Kaempfer's Japan : : Tokugawa Culture Observed / / Engelbert Kaempfer; ed. by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Archive (pre 2000) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Kaempfer, Engelbert,
• TeilnehmendeR: Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice M.
• HerausgeberIn: Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [1999]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 1999
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (560 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgments --; Translator’s Introduction --; Notes on the Translation --; Prologue --; Book 1 --; 1. Journey from Siam to Japan and the Present State of the Siamese Court, Including a Description of the Royal Residence or Capital of Ayutthaya --; 2. Departure from the Siamese Capital Ayutthaya Down the River Metnam to the Harbor, and from There across the Sea to Japan --; 3. The Size and Situation of the Islands and Provinces of Japan --; 4. The Division of the Japanese Empire into Large and Small Domains, and Especially General Information about Their Revenue and Government --; 5. The Origin of the Inhabitants --; 6. The Origin of the Japanese according to Their Own Fanciful Opinion --; 7. The Climate of Japan and Its Mineral Resources --; 8. The Fertility of Plants in This Country --; 9. The Country’s Abundance of Quadrupeds, Birds, Crawling and Flying Insects --; 10. Fish and Shellfish --; Book 2 --; 1. Names of the Gods, Divine Humans, and Emperors Who Are Named in the Japanese Chronicles As the First Rulers of This Empire --; 2. General Information about the Spiritual and True Hereditary Emperors of This Empire and the Periodization of Their Succession --; 3. The Spiritual Hereditary Emperors, and Especially and First of All Those Who Have Ruled the Japanese Empire from the Beginning of the Monarchy until the Birth of Christ --; 4. The Spiritual Hereditary Emperors Who Lived between the Birth of Christ and the Birth of Yoritomo, the First Secular Ruler, and Ruled with Unlimited Authority --; 5. The Spiritual Hereditary Emperors Who Lived after the Birth of Yoritomo to the Present Day --; 6. The Military Commanders and Secular Rulers from Yoritomo to the Present Ruler Tsunayoshi --; Book 3 --; 1. Concerning the Religions of This Empire and Especially That of Shinto --; 2. The Temples, Beliefs, and Worship of the Shinto Sect --; 3. Shinto Reibi, That Is to Say, Lucky and Sacred Days and Their Celebration --; 4. The Sangū, or Pilgrimage to Ise --; 5. Yamabushi, or Mountain Priests, and Other Religions --; 6. Butsu dō, or Foreign Paganism, and in General about Its Founder --; 7. Judō , the Teaching or the Ways of the Moralists or Philosophers --; Book 4 --; 1. The Situation of the City of Nagasaki --; 2. The Government of Nagasaki --; 3. The Government of Individual Streets and Their Inhabitants, as well as the Administration of the Surrounding Districts and Farmers by a Shogunal Official --; 4. The Temples of the City and the Activities and the Administration of the Clergy --; 5. The Arrival, Reception, and Extermination of the Portuguese and Spaniards --; 6. The Situation of the Dutch --; 7. The Dutch Trade in This Country: Firstly, the Guilds Employed for This Purpose --; 8. The Dutch Trade: Details of the Procedure --; 9. The Treatment and Trade of the Chinese --; 10. Some Posters, Passes, and Letters That Have Been Mentioned Above --; Book 5 --; 1. Preparations for Our Journey to Court and a Description of the Local Way of Traveling --; 2. A General Description of the Condition and Location of the Route by Water and on Land from Nagasaki to the Residence at Edo --; 3. A General Description of Civil and Religious Buildings and Also of Other Structures That We Saw along Public Routes --; 4. A Description of Post Stations, Inns, Roadside Food and Tea Stalls --; 5. The Crowds of People Traveling This Highway Daily and Gaining Their Livelihood Therefrom --; 6. Our Journey, That Is to Say, the Journey of the Dutch, to the Shogunal Court and the Treatment We Receive --; 7. Overland Journey from Nagasaki to Kokura, Begun on February 13, 1691, Consisting of 511⁄2 Japanese Miles --; 8. Voyage from Kokura to Osaka, Begun on February 17, 1691, Amounting to 140 or 150 Miles --; 9. Journey of Thirteen Miles from Osaka to Miyako, Begun on February 28th and Completed on the 29th, as well as a Description of Both Cities --; 10. The Journey from Miyako to Hamamatsu of Sixty-three Japanese Miles, Being Half the Journey to Edo, Begun on March 2nd --; 11. Continuation of Our Journey from Hamamatsu Sixty Japanese Miles and Thirty-eight Streets to the Shogunal Capital of Edo --; 12. Description of the City and the Castle of Edo, Some Events That Took Place There, Our Audience and Departure --; 13. Return from Edo --; 14. The Second Journey to the Shogun’s Court --; 15. Second Return Journey from Edo to Nagasaki --; Appendix 1. List of Persons --; Appendix 2. Money and Measurements --; Notes --; Glossary of Japanese Terms --; Bibliography --; Index --; About the Translator
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9780824863227; 9783110649680; 9783110564150
• DOI: 10.1515/9780824863227
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Engelbert Kaempfer; ed. by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey.

Engelbert Kaempfer's History of Japan was a best-seller from the moment it was published in London in 1727. Born in Westphalia in 1651, Kaempfer traveled throughout the Near and Far East before settling in Japan as physician to the trading settlement of the Dutch East India Company at Nagasaki. During his two years residence, he made two extensive trips around Japan in 1691 and 1692, collecting, according to the British historian Boxer, "an astonishing amount of valuable and accurate information." He also learned all he could from the few Japanese who came to Deshima for instruction in the European sciences.To these observations, Kaempfer added details he had gathered from a wide reading of travelers' accounts and the reports of previous trading delegations. The result was the first scholarly study of Tokugawa Japan in the West, a work that greatly influenced the European view of Japan throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, serving as a reference for a variety of works ranging from encyclopedias to the libretto of "The Mikado."Kaempfer's work remains one of the most valuable sources for historians of the Tokugawa period. The narrative describes what no Japanese was permitted to record (the details of the shogun's castle, for example) and what no Japanese thought worthy of recording (the minutiae of everyday life). However, all previous translations of the History are flawed, being based on the work of an eighteenth-century Swiss translator or that of the German editor some fifty years later who had little knowledge of Japan and resented Kaempfer's praise of the heathen country. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey's impressive new translation of this classic, which reflects careful study of Kaempfer's original manuscript, reclaims the work for the modern reader, placing it in the context of what is currently known about Tokugawa Japan and restoring the humor and freshness of Kaempfer's observations and impressions. In Kaempfer's Japan we have, for the first time, an accurate and thoroughly readable annotated translation of Kaempfer's colorful account of pre-modern Japan.