Hidden in Plain Sight
Dharma to Daruma, Homa to Goma, and More
Published on 21. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
170 pages
979-8-9948153-0-4 (ISBN)
Description
Hidden in Plain Sight is a visually rich exploration of the Indian and Hindu roots preserved within Japanese Buddhism and culture. Based on the author's travels across Japan and his background in Sanskrit, Hindu tradition, and temple study, the book brings together original photography, historical explanation, language connections, and personal observation to show how ancient Indian ideas continue to live in Japan today.
Across pilgrimage routes, temples, rituals, deities, architecture, scripts, festivals, food, and everyday practices, the book highlights connections that many visitors overlook. Readers encounter familiar deities in Japanese form, from Sarasvat¿ to Benzaiten and Gäapati to Kangiten, alongside parallels in sacred architecture, mantra traditions, fire ritual, symbolic language, and devotional life.
Written for a general audience, the book is both informative and highly visual. It is part photography book, part cultural study, and part personal journey, inviting readers to see Japan not only as a modern nation of remarkable refinement and technology, but also as a place where older civilizational currents from India remain alive, transformed, and often hidden in plain sight.
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 280 mm
Width: 216 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
651 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-9948153-0-4 (9798994815304)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ganapathi Pamula is a writer, photographer, researcher, and inventor whose interests span culture, language, history, science, and technology. His work lies at the intersection of understanding the past through careful historical inquiry and building the future through technological innovation. Hidden in Plain Sight grew out of a long-standing fascination with Japan and a curiosity about the ways Indian religious, linguistic, and ritual traditions have shaped Japanese culture over time. Drawing on travel across Japan, visits to hundreds of temples in India, and a background in Sanskrit and Japanese, he brings a lived comparative lens to sacred spaces, material culture, and the continuities that link civilizations across time. In this book, he combines visual storytelling with clear explanation, bringing together photography, field observation, language study, and research in a way that is accessible to general readers while still engaging serious readers. Beyond cultural and historical work, his interests also extend strongly into innovation. He has published peer-reviewed research, holds issued patents, and has received innovation awards. He has also written science fiction, reflecting an equal interest in imagining the future and studying the past. Across these different pursuits, he is drawn to both discovery and creation: carefully studying the past, explaining and contextualizing it for the present, and building new technologies for the future.