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1. The 1983 boycott movement : development, themes and tactics -- 2. "The sensitivity of a steamroller"? The state at cross-purposes -- 3. A new "war of religion" : ideological battle lines in 1987 -- 4. The battle in the streets, stairwells and courtrooms.

"Daoist traditions introduced from China once flowed powerfully through the Japanese religious landscape, forever altering its topography and ecology. Daoism's presence in Japan still may be discerned in its abiding influence on astrology, divination, festivals, literature, politics, and popular culture, not to mention Buddhism and Shintō, yet few English-language studies of Daoism's influence on Japanese religious culture have been published. Daoism in Japan provides an exploration of the particular pathways by which Daoist traditions entered Japan from continental East Asia. After addressing the basic issues in both Daoism Studies and the study of Japanese religions, including the problems of defining 'Daoism' and 'Japanese', the book looks at the influence of Daoism on ancient, medieval and modern Japan in turn. To do so, the volume is arranged both chronologically and topically, according to the following three broad divisions: "Arrivals" (c. 5th-8th centuries CE), "Assimilations" (794-1868), and "Apparitions" ( 1600s-present). The book demonstrates how Chinese influence on Japanese religious culture ironically proved to be crucial in establishing traditions that usually are seen as authentically, even quintessentially, Japanese. Touching on multiple facets of Japanese cultural history and religious traditions, this book is a fascinating contribution for students and scholars of Japanese Culture, History and Religions, as well as Daoism Studies"--

"Matthias Alexander Castrén's (1813–1852) Luentoja suomalaisesta mytologiasta ('Lectures on Finnish Mythology', originally Swedish 'Föreläsningar i finsk mytologi') is a key work in the research history of Finnish mythology. This is the first Finnish translation of it. Despite 'Lectures' in the label, the work is a coherent book. It makes a systematic approach to ancient Finnish religion on the basis of earlier mythographers, Castrén's fieldwork among Finnic peoples and the latest European research trends of the first half of the 19th century. Even though Castrén's Lectures significantly developed Finnish mythography and it served as a standard work for half a century, its significance was largely forgotten when new research paradigms were introduced in the course of the 20th century. The work is an important part of the history of Finnish research in religions, linguistics and ethnography and it also reflects the state of the study of mythology in Europe in the middle of the 19th century. The book is lively written and therefore, it meets the taste of the general public in addition to researchers. This edition includes a concise introduction to Lectures' historical context, a scientific commentary and exhaustive indexes.

M. A. Castrén is renown especially as a linguist and explorer who worked among Siberian peoples but his work was marked also by interest in Finnishness at a time when the idea of a Finnish nation was developing. Lectures was Castrén's last work. He finished the book in his deathbed, and it was published posthumously in 1853.

The translator and editor of the Lectures, Joonas Ahola, PhD, is an expert in Old Norse language and mythology as well as kalevala-meter poetry. The other author of the introduction, Karina Lukin, PhD, is an expert of North Siberian cultures and 19th century expeditions among them.
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Saamentutkimus tänään is an introduction to the Sámi studies, i.e. the scientific study of the Sámi people. It gives many-faceted basic information of the Sámi people and presents up-to-date views of the disciplines related to the Sámi studies, e.g. history, archeology, genetics, linguistics, comparative religion, folkloristics, ethnology etc. It provides scientifically based knowledge of the Sámi during the prehistory and pre-Christianity, dealing with reindeer herding, handicraft, the Sámi languages, Sámi literature and art and civil right questions, including participation in the international movement of the indigenous people. All the authors are eminent experts of their scholarly fields, and all the articles have been revised by the Academic representatives of the Sámi themselves - "Teos esittelee saamentutkimuksen keskeisten alojen uusimmat tulokset ja näkemykset ja päivittää saamelaisia ja saamelaiskulttuuria koskevat tiedot genetiikasta kielitieteeseen ja historiasta nykykulttuuriin. Kirjassa perehdytään myös saamelaisten aineelliseen ja henkiseen perinnekulttuuriin: käsityöhön, poronhoitoon, folkloreen, taiteisiin sekä muinais- ja kansanuskoon. Erityisen painon teoksessa saavat ajankohtaiset ihmisoikeus- ja alkuperäiskansakysymykset. Kaikki kirjoittajat ovat alojensa aktiivitutkijoita. Kirja on 1995 julkaistun Johdatus saamentutkimukseen -teoksen kokonaan uudistettu ja huomattavasti laajennettu laitos."