Download or read book Geisha written by Liza Crihfield Dalby and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1983-01-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, an American anthropologist, describes her experiences during the year she spent as a Japanese geisha, and looks at the role of women, and geishas, in modern Japan

Download or read book Isles of Gold written by Hugh Cortazzi and published by Weatherhill, Incorporated. This book was released on 1983 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection of over 90 historically significant maps of Japan. The book tells the story of the encounter between the West and Japan through the gradual process of mapping the island empire.

Download or read book Haiku Master Buson written by Buson Yosa and published by Heian International. This book was released on 1978 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Haiku Master Buson is the only translation of the work of this important haiku poet in English. Buson (1716-1783), along with Basho and Issa, is recognized as one of the three Japanese masters of the haiku. In addition to a large selection of haiku, the book also includes a selection of Buson's prose and a critical introduction." -- Amazon.com

Download or read book Buson written by Franz Wright and published by . This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of thirty-nine haiku from Yosa Buson showcases the mastery, delicacy, and mystery of one of Japan's greatest and most deeply admired poets. With this publication, Pulitzer Prize winner Franz Wright offers readers a new avenue into one of poetry's essential voices.

Download or read book The Path of Flowering Thorn written by Makoto Ueda and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yosa Buson (1716-83) is a towering figure in the history of haiku. A painter by profession, Buson took delight in the natural beauty of colors and forms as well as in the artistic beauty of composition. A seeker of ideals that were more aesthetic than religious or moral, he freely let his imagination wander into a land of exotic beauty far removed from contemporary society, often evoking ancient China, Heian Japan, and the world of the supernatural. This book presents an overview of Buson's life and poetry, beginning with speculations on the mysterious circumstances of his birth and then tracing the various stages of his career as poet. In the process, the author cites some 180 of Buson's haiku in English translation, and analyzes them from a predominantly biographical point of view. The book is illustrated with twelve examples of Buson's work as painter and calligrapher.

Download or read book Practically Religious written by Ian Reader and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praying for practical benefits (genze riyaku) is a common religious activity in Japan. Despite its widespread nature and the vast numbers of people who pray and purchase amulets and talismans for everything from traffic safety and education success to business prosperity and protection from disease, the practice has been virtually ignored in academic studies or relegated to the margins as a uh_product of superstition or an aberration from the true dynamics of religion. Basing their work on a fusion of textual, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary studies, the authors of this volume demonstrate the fallacy of such views, showing that, far from being marginal, the concepts and practices surrounding genze riyaku lie at the very heart of the Japanese religious world. They thrive not only as popular religious expression but are supported by the doctrinal structures of most Buddhist sects, are ordained in religious scriptures, and are promoted by monastic training centers, shrines, and temples. Benefits are both sought and bought, and the authors discuss the economic and commercial aspects of how and why institutions promote practical benefits. They draw attention to the dynamism and flexibility in the religious marketplace, where new products are offered in response to changing needs. Intertwined in these economic activities and motivations are the truth claims that underpin and justify the promotion and practice of benefits. The authors also examine the business of guidebooks, which combine travel information with religious advice, including humorous and distinctive forms of prayer for the protection against embarrassing physical problems and sexual diseases. Written in a direct and engaging style, Practically Religious will appeal to a wide range of readers and will be especially valuable to those interested in religion, anthropology, Buddhist studies, sociology, and Japanese studies.

Download or read book A History of Japanese Astronomy written by Shigeru Nakayama and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine written by John K. Nelson and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2015-08-03 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What we today call Shinto has been at the heart of Japanese culture for almost as long as there has been a political entity distinguishing itself as Japan. A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine describes the ritual cycle at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki’s major Shinto shrine. Conversations with priests, other shrine personnel, and people attending shrine functions supplement John K. Nelson’s observations of over fifty shrine rituals and festivals. He elicits their views on the meaning and personal relevance of the religious events and the place of Shinto and Suwa Shrine in Japanese society, culture, and politics. Nelson focuses on the very human side of an ancient institution and provides a detailed look at beliefs and practices that, although grounded in natural cycles, are nonetheless meaningful in late-twentieth-century Japanese society. Nelson explains the history of Suwa Shrine, basic Shinto concepts, and the Shinto worldview, including a discussion of the Kami, supernatural forces that pervade the universe. He explores the meaning of ritual in Japanese culture and society and examines the symbols, gestures, dances, and meanings of a typical shrine ceremony. He then describes the cycle of activities at the shrine during a calendar year: the seasonal rituals and festivals and the petitionary, propitiary, and rite-of-passage ceremonies performed for individuals and specific groups. Among them are the Dolls’ Day festival, in which young women participate in a procession and worship service wearing Heian period costumes; the autumn Okunchi festival, which attracts participants from all over Japan and even brings emigrants home for a visit; the ritual invoking the blessing of the Kami for young children; and the ritual sanctifying the earth before a building is constructed. The author also describes the many roles women play in Shinto and includes an interview with a female priest. Shinto has always been attentive to the protection of communities from unpredictable human and divine forces and has imbued its ritual practices with techniques and strategies to aid human life. By observing the Nagasaki shrine’s traditions and rituals, the people who make it work, and their interactions with the community at large, the author shows that cosmologies from the past are still very much a part of the cultural codes utilized by the nation and its people to meet the challenges of today.

Download or read book Preserving the Dharma written by John M. Rosenfield and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this beautifully illustrated book, eminent art historian John Rosenfield explores the life and art of the Japanese Buddhist monk Hozan Tankai (1629–1716). Through a close examination of sculptures, paintings, ritual implements, and primary documents, the book demonstrates how the Shingon prelate's artistic activities were central to his important place in the world of late-seventeenth-century Japanese Buddhism. At the same time, the book shows the richness of early modern Japanese Buddhist art, which has often been neglected and undervalued. Tankai was firmly committed to the spiritual disciplines of mountain Buddhism—seclusion, severe asceticism, meditation, and ritual. But in the 1680s, after being appointed head of a small, run-down temple on the slopes of Mount Ikoma, near Nara, he revealed that he was also a gifted artist and administrator. He embarked on an ambitious campaign of constructing temple halls and commissioning icons, and the Ikoma temple, soon renamed Hōzanji, became a vibrant center of popular Buddhism, as it remains today. He was a remarkably productive artist, and by the end of his life more than 150 works were associated with him. A major reconsideration of a key artistic and religious figure, Preserving the Dharma brings much-needed attention to an overlooked period of Japanese Buddhist art.

Download or read book Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces written by Bruce M. Sullivan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have long recognized that many objects in museums were originally on display in temples, shrines, or monasteries, and were religiously significant to the communities that created and used them. How, though, are such objects to be understood, described, exhibited, and handled now that they are in museums? Are they still sacred objects, or formerly sacred objects that are now art objects, or are they simultaneously objects of religious and artistic significance, depending on who is viewing the object? These objects not only raise questions about their own identities, but also about the ways we understand the religious traditions in which these objects were created and which they represent in museums today. Bringing together religious studies scholars and museum curators, Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces is the first volume to focus on Asian religions in relation to these questions. The contributors analyze an array of issues related to the exhibition in museums of objects of religious significance from Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh traditions. The “lives” of objects are considered, along with the categories of “sacred” and “profane”, “religious” and “secular”. As interest in material manifestations of religious ideas and practices continues to grow, Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces is a much-needed contribution to religious and Asian studies, anthropology of religion and museums studies.

Download or read book Animism in Southeast Asia written by Kaj Arhem and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animism refers to ontologies or worldviews which assign agency and personhood to human and non-human beings alike. Recent years have seen a revival of this concept in anthropology, where it is now discussed as an alternative to modern-Western naturalistic notions of human-environment relations. Based on original fieldwork, this book presents a number of case studies of animism from insular and peninsular Southeast Asia and offers a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon – its diversity and underlying commonalities and its resilience in the face of powerful forces of change. Critically engaging with the current standard notion of animism, based on hunter-gatherer and horticulturalist societies in other regions, it examines the roles of life forces, souls and spirits in local cosmologies and indigenous religion. It proposes an expansion of the concept to societies featuring mixed farming, sacrifice and hierarchy and explores the question of how non-human agents are created through acts of attention and communication, touching upon the relationship between animist ontologies, world religion, and the state. Shedding new light on Southeast Asian religious ethnographic research, the book is a significant contribution to anthropological theory and the revitalization of the concept of animism in the humanities and social sciences.

Download or read book Folk Religion in Japan written by Ichiro Hori and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1974 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ichiro Hori's is the first book in Western literature to portray how Shinto, Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist elements, as well as all manner of archaic magical beliefs and practices, are fused on the folk level. Folk religion, transmitted by the common people from generation to generation, has greatly conditioned the political, economic, and cultural development of Japan and continues to satisfy the emotional and religious needs of the people. Hori examines the organic relationship between the Japanese social structure—the family kinship system, village and community organizations—and folk religion. A glossary with Japanese characters is included in the index.

Download or read book 1020 Haiku in Translation written by William R. Nelson and Takafumi Saito and published by . This book was released on 2006-05 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1020 Haiku in Translation: The Heart of Basho, Buson and Issa features the most representative works of the three greatest haiku poets, Basho, Buson, and Issa. Each of the 1020 haiku has been meticulously translated into a poetic English form, while preserving the exact content and flow of the original. Notes, focusing on the meaning of uncommon words, geographical features, historical information, and cultural background have been provided to help non-Japanese readers to more fully understand. Elegant artwork and calligraphy appear throughout the book. 1020 Haiku in Translation: The Heart of Basho, Buson and Issa, a gateway to a new view of nature and your life, and featuring many haiku that have been translated into English for the first time, will appeal to all students of literature as well as general readers.

Download or read book Ceremony and Ritual in Japan written by D. P. Martinez and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan is one of the most urbanised and industrialised countries in the world. Yet the Japanese continue to practise a variety of religious rituals and ceremonies despite the high-tech, highly regimented nature of Japanese society. Ceremony and Ritual in Japan focuses on the traditional and religious aspects of Japanese society from an anthropological perspective, presenting new material and making cross-cultural comparisons. The chapters in this collection cover topics as diverse as funerals and mourning, sweeping, women's roles in ritual, the division of ceremonial foods into bitter and sweet, the history of a shrine, the playing of games, the exchange of towels and the relationship between ceremony and the workplace. The book provides an overview of the meaning of tradition, and looks at the way in which new ceremonies have sprung up in changing circumstances, while old ones have been preserved, or have developed new meanings.

Download or read book A Japanese Advertising Agency written by Brian Moeran and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the only book of its kind - written by an anthropologist who spent twelve months doing fieldwork in a major Tokyo agency and who has spent the past 30 years studying and living in Japan. By examining the production of advertising, this book turns other semiotics, media and cultural studies theories on their heads. By analysing the social structure of a modern media organization from the inside, it makes anthropology relevant and intellectually stimulating. By treating the Japanese as a more-or-less normal and rational people, it explodes the usual myths of exotic Japan and steps boldly into a global arena that embraces 'east' and 'west' in a new theory of values.

Download or read book Portraits of Ch gen written by John M. Rosenfield and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume vividly describes the efforts of the Japanese monk Shunjōbō Chōgen (1121-1206) to restore major buildings and works of art lost in the brutal civil conflicts of the 1180s. Chōgen is best known for his role in recasting the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) at Tōdaiji in Nara, reconstructing the South Great Gate (Nandaimon), and making the famous guardian statues there. This study concentrates on these and other works of art and architecture associated with Chōgen, situating them in the turbulent political and social climate of Japan and in the larger spiritual contexts of East Asian Buddhism.

Download or read book Art of the Samurai written by 原田一敏 and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2009 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This extensively illustrated catalogue is published in conjunction with the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai, including the finest examples of swords - the spirit of the samurai - as well as sword mountings and fittings, armor and helmets, saddles, textiles, and paintings. The works in the catalogue, drawn from public and private collections in Japan, include 34 officially designated National Treasures and 64 Important Cultural Properties, the largest number ever to be shown together at one time. Dating from the 5th to the early 20th century, these majestic objects offer a complete picture of samurai culture and its unique blend of the martial and the refined." "Many of the greatest Japanese swordsmiths are represented in this volume, from early masters such as Yasuie (12th century) and Tomomitsu (14th century) to the Edo-period smiths Nagasone Kotetsu and Kiyomaro. The blades by these and other masters, cherished as much for their beauty as for their cutting efficiency, were equipped with elaborate hilts and scabbards prized for their exquisite craftsmanship and fine materials such as silk, rayskin, gold, lacquer, and certain alloys unique to Japan. Japanese armor is also fully surveyed, from the rarest iron armor of the Kofun period (5th century) to the inventive ceremonial helmets made toward the end of the age of the samurai." --Book Jacket.