Plutschow (Japanese cultural history and folklore, U. of California-Los Angeles) recounts the life of the fifteenth descendent of the great tea master Sen Rikyu (1522-91), born in Kyoto in 1923. He also explores the Urasenke school of Chado, or the Way of Tea of which Hournsai is iemoto , or Grand Master. He has not indexed his work. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The Grand Tea Master: A Biography of Hounsai Soshitsu Sen XV

Biographies & Memoirs

Plutschow, Herbert

Community & Culture

Weatherhill

Over a thousand years of history have shaped Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital. It was in A.D. 794 that Emperor Kammu visited the site, perceived that ''the mountains and rivers make it a natural fortress," and pronounced it his capital. From these beginnings as the seat of imperial power, Kyoto developed into an important center of culture and religion, thereby giving rise to one of the most refined civilizations the world has seen. As a consequence, walking the streets of Kyoto today is like a stroll through the pages of history. The numerous shrines and temples, permeated with the past, testify eloquently to the cultural heights the city has attained. However, the people of Kyoto, while being no less modern or prosperous than their counterparts in other Japanese cities, are strongly determined to preserve tradition in their daily life and customs: the festivals that enliven each season have been held annually for centuries; the traditional crafts that have made Kyoto famous abroad-weaving and dyeing, lacquerware, bamboo crafts, and ceramics-are still pursued today by artisans as skilled and meticulous as their forebears. Thus the city of Kyoto is an embodiment of traditional Japan, and a discussion of it involves every aspect of Japanese culture, from the tea ceremony to temple architecture, from festivals to Zen gardens. In this book, the 87 superb color plates have been specially selected so that each period of Kyoto's vivid history is represented in chronological order by its outstanding buildings and works of art. With maps and a useful chronology, this absorbing introduction to an enchanting city is something no visitor should be without. Jacket, front: Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), built in 1397 by Shogun Ashikaga no Yoshimitsu.

Introducing Kyoto

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Kodansha USA

First in-depth study in English of Japanese names, their history and evolution, and ontological implications.

Japan's Name Culture: The Significance of Names in a Religious, Political & Social Context

Religion & Spirituality

Routledge

Largely ignored hitherto by Western scholars, Plutschow's Edo Period Travel provides the first in-depth study of the subject which is centred on fifteen of the period's most notable travellers, some of whom are well known in other fields - as intellectuals, artists, poets, folklorists and natural scientists, for example - but rarely, if at all, as travellers. The first traveller put in the spotlight is the celebrated intellectual and botanist Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714) and the last is the explorer of Ezo (now Hokkaido) and government official Matsuura Takeshiro (1818-88). Such was the thirst for knowledge in the Edo period that some travel accounts (estimated to number over 2000) became best-sellers in their day, not least for their voyeuristic appeal, including those of Kaibara Ekiken and Tachibana Nankei, which are included in this volume. This important research on how the Japanese discovered their own country and cultural identity has considerable interdisciplinary appeal. Of particular interest also is the author's discussion on the nature of this new travel writing and the self-centred observation and 'seeing' that developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, he calls the 'Japanese Enlightenment'.

A Reader in EDO Period Travel

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Global Oriental

For the first time, Rikyu's tea is considered as a profoundly important political as well as a socio-religious ritual in response to the dramatic changes taking place in the country at large: the hundred-year civil war (Sengoku) period was finally coming to an end and the process of political unification under the strong military leadership of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi had begun. An important focus in the book is the author's research into why Rikyu's tragic suicide, enforced by Hideyoshi, was a necessary outcome of the emerging conflict between ritual, art and politics. In addition, the study highlights the tensions and struggles between individual artists who were led by a sense of artistic identity and inspiration, together with the political leaders who imposed their artistic taste on the nation. Plutschow also provides new insights into the sixteenth-century Japanese perception of beauty - commonly called wabi - a simple, often austere beauty displayed in tea in order to unite host and guests as equals. This book will be of considerable interest in research connected with politics, Zen Buddhism and art history as well as the central issues regarding the history and development of tea in Japan.

Rediscovering Rikyu: And the Beginnings of the Japanese Tea Ceremony

History

Asia

Brill Academic Pub

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