Download or read book Asian Mythologies written by Yves Bonnefoy and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1993-05-15 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These 130 articles Aisan mythologies and cover such topics as Buddhist and Hindu symbolic systems, myth in pre-Islamic Iran, Chinese cosmology and demons, and the Japanese conceptions of the afterlife and the "vital spirit". Also includes myths from Turkey, Korea, Tibet, and Mongolia. Illustrations.

Download or read book Defining Shugendo written by Andrea Castiglioni and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining Shugendo brings together leading international experts on Japanese mountain asceticism to discuss what has been an essential component of Japanese religions for more than a thousand years. Contributors explore how mountains have been abodes of deities, a resting place for the dead, sources of natural bounty and calamities, places of religious activities, and a vast repository of symbols. The book shows that many peoples have chosen them as sites for ascetic practices, claiming the potential to attain supernatural powers there. This book discusses the history of scholarship on Shugendo, the development process of mountain worship, and the religious and philosophical features of devotion at specific sacred mountains. Moreover, it reveals the rich material and visual culture associated with Shugendo, from statues and steles, to talismans and written oaths.

Download or read book The Karma of Words written by William R. LaFleur and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A masterly book . . . will prove of great assistance to a student of Japanese literature and thought from the eleventh century onwards."--Times Literary Supplement "A major contribution to the fields of Japanese studies, comparative literature, and history of religions . . . a book that begs for classroom use."--The Eastern Buddhist "Innovative and provocative . . . will be of interest not only to specialists in Japanese religion and Japanese culture, but also to literary critics and cultural historians."--Religious Studies Review "Rich and stimulating material . . . an important help and influence to all concerned with understanding the tradition that has shaped Japanese culture and religion."--History of Religions "Thought provoking, finely written . . . one of the more original and creative contributions to the study of medieval culture and religion to be produced by a Western scholar. . . . Can be read with profit by all Western students of Japanese culture . . . one of those rare books that has something to offer Japanese specialists in medieval studies."--Journal of Japanese Studies "A very important contribution to Japanese studies . . . a paradigm of the genre."--Pacific Affairs "This is an exciting, ground-breaking book."--Chanoyu Quarterly "I have been most impressed and even excited by what I have read."--Donald Keene, Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University "This is one of the most important books in Japanese studies in a long time and will influence the entire field."--Robert Bellah, former Elliott Professor of Sociology, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley

Download or read book Asia in the Making of Europe Volume III written by Donald F. Lach and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1965 with total page 756 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First systematic, inclusive study of the impact of the high civilizations of Asia on the development of modern Western civilization.

Download or read book Ninja written by Kacem Zoughari, Ph.D. and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ninjutsu is the most renowned and misunderstood of all martial arts. The long history of ninjutsu is often murky; surrounded by mystery and legend. Here, for the first time, is an in-depth, factual look at the entire art of ninjutsu, including the emergence of the ninja warriors and philosophy in feudal Japan; detailed historical events; its context in the development of other schools of martial arts; and the philosophies and exercises of the school today. Based on more than ten years of study and translation of authentic Japanese texts, including many that have never before been translated, this is the most comprehensive and accurate study on the art of ninjutsu ever written outside of Japan. This ninja book includes studies of ninjutsu history, philosophy, wisdom, and presents a wide range of information from authors, historians, chronicles and scrolls in order to foster a deep understanding of this "shadowy" art. For those who train in ninjutsu, for other martial art practitioners, for historians, and for anyone with interest in Japanese feudal history or Japanese martial arts, The Ninja: Ancient Shadow Warriors of Japan shines a light on this enigmatic subject.

Download or read book Emplacing a Pilgrimage written by Barbara Ambros and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Towering over the Kanto Plain, the sacred mountain Ōyama (literally, “Big Mountain”) has loomed large over the religious landscape of early modern Japan.By the Edo period (1600–1868), the revered peak had undergone a transformation from secluded spiritual retreat to popular pilgrimage destination. Its status as a regional landmark among its devotees was boosted by its proximity to the shogunal capital and the wide appeal of its amalgamation of Buddhism, Shinto, mountain asceticism, and folk beliefs. The influence of the Ōyama cult—the intersecting beliefs, practices, and infrastructure associated with the sacred site—was not lost on the ruling Tokugawa shogunate, which saw in the pilgrimage an opportunity to reinforce the communal ideals and social structures that the authorities espoused.Barbara Ambros provides a detailed narrative history of the mountain and its place in contemporary society and popular religion by focusing on the development of the Ōyama cult and its religious, political, and socioeconomic contexts. Richly illustrated and carefully researched, this study emphasizes the importance of “site” or “region” in considering the multifaceted nature and complex history of religious practice in Tokugawa Japan."

Download or read book Collected Writings of Carmen Blacker written by Carmen Blacker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of the Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on Japan brings together the work of Carmen Blacker, who wrote extensively on religion, myth and folklore.

Download or read book Introducing World Religions written by Victoria Kennick Urubshurow and published by JBE Online Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Nomai Dance Drama written by Susan M. Asai and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1999-11-30 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nomai dance drama, an artistic expression combining sacred, communal, economic, and cultural spheres of community life in the district of Higashidorimura, is a performing tradition that provides an identity to agriculturally based villages. It has retained features characteristic of the music, drama, and sacred practices of medieval Japan. N=omai singing exhibits traits linked to Buddhist chanting. The instrumental music originates from folk Shinto. This study highlights the social and cultural value n=omaii has for the residents in villages that perform it by providing the historical context in which it is examined, as well as its current performance practices. As this work explores the aspects of agricultural Japanese society, revealed through a dance drama, it will appeal to music and drama scholars as well as students of Japanese culture and history. After establishing the historical lens from which to view n^D=omai drama, the theatrical and musical aspects are discussed in detail. Photographs and musical examples enhance this thorough, well-organized study.

Download or read book Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan written by William E. Deal and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captures the essence of life in great civilizations of the past. Each volume in this series examines a single civilization, and covers everything from landmark events and monumental achievements to geography and everyday life.

Download or read book Pilgrimages and Spiritual Quests in Japan written by Peter Ackermann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-03-06 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a variety of interesting dimensions in both historical and contemporary Japanese culture, this exciting new book examines pilgrimages in Japan, including the meanings of travel, transformation, and the discovery of identity through encounters with the sacred.

Download or read book Chaos and Cosmos written by H.E. Plutschow and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-20 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Dockside Blues written by Andrew Vaillencourt and published by Andrew Vaillencourt. This book was released on 2022-09-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DOCKSIDE IS A CRAZY PLACE The drug and booze-filled streets of New Boston’s spaceport district are no place for the uninitiated. Take a walk down these dirty thoroughfares and slip into their darkened alleys with eight new stories centering on what goes on when the most famous fixer in space is not there to hold things down. Featuring: The Bruise-Giver – Every face in Dockside has a story. Some of those stories are legends if you know who to ask… The Switch – The nicest enforcer in town has to solve a series of robberies before the rent is due to save his neighborhood. No Good Deed – Dockside’s police department is legendarily corrupt, but sometimes even the bad cops have to deal with worse ones. Dangerously Unlucky – Clearing up old mistakes is a very different thing when Dockside gangs are involved. Mad Engineer – Big Woo’s creepiest android engineer takes matters into his own hands when the new neighbors become a problem. Age Before Beauty – Three grizzled old men embark on a secret mission to help a young woman escape a bad situation… while drunk. Getting Square – Two of Dockside’s most bedraggled characters embark on a quest for their next good time. Chekhov’s Guns – Some bartenders sling beer all night. Others sling guns. Guess which one this story is about?

Download or read book Theatricalities of Power written by Steven T. Brown and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through an extended reading of the noh play Aoi ne Ue, as well as briefer examinations of several other plays, this book sheds new light on the circulation of power and desire in the middle and late medieval periods in Japan. It argues that these plays constituted an active force in the theater of the medieval cultural imaginary by engaging specific sociopolitical issues and problems.

Download or read book Street Performers and Society in Urban Japan 1600 1900 written by Gerald Groemer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-13 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a thoroughly researched and meticulously documented study of the emergence, development, and demise of music, theatre, recitation, and dance witnessed by the populace on thoroughfares, plazas, and makeshift outdoor performance spaces in Edo/Tokyo. For some three hundred years this city was the centre of such arts, both sacred and secular. This study outlines the nature of the performances, explores the social relations which lay behind them, and reveals vast complexity: an obligation of gift-giving on the part of observers; performers who were often economic migrants fallen on hard times; relations of performance to social class; a class system much more finely gradated than the official four caste system; and institutions of professional organization and registration, enforced by government, with penalties for unregistered performers. The book discusses how performing, witnessing, and rewarding performance were closely bound up with economy, society and government, how the interaction between various groups related to socio-economic advancement, how the system of street performance reinforced social control, and how the balance between different groups shifted over time.

Download or read book Chikamatsu written by C. Andrew Gerstle and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2002-09-04 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), often referred to as "Japan's Shakespeare" and a "god of writers," was arguably the most famous playwright in Japanese history and wrote more than 100 plays for the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Today, the plays of this major literary figure are performed on kabuki and bunraku stages as well as in the modern theater, and forty-nine films of his plays have been made, thirty-one of them from the silent era. Translations of Chikamatsu's plays are available, but we have few examples of his late work, in which he increasingly incorporated stylistic elements of his shorter, contemporary dramas into his longer period pieces. Translator C. Andrew Gerstle argues that in these mature history plays, Chikamatsu depicted the tension between the private and public spheres of society by combining the rich character development of his contemporary pieces with the larger political themes of his period pieces. In this volume Gerstle translates five plays—four histories and one contemporary piece—never before available in English that complement other collections of Chikamatsu's work, revealing new dimensions to the work of this great Japanese playwright and artist.

Download or read book Black Dove written by Stuart Campbell and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014-09-23 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book of the Black Dove Trilogy. 14th century in Feudal Japan; the country is under the stranglehold of the brutal Kamakura Shogunate. For the common people this is a period of extreme oppression and control. Iga is a province ruled by a ruthless Daimyo - Saito Sakamura. Sakamura uses his army of highly skilled Samurai to enforce his control. He believes he is untouchable and completely secure in his mountain protected valley. However his control is about to be challenged by a series of seemingly unconnected events orchestrated by an invisible force. Black Dove is a story of hope, intrigue and overwhelming courage. It depicts a period in Japanese history where ordinary people developed seemingly super human powers. A period when these skills were used to help free their beloved country from the brutal stranglehold of the blood thirsty and power hungry Shogun. This is a story that gives us hope that no matter how high the odds, even one person can make a difference.