Secret memoirs of the shoguns : Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822 / annotated and introduced by Timon Screech.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Screech, Timon.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japan--History--To 1868.

Japan.

History.

Japan--Social life and customs--1600-1868.

Manners and customs.

Titsingh, Isaac, 1744-1812.

Titsingh, Isaac.

Physical Description:

xiii, 265 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2006.

Summary:

Isaac Titsingh was intermittently head of the Japan factory [trading station] of the Dutch East India Company from 1779 to 1784. He was a career merchant, but unusual in having a classical education and training as a physician. His impact on Japan was enormous, but he left disappointed in the ability of the country to embrace change. After many years in Java, India and China, he came to London, then settled in Paris, where he devoted himself to compiling translations of prime Japanese texts. His is one of the most exciting anthologies of the period and reveals the almost unknown world of eighteenth-century Japan, discussing politics, history, poetry and rituals. Titsingh's Illustrations of Japan appeared posthumously in 1820-1822 in English, French and Dutch. This fully annotated edition makes selections from the original English version available for the first time in nearly two centuries.

Contents:

Part I Secret memoirs of the shoguns 75

1 Before the Tokugawa 77

2 Ieyasu, the Gongen, to Ietsugu 82

3 Yoshimune, the eighth shogun 99

4 Ieshige to Ienari 129

Part II Essays on Japanese civilisation 159

5 On the legal suicide of the Japanese 161

6 On Japanese poetry 163

7 The character of the Japanese people, and a history of East-West relations 171

Part III Other observations 183

8 'Secret Diary' of Isaac Titsingh 185

9 Titsingh's 'Philosophical Discourse' 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [257]-262) and index.

ISBN:

070071720X

OCLC:

57754289