Volume VIII Number 1 CONTENTS May 2000

From the Editors' Desk 編纂者から

Back Issues and Publication Schedule 2

Articles 論文

The Study of Women in Early Modern : An Introduction with Bibliography by Anne Walthall 2 The End of History? Sunday Night on NHK by B.M. Bodart- 5

Book Reviews 書評

Edo Tōkyō Hakubutsukan 江戸東京博物館 [The - Museum]. Sankin kōtai: kyodai toshi Edo no naritachi 参勤交代：巨大都市江戸のなりたち [The System of Alternate Attendance: Origin of the Edo Megalopolis] by Morgan Pitelka 8

Selçuk Esenbel, Even the Gods Rebel: The Peasants of Takaino and the 1871 Nakano Uprising in Japan by Brian Platt 12

Marleen Kassel, Tokugawa Confucian Education: The Kangien Academy of Hirose Tansō (1782-1856) by Herman Ooms 15

Book Notes, Etc. 研究書ノート等 Kouichi Residence Groups and Rank-Order Consciousness in Early Modern Japan 18 Fukuda Chizuru The Early Modern Order and the Daimyo House Disturbances 19

MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 1

Editors

Philip C. Brown Ohio State University

Lawrence Marceau University of DelDelaaawareware

Editorial Board

Sumie Jones Indiana University

Ronald Toby University of Illinois

For subscription information please refer to the end page

The editors welcome preliminary inquiries about manuscripts for publication in Early Modern Japan. Please send queries to Philip Brown, Early Modern Japan. Department of History, Ohio State University, 230 West 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 or, via e-mail to [email protected].

Books for review and inquiries regarding book reviews, please contact Lawrence Marceau, Review Editor, Early Modern Japan, Foreign Languages & Literatures, Smith Hall 326, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716-2550. E-mail correspondence may be sent to [email protected].

Subscribers wishing to review books are encouraged to specify their interests on the sub- scriber information form.

MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 2

From the Editors' Desk e-mail and postal address are noted on the inside of the front cover of the journal. 編纂者から TThehe SStudytudy of WomenWomen in EEarlyarly Back Issues and Publication Schedule: When Early Modern Japan resumed publica- MModeodeodernrn JJapan:apan: An tion last year, two issues arose that we did not IntroduIntroduccctiontion with BBibliographyibliography fully anticipate. The first was a large number Anne Walthall of requests for back issues. As editors we were very pleased with the level of interest in EMJ that University of California, Irvine these requests revealed. At the moment, how- ever, we have very few copies of back issues left. As a field, the English-language study of Other than file copies, most are completely gone. women in Japanese history is barely ten years old. To ameliorate this situation, we plan to place ear- This despite early attempts to trace the history of lier issues of Oboegaki (EMJ’s predecessor) and women in Japan, one by Mary R. Beard, The EMJ on our web site in the near future. Please Force of Women in Japanese History (Washing- check: ton, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1953) that includes http://emjnet.history.ohio-state.edu/. a chapter on the Tokugawa period (pp. 94-140) On a different note, we found that a number of and the other by Joyce Ackroyd, “Women in subscribers (especially libraries) were confused Feudal Japan” in Transactions of the Asiatic So- by our use of a new volume number. Where, ciety of Japan 3rd series vol. 7 (1959). Follow- they wondered, was Volume VI, Number 2? ing a hiatus of over twenty years, a few books The answer was that VI:2 was never published. and articles began to appear, heralded by Edwin We also made a decision that for the moment, we McClellan, Woman in the Crested Kimono: The would publish only one issue per year, but that all Life of Shibue Io and Her Family Drawn from subscribers would continue to get two issues for Mori Ogai's 'Shibue Chusai' (Yale University their standard subscription. However, in addi- Press, 1985) and two special editions of the tion to this misunderstanding, we found that our Journal of Family History in 1983 and 1986 con- record-keeping software was also geared to sub- taining articles on family composition drawn scriptions based on a two-issue volume. Con- largely from demographic research. The first sequently, in order to minimize our potential books on nineteenth century women such as A confusion over when subscriptions expire, we Daughter of the by Etsu Inagaki Sugi- have numbered our last issue Volume VII:2 and moto (Doubleday Doran and Company, 1934) this issue Volume VIII:1. and Facing Two Ways: The Story of My Life by The editors would very much like to publish on Baroness Shidzue Ishimoto (Stanford University a semi-annual basis. That, however, depends on Press, 1984) dealt almost entirely with life in the the volume of suitable material that is submitted period. In these cases the focus was on to us. EMJ provides a flexible forum in which individual women and the vicissitudes they had to to publish a variety of professionally oriented overcome. material that goes beyond standard scholarly arti- The 1990s has seen women's history go in a cles and book reviews. Two examples appear in number of directions. Drawing on the work of this issue: The review of early modern Japanese Japanese scholars, several historians have sug- women’s history that begins in the next column, gested that relations between family members in and the commentary on the NHK historical drama peasant households showed a strong degree of of the Akō rōnin. We encourage readers to interdependence between husband and wife and submit manuscripts on current developments in considerable flexibility in assigning gender roles. the field in Japan, teaching and pedagogy, notices (For examples in English from the Japanese side, of books of interest, exhibitions and other fare see Ueno Chizuko, “Genesis of the Urban that does not typically fall within the scope of Housewife,” Japan Quarterly (April-June 1987): other professional journals in the field. Editors’ 130-142 and Fumie Kumagai, “Modernization MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 3

and the Family in Japan” Journal of Social His- (1603-1868). Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen tory 11.4 (1986):371-382.) One leader in the field, Press. Laurel Cornell, published “Peasant Women and Burns, Susan. 1996. "Bodies Possessed and Divorce in Preindustrial Japan” in Signs: Jour- Hearts Disordered: Sexuality and Madness in nal of Women in Culture and Society 15.4 (1990): Edo Japan." Imagining/Reading Eros. Ed. by 710-732 that demonstrated how early modern Sumie Jones. Indiana University. pp. 72-75. patterns of divorce differed from their modern ------. 1998. "Bodies and Borders: Syphilis, counterparts. On the other hand, Kate Wildman Prostitution and the Nation in Nineteenth Cen- Nakai's translation of Women of Mito reminds us tury Japan." U.S.-Japan Women's Journal no. that samurai household continued to practice sex 15 (December): 3-30. segregation. In more recent years, other schol- Cornell, Laurel L. 1981. “Peasant Family and ars have gone beyond issues of family composi- Inheritance in a Japanese Community: tion to examine women writers and painters, 1671-1980.” Ph.D. diss. Johns Hopkins Uni- medical practices, and sexuality. One recent versity. trend has been the appearance of more work by ------. 1984. “Why are there no Spinsters in Ja- Japanese scholars translated into English. pan?” Journal of Family History. 9.4 (Winter): The following list is as comprehensive as pos- 326-339. sible, although I have omitted articles dealing ------. 1991. “The Deaths of Old Women: Folk- with household size, household composition and lore and Differential Mortality in Nineteenth the debate over infanticide. If I have inadver- Century Japan.” Recreating Japanese Women, tently overlooked any articles, please inform me 1600-1945. pp. 71-87. and the Early Modern Japan listserve. This is a De Becker, J.E. 1960. : The Nightless field in which much of the most interesting recent City. New York: Frederick Publications. work has been presented as conference papers Ema Saiko. 1997. Breeze Through Bamboo: rather than appearing in print. I urge my col- Kanshi of Ema Saiko. Trans. by Hiroaki Sato. leagues to remedy this situation at the same time Columbia University Press. reminding readers that the backlog of unpub- Fister, Patricia. 1991. "Female Bunjin: The Life lished work makes any attempt to survey the field of Poet-Painter Ema Saiko." Recreating Japa- outdated as soon as it appears. nese Women: 1600-1945. pp.108-130. ------. 1998. Japanese Women Artists, Bibliography 1600-1900. Lawrence, Kansas. Spencer Mu- seum of Art. Ariyoshi Sawako. 1978. The Doctor's Wife. Griswold, Susan. 1995. “Sexuality, Textuality and Trans. by Wakako Hironaka and Ann Siller the Definitionof the “Feminine” in Late Eight- Kostant. Kodansha International. eenth-Century Japan.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Bernstein, Gail Lee, ed. 1991. Recreating Japa- Journal. no. 9:59-76. nese Women, 1600-1945. The University of Hardacre, Helen. 1999. "The Shaman and her California Press. Transformation: The Construction of Gender Bouchy, Anne. 1999. "The Chisel of the Women in Motifs of Religious Action." Gender and Divers and the Bow of the Feudal Lords of the Japanese History pp. 87-119. Sea: The Dual Structure of Labor and Village Hauser, William B. 1986. "Why So Few? Organization in Women's Divers' Societies--A Women Household Heads in Chonin Case Study of the Town of Ijika (City of Toba, Families." Journal of Family History 11 no. )." Gender and Japanese His- 4:343-52. tory. Ed. by Wakita Haruko, Anne Bouchy and Hayami, Akira. 1985. "Rural Migration and Fer- Ueno Chizuko. University of Osaka Press. vol. tility in Tokugawa Japan: The Village of Ni- 2. pp. 349-390. shijo, 1773-1868." Family and Population in Bradstock, Timothy R. and Judith N. Rabinovitch. East Asian History, ed. by Susan B. Hanley and 1997. An Anthology of Kanshi (Chinese Verse) Arthur P. Wolf. Stanford University Press. pp. by Japanese Poets of the 110-132.. MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 4

------.1987. "Another Fossa Magna: Propor- Publishing Company. pp. 49-59. tion Marrying and Age at Marriage in Late Robertson, Jennifer. 1991." The Shingaku Nineteenth Century Japan." Journal of Social Woman: Straight from the Heart.” Recreating History 12.-13:57-72.. Japanese Women, 1600-1945. pp. 88-107. Ihara, Saikaku. 1963. The Life of an Amorous Rogers, Lawrence. 1994. “She Loves Me, She Woman. Trans. by Ivan Morris. Unesco. Loves Me Not: Shinjū and Shikidō Okagami.” ------.1956. Five Women who Loved Love. Trans. Monumenta Nipponica. 49.1 (Spring):31-60. by WM. Theodore De Bary. Charles E. Tuttle Sakai, Naoki. 1999. "Feeling and Sentiment: Co. On Fujitani Matsue's Poetics of Choreography." Johnson, Lee. 1988. "The Life and Art of Otagaki Gender and Japanese History vol. 2. pp. Rengetsu." M.A. Thesis, University of Kansas. 163-195. Jones, Sumie. 1996. Imagining/Reading Eros. Seigle, Cecilia Segawa. 1986. "The Impact of Indiana University. Yoshiwara Courtesans on An'ei- Edo." Jugaku, Akiko. 1999. "Nyobo kotoba: A Focus Japan Foundation Newsletter 14.2 (July): Point for Women's Language and Women's 12-16. History." Gender and Japanese History . vol. 2. ------. 1993. Yoshiwara: The Glittering World pp. 131-161. of the Japanese Courtesan. University of Kaibara, Ekken. 1979. The way of contentment Hawaii Press. and Women and wisdom of Japan : Greater ------. 1999. "Komoe Hiroko and Tokugawa Learning for Women.Washington, D.C. : Uni- Ienobu." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies versity Publications of America. (December). Keene, Donald. 1989. "Some Diaries by ------. 1999. "Wedding Documents of Tokugawa Women," "The Diary of Iseki Takako." Travel- Shoguns' Biological and Adoptive Daughters: ers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as Re- Shogun Tsunayoshi's Autocratic Tradition." vealed Through 1,000 Years of Diaries. New Japan Foundation Newsletter 25.2 (Jan):8-11. York: Henry Holt and Company. Skinner, G. William.1993. "Conjugal Power in Lebra, Joyce. 1991. "Women in an All-Male In- Tokugawa Japanese Families: A Matter of dustry: The Case of Sake Brewer Tatsu'uma Life or Death." Sex and Gender Hierarchies. ed. Kiyo." Recreating Japanese Women: by Barbara Diane Miller. Cambridge University 1600-1945. pp.131-148. Press, 1993. Marceau, Lawrence E. 1994. "Women in Sai- Sone, Hiromi. 1999. "Conceptions of Geisha: A kaku: Good, Bad, or Victims of Circum- Case Study of the City of Miyazu: Focus on stance?" Oboegaki 4.2 (December): 2-11. ." Gender and Japanese History. Markus, Andrew. 1996. "Prostitutes and Prosper- vol. 1. pp. 213-233. ity in the Works of Terakado Seiken." Imagin------. 1999. "Prostitution and Public Authority ing/Reading Eros. pp. 37-46. in Early Modern Japan" Women and Class in Ochiai, Emiko. 1999. "The Reproductive Revolu- Japanese History. pp. 169-186. tion at the End of the Tokugawa Period." Sugano, Noriko. "The State Indoctrination of Fil- Women and Class in Japanese History. pp. ial Piety: Filial Sons and Daughters in the 187-216. Kōgiroku of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Cen- Ohara, Tomie. 1986. A Woman Called En. Trans. tury Japan." Gender and Text in Pre-Modern by Kazuko Furuhata and Janet Smith. China, Korea, and Japan: The Making and Routledge and Kegan Paul. Unmaking of Confucian Worlds. ed. by Dorothy Ooms, Herman. 1996. "Mountains of Resent- Ko. Forthcoming. ment." Tokugawa Village Practice: Tadano, Makuzu. "Solitary Thoughts." Trans. Class,Status, Power, Law. University of by Jan Goodwin, Elizabeth Leicester, Bettina California Press. 11-70. Oka, Yuki Terasawa and Anne Walthall. Rexroth, Kenneth and Ikuko Atsumi. 1977. Forthcoming. “Haiku Poets of the Tokugawa Period.” Women Takagi Tadashi. 1993. The "Divorce Temple" Poets of Japan. New York: New Directions Mantokuji Museum trans. by Diana Wright. MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 5

Ojimamachi, Enkiridera Mantokuji Shiryōkan. ------. 1997. "Severing the Karmic 'Ties that Tonomura, Hiromi, Anne Walthall and Wakita Bind': The Divorce Temple Mantokuji" Monu- Haruko, eds. 1999. Women and Class in Japa- menta Nipponica 52.3 (Autumn): 357-80. nese History, University of Michigan Center Yamakawa, Kikue. 1992. Women of the Mito for Japanese Studies. Domain: Recollections of Samurai Family Life. Ueno, Chizuko. 1996."Lusty Pregnant Women trans by Kate Wildman Nakai.University of and Erotic Mothers: Representations of Fe- Tokyo Press, 1992; Stanford University Press, male Sexuality in Erotic Art in Edo." Imagin- 1998. ing/Reading Eros. pp. 110-114. Yokota, Fuyuhiko.1999. "Imagining Working Uno, Kathleen. 1991. “Women and Changes in Women in Early Modern Japan." Women and the Household Division of Labor.” Recreat- Class in Japanese History. pp. 153-168. ing Japanese Women. pp. 17-41. Walthall, Anne. 1990. "The Family Ideology of Rural Entrepreneurs in Early Nineteenth Cen- tury Japan." Journal of Social History 23.3 (Spring): 463-483. ------. 1991. "The Life Cycle of Farm Women in Tokugawa Japan."Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945. pp.42-70. The End of History? ------. 1994. "Devoted"Devoted Wives/Unruly Sunday Night on NHK Women: Invisible Presence in the History of B.M. BodartBodart---BaileyBailey Japanese Social Protest" Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 20.1 (Au- Faculty of Comparative Culture, Otsuma tumn):106-136. Reprinted in Barbara Laslett, Women’s University, Tokyo; formerly, Johanna Brenner and Yesim Arat eds., Rethink- Faculty of Economics, University ing the Political: Gender, Resistance and the State (University of Chicago Press, 1995) When I was asked to write a short piece about pp.282-312. the reaction of people within my environment ------. 1997. "The Cult of Sensibility in Rural here at Kobe University to the year-long rekishi Tokugawa Japan: Love Poetry by Matsuo taiga dorama 歴史大河ドラマ, as NHK’s Sun- Taseko" Journal of the American Oriental So- day night history extravaganza is known, I met ciety 117.1 (Spring): 70-86. with unexpected difficulties. Very few of the ------. 1998. The Weak Body of a Useless people I come into contact with have actually Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Resto- seen it. ration, University of Chicago Press, 1998. This took me by surprise. After all, it is Japan ------. 1999. "De la fille de paysan à l'épouse de National Television’s (NHK) largest and most samourï: Les lettres de Yoshino Michi." - expensive production, running a full year every les: Histoire sciences sociales 54.1 (jan- Sunday night at peak viewing time. The title and vier-février): 55-86. theme were well publicized in advance, and so ------. 1999. "Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji were the actors selected for the various roles. The Restoration." Women and Class in Japanese location for shooting frequently turns into a History. pp.217-240. highly popular tourist site. When the subject was Wigmore, John Henry. 1982. Law and Justice in Nobunaga some years back, the 500,000th tourist Tokugawa Japan Part VIII-A: Persons: Legal to visit the set made the evening news. But the Precedents. University of Tokyo Press. massive stone walls that Nobunaga erected to Wright, Diana. "Mantokuji: More than a Di- support the splendor of Azuchi at Lake vorce Temple." Japanese Women and Bud- Biwa were virtually deserted when I visited them dhism. ed. by Barbara Ruch. Center for Japa- around that time. And no doubt this will remain nese Studies, University of Michigan. Forth- so, unless those who want to erect a replica of the coming. MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 6

much-decorated castle on what is left of the site 穂, as the town is generally referred to, has a have their way. good amount of industry, and the smoke from the This year’s theme is the perennial favorite, the tall chimneys is visible from a distance. But early Forty-seven rōnin 浪人, or Akō gishi 赤穂義士, Akō was well known for the baking of salt, and a story known to every child in Japan and often the process has been reconstructed in an open-air retold under the title of Chūshingura 忠臣蔵 in museum some distance away along the shore. countless versions from dating from soon after Thus there was a good reason for the smoke in the incident to the present time. (Even the the distance as Naganori was heading for his cas- all-female Takarazuka revue had a go at it some tle, and, to make the point, the director has him years back.) carefully inspecting the smoking salt-burning Akō castle on the Inland Sea near Himeji, the huts, even before entering his castle after the long home of the loyal retainers who sacrificed their 640 km journey from Edo. lives to revenge their lord, was destroyed after the Not surprisingly the town of Banshū Akō is . Although the site owed part of doing its best to draw maximum profit from the its layout to the samurai-philosopher Yamaga TV series. There were stalls within the outer cas- Sokō 山鹿素行, and despite its significance as tle grounds selling everything from the locally the place where the rōnin absorbed Sokō’s teach- produced salt, fast food, pottery and the inevita- ings from which their loyal conduct grew, it was ble T-shirts, and postage stamps with the image of not thought worth preserving. What was left of the modern-day NHK Ōishi Kuranosuke. The the fortifications of this hira jō 平城, or castle greatest attraction, however, was a large, built on flat ground, became the site for a new multi-domed tent, erected with the assistance of public school. NHK, whose contents one was able to explore at the cost of 700 Yen. It featured, among other The leader of the rōnin, Ōishi Kuranosuke 大 things, a partial reconstruction of ’s 石内蔵助, and his followers, however, were not famous matsu no rōka 松の廊下, the forgotten. In Meiji 30 (1897 - but some pam- gold-screened corridor where phlets have 1912) a shrine to Kuranosuke and his 吉 men was built within the outer walls of the castle, drew his sword and wounded near the small wooden house and garden that 良義央, an action which earned him the death purportedly was Kuranosuke’s home. New, larger sentence, and in turn motivated his loyal retainers – than - life-size stone figures of the rōnin – to kill Kira. From time to time the painted golden somehow reminiscent of the stone figures lining fusuma would draw apart to reveal on a film the road to imperial Chinese tombs – mark the screen the dramatic action that took place at this approach from the parking lot to the sanctuary. location. A fair amount of space was also allotted The scene is made even more incongruous by to the final killing of Kira in what the pamphlet stalls selling trinkets and second-hand goods, terms the kuraimakkusu kōnaa クライマックス ranging from clothing to kitchenware, within the コーナー. Again, the shōji of Kira’s temple compound. snow-covered villa opens to reveal the bloody Erecting the shrine entailed further destruction action on a large film screen. As the exhibit of the original castle site, but eventually recon- comes complete with its own home page I need struction of the main gates and other parts of the say no more. (See URL: castle began, a process that continues today. Thus, http://www2.memenet.or.jp/~akogishi/genroku/0- by carefully limiting the angle of the camera, one 101.html, of the main gates could be used in the NHK pro- With all this publicity, why then is it so hard to duction to shoot the arrival of the young daimyo find people who watch the NHK Sunday history Asano Naganori 浅野長矩, as he first arrived drama? It is obviously the fault of my environ- from Edo after he inherited the fief. ment. As one of my colleagues put it succinctly: The director also decided to shoot Naganori’s “Educated people (interi インテリー) don’t approach to the domain on location. There is, watch that sort of thing.” But someone else con- however, the problem that Banshū Akō 播州赤 ceded: “Last year’s drama on Tokugawa Yoshi- MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 7

nobu, the last shogun, was on an interesting topic, before the final killing of Kira and the death of because relatively little is known about his person the rōnin. The popular image of the debauched and his plans for reform of the country. But then “Dog Shogun”, moreover, provides plenty of they had the story told by a middle-aged woman, dramatic material. and it ended up with the silly story of that woman On the orders of his father, Tsunayoshi was and her husband.” Others chimed in: “Yes, educated not as a samurai but as a scholar, and whenever that came on, I switched it off.” There was the first, and perhaps the only Tokugawa was agreement that in an effort to get high ratings, shogun who had some genuine interest in schol- NHK had sacrificed the original quality of its arly pursuits. Yet in the NHK series Tsunayoshi is history productions. Clearly the popularity of the portrayed as a raving madman, whose contorted actors (“much too young” someone commented) features show an uncanny resemblance to that of was of greatest importance not historical authen- the ferocious guardian kings at the entrance of ticity, and it was also felt necessary that some- temples. Whether angry or in deep sorrow over thing “exciting” happened in every weekly epi- the death of his only son, Tsunayoshi’s behavior sode. Secure in the company of his all-male col- is violent, with his closed fan serving as his leagues (except for myself), one added with weapon physically attacking those who are in his obvious disdain: “It’s all just made for women presence. Also the other characters are badly …” But even the wives of my colleagues don’t overdrawn, with the “goodies” and “badies” seem to watch the series (according to their hus- readily identifiable. There is here no effort at his- bands), mainly, it appears, since a much more torical authenticity: the purpose is obviously sim- interesting program on new exhibitions is being ply to entertain. screened on Educational TV at the same time. A producer shooting a prewar TV series once Not being an expert on the fifteenth shogun, explained to me: it really does not matter what Yoshinobu, and not having watched every epi- people wore at the time. What we need to use is sode, I would not like to comment on the histori- clothing and props that immediately identify this cal authenticity of the performance. However, I as prewar scene in the viewer’s mind. Similarly did notice that Perry on his arrival in Japan in the NHK series seems to be guided by what is 1853 was reading the 1906 edition of Engelbert popularly known about the period, as well as the Kaempfer’s . Well, I guess they viewer’s predilection for romance and violence, should at least be given marks for trying … rather than any historical research. If criticisms about the inclusion of fictional With so little feedback on the topic from my material and an undue amount of “populariza- colleagues, I tried my students. But, alas, this was tion” are voiced about last year’s production on even less successful. They did not even know that , they are all the more per- such a series was being shown. “Young people tinent to this year’s series on the 47 rōnin. The don’t watch NHK,” someone explained to me. I difference between the two begins with the cred- also made the startling discovery that out of some its. In the Yoshinobu production these were twenty students only one had heard of Kurosawa, shown against a backdrop of early photos of Ja- and none of the film “Rashōmon”. pan, or realistically produced scenes of the period. I must admit that, being under pressure of time, In the case of the rōnin series there are instead I gave up at that point. There are obviously peo- cartoon images of strutting peacocks, and flowers ple watching the program (someone mentioned with blooms unfolding and the miniaturized fig- that it is very popular in Hawaii), but certainly ures of the rōnin dancing on their petals. (Yes, I few with a primary interest in history rather than am sorry, this is not a misprint.) popular entertainment. The story of the loyal samurai contains good I would like to end this with another observa- material for a dramatic performance of several tion on the popularity of Japanese history – or hours, but hardly enough for the fifty-plus epi- rather the lack of it – in today’s Japan. sodes of the year-long NHK drama. Hence the When I was first asked to teach Japanese his- NHK series begins with Tsunayoshi’s succession tory to Japanese students I was looking forward as the fifth Tokugawa shogun, over two decades to being able to pitch my lectures at a fairly high MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 8

level. After all, students had studied the subject kubutsukan, 1997. for years at school, and the Japanese History sec- Perhaps the most arresting visual image tion of most university entrance exams looks in Constantine Vaporis's detailed study of pretty daunting. I was surprised, however, to find the early modern Japanese network of that basic knowledge – such as the implications travel and transport is Felix Beato's pho- of the bakufu’s policy - were lacking. tograph of the Tōkaidō near Kanagawa While all students study Japanese history in pri- from the 1860s.1 This picture captures a mary and middle school, it becomes an elective wide, tree-lined, dirt road that could be subject during the last three years at high school. mistaken for the path leading to a shrine University entrance exams generally permit a or temple anywhere in Japan today, if not choice between World History and Japanese His- for the presence of nearly a dozen travelers tory, and with many believing that “kokusaika” and vendors in various postures of rest or 国際化 holds the key to Japan’s future, students mobility, and a lone samurai staring di- often opt for the former. The result is that they rectly into the camera. The photograph is might know the date of the French Revolution, but not that of the Meiji Restoration. But even particularly powerful because of the jux- those who do study Japanese History in their taposition of temporalities it represents: a three years of high school often lack fundamental scene from Japan's pre-modern age is cap- knowledge about the broader issues. The problem tured using a technology that is intimately here is that at high school history is studied associated with the mechanical reproduc- purely for the purpose of passing university en- tion of modernity. Another of Beato's trance exams. Since these exams are marked by photographs is used to open the Edo-Tokyo computer, questions must be of the “multiple Museum's catalog on the system of alter- choice” type, a format which favors examining nate attendance, again bringing the mod- knowledge of facts and figures, but makes it dif- ern Western lens to bear on the fading ficult to test the understanding of broader issues. landscape of Tokugawa authority. This For those with enough dedication, NHK educa- image, "Panorama of Yeddo from Ota- tional television has some excellent programs that gayama [sic.]," ( 愛宕山) catches a could fill the gap, but, like x-rated movies, these 135-degree view of the tiled Edo rooftops, are usually shown after 11 p.m., and I am yet to dotted by trees, fire watchtowers, and meet someone who shares my enthusiasm for storehouses, but above all dominated by them. Maybe it requires the shock of seeing for- the long walls of the daimyō yashiki 大名 eigners being more enthusiastic about Japanese 屋敷 history than the Japanese themselves, – as I be- . The photograph captures with me- lieve was once the case with wood block prints – chanical accuracy a scene that no longer until the subject becomes popular again as a se- exists, emphasized by the diagram below rious discipline of study, rather than the basis for the image that explicates Edo buildings in soap opera plots of the NHK Forty-seven rōnin the picture as well as the location of variety. contemporary landmarks: we learn that the Tamura family's upper yashiki for example, was located near the location of Book Reviews 書評 the current JR Shimbashi Station. Anyone who has visited Shimbashi station, however, knows the landscape in the Edo Tōkyō Hakubutsukan 江戸東京博物館 [The EdoEdo---TokyoTokyo Museum]. Sankin kōtai:tai: 1 Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, Breaking kyokyodaiodai toshi Edo no naritachi 参勤交 Barriers: Travel and the State in Early 代：巨大都市江戸のなりたち [The System of Modern Japan (Cambridge, Mass. & Lon- Alternate Attendance: Origin of the Edo don: Council on East Asian Studies, Har- MegaMegalololopolis].polis]. Tokyo: Edo Tōkyō Ha- vard University, 1994): 41. MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 9

knows the landscape in the photograph ing construction of various mansions by has completely disappeared, which only the approximately three-hundred daimyō increases the power of the image as a re- families who made the city their sometime cord of an age, and a place, otherwise con- residence, and precedents for this system fined to descriptions in history books. in the administrative castle towns of the As the Edo-Tokyo Museum catalogue late sixteenth century. One of the most under review demonstrates, however, there useful entries in this section is a large is a wealth of visual and material source color reproduction of the Buke shohatto 武 material for the study of the system of al- 家諸法度 [Laws for the military houses] ternate attendance that has heretofore from 1635, next to a transcription of the been largely ignored by historians. The text and a brief explanation. The original catalogue, published to accompany an ex- is clearly written, and would make an ideal hibition held at the Edo-Tokyo Museum introductory text for a graduate student between February 11 and March 23, 1997, seminar on early modern history, or could looks at the relationship between the sys- be shown as a slide in a discussion of ex- tem of alternate attendance and the tant documents and bakufu proclamations. growth of the city of Edo, with particular Another short document that is reproduced focus on the daimyō who moved back and in both original and transcribed form is the forth between the city and their home do- 1721 Ninzu kitei hōrei 人数規定法令 [Or- mains via the network of early modern dinance restricting the number of retainers highways. The book is rich in maps, pho- in processions], an ideal text for illustrat- tographs, paintings, documents, and mod- ing changing bakufu policies vis a vis the els. The 170 pages of images and text are domains, as well as an accessible source organized around fourteen brief articles in for the study of the language of central English and Japanese, supplemented by authority in the eighteenth century. seven longer articles in Japanese, and a Travel to and from Edo was of course the range of charts, graphs, and chronologies. center of the system of alternate atten- Though containing little in the way of dance, and the second section, "Daimyō ground- breaking research, the catalogue gyōretsu to kaidō 大名行列と街道 [Daimyō brings together a wide variety of sources to processions and highways]," deals with the illuminate a period and place that is, de- structure of these large processions of spite the numerous monographs and arti- warriors and attendants, as well as the cles devoted to its contours, exceedingly routes used and costs incurred. The pro- difficult to visualize in all its complexity. cession itself is the subject of several The genre of the museum catalogue does scrolls and screens reproduced in the cata- not fit into one of the standard categories log, including a four-page, fold-out repre- of historical monographs or reference sentation of the procession of Matsudaira books, but works such as the volume under Naritaka on his return to the Tsuyama review often contain valuable sources and domain from Edo. Printed directly below important research that is otherwise not the painting is a diagram detailing every easily available. figure portrayed in the original, indicating The first section of the catalogue, titles and functions. Another scroll pro- "Sankin kōtaisei to kyodai toshi Edo 参勤 vides similar information for a Morioka 交代制と巨大都市江戸 [The system of al- domain procession with 650 members. A ternate attendance and the Edo megalopo- map supplements this scroll, indicating the lis]," outlines the basic details of the estab- route taken from Morioka, post stations lishment of the system in 1635, the result- encountered, and distance traveled each MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 10

day. The pages that follow are filled with paintings, and documents are used to il- photographs of extant examples of proces- lustrate this, including a chart of the dis- sion regalia, from lance- tribution of kakae yashiki throughout sur- heads, arrows, scabbards, and sheathes, to rounding communities. Paintings and mudguards, saddles, and equipment boxes. photographs are again used to great effect This section also reproduces a range of to illustrate the lavish gardens and tea documents and other information to ad- houses that dominated residences both in dress the ways in which the system of al- and outside of Edo. ternate attendance served to control the The fourth section, "Edo no tsutome to daimyō both through forced expenditure on kurashi 江戸の勤めと暮らし [Working and travel, and through elaborate rituals of living in Edo]," focuses on the duties of attendance, gift-giving, and leave-taking. daimyō and their various functionaries in Another major daimyō expenditure was Edo, jobs ranging from providing security the maintenance of multiple residences in for Edo Castle to involvement with fire Edo, a subject addressed in the catalogue's prevention. A range of texts and maps third section, "Edo no daimyō yashiki 江戸 documenting the duties of the Komuro の大名屋敷 [Daimyō residences in Edo]." domain daimyō are displayed, including a Here maps, models, and souvenir doroe 泥 reference book for the operation of a 絵 are used to illustrate the differences guardhouse, and various plans for gate between upper residences, located closer to duty. A picture scroll illustrates a proces- Edo Castle to facilitate interactions with sion of the Yonezawa daimyō and his reti- the bakufu and shogun, and the more spa- nue in full fire-fighting regalia. A series of cious middle and lower residences located picture scrolls is also used to show family farther out from the center. In an inter- retainers at work and play in their Edo esting technique employed several times residences, particularly the jōfu 定府, re- throughout the catalogue, doroe represen- tainers who stayed in Edo maintaining and tations of daimyō residences are displayed managing the daimyō yashiki while the next to recent photographs of the same lo- lord had returned to the domain. These cations, from roughly the same perspective. paintings are important for their various The contrast created by this display could portrayals of activities from daily life, and potentially be a good resource for the study their intimate "inside look" at the lives of of the transformation from Edo to Tokyo, one sector of Edo citizens. In one image a and an instinctively interesting visual doctor and an acquaintance eat, drink, and comparison for students with little back- gesture in the midst of a lively discussion; ground in the changing landscape of early another shows a tea gathering with four modern and modern Japan. participants. Chess games, drinking par- Another topic addressed in this section is ties, poetry exchanges, and solitary study the phenomenon of daimyō purchases of are also shown. land from peasants to supplement their Perhaps the most interesting topic ad- bakufu-granted holdings, a system imple- dressed in this section is that of the rusui mented in 1685, banned in 1717, and rein- 留守居, the domain retainers who resided stated in 1785. These residences and ref- in Edo, negotiated with the bakufu, and uges, known as kakae yashiki 抱屋敷, gathered information. The catalogue re- were built in villages outside of the origi- ports that these diplomatic officers were nal boundary of Edo city, and contributed, granted powers above and beyond their the catalogue argues, to a drastic expan- status as mid-level warriors, such as the sion of the Edo suburbs. Numerous maps, right to move freely in and out of resi- MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 11

dences, and to obtain outside lodging. More raised in Edo, they felt an intimate con- importantly, they formed associations that nection to the city that could not be re- grew increasingly powerful as the period placed by their later activities in the do- progressed, organizations that were to mains that were nominally their real some extent outside the boundaries of homes. daimyō and bakufu authority. Even from This raises one of the problems with the the brief review of rusui-related materials catalogue, the fact that the authors center presented in the catalogue, it seemed to me entirely on the movement towards Edo that this topic is a dissertation waiting to with little attention to the movement away happen. Sections from a variety of sources from it. The unique role of the city as a from the eighteenth- and early nine- center for the consumption of goods and teenth-centuries are reproduced, ranging resources from all corners of the nation is from satirical political texts written with addressed, but the spread of culture, tech- rusui-supplied information, to diaries and nology, and information back to the do- activity logs. A study of the rusui and the mains, and the subsequent adaptations particular intersection of domain and na- and reinventions that took place at the lo- tional politics they represent, not to men- cal level, are lost under the shadow of "the tion the larger landscape of the increas- Edo megalopolis." It is perhaps unfair to ingly literate urban society they inhabited, expect a single catalogue to address the would be a major contribution to the field. whole range of affects and effects of a sys- The catalogue's fifth section, "Edo kara tem as complex as the system of alternate Tōkyō e 江戸から東京へ [From Edo to To- attendance, particularly from a museum kyo]," briefly considers the impact of the that explicitly focuses on the Edo-Tokyo end of the system of alternate attendance phenomenon. But it seems increasingly on the city of Edo, and the subsequent clear that to understand the makeup of transformation of Edo into the capital city Edo and its diverse inhabitants, we must Tokyo. Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa pho- also examine the multidirectional links tographs of daimyō residences appropri- with domain capitals, cities such as Osaka ated for government administration are and , and the defining peripheries of displayed, as are prints and photographs the early modern state, Ezo and Ryūkyū. showing the remains of Edo extant in To- In the end, however, it is more effective kyo today. This section is followed by two to evaluate this collaborative work for essays, one of which is an interesting what it is than to criticize it for the many summary of the system of alternate atten- things it is not. The book efficiently ap- dance by Yamamoto Hirobumi 山本博文, proaches a major topic -- the relationship "Sankin kōtai no jittai to igi 参勤交代の実 between the growth of Edo and the system 態と意義 [The reality and significance of of alternate attendance -- and provides an the system of alternate attendance]." Ya- impressive collection of primary texts, mamoto argues that though it is often said visual sources, and material objects to il- that the system of alternate attendance lustrate several basic but important points served to squeeze the daimyō financially in the history of early modern Japan. The into submission to Tokugawa authority, catalogue has great potential as a peda- this was not the reason the system was gogical resource, providing high-quality established. Rather, it served the purpose reproductions of maps, charts, scrolls, of ritually enforcing the allegiance of re- photographs, and other information not gional rulers to the bakufu. Yamamoto also easily available elsewhere in one volume. argues that because daimyō were born and The mix of various media also provides an opportunity for teachers and researchers of MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 12

history to experiment with reading and were executed. Culling information from interpreting material and visual sources in confessions and other first-hand accounts, addition to the documentary sources that Esenbel reconstructs the narrative of this are considered the heart of the historical uprising and recaptures the sense of enterprise. The same care must be exer- drama, expectation, anger, and betrayal cised in reading objects as is required in that surrounded it. reading a text, of course, and it is impor- However, Esenbel's account of the uprising tant to avoid fetishizing the various relics itself comprises only about one-fourth of the of the past portrayed in this book's pages book. The remainder is devoted to a detailed as more honest or authentic simply be- description of Takaino, the village that led the cause they are old. These precautions aside, uprising. In particular, Esenbel focuses on the this catalogue, along with numerous other integration of Takaino into the commercial mar- recent museum publications in Japanese ket, exploring the impact of that integration upon history and culture, should be a standard the economic and political life of the village dur- tool in the research and pedagogical arse- ing the century preceding the 1871 uprising. And for much of that period, Takaino was at nal of any scholar of early modern Japan. peace. In fact, the pervasive image of the Ta- Morgan Pitelka kaino villager in Esenbel’s book is not that of a Ph.D. Candidate defiant, spear-toting rebel, but a calculating, East Asian Studies prosperous farmer with a hoe in one hand, an Princeton University abacus in the other, and a considerable wad of

cash in his pocket. While Esenbel’s narrative of

the uprising is gripping, it is this "background" Selçuk Esenbel, Even the Gods Rebel: The discussion of commercial development in Ta- Peasants of Takaino and the 1871 Nakano kaino that provides the forum and the evidence Uprising in Japan. Ann Arbor: Associa- for Esenbel's main arguments, and enables her to tion of Asian Studies Monograph and Oc- connect the details of the uprising to the larger casional Paper Series, no. 57, 1998. debates in the historiography of Tokugawa and ISBN: 0-924304-38-3. Meiji Japan. The first such debate concerns the im- The cover drawing of Esenbel’s Even pact of the commercial market upon the the Gods Rebel depicts a Japanese farmer Japanese farm household and village carrying a spear and clad in traditional community. Esenbel takes issue with protest garb. For many readers, the scholars who see this impact in terms of drawing will evoke the image of a desper- impoverishment and social dissolution. ate peasant on the verge of a vengeful, de- Employing the argument of Samuel Popkin structive act against those who have - (and also echoing the scholarship of Susan neered his exploitation. Indeed, the up- Hanley and Kozo Yamamura on Tokugawa rising described by Esenbel in this economic development), Esenbel depicts book—the 1871 Nakano uprising—was in- Takaino villagers as "rational peasants" tensely violent and destructive: in addi- who freely sought out the opportunities tion to razing over five hundred residences provided by the commercial market in and commercial establishments in the search of surpluses not available in a sub- town of Nakano, bands of villagers set fire sistence economy. She finds evidence of to the prefectural office compound and certain trends often cited as proof of rural brutally murdered two government offi- immiseration—for example, high rates of cials. Government reprisals were also tenancy and the decreasing size of land- harsh: over a hundred protestors were holdings by the majority of villagers. imprisoned or exiled, and twenty-eight However, she argues that in Takaino, these MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 13

trends simply reflect the increasing num- of "exploitation" when discussing Toku- bers of villagers who were able to earn in- gawa rural society, attacking another pillar come from by-employment production or in what she calls the "impoverish- skilled labor in a commercial economy. ment/exploitation/social dissolution" model Furthermore, Esenbel maintains that this of rural conflict. Not only does the word involvement of Takaino villagers in the disguise the fact that the surpluses of farm commercial market did not result in the families were, according to Esenbel, actu- village's dissolution, countering the com- ally increasing, but it also misrepresents mon assumption that late-Tokugawa rural the nature of the Tokugawa political order, conflict signified the breakdown of rural which was highly decentralized, allowing communities along class lines. Family, commoners a great deal of agency in ma- lineage, neighborhood, and village ties re- nipulating the system to their own advan- mained powerful in Takaino, and actually tage. Villagers were not simply victims of served as the organizing principles for con- policy, Esenbel argues, but actively con- flict. In fact, Esenbel contends that tributed to its formation and revision. community solidarity in Takaino had, if Furthermore, Esenbel maintains that vil- anything, been strengthened in late Toku- lagers' ability to influence the conditions of gawa, due to the fact that small land- rule only increased during the political holder/tenants and nouveau riche land- chaos of the Bakumatsu period. lords were able to wrestle control of village However, soon after the Meiji Restora- governance from traditional elite families tion in 1868, the new government began to of samurai descent. This political coali- take steps not only to increase villagers' tion of class enemies, bound together tax burden, but also to tighten central against a common foe, reorganized village control over local taxation. These steps government along more inclusive, more threatened to limit the ability of Takaino democratic lines, thus warding off some of villagers to maneuver for more favorable the class conflict that erupted in other ar- tax conditions. Takaino villagers re- eas of Japan. sponded with rebellion, a strategy that had But if household incomes were growing met with great success in the Tokugawa and community structures remained intact, period. What they did not realize, how- why did the villagers of Takaino rebel? ever, was that the Meiji government no Esenbel answers this question by placing longer recognized the legitimacy of this episodes of conflict in the context of a lar- tactic, and had no intention of participat- ger, continuous process in which Takaino ing in any sort of negotiation with villagers residents negotiated with authorities to over tax conditions. The loose and flexible maintain favorable tax conditions. "arrangement" (in Esenbel’s terms) that Violent uprisings were merely a last-ditch villagers had enjoyed was over, thus in- maneuver in this negotiation, employed stantly changing the meaning of their re- only when other strategies failed to pro- bellion and turning them into enemies of duce results. Usually, such measures the state. Esenbel repeatedly stresses, were not necessary. Esenbel argues that however, that the protestors had no revo- peasants successfully "nibbled" away (in lutionary aims. They made no demands James Scott's words) at harsh tax condi- for rights or privileges they had not al- tions, winning significant concessions from ready possessed under the Tokugawa or- local government on tax conversion rates, der; they wanted only to return to previous payment schedules, and other factors tax arrangements. Esenbel characterizes critical to the calculation of the overall tax the uprising as a "reactive conflict," using burden. Thus Esenbel rejects the concept Charles Tilly’s term to describe a defensive MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 14

protest against new incursions by the ploitation with only their own maximum modern state. Takaino villagers' rising possible benefit in mind. Or rather, gov- expectations, created by years of growing ernments can dream up such systems, but surpluses from the commercial market and their implementation always involves by peasants' increasing leverage in their some degree of compromise with local negotiation with authorities over local tax practices and interests. Esenbel demon- conditions, met up against the aims of a strates convincingly that such a compro- central government that was determined mise did occur between villagers and gov- to standardize local tax conditions to its ernment, thus allowing villagers to have a own advantage. voice in the ongoing process of creating tax Scholars of peasant protest will un- policy. Of course, it was the ruling au- doubtedly debate some of Esenbel's conclu- thorities who determined the boundaries of sions. In particular, some will see her any negotiation—for example, they decided portrait of the late-Tokugawa peasant which issues were negotiable, and also household economy as too rosy, despite her identified the legitimate techniques of ne- attempt to dispel such notions in her con- gotiation. Furthermore, as Herman Ooms cluding chapter (p. 257). Indeed, regard- has argued, Tokugawa villagers' willing- less of one's position in the "growth vs. ness to press for their interests within immiseration" debate, any discussion of those boundaries often worked to encour- the benefits of participation in the com- age the legitimation of the overall struc- mercial market should also include a clear ture of status inequality. Never- theless, recognition of the new anxieties produced given the obstacles to successful collective by the reliance of farm households upon pressure by Tokugawa villagers, we should that market. Such a recognition is espe- perhaps marvel at the effectiveness of cially important in an analysis of popular opposition. In fact, while Esenbel late-Tokugawa and early-Meiji rural up- maintains that this dynamic of negotiation risings, which were informed so deeply by ended when the Meiji state consolidated its a sense of unprecedented crisis and vul- rule—she notes sadly that the new state's nerability. On the other hand, these fac- uncompromising stance toward the 1871 tors have already been well-documented by Nakano uprising signified the end of any scholars of rural protest, so one cannot sort of reciprocal arrangement—I would fault Esenbel for downplaying them in or- argue that the negotiation between villag- der to emphasize less-explored fac- ers and the state continued throughout the tors—such as rising incomes and family Meiji period. The terms of the negotiation and community networks—that also in- had changed radically, but local society fluenced some late-Tokugawa and nevertheless continued to influence the early-Meiji uprisings. direction of state policy and the overall Scholars might also take issue with process of state formation. Esenbel's estimation of the extent of vil- Esenbel's account of the "failure" of the lagers' negotiating power within the To- Nakano uprising and the end of the feudal kugawa political order. She discusses this arrangement is significant, for it high- negotiation in terms of mutual compromise lights a distinction between her perspec- between government and village society, tive on the Meiji Restoration and that of but in Esenbel’s account it seems as if the the dominant strain of postwar scholarship government is doing all the compromising. influenced by modernization theory. In Though perhaps overstated, her point is a many ways, Esenbel's book echoes the ma- crucial one: governments cannot simply jor themes of modernization theory, for it dream up systems of domination and ex- adopts a positive view of the impact of the MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 15

commercial market on Tokugawa village Esenbel's tendency to overstate her revi- society, pointing to growing surpluses, the sionism. Although her perspective on ru- maintenance of communal harmony, and a ral uprisings is quite similar to that of rising standard of living. Most moderni- James White, her book does contain a zationists argue that these "early modern" healthy dose of original and provocative developments, in turn, made possible a ideas. However, her desire to set up her rapid yet consensual process of change in own argument in categorical opposition to the Meiji period; in other words, Japan's what she calls "mainstream scholarship" dramatic transformation during the Meiji sometimes prevents her from engaging the period resulted from a cooperative rela- ideas of individual scholars in a more tionship between a modernization-minded meaningful way. For instance, while she government and an already-modernizing accurately identifies the "exploita- populace. Esenbel, in contrast, identifies tion/impoverishment/dissolution" model both a source of fundamental discontinuity used by many Marxian scholars to analyze between Tokugawa and Meiji and a major rural conflict, she lumps the work of Wil- point of conflict between the Meiji state liam Kelly, Stephen Vlastos, and Anne and the Japanese people. This source of Walthall into this category without recog- discontinuity and conflict was the entirely nizing the important ways in which these new relationship between state and society scholars depart from this model. These enforced by the Meiji government. In scholars would also be surprised, I'm sure, Esenbel's narrative, the flexible Tokugawa to be grouped (not explicitly, but de facto) order, which allowed peasants to influence with "mainstream scholarship" that strips local administration, stands in contrast to peasants of agency by reducing their ac- the intrusive, uncompromising Meiji state tions to larger structures. But these that suppressed the Nakano uprising. In shortcomings in Esenbel's discussion of the this sense, her portrayal of the Toku- existing literature on rural conflict do not gawa-Meiji transition resembles the tragic substantially detract from her own re- narrative of loss and betrayal one often search, which is solid and careful. Her finds in the work of Marxian or "People's case study of Takaino village and the Na- History" (minshūshi) historians, except kano uprising provides us with valuable that she rejects the notion of the Restora- insights into the critical issue of the com- tion as a failed or betrayed revolution. mercialization of the household economy Rather, the tragedy in Esenbel's narrative and its relationship to rural uprisings. is the passing of the Tokugawa order and Brian Platt its systemic values of flexibility, local Department of History agency, and compromise; Esenbel repeat- George Mason University edly uses the term "feudal" (perhaps too unproblematically) to describe the Toku- gawa period, but the term's connotation is Marleen Kassel, Tokugawa Confucian quite positive. Esenbel does not discuss Education: The Kangien Academy of HHi-i- the Tokugawa-Meiji transition in such ex- rose Tansō (1782(1782--1856-18561856)). Albany: State plicitly positive or negative terms; never- University of New York Press, 1996. Pp. theless, the implicit narrative behind her 248. $21.95. analysis is worth pointing out, if only be- cause it represents an unusual mixture of In this work, Marleen Kassel discusses Hirose elements from very different histo- Tansō, who established the Kangien academy in riographical traditions. Hita, Kyushu, in 1817. In the course of his career If there is a flaw in this book, it is at Kangien, Tansō taught some 3,000 students, MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 16

one third of which were Buddhist clergy (among should not be surprised at Kassel's evaluation of whom were two nuns, his only female students). Chōei, which certainly applies as well to Masu- The Buddhist component of this school is not jirō, that "There is no evidence that his tenure at insignificant because a tight monastic regimen of Kangien had any particular lasting influence on communal living regulated the life of the students him" (p. 147). The third figure, Chō Sanshū, within and outside its precincts with a daily made it into Meiji and drafted a good part of the schedule (suspended one holiday a month) start- Fundamental Code of Education (Gakusei) of ing at 6:00AM and consisting mainly of six hours 1872, served in the Ministry of Education, and, as lecture and discussion time, three or four hours of imperial tutor, molded emperor Taishō's mind. tests and three hours of study. A complicated Any attempt to make special claims for a spe- point system of the students' scholastic progress cific Kangien impact on Meiji developments and a close monitoring of their behavior through, must fail and be watered down to general state- among other things, a numerical record keeping ments about the values of hard work, frugality, of one's moral performance, entered daily in discipline and the like. Kassel takes that direction ledgers of merit and tallied monthly, and regular after futile attempts at shoring up the record of evaluations of one's spiritual profile capped this historical influence and winds up qualifying, but system. Students were boarded, commuted or only mildly, her final evaluation of Tansō's legacy, passed through for brief periods of time, about which "In the end ... served both to ease and to fifty percent staying less than three years and hinder Japan’s transition to modernity" (p. 152). very few completing all the levels of instruction. It is also important to know that neither of the Such information, which the author provides in three men Japanese historians have singled out to Chapter Six, constitutes the most interesting part argue Kangien's importance were in any way of this book. And yet, not much if anything is judged by Tansō to be among his favorite stu- new -- except some mistakes, as we shall see -- dents. In addition, Kassel makes surprising dis- for anyone who has read Richard Rubinger's claimers when she states without much ado about forty-page chapter devoted to Kangien, its insti- Tansō's achievements that "The discrepancy that tutional setup, curriculum, rules and regulations exists between his theory and practice is not and student body in his Private Acedemies of To- really significant in the overall scheme of things" kugawa Japan (Princeton: Princeton University (p. 118) or, on the regular written character and Press, 1982). A brief concluding chapter attempts academic evaluation, that "This system . . . is an to positively assess the academy's legacy in terms interesting idea, but was never actually practiced" of contributions to Japan's modernization. The (120). argument, or, since declarations replace argu- Kassel s avowed aim in writing this book is to ments proper, the thesis is that this academy was, be found elsewhere. She states that it "is limited on the one hand, typical of the kind of thought to Tansō's philosophical and practical goals" (p. and educational policy that fed into Meiji devel- 6). Part III of the book serves this purpose well. opments, but, on the other hand, at the same time Here the reader will find thirty-six pages of quite exceptional: its student body was larger translations, that include Section 5 on the educa- than most other private academies, it had an tional system of Tansō's 1840 work on statecraft, egalitarian admission policy but was merit-based Ugen (Roundabout Words), and his 1829 Yakugen in its educational structure. (Essential Teachings) whereby one can have di- Kassel singles out three men whom Japanese rect access to a brief selection of Tansō's writings historians have identified as having been histori- on philosophy and education through a cally significant products of the academy. The well-executed translation. Part I is devoted to first is Takano Chōei, who, however, learned his presenting three "settings" (historical, educational main trade in Nagasaki and built a medical career and intellectual) for understanding Tansō and his in Edo. The second is Ōmura Masujirō, a scholar work. The Historical Setting "introduces Tansō of Dutch Learning, who opened his own military as the scion of an important merchant family that academy in Edo and became military advisor to functioned also as the official money lender to Chōshū. Given these two men's careers, one the Tokugawa intendant in charge of Tokugawa MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 17

territories in Kyushu -- Rubinger has already lection of fish that they certainly would set out to provided all the details. It includes a brief assort further. Yet, none are rejected. The argu- summary of Ugen, Tansō's essay on statecraft that ment for variety within a commonality is stated runs through the usual list of ills of the time. In as follows: "Philosophers considered to be part of "The Education Setting" Kassel provides a gen- the Neo-Confucian school of thought are an ex- eral introduction of some aspects of private tremely diverse group who are united by the is- academies in the Tokugawa period and traces the sues they address" (p.52). This is surprising. One development of the Kangien academy; again would rather think that it is the way they address overly familiar territory. These are rather short issues rather than the issues themselves that make chapters, as are those of Part II, which introduces scholars Neo-Confucian or not. Could one call Tansō's philosophy centered on a reverence for Neo-Confucian anyone addressing issues like Heaven, which, as far as I can judge, is an origi- statecraft, or Heaven, or fate that are discussed up nal contribution, and his educational system. and down Chinese history? Confusing? Certainly. "The Intellectual Setting," constituting about Everything and everyone ultimately turns out in one third of the book, is by far the longest chapter. the end to be Neo-Confucian. What Kassel has to Kassel here states that "Describing just what say about Sorai, for example, shows how unre- Neo-Confucian [sic] is, and in what ways Hirose flectively she uses the term. Tansō was an actor on the Neo-Confucian stage, Sorai "expanded the concept of learning to be is the task at hand" (p. 51). Does the author suc- something that addressed society in general ... ceed better at this task than in her strained as- [and] the scope of political theory beyond that of sessment of Tansō's legacy? early Tokugawa Neo- Confucianism" (p. 71). A Kassel rushes us through a considerably ex- few pages later comes the statement, quoted ear- tended line of "orthodox" Neo-Confucians in lier, that Sorai was at the source of late Toku- Japan and China that runs from Chang Tsai gawa's greater acceptance of Neo-Confucianism through the Ch'eng brothers, Chu Hsi, Wang after it had already prospered and diversified Yang-ming, Lo Ch'in-shun and on to Nakae Tōju, initially. Anyone even slightly acquainted with Kumazawa Banzan, Yamazaki Ansai, Kaibara Maruyama Masao s work, still standard in the Ekken (who "included the humble masses within field, would be surprised at such an interpretation the scope of Neo-Confucianism" [p. 70]), Ogyū of Sorai that is even logically puzzling. Still fur- Sorai (through whose school, "After an early his- ther, on page 79, some scholars could claim af- tory of prosperity and diversity, Tokugawa filiation with two apparently separate traditions: Neo-Confucianism met with greater acceptance" Sorai and Sung Neo-Confucianism. Now the [p. 73]), Kokugaku, what Kassel labeled the Or- qualifier "Sung" is introduced, making Sorai, by thodox Chu Hsi School centered in Osaka, and implication a non-Sung, yet still "Neo" Mito Learning. Kassel here summarizes the Neo-Confucian. Tansō, an avowed eclectic, is summaries scholars like Wing-tsit Chang, Theo- said to be heir to the Neo-Confucian tradition, dore de Bary, Minamoto Ryoen, Testuo Najita, and his eclecticism is limited to selecting his and others have made of these thinkers. methods from within that tradition (p. 85) -- Why this genealogical procedure? In this re- which hardly meets the definition of eclecticism viewer's opinion, an understanding of Tansō's as used for late Tokugawa thought. Even the Im- thought does not require rehearsing author by perial Rescript on Education of 1890 is said to author (and greatly simplifying) what others be- "emanate from the Neo-Confucian tradition" (p. fore Tansō may have written. This becomes nec- 151). essary, however, if one's aim is to trace a rather Kassel is aware that the usefulness of the term amplified "Neo-Confucian" tradition and to posi- Neo-Confucian has been seriously questioned in tion Tansō within that tradition, which is ulti- the 1990s but she brushes the debate aside and mately Kassel’s purpose. opts to use the term "in its broadest sense" (note 1, Having spread her Neo-Confucian net so p. 85). Unfortunately, this blurs things and hin- widely, Kassel has to account for what other ders rather than furthers any attempt to under- scholars may consider to be an incongruous col- stand thinkers in their own right, especially MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 18

avowed genuine eclectics like Tansō. Almost all by Peter Bol published in 1982 and 1992 or Ben- scholars in late Tokugawa were playing with jamin Elman (1984, 1990) that considerably re- parts of a Confucian repertoire that they com- fined our conception of the term bined with elements from Shinto and even West- "Neo-Confucianism" are absent. Reference is ern Learning. To reduce all this "in the last in- made to Cynthia Brokaw's 1987 article on “ledg- stance," so to speak, to Neo-Confucianism is ers of merit,” but not to her 1991 book on the doctrinaire and unwarranted. subject. Peter Nosco’s 1978 Ph.D. dissertation A number of factual mistakes further mar the Remembering Paradise is there, but not his 1990 general understanding of Tokugawa Japan. Mix- book by the same title. Overall, this leads me to ing up modern prefectures and feudal domains, conclude that this study should have been judged Kassel assumes that Tokugawa Japan had to have been several steps away from deserving sixty-eight domains when she twice states that to see the light of published day. Kangien students came from sixty-four out of Herman Ooms sixty-eight domains (pp. 1, 37). Mixing up early Department of History with late Tokugawa, the author also asserts that University of California, early Tokugawa would have had 1,493 private Los Angeles schools and ten times as many temple schools (p. 28). No reference is given for these statistics. Book Notice: Residence Groups and Ronald Dore gives a rough ("largely worthless") Rank-Order Consciousness in Early estimate of 10,000 (not 15,000 as Kassel would Modern Japan have it) for the end of the period "of which only Philip C. Brown, Ohio State University 400 date from before 1800" (Ronald P. Dore,

Education in Tokugawa Japan [Berkeley: Uni- 渡辺浩一 『近世日本の都 versity of California Press, 1965], p. 253). Watanabe, Kouichi ( ) Readers will be mistaken if they assume that Ya- 市と民衆―住民結合と序列意識』Tokyo: mazaki Ansai's Kimon school (referred to in Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1999. 336 pp., 14 pp. pages 65 and 70), with its focus on "Principle," is Index and English Abstract, 13 illustrations, 22 the same as (rather than the opposite of) what tables. ¥8,200. Abe Yoshio singularly has called the "Kimon School," a loose term misleadingly capitalized in As is true in Western language studies, Japa- note 39, page. 89, under which Abe Yoshio nese images of early modern urban areas have grouped together scholars from various Schools largely been based on examination of Japan’s slanted to privilege "Material Force" as opposed “three great metropolitan centers”, Edo, Osaka, to "Principle." The sense of philosophical ortho- and Kyoto. Watanabe sets out to address this doxy is said to have been diminishing only to be imbalance in scholarly studies by examining reasserted in the second half of the eighteenth smaller urban areas, both those that were castle century (p. 24). Quite the contrary is true. It towns and others that were not. He also exam- was not "heterodox" teachings (whatever that ines some rustic urban areas that were not for- may mean in a Tokugawa context) that were mally classified as towns (zaikata machi 在方町). spreading in the eighteenth century, but a sense of He is partly concerned with examining what fea- hermeneutic and doctrinal exclusivism that was tures distinguished these towns (if any) and the forging then for the first time a notion of ortho- ways in which commoner residents in these doxy as a political weapon in an academic turf communities were organized. war. In other words, an early sense of "ortho- After an introduction, the book is divided into doxy" was not weakened; it just grew throughout two parts. Part I looks at residents’ groups and most of the eighteenth century. concentrates on analysis of Kusukabe (Musashi What one assumes to be the absence of profes- province), Kōriyama () and Sen- sional editing has resulted in awkward sentences dai. A “supplement” for chapter 3 serves not and a good number of mistakes in the bibliogra- only as a summary, but also provides Watanabe a phy, which was also in need of updating. Works venue in which to compare and contrast the three MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 19

great urban areas with other urban centers. Part cern with bun (文, literary arts such as calligra- II explores rank-order consciousness primarily in phy), and even the transformation of martial arts Moriguchi (in Settsu province, a zaikata machi), to emphasize falconry and horsemanship, the de- Kōriyama (a zaikata machi which is formally velopment of house laws, and other attributes that re-classified by authorities as a town), and Sendai contributed to internal stabilization. (a castle town). Part II begins the actual examination of oie Watanabe frames his final conclusions in terms sōdō. Fukuda focuses primarily on single case of different “visions” of towns. On the one studies in her explanation of the key types of dis- hand, there is the vision of the domain authorities, turbances, events that she classifies by period. on the other those of the townsmen, suggesting For the Keichō-Genna era’s conflicts between that a good fit between those visions made for a relatively autonomous major retainers (kashin), more peaceful urban order. Going beyond this she focuses on the Mogami Disturbance; for the concern for commoner-domain relations, Wata- Kan’ei era when key issues centered on reform of nabe suggests that townsmen’s visions of them- retainer fiefs, she explores primarily the Kuroda selves changed as towns were re-classified as Disturbance. For the late 17th century she fo- urban areas by domain authorities, a change that cuses on the Echigo Disturbances indicating that reflected a rise in social standing as well as a these disturbances tended to avoid involving the promotion within domain administration. shogunate in the dispute settlement process. This latter characteristic distinguished late period Book Notice: The Early Modern Order disturbances from those of the first two eras. and the Daimyo House Disturbances Philip C. Brown, Ohio State University NOTE: EMJ welcomes submission of short book notices that introduce recent work by Japa- Fukuda, Chizuru (福田千鶴)『幕藩制的秩序と nese scholars to our readers. Please send sub- 御家騒動』(歴史科学叢書) Tokyo: Azekura missions to Philip C. Brown, Department of His- th Shobō, 1999. 408 pp. Index. 2 illustrations, 20 tory, Ohio State University, 230 West 17 Avenue, tables. ¥10,000. Columbus, OH 43210 or contact him by e-mail at [email protected]. While studies of samurai from ancient times are slowly growing in Western scholarship, much of interest has yet to be introduced in the Western literature, especially for the early modern era. Among those subjects, the great household dis- turbances, primarily of the seventeenth century, certainly must rank high. These disturbances pitted cliques of retainers against each other and the daimyo. Study of them illuminates the proc- ess of domain formation, the reorientation of warriors to peacetime lives, the roles of samurai cliques in domain politics, and the establishment of stable domain administration. This study touches on many facets of these issues. Study of these incidents is not a new subject in Japan. Fukuda begins by reviewing the litera-  PC Brown ture on these disturbances, with an emphasis on developments since the 1960s. Part I begins with an overview of the very early kinsei order, taking the Keichō-Genna era as a transition, one that looks at the emergence of the samurai con-

MAY 2000 EARLY MODERN JAPAN 20

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