Japanese Culture BUNDLE [DIGITAL DOWNLOAD]

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Description

What you get

10 eBooks + audio + Anki flashcards + app access

It's a digital bundle, so nothing is shipped. Right after checkout we email you a link to download:

10 eBooks as PDFsOver 1,350 pages, plus a printable dojo cheat sheet and name worksheets.
The same eBooks as ePubsPlus Kobo editions, for phones, tablets and e-readers.
968 audio filesEvery haiku and its commentary, every karate term, every joke, read aloud.
10 Anki flashcard decksFor four of the haiku books, Karate Vocabulary, Ninja Penguin and Japanese Names.
Makoto+ app accessOne link adds 7 of the books to the app and the website.

How you'll use it

Read, listen, review, use

  1. ReadA haiku, a joke or a karate term, with every word explained.
  2. ListenHear it read aloud, and for each haiku, a commentary in simple Japanese.
  3. ReviewGo over the words in Anki.
  4. UseName a technique at the dojo, or tell a friend a Japanese pun.

Dip in anywhere: every book stands on its own.

10eBooks
130+haiku
968audio files
10Anki decks
LevelN4

Mixed levels, JLPT N5 to N3 · Beginner-friendly and up

What's inside

10 eBooks, in four groups

Haiku by Japan's four great poets, then the Japanese of the dojo, of jokes, of travel and of names.

  1. Step 1

    Start with what a haiku is

    Japanese Sentences: Haiku explains the 5-7-5 count, 季語きご (season words) and 切きれ字じ (cutting words), introduces the major poets, and reads famous haiku aloud.

    Japanese Sentences: Haiku
  2. Step 2

    Bashō, in two books

    松尾芭蕉まつおばしょう (1644–1694), the most famous haiku poet of all. 49 poems, each with every word explained, translations from literal to interpretive, a commentary in simple Japanese with audio, and what the poem means.

    Learn Japanese through Haiku: Bashō
    Learn Japanese through Haiku: Further Journeys with Bashō
  3. Step 3

    Buson, Issa and Shiki

    The painter-poet 与謝蕪村よさぶそん, 小林一茶こばやしいっさ with his frogs and flies, and 正岡子規まさおかしき, who gave haiku its modern name. Taught the same way as the Bashō books.

    Learn Japanese through Haiku: Yosa Buson
    Learn Japanese through Haiku: Kobayashi Issa
    Learn Japanese through Haiku: Masaoka Shiki
  4. Step 4

    Karate, jokes, Japan and names

    300+ dojo terms with a QR code and audio for every entry, puns and おやじギャグ (dad jokes) with the wordplay explained, Ninja Penguin's tour of all 47 prefectures, and how Japanese family and given names are read and written.

    Karate Vocabulary
    Jokes in Japanese
    Ninja Penguin Talks Japanese in Japan
    Japanese Names
  5. Your goal: Japanese culture, in Japanese

Look inside

One haiku, taken apart

1The haiku, with furigana

山路やまじ来きて 何なにやらゆかし すみれ草ぐさ

2As Bashō wrote it

山路来て 何やらゆかし すみれ草

“Coming upon a mountain path / I feel somehow charmed / the violets”

The first poem in the Bashō book. Its season word is すみれ草ぐさ, the violet, so it is a spring poem. The book explains every word (来きて is the て-form of the irregular verb 来くる), gives five more translations, then a commentary in simple Japanese and what the poem means.

Hear it read and see the pages

In the app too

Read and listen in the Makoto+ app

A haiku in the Makoto+ app: the poem set vertically with furigana, its season word, a play button and the poet
The same haiku in the Makoto+ app: its translation and the poem vocabulary, every word explained

Seven of the ten books unlock in the Makoto+ Japanese Explorer app for iPhone, iPad and Android, and on the web: the five haiku books, Japanese Sentences: Haiku and Karate Vocabulary. Here is a haiku in the app, then its translation and every word of the poem explained. One link in your download adds them all.

  • Each haiku set vertically, with furigana
  • Tap to hear it read aloud
  • Its season word, and a card on the poet
  • More translations, one tap away
  • Every word explained, saved with one tap

What learners say

5.0from 5 reviews

“Excellent collections of contents, one of a kind. Learning Japanese through the haiku of Basho, Issa and Shiki... I couldn't have wished for more, thank you so much!”

Giorgia M.

“This is an excellent collection of books for the beginner/intermediate level.”

Ruediger

“Fantastic value in a variety of formats. Amazingly entertaining content for learning. Brilliant!”

Ronald

Read all 5 reviews

Who it's for

Poetry loversRead Bashō, Buson, Issa and Shiki in the original.
Karate students300+ dojo terms with audio, and a cheat sheet for the dojo.
Learn for funPuns, a penguin's tour of Japan, and how names work.
  • Pay once, keep them forever
  • Free updates forever
  • Instant download
  • 60-day money-back guarantee

Questions

What do I get?

10 eBooks as PDF, ePub and Kobo files, 968 MP3 audio files, 10 Anki decks, a printable dojo cheat sheet and a Quizlet/Memrise file for Karate Vocabulary, name worksheets for Japanese Names, and app access for seven of the books.

How do I download it?

Right after checkout we email you a download link. Download everything at once on a computer, or open single books on your phone or tablet. You don't need Dropbox or any other account.

Can I read them on my phone or Kindle?

Yes. The ePub files work in Apple Books, Google Play Books and most reading apps, and the PDFs open anywhere. Our eBook guide walks you through each device.

Which books unlock in the Makoto+ app?

Seven: the two Bashō books, Buson, Issa, Shiki, Japanese Sentences: Haiku and Karate Vocabulary. One link in your download adds them all. Japanese Names, Jokes in Japanese and Ninja Penguin aren't in the app yet; their files are all in the download.

What level is it?

Mixed, about JLPT N5 to N3. Every haiku has furigana and every word is explained, and every book has English explanations and audio. Want more haiku? The Learn Japanese with Haiku bundle has Chiyo-ni, Akutagawa and Sōseki.

Is a printed version included?

No, this is the digital bundle. Several of these books are also sold as paperbacks.

What if it isn't right for me?

Tell us within 60 days and we'll swap it for a better-fitting bundle or refund you in full.

TheJapanShop.com bundles are books you own. Makoto+ is a library you join. See how they compare

We run two main sites: TheJapanShop.com and MakotoPlus.com. Here's the gist:

Books you own

TheJapanShop.com bundles

  • Pay once and keep it forever
  • Download every book: PDF, ePub and MP3 audio, plus Anki decks with many bundles
  • Free updates forever, including new volumes we add to the bundle
  • Most bundles also unlock in the Makoto app by themselves, as the full eBook plus interactive sentences
  • 60-day money-back guarantee

A library you join

Makoto+ membership

  • Free, monthly or yearly plans
  • Interactive stories in the Makoto app: about a dozen free, dozens with Samurai, up to 200 with Shogun
  • Stories in the membership rotate monthly
  • A new Makoto magazine issue every month to download and keep (Samurai and Shogun)
  • Members save 10% (Samurai) or 20% (Shogun) on bundles

Join once, for good

Makoto+ Lifetime

  • Shogun membership for life, with one payment
  • Everything we add to Makoto+ later is included
  • Bundle downloads are not included, but your 20% member discount works on them
  • Sold only during limited-time windows

Many learners do both. The free Makoto+ Japanese Explorer App (iPhone/iPad and Android) puts them side by side: the books you own and the stories in your membership, in one library.

Try before you buy

Try a haiku lesson free: Bashō's "Coming Upon a Mountain Path"

Flip through a full lesson from Learn Japanese Through Haiku: Bashō, one of the ten books in this bundle, exactly as it appears: the haiku, every word explained, the commentary with its vocabulary, and what the poem means. Then hear the haiku read aloud, and the commentary.

Page 1 / –
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Trouble viewing? Open the sample PDF in a new tab.

山路来て (Coming upon a mountain path) The haiku

山路来て (Coming upon a mountain path) Commentary

The Culture bundle has haiku by Bashō, Buson, Issa and Shiki, plus Jokes in Japanese, Ninja Penguin's tour of Japan, Japanese Names and Karate Vocabulary, all with audio.

  • 5 stars: 5 (100%)
  • 4 stars: 0 (0%)
  • 3 stars: 0 (0%)
  • 2 stars: 0 (0%)
  • 1 star: 0 (0%)
G
Giorgia Meriggi (Milan, IT)

Excellent collections of contents, one of a kind. Learning Japanese through the haiku of Basho, Issa and Shiki... I couldn't have wished for more, thank you so much!

Thank you for your kind words and positive feedback! We are so glad to hear that you are enjoying our Japanese Culture BUNDLE and finding it one of a kind. We will add more books on haiku soon. Thank you for your support!

R
Ronald

Fantastic value in a variety of formats. Amazingly entertaining content for learning. Brilliant!

Wow! Thank you. :) Let us know if you have any questions. Have fun with learning Japanese.

X
Xavier

This is very useful if you’re learning about Japan and you’re on the go

R
Ruediger (Colchester, GB)
Easy access to a wide range of cultural topics for beginner and intermediate students

Review of the culture bundle.
This is an excellent collection of books for the beginner/intermediate level.
1. Karate Vocabulary: It is essentially a sophisticated list of technical expressions. But it also contains phrases, e.g. in the section on dojo rules.
2. Jokes in Japanese: A Japanese teacher once told me: “Only when you understand Japanese Jokes, you really understand the language. I am still far from this blessed state, but this book provided me with some appreciation of the humour hidden in it. That is due to the breakdown and detailed explanations of the authors.
3. Ninja Penguin: This is one of the highlights of the series. It describes the fanciful journey of a ninja penguin who tours all the 47 prefectures of Japan. Whatever area of Japan the reader is interested in, she should be able to find some useful information. But it also helps to put the various prefectures in relation to each other. The text is mainly in English. But each chapter has a basic vocabulary list. Therefore, it can be easily red by any beginner.
4. Haiku 1: That is an introduction with a focus on the poet Basho. But it includes also more recent Japanese poets.
5. Haiku Basho: This book has just been added to the series. Like all the books, also the two Haiku volumes contain a detailed breakdown of all the poems rather than just a translation. For each poem, also a commentary in Japanese and in English has been provided.
In summary, this series is suitable partly for beginner students and partly for intermediate students. But a beginner may also benefit from a more advanced volume, because in each volume every single word is explained. An additional plus are the audio files, where all the texts are read out in a clear and crisp voice: A highly recommendable access to Japanese culture for students on all levels.

Wow! What a nice and thorough review. Thank you so much. I'm glad you like it.

S
Steven-Benedikt Rothe (Leipzig, DE)
Good as always

High quality bundle with a low price. The audio recordings are great and the documents are perfect for looking thing up, learning, or reading as the audio playing back. Also the themes presented are somwhat specially and nowhere found in this comprehensive type of learning material.

A
Annick

Existe-t-il en français japonais ? merci. Mon anglais est trop approximatif.

The Japan Shop

I'm very sorry but right now we don't have a French version. Maybe one day!
Je suis vraiment désolé, mais pour l'instant, nous n'avons pas de version en français. Peut-être un jour !