In this Book

Musashino in Tuscany: Japanese Overseas Travel Literature, 1860–1912

Book
Susanna Fessler
2020
Published by: University of Michigan Press
Series: Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies
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summary
By the late Meiji period Japanese were venturing abroad in great numbers, and some of those who traveled kept diaries and wrote formal travelogues. These travelogues reflected a changing view of the West and changing artistic sensibilities in the long-standing Japanese literary tradition of travel writing (kikoōbungaku). This book shows that overseas Meiji-period travel writers struck out to create a dynamic new type of travel literature, one that had a solid foundation in traditional Japanese kikōbungaku yet also displayed influence from the West.
Musashino in Tuscany specifically examines the poetic imagery and allusion in these travelogues and reveals that when Japanese traveled to the West in the mid-nineteenth century, the images they wrote about tended to be associated not with places initially discovered by the Japanese traveler but with places that already existed in Western fame and lore. And unlike imagery from Japanese traveling in Japan, which was predominantly nature based, Japanese overseas travel imagery was often associated with the manmade world.

Table of Contents

open access

Cover

Half Title Page

pp. i

Series Page

pp. ii

Title Page

pp. iii

Copyright

pp. iv

Dedication

pp. v-vi

Contents

pp. vii-viii

Illustrations

pp. ix-x

Preface

pp. xi-xii

Introduction

pp. 1-10

1. A Brief History of Japanese Travel and Travel Writing

pp. 11-49

2. New Lands: The Early Travelogues, 1860–80

pp. 50-119

3. Transitions: Mid-Meiji Travelogues, 1880–1900

pp. 120-177

4. Assimilation: Late Meiji Travelogues, 1900–1912

pp. 178-245

Conclusion

pp. 246-250

Glossary

pp. 251-255

Character List for Proper Nouns

pp. 256-261

Character List for Titles

pp. 262-271

Bibliography

pp. 272-282

Index

pp. 283-296

About the Author

pp. 297-298
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