Buddhism is popularly regarded in the West as being a very peaceful religion, but this way by no means the image presented by the famous warrior monks of medieval Japan. From the 10th century onwards the great monastic foundations of Nara and Mount Hiei maintained private armies that terrified the courtiers and citizens of the capital with their religious and military power. Armed with long nag…
The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus is a critical account of the history of Andalusian music in Iberia from the Islamic conquest of 711 to the final expulsion of the Moriscos (Spanish Muslims converted to Christianity) in the early 17th century. This volume presents the documentation that has come down to us, accompanied by critical and detailed analyses of the sources written in Arabic, Old Cat…
There are over 2 million domestic gardens (or 359,000 acres) in this country. Just imagine the difference it could make if 2 million gardens became biodiversity friendly! But we wouldn’t just be opening our gardens to nature for altruistic reasons. Gardening for Biodiversity also has advantages for human health and wellbeing. Research has shown that the more urbanised humans have become, the …
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), there was a steady increase of fish catches until the middle of the 1990s when the catch began to level off (Fig. 1.1). Recent work by Watson and Pauly (2001) has shown that in reality the total marine catch of fish has been declining by some 10% a year since 1988. The apparent continued increase until the mid1990s was du…
Pilihan atas sistem pemilu adalah salah satu keputusan kelembagaan paling penting bagi demokrasi di mana pun. Dalam hampir semua kasus pilihan atas sistem pemilu tertentu memiliki pengaruh mendalam bagi masa depan kehidupan politik di negara bersangkutan, dan sistem politik, begitu sudah dipilih, sering kali tetap sangat konstan seiring berbagai kepentingan politik mengukuhkan diri di seputar d…
The ninja were the secret agents and assassins of feudal Japan and they remain a subject of enduring fascination. They first arose during the power struggles of 9th and 10th century Japan - where they catered for an increasing demand for spies, informants and assassins - and were used until the mid-1600s when, due to a campaign to destroy them, disappeared.