Rome

Takahiro UedaDiary of a Monk

Welcome to our website. For those of you who are visiting our blog for the first time. First of all, please click here.

Nice to meet you. My name is Takahiro Ueda, the administrator of this blog. This blog started as my attempt to look at various things in my daily life and write words with the motto of asking myself questions, as you can see in the title of the blog.

This article will give you a general guide within our blog. If you are new to our blog or wondering what to read, please read this article first.
DharmapalaTravels in Sri Lanka, the Holy Land of Buddhism

(43) What is Protestant Buddhism in Dharmapala - The existence and impact of a new Buddhism that is also different from traditional Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

As we saw in the previous article, traditional Sri Lankan Buddhism is different from our image of strict Theravada Buddhism. If anything, it is even closer to our Japanese Buddhism.

So why is there such an "image gap"?

The key to this is found in the "Protestant Buddhism" of Dharmapala, which I will introduce here.
FlorenceThe Italian Renaissance and the Revolution of Knowledge

List of recommended reference books to learn about Florence - A profound world of art, history, and literature, including da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Dante.

In our previous article, we recommended reference books for learning about Rome, Italy, and in this article, we will recommend books about Florence.

Ferenze is a city of flowers where the works of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and other unspoken masters continue to fascinate people from all over the world.

However, it is surprisingly difficult to understand the history of Florence and how art flourished in this city.

We may know the term "Renaissance art," but when it comes to the actual nature of this art, what was the background of the period in which it reached its golden age?

The more you know about Florence, the more interesting it is! We hope you will find this article useful.
Recommended Sightseeing Spots in RomeThe Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, the Vatican, and Roman Catholicism

List of Recommended Reference Books on Rome - History, Culture, Religion, and Art! A list of great books that will make Rome more interesting!

In the previous article, "Monks' Recommendation: 15 Sightseeing Spots in Rome! From the Royal Road to Maniacal Churches, Taste the Ultimate in Beauty" introduced the recommended spots in Rome, and in this article, we will introduce a recommended reference and guidebook to enjoy Rome even more.

Please refer to each link for a more detailed discussion of the book.

Rome is so deep. It is like a bottomless swamp that the more you know about it, the more you become addicted to it. I, too, have become completely obsessed with this Roman wanderlust.

I hope this article has been helpful to you.
Recommended Sightseeing Spots in RomeTravels in Rome" - Charms of the Theater City of Rome and Pilgrimage to Bernini

15 recommended sightseeing spots in Rome unique to monks! Taste the best of beauty from royal to maniacal churches

In this article I will introduce some of my favorite places to visit in Rome.

In this article, we will introduce not only famous churches such as St. Peter's Basilica and the Colosseum, but also maniac churches that are not often visited by tourists.

Rome is indeed a wonderful city. However, there is a trap of having too much to see and do. We hope that our blog posts will be of help to you.
Dostoevsky's JourneyDostoevsky and His Wife's Fateful Journey: Travels in Western Europe of Madness and Love

Takahiro Ueda, "Dostoevsky and His Wife's Fateful Journey: A Western European Journey of Madness and Love" List of Articles - Please use this list as a table of contents.

This article is a collection of 30 articles from my European travelogue, "Dostoevsky, Fateful Journey with His Wife: Travels in Western Europe of Madness and Love".

I like Dostoevsky. But above all, I love "Dostoevsky with Mrs. Anna. I would be very happy if the journey of these two men could be seen by as many people as possible.
The Holy Land of DisneylandDreamland Disneyland Research

Masako Notoji, "Disneyland, the Holy Land" - A highly recommended book with an exciting perspective on Disney as a sacred place of faith and pilgrimage!

This work is unique in that it looks at Disney from the aspects of "sacred places," "faith," and "culture. As a Buddhist monk, this is a very interesting theme for me.

Let's be clear. This book is extremely interesting...!"

It is quite a miracle that so much has been compiled in a new book. It is very rare to find a book of this caliber. I highly recommend this book not only to Disney fans, but also to anyone interested in culture and religion.
Apollo's CupYukio Mishima and Japanese Literature

Yukio Mishima's "The Cup of Apollo" Synopsis and Impressions - A travelogue of his first trip around the world and his experiences in Greece! Recommended to learn about Mishima's view of art!

Yukio Mishima embarked on a round-the-world trip at the end of 1951 as a special correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The travelogue of this trip became "Apollo's Cup.

Mishima enjoyed the ruins and art of Athens and Delphoi, and wrote about his thoughts in his travel journal. He visited many places during his round-the-world trip, but his impressions of these places clearly stand out.

And this is very interesting because it frankly describes what Mishima thought about Greek art and how it influenced his own view of literature and life.

The Cup of Apollo" is filled with Mishima's original Greek and Roman experiences. It is also a very informative work for understanding Mishima's literature and way of life.
Sun and IronYukio Mishima and Japanese Literature

Yukio Mishima's "The Sun, Iron, and My Pilgrimage Period" - An autobiographical work that lets us know the origin of the young Mishima! What is Mishima discovering the sun on his first round-the-world trip?

What kind of days did that Mishima spend as a young man, and how was he able to enter the literary world? This is very interesting. The episode of his first meeting with Osamu Dazai is particularly interesting, and the composition of Mishima vs. Dazai is clearly described here. Even the differences in literary styles between the two men are discussed, and this part alone is a very extravagant episode.

And as I quoted in my previous article on "Tidal Wave," I was most impressed by the episode about Yukio Mishima's first round-the-world trip in his life. He started his round-the-world trip at the end of 1951 as a special correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. This episode, in which Yukio Mishima discovered the very sun, had a meaning that would later define Mishima's literature.