For over fifty years, the Japanese-born Western-trained author of this remarkable volume devoted himself to explaining Japanese traditions and customs to foreigners through his newspaper columns, talks and four short books. The all-embracing work presented here, drawn from all these sources including revised and rearranged versions of the books, deals with all aspects of Japanese life and material culture -- apparel and utensils; cures and medicines; houses and buildings; fetes and festivals; fish, birds and animals; folk tales; food, sake and tobacco; living habits; marriage, funerals and...