Many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan sell small wooden votive tablets (ema) which are meant to be left on a rack at the sanctuary. The reverse of these tablets offers space to send a self-written wish or personal thank you message to the enshrined deity or buddha. Their front usually has a pre-printed or hand-painted design that is indicative of the intended purpose.

In this book hundreds of contemporary ema designs for health-related purposes are reproduced and placed into thei...

"Masked Warriors" provides new insights into the approach of form, function and meaning of the Japanese armor masks. The diversity and the connections with existing mask disciplines, especially nō masks, shows us that the Japanese armor masks form an integral part within the Japanese mask culture. This study also shows that nō-masks have been of much greater influence on the development of armour masks (menpō) than previously understood.

It is comprehensive display of artefacts illustratin...

Four years of protracted negotiations and bitter warfare passed between the declaration of Indonesian independence on 17 August, 1945, and the official transfer of sovereignty on 27 December, 1949. Whereas the newly proclaimed Republic of Indonesia rejected the colonial regime and hence any attempt at ‘recolonization’ by the Dutch after the Japanese occupation (1942-1945), the Dutch framed their return to the archipelago as a mission to restore ‘order and peace’. These wildly contrast...