About the Cover Illustration

Mikado is not only the name of the game of pick-up-sticks, or the title of the popular musical by Gilbert and Sullivan—it was the word used in the past for the emperor of Japan. The illustration on the cover of The Mikado Method is from an early eighteenth-century silk screen of Emperor Seiwa (844-897), the fourth son of Emperor Montoku. Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, Emperor Seiwa’s personal name was Korehito; the first member of the Imperial House to be personally named “hito.” One meaning of this suffix is the Confucian concept of “ren,” a virtue denoting the good feeling a human experiences when being altruistic. It later became tradition to name all male members of the Imperial Family this way.

Manning celebrates the inventiveness, initiative, and fun of the computer business with book covers based on figures from centuries ago, when life was more colorful and diverse, and when dress customs clearly differentiated a person’s class, stature, profession, as well as country, region, or even town of origin. Today, it is hard to tell the inhabitants of one continent from another and many traditional costumes are only worn on ceremonial occasions. Perhaps we have traded cultural diversity for a more varied personal life—certainly for a more varied and fast-paced technological life.