Best Shintoism

In this book, Jason Ānanda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. " The. Invention of Religion in Japan is truly revolutionary. “Jason ­Ananda Josephson astutely analyzes how Japanese definitions of religion sought to contain Christian missionary agendas and to position Japan advantageously vis-à-vis Western nations while at the same time radically reconfiguring inherited traditions and articulating new ideological norms for Japanese citizens. This study is illuminating reading for anyone interested, not only in modern Japan, but in the complex interconnections of religion, modernity, and the politics of nation states.” ( Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University ). “Written with remarkable clarity, this book makes an excellent contribution to the study of the interface of traditional Japanese religions and politics. Josephson has used well-documented examples of the creation of various Japanese belief systems in the modern era to suggest a new model for understanding the colonial past of religious studies and to provide new tools and models for grappling with continuing change in religious studies theory. “Jason Ananda Josephson’s book on the ‘invention of religion’ is an informative, well-argued, and stimulating discussion of an important topic that should be fascinating to anyone interested in religion in modern Japan or religion in any historical or cultural context.”-Paul L. Swanson | International Bulletin of Missionary Research. “Jason Josephson’s The Invention of Religion in Japan offers a creative theoretical apparatus that many students of Japanese religion and history will find immediately useful. Josephson upends the familiar Saidian account of Europe’s masterful encounter with the passive ‘Orient,’ showing that Japanese interpreters played active roles in formulating European understandings of the new academic field of ‘Japanese religions.’”-Religious Studies in Japan. “Josephson admirably traces the development of ‘religion’ in Japan and the West, and he constantly reminds of how this invention was inextricably interwoven with international politics and diplomatic relationships. Josephson presents a sophisticated analysis of the invention of religion in Japan by applying theoretically and empirically based explanations that rely on primary source data in multiple languages to contest previous notions of ‘religion’ and assumptions within the academic study of religion. In that respect, The Invention of Religion in Japan can help scholars of religions in Japan and elsewhere continue to refine and shape our understanding of ‘religion’ in modernity.”-Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Readers who are not Japan specialists will find the issues framed by interesting anecdotes and well-chosen historical information.”-Journal of Religion in Japan. “The book is a linguistic and textual tour de force that challenges many preconceptions about the development of studies of religion in Japan as well as about religion as a defined, or definable, category in Japanese contexts. Its thesis, that “religion” as a conceptual category did not exist prior to Western incursions into Meiji Japan and that it thus needed to be invented by the Japanese, is argued convincingly and will make many who have held alternative viewpoints think again. One hopes very much that people outside of religious studies do not look at Josephson’s title and think this is a book solely about religion. “Theoretically sophisticated and intellectually ambitious, Josephson’s book challenges the long-held assumption that religion is a universal component of human experience….Josephson’s work is a skillful exercise in semiotic analysis, drawing on sources in Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, and Italian, and it illuminates the role of the Japanese as observers of the West, not merely as objects of Western observation….In this way, Josephson uses the transnational approach not only to revise a long-standing problem in Japanese historiography but also to deconstruct hegemonic Western concepts.”-Cross-Currents. “Josephson weaves together a fresh narrative of Japanese nation-building in its relation to religion. [Josephson] does a brilliant job in showing how ‘religion’ was used by state officials, scientists, and other protagonists in late 19th-century Japan as exactly what it is: a free-floating signifier with a strong discursive force that can be of great use for different processes of negotiation and naturalization.”-Inken Prohl | Religion. “The book brilliantly weaves two genealogies of scholarship, making it deeply interesting to students of either one: studies examining the construction of State Shinto in the Meiji period as a nonreligious expression of modern Japanese identity with a generation of critical scholarship on the academic study of religion. [Josephson] has produced an elegant argument that religion (including its co-products, the secular and the superstitious) was not so much imposed on Japan, but rather, in the discursive gap created by Western missionary and diplomatic incursions, invented in Japan by the Japanese to serve the late nineteenth-century modernization project. Josephson sheds much light on how the Western category of religion was adapted, interpreted, and transformed in Japan at the turn of the twentieth century. “Josephson’s investigation of the category of religion as it developed in modern Japan is a helpful addition to the field, and, to be honest, I have already begun assigning it in seminars. This book [will be] useful in comparative and theoretical courses on religion and will no doubt appeal to anyone studying Japanese religions and Japanese history.

Journey to the Heart of Aikido presents the teachings of Motomichi Anno Sensei, one of the few remaining direct students of Morihei Ueshiba, the legendary founder of Aikido. As one who studied with the Master in his tiny nightly class right after World War II, I am overjoyed that the essence of what I witnessed and learned in Japan’s countryside sixty-five years ago is now available to the public in the Western world.” — KAZUAKI TANAHASHI , author of Brush Mind ; co-translator of Aikido by Kisshomaru Ueshiba, under the direction of Morihei Ueshiba. “Entertaining, insightful, at times humorous, but always compelling… Linda Holiday’s Journey to the Heart of Aikido is a monumental work that documents the teachings of Aikido master Motomichi Anno, a direct student of the art’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba. Journey to the Heart of Aikido is also a beautiful testimonial to fidelity: that of student to teacher, and teacher to O-Sensei.” — CHRISTIAN TISSIER, Aikido seventh dan shihan, Paris, France “ Aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba, established Aikido as a way of harmony, an art of peace, a path of light. Linda Holiday’s experiences practicing Aikido at the Kumano Juku Dojo in the 1970s also make for a truly fascinating story.” —HIROSHI IKEDA, Aikido seventh dan shihan; chief instructor, Boulder Aikikai. “The teachings of Aikido are truly universal, and thus this book is for everyone. This book is a gift for all who wish to develop greater spiritual understanding of Aikido, its universal application, our potential to embody the principles, and the amazing abilities of its founder.” —WENDY PALMER, author of The Practice of Freedom: Aikido Principles as a Spiritual Guide and The Intuitive Body: Discovering the Wisdom of Conscious Embodiment and Aikido “A truly exceptional and vibrant Aikido book…a must-read book for everyone who is interested in the origins of Aikido and the spiritual foundations of the art. This book is a treasure.” —JAN NEVELIUS, Aikido sixth dan shihan, Vanadis Aikido Dojo, Sweden; author, Vaken Vila “Brilliant, illuminating … Journey to the Heart of Aikido is aptly named. Linda Holiday opens our eyes to the light that shines on the path.” —FRANK DORAN, Aikido seventh dan shihan; chief instructor, Aikido West Dojo. “Those who read this book will not only be rewarded with a deep understanding of what Aikido is, but will be entertained and moved by Anno Sensei’s personal and ongoing journey to go deeper into Aikido’s essence.” —MARY HEINY, Aikido sixth dan, Seattle, Washington. “The flow of universal knowledge from O-Sensei through Anno Sensei to Linda Holiday … Read this book and enjoy that inspired journey.” —ROBERT NADEAU, Aikido seventh dan shihan, direct student of O-Sensei. “This is a long-awaited account of Aikido’s development in Kumano’s mysterious mountains. It may well help us all to transform the ravages of a materialistic world.” —SUSAN PERRY, PHD, Aikido sixth dan, author of Remembering O-Sensei; co-chief instructor of Musubi Dojo, California. “Linda Holiday’s clear, poetic translation of Anno Sensei's teachings provides a wonderful resource for those of us wishing to better understand the words of Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. It will reach out and touch everyone.” —HANS GOTO, Aikido seventh dan; founder and chief instructor, Bay Marin Aikido “Journey to the Heart of Aikido resonates with the truth of the Oneness of us all. I will keep it as a frequent reference.” —DANIELLE SMITH, Aikido sixth dan; chief instructor, Aikido of Monterey “Journey to the Heart of Aikido takes the reader unhesitatingly into Aikido's demand that we completely envelop our opponent's heart with love.

Shinto is both a personal faith in the kami—objects of worship in Shinto and an honorific for noble, sacred spirits—and a communal way of life according to the mind of the kami. The Kami Way Shrines Worship and Festivals Political and Social Characteristics Some Spiritual Characteristics. "An excellently rounded introduction by an eminent Shinto scholar."

On August 19, 1418, a competition concerning Florence's magnificent new cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore--already under construction for more than a century--was announced: "Whoever desires to make any model or design for the vaulting of the main Dome....shall do so before the end of the month of September." He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction--all the while defying those who said the dome would surely collapse and his own personal obstacles that at times threatened to overwhelm him. Its span of more than 140 feet exceeds St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome, and even outdoes the Capitol in Washington, D.C., making it the largest dome ever constructed using bricks and mortar. He tells a compelling, informed story, ranging from discussions of the construction of the bricks, mortar, and marble that made up the dome, to its subsequent use as a scientific instrument by the Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli. Walker was the hardcover publisher of Dava Sobel's sleeper smash, Longitude, and Mark Kurlansky's steady-seller Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. British novelist King (previously unpublished in the U.S.) compiles an elementary introduction to the story of how and why Renaissance Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) designed and oversaw the construction of the enormous dome of Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore cathedralAdesigning its curves so that they needed no supporting framework during construction: a major Renaissance architectural innovation.

Most Bible commentaries take us on a one-way trip from the twentieth century to the first century. Walter L. Liefeld (Ph.D. Columbia and Union) is distinguished professor emeritus of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is the author of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Luke, Interpreting the Book of Acts, New Testament Exposition, and the IVP New Testament Commentary on Ephesians.

In this book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has reviewed hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching and has written 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom of Lao-tzu to today’s modern world. Some of the chapter titles are “Living with Flexibility,” “Living Without Enemies,” and “Living by Letting Go.” Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao and concludes with a section called “Doing the Tao Now.”. His books Manifest Your Destiny, Wisdom of the Ages, There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, and the New York Times bestsellers 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, The Power of Intention, Inspiration, Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life, Excuses Begone!, Wishes Fulfilled, and I Can See Clearly Now were all featured as National Public Television specials.

For more than forty years Dr. Joseph L. Baron, the eminent Jewish scholar, gathered material for this work, mining all the great treasuries of classic Jewish literature. Joseph L. Baron was a reform Rabbi who served at the Temple Emanu-El B'ne Jeshurun in Milwaukee from 1926 to 1960.

The original What Not to Wear from one of fashion's. most enduringly. stylish women ... Madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux spent most of her life in Paris, and now lives in the south of France.

Following Zarathustra’s elusive trail back through time and across the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish worlds, Paul Kriwaczek uncovers his legacy at a wedding ceremony in present-day Central Asia, in the Cathar heresy of medieval France, and among the mystery cults of the Roman empire. “Fascinating. One vacillates between wonder at the story told and admiration at the genial intellectual virtuosity of the storyteller. A delight.” — Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. “Vital. Remarkable. Artfully reveals the Zarathustian hinges of Iranian culture. [It] is written with the prescient elegance of a curious traveler and in the hope that ideas that once changed the world may do so again.” — Boston Review.

Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living, and one of the wonders of the world. Text: English (translation). Original Language: Chinese. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Especially emphasizing the transformative and karmic significance of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, this book places all astrological techniques in a growth-oriented perspective. Regarding his written works, the Library Journal stated: "The simplicity and clarity of his treatment of complex ideas is remarkable; it makes accessible even to the beginner a wealth of understanding....giving meaningful psychological grounding to astrological interpretation.

The first complete translation of a classic Buddhist text on the journey through living and dying Graced with opening words by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, the Penguin Deluxe Edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead is "immaculately rendered in an English both graceful and precise." Profound and unique, it is one of the great treasures of wisdom in the spiritual heritage of humanity. (Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying ). a voyage inside the profound imagination of a people, immaculately rendered in an English both graceful and precise. I hope that the profound insights contained in this work will be a source of inspiration and support to many interested people around the world.