Illusory Dwellings

"A priceless resource."

—Noah Oskow, Unseen Japan

“Believing that a garden or city is a state of mind as much as a physical locale, Weiss offers insights into deciphering the mysteries of the traditional as well as contemporary art forms of ‘this ancient and still ebullient cultural capital.’”

—Diane Durston, Curator Emerita, Portland Japanese Garden

"Here is a book that doesn’t present itself as a work of literary merit, but cannot fail in being one. Books like this are a supreme rarity."

—Stephen Mansfield, Writers in Kyoto

"Illusory Dwellings is the kind of reflection on the art and aesthetics of Kyoto that manages to stitch together the sentiments and perspectives from a group of people as diverse as philosopher/essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, hermit/poet Kamo no Chomei, author Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, Zen priest Dogen, novelist Jack Kerouac, writer Lafcadio Hearn, and the Greek-Roman philosopher Plutarch. Wide-ranging and informative.”

—Marc Peter Keane, Author of Of Arcs and Circles: Insights from Japanese Gardens, Nature, and Art

Reviews of the French edition

"This work, which deals with the place of handicrafts (the importance of potters as artists) in museums, tableware in restaurants, and the symbolism of bells, is an indispensable cultural [handbook] for immersing oneself in all that Kyoto can exude in its beauty and truth. Remarkable!

—Parenthèse

“It is only in a next step that a reader, after having fulfilled his tourist duties and visited all the places 'to see,' will deepen his journey and knowledge of Japanese aesthetics through this work, which is full of subtle analyses and information on concepts familiar to Japanologists and more especially to all those who think about the confrontations between the perception of art and beauty, in the West and the East.”

—René de Ceccatty, in Les Lettres francaises

“Memorable and exalting . . . Allen S. Weiss is at the same time guide and master, like Virgil at the side of Dante during their trip through Hell and Purgatory.”

—Lucien d’ Azay, in Revue des Deux Mondes