Download or read book The Song the Owl God Sang written by Yukie Chiri and published by Bjs Books. This book was released on 2013-06-21 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the vanishing cultures of the world, the Ainu of north-east Asia stand out for the startling richness of their oral literature. These thirteen beautiful Ainu chants were collected by Chiri Yukie in 1922 -- the first Ainu literature to be written down by an Ainu. This book presents new English translations of Chiri's remarkable work. Originally written in "yukar" form, a type of chant used by female storytellers among the Ainu villages of Hokkaido, these stories tell of the relationship between mankind and the world of spirits. Each "yukar" is narrated by a spirit -- fox, whale, frog, or even shellfish. Most important is the owl god, Kotankor Kamui, whose two long songs describe the covenant between humans and the spirits who provide them with food. Other tales focus on the balance of nature, on the respect due between animal spirits and people, and on the strength of Okikirmui, the human hero. The Ainu oral tradition was in danger of dying in the early 20th century, when the teenaged Chiri Yukie resolved to begin writing down these chants. Descended from a line of female storytellers, she devised a way of representing Ainu language in the Roman alphabet, and made Japanese translations of the most important tales. Although she died at 19, the thirteen tales she had written down went on to become a sensation. Her clear and beautiful yet intricate and emotive Japanese translations brought Ainu culture to a wide audience in Japan and created a movement to record and preserve Ainu belief in a living state. In many ways, the idea of trying to learn from and preserve tribal wisdom goes back to Chiri's book. Chiri's work includes the best-known passages of Ainu literature: Chiri's original introduction, an elegy to the vanishing Ainu way of life, and the tale 'Silver drops fall around, golden drops fall around'. This translation tries to preserve the rich texture of Chiri's versions in English, while remaining absolutely true to the details of the original. A clear introduction to Chiri, her book, and its language is provided, giving the reader a vivid insight into this startlingly sophisticated spiritual tradition.
Download or read book The Witch s Book of Power written by Devin Hunter and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Devin Hunter's new book digs deeply into the roots of what makes a witch powerful. He doesn't gloss over the soul-searching work with simple spell "bandaids." Instead, he offers readings and exercises that empower the witch in mind, body, and soul."—Courtney Weber, author of Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick of the Celtic Goddess Ignite the Holy Fire Within: Become the Witch You Were Meant to Be Witchcraft isn't always about the search for enlightenment; sometimes it's about power and the path to obtaining it. The Witch's Book of Power shares the secrets to unlocking the Witch Power within you, offering specific techniques for working with personal, cosmic, and ally energies to realize your full magical potential. Professional witch and psychic Devin Hunter has helped thousands of people discover their power and gain influence, and in this book he skillfully explores the concepts behind creating magic that can change your life. The Witch's Book of Power is the perfect resource for witches who intuitively feel that more power is available but seems to be just beyond reach. Praise: "You may or may not choose to follow the path that he has laid out exactly, but I'll wager that you will find something that you want to borrow into your practices. True Witches use what works and you'll find much in this book that yields results."—Ivo Dominguez, Jr., author of Spirit Speak "The Witch's Book of Power is a missing link in modern witchcraft training. Readers will find just what they need to ignite the spark of power that all witches need for an effective practice."—David Salisbury, author of The Deep Heart of Witchcraft "Devin Hunter is this generation's Headmaster of Witchcraft."—Jacki Smith, author of Coventry Magic
Download or read book Ainu Spirits Singing written by Sarah M. Strong and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2011-10-31 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indigenous peoples throughout the globe are custodians of a unique, priceless, and increasingly imperiled legacy of oral lore. Among them the Ainu, a people native to northeastern Asia, stand out for the exceptional scope and richness of their oral performance traditions. Yet despite this cultural wealth, nothing has appeared in English on the subject in over thirty years. Sarah Strong’s Ainu Spirits Singing breaks this decades-long silence with a nuanced study and English translation of Chiri Yukie’s Ainu Shin’yoshu, the first written transcription of Ainu oral narratives by an ethnic Ainu. The thirteen narratives in Chiri’s collection belong to the genre known as kamui yukar, said to be the most ancient performance form in the vast Ainu repertoire. In it, animals (and sometimes plants or other natural phenomena)—all regarded as spiritual beings (kamui) within the animate Ainu world—assume the role of narrator and tell stories about themselves. The first-person speakers include imposing animals such as the revered orca, the Hokkaido wolf, and Blakiston’s fish owl, as well as the more “humble” Hokkaido brown frog, snowshoe hare, and pearl mussel. Each has its own story and own signature refrain. Strong provides readers with an intimate and perceptive view of this extraordinary text. Along with critical contextual information about traditional Ainu society and its cultural assumptions, she brings forward pertinent information on the geography and natural history of the coastal southwestern Hokkaido region where the stories were originally performed. The result is a rich fusion of knowledge that allows the reader to feel at home within the animistic frame of reference of the narratives. Strong’s study also offers the first extended biography of Chiri Yukie (1903-1922) in English. The story of her life, and her untimely death at age nineteen, makes clear the harsh consequences for Chiri and her fellow Ainu of the Japanese colonization of Hokkaido and the Meiji and Taisho governments’ policies of assimilation. Chiri’s receipt of the narratives in the Horobetsu dialect from her grandmother and aunt (both traditional performers) and the fact that no native speakers of that dialect survive today make her work all the more significant. The book concludes with a full, integral translation of the text.
Download or read book Harukor written by Katsuichi Honda and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2000-04-12 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir of Ainu life over five hundred years ago, before Japanese invasions nearly killed off this indigenous society. No written records remain, other than Japanese observations, but the author has relied on surviving oral accounts and extensive study of anthropological and archeological discoveries to construct a representative woman's life story.
Download or read book Ainu written by William W. Fitzhugh and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Some 55 scholars, mostly Japanese but with a considerable number from the US and Europe, write about the ethnicity, theories of origin, history, economies, art, religious beliefs, mythology, and other aspects of the culture of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, now principally found in Hokkaido and smaller far northern islands. Hundreds of photographs and paintings, mostly in excellent quality color, show a wide variety of Ainu people, as well as clothing, jewelry, and various artifacts."--"Choice". "The most in-depth treatise available on Ainu prehistory, material culture, and ethnohistory." - "Library Journal".--Amazon.com (2001 ed, book description).
Download or read book Border Crossing Japanese Literature written by Akiko Uchiyama and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-21 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection focuses on metaphorical as well as temporal and physical border-crossing in writing from and about Japan. With a strong consciousness of gender and socio-historic contexts, contributors to the book adopt an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach to examine the writing of authors whose works break free from the confines of hegemonic Japanese literary endeavour. By demonstrating how the texts analysed step outside the space of ‘Japan’, they accordingly foreground the volatility of textual expression related to that space. The authors discussed include Takahashi Mutsuo and Nagai Kafū, both of whom take literary inspiration from geographical sites outside Japan. Several chapters examine the work of exemplary border-crossing poet, novelist and essayist, Itō Hiromi. There are discussions of the work of Tawada Yōko whose ability to publish in German and Japanese marks her also as a representative writer of border-crossing texts. Two chapters address works by Murakami Haruki who, although clearly affiliating with western cultural form, is rarely discussed in specific border-crossing terms. The chapter on Ainu narratives invokes topics such as translation, indigeneity and myth, while an analysis of Japanese prisoner-of-war narratives notes the language and border-crossing nexus. A vital collection for scholars and students of Japanese literature.
Download or read book More Stories by Japanese Women Writers An Anthology written by Kyoko Siden and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology introduces sixteen modern Japanese women writers spanning a century in time and a wide range of life circumstances and literary styles. No other collection offers usch a diversity of women's voices
Download or read book Pacific Literatures as World Literature written by Hsinya Huang and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2023-05-04 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pacific Literatures as World Literature is a conjuration of trans-Pacific poets and writers whose work enacts forces of “becoming oceanic” and suggests a different mode of understanding, viewing, and belonging to the world. The Pacific, past and present, remains uneasily amenable to territorial demarcations of national or marine sovereignty. At the same time, as a planetary element necessary to sustaining life and well-being, the Pacific could become the means to envisioning ecological solidarity, if compellingly framed in terms that elicit consent and inspire an imagination of co-belonging and care. The Pacific can signify a bioregional site of coalitional promise as much as a danger zone of antagonistic peril. With ground-breaking writings from authors based in North America, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hawaii, and Guam and new modes of research – including multispecies ethnography and practice, ecopoetics, and indigenous cosmopolitics – authors explore the socio-political significance of the Pacific and contribute to the development of a collective effort of comparative Pacific studies covering a refreshingly broad, ethnographically grounded range of research themes. This volume aims to decenter continental/land poetics as such via long-standing transnational Pacific ties, re-worlding Pacific literature as world literature.
Download or read book Hokkaido written by Tom Fay and published by Bradt Travel Guides. This book was released on 2024-05-10 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New from Bradt is the first-ever, standalone English-language guide to Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island and northernmost prefecture. Home to under 5% of the country’s population, this is a land of vast, wild expanses which demands exploration at any time of year – and feels a world away from Tokyo. Penned by an outdoors-loving travel writer resident in Japan, Bradt’s Hokkaido delves far deeper into this frontier land than country-wide guidebooks can possibly do. Author Tom Fay provides detailed coverage of the island’s history, unique wildlife, local food, the Ainu (indigenous people), outdoor activities, skiing logistics, hiking courses and the practicalities of visiting in winter, when deep snow carpets the ground and the sea turns to ice. Hokkaido’s varied landscapes include remote mountain ranges, fertile lowland plains, sweeping forests and enormous wetlands home to rare birds and other wildlife. Even for the Japanese, Hokkaido has a somewhat wild and exotic aura – place names have distinct Ainu origins and the capital Sapporo is closer to Russia’s Vladivostok than to Tokyo; while the Siberia-influenced climate and wide open spaces are unlike anything found in the rest of Japan. Hokkaido’s mild summers are ideal for sightseeing, cycling, camping and hiking. Why not climb the island’s highest mountain in Daisetsuzan National Park – an untouched wilderness of simmering volcanoes and stunning nature – or marvel at colourful fields of flowers around Furano and Biei? In winter, you can go to snow festivals, walk on sea ice (or board an icebreaker) to explore the Sea of Okhotsk, watch flocks of sea eagles or track brown bears in Shiretoko National Park, or head to popular ski resorts such as Niseko where the huge dumps of perfect powder snow attract skiers and snowboarders from around the world. Throw in hot springs (and thus ryokan hot-spring inns), active volcanoes, speciality seafood and quirky foodstuffs such as chocolate-covered crisps, excellent transport links and renowned Japanese hospitality, and Hokkaido is a thrilling and varied off-the-beaten-path travel destination, to which Bradt’s Hokkaido guidebook is instantly the essential companion.
Download or read book The Owl and the Pussycat written by Edward Lear and published by Kids Can Press Ltd. This book was released on 2007-09 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edward Lear's beloved poem has charmed readers since it was first published in 1871. 4+ yrs.
Download or read book The Owl and the Nightingale written by Nicholas de Guildford and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Our Land Was A Forest written by Kayano Shigeru, and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 1994-04-01 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a beautiful and moving personal account of the Ainu, the native inhabitants of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, whose land, economy, and culture have been absorbed and destroyed in recent centuries by advancing Japanese. Based on the author's own experiences and on stories passed down from generation to generation, the book chronicles the disappearing world—and courageous rebirth—of this little-understood people.Kayano describes with disarming simplicity and frankness the personal conflicts he faced as a result of the tensions between a traditional and a modern society and his lifelong efforts to fortify a living Ainu culture. A master storyteller, he paints a vivid picture of the Ainus' ecologically sensitive lifestyle, which revolved around bear hunting, fishing, farming, and woodcutting.Unlike the few existing ethnographies of the Ainu, this account is the first written by an insider intimately tied to his own culture yet familiar with the ways of outsiders. Speaking with a rare directness to the Ainu and universal human experience, this book will interest all readers concerned with the fate of indigenous peoples.
Download or read book The Song of the Bird written by Anthony De Mello and published by Image. This book was released on 2016-07-05 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Every one of these stories is about YOU." --Anthony de Mello Everyone loves stories; and in this book the bestselling author of Sadhana: A Way to God shares 124 stories and parables from a variety of traditions both ancient and modern. Each story resonates with life lessons that can teach us inescapable truths about ourselves and our world. De Mello's international acclaim rests on his unique approach to contemplation and ability to heighten self-awareness and self-discovery. His is a holistic approach, and in the words of one reviewer: "his mysticism cuts across all times and peoples and is truly a universal invitation." The Song of the Bird uses the familiar yet enduring medium of the story to illustrate profound realities that bring us in touch with the problems and concerns of daily life, as well as with our common spiritual quest. The aim is to develop the art of tasting and feeling the message of each story to the point that we are transformed. "Let the story speak to your heart, not to your brain," the author directs. "This may make something of a mystic out of you." Enhanced by lovely ink drawings, this is indeed a volume to treasure, to share, and to read many times over, for it is everyone's best companion on the road to spiritual growth.
Download or read book The Magic of Wolves written by Robin Herne and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2024-02-23 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Magic of Wolves explores a wide array of mythologies from around the world, demonstrating how humans have both understood and interacted with wolves - sometimes figures of admiration, sometimes seen as terrifying and savage. These sacred stories give insights not only into our own nature but also into the nature of wolves themselves. This book also considers practical issues in pagan ritual, and how people have communicated with wolf spirits and turned to them as ancestral figures. Blending zoology, mythology, sociology, psychology and theology, this text aims to give a broad overview of how wolves and their relationships to humans can be understood. Chapters cover topics such as the lupine legends of Ancient Rome, Classical Greece, the Norse, the Celts, India and Japan. Whether you are passionate about wolves, lycanthropes, mythology or magic, there will be something here for you.
Download or read book The Conquest of Ainu Lands written by Brett L. Walker and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2001-09-19 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the Ainu in what is today far Northern Japan, showing the ecological and cultural processes by which this people's political, economic, and cultural autonomy eroded as they became an ethnic minority in the modern Japanese state.
Download or read book Sympathetic Magic of the Ainu The Native People of Japan Folklore History Series written by John Batchelor and published by Pierides Press. This book was released on 2010-08 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ainu people of Japan are very little known and where treated as savages when discovered by western travellers. Their religion was rich and cultured and this book opens the eyes of the reader to a culture that so few people know of. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Download or read book Discourses of Identity written by Martin Mielick and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-02-07 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book draws on research on identity in language education to present a detailed and multi-faceted study of identity in language learning, teaching and revitalization settings in the context of Japan. It employs a diverse range of theoretical approaches, including poststructuralism, critical realism, cognitive behavioral theory, and complexity theory,, as well as methodologies such as linguistic ethnography, narrative enquiry, and critical multimodal discourse analysis. The authors focus on multiple dimensions of identity, illuminating linguistic, cultural and human complexity as manifested in language teaching and learning. This book will be of interest to advanced students and scholars of TESOL, applied linguistics, education, Japanese studies, East Asian studies, linguistic anthropology, indigenous languages and sociolinguistics.
