Harold S. Williams tells about them with the same inimitable humor, irony, drama and whimsy that made his earlier Tales of the Foreign Settlements such a popular success. With due regard for historical accuracy he recreates those fantastic days and the furor and fun with which they were filled.Here you can enjoy the privileged social status of belonging to the Victorian Volunteer Steam Fire Engine Company of Yokohama; you can join those Japanese pirates who were the first to meet Englishmen; arbitrate Japan's first labor dispute, involving foreigners, of course; witness the massacre of forty thousand Japanese Christians; revel in Nagasaki when it was the Paris of the Far East; travel over the Tokaido when it was the most picturesque and colorful of the world's highways; watch at close range each gruesome detail of an act of harakiri; dive for sunken treasures; watch the world's largest wooden vessel burn to the water line; marvel at one of the greatest advertising feats of all time.

    

    

    It adds water to emphasize the shading of black into gray in one brush-stroke. With origins in China and a spiritual basis in Zen Buddhism, this form of brush painting—expressing nature's colors through shades of black ink monochrome—has been enjoyed throughout the centuries in Japan as a hobby for the amateur. This Japanese painting book offers step-by-step lessons with easy-to-understand explanations through nearly 60 illustrations. The numerous photographs at the end of the book, in addition to the works of great masters in the art of suiboku, include several paintings by the author's pupils to prove what the amateur can achieve through careful observance of instructions and patient practice. As the author points out, this book is designed for the beginner, and "even the amateur can learn by himself and enjoy suiboku as a hobby."