The Temples of Kyototakes you on a journey through these environs and presents twenty-one of these marvelous structures that are unique creations which, while quintessentially Japanese, somehow speak a universal languagereadily appreciated by people the world over.Donald Richie, called by Time magazine, "the dean of art critics in Japan," turns his attention to these twenty-one temples with scholarship and an eye for the dramatic. Drawingoff such classic sources asThe Tale of GenjiandEssays in Idleness, he takes the reader on a tour through the ages, first with a comprehensive history of Japanese Buddhism, and then by highlighting key events in the development of these "celestial-seeming cities." From the Tendai warrior-priests of Enryaku-ji to the floating vision of paradise at Byodo-in, to the magical gardens of Tofuku-ji, the past springs into the present and the temples truly take on a life of their own in a thrilling narrative that...