Kuma Miko Volume 7


Book Description

Machi starts a new life in a town by the sea. But what happened to her dreams of moving to the big city? She hasn't made it through those big city trials yet and the first semester of school is already over. Now summer break is already here! Summer is the most important time for a student to prepare for entrance exams, but how will Machi spend her time?




Kuma Miko Volume 6


Book Description

Natsu's childhood friend makes an appearance–and it's another wild bear! Natsu plays the role of a spirit to bless Yoshio and Hibiki's relationship! And, Machi faces new trials on her path to the city! The calm of the village is shattered in Volume 6, a time of upheaval!




Kuma Miko Volume 8


Book Description

A boy Machi's age arrives from the city, and there's trouble brewing! Meanwhile, a guest from outside the village takes up residence in Kumade for the summer. Right from the start he sees Natsu talking, and Machi is too shy to even talk to him. How will Machi survive her last summer vacation of middle school?




Kuma Miko Volume 4


Book Description

On a day just like any other, a corpse washes up in the river that separates Kumade from Tamura Village. The victim was a resident of Tamura, so the detectives, considering the long history of antagonism between the villages, suspect someone from Kumade. The detectives look around the village for suspicious characters, and soon their hunt leads them straight to Kumade Shrine!




Kuma Miko Volume 3


Book Description

While he works at the village hall, Yoshi has a premonition of his fate: To promote tourism to Kumade village! But Kumade only produces bland vegetables, so what is he to do? Machi, and even Hibiki, get drawn into his big project in Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear Volume 3!




Kuma Miko Volume 1


Book Description

Machi is 14 years old and has spent her whole life in the Touhoku Mountains as a miko. Raised alongside a talking bear, Natsu, she knows nothing of modern life. But, she's enthralled with its mysteries and determined to figure them out. Natsu attempts to prepare her for the trials and tribulations she will face entering the fast-paced city in this comical coming of age story of a backwoods girl in Japan.




Kuma Miko Volume 5


Book Description

When a detective from outside the village sees Natsu talking, Yoshio quickly explains that the bear is the village mascot. To cover his tracks, Natsu-chan has to come up with a marketing plan for himself. What will happen when he makes his debut on the national stage?




Kuma Miko Volume 2


Book Description

Machi is 14 years old and has spent her whole life in the Touhoku Mountains as a miko. Raised alongside a talking bear, Natsu, she knows nothing of modern life. But, she's enthralled with its mysteries and determined to figure them out. Natsu attempts to prepare her for the trials and tribulations she will face entering the fast-paced city in this comical coming of age story of a backwoods girl in Japan.




The Power of Denial


Book Description

Innumerable studies have appeared in recent decades about practically every aspect of women's lives in Western societies. The few such works on Buddhism have been quite limited in scope. In The Power of Denial, Bernard Faure takes an important step toward redressing this situation by boldly asking: does Buddhism offer women liberation or limitation? Continuing the innovative exploration of sexuality in Buddhism he began in The Red Thread, here he moves from his earlier focus on male monastic sexuality to Buddhist conceptions of women and constructions of gender. Faure argues that Buddhism is neither as sexist nor as egalitarian as is usually thought. Above all, he asserts, the study of Buddhism through the gender lens leads us to question what we uncritically call Buddhism, in the singular. Faure challenges the conventional view that the history of women in Buddhism is a linear narrative of progress from oppression to liberation. Examining Buddhist discourse on gender in traditions such as that of Japan, he shows that patriarchy--indeed, misogyny--has long been central to Buddhism. But women were not always silent, passive victims. Faure points to the central role not only of nuns and mothers (and wives) of monks but of female mediums and courtesans, whose colorful relations with Buddhist monks he considers in particular. Ultimately, Faure concludes that while Buddhism is, in practice, relentlessly misogynist, as far as misogynist discourses go it is one of the most flexible and open to contradiction. And, he suggests, unyielding in-depth examination can help revitalize Buddhism's deeper, more ancient egalitarianism and thus subvert its existing gender hierarchy. This groundbreaking book offers a fresh, comprehensive understanding of what Buddhism has to say about gender, and of what this really says about Buddhism, singular or plural.




Civilization and Empire


Book Description

This book critically examines the influence of International Society on East Asia, and how its attempts to introduce ‘civilization’ to ‘barbarous’ polities contributed to conflict between China and Japan. Challenging existing works that have presented the expansion of (European) International Society as a progressive, linear process, this book contends that imperialism – along with an ideology premised on ‘civilising’ ‘barbarous’ peoples – played a central role in its historic development. Considering how these elements of International Society affected China and Japan’s entry into it, Shogo Suzuki contends that such states envisaged a Janus-faced International Society, which simultaneously aimed for cooperative relations among its ‘civilized’ members and for the introduction of ‘civilization’ towards non-European polities, often by coercive means. By examining the complex process by which China and Japan engaged with this dualism, this book highlights a darker side of China and Japan’s socialization into International Society which previous studies have failed to acknowledge. Drawing on Chinese and Japanese primary sources seldom utilized in International Relations, this book makes a compelling case for revising our understandings of International Society and its expansion. This book will be of strong interest to students and researcher of international relations, international history, European studies and Asian Studies.