Japanese master quilt artist Yoko Saito presents an outstanding collection of 26 small and pretty projects. The tiny pouches and practical items are photographed to perfection, and the details are extraordinary. Each project includes materials lists and illustrated instructions to ensure success.

Ms. Saito is a renowned quilter and teacher in Japan who is widely known for her mastery and use of "taupe color". In this book, Ms. Saito explores varying interpretations of quilted houses from one-dimensional designs to silhouettes. In addition to teaching you how to design your own house block, there are 34 projects from which to choose. These include handbags, pouches, carry-all, tissue case, pencil case and wall quilts.

Buddhism, often described as an austere religion that condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture in Asia. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists have been produced both within and outside of monasteries across the region—in Nepal, Japan, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Justin McDaniel looks at the growth of Asia’s culture of Buddhist leisure—what he calls “socially disengaged Buddhism”—through a study of architects responsible for monuments, museums, amusement parks, and other sites. In conversation with noted theorists of material and visual culture and anthropologists of art, McDaniel argues that such sites highlight the importance of public, leisure, and spectacle culture from a Buddhist perspective and illustrate how “secular” and “religious,” “public” and “private,” are in many ways false binaries. Moreover, places like Lek Wiriyaphan’s Sanctuary of Truth in Thailand, Suối Tiên Amusement Park in Saigon, and Shi Fa Zhao’s multilevel museum/ritual space/tea house in Singapore reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism built through repetitive affective encounters instead of didactic sermons and sectarian developments. They present different Buddhist traditions, images, and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform, collected but not concise: Together they form a gathering, not a movement. Despite the ingenuity of lay and ordained visionaries like Wiriyaphan and Zhao and their colleagues Kenzo Tange, Chan-soo Park, Tadao Ando, and others discussed in this book, creators of Buddhist leisure sites often face problems along the way. Parks and museums are complex adaptive systems that are changed and influenced by budgets, available materials, local and global economic conditions, and visitors. Architects must often compromise and settle at local optima, and no matter what they intend, their buildings will develop lives of their own. Provocative and theoretically innovative, Architects of Buddhist Leisure asks readers to question the very category of “religious” architecture. It challenges current methodological approaches in religious studies and speaks to a broad audience interested in modern art, architecture, religion, anthropology, and material culture. An electronic version of this book is freely available thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched, a collaborative initiative designed to make high-quality books open access for the public good. The open-access version of this book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means that the work may be freely downloaded and shared for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. Derivative works and commercial uses require permission from the publisher.

In Bashō's Journey, David Landis Barnhill provides the definitive translation of Matsuo Bashō's literary prose, as well as a companion piece to his previous translation, Bashō's Haiku. One of the world's greatest nature writers, Bashō (1644–1694) is well known for his subtle sensitivity to the natural world, and his writings have influenced contemporary American environmental writers such as Gretel Ehrlich, John Elder, and Gary Snyder. This volume concentrates on Bashō's travel journal, literary diary (Saga Diary), and haibun. The premiere form of literary prose in medieval Japan, the travel journal described the uncertainty and occasional humor of traveling, appreciations of nature, and encounters with areas rich in cultural history. Haiku poetry often accompanied the prose. The literary diary also had a long history, with a format similar to the travel journal but with a focus on the place where the poet was living. Bashō was the first master of haibun, short poetic prose sketches that usually included haiku. As he did in Bashō's Haiku, Barnhill arranges the work chronologically in order to show Bashō's development as a writer. These accessible translations capture the spirit of the original Japanese prose, permitting the nature images to hint at the deeper meaning in the work. Barnhill's introduction presents an overview of Bashō's prose and discusses the significance of nature in this literary form, while also noting Bashō's significance to contemporary American literature and environmental thought. Excellent notes clearly annotate the translations.

Yoko Saito, a world-famous quilter, designer, teacher and shop owner from Japan delights her audience with this book that focuses on quilts, bags and other projects made primarily of wool and yarn-dyed homespuns. Instructions are included for rug hooking, needle-felting, piecework and appliqué. The projects, practical with a touch of whimsy, will have you scouring closets for no longer used woolen clothing to turn into something fun and new.

"One of the most important contributions of this book is its compelling portrait of the various itinerants within, and often without, early-modern Japan's status system. Even though the topic is a rather serious one, Howell reveals a refreshing sense of humor and an original approach. This is a pleasure to read."—Brett L. Walker, author of The Conquest of Ainu Lands "David Howell's immersion in contemporary Japanese scholarship is evident on every page of this masterful book. A probing work of great erudition."—Kären Wigen, author of The Making of a Japanese Periphery

Bring adorable animals to life with this sweet and whimsical hand-quilting book. From favorite critters like perky penguins, smiling lions and gangly giraffes to unexpected friends like jellyfish, vultures and a unicorn, this book includes an animal for each letter of the alphabet. In Charming Quilted Animals, world-renowned quilt artist Yoko Saito shows you how to: Make over 40 different animal appliques Create 26 animal patches--from A-Z Incorporate the animals in 25 unique projects Implement essential quilting techniques Make fun items like a tapestry incorporating all the animals, a clasp purse, pin cushion, accessory tray, pencil case and tote bag for the kids in your life--or the kid in you! This charming collection of designs is accessible to quilters of all skill levels. A generous how-to section with photographic illustrations takes you through the basics of hand quilting, while instructions and diagrams for each project show you how to assemble your pieces from start to finish. A link is included for printable tracing sheets containing templates for all the animals and elements used in these projects. There's no limit to what you can do with these playful animal appliques. Let Charming Quilted Animals inspire you to add touches of whimsical wildlife to your quilted designs. This ebook comes with tiled printable templates. Once printed, the tiles must be assembled in order to replicate the complete pattern sheet that is packaged with the print edition. If this is a task you prefer to avoid, we suggest purchasing the print edition instead.

Yoko Saito, a prominent quilt artist in Japan, is known for her exquisite designs and ingenious use of "taupe color." In "Strolling Along Paths of Green, Ms. Saito finds beauty in the most common trees and plants and interprets them in quilt projects in such a way that is uniquely charming. She offers 33 different projects, including 2 quilts made up of plants seen through the four seasons, pouches and many kinds of bags.

2005 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Basho's Haiku offers the most comprehensive translation yet of the poetry of Japanese writer Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), who is credited with perfecting and popularizing the haiku form of poetry. One of the most widely read Japanese writers, both within his own country and worldwide, Bashō is especially beloved by those who appreciate nature and those who practice Zen Buddhism. Born into the samurai class, Bashō rejected that world after the death of his master and became a wandering poet and teacher. During his travels across Japan, he became a lay Zen monk and studied history and classical poetry. His poems contained a mystical quality and expressed universal themes through simple images from the natural world. David Landis Barnhill's brilliant book strives for literal translations of Bashō's work, arranged chronologically in order to show Bashō's development as a writer. Avoiding wordy and explanatory translations, Barnhill captures the brevity and vitality of the original Japanese, letting the images suggest the depth of meaning involved. Barnhill also presents an overview of haiku poetry and analyzes the significance of nature in this literary form, while suggesting the importance of Bashō to contemporary American literature and environmental thought.