Perfect for upper beginner students of Japanese. This affordable Japanese history reader contains three essays on the Japanese art style Ukiyo-e. Read three essays on Japan's most famous contribution to the world of art, ukiyo-e. Learn about the history, famous ukiyo-e masters, and the influence it had on Western art. Ukiyo-e Part I About Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e Part II About the Artists Ukiyo-e Part III Influence on Western Art Get FREE Sound Files of the stories read by a native Japanese speaker. Listen while reading. The link to the MP3s is found within. Each story has two MP3 versions: Read Slowly & Normal Speed Get FREE Anki Flashcard decks of all the vocabulary in the essays. Read--in Japanese--about the amazing history and world-wide influence of ukiyo-e. Yes, you can read real Japanese--even if you are fairly new to Japanese. FEATURES: All Japanese have furigana those starting out with kanji. (in the running gloss section) Every sentence is broken down word-for-word and with explanation of the grammar. The full story in Japanese only (without the running gloss) is also provided so you can practice reading without interruption. Kanji in Focus covers the key kanji found in each essay Finally, we have included a simple and mostly literal English translation for you to check your understanding (Don't cheat! Work through the Japanese first!). Download the FREE MP3s to listen while you study. Includes both normal speed and slow speed readings. Download the FREE Anki flashcard decks to master the vocabulary -- most with sound and pitch accent diagrams While beginners to Japanese can get a lot from this, hiragana knowledge is required, and we recommend a solid understanding of basic Japanese grammar and sentence structure first. Finally, we invite the reader to contact us with questions or requests for future Japanese readers. You will find our personal email addresses in the book. To your Japanese!

The art of Japanese woodblock printing, known as ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), reflects the rich history and way of life in Japan hundreds of years ago. Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print takes a thematic approach to this iconic Japanese art form, considering prints by subject matter: geisha and courtesans, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, erotica, nature, historical subjects and even images of foreigners in Japan. An artist himself, author Frederick Harris--a well-known American collector who lived in Japan for 50 years--pays special attention to the methods and materials employed in Japanese printmaking. The book traces the evolution of ukiyo-e from its origins in metropolitan Edo (Tokyo) art culture as black and white illustrations, to delicate two-color prints and multicolored designs. Advice to admirers on how to collect, care for, view and buy Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints rounds out this book of charming, carefully selected prints.

The Floating World by novelist James A. Michener is a classic work on the Japanese print of the Edo period (1615-1868). Mr. Michener shows how the Japanese printmakers, cut off from revivifying contacts with the art of the rest of the world and hampered by their own governmental restrictions, were able to keep their art vital for two centuries through their vigor and determination. For this new edition, Howard A. Link updates the scholarship and expands on many theoretical aspects introduced in Michener's study.

Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints: Reflections of Meiji Culture is a pioneer exploration of a previously neglected genre of late-Meiji art: the type of handmade multicolor book frontispieces known as kuchi-e. Early European collectors assumed that the Japanese woodblock tradition came to an end in Western-tainted prints. Although many crudely colored prints of subjects such as steam trains and men in derby hats did flood the Japanese market, the works introduced in this amply illustrated and readable volume make clear that there was another class of popular woodblock tradition unknown to foreigners that continued into the early twentieth century. In their examination of this late flowering of the woodblock print, the authors provide not only an introduction to a popular artistic tradition but also a new lens through which to view Japanese life at the end of the nineteenth century.

This book illustrates and examines more than two hundred ukiyo-e paintings by such masters as Utamaro, Hokusai, and Moronobu, who captured the erotic world of the courtesan and geisha, as well as landscapes, theatrical scenes, and outdoor past times.

Nishiyama Matsunosuke is one of the most important historians of Tokugawa (Edo) popular culture, yet until now his work has never been translated into a Western language. Edo Culture presents a selection of Nishiyama’s writings that serves not only to provide an excellent introduction to Tokugawa cultural history but also to fill many gaps in our knowledge of the daily life and diversions of the urban populace of the time. Many essays focus on the most important theme of Nishiyama’s work: the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries as a time of appropriation and development of Japan’s culture by its urban commoners. In the first of three main sections, Nishiyama outlines the history of Edo (Tokyo) during the city’s formative years, showing how it was shaped by the constant interaction between its warrior and commoner classes. Next, he discusses the spirit and aesthetic of the Edo native and traces the woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e to the communal activities of the city’s commoners. Section two focuses on the interaction of urban and rural culture during the nineteenth century and on the unprecedented cultural diffusion that occurred with the help of itinerant performers, pilgrims, and touring actors. Among the essays is a delightful and detailed discourse on Tokugawa cuisine. The third section is dedicated to music and theatre, beginning with a study of no, which was patronized mainly by the aristocracy but surprisingly by commoners as well. In separate chapters, Nishiyama analyzes the relation of social classes to musical genres and the aesthetics of kabuki. The final chapter focuses on vaudeville houses supported by the urban masses.

Asian art and material artifacts are expressive of cultural realities and constitute a "visible language" with messages that can be read, interpreted, and analyzed. These essays by scholars of Asian art, philosophy, anthropology, and religion focus on objects held in ASIANetwork schools. The chapters' authors tell the stories of the collections, and the collections themselves tell stories of the collectors.