Traditional World
Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts by Koryu Uchinadi, Patrick McCarthy Paperback
112 pages
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan by Ivan Morris (Translator) Paperback
Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe Paperback
228 pages
riginally published in 1905, this work is in its 33rd printing with Tuttle Publishing. It represents one of the most popular and authentic depictions of Samurai-era philosophy.
Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty by Jennifer Mitchelhill Hardcover
96 pages
The book gives the background to great period of castle building in Japan, and details the essential elements of castle construction, such as location, layout, walls, moats, towers, storehouses, gates, shooting holes, and more.
A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns by Chikafusa Kitabatake, H. Paul Varley (Translator) Hardcover
300 pages
History from the viewpoint of a fourteenth-century scholar.
Chushingura by Donald Keene (Translator) Paperback
183 pages
Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), also known as the story of the Forty-Six (or Forty-Seven) Ronin, is the most famous and perennially popular of all Japanese dramas. Written in the eighteenth century as a puppet play, it is now best known through Kabuki theater performances.This edition includes a new preface, introduction, and notes.
The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke by Yuzan Daidoji Hardcover
98 pages
Written over 400 years ago, a treatise on the rules by which the warrior class lived and worked.
Confessions of Lady Nijo by Karen Brazell (Translator) Paperback
One of the oldest books in print by a woman, Confessions of Lady Nijo contains the thoughts, reflections, and poetry of an opinionated Japanese Imperial court concubine, covering the years 1271 to 1306. Writing in diary form towards the end of her life, Lady Nijo chronicles her past life in the Imperial court, where her strong personality and aspirations for a higher position provoked the jealousy of the Empress and caused her dismissal; her travels throughout the country as a Buddhist nun; and her development into a mature and compassionate woman.
Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868 by Matsunosuke Nishiyama, Gerald Groemer (Translator) Paperback
320 pages
A selection of Nishiyama's writings that provide an introduction to Tokugawa cultural history, focusing on Japan's urban commoners.
The Emergence of Japanese Kingship by Joan R. Piggott Hardcover
424 pages
Everyday Life in Traditional Japan by Charles J. Dunn Paperback
Traditional way of life of Tokugawa Japan, from peasant to noble.
Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture by Susan B. Hanley Paperback
The author considers daily life in the three centuries leading up to the modern era in Japan.
Five Women Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku, William T. De Bary (Translator) Paperback
1686 collection of five separate stories.
The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan by Mikael S. Adolphson Paperback
472 pages
The world of medieval Japan.
Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed by Engelbert Kaempfer, Beatrice Bodart-Bailey (Translator) Paperback
608 pages
New translation of Engelbert Kaempfer's History of Japan, published in London in 1727. Kaempfer travelled throughout the Near and Far East before settling in Japan as physician to the trading settlement of the Dutch East India Company at Nagasaki. During his two years residence, he made two extensive trips around Japan in 1691 and 1692.
The Kagero Diary: A Woman's Autobiographical Text from Tenth-Century Japan Paperback
415 pages
Koryu Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan by Diane Skoss (Editor) Paperback
192 pages
Essays and interviews.
Legends of the Samurai by Hiroaki Sato Hardcover
The Lone Samurai: The Life Of Miyamoto Musashi by William Scott Wilson Hardcover
287 pages
The first English-language biography of the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Wilson also produced this translation of Musashi's The Book of Five Rings.
Mirror in the Shrine: American Encounters With Meiji Japan by Robert A. Rosenstone Paperback
Based on the travels of Griffis, Morse, and Hearn in the late 1800s.
Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings by Kenji Tokitsu Hardcover
528 pages
The Tale of Genji Edward G. Seidensticker (Translator) Hardcover
This, the world's first novel, was written by a court lady in Heian Japan and offers a window into that formal, mannered world.
Tale of Genji [ABRIDGED] Edward G. Seidensticker (Translator) Paperback
Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide by William J. Puette Paperback
196 pages
This guide to the historical, personal, and artistic world of Genji's Kyoto explains the Heian Court culture, prevailing religious doctrines, Heian poetry, and Lady Murasaki's life. Maps and illustrations.
Gossamer Years: the Diary of a Noblewoman of Heian Japan by Edward Seidensticker (Translator) Paperback
Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, William Scott Wilson (Translator)
Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors by William Scott Wilson (Photographer), Gregory Lee (Photographer) Paperback
143 pages
Japanese Inn by Oliver Statler Paperback
Japanese history through the eyes of the inn-keeper of a small roadside inn from around the 1500s.
Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai by Katsu Kokichi, Craig Teruko (Illustrator), Ando Hiroshige (Illustrator)
Translated diary of a Samurai in Japan in the early 1800s. Ink drawings and full color plates.
The Origins of Japan's Medieval World: Courtiers, Clerics, Warriors, and Peasants in the Fourteenth Century by Jeffrey P. Mass (Editor) Hardcover
544 pages
Ritual Poetry and the Politics of Death in Early Japan by Gary L. Ebersole Paperback
350 pages
Examination of death rituals in early Japan that draws on narratives and poems from early texts.
Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai by Romulus Hillsborough Hardcover
614 pages
The story is divided into three parts. Part I deals with Ryoma's formative years. He travels to the shogun's capital at Edo to study fencing. Here he witnesses the shocking appearance of Perry's flotilla of warships in the summer of 1853. Part II begins in the year 1861. Ryoma is determined to overthrow the shogun. Part III chronicles Ryoma's key role in overthrowing the shogun. Ryoma was assassinated on the night of his thirty-second birthday, shortly after devising the blueprint for the first modern government of Japan.
Samurai: The Story of Japan's Great Warriors by Stephen Turnbull Hardcover
224 pages
The Samurai Sourcebook by Stephen Turnbull Paperback
320 pages
Samurai Warfare by Stephen Turnbull Paperback
160 pages
Historical narrative and color illustrations.
Secrets of the Samurai: A Survey of the Martial Arts of Feudal Japan by Oscar Ratti, Adele Westbrook Hardcover
481 pages
Sex and the Floating World: Erotic Images in Japan 1700-1820 (Essays in Art and Culture) by Timon Screech Paperback
320 pages
The author opens up the strange world of sexual fantasy in the Edo culture of 18th-century Japan and investigates the tensions in class and gender of those that made-and made use of-shunga.
Shanks Mare: Japan's Great Comic Novel of Travel & Ribaldry by Ikku Jippensha Paperback
416 pages
A chronicle of two scoundrels along the great highway from Tokyo to Kyoto. Originally issued serially beginning in 1802, it spawned numerous sequels, appearing year by year, until 1822.
The Soil: A Portrait of Rural Life in Meiji Japan by Takashi Nagatsuka, Ann Waswo (Translator), Paperback
Song in an Age of Discord: The Journal of Socho & Poetic Life in Late Medieval Japan by H. MacK Horton Hardcover
424 pages
Sumo and the Woodblock Print Masters by Lawrence Bickford Hardcover
160 pages
Japanese woodblock prints devoted to sumo, focusing on the lives and techniques of individual woodblock print masters of the Edo period. 40 pages of color illustrations.
Sword & Spirit: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan by Diane Skoss (Editor) Paperback
192 pages
Eight essays.
The Tale of the Heike by Helen C. McCullough (Translator) Paperback
Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese As Revealed Through 1,000 Years of Diaries by Donald Keene Paperback
480 pages
Collection of premodern Japanese diaries, from objective to confessional, that offer glimpses into the lives of diverse writers from the Kamakura dynastic period to the Tokugawa period.
What Life Was Like Among Samurai and Shoguns Hardcover
192 pages
Women of the Mito Domain: Recollections of Samurai Family Life by Kikue Yamakawa Paperback
220 pages
The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan Morris, Paul De Angelis (Editor) Paperback
336 pages
A companion to The Tale of Genji, this book explains court life in the mid-tenth to mid-eleventh centuries: court politics, society, economics, religion, superstitions, sex, marriage, ritual, the Heian calendar, the classes of society, etc.
Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo by Stephen Longstreet, Ethel Longstreet Paperback
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