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Foreign Images and Experiences of Japan
1: First Century AD - 1841
Author:
The first in a three-volume series, Volume 1 begins with the earliest written reports from China in the first century AD and ends with a survey of Dutch reports from 1841, which marks the point when ‘Japan had been amply described in all major respects’, and at a time when it began to be perceived as a less remote and more important country in Western eyes ‘yet still emphatically closed to all foreign trade except that of the Dutch and the Chinese’. Furthermore, in little more than a decade later the number and variety of accounts were to increase greatly following the American, Russian and British expeditions of 1853/54 – accounts which are to form a key element of Volume 2. The Contents are divided into two parts: chronological and thematic. Part I is devoted to a discussion and analysis of the dominant views and images of Japan found in each historical era. It also provides brief biographical data about those European and American travellers to Japan whose reports are quoted in Part II, including some sixty eyewitness accounts, along with concise summaries and commentaries. Compared to previous surveys, a significant aspect of this volume is the greater amount of biographical information regarding the leading European visitors to Japan that is provided, together with a concise analysis and evaluation of their original accounts by both contemporary and more recent critics. As a further innovation, excerpts from the reports of Russian visitors to Japan, including Adam Laxman and V.M.Golvnin are quoted for the first time alongside those of West European and American accounts. The volume is supported by a significant Glossary and Bibliography, as well as Subject and Name/Place Indexes.
William McOmie graduated in psychobiology at the University of California at Santa Cruz and received an MA in Russian language, literature and history from the University of California at Davis. He subsequently travelled and lived abroad, studying German and Japanese to an advanced level. For the last ten years he has been accessing primary sources in English, Russian, German and Dutch for the writing of this book, most recently as a visiting scholar at the Center for Japanese Studies,at the University of California, Berkley (2001-2). He is currently Associate Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Kanagawa University, Japan, and is also author of the forthcoming The Opening of Japan, 1853-55. A comparative study of the American, British and Russian campaigns to force the Tokugawa shogunate to conclude treaties and open ports to their ships (Global Oriental, 2005).
Introduction; Acknowledgements; List of Plates and Credits; PART ONE: CHRONOLOGICAL PERIODS; Chapter 1. Chinese and European Views of and Relations with Japan: first century to c.1550; Chapter 2. European Experiences and Views of Japan, 1543–1685; Chapter 3. European Experiences and Views of Japan, 1690–1791; Chapter 4. European Experiences and Views of Japan, 1792–1841; PART TWO: TOPICAL DIVISIONS; Chapter 5. History • Government • Civilization; Chapter 6. Law and Order • Crime and Punishment; Chapter 7. General Descriptions • Flora • Fauna • Agriculture • Travel; Chapter 8. Appearance and Dress of the People; Chapter 9. Character of the People; Chapter 10. Food, Drink and Tobacco; Chapter 11. Bathing and Washing • Licentiousness and Immorality; Chapter 12. Social Classes and Relations; Chapter 13. Religion and Superstition • Temples and Shrines; Chapter 14. Arts and Technology; Chapter 15. Houses and Shops • Castles and Palaces; Chapter 16. Cities and Towns; Chapter 17. Customs and Anti-Customs • Health and Longevity; Chapter 18. Language and Learning Skills; Chapter 19. Festivals and Holidays • Funerals and Mourning; Chapter 20. Audiences and Inspections; Glossary; Bibliography; Subject Index; Name/Place Index
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