Book Description
First published in 1939, this Singer tour de force offering some fifty carefully chosen classic texts from Yamato to the Momoyama period and fully annotated, remains as significant a point of reference today as it did sixty years ago. It is both a primer for the student of Japanese social history as well as a delightful guided tour through a thousand years of Japanese culture, customs and etiquette. 'Some of these pages are chosen as they throw light on ways in which the Japanese in remoter periods felt, thought and behaved,' writes Singer. 'Some may illuminate details of social organization, economic conditions and administration. The most beautiful, however, may be taken as definitive formulations of standards, norms, moral, religious, aesthetic and sentimental; expressions of the innermost life of a nation which give significance to its existence and justify its greatest aspirations.' ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

EXCELLENT....look for "Sword and Samurai"
This book is part of an excellent series of non-fiction books for children on cultures from the past.While the title of this edition states "ancient", the focus seems to be on the period of the bushido and samurai (it does briefly cover the Jomon period).Fiona Macdonald did a great job, as usual.

There is an abundance of beautiful, full-color pictures (mostly photographs, but a few illustrations) of famous art, buildings, and maps on every page.Each two page spread covers a specific topic and is organized with a paragraph or so of text surrounded by the photographs with interesting facts or expanations. It does not appear too cluttered and again, these pictures are almost entirely real examples of the culture, not just illustrations.A descriptive timeline with is also included on the preliminary pages.The glossary and index are useful too.

Fifteen do-able activities/crafts/recipes are found throughout the book: samurai helmet, shell game, rice balls, carp streamer, screen painting, homemade paper, Noh mask, votive dolls, ikebana flower arrangement, fan, fox netsuke, origami box, calligraphy, kite, and clay tea bowl.

NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT PART...this is out of print, but apparently the publisher joined this title by Fiona Macdonald with Step into the Chinese Empire Chinese Empire (Step Into Series) by Philip Steele to forge a 128 page book called SWORDS AND SAMURAI.I've ordered it Swords and Samurai: The Ancient Warrior Culture of the East and hopefully my information is accurate!

I also highly recommend Exploration into Japan (Exploration Into) for a more in-depth, yet still interesting history of Japan for kids.If you're looking for more crafts and some info, tryJapan (Make it Work! History).Also, The Japanese (Ancient World) has some good information about the culture of Japan as well.

Beautiful book- Great ideas for kids w/Japanese crafts & art
This book is an amazing resource book for a teaching unit onJapan.It is written with consultants from the Japanese Festival Society.They have arts and crafts ideas that are easily made by children. ... Read more

Product Description
In November of 2000, the center for Japanese Studies of the University of Hawaii and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies met to reconsider how history has been constructed over time in Japan. This is the book that discusses their findings. ... Read more

Product Description
A catalog of arms and armor of ancient Japan with photographs and text co-sponsored by the Municipal Art Patrons Of Los Angeles/Southern California To-Ken Kai for a show at the Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Febuary 19th through March 22, 1964. ... Read more

Book Description
Ancient Japan provides provides lesson plans and cross-curricular activities based on the following pieces of literature:Exploration into Japan, The Samurai's Tale, and The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. This reproducible resource is filled with ready-to-use lessons and cross-curricular activities. Also included are management ideas, creative suggestions for the classroom, and a bibliography. ... Read more

Book Description
The Arts of Japan: Ancient and Medieval, the first volume of the two, focuses on Japanese art history up to the end of the sixteenth century-from the arts and tomb artifacts of prehistoric Japan to the Buddhist and secular arts that were developed in the successive capitals at Nara and Kyoto
as well as in provincial centers. ... Read more

Book Description
The Arts of Japan, in two volumes, is a profusely illustrated, comprehensive survey of Japanese art from prehistoric times to the middle of the twentieth century. Every field of Japanese fine arts and many types of decorative and folk arts are covered-sculpture, painting, architecture, garden design, ceramics, lacquerware, textiles, swords. When this book was first published in a deluxe edition in 1966, the quality of its scholarship was widely acclaimed, and it became a standard reference that has yet to be superseded. This competitively priced edition contains the complete text and all the illustrations of the original; the bibliographies have been revised and updated.The first volume focuses on Japanese art history to the end of the sixteenth century, from the arts and tomb artifacts of prehistoric Japan to the Buddhist and secular arts that were developed in the successive capitals at Nara and Kyoto as well as in provincial centers. The second volume, covering the period from the end of the sixteenth to mid-twentieth century, records the appearance of a new epoch in Japanese art, when artists turned from the service of religion to direct portrayals of man and nature. The distinctly modern flavor of this art has as much direct appeal to a modern audience as it had to the people of earlier times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great book
This book is a great book.It is very detailed and indepth. I suggest it.It says everything I want to know. ... Read more

Book Description
Marvel at the secrets of Japan--a land of emperors and shoguns, tea ceremonies and martial arts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

When it Comes to Japanese Poetry Lectures, Ooka Makoto is Truly King of the Hill
This fine book has a simple and straightforward title and it lives up to it perfectly. For one, the book is precisely about what it says it is: the eminent poet and critic Ooka Makoto takes the reader on a grand sweeping tour of the major forms and movements in Japanese poetry from the Heian period up until the Muromachi period (roughly 900 to 1600 AD), along the way making special efforts to explicate the poetic sensibilities implicit in the poems. But the book is stylistically straightforward as well: Not dumbed-down by any means, but based as it is on lectures given by Ooka at the College de France in the mid-90's, it possesses that clarity and simplicity often characteristic of the spoken word transcribed, especially when the speaker is introducing an unfamiliar topic to a roomful of people as seems to be the case here.

For all that, the book is anything but simplistic, covering a wealth of detail and full of startlingly fresh insights. The first chapter took me off guard, in fact. I'm used to such discussions starting with the "Manyoshu" usually, but after brief preliminaries Ooka chooses instead to start his lectures with the poet, statesman, and (later) deity Sugawara no Michizane and his kanshi (poems in Classical Chinese)--triply interesting in that these poems are inaccessible to most Japanese today and so rarely considered, in them Michizane broaches serious political and social topics that would later end up all but utterly absent from Japanese poetry, and all of this casts the more familiar poetry that follows in a somewhat different and freshly unusual context. From this intriguing starting point Ooka embarks on more familiar ground, discussing the classical Kokinshu poetics of Ki no Tsurayuki (the basis of most of what follows) and then the great women poets of the time (especially Kasa no Iratsume, Izumi Shikibu, and Princess Shikishi), after which he extensively expounds upon the more-than-meets-the-eye role of landscape in Japanese poetics (with special attention to the Kyogoku school). Then he ends the lectures as unexpectedly as he began them, not moving on to Renga and Haiku (though Matsuo Basho is mentioned some in the landscape bit) but with the contemporary popular songs of the very early and very late medieval periods as transcribed in Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa's "Ryojin Hisho" and the anonymously compiled "Kanginshu"--these are as raw and blunt as the classical aristocratic waka poems are refined and round-about, and the characteristics of both are highlighted in the process as the multifarious nature of Japanese poetry is vividly suggested.

This is then a great book for both the beginner and the old hand. It's a fine introduction, approachable and clear, full of lots of information and organizing that info into a manageable narrative. And yet it's full of intriguing insights and uncommon explorations that spice up deeply eloquent meditations on the standard stuff, making it well worth the time and enjoyment of anyone long interested and moved by Japanese poetry. That said, the book is riddled with one serious flaw highly annoying to the initiate and highly confusing to the newcomer: spelling errors infect the proper nouns like a plague ("Suguwara" instead of Sugawara, "Oshiko" instead of "Oshikochi", "Isumi" instead of "Izumi", "Murumachi" instead of "Muromachi" etc etc and never consistently), and it's truly a shame that such a fine book is brought down a notch by such lazy editing and utter carelessness. With that in mind though, the book is still highly recommended--plus it's nice and short, so you'll breeze through it like a wind through the pines. ... Read more

Book Description
REPRINT. Special Description Note- This is not a print on demand edition. Care has been taken to enhance and improve the original text whenever possible. Martino Publishing follows the standards of traditional printing and quality is a primary concern. We distinguish ourselves from Print on Demand by our quality controls, paper quality and binding quality. Hardbound. Quarto. Book 215 p. xvi pl. Berlin, Oesterheld & Co., 1923 . In Theravada Buddhism the Buddha himself is first named as an Arahat, as were his enlightened followers, since he is free from all defilements, without greed, hatred, and delusion, rid of ignorance and craving, having no "assets" that will lead to a future birth, knowing and seeing the real here and now. This virtue shows stainless purity, true worth, and the accomplishment of the end, Nibbana. In the Pali canon, Ven. states that he has known monastics to achieve Nibbana in one of four ways: * one develops insight preceded by serenity ; * one develops serenity preceded by insight; * one develops serenity and insight in a stepwise fashion; * one's mind becomes seized by excitation about the Dhamma and, as a consequence, develops serenity and abandons the fetters. This is one of the few works on arhats in china and japan. Scarce. ... Read more

Book Description
In a carefully researched, lavishly illustrated original tale of long ago, Deborah Nourse Lattimore transports readers back through time to a land where Shoguns rule and mythical creatures abound. Focusing on one of her favorite periods in history—Japan's Edo period—Lattimore writes of a poor birdcatcher named Hideo who is banished from his village when he is accused of being the evil bandit who steals from Shogun and villager alike. Finding shelter under the boughs of a tree, Hideo hears a rustling and makes a catch beyond his wildest dreams. Painted in the art style of the Edo period, each spread is breathtaking in its detail; every page is awash in shimmering and vibrant color. Once again, an acclaimed storyteller weaves a tale as rich as a Shogun's treasure.

... Read more

Book Description
"Fascinating myths, legends, festivals, and stories help students experience the rich heritage of ancient cultures around the world. Detailed maps and vivid illustrations demonstrate how various people lived and what they accomplished. Each book in this s" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

various reviews for the book
"The selection and accuracy of the citations are excellent . . . includes many unusual, elusive, but valuable sources, and is the book's strongest feature."
-Choice

"A useful reading and research list, reasonable price."
-Reference Book Annual

"An imaginative and comprehensive guide to Japanese history and culture, as valuable to the expert as to the beginner; a bibliography that can be read as well as used, for it leaves almost nothing out."
-Carol Gluck, Columbia University ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Lovely
This is an adorable children's book that portrays Ainu culture through the words of notable Ainu activist, Kayano Shigeru.The stories are fascinating and the pictures add a meaningful touch.This book is a prime example of the notion that beauty exists in simplicity.Overall- a wonderful introduction to the Ainu worldview and lifestyle.

An absorbing account of Japan's indigineous people
The Ainu: A Story Of Japan's Original People by Kayano Shigeru is an absorbing account of Japan's indigineous people, whose legends and presence stretch back before the coming of the ethnic Japanese population before recorded history from what is now known as the Chinese mainland and the Korean penninsula. Presenting both the unique aspects of Ainu culture and the modern realities of how Ainu live today in a straightforward and friendly tone with soft yet realistic color illustrations, The Ainu: A Story Of Japan's Original People is very highly recommended. ... Read more