Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present

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Why Should I Read This Book? It’s a tale of Meiji-era Japan from the perspective of Japan’s favorite domestic animal. Compare “The Hachiro Lottery”, which is only quietly odd, to “Grandpa Shadows”, the short story of a man with two shadows, one far more sinister than the other. The sinister shadow has a habit of attaching itself to another person for days at a time as a kind of curse. Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami

Scary Stories: 7 Japanese Tales That Will Chill You To The Bone Scary Stories: 7 Japanese Tales That Will Chill You To The Bone

Japan has a deep history of folkloric terror. The ghosts and yokai of Japanese folklore are famed and beloved the world over, and much of that fame can be attributed to Hearn and this Japanese short story collection: In Ghostly Japan. Ellery Queen’s Japanese Mystery Stories An oft-overlooked classic of Japanese literature, The Waiting Years tells the story of a diplomat’s wife, who has been tasked with travelling to Tokyo and selecting a new lover - from a lineup of geisha - for her own husband. This book explores the concept of responsibility, both political and familial. It is a heartbreaking tale that reeks of rigidity and the price we pay for what is expected of us.The center of the unified state was Yamato in the Kinai region of central Japan. [25] The rulers of the Yamato state were a hereditary line of emperors who still reign as the world's longest dynasty. The rulers of the Yamato extended their power across Japan through military conquest, but their preferred method of expansion was to convince local leaders to accept their authority in exchange for positions of influence in the government. [27] Many of the powerful local clans who joined the Yamato state became known as the uji. [28] Territorial extent of Yamato court during the Kofun period Why Should I Read This Book? It is a thought-provoking reflection on the nature of identity and the importance of resistance. In 1156, a dispute over succession to the throne erupted and the two rival claimants ( Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Emperor Sutoku) hired the Taira and Minamoto clans in the hopes of securing the throne by military force. During this war, the Taira clan led by Taira no Kiyomori defeated the Minamoto clan. Kiyomori used his victory to accumulate power for himself in Kyoto and even installed his own grandson Antoku as emperor. The outcome of this war led to the rivalry between the Minamoto and Taira clans. As a result, the dispute and power struggle between both clans led to the Heiji rebellion in 1160. In 1180, Taira no Kiyomori was challenged by an uprising led by Minamoto no Yoritomo, a member of the Minamoto clan whom Kiyomori had exiled to Kamakura. [62] Though Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181, the ensuing bloody Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto families continued for another four years. The victory of the Minamoto clan was sealed in 1185, when a force commanded by Yoritomo's younger brother, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, scored a decisive victory at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura. Yoritomo and his retainers thus became the de facto rulers of Japan. [63] Heian culture [ edit ] A handscroll painting dated c. 1130, illustrating a scene from the "Bamboo River" chapter of The Tale of Genji

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The subtle strangeness of this neighbourhood is hugely reminiscent of Royston Vasey in The League of Gentlemen: a place full of usual people who behave unusually or are subject to unusual circumstances, be they quietly supernatural, antisocial, or plainly bizarre. Every Japanese short story in this collection, like all of Ogawa’s books, excel at taking ordinary, human characters and stretching them by filling the world around them with odd, unexpected, sometimes nauseating things. The Diving Pool by Yoko OgawaNo especially elaborate rites of burial evolved, and the dead were buried in a small pit dug near the dwelling. Sometimes the body was buried with its knees drawn up or with a stone clasped to its chest, a procedure that probably had some religious or magical significance. A large number of clay figurines have been found, many representing female forms that were probably magical objects associated with primitive fertility cults. Few filmmakers in the pantheon of global cinema sit on as high a pedestal as Akira Kurosawa, the trailblazing auteur who brought us Rashomon, Yojimbo, and The Seven Samurai, and was credited as a major inspiration for the Spaghetti Western craze which engulfed Hollywood in the 1960s. In this anthology, translated by the great Japanophile Donald Richie, are three of Kurosawa’s most enduring works: Ikiru (1952), a Hemmingway-like story of a civil servant coming to terms with death; the Macbeth-inspired Throne of Blood (1957); and arguably the greatest of them all, The Seven Samurai (1954).