Musical Instruments written by William P. Malm and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 1990-06-15 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interesting and authoritative book includes essential facts about the various forms of Japanese music and musical instruments and their place in the overall history of Japan. Japanese Music and Musical Instruments has three main orientations: The history of Japanese music Construction of the instruments Analysis of the music itself. The book covers in a lucidly written text and a wealth of fascinating photographs and drawings the main forms of musical expression. Many readers will find the useful hints on purchasing instruments, records, and books especially valuable, and for those who wish to pursue the matter further there is a selected bibliography and a guide to Tokyo's somewhat hidden world of Japanese music. It will be found an invaluable aid to the understanding and appreciation of an important, but little-known, and fascinating aspect of Japanese culture.
Download or read book Ten Bulls for String Quartet and Shamisen written by Simon James Hutchinson and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Introduction to Shamisen Kumiuta written by Willem Adriaansz and published by Buren : Knuf. This book was released on 1978 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Japanese Tattoos written by Brian Ashcraft and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thinking of getting a Japanese-style tattoo? Want to avoid a permanent mistake? Japanese Tattoos is an insider's look at the world of Japanese irezumi (tattoos). Japanese Tattoos explains the imagery featured in Japanese tattoos so that readers can avoid getting ink they don't understand or, worse, that they'll regret. This photo-heavy book will also trace the history of Japanese tattooing, putting the iconography and kanji symbols in their proper context so readers will be better informed as to what they mean and have a deeper understanding of irezumi. Tattoos featured will range from traditional tebori (hand-poked) and kanji tattoos to anime-inspired and modern works--as well as everything in between. For the first time, Japanese tattooing will be put together in a visually attractive, informative, and authoritative way. Along with the 350+ photos of tattoos, Japanese Tattoos will also feature interviews with Japanese tattoo artists on a variety of topics. What's more, there will be interviews with clients, who are typically overlooked in similar books, allowing them to discuss what their Japanese tattoos mean to them. Those who read this informative tattoo guide will be more knowledgeable about Japanese tattoos should they want to get inked or if they are simply interested in Japanese art and culture.
Download or read book Composing for Japanese Instruments written by Minoru Miki and published by University Rochester Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unique sounds of the biwa, shamisen, and other traditional instruments from Japan are heard more and more often in works for the concert hall and opera house. Composing for Japanese Instruments is a practical orchestration/instrumentation manual with contextual and relevant historical information for composers who wish to learn how to compose for traditional Japanese instruments. Widely regarded as the authoritative text on the subject in Japan and China, it contains hundreds of musical examples, diagrams, photographs, and fingering charts, and comes complete with two accompanying compact discs of musical examples. Its author, Minoru Miki, is a composer of international renown and is recognized in Japan as a pioneer in writing for Japanese traditional instruments. The book contains valuable appendices, one of works Miki himself has composed using Japanese traditional instruments, and one of works by other composers -- including Toru Takemitsu and Henry Cowell -- using Japanese traditional instruments. Marty Regan is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M University; Philip Flavin is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Australia.
Download or read book The Koto written by Henry Mabley Johnson and published by Hotei Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Henry Johnson is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Otago, New Zealand, where he teaches and undertakes research in Ethnomusicology and Asian Studies.
Download or read book Ko Uta Little Songs of the Geisha World written by Liza Crihfield and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-03 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book of Japanese poetry and lyrics explores a little-known style of Japanese song called Ko-Uta. A Ko-Uta is translated as "little song" in Japanese. Unfamiliar to most Westerners, ko-uta are particularly in tune with the tradition of Japan's Edo-era merchants. Some ko-uta are aesthetic, many are earthy. Ko-uta are sung to the accompaniment of the shamisen—a traditional, three-stringed Japanese lute. Ko-uta come to life when they are sung, and the best example of where they live is in the geisha world. To help give some idea of the geisha world, this Japanese music book has provided a complete score of one song. Readers with some experience with haiku and other forms of Japanese poetry will find that ko-uta share many things with those forms. Yet, ko-uta retain their own unique interest, making this book a fascinating addition to any collection of Japanese literature or art.
Download or read book Samurai Rising written by Pamela S. Turner and published by Charlesbridge Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life saga. This epic warrior tale reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family—and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his surviving half-brother banished. Yoshitsune was sent away to live in a monastery. Skinny, small, and unskilled in the warrior arts, he nevertheless escaped and learned the ways of the samurai. When the time came for the Minamoto clan to rise up against their enemies, Yoshitsune answered the call. His daring feats and impossible bravery earned him immortality.
Download or read book Blood Hina written by Naomi Hirahara and published by Prospect Park Books. This book was released on 2013-08-26 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mas Arai's best friend Haruo is getting married, and he has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But when an ancient Japanese doll display of Haruo's fiancée goes missing, the wedding is called off with fingers pointed at Haruo. To solve the mystery to save Haruo's life, Mas must untangle a web of secrecy, heart-breaking memories, and murder.
Download or read book The Shakuhachi written by Henry Mabley Johnson and published by Brill Academic Pub. This book was released on 2014 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The shakuhachi is a Japanese bamboo flute with a history in various social, cultural, and geographic spheres. This book unravels the roots and routes connected with the shakuhachi, and discusses instrument types, construction process, social transmission, and performance practice.
Download or read book Geisha written by Mineko Iwasaki and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-09 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Kyoto geisha describes her initiation into an okiya at the age of four, the intricate training that made up most of her education, her successful career, and the traditions surrounding the geisha culture.
Download or read book Gasa Gasa Girl written by Naomi Hirahara and published by Delta. This book was released on 2005-03-29 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the time she was a child, Mas Arai’s daughter, Mari, was completely gasa-gasa–never sitting still, always on the go, getting into everything. And Mas, busy tending lawns, gambling, and struggling to put his Hiroshima past behind him, never had much time for the family he was trying to support. For years now, his resentful daughter has lived a continent away in New York City, and had a life he knew little about. But an anxious phone call from Mari asking for his help plunges the usually obstinate Mas into a series of startling situations from maneuvering in an unfamiliar city to making nice with his tall, blond son-in-law, Lloyd, to taking care of a sickly child…to finding a dead body in the rubble of a former koi pond. The victim was Kazzy Ouchi, a half-Japanese millionaire who also happened to be Mari and Lloyd’s boss. Stumbling onto the scene, Mas sees more amiss than the detectives do, but his instinct is to keep his mouth shut. Only when the case threatens his daughter and her family does Mas take action: patiently, stubbornly tugging at the end of a tangled, dangerous mystery. And as he does, he begins to lay bare a tragic secret on the dark side of an American dream.… Both a riveting mystery and a powerful story of passionate relationships across a cultural divide, Gasa-Gasa Girl is a tale told with heart and wisdom: an unforgettable portrait of fathers, daughters, and other strangers.
Download or read book Strawberry Yellow written by Naomi Hirahara and published by Prospect Park Books. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mas Arai returns for his fifth mystery by getting entangled in a family reunion murder in California's strawberry fields.
