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by Ganapathi Pamula (Author), Kishor Trivedi (Foreword by)
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 Sarasvatī to Benzaiten and Gaṇapati 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.
