Kyoto area Japanese sword reference for collectors of Nihonto.

A History of Japanese Art offers readers a comprehensive view of Japanese art through Japanese eyes--a view that is the most revealing of all perspectives. At the same time, it provides readers with a guide to the places in Japan where the best and most representative creations of Japanese art are to be seen.

Born out of the editor's inability to find a suitable book for teaching the subject, this is a welcome title. . . . a fine contribution in a field where works in English are seriously lacking. Choice The Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture provides a convenient and efficient guide to the prevalent ways of life, recreations, and artistic creations of contemporary Japan. Designed for the general reader as well as the specialist in Japanese culture. The areas explored are those that have proven to be of durable interest to the Japanese, such as sports, science fiction, and popular music, as well as passing fads and fancies. The extremely readable essays, contributed by specialists in the field, provide a wealth of interesting information, including a survey of the historical development of the topic under discussion, with special attention paid to the most useful published works in the field, followed by a guide to the research collections and reference works that should be consulted by those wishing to deepen their knowledge of the subject. Exploring the most salient aspects of Japanese popular culture, the chapters include such topics as popular architecture, new religions, popular performing arts, film, television, comics, and mystery literature. The editor's introduction suggests that the study of popular culture as a discipline with its own unique subject matter and methodology represents a form of protest against the concept of culture as a selective tradition consisting of the best that has been thought and said. This comprehensive survey of Japanese popular culture will be an essential additon to all libraries and a useful resource in the study of popular culture, sociology, Japanese history and culture, humanities, communications, and journalism.

The Encyclopedia of Women in World History captures the experiences of women throughout world history in a comprehensive, 4-volume work. Although there has been extensive research on women in history by region, no text or reference work has comprehensively covered the role women have played throughout world history. The past thirty years have seen an explosion of research and effort to present the experiences and contributions of women not only in the Western world but across the globe. Historians have investigated womens daily lives in virtually every region and have researched the leadership roles women have filled across time and region. They have found and demonstrated that there is virtually no historical, social, or demographic change in which women have not been involved and by which their lives have not been affected. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History benefits greatly from these efforts and experiences, and illuminates how women worldwide have influenced and been influenced by these historical, social, and demographic changes. The Encyclopedia contains over 1,250 signed articles arranged in an A-Z format for ease of use. The entries cover six main areas: biographies; geography and history; comparative culture and society, including adoption, abortion, performing arts; organizations and movements, such as the Egyptian Uprising, and the Paris Commune; womens and gender studies; and topics in world history that include slave trade, globalization, and disease. With its rich and insightful entries by leading scholars and experts, this reference work is sure to be a valued, go-to resource for scholars, college and high school students, and general readers alike.