Authors:
- Examines the old historical area of Edo, where Tokyo now stands
- Focuses on the literatary voice of eye witnesses and the resulting 'zuithitsu' chronicling
- Offers a unique insight into Japanese social, cultural, and political history, and the development of what was at the time the largest city in the world
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (6 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
About this book
This volume presents a series of five portraits of Edo, the central region of urban space today known as Tokyo, from the great fire of 1657 to the devastating earthquake of 1855. This book endeavors to allow Edo, or at least some of the voices that constituted Edo, to do most of the speaking. These voices become audible in the work of five Japanese eye-witness observers, who notated what they saw, heard, felt, tasted, experienced, and remembered. “An Eastern Stirrup,” presents a vivid portrait of the great conflagration of 1657 that nearly wiped out the city. “Tales of Long Long Ago,” details seventeenth-century warrior-class ways as depicted by a particularly conservative samurai. “The River of Time,” describes the city and its flourishing cultural and economic development during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. “The Spider’s Reel” looks back at both the attainments and calamities of Edo in the 1780s. Finally, “Disaster Days,” offers a meticulous account of Edo life among the ruins of the catastrophic 1855 tremor. Read in sequence, these five pieces offer a unique “insider’s perspective” on the city of Edo and early modern Japan.
Authors and Affiliations
-
University of Yamanashi, Kōfu, Japan
Gerald Groemer
About the author
Gerald Groemer is Professor of Japanese and Western Musicology at the University of Yamanashi in Kōfu, Japan. His previous books, both in Japanese and in English, have treated chiefly early modern Japanese culture, especially street performers and blind itinerant musicians. He has been awarded the Tanabe Prize twice for his Japanese-language monographs and the Koziumi Fumio Prize for his lifetime achievement.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Portraits of Edo and Early Modern Japan
Book Subtitle: The Shogun’s Capital in Zuihitsu Writings, 1657–1855
Authors: Gerald Groemer
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7376-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-13-7375-6Published: 11 June 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-13-7378-7Published: 14 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-981-13-7376-3Published: 28 May 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIX, 372
Number of Illustrations: 109 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Japan, Asian Literature, Urban History