Voices of Early Modern Japan

Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Shogun's Japan Evaluating and Interpreting Primary Documents Timeline of Japanese History from the Mid-Sixteenth Century through the Tokugawa Period, 1543--1868 I. THE DOMESTIC SPHERE 1. Getting Married: "Agreement Regarding a Dowry" (1815) 2. Obtaining a Divorce: An Appeal for Assistance (1850) and Letters of Divorce (1857, Undated) 3. The Consequences of Adultery: "The Eavesdropper Whose Ears Were Burned" (1686) 4. A Woman's Place: Onna Daigaku (The Greater Learning for Women, 1716) and Tadano Makuzu's Hitori Kangae(Solitary Thoughts, 1818) II. MATERIAL LIFE 5. Fashion and Sumptuary Legislation: Ihara Saikaku's The Japanese Family Storehouse (Nippon eitai gura, 1688); List of Clothing Prohibitions for Edo Townsmen (1719) 6. Samurai Dress and Grooming Standards: Prohibitions of 1615 and 1645 7. Lunisolar Calendar: Calendar for Seventh Year of Kaei (1854): Samurai in Armor 8. Japanese Foodways and Diet: The Accounts of Joao Rodrigues (1620--21), Yamakawa Kikue (1943), and Terakada Seiken (1832--36) 9. The Communal Bath: Shikitei Sanba's "The Women's Bath" (Ukiyoburo, 1810) 10. The Japanese Home: Carl Peter Thunberg's Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa Made During the Years 1770 & 1779 III. THE POLITICAL SPHERE 11. A Foreigner's View of the Battle of Osaka: Richard Cocks's Account of the Fall of Osaka Castle (1615) 12. Forging Political Order: "Laws for the Military Houses" (1615, 1635) 13. The Emperor and the Kyoto Aristocracy: "Regulations for the Imperial Palace and the Court Nobility" (1615) 14. Weapons Control in Japanese Society: Toyotomi Hideyoshi's "Sword Hunt" (1588) and "A Local Ordinance Regarding Swords" (1648) 15. Self-Governance in Villages: Goningumi (Five-Household Group) Laws (1640) 16. Regulating Townspeople in Two Cities: City Code from Kanazawa (1642) and Notice Board in Edo (1711) IV. FOREIGN RELATIONS 17. Regulating Foreign Relations: The "Closed Country Edicts" (sakoku rei, 1635, 1639) 18. Tokugawa Japa