Japan, Southeast Asia & Zen

Japanese Cultural Spotlight

• Doyo no Ushi no Hi
• Gift Giving Etiquette in Japan
• Ikigai (生き甲斐)
• Kanbina 甘美な (かんび な)
• Mono-No-Aware (物の哀れ)
• Shōkadō bentō (松花堂弁当)
• Tobi-ishi (飛石)
• 72 Micro-Seasons of Japan

Japanese Tea Ceremony

• Chadō (茶道): The Way Of Tea
• What is the Japanese tea ceremony?

Japanese Holidays

• Dondo Yaki (どんど焼き)
• Setsubun (節分)
• Tanabata (たなばた)

Japanese Homes & Gardens

• Traditional Japanese Home: Tatami Mats

Japanese Language

• Hiragana: An Introduction
• Hiragana: Voiced Consonants and Other Sounds
• Katakana: An Introduction
• Katakana: Voiced Consonants and Other Sounds
• Kanji: An Introduction
• “School” Vocabulary

Japanese Death Poems

• What Are Japanese Death Poems?
• Dokyo Etan (道鏡慧端) – Japanese Death Poem
• Doyu (道祐) – Japanese Death Poem
• Gizan Zenrai (儀山善来) – Japanese Death Poem

Japanese Arts & Crafts

• Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons: Autumn and Winter
• Chigusa and the Art of Tea
• Japanese Manhole Covers (マンホールの蓋): Art Beneath Your Feet
• Origami: A Primer
• What constitutes a traditional Japanese craft?

Samurai

• Battle of Sekigahara
• Dokkōdō

Travel Prefecture Guide

Fukuoka Prefecture

• Wisteria Tunnel

Gifu Prefecture 

• Gifu Castle (岐阜城)
• Hida Kokubunji Temple (飛騨国分寺)
• Takayama Jinya (岐阜県 Gifu-ken)
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: The Gassho-Style Houses of Shirakawa-go
• The Rakan statues (Kyoto, Japan)

Hyōgo Prefecture

• Himeji Castle (姫路城)

Nara Prefecture

• K Coffee – Yamatokoriyama, Japan

Culinary Travel – Japan

• Chadō (茶道): The Way Of Tea
• Japanese Table Manners 101
• Kaiseki-Ryori (会席料理)
• Japanese Teas After Matcha
• Nodaiwa: Unagi Restaurant
• Shōkadō bentō (松花堂弁当)
• Soba Master: An Art Form
• Sushi Definitions for Foreigners
• What is the Japanese tea ceremony?

Buddhism, Shinto and Japanese Folklore

Buddhism

Fundamentals

• Four Noble Truths
• Shunryu Suzuki On Bowing in Zen
• The Noble Eightfold Path: In Bullet Points
• The 10 Zen Oxherding Pictures
• The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts
• What is Meditation?
• Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Mindfulness

• Mindfulness: I’m too busy and other excuses
• Mindfulness Training
• The Two Great Seeds

Memorials, Monasteries, etc.

• Buddha Park of Ravangla
• The Five Giant Buddha’s of Asia
• Dambulla Cave Temple
• Longmen Caves – (龍門 石窟) Henan, China

Thích Nhất Hạnh

• 40 Years of Plum Village
• A Cloud Never Dies: A Thich Nhat Hanh Biographical Documentary
• Please do not build a stupa by Thích Nhất Hạnh
• Thich Nhất Hạnh Faces Death With Dignity and A Lesson in Mindfulness
• Thich Nhat Hanh on “Right Speech”
• Tributes to Thich Nhat Hanh
• Zen Compassion

Thích Nhất Hạnh Answers

• Thích Nhất Hạnh: How To Stay In The Present When It Feels Unbearable?

Zen Humor

• Zen Humor: Vow of Silence

Zen Buddhism Resources

• Zen Journal
• Zen Glossary

Tibetan Buddhism

• 108 bead Mala

Shinto

• Idea of Kami (神) in Shintō
• Japan’s Most Sacred Shinto Shrines
• Kibune, Japan & the Kifune Shrine

Japanese Folklore

Yōkai

• Yōkai: An Introduction
• Baku (獏 / ばく)
• Haishaku (肺積 / はいしゃく)
• Haka No Hi (墓の火 / はかのき)
• Hannya (般若 / はんにゃ)
• Hashihime (橋姫 / はしひめ)
• Hiderigami (魃 or ひでりがみ)
• Hone Onna (骨女 or ほねおんな)
• Itsumade (以津真 / 天いつまで)
• Kappa (河童 / かっぱ)
• Koto Furunushi (琴古主 or ことふるぬし)
• Makuwauri No Bakemono (真桑瓜の化物 or まくわうりのばけもの)
• Myōbu (命婦 / みょうぶ)
• Shoki (鍾馗 or しょうき)
• Tōfu kozō (豆腐小僧 / とうふこぞう)
• Yama Oroshi (山颪 or やまおろし)
• Yamajijii (山爺 or やまじじい)
• Yuki-Onna (雪女, “snow woman”)

Animals

• Chōchō (蝶々): Butterfly
• Kaeru (蛙): Frogs
• Kame (亀): Turtle
• Koi (鯉): Carp
• Tsuro (鶴): Crane