Masterpieces on Japan by Foreign Authors

This open access book includes forty-one chapters about foreign observers' discourses on Japan. These include a wide range of perspectives from the travelogues of curious visitors to academic theses by scholars, which offer us a broad spectrum of contents, reflecting a variety of attitudes toward Japan. The works were written during the period from the 1850s to the 1980s, a timespan during which Japan became, in stages, more open to the outside world after a long isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate. From the perspective of Japanology, one can discern three distinct periods of rising interest in the country from abroad. The first tide of such interest came shortly after the opening of Japan, when various foreign travelers, including those who could not be included in this book, came over and wrote down their impressions of the countrywhich was, for them, a land of mystery and mystique, which had just opened its doors to them. The second wave arose at the beginning of the twentieth century, just after the Russo-Japanese War, when Japan again generated a remarkable surge of interest as a miracle in Asia that had pulled off the wondrous feat of defeating a white superpower. The third wave was more recent, which took place from the late 1960s to the 1980s, a period of high economic growth when the miracle of Japan's remarkable economic recovery from the defeat of World War II attracted enthusiastic and curious attention from the outside world once again. It is not the intention of this book to directly highlight such historical transitions, but these forty-two brilliant mirrors (forty-one chapters, including forty-two discourses), even when looked in casually, provide us with unexpected insights and various perspectives. Shichi Saeki (19222016) was Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo. Tru Haga (19312020) was Professor Emeritus, International Research Center for Japanese Studies.

This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access It contains 41 articles and 42 discourses on Japan seen through the eyes of non-Japanese authors. Works range from those in the mid-1850s to those in the mid-1980s. Appropriate for diplomats, business people and students interested in Japanese history and culture.

Autorentext

Shoichi Saeki

Shoichi Saeki was born on April 26, 1922 (Taisho 11) and graduated from the Department of English Literature at the University of Tokyo in 1943. He was a professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Tokyo, a professor at Chuo University, and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo (specializing in American and Japanese literature). He died on January 1, 2016 (Heisei 28). His major works include Nihonjin no jiden (Autobiography of the Japanese) (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1974), Monogatari geijutsu ron (Narrative Art Theory) (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1979), winner of the Yomiuri Literature Award, and Jiden no seiki (Century of Autobiography) Tokyo: Kodansha, 1985), awarded the Art Encouragement Prize.

Toru Haga

Toru Haga was born in 1931(Showa 6), and graduated from the University of Tokyo with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Culture. He specialized in comparative literature and modern Japanese comparative cultural history and was president emeritus of Kyoto University of Art and Design, director of the Okazaki City Museum of Art, and director of the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. He died in 2020 (Reiwa 2).His writings include Taikun no shisetsu (Mission of the Tycoon) (Tokyo: Chuko Shinsho, 1968); Watanabe Kazan (Tokyo: Asahi Sensho, 1974); Hiraga Gen'nai (Tokyo: Asahi Hyodensen, 1981), awarded the Suntory Prize for Arts and Letters; Kaiga no ryobun (The Domain of Art) (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1984), winner of the Osaragi Jiro Prize; Yosa Buson no chiisana sekai (The Little World of Yosa Buson); (Tokyo: Chuokoron Shinsha, 1984); Shiika no mori e (To Forest of Poetry) (Tokyo: Chuko Shinsho, 2002); and Geijutsu no kuni Nippon: Gabun kokyo (Japan-The Land of the Arts: A symphony of painting and literature) (Tokyo: Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan, 2010).

Klappentext

This open access book includes forty-one chapters about foreign observers discourses on Japan. These include a wide range of perspectives from the travelogues of curious visitors to academic theses by scholars, which offer us a broad spectrum of contents, reflecting a variety of attitudes toward Japan. The works were written during the period from the 1850s to the 1980s, a timespan during which Japan became, in stages, more open to the outside world after a long isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate. From the perspective of Japanology, one can discern three distinct periods of rising interest in the country from abroad. The first tide of such interest came shortly after the opening of Japan, when various foreign travelers, including those who could not be included in this book, came over and wrote down their impressions of the country which was, for them, a land of mystery and mystique, which had just opened its doors to them. The second wave arose at the beginning of the twentieth century, just after the Russo-Japanese War, when Japan again generated a remarkable surge of interest as a miracle in Asia that had pulled off the wondrous feat of defeating a white superpower. The third wave was more recent, which took place from the late 1960s to the 1980s, a period of high economic growth when the miracle of Japan s remarkable economic recovery from the defeat of World War II attracted enthusiastic and curious attention from the outside world once again. It is not the intention of this book to directly highlight such historical transitions, but these forty-two brilliant mirrors (forty-one chapters, including forty-two discourses), even when looked in casually, provide us with unexpected insights and various perspectives. Sh ichi Saeki (1922 2016) was Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo. T ru Haga (1931 2020) was Professor Emeritus, International Research Center for Japanese Studies.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, The Frigate Pallada.- Chapter 2. Sir Rutherford Alcock, The Capital of the Tycoon: A Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in Japan.- Chapter 3. Ernest Mason Satow, A Diplomat in Japan.- Chapter 4. William Elliot Griffis, The Mikado's Empire.- Chapter 5. Emile Etienne Guimet, Promenades Japonaises Tokio-Nikko, Félix Régamey, Japon.- Chapter 6. Huang Zunxian, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects from Japan.- Chapter 7. Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan.- Chapter 8. Percival Lowell, The Soul of the Far East.- Chapter 9. Pierre Loti, Japoneries d'automne.- Chapter 10. Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese.- Chapter 10. Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.- Chapter 11. Lady Fraser, A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan Letters from Home to Home.- Chapter 12. Ludwig Riess, Allerlei aus Japan.- Chapter 13. Erwin von Bälz (Baelz), Erwin von Bälz. Das Leben eines deutschen Arztes im erwachenden Japan.- Chapter 14. Muaf Kmil Pasha, Al-Shams al-Mushriqa (Rising Sun).- Chapter 15. Ernest Francisco Fenollosa, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art: An Outline History of East Asiatic Design.- Chapter 16. Edward Sylvester Morse, Japan Day by Day 1877, 1878-79, 1882-83.- Chapter 17. Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism.- Chapter 18. Wenceslau de Moraes, Ó-Yoné e Ko-Haru.- Chapter 19. Paul Claudel, L'Oiseau noir dans le Soleil levant.- Chapter 20. Dai Jitao, Theory of Japan.- Chapter 21. Zhou Zuoren, A Personal View of Japan.- Chapter 22. Lady Sansom, Living in Tokyo.- Chapter 23. Bruno Taut, Das japanische Haus und sein Leben.- Chapter 24. Joseph Clark Grew, Ten Years in Japan: A Contemporary Record Drawn from the Diaries and Private and Official Papers of Joseph C. Grew, United States Ambassador to Japan, 19321942.- Chapter 25. Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture.- Chapter 26. Leocadio de Asis, From Bataa…