A History of the Japanese People - From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

F. (Frank) Brinkley, Dairoku Kikuchi

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• Publié par: eslo
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 46
• Langue: English
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Japanese People, by Frank Brinkley and Dairoku
Kikuchi
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Title: A History of the Japanese People From the
Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era
Author: Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi
Release Date: December 23, 2008 [eBook #27604]
Language: English
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK A HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE
PEOPLE***
E-text prepared by Geoffrey Berg from digital
material generously made available by Internet
Archive (http://www.archive.org)Note: Images of the original pages are available
through Internet Archive. See
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofjapanes00briniala
A HISTORY OF THE
JAPANESE PEOPLE
From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era
by
CAPT. F. BRINKLEY, R. A.
Editor of the "Japan Mail"
With the Collaboration of BARON KIKUCHI
Former President of the Imperial University at
Kyoto
With 150 Illustrations Engraved on Wood by
Japanese Artists;
Half-Tone Plates, and MapsDEDICATED BY
GRACIOUS
PERMISSION TO HIS
MAJESTY MEIJI
TENNO, THE LATE
EMPEROR OF JAPANFOREWORD
It is trite to remark that if you wish to know really
any people, it is necessary to have a thorough
knowledge of their history, including their
mythology, legends and folk-lore: customs, habits
and traits of character, which to a superficial
observer of a different nationality or race may
seem odd and strange, sometimes even utterly
subversive of ordinary ideas of morality, but which
can be explained and will appear quite reasonable
when they are traced back to their origin. The
sudden rise of the Japanese nation from an
insignificant position to a foremost rank in the
comity of nations has startled the world. Except in
the case of very few who had studied us intimately,
we were a people but little raised above barbarism
trying to imitate Western civilisation without any
capacity for really assimilating or adapting it. At
first, it was supposed that we had somehow
undergone a sudden transformation, but it was
gradually perceived that such could not be and was
not the case; and a crop of books on Japan and
the Japanese, deep and superficial, serious and
fantastic, interesting and otherwise, has been put
forth for the benefit of those who were curious to
know the reason of this strange phenomenon. But
among so many books, there has not yet been, so
far as I know, a history of Japan, although a study
of its history was most essential for the proper
understanding of many of the problems relating to
the Japanese people, such as the relation of the
Imperial dynasty to the people, the family system,
the position of Buddhism, the influence of the
Chinese philosophy, etc. A history of Japan ofmoderate size has indeed long been a
desideratum; that it was not forthcoming was no
doubt due to the want of a proper person to
undertake such a work. Now just the right man has
been found in the author of the present work, who,
an Englishman by birth, is almost Japanese in his
understanding of, and sympathy with, the
Japanese people. It would indeed be difficult to find
any one better fitted for the task—by no means an
easy one—of presenting the general features of
Japanese history to Western readers, in a compact
and intelligible form, and at the same time in
general harmony with the Japanese feeling. The
Western public and Japan are alike to be
congratulated on the production of the present
work. I may say this without any fear of reproach
for self-praise, for although my name is mentioned
in the title-page, my share is very slight, consisting
merely in general advice and in a few suggestions
on some special points.
DAIROKU KIKUCHI.
KYOTO, 1912.AUTHOR'S PREFACE
During the past three decades Japanese students
have devoted much intelligent labour to collecting
and collating the somewhat disjointed fragments of
their country's history. The task would have been
practically impossible for foreign historiographers
alone, but now that the materials have been
brought to light there is no insuperable difficulty in
making them available for purposes of joint
interpretation. That is all I have attempted to do in
these pages, and I beg to solicit pardon for any
defect they may be found to contain.
F. BRINKLEY.
TOKYO, 1912.CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. The Historiographer's Art in Old Japan
II. Japanese Mythology
III. Japanese Mythology (Continued)
IV. Rationalization
V. Origin of the Japanese Nation: Historical
Evidences
VI. Origin of the Nation: Geographical and
Archaeological
Relics
VII. Language and Physical Characteristics
VIII. Manners and Customs in Remote Antiquity
IX. The Prehistoric Sovereigns
X. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued)
XI. The Prehistoric Sovereigns (Continued)
XII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns
XIII. The Protohistoric Sovereigns (Continued)
XIV. From the 29th to the 35th Sovereign
XV. The Daika ReformsXVI. The Daiho Laws and the Yoro Laws
XVII. The Nara Epoch
XVIII. The Heian Epoch
XIX. The Heian Epoch (Continued)
XX. The Heian Epoch (Continued)
XXI. The Capital and the Provinces
XXII. Recovery of Administrative Authority by the
Throne
XXIII. Manners and Customs of the Heian Epoch
XXIV. The Epoch of the Gen (Minamoto) and the
Hei (Taira)
XXV. The Epoch of the Gen and the Hei
(Continued)
XXVI. The Kamakura Bakufu
XXVII. The Hojo
XXVIII. Art, Religion, Literature, Customs, and
Commerce in the
Kamakura Period
XXIX. Fall of the Hojo and Rise of the Ashikaga
XXX. The War of the Dynasties
XXXI. The Fall of the Ashikaga
XXXII. Foreign Intercourse, Literature, Art,Religion, Manners, and Customs in the
Muromachi Epoch
XXXIII. The Epoch of Wars (Sengoku Jidai)
XXXIV. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu
XXXV. The Invasion of Korea
XXXVI. The Momo-Yama Epoch
XXXVII. Christianity in Japan
XXXVIII. The Tokugawa Shogunate
XXXIX. First Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu;
from the First
Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, to the Fourth,
Ietsuna
(1603-1680)
XL. Middle Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu; from
the Fifth
Shogun, Tsunayoshi, to the Tenth Shogun,
Ieharu
(1680-1786)
XLI. The Late Period of the Tokugawa Bakufu.
The Eleventh
Shogun,Ienari (1786-1838)
XLII. Organization, Central and Local; Currency
and the
Laws of the Tokugawa Bakufu
XLIII. Revival of the Shinto Cult
XLIV. Foreign Relations and the Decline of the