Castles of the Samurai

Castles of the Samurai PDF Author: Jennifer Mitchelhill
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9784770029546
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
The castles of Japan are a product of the country's long history of civil warnd samurai rule from the Middle Ages to mid-19th century. They functionedoth as military fortresses as well as symbols of authority. Theyncorporated powerful mechanisms for warding off attackers, yet as symbolshey were possessed of immense beauty and grace.;This study is divided intoour parts: the first examines who built these castles and why, with anncisive look at Japanese history and the internecine fighting betweenamurai clans; the second part discusses the castle as a fortress - themportance of its location, its layout, stone walls and moats, towers, gates,hooting holes, and stone drops; the third part covers the beauty of theastle as a symbol, covering the intricate craftsmanship seen in structuraletail and the aesthetics of the samurai class itself; and the fourth partontains practical information on visiting castles and gleaning the most from first-hand view.

Castles of the Samurai

Castles of the Samurai PDF Author: Jennifer Mitchelhill
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9784770029546
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 118

Get Book Here

Book Description
The castles of Japan are a product of the country's long history of civil warnd samurai rule from the Middle Ages to mid-19th century. They functionedoth as military fortresses as well as symbols of authority. Theyncorporated powerful mechanisms for warding off attackers, yet as symbolshey were possessed of immense beauty and grace.;This study is divided intoour parts: the first examines who built these castles and why, with anncisive look at Japanese history and the internecine fighting betweenamurai clans; the second part discusses the castle as a fortress - themportance of its location, its layout, stone walls and moats, towers, gates,hooting holes, and stone drops; the third part covers the beauty of theastle as a symbol, covering the intricate craftsmanship seen in structuraletail and the aesthetics of the samurai class itself; and the fourth partontains practical information on visiting castles and gleaning the most from first-hand view.

His Beautiful Samurai

His Beautiful Samurai PDF Author: Sedonia Guillone
Publisher: Ai Press
ISBN: 1937796019
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
Publisher’s note: His Beautiful Samurai has been extensively revised for release with Ai Press. It is a VASTLY different story from the 2006 edition from Torquere Press. Sex and murder don’t mix but Detective Toshiro Genjin and psychic John Holmes do… John Holmes comes to Tokyo to help stop a killer. Through the use of his psychic abilities, he can help find out things that no one else sees. Toshi is a policeman who reluctantly accepts John's help, but from their first touch, John knows he wants more than that. He wants all Toshi can give him, and the heat between them surprises, and delights him. The modern killer, a historical murder of two samurai, and Toshi's need to honor other commitments combine to make the blooming love between John and Toshi difficult. And dangerous. The more deeply they delve into the past, the more unsure the future looks. Could the heat between them be the only thing that can solve the mystery, despite all of the difficulties that stand in their way? Can they find a way to keep what is most precious to them? Haunting and powerful, His Beautiful Samurai is a murder mystery, a romance, and a study in the supernatural. Get your hands on it today!

Samurai Rising

Samurai Rising PDF Author: Pamela S. Turner
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 1580895859
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life saga. This epic warrior tale reads like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family—and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his surviving half-brother banished. Yoshitsune was sent away to live in a monastery. Skinny, small, and unskilled in the warrior arts, he nevertheless escaped and learned the ways of the samurai. When the time came for the Minamoto clan to rise up against their enemies, Yoshitsune answered the call. His daring feats and impossible bravery earned him immortality.

The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai PDF Author: Helen DeWitt
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811225518
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
Called “remarkable” (The Wall Street Journal) and “an ambitious, colossal debut novel” (Publishers Weekly), Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai is back in print at last Helen DeWitt’s 2000 debut, The Last Samurai, was “destined to become a cult classic” (Miramax). The enterprising publisher sold the rights in twenty countries, so “Why not just, ‘destined to become a classic?’” (Garth Risk Hallberg) And why must cultists tell the uninitiated it has nothing to do with Tom Cruise? Sibylla, an American-at-Oxford turned loose on London, finds herself trapped as a single mother after a misguided one-night stand. High-minded principles of child-rearing work disastrously well. J. S. Mill (taught Greek at three) and Yo Yo Ma (Bach at two) claimed the methods would work with any child; when these succeed with the boy Ludo, he causes havoc at school and is home again in a month. (Is he a prodigy, a genius? Readers looking over Ludo’s shoulder find themselves easily reading Greek and more.) Lacking male role models for a fatherless boy, Sibylla turns to endless replays of Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai. But Ludo is obsessed with the one thing he wants and doesn’t know: his father’s name. At eleven, inspired by his own take on the classic film, he sets out on a secret quest for the father he never knew. He’ll be punched, sliced, and threatened with retribution. He may not live to see twelve. Or he may find a real samurai and save a mother who thinks boredom a fate worse than death.

The Samurai's Garden

The Samurai's Garden PDF Author: Gail Tsukiyama
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1429965142
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama's The Samurai's Garden uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for this extraordinary story. A 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

兵法家伝書

兵法家伝書 PDF Author: 柳生宗矩
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9784770029553
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This is a translation of an important classic on Zen swordfighting. Yagyu's Buddhist spirituality is reflected in his central idea of the life-giving sword' - the notion of controlling an opponent by the spiritual readiness to fight, rather than during the fight. This is a translation of an important classic on Zen swordfighting. Yagyu Munenori was so widely renowned that he was appointed official sword instructor to two Tokugawa shoguns. (The position was always coveted by Miyamoto Musashi, but he never succeeded in gaining the post). Yagyu's'

White Crane

White Crane PDF Author: Sandy Fussell
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763653462
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Even though he has only one leg, Niya Moto is studying to be a samurai, and his five fellow-students are similarly burdened, but sensei Ki-Yaga, an ancient but legendary warrior, teaches them not only physical skills but mental and spiritual ones as well, so that they are well-equipped to face their most formidable opponents at the annual Samurai Games.

Beautiful Samurai, White Tiger

Beautiful Samurai, White Tiger PDF Author: Sedonia Guillone
Publisher: Ai Press
ISBN: 1937796337
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
Publisher’s note: This book was previously published in 2008. It has been revised for re-release with Ai Press. Japanese police inspector Toshi and his American partner John are back in this sequel to His Beautiful Samurai. Toshi and John are still reeling from their last adventure, dealing with family issues and trying to get ready for Toshi's uncle's funeral. Toshi’s uncle died with a secret that’s kept Toshi tied to his family, unable to fulfill his own life. During the funeral preparations, his uncle's dear friend and former lover, Tokuma comes to Toshi for help. Fearing his nephew Yuzo has been kidnapped by the Yakuza, Tokuma asks Toshi and John to look into the young man's disappearance. Their investigation takes them into the murky underworld of the Japanese mob, and eventually leads them undercover to the temple of the White Tiger, a place of spirituality, love and danger. Learning the ways of the White Tiger opens John up to his psychic ability in unexpected ways, and brings the lovers closer than they ever thought possible. Through a series of unbelievably erotic encounters, John and Toshi learn the power of their love, and begin to believe that they can overcome anything, from Toshi's disapproving family to the mystery of the missing nephew. Can they find Yuzo before it's too late? Sedonia Guillone is the author of His Beautiful Samurai and My Hot Muse, stories that blend high eroticism with tender characters to create unique and powerful romances.

Silence and Beauty

Silence and Beauty PDF Author: Makoto Fujimura
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830894357
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Internationally renowned artist Makoto Fujimura reflects on Shusaku Endo's novel Silence and grapples with the nature of art, pain and culture. Showing that light is yet present in darkness, he uncovers deep layers of meaning in Japanese history and finds connections to how faith is lived in contexts of trauma.

The Samurai

The Samurai PDF Author: Shūsaku Endō
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 9780811213462
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Considered one of the late Shusaku Endo's finest works, THE SAMURAI seamlessly combines historical fact with a novelist's imaginings. Set in the period preceding the Christian persecutions in Japan recorded so memorably in Endo's SILENCE, this book traces the steps of some of the first Japanese to set foot on European soil.