After more than two centuries of civil strife Japan was finding its way back to peace and order during the Period of Unification (1573-1615). The final drive came in the fall of 1600, when the massed eastern and western warlords faced each other in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, in which every man who called himself a warrior faced the stark choice between the forces of division and those of unification.One such warrior was Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki (1565-1628), a

“I had been here before: I was going from being a mere ‘interpreter’ to being a ‘cultural interpreter.’ It was a dangerous path to tread.”Walking Japan's ancient inland route in search of a vague romantic notion, the author encounters a string of idiosyncratic characters, locals with a story to tell. Recording their stories, the author braids a travelogue deftly interwoven with his own experiences since he first set foot in Japan some thirty years ago.At times hilarious, at...

Yagyu Munenori was a great swordsman from the Nara Basin of Japan. During the great wars of the medieval era, his clan had first lost its castle, then its lands, until finally it was thrown upon the mercy of a local temple. Munenori was forced to become a ronin, a masterless samurai, destined to lead the life of a wanderer.The Period of Unification in which Munenori lived was one of the great turning points in Japan's medieval era. After more than two centuries of ...

The medieval era of Japan was marked by a century of civil strife known as the Warring States period (1469-1573). The century prior had seen the sword replace the bow and arrow as the chief weapon of the samurai, thus setting the stage for this golden age of Japanese swordsmanship. Every man who called himself a warrior pledged his allegiance and life to a warlord and honed his martial skills to defend his patron to the death on the field of battle.One such warrior was Kami...

The promise of opportunity drew twenty-seven-year-old Illinois schoolteacher William Winlock Miller west to the future Washington Territory in 1850. Like so many other Oregon Trail emigrants Miller arrived cash-poor and ambitious, but unlike most he fulfilled his grandest ambitions. By the time of his death in 1876, Miller had amassed one of the largest private fortunes in the territory and had used it creatively in developing the region’s assets, leaving a significant mark on the territor...

This is the true story of the eventful history of the famous Yagyū clan—a story that began during the early heady days of the Genkō Rebellion (1331–33), when emperor Go-Daigo sought to restore power to the throne with the support of the Yagyū and other loyal clans. It follows their campaigns on behalf of Go-Daigo's southern court during the Northern and Southern Courts period (1334–1392), and their long and hard struggle to retain their independence when the country rapidly descended into ...

Covering the adventures of coastal and ocean explorers who made key discoveries and landmark observations from northern California up the coastline to Alaska during the mid-1700s to the early 1800s, this anthology of primary source journal entries, book excerpts, maps, and drawings enables readers to "discover" the Northwest Coast for themselves.More than 200 years ago, explorers traveled from Central America, Russia, and even Europe to explore the coastline of the...

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645) is the most revered and celebrated swordsman in Japanese history; unfortunately, our modern portrait of this folk hero is derived mainly from popular books, comics, and film, with little heed paid to the early records by men who knew Musashi, practiced with Musashi, and went into battle with Musashi.Spanning a period of more than a decade, the author set out to translate all surviving records on Musashi. The result is a body of text ...

"I have not seen anything quite as systematic as this material in guiding the reader through a process for developing a valid and reliable assessment plan. Covers all the areas one would want in designing a system for accreditation or for other purposes."—Martha Gage, Director, Teacher Education & LicensureKansas State Department of Education"Realistically reveals the extent of the task of teacher certification and provides us with a structured learning e...

In The Movement for Global Mental Health: Critical Views from South and Southeast Asia, prominent anthropologists, public health physicians, and psychiatrists respond sympathetically but critically to the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH). They question some of its fundamental assumptions: the idea that mental disorders can clearly be identified; that they are primarily of biological origin; that the world is currently facing an epidemic of them; that the most appropriate t...

"An ambitious study, the fruit of sustained work over many years. Professor Carter's book deploys a stunning knowledge of Proust and places Carter among the first line of Proust scholars in the country."-Roger Shattuck,Boston UniversityThe Proustian Quest is the first full-length study that explores the influence of social change on Proust's vision. In Remembrance of Things Past, Proust describes how the machines of transportation and communication transform...

For two Greek boys the author has made this little book, which tells them in English some of the stories that they soon will read for themselves in the tongue of their forefathers. But the stories are not only for boys whose fatherland lies near the sunny sea through which ships, red-prowed and black, fared in the long-ago days. Of such great deeds, by such brave men, do they tell, that they must make the hearts of all American and English boys, and of boys of every nation under the sun, g...