Lesley Downer

Zen, haiku, judo, sushi, anime, manga, computerspil ... Japansk kultur har altid beriget den vestlige livsstil, men fra vores perspektiv forekommer Japan stadig at være et eksotisk, fjerntliggende ørige, der gennem historien har haft et yderst kompliceret forhold til omverdenen. Dette er fortællingen om et lille land i verdens udkant, som undgik at blive koloniseret, som overvandt Anden Verdenskrigs ødelæggelser og ikke bare kom igen, men blev overvældende succesrigt og velstående, samtidig med at det bevarede sin særlige karakter og kultur. Nyd fortællingen om kejseren, der nedstammede fra Solgudinden, om kejserinder, krigsherrer, samuraier, handelsfolk, kvindelige krigere, hofdamer, geishaer og de andre utrolige mennesker, der skabte dette ekstraordinære samfund.

Khajku, manga, bojovi mistetstva j shoguni: putivnik strokatoju i unikalnoju istorijeju Japoniji. Scho mi znajemo pro Japoniju? Dzen, bojovi mistetstva, sushi, anime, manga... Jiji kultura davno j gliboko pronikla v nashe povsjakdennja, i vse zh sama krajina dosi lishajetsja zagadkoju - ostrivnoju derzhavoju z neprostimi stosunkami iz zovnishnim svitom. Chomu kultura Japoniji viklikaje zakhoplennja? Scho khovajetsja za jiji strimanistju, estetikoju i zovnishnoju garmonijeju? I jak Japonija, unikajuchi kolonizatsiji, zumila zberegti svoju identichnist, a zgodom - i zavojuvati svit? Britanska istorikinja Lesli Dauner zanurjuje chitachiv u vir japonskoji istoriji, povnoji drami, krasi j paradoksiv: vid zakritogo periodu Edo do epokhi gipermodernu. Na storinkakh "Najkorotshoji istoriji Japoniji" ozhivajut imperatori - naschadki bogini Sontsja, samuraji i shoguni, pridvorni dami j zhinki-vojini, kuptsi ta gejshi - ti, khto formuvav kulturne oblichchja Japoniji vprodovzh stolit. Tse novij krok u svit, de manga i mech, dzen i biznes, traditsiji i tekhnologiji spivisnujut u doskonalij rivnovazi. Chomu varto prochitati knizhku "Najkorotsha istorija Japoniji"? Tochnij i nadzvichajno lakonichnij naukpop pro Japoniju, scho prosto j dostupno vikladaje istoriju unikalnoji ostrivnoji derzhavi. Khajku, manga, bojovi mistetstva j shoguni - jak Japonija zmogla sjagnuti takogo potuzhnogo kulturnogo j ekonomichnogo prorivu i jak jij vdajetsja vplivati na reshtu svitu j zadavati providni trendi? Avtorka knizhki - ekspertka z japonskoji istoriji, jaka trivalij chas prozhivala v tsij krajini i projshla navchannja dlja gejsh.

Zen, haiku, martial arts, sushi, anime, manga, film, video games . . . Japanese culture has long enriched our Western way of life. Yet from a Western perspective, Japan remains a remote island country that has long had a complicated relationship with the outside world. Japan--an archipelago strung like a necklace around the Asian mainland--is considerably farther from Asia than Britain is from Europe. The sea has provided an effective barrier against invasion and enabled the culture to develop in unique ways. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shoguns successfully closed the country to the West. Then, Japan swung in the opposite direction, adopting Western culture wholesale. Both strategies enabled it to avoid colonization--and to retain its traditions and way of life. A skilled storyteller and accurate historian, Lesley Downer presents the dramatic sweep of Japanese history and the larger-than-life individuals--from emperors descended from the Sun Goddess to warlords, samurai, merchants, court ladies, women warriors, geisha, and businessmen--who shaped this extraordinary modern society.

Behind the palaceâ??s immaculate façade, amid rumours of murder and whispers of ghosts, Atsu must uncover the secret of the man whose fate, it seems, is irrevocably linked to hers â?? the shogun himself â?? if she is to rescue her people .

Behind the palace's immaculate facade, amid rumours of murder and whispers of ghosts, Atsu must uncover the secret of the man whose fate, it seems, is irrevocably linked to hers - the shogun himself - if she is to rescue her people .

Following the eight-hundred-mile trek of Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, this journey into a lost Japan explores the possibilities of an older, simpler way of life that still exists over three hundred years later. In 1689, acclaimed Japanese poet Matsuo Basho set out on his last and longest journey to explore the remote northern provinces of his country. In a famous work of Japanese literature, Basho shares an account of his experience that is rich in strange, surreal, and comic encounters along the road. Three hundred years later, inspired by Basho's writing and his appreciation of Japan, Lesley Downer sets off on the same journey the famous poet took before her. As she walks, Downer encounters hitchhiking hermit priests, meets people who had never seen a Westerner, and dines on flowers and sauteed grasshoppers, leading her to discover a piece of Japanese culture that many believed had vanished centuries ago.

In the brave new Japan of the 1870s, Taka and Nobu meet as children and fall in love; But Nobu will have to fight and maybe kill Taka's father and brother, while Taka now has to make a terrible choice - between her family and the man she loves ...

When enemy soldiers attack her house she flees across the shattered city of Tokyo and takes refuge in the Yoshiwara, its famous pleasure-quarters. There she is forced to become a courtesan. Yozo, brave, loyal and a brilliant swordsman, is pledged to the embattled shogun.

Japan, 1865, the women's palace in the great city of Edo. Bristling with intrigue and erotic rivalries, the palace is home to three thousand women and only one man - the young shogun. Sachi, a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl, is chosen to be his concubine. But Japan is changing, and as civil war erupts, Sachi flees for her life. Rescued by a rebel warrior, she finds unknown feelings stirring within her; but this is a world in which private passions have no place and there is not even a word for 'love'. Before she dare dream of a life with him, Sachi must uncover the secret of her own origins - a secret that encompasses a wrong so terrible that it threatens to destroy her ....