Unsung heroes of old Japan / Michifumi Isoda ; translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Isoda, Michifumi, 1970- author.

Contributor:

Carpenter, Juliet Winters, translator.

Series:

Japan library (Shuppan Bunka Sangyō Shinkō Zaidan)

Japan library

Standardized Title:

Mushi no Nihonjin. English

無私の日本人. English http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n2017030860

Language:

English

Japanese

Subjects (All):

History.

Japan.

Kokudaya, Jūzaburō, 1720-1777.

Kokudaya, Jūzaburō.

Nakane, Tōri, 1694-1765.

Nakane, Tōri.

Rengetsu, 1791-1875.

Rengetsu.

Japan--History--Tokugawa period, 1600-1868--Biography.

Japan--History--18th century--Biography.

Japan--History--19th century--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

207 pages ; 22 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Tokyo : Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2017.

Language Note:

Translated from the original Japanese into English.

Summary:

"True stories of three little-known Japanese of the Edo period who lived lives of sublime selflessness and purity, blurring the boundary between self and others. Merchant Kokudaya Jūzaburō comes up with a brilliant scheme to rescue his dying town from poverty. He and others go deep into debt, risking all to raise money for the cash-strapped daimyo and receive annual interest in return. Prodigious scholar and former Zen monk Nakane Tōri refuses a government post and elects to live in abject poverty, weaving sandals. Though perhaps the age's greatest poet, he throws his works into the fire and ends his days teaching in a country village. Ōtagaki Rengetsu, a noted beauty in Kyoto, loses two husbands and five children. She becomes a Buddhist nun and devotes her life to poetry and pottery. With her savings she feeds the hungry and builds a bridge across Kamo River"--Publisher's website.

Contents:

Kokudaya Jūzaburō (1719-1777)

Nakane Tōri (1694-1765)

Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page 206).

ISBN:

9784916055767

4916055764

OCLC:

981913772