Author: George SansomPublisher:  Cresset Press, London, 1961Cover:      Hardcover, No DJVolume     II

A History of Japan: 1334-1615

History

Sansom, George

Asia

Stanford UP

In this volume the author considers what the purpose and method of advanced Japanese studies should be. He believes that the study of Japanese history should be, not an end in itself but an integral part of world history. He discusses areas of controversy in interpretation which arise when a comparative method is used and Japanese history is examined in correlation with world history.   

Japan in World History

Reference

Routledge

A History of Japan to 1334

Explains the structure of the feudal society, describes the rise of economic life and tells of the impact of Commodore Perry's arrival in 1853. Bibliographical notes

Stanford University Press

A History of Japan, 1334-1615

This is the concluding volume of a three-volume work that culminates the life study of the West's most distinguished scholar of Japanese history. A straightforward narrative of the development of Japanese civilization to 1867, the three volumes constitute the first large-scale comprehensive history of Japan. Unlike the renowned Short Cultural History, it is concerned mainly with political and social phenomena and only incidentally touches on religion, literature, and the arts. The treatment is primarily descriptive and factual, but the author offers some pragmatic interpretations and suggests comparisons with the history of other peoples. A History of Japan: 1615-1867 describes the political and social development of Japan during the two and half centuries of rule by the Tokugawa Shoguns, a period of remarkable development in almost ever aspects of the national life. Under Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun, a system of checks and balances to keep the great feudatories in order began to be devised. His successors continued this policy, and indeed the essential features of government by the Tokugawa Shoguns was a determination to keep the peace. Freed from civil war, the energies of the nation were devoted to increasing production of goods in agriculture, manufacturers, and mining. Breaches in the traditional policy of isolation began to occur with the arrival of foreign ships in Japanese waters, the first intruders being the Russian in the 1790s. Thereafter, the government struggled to keep foreign ships away from Japanese ports, but before long the pressure of the Western powers, strengthened by the arrival of warships under the command of Commodore Perry in 1853, forced Japan to take part in international affairs.

A History of Japan: 1615-1867

Japan: A Short Cultural History was first published in 1931 by the Cresset Press in London and D. Appleton in New York. Writing in theJournal of American Oriental Society in 1959, Edwin O. Reischauer, Harvard professor and leading scholar in Japanese history and culture (and future United States Ambassador to Japan) said this of George Sansom's comprehensive account of Japanese history: "When Sir George Sansom's Japan: A Short Cultural History appeared in 1931, it raised the study of Japanese history in the West to new levels. Its penetrating analysis of institutions, sensitive interpretations of cultural developments, and stylistic charm contrasted with the plodding pedestrian surveys and over-written anecdotal accounts that had hitherto served in the Occident as introductions to Japanese history." The present Stanford edition, the first to appear in paperback in the United States, is a photographic reproduction of the British edition except in two particulars: eight of the original twenty plates have been dropped, and the maps have been redrawn by Margaret Kays. In redrawing the maps it was decided to retain the author's terminology, orthography, and dating even where these have been discarded or suspended by more recent scholarship.

Japan: A Short Cultural History

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Books by Sansom, George

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sansom, George. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A History of Japan: 1334-1615

Japan in World History

A History of Japan to 1334

A History of Japan, 1334-1615

A History of Japan: 1615-1867

Japan: A Short Cultural History

Japan in World History