The 8th International Congress of Biorheology was held at the Pacifico Yokohama, Japan, a brand new, versatile convention center for international meetings, from August 3 through 8, 1992. There were many plenary lectures and symposia, one of which was entitled "Mechanics of the Venous System." It was at this symposium that we, the editors of this monograph, each presented papers. We then moved to Gifu, Japan, for the Gifu Workshop on Veins and Vascular Capacitance. This was held on August 9, 1992, with the Second Department of Medicine, Gifu University School of Medicine, serving as the host. Nine papers were presented in the oral sessions and there were five poster presentations. This monograph, which is intended to provide a bird's­ eye view of recent trends in studies of the venous system, is an outgrowth of the Gifu Workshop. While it is not exactly the Proceedings ofthat workshop, materials in the monograph were developed from ideas presented there.