LITMIR.BIZ

A History of Japanese Art offers readers a comprehensive view of Japanese art through Japanese eyes—a view that is the most revealing of all perspectives. At the same time, it provides readers with a guide to the places in Japan where the best and most representative creations of Japanese art are to be seen.

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"Five charming novellas … which have astonishing freshness, color, and warmth." — The New Yorker First published in 1686, this collection of five novellas was an immediate bestseller in the bawdy world that was Genroku Japan, and the book's popularity has increased with age, making it today a literary classic like Boccaccio's Decameron, or the works of Rabelais. The book follows five determined women in their always amorous, erotic and usually illicit adventures. The five heroines are Onatsu, already wise in the ways of love the tender age of sixteen; Osen, a faithful wife until unjustly accused of adultery; Osan, a Kyoto beauty who falls asleep in the wrong bed; Oshichi, willing to burn down a city to meet her samurai lover; and Oman, who has to compete with handsome boys to win her lover's affections.But the book is more than a collection of skillfully told erotic tales, for «Saikaku … could not delve into the inmost secrets of human life only to expose them to ridicule or snickering prurience. Obviously fascinated by the variety and complexity of human love, but always retaining a sense of its intrinsic dignity … he is both a discriminating and compassionate judge of his fellow man.»Saikaku's style, as allusive as it is witty, as abbreviated as it is penetrating, is a challenge that few translators have dared to face, and certainly never before with the success here achieved in a translation that recaptures the heady flavor of the original.

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This book tells the fascinating history of the life of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu — Japan's most famous Shogun. Since its initial appearance, A.L.Sadler's imposing biography of the Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu has been recognized as an outstanding contribution to the knowledge of Japanese history. It is also considered the standard reference work on the period that saw the entrenchment of feudalism in Japan and the opening of some two and a half centuries of rigid isolation from the rest of the world. In the course of Japanese history, there have been five great military leaders who by common consent stand out above the others of their type. Of these, two lived in the twelfth century, while the other three, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, were contemporary in the latter half of the sixteenth century. The last of these three, with whose life Mr. Sadler deals, may well be described as having perfected the shogunate system. Not only did Ieyasu found a dynasty of rulers and organize a powerful system of government, but also he rounded off his achievements by contriving before his death to arrange for his deification afterward. As Mr. Sadler notes, «Tokugawa Ieyasu is unquestionably one of the greatest men the world has yet seen,» and this fascinating account of Ieyasu's life and times is presented in a thoroughly absorbing narrative in which dramatic highlights abound. Japan's feudal age came to a close in 1868 with the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor to political power. The event marked the end of the powerful regime that Ieyasu established at the beginning of the seventeenth century. That it did not at the same time mark the eclipse of Ieyasu's greatness is sufficient testimony to the major role he played in his country's history. It is to A. L. Sadler's lasting credit that he has brought this eminent but often ruthless military leader so vividly to life.

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Revered as one of the great literary classics of Japan, The Tales of Ise is an anonymous tenth–century collection of Japanese poems and prose.First published in 1608 as Ise–monogatori, the work is a product of court life in which the romantic assignations, intrigues, and social standards of aristocratic society in ancient Japan are vividly revealed. Each of the 125 episodes in the book consists of a story plus poetry in the uta form (five lines totaling thirty–one syllables) following the life of a nameless hero, who embodies the social ideals of the era, from his «coming of age» to his death.Arihara no Narihira, a ninth–century cavalier poet known for his individualism and elegance, is considered to be the author of a third of the poems, and it has been suggested that The Tales of Ise developed from his journal. The text is accompanied by an introduction by the translator, explanations of the cultural, literary, and historical material relevant to each episode, and several diagrams of the capital city and the Imperial Palace. The book is further enhanced by sixteen black and white woodblock prints by an unknown artist of the Tosa school.

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This collection of Japanese literature features the works of noted Japanese novelist Koda Rohan.Japanese literary history usually classifies Koda Rohan as an idealist writer, and the three stories included in this anthology belong to this genre. The Five-Storied Pagoda, one of Koda's best-known works, is the moving account of a misunderstood carpenter who has been inspired to undertake the construction of a pagoda by himself. It is not merely a story of individualism, however, for the religious implications of such a task are profound.Encounter with a Skull concerns a fortuitous meeting of two souls not necessarily ordained by karma. The multiple processes of enlightenment are perceptively depicted in this eerie tale.The last story, The Bearded Samurai, is an historical novella whose setting is the sixteenth-century battle of Nagashino between the forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu and those of Takeda Katsuyori. Here, the human side of the warrior and a realistic view of the samurai are delineated.Such stories, in addition to the essays and notes by the translator, will prove of interest to the general reader and especially to the reader already familiar with Japanese literature.

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"The greatest novel of physical love which China has produced." —Pearl S. Buck A saga of ruthless ambition, murder, and, famously, Chinese erotica, The Golden Lotus (also known as The Plum in the Golden Vase ) has been called the fifth Great Classical Novel in Chinese Literature and one of the Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel. Admired in its own time for its literary qualities and biting indictment of the immorality and cruelty of its age, this Chinese classic has also been denigrated for its sexual frankness.It centers on Ximen Qing, a young, dissolute, and politically connected merchant, and his marriage to a fifth wife, Pan Jinlian, literally «Golden Lotus.» In her desire to influence her husband and, through him, control the other wives, concubines, and entire household, she uses sex as her primary weapon. The Golden Lotus lays bare the rivalries within this wealthy family while chronicling its rise and fall. This great work of classic Chinese literature, from an author whose pseudonym means «Scoffing Scholar of Lanling,» is a virtuoso collection of voices and vices, mixing in poetry and song. It samples different social registers from popular ballads to the language of bureaucrats to recreate and comment mordantly on the society of the time. Little-known in the west but utterly iconic amongst the Chinese classics in worldly circles, reading The Golden Lotus promises both an astute reflection on human tendencies and a sumptuous, intoxicating take on Chinese erotica. This new edition: Features a superb new introduction by Robert Hegel of Washington University, who explains its importance as the first single-authored novel in the Chinese tradition Contains the complete, unexpurgated text as translated by Clement Egerton with the assistance of Shu Qingchun (later known as Lao She, one of the most prominent Chinese writers of the twentieth century) Ensures translation has been pinyinized and corrected for this new edition

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These private recollections of longtime Japan resident and Japanese culture expert Donald Richie capture the personalities of the Japanese people with insight and humor. From the private musings of author Donald Richie, comes this extensive collection of brief written «portraits» which capture the personalities of 54 different Japanese people—some famous, some notorious, and some unknown. First written in 1987, Japanese Portraits presents one author's vision of Japanese culture and etiquette through precise, intimate profiles of both the ordinary and extraordinary people that make up the diverse nation. This collection of individual vignettes is perhaps the first book about the Japanese to view them entirely unhindered by the various theories about them, and about culture in Japan as a whole—depicting them as complicated, simple, inscrutable, and understandable, like anyone else, yet still unique. In these fifty-four pieces you'll meet some household names—Mishima, Kawabata, Mifune, Kurosawa—and little-known neighborhood figures: the would-be geisha, the ex-boxer turned gangster, the scheming bar madame and the old man dying alone. And there are dozens of others, individuals who have in common, besides their Japanese nationality, the fact that they knew the author, and that—fortunately for us—he knew them. These highly personal reminiscences form one of the most original and deeply felt books on culture in Japan ever to appear.

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"Clear-eyed glimpses of human behavior in the extremities of poverty, stupidity, greed, vanity… Story-telling of an unconventional sort, with most of the substance beneath the shining, enameled surface." — The New York Times Book Review Widely acknowledged as «the father of the Japanese short story,» Ryunosuke Akutagawa remains one of the most influential Japanese writers of all time. Rashomon and Other Stories , a collection of his most celebrated work, resonates as strongly today as when it first published a century ago. This volume includes: In a Grove : An iconic, contradictory tale of the murder of a samurai in a forest near Kyoto told through three varying accounts Rashomon : A masterless samurai contemplates following a life of crime as he encounters an old woman at the old Rashomon gate outside Kyoto Yam Gruel : A low-ranking court official laments his position all the while yearning for his favorite, yet humble, dish The Martyr : Set in Japan's Christian missionary era, a young boy is excommunicated for fathering an illegitimate child, but not all is as it seems Kesa and Morito: An adulterous couple plots to kill the woman's husband as the situation threatens to spin out of control The Dragon : A priest concocts a prank involving a dragon, but the tall tale begins to take on a life of its own With a new foreward by noted Akutagawa scholar Seiji Lippit, this updated version of a classic collection is a an excellent, readable introduction to Japanese literature.

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Crackling Mountain and Other Stories features eleven outstanding works by Osama Dazai, widely regarded as one of the 20th century Japan's most gifted writers.Dazai experimented with a wide variety of short story styles and brought to each a sophisticated sense of humor, a broad empathy for the human condition, and a tremendous literary talent.The eleven stories in this collection of Japanese literature present the most fully rounded portrait available of a tragic, multifaceted genius of modern Japanese letters.

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Everyday Life in Traditional Japan paints a vivid portrait of Tokugawa Japan, a time when contact with the outside world was deliberately avoided, and the daily life of the different classes consolidated the traditions that shaped modern Japan. With detailed descriptions and over 100 illustrations, authentic samurai, farmers, craftsmen, merchants, courtiers, priests, entertainers and outcasts come to life in this magnificently illustrated portrait of a colorful society. Most works of Japanese history fail to provide enough details about the lives of the people who lived during the time. The level of detail in Everyday Life in Traditional Japan allows for a nearly complete picture of the history of Japan. In fascinating detail, Charles J. Dunn describes how each class lived: their food, clothing, and houses; their beliefs and their fears. At the same time, he takes account of certain important groups that fell outside the formal class structure, such as the courtiers in the emperor's palace at Kyoto, the Shinto and Buddhist priests, and the other extreme, the actors and the outcasts. he concludes with a lively account of everyday life in the capital city of Edo, the present–day Tokyo.

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