Download or read book Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation written by Vincent T. Covello and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation is an exploration into the art of suiseki—small, naturally formed stones selected for their shape, balance, simplicity and tranquility. Written by two leading experts in the field of Japanese gardening and art, this concise introduction offers aesthetic guidance and direct practical advice that is a window into traditional Japanese culture. It details the essential characteristics of a high-quality suiseki, describing the various systems of stone classification in this Japanese art form and explaining how to display a suiseki to its best advantage. There is also a section on incorporating suiseki alongside a bonsai tree, the most popular and rewarding complement to peaceful suiseki miniature landscape gardens. Sections include: Historical Background Characteristics and Aesthetic Qualities Classification of Suiseki Displaying a Stone Suiseki with Bonsai and Other Related Arts Collecting Suiseki How to Make a Carved Wooden Base Suiseki Classification Systems

Download or read book The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation written by Vincent T. Covello and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation is a thorough introduction that provides: a complete 'how-to' guide for collectors; a primer on key Japanese concepts and terminology; advice on displaying stones to their best advantage; hints on combining suiseki with bonsai; and much more.

Download or read book Japanese Art in Detail written by John Reeve and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is Japanese art? This book supplies an answer that gives a reader both a true picture and a fine understanding of Japanese art. Arranged thematically, the book includes chapters on nature and pleasure, landscape and beauty, all framed by themes of serenity and turmoil, the two poles of Japanese culture ancient and modern.

Download or read book The Unknown Craftsman written by Muneyoshi Yanagi and published by Kodansha International. This book was released on 1989 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mr. Yanagi sees folk art as a manifestation of the essential world from which art, philosophy, and religion arise and in which the barriers between them disappear. The implications of the author's ideas are both far-reaching and practical.

Download or read book Japanese Stone Gardens written by Stephen Mansfield and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gain some new ideas along with the principles and history of Japanese stone gardening with this useful and beautiful garden design book. Japanese Stone Gardens provides a comprehensive introduction to the powerful mystique and dynamism of the Japanese stone garden—from their earliest use as props in animistic rituals, to their appropriation by Zen monks and priests to create settings conducive to contemplation and finally to their contemporary uses and meaning. With insightful text and abundant imagery, this book reveals the hidden order of stone gardens and in the process heightens the enthusiast's appreciation of them. The Japanese stone garden is an art form recognized around the globe. These meditative gardens provide tranquil settings, where visitors can shed the burdens and stresses of modern existence, satisfy an age-old yearning for solitude and repose, and experience the restorative power of art and nature. For this reason, the value of the Japanese stone garden today is arguably even greater than when many of them were created. Fifteen gardens are featured in this book: some well known, such as the famous temple gardens of Kyoto, others less so, among them gardens spread through the south of Honshu Island and the southern islands of Shikoku and Kyushu and in faraway Okinawa.

Download or read book Art of Bonsai written by Yuji Yoshimura and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-09 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn the ins and outs of proper bonsai design and care with this comprehensive Japanese gardening book. Japanese bonsai have long been admired throughout the world while their care and preservation have seemed shrouded in mystery. The Art of Bonsai is, however, a comparatively simple art to learn. Anyone with a love a plants, a little patience and this eminently practical book can create bonsai and keep a finished plant healthy and vigorous for generations. Included in this definitive volume are: Detailed, illustrated instructions on propagation and training Hints for those growing bonsai in a hurry and apartment dwellers Daily and seasonal bonsai care practices Dealing with pests and bonsai troubleshooting How to judge, select and exhibit bonsai Detailed appendices on tools, equipment, soil analyses Data on more than 300 species of plants used in making bonsai This classic work remains an eminently practical book and is the classic guide to bonsai care. It contains the essentials of an art that is one of Japan's most treasured traditions--sculpting beauty in living wood.

Download or read book The Art of Haiku written by Stephen Addiss and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past hundred years, haiku has gone far beyond its Japanese origins to become a worldwide phenomenon—with the classic poetic form growing and evolving as it has adapted to the needs of the whole range of languages and cultures that have embraced it. This proliferation of the joy of haiku is cause for celebration—but it can also compel us to go back to the beginning: to look at haiku’s development during the centuries before it was known outside Japan. This in-depth study of haiku history begins with the great early masters of the form—like Basho, Buson, and Issa—and goes all the way to twentieth-century greats, like Santoka. It also focuses on an important aspect of traditional haiku that is less known in the West: haiku art. All the great haiku masters created paintings (called haiga) or calligraphy in connection with their poems, and the words and images were intended to be enjoyed together, enhancing each other, and each adding its own dimension to the reader’s and viewer’s understanding. Here one of the leading haiku scholars of the West takes us on a tour of haiku poetry’s evolution, providing along the way a wealth of examples of the poetry and the art inspired by it.

Download or read book Spirit Stones written by and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brilliant photographs of scholars' rocks, or Chinese ornamental stones, from a leading collection Shaped by nature and selected by man, scholars' rocks, or gongshi, have been prized by Chinese intellectuals since the Tang dynasty, and are now sought after by Western collectors as well. They are a natural subject for the photographer Jonathan Singer, most recently acclaimed for his images of those other remarkable hybrids of art and nature, Japanese bonsai. Here Singer turns his lens on some 150 fine gongshi, ancient and modern, from the world-class collection of Kemin Hu, a recognized authority on this art form. In his photographs, Singer captures the spiritual qualities of these stones as never thought possible in two dimensions; he shows us that scholars' rocks truly are, in Hu's words, "condensations of the vital essence and energy of heaven and earth." Hu contributes an introductory essay on the history and aesthetics of scholars' rocks, explaining the traditional terms of stone appreciation, such as shou (thin), zhou (wrinkled), lou (channels), and tou (holes). She also provides a narrative caption for each stone, describing its history and characteristics.

Download or read book Chrysanthemum Stones written by Thomas S. Elias and published by Floating World Editions. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chrysanthemum stones are so called due to their unique mineral formations that resemble chrysanthemum flowers. A rarity in nature, they are found primarily in East Asia, where they have been admired for nearly three centuries; they are now are achieving notice among Western collectors, and recently have been found in the United States. Chrysanthemum Stones is the first comprehensive presentation of these extraordinarily beautiful stones, and sets a new standard for books relating to the art of stone appreciation that has flourished in Asia for over 2,000 years. The authors traveled extensively in China and Japan to bring historical information together with new data, which is generously illustrated with over 120 full-color photographs. Readers are shown the full range of chrysanthemum stones, from the rarest and most valuable to those more frequently encountered in the marketplace, and are provided the most complete set of published references to chrysanthemum stones available. Book jacket.

Download or read book Naikan written by Gregg Krech and published by Stone Bridge Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-11-15 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Naikan is a Japanese word that means "inside looking" or "introspection." A more poetic translation is "seeing oneself with the mind’s eye." Drawing on Eastern spiritual and psychological traditions, Naikan is a unique method of self-reflection for cultivating self-awareness, gratitude, empathy, and a path for moving forward in our lives. Naikan began as a spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition and is now recognized by psychologists as an effective tool for helping people navigate the path of personal relationships, addictions, and other mental health challenges. This edition commemorates the 20th anniversary of this influential work’s first publication. Author Gregg Krech, now after 30+ years of teaching Naikan, shares the depth of his experience with essays, parables, poems, quotations, and recommended reflection exercises, and includes new material on relationships, a 7-day practice program, and an updated appendix for counseling professionals. The unique structure of Naikan illuminates truths that we may otherwise overlook and that can have a dramatic impact on our understanding of life, our relationships, and our daily experience of being alive. More than a philosophy, Naikan is a deep and transformative practice that can open us up to a different understanding of how we have lived and where to go from here.

Download or read book In Praise of Shadows written by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and published by ببلومانيا للنشر والتوزيع. This book was released on 2024-03-21 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In Praise of Shadows" (陰翳礼讃, "In'ei Raisan" in Japanese) is an essay written by the renowned Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. It was first published in 1933. The essay explores Tanizaki's aesthetic philosophy, particularly his appreciation for traditional Japanese culture and the beauty of shadows, darkness, and subtlety. Tanizaki reflects on the contrast between Western and Japanese aesthetics, emphasizing the preference for darkness and shadows in traditional Japanese architecture, interior design, and cultural practices. He celebrates the aesthetic qualities of dimly lit spaces, muted colors, and natural materials, arguing that they evoke a sense of mystery, depth, and tranquility that is lacking in the bright, artificial illumination favored in the West. Throughout the essay, Tanizaki discusses various aspects of Japanese culture, such as the tea ceremony, lacquerware, architecture, and literature, to illustrate his points about the beauty of shadows and the importance of preserving traditional craftsmanship and sensibilities in the face of modernization. "In Praise of Shadows" is not only a meditation on aesthetics but also a reflection on the cultural identity and values of Japan. It has been widely praised for its eloquent prose, thought-provoking ideas, and insightful observations about the interplay between light and shadow in shaping human perception and experience. The essay continues to be studied and admired for its enduring relevance and its exploration of the timeless qualities of beauty and elegance.

Download or read book Bending Adversity written by David Pilling and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A]n excellent book...” —The Economist Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision of Japan, drawing on his own deep experience, as well as observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry, including novelist Haruki Murakami, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, industrialists and bankers, activists and artists, teenagers and octogenarians. Through their voices, Pilling's Bending Adversity captures the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Japan. Pilling’s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. His deep reporting reveals both Japan’s vulnerabilities and its resilience and pushes him to understand the country’s past through cycles of crisis and reconstruction. Japan’s survivalist mentality has carried it through tremendous hardship, but is also the source of great destruction: It was the nineteenth-century struggle to ward off colonial intent that resulted in Japan’s own imperial endeavor, culminating in the devastation of World War II. Even the postwar economic miracle—the manufacturing and commerce explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory than it seemed. In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was lost in the country’s blind, aborted climb to #1. With the same rigor, he revisits 1990—the year the economic bubble burst, and the beginning of Japan’s “lost decades”—to ask if the turning point might be viewed differently. While financial struggle and national debt are a reality, post-growth Japan has also successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social cohesion. And while life has become less certain, opportunities—in particular for the young and for women—have diversified. Still, Japan is in many ways a country in recovery, working to find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow growth. Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the 2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his radical antideflation policy, might mean for Japan and its future. Informed throughout by the insights shared by Pilling’s many interview subjects, Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the social, spiritual, financial, and political life of Japan to create a more nuanced representation of the oft-misunderstood island nation and its people. The Financial Times “David Pilling quotes a visiting MP from northern England, dazzled by Tokyo’s lights and awed by its bustling prosperity: ‘If this is a recession, I want one.’ Not the least of the merits of Pilling’s hugely enjoyable and perceptive book on Japan is that he places the denunciations of two allegedly “lost decades” in the context of what the country is really like and its actual achievements.” The Telegraph (UK) “Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times, is perfectly placed to be our guide, and his insights are a real rarity when very few Western journalists communicate the essence of the world’s third-largest economy in anything but the most superficial ways. Here, there is a terrific selection of interview subjects mixed with great reportage and fact selection... he does get people to say wonderful things. The novelist Haruki Murakami tells him: “When we were rich, I hated this country”... well-written... valuable.” Publishers Weekly (starred): "A probing and insightful portrait of contemporary Japan."

Download or read book Listening to Stone written by Hayden Herrera and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2015-04-21 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the twentieth century, Isamu Noguchi was a vital figure in modern art. From interlocking wooden sculptures to massive steel monuments to the elegant Akari lamps, Noguchi became a master of what he called the "sculpturing of space." But his constant struggle—as both an artist and a man—was to embrace his conflicted identity as the son of a single American woman and a famous yet reclusive Japanese father. "It's only in art," he insisted, "that it was ever possible for me to find any identity at all." In this remarkable biography of the elusive artist, Hayden Herrera observes this driving force of Noguchi's creativity as intimately tied to his deep appreciation of nature. As a boy in Japan, Noguchi would collect wild azaleas and blue mountain flowers for a little garden in front of his home. As Herrera writes, he also included a rock, "to give a feeling of weight and permanence." It was a sensual appreciation he never abandoned. When looking for stones in remote Japanese quarries for his zen-like Paris garden forty years later, he would spend hours actually listening to the stones, scrambling from one to another until he found one that "spoke to him." Constantly striving to "take the essence of nature and distill it," Noguchi moved from sculpture to furniture, and from playgrounds to sets for his friend the choreographer Martha Graham, and back again working in wood, iron, clay, steel, aluminum, and, of course, stone. Throughout his career, Noguchi traveled constantly, from New York to Paris to India to Japan, forever uprooting himself to reinvigorate what he called the "keen edge of originality." Wherever he went, his needy disposition and boyish charm drew women to him, yet he tended to push them away when things began to feel too settled. Only through his art—now seen as a powerful aesthetic link between the East and the West—did Noguchi ever seem to feel that he belonged. Combining the personal correspondence of and interviews with Noguchi and those closest to him—from artists, patrons, assistants, and lovers—Herrera has created an authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century's most important sculptors. She locates Noguchi in his friendships with such artists as Buckminster Fuller and Arshile Gorky, and in his affairs with women including Frida Kahlo and Anna Matta Clark. With the attention to detail and scholarship that made her biography of Gorky a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Herrera has written a rich meditation on art in a globalized milieu. Listening to Stone is a moving portrait of an artist compulsively driven to reinvent himself as he searched for his own "essence of sculpture."

Download or read book Beyond Suiseki written by Manette Gerstle and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first twenty-first century look at burgeoning global arts based on 2,000-year-old Far Eastern devotion to Chinese and Korean viewing stones as well as Japanese suiseki. Here, the thrilling world of Western viewing stones is also discussed.

Download or read book Things Japanese written by Nicholas Bornoff and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional Japanese design imbues objects with a sense of history and artistry that easily reaches across cultural boundaries. In Things Japanese: Everyday Objects of Extraordinary Beauty and Significance, author Nicholas Bornoff and photographer Michael Freeman examine over 60 traditional objects that are uniquely Japanese, deftly illustrating their beauty and significance. Beautifully crafted samurai swords Elegant wooden tansu chests Elaborate tea ceremony implements Exquisitely carved netsuke toggles Fabulous silk-and-gold embroidered kimonos Each item is described in loving detail alongside lovely full-color photographs that highlight the great artistry and craftsmanship in everyday items used by real people in traditional Japan. Things Japanese is the perfect book for Japanese antique collectors or anyone interested in Japanese art and the culture and history of Japan.

Download or read book The Art of Suiseki written by Willi Benz and published by Sterling. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Look at a rock: can you see the shadow of a giant boulder or a mountain? That's Suiseki--nature's larger forms repeating themselves in miniature. Here in breathtaking color are magnificent Suiseki stones, and the stunning, imaginative ways they have been arranged and exhibited in parks and gardens. Discover specimens shaped like humans and animals! Learn to create a Suiseki collection--necessary tools and how to display them.

Download or read book Contemporary Viewing Stone Display written by Richard Turner and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive guide to viewing stone traditions and practices, featuring a gallery of stunning stone displays by an international array of collectors. This volume offers fresh perspectives on an ancient practice to all readers, from the curious to the connoisseur.