The word kendo means “the way of the sword”. Well beyond the technical skills, it relates to our emotional and intellectual skills. If in Japan, and more generally in Asia, this multidimensionality of kendo is straightforward and fully apprehend, this is not yet the case all around the World, where the practice of kendo still needs to gain maturity to blossom. The heart, strength and soul of the Japanese kendo is undeniable, and we must inspire ourselves from its rich history. However, we have to be careful of the shortcut residing in the temptation of a “copy and paste”. This easy way will lead to the edification of a fade kendo without any character and soul. On the contrary, we should inspire ourselves from the Japanese reference to build a kendo culture, that will rely on our own experience and traditions, the roots of our strength and singularity. This book proposes a multidimensional pedagogical approach of both learning and teaching kendo, where beginners, as well as experts, are going to find relevant and practical materials for daily practice. Moreover, any isolated trainee can find in this manual, references to guide his practice and monitor his improvements. Keiken suru, means “to make the experience”; so Embrace your own Experience with Force, Efficiency and Soberness.

SummaryIn the circle of initiates, the masters, guardians of a knowledge at the frontier of a here and an elsewhere, navigate between the fear and the fascination that they trigger in their surroundings. Fear, facing the incomprehension of their Universe, fascination, addressing their expressive power. In this paradox lies the access to the confidential World of the mastery. However, this is not about some eccentricity of the artist's madness, but a singular knowledge that emanates from the mastery of Art; expressed through simplicity, naturalness, authenticity. This book deals with this ability to evolve in the dimension of mastery, what it costs in efforts and sacrifices; an availability illustrated in very distinct practices, but yet so close, that of Ka, traditional Guadeloupean drum, and Kendo, traditional Japanese fencing.

"A house is a site, the bounds and focus of a community. It is also an artifact, a material extension of its occupants’ lives. This book takes the Japanese house in both senses, as site and as artifact, and explores the spaces, commodities, and conceptions of community associated with it in the modern era. As Japan modernized, the principles that had traditionally related house and family began to break down. Even where the traditional class markers surrounding the house persisted, they became vessels for new meanings, as housing was resituated in a new nexus of relations. The house as artifact and the artifacts it housed were affected in turn. The construction and ornament of houses ceased to be stable indications of their occupants’ social status, the home became a means of personal expression, and the act of dwelling was reconceived in terms of consumption. Amid the breakdown of inherited meanings and the fluidity of modern society, not only did the increased diversity of commodities lead to material elaboration of dwellings, but home itself became an object of special attention, its importance emphasized in writing, invoked in politics, and articulated in architectural design. The aim of this book is to show the features of this culture of the home as it took shape in Japan."

A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese is an invaluable tool for all learners of Japanese, providing a list of the 5,000 most commonly used words in the language. Based on a100 million word corpus, composed of spoken, fiction, non-fiction and news texts in current use, the dictionary provides the user with a detailed frequency-based list, as well as alphabetical and part-of-speech indices. All entries in the frequency list feature the English equivalent and a sample sentence with English translation. The dictionary also contains 25 thematically organised lists of frequently used words on a variety of topics such as food, weather, occupations and leisure. Numerous bar charts are also included to highlight the phonetic and spelling variants across register. A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese enables students of all levels to maximise their study of Japanese vocabulary in an efficient and engaging way. It is also an excellent resource for teachers of the language.

Created by leading educators, these colorful, large-size dictionaries introduce beginning language learners to more than 1,550 commonly taught basic words. Each Let's Learn Language Picture Dictionary in the series boasts 30 delightful two-page spreads that vividly illustrate the meanings of words. Fun-filled panoramas focus on scenes familiar to children aged three through eight, such as home life, the classroom, city life, sports, the zoo, and even outer space! Learners will love to revisit these detailed depictions of people, places, actions, and objects, each time improving their recall. Featured words are set off with individual illustrations and definitions to help learners at various levels build vocabulary. Includes an index and glossary of all the individually illustrated words. An ideal selection of first word books for parents and teachers who want to encourage second language acquisition.

This comprehensive book helps you learn the 92 basic Kana characters and 2,136 standard Kanji characters. Complete, compact and authoritative—this Japanese language book provides all the information needed to learn kanji and kana, including the 92 basic hiragana and katakana phonetic symbols (known collectively as Japanese Kana) and the 2,136 standard Joyo Kanji characters that every Japanese person learns in school. This new and completely revised edition reflects recent changes made to the official Joyo kanji list by the Japanese government. The kana and kanji are presented in an easy and systematic way that helps you learn them quickly and retain what you have learned and improve your mastery of the Japanese language. The ability to read Japanese and write Japanese is an essential skill for any student and will build on their previous knowledge and improve on their overall capacity to learn Japanese. A concise index allows you to look up the Kanji in three different ways (so the book also serves as a Japanese Kanji dictionary) and extra spaces are provided to allow you to practice writing Japanese. Japanese Kanji and Kana contains: All 2,136 official Joyo kanji with readings and definitions. Characters are graded by their JLPT examination levels. Up to 5 useful vocabulary compounds for each kanji. Brush and pen cursive forms as well as printed forms. 19 tables summarizing key information about the characters. Kanji look–up indexes by radicals, stroke counts and readings.