Nara Japan (710 - 794)

Nomai dance drama, an artistic expression combining sacred, communal, economic, and cultural spheres of community life in the district of Higashidorimura, is a performing tradition that provides an identity to agriculturally based villages. It has retained features characteristic of the music, drama, and sacred practices of medieval Japan. Nomai singing exhibits traits linked to Buddhist chanting. The instrumental music originates from folk Shinto. This study highlights the social and cultural value nomai has for the residents in villages that perform it by providing the historical context in which it is examined, as well as its current performance practices.

Containing more information on Asian culture than any other English-language reference work, Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture is the first of its kind: a set of more than thirty chronologies for all the countries of Asia -- East, South, Southeast, and Central -- from the Paleolithic era through 1998. Each entry is clearly dated and, unlike most chronologies found in standard history texts, the entries are complete and detailed enough to provide virtually a sequential history of the vast and rich span of Asian cultures. The contributing writers and editors have ensured the book's usefulness to general readers by identifying individuals and groups, locating places and regions, explaining events and movements, and defining unfamiliar words and concepts. The thirty-two chronologies on individual countries, in conjunction with a detailed index, allow readers to find specific information quickly and efficiently, whether they seek the date for the invention of the iron plow or gunpowder, the fall of the Han Dynasty in China, or Ho Chi Minh's declarations of Vietnamese independence. This invaluable reference culminates with three appendices: "National/Independence Days," "Scientific-Technological Achievements in Asia," and "Asia: A Chronological Overview," which provides an accessible summary of key events and developments in various fields of activity throughout the continent. The Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture features: • three discrete chronologies on (1) Politics/History, (2) Art/Culture/Religion, and (3) Science/Economics/Everyday Life for each of Asia's three major cultures -- China, India, and Japan -- as well as a combined chronology for each of the other nations; • detailed entries of thousands of historical events as well as important milestones in religion, philosophy, literature, and the arts; • entries on technological developments and natural events (famines, floods, etc.) affecting the lives of ordinary people; and • authoritative and accessibly written entries by a team of Asian scholars from Columbia, Harvard, and other major research universities. Beyond its detailed accounting of Asia's political history, Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture also gives full recognition to religious, intellectual, artistic, and general cultural achievements, as well as to scientific, technological, industrial, agricultural, and economic developments. Concise yet complete, it will stand as an indispensable reference work in the field of Asian studies.

Their society has been changing rapidly in modern times, yet for most Japanese, cultural traditions retain their importance in daily life. This volume highlights those traditional Japanese elements in modern society, providing an engaging examination of religious rituals, classic and modern literature, performing arts, fine arts and handicrafts, housing, clothing, women's roles and family life, holidays and festivals, and social customs. The book gives students a deeper understanding of Japan beyond popular stereotypes of an Asian economic powerhouse.