An invaluable book for anyone interested in Japanese culture as well as poetry. — Amy Chavez
Japanese Death Poems is one of those invaluable books for anyone interested in Japanese culture as well as poetry. The lengthy introduction alone is important for the plethora of information on the history of Japanese poetry and in particular, the death poem. From tanka to haiku, written by princes, court nobles, samurai, Buddhist monks and More…
Tanaka Akihiko suggests it may be possible to say that a common culture—what might be called an ‘East Asian way of life’—is emerging, especially among the East Asian urban middle class.
Powerful, mystical and concise, the Heart Sutra is believed to contain the condensed essence of all Buddhist wisdom.
Kerr has proven an excellent student of friendship and fellowship and has himself become a vessel of wisdom which he now passes on to us readers.
Serita Kentaro retraces and analyzes the history of negotiations over the Northern Territories, Takeshima and Senkaku Islands.
Japan’s three territorial disputes with neighbouring countries — the Northern Territories (Russia), Takeshima (Korea), and the Senkaku Islands (China) — all arose in the post-war period. The battle over them is being waged not by guns and butter, but through peaceful means in the courts of law. Less dangerous though this might be, it is no less complicated.
The Heart Sutra is the most widely read, chanted, and copied text in East Asian Buddhism. Schodt’s journey takes him to China, America and Japan.
Review By Amy Chavez All over Asia the Heart Sutra soothes minds and eases the burdens people encounter in their every day lives. In Japan, one might catch its rising timbre across a graveyard as a Buddhist Priest chants to the departed in a ceremony honoring the family’s ancestors. A tourist might stumble upon followers More…
In eighteen chapters, this anthology takes an epic journey the length of Japan, from subtropical Okinawa, through the Japanese heartland, all the way to the wilds of Hokkaido.
Review by Renae Lucas-Hall “It’s easy to fall under the spell of rural Japan” is the first sentence in the introduction to this anthology that sets the reader upon a path to enchantment. Each essay acts as a beguiling incantation that will amplify one’s desire to explore the Japanese countryside. If you’re an avid reader More…
Recent Release! A fascinating look at three of Japan’s most devastating earthquakes.
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The Era of Great Disasters: Japan and Its Three Major Earth Quakes, by Iokibe Makoto (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, July 2020) Review by Amy Chavez Included in the University of Michigan Press ‘Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies,’ The Era of Great Disasters is a scholarly but highly readable text that investigates Japan’s More…
The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper and Other Short Stories by Rebecca Otowa (Tuttle Publishing, March 2020) Reviewed by Renae Lucas-Hall This collection of fifteen short stories provides a delightful portrayal of urban and rural life in Japan of the past and present. Rebecca Otowa shows remarkable talent as she glides through a series of eclectic More…
A Mind-Changing Interpretation of Japanese Aesthetics In Praise of Shadows, by Junichirō Tanizaki (translated by T. J. Harper & E. Seidensticker) Vintage Classics, Nov. 2019. Reviewed by Renae Lucas-Hall A new fully-illustrated release of In Praise of Shadows by Junichirō Tanizaki, translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker, has just been published by More…
Twentieth Century Surrealism Tempered by Literary Discipline Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets: Selected Poems by Makoto Ōoka translated by Janine Beichman (Kurodahan Press, 2019) Review by Christopher Blasdel The title of this magnificently translated volume of poetry by the recently deceased Japanese poet Makoto Ōoka immediately conjures a sense of the surreal. Even More…
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