The ritual of rainmaking is one of half a dozen Japanese folk practices and festivals described in this book. The story of rainmaking ceremonies begins with personal experience and then draws on the work of Japanese folklorists to record significant local variations and to construct a general account of the history and purpose of the ceremony. Field research was conducted during study visits to Kyoto, to Tenri in Nara Prefecture and to Shiga Prefecture. The chapter order follows the year cycle, from New Year via early summer purificatory festivals and rainmaking ceremonial to the feast of Bon, which with New Year ceremonies divides the year. Alongside these community or public rites are described private or family rituals concerned with birth, marriage and death. The introductory chapter relates aspects of Japanese culture, myth and language to the constant features of folk practice recorded or extant in 1950s Japan. Originally published in 1963.

Longtime leader in the luxury goods sector and former Chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton North America reinvents the art and science of brand-building under the rubric of Aesthetic Intelligence. In a world in which people have cheap and easy access to most goods and services, yet crave richer and more meaningful experiences, aesthetics has become a key differentiator for most companies and a critical factor of their success and even their survival. In this groundbreaking book, Pauline Brown, a former leader of the world's top luxury goods company and a pioneer in identifying the role of aesthetics in business, shows executives, entrepreneurs, and other professionals how to harness the power of the senses to create products, services, and experiences that stand out, resonate with their customers, and create long-term value for their businesses. The power is rooted in Aesthetic Intelligence-or "the other AI," as Brown refers to it. Aesthetic Intelligence can be learned. Indeed, people are born with far more capacity than they use, but even those that are naturally gifted must continue to refine their skills, lest their aesthetic advantage atrophy. Through a combination of storytelling and practical advice, the author shows how aesthetic intelligence creates business value and how executives, entrepreneurs and others can boost their own AI and successfully apply it to business. Brown offers research, strategies and practical exercises focused on four essential AI skills. Aesthetic Intelligence provides a crucial roadmap to help business leaders build their businesses in their own authentic and distinctive way. Aesthetic Intelligence is about creating delight, lifting the human spirit, and rousing the imagination through sensorial experiences.

MARTHA PAULINE GERBER BROWN is of German-Swiss parentage. Her father was a Bible Teacher in Pandora, OH. And MARTHA became a Bible Teacher after her education at Moody and at Taylor University. Her specialty is to analyze and apply the Bible for teaching children and women. A second gift is to write Bible-truth poetry. MARTHA with her husband, O. Carl, count twenty-one years on the field of Haiti, W.I. They also count sixty-six married years. And have two sons, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. MARTHA is known for composing a new Bible-inspired Christmas poem each December, sixty-six of them. She calls them Christmas Musings in this book. MARTHA also wrote other casual poems, thirty-five of them, of random inspiration she calls Various Mementos. So, MARTHA calls her book 101 POETIC COLLECTIBLES: - In The Chain of Years. Behold the gems of inspiration, as sparkling jewels, in 101 POETIC COLLECTIBLES: - In The Chain of Years. This two-part book of poems takes us into the joy MARTHA PAULINE BROWN had across the chain of years in writing poems, now, first to be read by others besides the friends and family who received a poem each December - 66 poems called Christmas Musings. In them we may observe prophetic Scripture fulfilled in the angelic announcement of God's "IMPRINT." Read how "a Savior is born for you, Christ the Lord!" See God's Son rejected by man, crowned with thorns and wrapped in blood. In His transfer from the cross to the throne, He is Savior, Death's Conqueror, Intercessor, Advocate to God and Coming King - for your receptive heart bringing "gems" of eternal value. Also, 101 POETIC COLLECTIBLES brings Martha's 35 random poems as Various Mementos of casual souvenirs, each ending in climax coming from the soul of Martha's poetic pen.