Product Description
In this evaluation of the estate system, which has long been recognized as the central economic institution of medieval Japan, Thomas Keirstead argues that estates, or "shoen", constituted more than a type of landownership. Through an examination of rent rolls, land registers, maps and other data describing individual estates, he reveals a cultural framework, one that produced and shaped meaning for residents and proprietors. Keirstead's discussion of peasant uprisings shows that the system, however, did not define a stable, closed structure, but was built upon contested terrain. Drawing on the works of Foucault, de Certeau and Geertz, among others, this book illuminates the presuppositions about space and society that underwrote estate holding. It traces how the system reordered the social and physical landscape, establishing identity for both rulers and subjects. Estate holders, seeking to counter the fluid movement of populations across estate boundaries, pressed into service a social distinction between "peasants" and "wanderers". Peasant rebels made use of the fiction that the estate comprised a natural community in order to resist proprietorial exactions.In these instances, Keirstead contends, the estate system reveals its governing logic: social and political divisions were articulated in spatial terms; power was exercised (and contested) through geography. ... Read more

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Enjoy a successful trip to Japan by having an understanding of its fascinating culture

Japan Made Easy contains essential information, practical advice, and hundreds of dos and don'ts that help you get the most of your business or vacation trips to Japan. This book covers hundreds of the little things that often make the difference between a wonderful experience and a terrible one. Organized into chapters that focus on practical concerns for travelers to Japan, such as hotels, dining, and shopping, it is filled with practical information designed to smooth your way through routine as well as unexpected events. It is also a practical guide to key life customs in Japan and includes useful insights into the “whys” of typical Japanese behavior.

Japan Made Easy pinpoints a wide range of the special pleasures of Japan--literally hundreds of things, large and small, that make living and traveling in today's Japan fascinating and satisfying--when you cross the cultural bridge.

• Chapters focus on practical topics of specific interest to travelers to Japan.
• Provides helpful information such as how to use chopsticks, reading important signs, and what to do if you're arrested.
• Each chapter provides useful phrases or vocabulary.
• Free 15-minute download features some useful phrases in Japanese from each chapter.

Topics include:
The Basics of Japan; Smelling the Chrysanthemums; Advance Planning; When to Go and What to Take; Reservations and Other Details; Playing It Safe; Dealing with Emergencies; Money Matters; Japan’s International Airports; Hotel Matters; Inn Matters; Communicating with the Japanese; Mastering Japan’s Maze; Reading Important Signs; Dining In and Out; Nighttime Entertainment; Transportation Treats and Trials; Using Telephones; Driving in Japan; Shopping Scenarios; Toilet Pointers; Gift-Giving Etiquette; In a Japanese Home; Mailing Things; Pronunciation Guide; The Pleasures of Japan; Useful Information

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The growing political influence and economic might of the East Asian countries - China, Korea and Japan - makes a thorough knowledge of them essential. But if we are to understand these societies, we need to look beyond recent times to the history of the region. For civilization in East Asia is nearly 4,000 years old, and its origins lie deep in the prehistoric past. This book is a synthesis of East Asian archaeology and early history. Drawing on new evidence, it charts the developments that culminated in the emergence of the region as a coherent entity, with a shared religion (Buddhism), state philosophy (Confucianism) and bureaucratic structure. The narrative begins over a million years ago, when early humans first colonized the Far East, and continues through the growth of fishing and farming societies at the end of the Ice Age to the rise of social elites during the Bronze Age, and the emergence of civilization in Shang, Zhou and Han China.Korea and Japan, though greatly influenced by the immense mainland empire, took their own paths towards civilization, first apparent in early states - Korea's Koguryo, Shilla and Paekche and Japan's Yamato - that emerged in the 4th century AD. Copious photographs and drawings - from vibrant Jomon ceramics to the first Chinese Emperor's terracotta army - complement the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent and surprisingly gripping
(This book has been republished with the title, "The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: The Archaeology of China, Korea and Japan." Somehow it's not available yet on Amazon, but I already bought a copy here in Korea.)

I did not expect to enjoy this book, but surprisingly it sucked me in and I found myself reading most of it on a night that I really needed to sleep.

Even so, we don't buy archaeology books for entertainment. Most of us, anyway. The information in this book is great. If you are not a scholar of archaeology, I recommend trying this one before more detailed explorations.

The regional perspective is one of the book's greatest strengths. There were so many interactions between the cultures of China, Korea and Japan that I recommending beginning by studying the cultures broadly. After you have the bigger picture, you can explore the details more closely with books like Sarah Nelson's The Archaeology of Korea (Cambridge World Archaeology).

The breadth is another. Not only are settlement patterns and diets explored, but also architecture, symbolism, trade, and the exchange of ideas. Barnes considers textual evidence when it's available, and unlike some of the nationalistic scholars in this field, she does not simply take the texts at their word. The book reads so smoothly as it traces the development of the region from nomadic paleolithic cultures to large iron age states--it's almost as if it has a plot.

According to information on the back page, she wrote this to use as a textbook at Cambridge University, which probably explains why it's so readable. Unlike most academic books, this was written for students, not other scholars. If you are a scholar, surely you're familiar with the most recent discoveries and interpretations, and you'll get little from this book. But if you are new to the field, this is almost certainly the best book you'll find on the topic. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by American Geographical Society on April 1, 1999. The length of the article is 8061 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: MAPS AND METAPHORS OF THE "SMALL EASTERN SEA" IN TOKUGAWA JAPAN (1603-1868) [*].
Author: Marcia Yonemoto
Publication: The Geographical Review (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 1999
Publisher: American Geographical Society
Volume: 89Issue: 2Page: 169

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description

Water control is essential to Japan, as more than half of its invested capital is concentrated in elevations under sea level and the majority of the island nation is exceptionally vulnerable to flooding. To avoid potential crisis, the Japanese have developed exceptionally innovative water management practices. Offering the unique perspective of Dutch engineers, considered the world’s most progressive urban water experts, this volume provide a detailed look at how Japan has developed its modern water system. It looks at the system of Tokyo city, discusses river management practices and urban flood control throughout the country, and considers the impact that these innovations have had on delta regions.

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This user-friendly textbook provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic geography of contemporary Japan. Ranging from the post-war period to prospects for the future, and with chapters on key factors such as agriculture, demography, transportation, industrialisation, labour markets, energy, regional development and urbanisation, Bart van der Knaap explores the regional dynamics of Japan by analyzing the evolution of three interrelated transformations: the transformation of a rural society towards an industrial society; the transformation of the industrial economy and an emerging urban society; and, the transformation of the urban society towards a service economy. Highly illustrated and including many pedagogical features, this book will appeal to students of Japanese economic geography and development. ... Read more

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Modern Japan offers us a view of a highly developed society with its own internal logic. Eiko Ikegami makes this logic accessible to us through a sweeping investigation into the roots of Japanese organizational structures. She accomplishes this by focusing on the diverse roles that the samurai have played in Japanese history. From their rise in ancient Japan, through their dominance as warrior lords in the medieval period, and their subsequent transformation to quasi-bureaucrats at the beginning of the Tokugawa era, the samurai held center stage in Japan until their abolishment after the opening up of Japan in the mid-nineteenth century.

This book demonstrates how Japan's so-called harmonious collective culture is paradoxically connected with a history of conflict. Ikegami contends that contemporary Japanese culture is based upon two remarkably complementary ingredients, honorable competition and honorable collaboration. The historical roots of this situation can be found in the process of state formation, along very different lines from that seen in Europe at around the same time. The solution that emerged out of the turbulent beginnings of the Tokugawa state was a transformation of the samurai into a hereditary class of vassal-bureaucrats, a solution that would have many unexpected ramifications for subsequent centuries.

Ikegami's approach, while sociological, draws on anthropological and historical methods to provide an answer to the question of how the Japanese managed to achieve modernity without traveling the route taken by Western countries. The result is a work of enormous depth and sensitivity that will facilitate a better understanding of, and appreciation for, Japanese society.

Customer Reviews (5)

Interesting and Useful
This is a work of historical sociology.The author is not a historian but rather a sociologist interested in state formation and the relationship between ideology and social structure.This book is not based on novel archival research but is rather a very thorough and insightful analysis of the historical literature on the samurai class.Ikegami covers a broad swathe of Japanese history from the emergence of the Samurai to the fall of the Tokugawa state in the mid-19th century.Ikegami discusses the emergence of the Samurai during the late Heian period, the emergence of the first Shogunal state, its decay into the Warring states period, the unification, and the development of the Tokugawa state.Drawing on the work of a large number of Japanese and non-Japanese scholars, Ikegami offers a very thoughtful and concise analysis of the history of the Samurai and how a relatively centralized Samurai dominated polity came into being.Ikegami's narrative and analysis of the broad sweep of Japanese history is the best part of this book.She shows very nicely how the apparent paradox of the relatively powerful, centralized state based on military vassalage came into being.The discussion, in particular, of the structure of the Tokugawa state with its core of "bureaucratic vassalage" is particularly good.In the course of this narrative, Ikegami makes some additional insightful points.She points out, for example, that Confucianism was not particularly influential in Japan and only began to make substantial inroads after the formation of the Tokugawa state.She suggests that the spread of Confucianism in Tokugawa Japan was an example of the relative intellectual pluralism of Tokugawa Japan and that this pluralism and relative openness to new ideas would be important in meeting the subsequent challenges of the Western world.This is much more convincing than the facile description of Japanese success as a function of it being a Confucian society.

In Ikegami's analysis, the Samurai code of honor played a key role within the Samurai class.Fundamentally, she sees the concept of honor and its interpretations as being an ideological glue for the master-vassal relationship of the Samurai class.While never completely coherent, the code of honor was usually a way to reconcile subservience to masters with a form of personal autonomy.Ikegami shows very well the historically dynamic nature of the code of honor and how it changed with the changing position of the Samurai in Japanese society.This is a thoughtful and careful analysis.This analysis is also the major defect of the book.While insightful, it is also rather repetitive.As a sociologist and not a historian, Ikegami apparently felt compelled to include some theoretical discussions.At least by my standards, there isn't that much to this kind of theorizing that isn't basic common sense and much of this discussion could have been presented in a more concise and clear manner.

Fascinating historical analysis...
...of the origin and ongoing evolution of the Samurai class in Japan.

I'd always thought that, despite congruences with warrior classes in other cultures, the Samurai were unique in a lot of ways. Certainly, no other warrior class ruled their society for 800 years.

Ms. Ikegami's book now informs me that they were unique in different ways, at different times, and frequently subject to unique stressors and sociological conditions. The changes in the samurai, from reputation-and-power-seeking free agentsto powerful rulers, lords and warlords, finally to confucianist administrators in the Tokugawa shogunate, demonstrate remarkable adaptivity. The author describes these changes against the background of Japanese state formation. People more qualified than myself seem to think her approach is revelatory.

I had thought there would be more material documenting how the twin motors of bushido, honor-seeking and service-owing have been internalized in modern Japanese culture, but that final section was not in great depth. In any event, it was still an eye-opener, viewing the early stages of the class, and of bushido...anyone who has ever thought the Japanese culture inculcates only conformity, shame-aversion and discipline has gotten things badly wrong. (except for the discipline part)

As to the difficulty factor, Ms. Ikegami's ideas can be followed, and her historical attributions, while not dense, certainly seem sound. That said, parts of the book sounded very much like they were aimed at a dissertation-review committee rather than 'people interested in the samurai'. If you've ever read any dissertations-turned-general-release-books, you'll know how to wade through.

Excellent, but not for the novice
This was one of the first studies on the samurai I ever read, and it proved a very tough read, yet rewarding as well. Now that I know much more than I did on the topic back then I've re-read this book, and it's reaffirmed how great it is.

As the other reviewer states, this is a sociological study of the samurai rather than a history book, so this is not the book for you if you are after a rundown on the history of the samurai - for that I'd recommend you pickup the three Sansom 'History of Japan' books. This book instead deals with the warrior class of Japan's evolution sociologically, focussing primarily on the evolution that the class undertook during the Edo period of Japan, after the great civil war was over.

During these final two centuries of samurai rule there were no large scale battles to be fought, and with a ruling class whose right to rule was based on it's warrior status & lineage this created many tensions in society, requiring a series of changes that took place over the years aimed at refocussing what it meant to be a samurai. It is with this topic that Eiko Ikegami excels and what makes this book such an interesting read.

Though it may not be a history book, it does contain many historical case studies and even has chapters devoted to several of the more well known samurai incidents & works, including the case of the 47 ronin & the infamous Hagakure. The Hagakure section in particular is fantastic, being the first text on this topic I've read that doesn't either take it at face value or outright dismiss it as garbage. Instead Eiko interprets it as it should be interpreted - the work of a man who was struggling to envision the meaning of being a samurai during times of peace.

I really can't recommend this book enough if you have an interest in this area of the samurai, though I'd definitely recommend that you are already familiar with the basic history of the samurai beforehand.

A modern classic, essential to understanding Japan
Professor Ikegami examines the evolution of the samurai as a social institution from its beginnings nearly 1,000 years ago up to the formal dissolution of the samurai in the late 19th century, as well as the continuing influence of samurai society on modern Japan. She shows that the concept of honor was central to the samurai throughout their history, but also demonstrates that their concepts of honor changed greatly. The samurai are presented not as distant, inscrutable creatures of a mysterious culture but as human beings constructing and living within a society adapted to their needs and circumstances. Their combination of ferocity and refinement are made comprehensible.

Along the way she presents important and insightful analyses of such familiar aspects of samurai life as ritual suicide, bushido, the _Hagakure_, and the story of the revenge of the 47 ronin.

The book begins with a section in which Ikegami sets out her analytical structure and theses. This may seem dry to some, but it is important in introducing concepts that run through the subsequent narrative. The bulk of the book consists of a chronologically arranged history of the development of samurai society, based in a wide range of Japanese and western sources.

The book is well written and has many touches to aid the reader (such as reminders of the meanings of key Japanese terms and avoidance of unexplained jargon). Nevertheless, the density of the argument and facts demand careful and thoughtful reading.

As the title should suggest, this is not a book for the novice, unfamiliar with the broad outlines of Japanese history. Nor is it a military history of the samurai.

Will O'Neil

Sociological Emphasis
It was difficult for me to finish this book.I am relatively new to the samurai culture as well as Japan in general.Though the book brings some interesting facts to light that interest the beginner enthusiast, it's depth of sociological theory and comparison proved dry and monotonous at times.My impressions were largely influenced by the fact that I have yet to read, or be instructed about Japanese history as well as ethics and politics in Japanese culture.

In short, before tackling this book pick up a couple of textbook-style history books concerning "feudal" Japan and foster a solid understanding and following of it before reading this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Buddhism was a fact of life and death during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868): every household was expected to be affiliated with a Buddhist temple, and every citizen had to be given a Buddhist funeral. The enduring relationship between temples and their affiliated households gave rise to the danka system of funerary patronage.

This private custom became a public institution when the Tokugawa shogunate discovered an effective means by which to control the populace and prevent the spread of ideologies potentially dangerous to its power--especially Christianity. Despite its lack of legal status, the danka system was applied to the entire population without exception; it became for the government a potent tool of social order and for the Buddhist establishment a practical way to ensure its survival within the socioeconomic context of early modern Japan.

In this study, Nam-lin Hur follows the historical development of the danka system and details the intricate interplay of social forces, political concerns, and religious beliefs that drove this "economy of death" and buttressed the Tokugawa governing system. With meticulous research and careful analysis, Hur demonstrates how Buddhist death left its mark firmly upon the world of the Tokugawa Japanese.

Customer Reviews (1)

Digging Up Dirt on "Decadent" Buddhism
I've been dying for a book on this subject to be published. Books on Tokugawa Buddhism are scarce enough anyway, and the development of the danka system during this era (whereby every Japanese household became affiliated with a temple and depended on that temple for its funeral and memorial rites) is in and of itself a major aspect of Japanese Buddhist history worthy of study as well as indispensable in understanding contemporary Japanese Buddhism accurately--the way you'd see real temples actually functioning if you stepped off a plane today and checked them out. So I was glad enough to see such a large, authoritative-looking book by an academic press focused on this understudied important subject, and that by an author whose prior book (Prayer and Play in Late Tokugawa Japan: Asakusa Sensoji and Edo Society) I enjoyed thoroughly. I was in for a grave disappointment.

Well, not totally. The book is carefully and meticulously researched, certainly. A lot of work has clearly gone into it, including painstaking readings in difficult primary materials and extensive consideration of the findings of Japanese experts in this field (some of which can be pretty dry)--all of this Hur makes available in English probably for the first time. In Part I he discusses and analyzes the origins and development of the danka system along with the Tokugawa government's shifting religious policies in fine detail, clarifying in a satisfyingly convincing manner the complex contours of a process that usually gets sketched out in rough, inaccurate outlines. And fascinating incidents, events, and citations fill the book's pages from Intro to Conclusion.

So far so good, and yet much of this effort is subverted from within by the author's careless and faulty if not obsolete analysis. Tokugawa Buddhism has been understudied in the first place because it was dismissively characterized as corrupt and decadent, particularly by Tsuji Zennosuke in the 1950's. Recent studies have finally started overcoming this, and yet Hur takes us right back to the old times, setting up an idealized, abstracted Buddhism somehow above politics and economics, institutionally and doctrinally watertight, and dedicated to the spiritual enlightenment of the individual. Whenever actual Buddhism fails to live up to this phantom ideal to which it never aspired, it is harshly taken to task by Hur as decedent and corrupt or derided as tainted and syncretistic. Sometimes this results in overwrought, sophomoric posturing on the author's part as he denounces what he perceives as Buddhist abuses with self-righteous and vaguely unscholarly prose. Along these lines, the polemical criticisms of Buddhism and Buddhists by Confucian scholars and government officials are often accepted at face value as fact plain and simple.

Hur consistently and rather simplistically treats Buddhism, Shinto, and even Shugendo as distinct, mutually impermeable entities when so much scholarship over the last few decades has shown the pitfalls of this, especially when dealing with Japanese religious history before 1868, and this often skews his analysis badly. This goes for different Buddhist schools as well, and anachronistically assuming them to be self-contained and mutually exclusive in doctrine and ritual creates all sorts of analytical distortions and even factual errors (Todaiji has never belonged to the Tendai school despite what Hur says on page 176, misled perhaps because "Tendai"-style Lotus Repentance Rites were performed there in the Heian period). Certain problematic sources such as the anthropologist Yanagita Kunio are quoted straightforwardly and uncritically, and the methodological blunder is constantly made of referring to rituals and texts and taking them to be what "the Japanese" literally believed just as is--such is never a safe extrapolation. Finally, some errors are just weird, as when on page 166 Hur claims that the Japanese didn't practice cremation widely (?!) because it "posed an affront to the resurrection of the body"--a jarringly Christian concept bizarrely out of context.

What went wrong here? Does Hur have some kind of axe to grind with Buddhism? Was he so busy writing this massive study that he didn't bother reading other works in his field? Did he not notice that his critique of Tsuji Zennosuke is by and large a self-critique? Whatever the case may be, the end result is a much-needed study with loads of relevant and intriguing material sadly sabotaged for the most part by a host of serious if not quite deadly disorders. ... Read more

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The intent in compiling this bibliography was to bring the attention of Western geographers and other interested scholars those geographical writings of the Japanese which have appeared in the 20th century. ... Read more

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Magisterial in vision, sweeping in scope, this monumental work presents a seamless account of Japanese society during the modern era, from 1600 to the present. A distillation of more than fifty years' engagement with Japan and its history, it is the crowning work of our leading interpreter of the modern Japanese experience.

Since 1600 Japan has undergone three periods of wrenching social and institutional change, following the imposition of hegemonic order on feudal society by the Tokugawa shogun; the opening of Japan's ports by Commodore Perry; and defeat in World War II. The Making of Modern Japan charts these changes: the social engineering begun with the founding of the shogunate in 1600, the emergence of village and castle towns with consumer populations, and the diffusion of samurai values in the culture.

Jansen covers the making of the modern state, the adaptation of Western models, growing international trade, the broadening opportunity in Japanese society with industrialization, and the postwar occupation reforms imposed by General MacArthur. Throughout, the book gives voice to the individuals and views that have shaped the actions and beliefs of the Japanese, with writers, artists, and thinkers, as well as political leaders given their due.

The story this book tells, though marked by profound changes, is also one of remarkable consistency, in which continuities outweigh upheavals in the development of society, and successive waves of outside influence have only served to strengthen a sense of what is unique and native to Japanese experience. The Making of Modern Japan takes us to the core of this experience as it illuminates one of the contemporary world's most compelling transformations.

Customer Reviews (11)

Great buy! Perfect condition!
Great buy! Perfect condition! I am very happy with my purchase. This book was from a bay area high school library, so it was probably never opened.

Big, rich source of Japanese history
This big book has a large amount of deeply rich information about Japan from the earliest times of the Shogun to almost current times. If you want to learn about Japanese history and have the time to read about it, this is the book for you. It is an intricate work where the author interweaves a myriad of facts and occurrences into a fine source of Japanese history for any student. It has become an important source for my research about this nation.

Exasperating -- but worth the slog
What an exasperating book. At times, The Making of Modern Japan is a joy to read, filled with wonderful translations of primary sources and with Jansen's own wry asides. At others, the prose is painfully academic. It's almost like it was written by different authors. I found the first quarter of the book, a detailed description of the Tokugawa status quo on the eve of revolutionary change, to be deadly dull - 200 pages of sentences, none of which seemed to contain verbs. As the action increases - and Japan begins to reform in the face of foreign pressure - the book gets better. But even here the prose can be deadly. Readers approaching Jansen's otherwise interesting survey of Meiji culture must first get past this sentence, standing like a sentinel at the start of Chapter 14 waiting to bludgeon them senseless: "Histories of Meiji Japan usually follow a periodization derived from the construction of the modern nation-state.'' I found myself crying: "Stop this man before he writes `periodization' again!" But Jansen's immense knowledge, judicious analysis and well-chosen excerpts redeem the book. I loved the Japanese scholar who, upon encountering Western learning, describes the joy of discovery as "sweet as sugar cane.'' I was thunderstruck by the 19th century writer who sounds like Saruman ranting in Isengard as he extols the glories of environmental destruction: "The smoke coiling up from thousands of chimneys will obscure the sun. Ship masts will be as numerous as trees in a forest. The sound of drills, levers and hammers will be orchestrated with the echoes of steam engines...How delightful it will be!" The book also concludes with a lengthy and useful list of recommended reading. For readers who want a comprehensive, balanced and at times delightful introduction to the events that made modern Japan, this book is worth the slog. But a slog it sometimes is.

Thorough and informative
I bought this book for reference while taking a Modern History of Asia class - I ended up reading the whole thing! Informative, interesting and a great resource for the 3 papers on Japan I wrote.

Absolutely facinating to students of Japanese History
I could not put this book down once I started reading it. Anyone looking for details from the end of the Edo era through the Allied Occupation follwing WWII will not be able to find a better book than this. ... Read more

Product Description
This title is suitable for ages 9 to 14 years. Spectacular new photographs highlight this new edition of "Japan: The Culture". Fascinating aspects of Japanese theatre, festivals, and fine arts are explained in clear, concise text. ... Read more