Japan's oldest surviving narrative, the eighth-century Kojiki, chronicles the mythical origins of its islands and their ruling dynasty through a diverse array of genealogies, tales, and songs that have helped to shape the modern nation's views of its ancient past. Gustav Heldt's engaging new translation of this revered classic aims to make the Kojiki accessible to contemporary readers while staying true to the distinctively dramatic and evocative appeal of the original's language. It conveys the rhythms that structure the Kojiki's animated style of storytelling and...

Japan's oldest surviving narrative, the eighth-century Kojiki, chronicles the mythical origins of its islands and their ruling dynasty through a diverse array of genealogies, tales, and songs that have helped to shape the modern nation's views of its ancient past. Gustav Heldt's engaging new translation of this revered classic aims to make the Kojiki accessible to contemporary readers while staying true to the distinctively dramatic and evocative appeal of the original's language. It conveys the rhythms that structure the Kojiki's animated style of storytelling and...

This book illuminates various aspects of the spread of Buddhism from its Indian homeland to China and beyond during the first through tenth centuries. The coverage is amazingly broad, ranging from maritime aspects of the propagation of Buddhism to movements of peoples and ideas along the Central Asian desert Silk Roads, from "barbarian" dress to the Hellenistic roots of the astrolabe, and many other interesting topics besides. Scholarly disciplines and fields represented include history, history of art, religious studies, history of science, literature, economic history, astronomy, and...