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The Cambridge History of Japan Vol. 4: Early Modern Japan

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Early Modern Japan

Series The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 4

Edited by John Whitney Hall and James L. McClain

Publication Date 1991

Hardback ISBN-10
0521223555

Hardback ISBN-13
9780521223553

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.1017/CHOL9780521223553

Overview

This is the fourth of six volumes designed to explore the history of Japan from prehistoric to modern times. Volume 4 covers the years from 1550 to 1800, a short but surprisingly eventful period in Japanese history commonly referred to as Japan's Early Modern Age. At the start, in the sixteenth century, much of the country was being pulled apart by local military lords engaged in a struggle for land and local hegemony. These daimyo succeeded in dividing Japan into nearly autonomous regional domains. Before the end of the seventeenth century, however, the daimyo in turn were subjected to a powerful unification movement led by three colourful figures, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. It was under Tokugawa Ieyasu, the last of the unifiers, that Japan was brought together under a single powerful command vested in the office of shogun. The Tokugawa hegemony lasted until 1868 when it was brought down by the Meiji Restoration. This volume attempts to flesh out the historical tale with insights into the way that people lived and worked. It examines the relationship between peasant and local lord, and between the lord, as a unit of local government, and the emerging shogunate. It offers new insights into the evolution of indigenous thought and religion and it also deals with Japan's foreign relations, particularly the impact of the Christian missionary movement. Each of these themes is examined by thirteen distinguished Japanese and American scholars.

For more details of the
print book, and how to buy it online, please see
Early Modern Japan in the Cambridge University Press online
catalogue.

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Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Introduction
by
John Whitney Hall

The sixteenth-century unification
by
Asao Naohiro

The social and economic consequences of unification
by
Wakita Samu

The bakuhan system
by
John Whitney Hall

The han
by
Harold Bolitho

The inseparable trinity: Japan's relations with China and Korea
by
Jurgis Elisonas

Christianity and the daimyo
by
Jurgis Elisonas

Thought and religion: 1550–1700
by
Bitō Masahide

Politics in the eighteenth century
by
Tsuji Tatsuya

The village and agriculture during the Edo period
by
Furushima Toshio

Commercial change and urban growth in early modern Japan
by
Nakai Nobuhiko and James L. McClain

History and nature in eighteenth-century Tokugawa thought
by
Tetsuo Najita

Tokugawa society: material culture, standard of living, and life-styles
by
Susan B. Hanley

Popular culture
by
Donald H. Shively

Works Cited

©2011 Cambridge University Press.
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