In recent years, there has been a significant surge in interest in spiritual matters, including a noticeable move toward Eastern religions such as Shintoism. Until now, however, there has been no resource in English providing extensive information about Shinto shrines for the many Westerners who travel to Japan to visit these sites.
With over 125 black-and-white photos, fifty detailed illustrations, and maps, this handy guidebook showcases sixty-six major Shinto shrines, many of which are World Heritage Sites or National Treasures. In their opening section, the authors introduce fascinating aspects of this ancient shamanistic religion, which remains intricately woven into the very fabric of Japanese culture. They discuss the history of Shintoism and its fundamental tenets; its relationship to Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and other Eastern belief systems; customs and rites; pilgrimages and recommended routes; and types of festivals.
The Guide portion of the book is organized by region of the country. For each shrine, there is a comprehensive entry highlighting important spiritual features, physical features of the structure itself (architecture, design, and art), associated festivals, and enshrined gods. The authors also note the prayers offered, and the best times for travelers to visit.
The helpful Appendices include lists of shrines and festivals, and a glossary.

Observations on the people, culture, and history of Japan from a long-time resident riding the rails along the less-traveled western coastline. This journey the length of Japan takes the reader off the beaten tracks to explore some of the country's remoter regions along the Japan Sea—from Wakkanai in northern Hokkaido to Ibusuki in southern Kyushu—in a fascinating mix of travelogue, anecdote, and personal memoir. At each of the thirty stops along the journey the author, who has lived in Japan for thirty years, goes in quest of the spirit of place, determined to highlight what makes it special. Mixing comments on landscape and culture, the author was inspired by Alan Booth and Donald Richie and brings a contemporary perspective to his writing. The text provides some practical information on travel by rail and railway lines, but goes into far more depth and personal observation than a conventional guidebook for tourists.

"It's a nice tome for armchair travel, whisking you off around the country from where you sit-or time travel, taking you back to that life-changing decade-lost holiday and old friends."-The Japan Times Visit the most compelling cultural and nature sites in all of Japan with this beautifully photographed travel guide. In Japan's World Heritage Sites, readers are introduced to the temples, gardens, castles and natural wonders for which Japan is so justly renowned-all of those now declared to be Unesco World Heritage Sites. Author John Dougill describes each site in detail, stating why they were singled out by Unesco, the current number and types of sites, the application process, how the sites have been selected, and how difficult it is to be given the special status of a World Heritage Site. Dougill traveled to all of the sites in Japan to research this book. Because the Japanese archipelago extends from Siberia all the way down to Taiwan, Dougill describes how his journey led him from the sub-Arctic to the sub-tropical zones. These are without a doubt the most interesting sites that Japan has to offer, including the following: Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest and most sacred volcano. Located on Honshu Island near Tokyo, Mt. Fuji is considered the sacred symbol of Japan Himeji Castle, a monument from Japan's long feudal history. Also known as Egret Castle, because it looks like a bird taking off in flight. Horyu-ji Temple, the world's oldest surviving wooden structure-a center of Buddhist learning that still serves as a seminary and monastery Hiroshima Peace Memorial or Atomic-Bomb Dome-one of the few structures to partially survive the atomic blast in 1945 The Ogasawara Islands, a remote archipelago of over 30 islands-including Iwo Jima-that is home to rare wildlife and spectacular scenery Readers will learn how Japan first became involved with the World Heritage Sites program back in 1993, the importance of these designations, and their popularity in Japan, where they are visited by millions of people annually, both Japanese and foreigners.

Kyoto, the ancient former capital of Japan, breathes history and mystery. Its temples, gardens and palaces are testimony to many centuries of aristocratic and religious grandeur. Under the veneer of modernity, the city remains filled with countless reminders of a proud past. John Dougill explores this most venerable of Japanese cities, revealing the spirit of place and the individuals that have shaped its often dramatic history. Courtiers and courtesans, poets and priests, samurai and geisha people the pages of his account. Covering twelve centuries in all, the book not only provides a historical overview but brings to life the cultural magnificence of the city of "Purple Hills and Crystal Streams". City of Power: The seat of aristocrats and warriors; military might and spiritual authority; unification and the transition to modernity. City of Ritual: Buddhist sects and Shinto festivals; tea ceremony; the role of the geisha; the influence of Zen. City of Arts: Poetry and fiction; architecture and garden design; Heian verse and Noh theatre; art and handicrafts; the Japanese Hollywood.

This anthology collects writings by established and new writers associated with Kyoto. The contents range widely from fiction to non-fiction: an extract from a novel, a short story, and a fantasy; articles on child-rearing, ceramics, the tokonoma, and the spirit of rocks; contemporary free verse, poetry with a Taoist flavor, and new translations of Basho. Also included are three winning entries from the Writers in Kyoto Competition, and two longer pieces about that giant of Japanology, Lafcadio Hearn, who continues to cast a shadow more than a hundred years after his death. Rounding out the anthology is an essay by Alex Kerr, leading commentator on present-day Japan, together with illustrations by award-winning designer, John Einarsen.

As 'the English Athens', Oxford has long been central to the country's cultural life. For over six centuries the city has been lauded, slighted and analysed in the pages of English literature. While it has been hailed as a bastion of excellence, beauty and truth on the one hand, it has also been denigrated for its elitism, exclusivity and insularity on the other. Oxford in English Literature provides for the first time a detailed overview of the literary representations, ranging from Chaucer's account of medieval students to modern-day detective stories. The book begins with the legend of the eighth-century Princess Frideswide, the city's patron saint. Praise for an English Athens first arose in the glad springtime of Elizabethan times, and after the disruptions of the Civil War the university settled back on its laurels, leading to the virulent denunciations of the eighteenth-century. The popularity of the Oxford Novel in the early nineteenth century coincided with a Romantic upsurge in affection for the university, culminating in Matthew Arnold's eulogy and the Oxford Myth of the early twentieth century. The underlying argument of Dougill's work is that the defining symbol of the literature is as much the college wall as the dreaming spire, for writings about Oxford have been shaped by the enclosed nature of the collegiate structure. In literary terms it was depicted as a world of its own - secluded, conservative, and eccentric. Idealised, it became a cloistered utopia, an Athenian city-state, or an Arcadian idyll. The privileged circumstance led to resentment from those on the outside, first evident in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. With greater egalitarian and meritocratic values in the twentieth century, elitism came under attack and with it the notion of a sheltered paradise. At the same time the loosening of college ties led to diversification as writers turned to previously unexamined parts of the city. Oxford in English Literature is aimed at the general reader and is not burdened by specialist jargon or theory. Its familiar subject and specially commissioned illustrations make this a compelling book for anyone interested in Oxford, and in English literature in general. Alice in Wonderland, Brideshead Revisited, Oscar Wilde, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Inspector Morse, Philip Pullman -Oxford is a literary treasure trove. This entertaining account guides the reader through the wealth of material in an informative and illuminating manner.