Table of Contents

Preface Measures Currencies Maps Part 1: Buyo Inshi and His Times Part 2: Matters of the World: An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by Buyo Inshi Prologue 1. Introduction. Warriors 2. Farmers 3. Temple and Shrine Priests 4. The Blind. Lawsuits 5. Townspeople. Lower Townspeople 6. Pleasure Districts and Prostitutes. Kabuki 7. Pariahs and Outcasts. On Japan Being Called a Divine Land. The Land, People, and Ruler Editions and References Contributors Index

Promotional Information

In 1816, an anonymous samurai produced a scathing critique of Edo society. Writing as Buyo Inshi, "a retired gentleman of Edo," he expressed a profound despair with the state of the realm. Although he saw decay wherever he turned, Buyo also provided a vivid, wide-ranging picture of Edo life. This abridged edition streamlines the original translation for classroom use, preserving the scope and emphasis of Buyo's argument while eliminating repetitions and diversions.

About the Author

Mark Teeuwen is professor in Japanese studies at the University of Oslo. He is a historian of Japanese religion, with special focus on the history of Shinto. Kate Wildman Nakai is professor emerita at Sophia University, Tokyo. Her research focuses on Tokugawa and modern history, with an emphasis on intellectual developments. Fumiko Miyazaki is professor emerita at Keisen University in Tokyo. Her research focuses on Tokugawa religion and society. Anne Walthall is professor emerita at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on society and gender during the Tokugawa period. John Breen is a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, where he edits the journal Japan Review. His research focuses on issues of state and religion in Japan.

Reviews

This is not the familiar Edo-period Japan you've studied in class. It is instead a cynical, critical, no-holds-barred account of all that an observant samurai found wrong with his society. Corruption, degeneration, destitution, monks on the make: it is a world in decline that he depicts, and the superb introduction puts it all in context. Things may not have been quite as he says, but this is firsthand testimony from somebody who was there and it lays barethe mentalities of the age. -- Peter Kornicki, University of Cambridge What better way to explore the riches of Japanese society before its "opening" to the West than through this masterful translation of one of the most colorful social commentaries of the time? Student and scholar alike will treasure this volume. -- Daniel Botsman, Yale University