Japanese Tattoos explains the imagery featured in Japanese tattoos so that readers can avoid getting ink they don't understand or, worse, that they'll regret. This photo-heavy book also traces the history of Japanese tattooing, putting the iconography and kanji symbols in their proper context so readers will be better informed as to what they mean and have a deeper understanding of irezumi. Fea…
The effects of tectonic processes on archaeological sites are evidenced by earthquake damage, volcanic eruptions, and tsunami destruction. However, these processes affect a far broader sphere of landform structures, environment, and even climate that envelops an archaeological site and triggers human behavioural activities. Tectonic processes derive directly or indirectly from Plate Tectonic…
In a world thought to have been created—and nearly destroyed—by the primordial gods Izanagi and Izanami, mythic heroes battled ferocious dragons and giant spiders, while ordinary bamboo cutters and farmers made unexpected contact with the supernatural. Japanese Mythology A to Z, Second Edition is a valuable, colorful reference for anyone with an interest in mythology or Japanese culture. …
This leaves the question of whether Sogi and his cohorts sawsomething in the waka of their day that scholars since have not; andthe answer would seem to be yes. For while many poets of that agewere satisfied with vain repetitions of familiar lines, a few intrepidindividuals still managed to approach the old form with vitality andartistic purpose. …
Thinking back, it seems fitting that my relationship with manhua, usually called cartoons or comics in English, started with a magazine, because this book is about both. Why both? Cartoons are cartoons, and magazines are magazines; what is to be gained by combining the two? My reply is that many hours spent marveling at, puzzling over, and gradually deciph…
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…
Here's Japanese-English Bilingual Visual Dictionary
We called him the Professor. And he called my son Root, because he said, the flat top of his head reminded him of the square root sign. "There's a fine brain in there," the Professor said, mussing my son's hair. Root, who wore a cap to avoid being teased by his friends, gave a wary shurg. "With this one little sign, we can come to know an infinite range of numbers, even those we can't see." He …
Poems and poets : people greet them with scorn andpoke fun at them. Why is that? Because people take the realm of poetry to be the depic-tion of simple sensual beauty, self-complacent emotionalpain and dark melancholy—things not real mirrored in mor-bid sensibilities. If poetry required only a unique sensitivityand dreamy beauty, then hysterics and the mentally il…