@Eidon @wim_v12e Too kind, thank you. Sorry for taking so long to reply, I’ve been traveling (another distant island). Alas I’m a dilettante, a butterfly non-scholar, and can’t claim to know anything.

A book that shaped me was Alex Kerr’s “Lost Japan”. Yes I know I’m terrible for suggesting an American author without knowing much about your background or interests, but Kerr has been steeped in Japan since his youth, the book was originally in Japanese, and is both beautiful and informative.