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"Yoga Vasishta weaves together many stories and commentaries to explain the ultimate teachings. It will be a marvelous discovery not only for philosophers, but even for modern psychologists and scientists. While most of the existing scriptures were preached by God to His devotees, the Yoga Vasishta is a teaching addressed to God. It is a teaching given by the sage Vasishta to Rama, God.
The philosophy of Yoga Vasishta, which provides a true understanding of the creation of the world, is very close to the doctrine of Kashmir Shiva, and the core of its teachings is "All is Consciousness. It includes the material world as you see it, as it is. This is the absolute truth. The world is nothing but the play of consciousness." (From Swami Muktananda's Preface)
"Night Rhythms proudly presents a first-time vinyl edition of Toshimi Mikami’s elusive gem of 90’s ambient “気舞 - Quimai” (“Chi Dance”). Released on CD in 1996 and again in 2008, this double LP version marks the first time the album will be readily available outside of Japan. Mikami states: “I made this album mainly as background music for Qi Gong, Tai Chi, yoga, etc., but I also want people to use it for various other kinds of relaxation.” The music reflects the practice of these deliberate, meditative disciplines with spacious motifs carried along by a steady rhythmic current. In his liner notes for the original CD edition, which are reprinted here, Mikami’s one-time bandmate Harumi Hosono writes of the evolution of the ambient/“organic” strain in 20th century music that “eyes, ears, and hearts opened like never before may now extend beyond notions to the specks of the natural world.” Ambient music isn’t music stripped of meaning, but rather its meaning finds form in our connection to the most basic elements of our environment, as distinguished from what Hosono calls the “endlessly exhausted economic principles” of modern pop music.
“Quimai” exists at the intersection of ambient, new age, and classic minimalism, with a gentle synthetic palette of global instrumentation layered and braided into fully orchestrated compositions. Relaxing though it may be, it’s a very focused sort of relaxation that encourages active listening rather than the blissful “tuning out” that some ambient music can inspire. Opening track “十六夜の月 Izayoi No Tsuki” immediately calls to mind Steve Reich’s work with its insistent 6/4 pulse and prominent woodwinds and percussion. “玉響 Ai Ai” continues on a similar footing, with shards of sunlight glinting off an otherwise untroubled and tireless stream. The enchanting marimba ostinato of “玉響 Tamayura” has a subaquatic quality, as if the listener is now witnessing the events on the water’s surface from below. Mikami follows it with “早乙女 Saotome,” a carefree piece that sheds the vestiges of tension present in the preceding tracks and features a playfully cascading gamelan figure. All underlying rhythmic churn falls away with album-closer “天の小道 Ama No Komichi,” an airy piece that maintains a structure similar to its sibling works while coming closest to the new age tradition, breathing freely without ever standing still. One can imagine Mikami or other practitioners enacting the final movements of their daily exercise — body tired but limber, mind reset.
This gatefold double LP edition is mastered from the original source by Travis Nordahl with lacquers cut at Palomino Records (USA). Track 3 “玉響 Tamayura” has been slightly abridged to fit the constraints of the format. Artistic elements of both CD editions have been combined by Joe Bastardo with additional nature photography courtesy of Night Rhythms Recordings owner Greg Holly. Liner notes by Toshimi Mikami and Harumi Hosono."
What is “Dependent Co-arising” and who taught it? And who taught it? This groundbreaking essay explores the origin and development of the fundamental thought that pervades Buddhist history, and reveals its original form.
神々の血筋を引くクル王家の系譜と、一族を破滅へ導く大戦争への道のりを数世代にわたって描く大叙事詩『マハーバーラタ』。実現する呪い、秘められた過去、果たされる誓い……絡み合う因果に翻弄されながらも自己のダルマ（正しいあり方）を求め、英雄たちは聖なる戦場で対峙する。第一巻はクル王族の子孫と祖先の物語。王子たちの驚異の誕生と長い確執のはじまりがここに語られる。
信頼すべきサンスクリット原典訳の待望の復刊。
【目次】
まえがき
家系図
主要登場人物
マハーバーラタ関連地図
第１巻 最初の巻（アーディ・パルヴァン）
（１）筋書き（第一章）
（２）各巻の要約（第二章）
（３）パウシャ王（第三章）
（４）プローマン（第四章―第十二章）
（５）アースティーカ（第十三章―第五十三章）
（６）最初の家系の降下（第五十三章―第五十八章）
（７）起源（第五十九章―第百二十三章）
（８）ラックの家の火災（第百二十四章―第百三十八章）
法蔵館文庫版『原典訳 マハーバーラタ』の刊行にあたって 川村悠人
判型・ページ数 文庫・496ページ
上村 勝彦
1944年、東京浅草に生まれる。1967年、東京大学文学部卒業。1970年、同大学院人文科学研究科（印度哲学）修士課程修了。サンスクリット詩学専攻。元東京大学東洋文化研究所教授。主な著訳書に、『屍鬼二十五話』（平凡社東洋文庫）、『カウティリヤ実利論』（岩波文庫）、『インド神話』（ちくま学芸文庫）、『始まりはインドから』（筑摩書房）、『インド古典演劇論における美的経験』（東京大学出版会）、『バガヴァッド・ギーター』（岩波文庫）、『インド古典詩論研究』（東京大学出版会）、『真理の言葉・法句経』（中央公論新社）などがある。2003年、逝去。
- Track 1 presents the soundtrack of the 4.1-channel sound installation "Waterforest," unveiled in Kamimura’s solo exhibition at Hakari Contemporary, Kyoto, in the summer of 2025. Woven from sounds of water and ice, together with the natural environments that surround them, the work gathers voices of landscapes recorded across the world. Tracks 2–6 offer a series of unadorned field recordings selected and finely shaped from "Waterforest." - Exhibition Statement Hakari Contemporary is pleased to present "Waterforest," a solo exhibition by Yoichi Kamimura. Kamimura explores ways of perceiving landscapes through vision and hearing, combining environmental field recordings with visual elements such as drawings, text, and light. He creates sound installations, paintings, video works, and performances that have been presented in Japan as well as internationally. This exhibition focuses on soundscapes constructed mainly from field recordings Kamimura makes around the world during his residencies and travels. Key works include sound installations based on his experience of Shiretoko’s drift ice, Icelandic glaciers, the Amazon rainforest, Iguaçu (the world’s largest waterfall), springs in the Swiss Alps, the Lake Biwa Canal that flows beneath Kyoto, and ocean sounds recorded across the globe on nights that full and new moons occur. Alongside a low-frequency soundscape of flowing water that resonates throughout the space, a forest-like installation of images related to water—captured in the course of Kamimura’s journeys—is also presented. The exhibition is inspired by a sea of clouds Kamimura saw from a boat on the Amazon River. Known as the “Flying River,” this natural phenomenon occurs when large amounts of moisture evaporate from the rainforest, rise into the sky, form enormous clouds, and return as rain, symbolizing the Amazon’s ecological cycle. At the same time, this cycle of ‘water’ and ‘forest’ represents a natural process that effortlessly crosses the many boundaries created by human beings. In recent years, Kamimura has traveled through regions experiencing war and conflict, and has witnessed first-hand the escalation of violence and tensions arising from opposing opinions and emotions. Even when people appear to share an ‘anti-war’ stance, differences in individual backgrounds often lead to subtle divisions that are hard to reconcile. As a metaphor for overcoming such disconnection, Kamimura returns to the image of the majestic “Flying River” he saw in the Amazon. By linking the meanings of ‘water’ and ‘forest’ together in the title Waterforest, he seeks to express not opposition or division but connectivity and circulation, through the universal sensory awareness he has cultivated in different natural environments. Joining the exhibition as guest curator is Seiha Kurosawa, who previously co-organized the 2021 exhibition "Floating Between Tropical and Glacial Zones" with Kamimura—an exhibition that linked field research in the Brazilian Amazon and Shiretoko, Hokkaido, to explore new perspectives regarding the environment. Over several years, Kamimura and Kurosawa have continued a dialogue about emerging ecological thought which is also reflected in this exhibition. We hope you will take this opportunity to experience Kamimura’s latest work, which moves fluidly while aspiring towards a more universal and planetary perspective. - Drawing chiefly upon his field recordings, Yoichi Kamimura experiments with methods that draw upon sight, hearing, and other senses to perceive different scenes. His extensive body of work includes sound installations, paintings, video works, sound performances, and audio works - unveiled in venues both within Japan and abroad. With his field recording practice, Kamimura acts as an observer to the amorphous relationship between humankind and nature. Kamimura composes his sound installations by creating highly-immersive soundscapes, many of which draw upon our own biology to create unique sensory experiences. www.yoichikamimura.com
johnny’s disk record is an independent jazz label run by the owner of jazz cafe kaiunbashi no johnny located in rikuzentakata city in iwate prefecture, japan.
the legendary label released a string of albums of high quality but down-to-earth music, spanning from modern jazz, avant-garde jazz to left-field pop. albums such as “farewell my johnny / left alone” and “aya’s samba” has reached cult status among fans as some of the best works to come out of the japanese jazz scene.
another japanese jazz classic, aya’s samba was a debut effort by bassist eiji nakayama, who played as part of elvin jones’ jazz machine and toured with don friedman.
this album is an important release in the johnny’s disk catalogue, not only because it is the first ever release, but also because the owner hearing the band play was the reason why the label came to be.
“aya’s samba” is a mellow jazz samba in minor key that’s considered a japanese jazz classic. slow ballad “yellow living” is drenched in melancholy with emotive keys and sax notes, while the dreamy “sea sea town” impresses with a captivating, expressive sax solo. the 4 tracker ends with “far-away road,” an uptempo tune with rhythmic keys.
The album is built on a singular concept: every sound is produced from a single cello. While effects pedals are used to extend and amplify the instrument, no other instruments or field recordings are involved. What remains is the act of performance itself—an ongoing exchange between body and instrument, where sound emerges as voice. Yet the resulting sonic landscape resists any sense of limitation. Layered textures of percussive gestures, micro-noise generated by a self-made bow, and sustained drones unfold into a complex, immersive environment.
CD + text book featuring cellist Yuki Nakagawa, who has participated in the Duo project “KAKUHAN” with Koshiro Hino (goat, YPY) and the album “The Butterfly Drinks The Tears Of The Tortoise” by the Australian unit “CS+Kreme”, featuring his cello and acoustic performance with a bow (a.k.a. Bach bow) that he made himself.
Takuma Nakahira, one of the most legendary photographers of post-war Japan and a life-long rival of Daido Moriyama. Overflow is the first photobook in which his installation work comes alive in entirety and detail since its unveiling in 1974.
Takuma Nakahira’s series ‘Overflow’ was originally presented as an installation during the 1974 exhibition ’Fifteen Photographers Today’ (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). The work consisted of 48 color photographs that were arranged on a wall 6 meters wide and 1.6 meters high. The photobook Overflow is the first chance to view Nakahira’s astonishing series outside the context of an exhibition.
The photographs show elements of a city — eery rifts in a space overflowing with objects, commodities and information — that Nakahira encountered and captured in his everyday life, from ivy creeping across walls and manhole covers in the streets to the tire of a large truck, from a pale-bellied shark floating in the transparent darkness behind the glass of an aquarium to close-up shots of a subway station.
The photobook’s layout strictly mimics each photo’s position in the installation piece in order to replicate the series’ original experience within the confines of a book. Additionally, Princeton University assistant professor Franz K. Prichard contributes an extensive essay in which he compares the Overflow series with Nakahira’s vision of an ‘illustrated dictionary’ (as outlined in Nakahira’s 1973 essay ‘Why an Illustrated Botanical Dictionary?’), thereby offering a deep exploration of Takuma Nakahira, who integrated praxis and theory in his work like no one else.
‘Overflow compels us as viewers to see the interplay of a seemingly random distribution of fragments, surfaces and residues. And in so doing, we are made to sense the undifferentiated enumeration of parts of an incomplete whole. This is, if you recall, the definition of the “illustrated dictionary” form that Nakahira provided in the essay “Why an Illustrated Botanical Dictionary?”’
— from Franz K. Prichard’s essay
Book Size 364 x 257 mm
Pages 64 pages
Binding Softcover
Publication Date 2018
Language English and Japanese
"For A Fleeting Moment" is the result of the dialogue between the Swiss photographer Simone Kappeler and the Japanese musician Tomotsugu Nakamura initiated by IIKKI, between March 2023 and May 2024.
the complete project works in two physical imprints:
a book and a disc (vinyl/cd)
it should be experienced in different ways :
the book read alone
the disc listened to alone
the book and the disc read and listened to together.
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Tomotsugu Nakamura is a musician and graphic designer residing in Tokyo, Japan. His primary artistic practice is to compose music with some fragments of minimal acoustic and electronic tones and some field recordings. In Concert, he he has played with various genre of musicians and his works have been released by Kaico, Audiobulb Records, and more recently by the French label LAAPS.
Tomotsugu Nakamura is a musician and graphic designer residing in Tokyo, Japan. His primary artistic practice is to compose music with some fragments of minimal acoustic and electronic tones and some field recordings. In Concert, he has played with various genre of musicians and his works have been released by Kaico, Audiobulb Records, and more recently by the recent label LAAPS.
’’Nothing Left Behind’’ is his second release on LAAPS after his well acclaimed album "Literature" released in July 2020.
During his time with the Yosuke Yamashita Trio, he poured his heart and soul into every single note. In the early 1970s, he wove flashes of inspiration and impulse into his melodies, blowing with powerful intensity. And now, on this album, Seiichi Nakamura undergoes yet another transformation. As he himself says, “It’s the feeling of sharing a space together and soaring freely like a bird. That’s the ideal,” the overlapping sounds and pauses richly expand the space, through which Nakamura’s saxophone dashes with exuberance. The expansive and exhilarating “Wolf’s Theme,” inspired by author Kazumasa Hirai’s “Wolf Guy” series, “Harappa,” where a nostalgic melody shines against a laid-back groove; “Body & Soul” and “I Can’t Get Started,” which weave together standards with care and elegance; and “Viva Giappone,” with its delightful sense of dynamism and openness—here, Nakamura’s ideal is magnificently realized. Featuring Toshiyuki Daitoku, Aki Takase, and Ryojiro Furusawa.
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, the ideological core of Mahayana Buddhism. Nāgārjuna knew that words are “things in the world of the lost” that must be denied. The Middle Way describes the process by which words (prapancha) deny themselves and then become words (hypotheses) revived by that denial (emptiness). A leading scholar of the “Middle Way” explains each of the chanters and clarifies Nāgārjuna argument.
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, the ideological core of Mahayana Buddhism. Nāgārjuna knew that words are “things in the world of the lost” that must be denied. The Middle Way describes the process by which words (prapancha) deny themselves and then become words (hypotheses) revived by that denial (emptiness). A leading scholar of the “Middle Way” explains each of the chanters and clarifies Nāgārjuna argument.
Shinichi Hisamatsu is a rare philosopher who transcended Western modernity and continued to investigate the path to “absolute autonomy,” a way of living unhindered and unrestricted by anything. This book contains essays that show the core of Hisamatsu's philosophy as well as his autobiographical essay, “Memories of a Life as an Academician.
