Episode 547 - The Five Mountains, Part 1
Listen now
Description
This week on the Footnotes to the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: many describe Zen as the religion of the samurai. In reality, it was not--but samurai influence was crucial to making Zen a part of Japan's cultural framework. That history is bound up in a system called the "Five Mountains"; so how did that system come to be? Show notes here. 
More Episodes
This week is a continuation of our exploration of the history of reiki. How did Takata Hawayo, a poor woman from Hawaii's Nikkei community, become the foundational figure of one of the most popular New Age practices in the world? And in the end, what sense can we make of the history of a practice...
Published 11/15/24
Published 11/15/24
This week: the origins of one of the most popular pseudo-medical traditions out there. Where does reiki, the notion that one can manipulate energy in the human body using their hands to heal people, come from? And why does studying the history of practices like this matter? Show notes here.
Published 11/08/24