As an especially beautiful and pure example of the archaic epic styles that were once current among the hunting and fishing peoples of northern Asia, the Ainu epic folklore is of immense literary value. This collection and English translation by Donald Philippi contains thirty-three representative selections from a number of epic genres including mythic epics, culture hero epics, women's epics, and heroic epics. This is the first time, outside of Japan, that the Ainu epic folklore has been treated in a comprehensive manner. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Among the vanishing cultures of the world, the Ainu of north-east Asia stand out for the startling richness of their oral literature. These thirteen beautiful Ainu chants were collected by Chiri Yukie in 1922 -- the first Ainu literature to be written down by an Ainu. This book presents new English translations of Chiri's remarkable work. Originally written in "yukar" form, a type of chant used by female storytellers among the Ainu villages of Hokkaido, these stories tell of the relationship between mankind and the world of spirits. Each "yukar" is narrated by a spirit -- fox, whale, frog, or even shellfish. Most important is the owl god, Kotankor Kamui, whose two long songs describe the covenant between humans and the spirits who provide them with food. Other tales focus on the balance of nature, on the respect due between animal spirits and people, and on the strength of Okikirmui, the human hero. The Ainu oral tradition was in danger of dying in the early 20th century, when the teenaged Chiri Yukie resolved to begin writing down these chants. Descended from a line of female storytellers, she devised a way of representing Ainu language in the Roman alphabet, and made Japanese translations of the most important tales. Although she died at 19, the thirteen tales she had written down went on to become a sensation. Her clear and beautiful yet intricate and emotive Japanese translations brought Ainu culture to a wide audience in Japan and created a movement to record and preserve Ainu belief in a living state. In many ways, the idea of trying to learn from and preserve tribal wisdom goes back to Chiri's book. Chiri's work includes the best-known passages of Ainu literature: Chiri's original introduction, an elegy to the vanishing Ainu way of life, and the tale 'Silver drops fall around, golden drops fall around'. This translation tries to preserve the rich texture of Chiri's versions in English, while remaining absolutely true to the details of the original. A clear introduction to Chiri, her book, and its language is provided, giving the reader a vivid insight into this startlingly sophisticated spiritual tradition.

This collection brings together writers from two continents and four countries whose traditional cultures are based on Pacific wild salmon. 72 duotone photos. Line drawings. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

When itinerant singers from China’s countryside become iconic artists, worlds collide. The lives and performances of these representative singers become sites for conversations between the rural and urban, local and national, folk and elite, and traditional and modern. In Song King: Connecting People, Places, and Past in Contemporary China, Levi S. Gibbs examines the life and performances of “Folksong King of Western China” Wang Xiangrong (b. 1952) and explores how itinerant performers come to serve as representative symbols straddling different groups, connecting diverse audiences, and shifting between amorphous, place-based local, regional, and national identities. Moving from place to place, these border walkers embody connections between a range of localities, presenting audiences with traditional, modern, rural, and urban identities among which to continually reposition themselves in an evolving world. Born in a small mountain village near the intersection of the Great Wall and the Yellow River in a border region with a rich history of migration, Wang Xiangrong was exposed to a wide range of songs as a child. The songs of Wang’s youth prepared him to create a repertoire of region-representing pieces and mediate between regions, nations, and multinational corporations in national and international performances. During the course of a career that included meeting Deng Xiaoping in 1980 and running with the Olympic torch in 2008, Wang’s life, songs, and performances have come to highlight various facets of social identity in contemporary China. Drawing on extensive fieldwork with Wang and other professional folksingers from northern Shaanxi province at weddings, Chinese New Year galas, business openings, and Christmas concerts, Song King argues that songs act as public conversations people can join in on. As song kings and queens fuse personal and collective narratives in performances of iconic songs, they provide audiences with compelling models for socializing personal experience, negotiating a sense of self and group in an ever-changing world.

This extract from the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible provides Jarik and Rogerson’s introduction to and concise commentary on Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. The Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible presents, in nontechnical language, the best of modern scholarship on each book of the Bible, including the Apocrypha. Reader-friendly commentary complements succinct summaries of each section of the text and will be valuable to scholars, students, and general readers. Rather than attempt a verse-by-verse analysis, these volumes work from larger sense units, highlighting the place of each passage within the overarching biblical story. Commentators focus on the genre of each text—parable, prophetic oracle, legal code, and so on—interpreting within the historical and literary context. The volumes also address major issues within each biblical book—including the range of possible interpretations—and refer readers to the best resources for further discussions.

This book is a study of how congregational song developed and has been used in the worship of Western churches in general and specifically churches in the United States. Beginning with the worship of ancient peoples, the Hebrews, and early Christians and continuing to the present, the author examines historically how song has been and is used as an intentional sacred ritual action, like prayer or Scripture reading. Written primarily as an introductory text for college and seminary students, the overall goal is to make a historical journey with the people, events, and ideas from which have evolved the various types of song we have in American worship today. To help readers think more deeply about the material, study questions are given at the end of each chapter.