For nearly half a century, an important text for learning about Japanese culture in general and about history in particular has been "Sources in Japanese Tradition" (Ryusaku Tsunoda, Theodore de Bary and Donald Keene, 1958). It is a collection of primary documents translated into English and we learn through the sources themselves, in the accents of their times. Relevant texts are brought together and history speaks.
This valuable two-volume publication (a second edition appeared in 2002) was limited only in that space restrictions prevented a fuller coverage of art and aesthetics. This need has now been answered in the publication for the first time of a similarly structured reader devoted entirely to traditional Japanese art and culture.
As in the 1958 volume, the sources are primary, many here translated for the first time. These readings are grouped by historical periods, then, within these periods, by artistic forms -- poetry, gardens, drama etc. Introductions provide a context and link the sections together to reveal both differences and similarities. All the sources are illustrated and annotated.