Synopses & Reviews
Japan in World History will address the entire scope of Japanese history, beginning with Japan's prehistoric culture and ending with a look at Japan in the world today. The majority of large scale history books on Japan, by contrast, focus on the modern era, and those that cover the entire scope of its history are not written for general readers and do not focus on Japan's international engagement. This work will stand apart for its narration of traditional historical developments through the perspective of interactions and comparisons with the broader world.
For two millennia, events on the Japanese archipelago have been influenced by Japan's location as a set of islands off the eastern coast of Eurasia, the world's largest land mass. Japanese historians have talked often about the impact of an 'island mentality' on the nation's self-image, while nationalists have discussed Japan's uniqueness, specialness, or independent development. Even the most balanced historians often see Japan's historical development in terms of alternating patterns of interaction with, and isolation from, the rest of the world. That pattern of undulating interaction will form a central focus of this history of Japan, from its earliest eras to the present.
Japan in World History will examine the governmental patterns that always have grounded traditional historical accounts, along with the nature of both elite and (as the centuries unfolded) more plebeian cultural life. It also will look at the role of religion in national life, at the nation's intellectual and philosophical developments, and at military and economic institutions. And it will pay attention to several of the themes that have become increasingly important to our attempts to understand the past: gender, environment, and the experiences of ordinary people. In addition to this traditional treatment, Huffman's central focus will be Japan's role in the broader world: early on, its relative (though never total) isolation from the continental land mass to its west; later, its relations with the China-dominated regions of eastern and southeastern Asia; and eventually, its connections with the entire globe. This focus will take the work in two directions. At times, the text will consider primarily Japan's interactions with other nations: diplomatic interchanges, cultural and intellectual borrowing, economic exchange (including piracy), and military, as well as colonial, incursions. At other times, the focus will be on comparisons-on the ways in which ancient Japan adapted Chinese institutions, for example; how its responses to imperialism compared with and contrasted to those of other nations; points of connection between medieval Japanese samurai and European knights, the fact that Japan did not have an industrial revolution until the late nineteenth century. A central theme of all of this will be the repeating pattern in which periods of assimilation, then withdrawal or independence, followed times of intense interaction with other nations.
Review
"Huffman's animated writing style, coupled with intellectual research, allows for the material to be presented through a vivid world history lens...a resourceful and informative book...would benefit high school educators in preparing lessons on a similar subject or simply provide a concise synthesis to an enthusiast seeking a recapitulation of Japan's past." -- World History Bulletin
Review
"Huffman manages to convey to the general reader a concise and clear sense of the sweep of Japanese history, from earliest recorded history to the turn of the millennium...James Huffman's account of Japanese history will prove eminently useful in surveys of Japanese history, especially if paired with his recently published primary source reader entitled Modern Japan: A History in Documents, also published through Oxford University Press." --Middle Ground Review
"Huffman's animated writing style, coupled with intellectual research, allows for the material to be presented through a vivid world history lens...a resourceful and informative book...would benefit high school educators in preparing lessons on a similar subject or simply provide a concise synthesis to an enthusiast seeking a recapitulation of Japan's past." -- World History Bulletin
Synopsis
Japan in World History ranges from Japan's prehistoric interactions with Korea and China, to the Western challenge of the late 1500s, the partial isolation under the Tokugawa family (1600-1868), and the tumultuous interactions of more recent times, when Japan modernized ferociously, turned imperialist, lost a world war, then became the world's second largest economy--and its greatest foreign aid donor. Writing in a lively fashion, Huffman makes rich use of primary sources, illustrating events with comments by the people who lived through them: tellers of ancient myths, court women who dominated the early literary world, cynical priests who damned medieval materialism, travelers who marveled at "indecent" Western ballroom dancers in the mid-1800s, and the emperor who justified Pearl Harbor. Without ignoring standard political and military events, the book illuminates economic, social, and cultural factors; it also examines issues of gender as well as the roles of commoners, samurai, business leaders, novelists, and priests.
About the Author
James L. Huffman is H. Orth Hirt Professor of History Emeritus at Wittenberg University.
Table of Contents
Editors' Preface
Preface
1. Before the Brush (to 645 CE)
2. Emperors and Aristocrats: Rule by Law and Taste (645-1160)
3. Warriors: The Long Rise (1160-1550)
4. Peace--And its Benefits (1550 to 1850)
5. The Nation Transformed (1850 to 1905)
6. Engaging the World, for Good and for Ill (1905 to 1945)
7. A New Kind of Power (After 1945)
Chronology
Notes
Further Reading
Websites
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction
1. Japan's Emergence (to c. 600 c.e.)
2. The Aristocratic Era (600-1160)
3. Years of War (1160-1550)
4. Peace and Relative Isolation (1550-1868)
5. Entering the Modern World (1868-1912)
6. At War with the World (1912-1945)
7. Japan in the Postwar World (1945- )
Chonology
Notes
Further Reading
Web Sites
Index