Summary of Amy Stanley's Stranger in the Shogun's City

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The baby girl, Tsuneno, was born in 1804. She had everything she needed for the first few months of her life. Her family had old clothes and rags to piece together for diapers, so she could be changed whenever she was wet.
#2 Tsuneno’s family were investors and planners. They had to be, since even substantial fortunes could be lost quickly through bad harvests and mismanagement. But they also spent money freely on the small things of everyday life.
#3 In the house of Tsuneno, which was attached to the temple, some of those everyday things were funded by donations from parishioners. The True Pure Land sect’s scholars taught that raising a child to become a priest or priest’s wife was a gift to the Buddha equal to all the treasures that fill three thousand worlds.
#4 Echigo was a region in Japan that was known for its harsh winters. But at least everyone knew what to expect. It would be freezing from equinox to equinox, and sometimes farmers would need to shovel out the fields so that they could plant their rice seedlings.

Sujets

• Asia
• Japan

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 28 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669369950
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Amy Stanley's Stranger in the Shogun's City
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The baby girl, Tsuneno, was born in 1804. She had everything she needed for the first few months of her life. Her family had old clothes and rags to piece together for diapers, so she could be changed whenever she was wet.

#2

Tsuneno’s family were investors and planners. They had to be, since even substantial fortunes could be lost quickly through bad harvests and mismanagement. But they also spent money freely on the small things of everyday life.

#3

In the house of Tsuneno, which was attached to the temple, some of those everyday things were funded by donations from parishioners. The True Pure Land sect’s scholars taught that raising a child to become a priest or priest’s wife was a gift to the Buddha equal to all the treasures that fill three thousand worlds.

#4

Echigo was a region in Japan that was known for its harsh winters. But at least everyone knew what to expect. It would be freezing from equinox to equinox, and sometimes farmers would need to shovel out the fields so that they could plant their rice seedlings.

#5

As the Japanese islands were being charted and measured more precisely, a child could make their own map of the woods and fields around Big Pond. Stands of cedar trees bracketed the shore, while water chestnuts and lotuses floated on the water’s surface.

#6

When she was old enough, Tsuneno began her formal education. She was not an ordinary peasant, but a sophisticated girl who would be able to write graceful letters, read poetry, and keep family accounts.

#7

Giyū learned about the political structure of the realm. He knew that he lived in the land of the gods, and that the emperor existed but was not a politically important figure. The shogun, the military leader who ruled from Edo Castle, directly administered about a third of the land in Japan.

#8

Tsuneno and Kiyomi learned many things their brothers did not. They were taught primers for girls, which were so popular that the most famous were reprinted hundreds of times. The main text in each book was always dull and didactic, but there were always appendices with more interesting content.

#9

sewing was a common hobby for girls in ancient Japan, and it was often used to create new clothes for the family. But it was also used to create new outfits for the imagination.

#10

Tsuneno learned to sew as a child, and as she grew up, she began to pack away the clothes she had been wearing since she was a kid. She had dozens of pieces of clothing packed away in a standing dresser and overflowing into other chests and baskets.

#11

During the seventeenth century, Japan limited foreign travel and trade, but it did not eliminate them. The shogunate still wanted to maintain foreign contact, and it tried to expand foreign trade. The Japanese began producing enough silk and cotton to meet domestic demand.

#12

As the world became more connected, children in Japan began to see more foreign ships passing by their shores. Some were even used for transportation of prisoners to other countries.

#13

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, Japanese sailors began meeting with foreign ships and drifting to faraway shores. They were given basic provisions, but were asked not to return. Meanwhile, Japanese officials began worrying about the outside world and urged their country to expand and trade with it.

#14

In 1825, the shogunate issued the Edict to Repel Foreign Vessels, which instructed Japanese to fire on all Western ships attempting to cast anchor in any port other than Nagasaki.

#15

The town of Echigo was known for its strange customs, and it was rumored that demons walked the streets on New Year’s Eve. But what amazed people most was the city’s prosperity: its hordes of vendors, its cavernous merchant houses, and its multitude of hairdressers, street cleaners, and laundresses.