Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the 2013 Franklin R. Buchanan Prize for Curricular Materials awarded by the Association for Asian Studies and the Committee for Teaching About Asia (CTA) Voices of Early Modern Japan offers an accessible and well-balanced view of an extraordinary period in Japanese history, ranging from the unification of the warring states under Tokugawa Ieyasu in the early seventeenth century through the overthrow of the shogunate just prior to the opening of Japan by the West in the mid-nineteenth century. Through a close examination of primary sources from "The Great Peace," this fascinating volume offers fresh insights into the Tokugawa eraits political institutions, rigid class hierarchy, artistic and material culture, religious life, and more. Sources from all levels of Japanese society, from government documents and household records to personal correspondence and diaries, are carefully translated and examined in light of the latest scholarship. Constantine Nomikos Vaporis ably demonstrates how historians use primary documents and what can be uncovered from the words of ordinary people who lived centuries earlier. With robust reader resources and comprehensive coverage, Voices of Early Modern Japan is the perfect addition for students and interested readers seeking a fuller understanding of the Tokugawa period.
For updates on web materials mentioned in the book, supplemental materials, and to contact the author, please visit voicesofearlymodernjapan.wordpress.com.
Review
"The best source reader yet produced in this field
Vaporis' bold choice of sources accurately represents the broadness and plurality of Tokugawa society. His commentaries and explanations are written from the perspective of the latest historiography. The wide range of historical sources presented…makes this book far superior to
Sources of Japanese Tradition, and should ensure that it replaces it as the standard source book for the undergraduate teaching of pre-1868 Japanese history."
Dr. Kiri Paramore, Leiden University
"Filled with unusual and heretofore little known documents that bring us close to the lived experience of 17th through early 19th centuries Japan, this volume deserves to be widely used in the classroom to provide students with glimpses of another world."
Anne Walthall, University of California, Irvine
"Constantine Nomikos Vaporis'…is one of the top five historians of the Tokugawa period writing in the Western world, whose special expertise in social history is evident. But, the work is extremely well-balanced; it equally covers the period's political, economic, cultural, intellectual, and diplomatic dimensions as well. Moreover, it masterfully conveys how historians use primary documents and why this skill is important for uncovering the texture of life in a society remote from us in time and space. Vaporis does all of this in accessibly clear, plain language. As such, his book belongs not only on the reference shelves of public libraries, but also should be required reading in university-level introductory surveys of early-modern Japanese history. Even seasoned specialists in the field will find gems of new information here and there within the book's covers."
Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, York University
"The most important component of the book is the primary documents, and because of the intelligent selection of the sixty documents, Vaporis has made the Tokugawa period more accessible for students
[The author] never loses sight of the importance of translating the content of these documents into effective and meaningful learning for students
Constantine Nomikos Vaporiss new book can help us teach students how to read and think more critically; and that is one step, and not a small one, forward."
Education About Asia
Synopsis
A comprehensive and accessible collection of primary source documents spanning from the unification of the warring states in the early seventeenth century to the overthrow of the shogunate in the mid-nineteenth century.
Synopsis
Voices of Early Modern Japan: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life during the Age of the Shoguns spans an extraordinary period of Japanese history, ranging from the unification of the warring states under Tokugawa Ieyasu in the early seventeenth century to the overthrow of the shogunate just prior to the mid-nineteenth century opening of Japan by the West.
Through close examinations of sources from a time known as "The Great Peace," this fascinating volume offers fresh insights into the Tokugawa era—its political institutions, rigid class hierarchy, artistic and material culture, religious life, and more. Sources come from all levels of Japanese society, everything from government documents and household records to personal correspondence and diaries, all carefully translated and examined in light of the latest scholarship.
About the Author
Constantine Nomikos Vaporis is professor of history and founding director of the Asian Studies program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Vaporis is the author of
Breaking Barriers: Travel and the State in Early Modern Japan;
Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan; and
Nihonjin to sankin kôtai [The Japanese and Alternate Attendance].
Table of Contents
PrefaceAcknowledgments
Introduction: The Shoguns Japan
Evaluating and Interpreting Primary Documents
Timeline of Japanese History from the Mid-Sixteenth
Century through the Tokugawa Period, 15431868
I. THE DOMESTIC SPHERE
1. Getting Married: Agreement Regarding a Dowry” (1815)
2. Obtaining a Divorce: An Appeal for Assistance (1850) and Letters of Divorce (1857, Undated)
3. The Consequences of Adultery: The Eavesdropper Whose Ears Were Burned” (1686)
4. A Womans Place: Onna Daigaku (The Greater Learning for Women, 1716) and Tadano Makuzus Hitori Kangae(Solitary Thoughts, 1818)
II. MATERIAL LIFE
5. Fashion and Sumptuary Legislation: Ihara Saikakus The Japanese Family Storehouse (Nippon eitai gura, 1688); List of Clothing Prohibitions for Edo Townsmen (1719)
6. Samurai Dress and Grooming Standards: Prohibitions of 1615 and 1645
7. Lunisolar Calendar: Calendar for Seventh Year of Kaei (1854): Samurai in Armor
8. Japanese Foodways and Diet: The Accounts of Joao Rodrigues (162021), Yamakawa Kikue (1943), and Terakada Seiken (183236)
9. The Communal Bath: Shikitei Sanbas The Womens Bath” (Ukiyoburo, 1810)
10. The Japanese Home: Carl Peter Thunbergs Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa Made During the Years 1770 and 1779
III. THE POLITICAL SPHERE
11. A Foreigners View of the Battle of Osaka: Richard Cockss Account of the Fall of Osaka Castle (1615)
12. Forging Political Order: Laws for the Military Houses” (1615, 1635)
13. The Emperor and the Kyoto Aristocracy: Regulations for the Imperial Palace and the Court Nobility” (1615)
14. Weapons Control in Japanese Society: Toyotomi Hideyoshis Sword Hunt” (1588) and A Local Ordinance Regarding Swords” (1648)
15. Self-Governance in Villages: Goningumi (Five-Household Group) Laws (1640)
16. Regulating Townspeople in Two Cities: City Code from Kanazawa (1642) and Notice Board in Edo (1711)
IV. FOREIGN RELATIONS
17. Regulating Foreign Relations: The Closed Country Edicts” (sakoku rei, 1635, 1639)
18. Tokugawa Japan and Choson Korea: Record of a Journey Across the Sea (1719)
19. Leaving a Window Open to the Western World: Letter from a Nagasaki Official to the Dutch Governor-General (1642)
20. A Dutch Audience with the Shogun: Englebert Kaempfers The History of Japan (1692)
21. Sizing Up the Foreign Threat: Aizawa Seishisais Shinron (New Theses, 1825)
V. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE
22. The Social Estates: Yamaga Sokô on The Way of the Samurai” (shidô)
23. Trying to Get by on a Fixed Income: The Economic Problems Facing the Samurai, as Seen in a Letter from Tani Tannai to Saitaniya Hachirôbei Naomasu
(1751) and a Statement from Three Village Leaders to a Tokugawa Bannerman (1856)
24. The Samurai and Death: An Account of Junshi from François Carons A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam (1636)
25. Private Vengeance Among the Samurai: A Letter from a Daimyos Official in Echigo Province to an Official of the Tokugawa Shogunate and A Letter of
Authorization (1828)
26. Rules of Merchant Houses: The Testament of Shima Sôshitsu” (1610) and The Code of the Okaya House” (1836)
27. Dealing with Deviant Behavior: A Letter of Apology” (1866)
28. Loans Among the Peasantry: A Loan of Rice” (1702)
29. Unrest in the Countryside: A Song in Memory of a Protest (1786) and Petition to the Lord of Sendai from the Peasants of the Sanhei (1853)
30. Outcastes in Tokugawa Society: A Report from the Head of All Eta and Hinin (Undated) and an Inquiry by the Edo City Magistrates to the Tokugawa Council of State Regarding the Forfeiture of the Property of an Eta Who Assumed the Status of a Commoner (1799)
VI. RECREATIONAL LIFE
31. Advice to Travelers in the Edo Period: Ryokô Yôjinshû(Precautions for Travelers), 1810
32. Documentation for Travel: Sekisho Transit Permit” (1706)and A Passport” (1782)
33. Children and Their Amusements: The Japan Journal of Francis Hall (1859)
34. The Tea Ceremony: Chikamatsu Shigenoris Stories from a Tearoom Window (1804)
35. Archery and the Martial Arts: Hinatsu Shirôzaemon Shigetakas Honchô Bugei Shôden (A Short Tale of the Martial Arts in Our Country), 1714
36. Courtesans and the Sex Trade: Ihara Saikakus The Life of an Amorous Man (Koshoku ichidai otoko, 1682)and Buyô Ishis An Account of Worldly Affairs(Seji kenmonroku, 1816)
37. A Hero for the Masses: The Kabuki Play Sukeroku: Flower of Edo (1713)
VII. RELIGION AND MORALITY
38. Preaching to the People: A Sermon by Hosoi Heishu (1783)
39. Anti-Christian Propaganda: Kirishitan monogatari (Tale of the Christians, 1639)
40. Controlling the Populace: Registers of Religious Affiliation (1804)
41. Religious Views of the Japanese: Sir Rutherford Alcocks The Capital of the Tycoon (1863)
42. The Teachings of Zen Buddhism: Suzuki Shôsans Roankyô (Donkey-Saddle Bridge, 1648) and Hakuin Ekakus Sokkô-roku Kaien-fusetsu (Talks Given Introductory to Zen Lectures on the Records of Sokkô, 1740)
Appendix 1: Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms Mentioned in Text
Bibliography
Index