Man Y Sh And The Imperial Imagination In Early Japan

In Man'yoshu and the Imperial Imagination in Early Japan, Torquil Duthie examines the literary representation of the late seventh-century Yamato court as a realm of "all under heaven."

Excerpt from A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era It is trite to remark that if you wish to know really any people, it is neces sary to have a thorough knowledge of their history, including their mythology, legends and folk-lore: customs, habits and traits of character, which to a superficial observer of a different nationality or race may seem odd and strange, sometimes even utterly subversive of ordinary ideas of morality, but which can be explained and will appear quite reasonable when they are traced back to their origin. The sudden rise of the Japanese nation from an insignificant position to a foremost rank in thercomitynof nations has startled the world. Except in the case of very, few who had-studied us intimately, we were a people but little raised above barbarism trying to imitate Western civilisation without any capacity for reallyassimilating-pr adapting it. At first, it was supposed that we had somehow undergone a sudden transformation, but it was gradually perceived that such could not-be. And was not the case; and a crop of books on Japan and the Japanese, deep and superficial, serious and fantastic, interest ing and otherwise, has been put forth for the benefit of those who were curious to know the reason of this strange phenomenon. But among so many books, there has not yet been, so far as I know, a history of Japan, although a study of its history was most essential for the proper understanding of many of the problems relating to the Japanese people, such as the relation of the Imperial dynasty to the people, the family system, the position of Buddhism, the influence of the Chinese philosophy, etc. A history of Japan of moderate size has indeed long been a desideratum; that it was not forthcoming was no doubt due to the want of a proper person to undertake such a work. Now just the right man has been found in the author of the present work, who, an Englishman by birth, is almost Japanese in his understanding of, and sympathy with, the Japanese people. It would indeed be difficult to find any one better fitted for the task by no means an easy one of presenting the general features of Japanese history to Western readers, in a compact and intelligible form, and at the same time in general harmony with the Japanese feeling. The Western public and Japan are alike to be congratulated on the production of the present work. I may say this without any fear of reproach for self-praise, for although my name is men tioned in the title-page, my share is very slight, consisting merely in general advice and in a few suggestions on some special points. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This important new and original study on the institution of the Japanese emperors focuses on the enigma of the institution itself, namely, the extraordinary continuity of the Japanese dynasty, which is unknown anywhere else in the world, yet which is now at risk on account of more recent laws of succession.

This is the first complete translation of Tandai shŠshin roku, which provides the best source for an understanding of the eighteenth-century Japanese literary figure Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) – a man of many talents and wide-ranging interests: haikai and waka poet, writer of fiction, commentator on Japanese classical texts, doctor of Confucian medicine, keen student of history and botany, tea connoisseur and amateur potter. In this highly personal work dating from his last year, when he was almost blind and in poor health, Akinari allows his writing brush to wander at will, giving his unvarnished opinions on contemporary and historical people and events, commenting on various social customs, criticizing friend and foe alike, defending the existence of the supernatural and sharing his love of nature. Akinari’s candour, humour, curiosity of mind and impressive erudition make Tandai shŠshin roku an unusual and interesting text that has long deserved to be better known.

MANY are the books on Japan they mostly follow a pre scription, reviewing different aspects of a country which is strangely unlike the lands of Christendom, though it has entered into economic competition with them. I have here tried to present something rather different. Encouraged by the fact that Japan in Recent Times, 1912-1926, has been found useful by other makers of books as well as by readers who sought to increase their knowledge, I have attempted here to present a sequel though it is only part of the same story in the sense that it continues the record. A reign that seemed likely to be quiet and humdrum has proved so full of happenings that it has been difficult, even at slightly greater length, to record these eleven years as adequately as the previous sixteen. But for readers who would like the facts rather than my gloss upon them, here is a book full of them. During ten of the eleven years I was seldom absent from the editorial desk of the Japan Chronicle., so there was little about current events that did not come my way, and I have tried to select from the mass the most significant and most closely related. Sometimes so many things were happening at once that it has been impossible to observe a strict chronology and the subject rather than the date has had to be considered. As in my previous book I have adhered to the Japanese custom of putting the surname first and the personal name after also, where titles are concerned, I have used the highest attained instead of explaining that the Mr. of one day was the Baron of the next. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A NEW ERA II II. THE FINANCIAL CRISIS OF IQ27 22 III. TANAKA AND JAPANS MANCHURIA POLICY 27 IV. THE PROLETARIAT VOTES 34V. THE MURDER OF CHANG TSO-LIN 39 vi. LIBERALISMS LAST EFFORT 48 VII. THE MANCHURIAN BACKGROUND 63 VIII. THE GATHERING OF THE CLOUDS 71 IX. THE BREAKING OF THE STORM 79 X. THE TAKING OF MANCHURIA 92 XI. JAPAN ACTS WHILE THE COUNCIL TALKS IO8 XII. THE END OF DEMOCRACY IN JAPAN 113 XIII. THE NEW STATE OF MANCHUKUO 122 XIV. THE HIGHEST FORM OF PATRIOTISM 127 XV. THE HORROR OF SHANGHAI 131 XVI. THE GALLANT FIGHT OF MA CHAN-SHAN 145 XVII. THE ART OF RECOGNITION 151 XVIII. THE MANCHURIAN AFTERMATH 165 XIX. SAITO AND THE SPENDING POLICY 176 XX. TRIALS EXTRAORDINARY 189 XXL JAPANS AEGIS OVER THE MAINLAND 201 XXII. THE BOOM IN MANUFACTURE 212 xxiii. JAPANS NEW EMPIRE 225 io IMPERIAL JAPAN CHAPTER PAGE XXIV. THE DETERIORATION OF THOUGHT 238 XXV. THE FAR EAST AND EASTERN ASIA 250 XXVI. UNEASY NATIONALISM 262 XXVII. BIGGER AND BETTER MURDERS 268 XXVIII. THE SUN GODDESS EXTENDS HER KINGDOM 286 NOTES 301 INDEX 321 CHAPTER I A NEW ERA FOLLOWING a Chinese custom, Japan begins a new era with each reign. When the Taisho era ended on Christmas Day, 1926, Taisho was made the posthumous name of the deceased Emperor, and the new era was named Showa. Taisho meant Great Righteousness, and the reign of sixteen years had been distinguished by the number of scandals and the greatness of the corruption in its history. Showa might be translated Peace made Manifest, and was to be marked by a constant prating about Japans sacred mission of keeping the peace of the Far East, and by a progressive breaking of that peace and a cynical disregard of truth and justice. Yet the reign began with a sense of disillusionment and almost of exhaustion. The damage caused by the great earthquake of September 1923 was only partlyrepaired, and Mr. Inoue Jonnosuke, who had been Governor of the Bank of Japan and was to be Finance Minister, declared early in 1927 that the 400,000,000 profit which Japan had made out of the Great War, had been frittered away and not left a trace...

Following the destruction of Kyoto during the civil wars of the late fifteenth century, large-scale panoramic paintings of the city began to emerge. These enormous and intricately detailed depictions of the ancient imperial capital were unprecedented in the history of Japanese painting and remain unmatched as representations of urban life in any artistic tradition. Capitalscapes, the first book-length study of the Kyoto screens, examines their inception in the sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries, focusing on the political motivations that sparked their creation. Close readings of the Kyoto screens reveal that they were initially commissioned by or for members of the Ashikaga shogunate and that urban panoramas reflecting the interests of both prevailing and moribund political elites were created to underscore the legitimacy of the newly ascendant Tokugawa regime. Matthew McKelway’s analysis of the screens exposes their creators’ masterful exploitation of ostensibly accurate depictions to convey politically biased images of Japan’s capital. His overarching methodology combines a historical approach, which considers the paintings in light of contemporary reports (diaries, chronicles, ritual accounts), with a thematic one, isolating individual motifs, deciphering their visual language, and comparing them with depictions in other works. McKelway’s combined approach allows him to argue that the Kyoto screens were conceived and perpetuated as a painting genre that conveyed specific political meanings to viewers even as it provided textured details of city life. Students and scholars of Japanese art will find this lavishly illustrated work especially valuable for its insights into the cityscape painting genre, while those interested in urban and political history will appreciate its bold exploration of Kyoto’s past and the city’s late-medieval martial elite.

"A welcome addition to any reading list for those interested in contemporary Japanese society." - Roger Goodman, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Society, University of Oxford "I know no better book for an accessible and up-to-date introduction to this complex subject than The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japan Studies." - Hiroko Takeda, Associate Professor, Organization for Global Japanese Studies, University of Tokyo "Pioneering and nuanced in analysis, yet highly accessible and engaging in style." - Yoshio Sugimoto, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies includes outstanding contributions from a diverse group of leading academics from across the globe. This volume is designed to serve as a major interdisciplinary reference work and a seminal text, both rigorous and accessible, to assist students and scholars in understanding one of the major nations of the world. James D. Babb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University.

Almost a millennium before the perfection of chado (the Way of Tea) by Sen Rikyu (1522-1591), the Chinese scholar-official Lu Yu (d. 785) wrote exhaustively about tea and its virtues. Grand Tea Master Sen Soshitsu begins his examination of tea's origins and development from the eighth century through the Heian and medieval eras. This volume illustrates that modes of thinking and practices now associated with the Japanese Way of Tea can be traced to China--where from the classical period tea was imbued with a spiritual quality.