John Einarsen of Kyoto Journal was good enough to send me some information about the up-coming Silk Roads issue. There’s obviously a lot of good stuff in there and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! Here are a few tasty tidbits to whet your appetite. I’ll be posting more in the run-up to publication!

10,000 Miles Away ― Tang Dynasty cultural connections: Chang’an and Nara

For his purpose, he took thought of the
Spirits of Heaven and Earth,
That he might suitably determine the place
that was to be the Heavenly City.

The poet Pan Ku praised Emperor Han Gaozu, founder of the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), for his choice of a site for his glorious capital, Chang’an, suggesting that a city created in harmony with universal energies would become a force in its own right. Although the Han capital would eventually fall into ruin, five hundred years later Pan Ku’s forecast was spectacularly fulfilled… [Read more…]