Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility by Takie Sugiyama Lebra

by Takie Sugiyama Lebra

This latest work from Japanese-born anthropologist Takie Sugiyama Lebra is the first ethnographic study of the modern Japanese aristocracy. Established as a class at the beginning of the Meiji period, the kazoku ranked directly below the emperor and his family. Officially dissolved in 1947, this group of social elites is still generally perceived as nobility. Lebra gained entry into this tightly knit circle and conducted more than one hundred interviews with its members. She has woven together a reconstructive ethnography from their life histories to create an intimate portrait of a remote and archaic world.As Lebra explores the culture of the kazoku , she places each subject in its historical context. She analyzes the evolution of status boundaries and the indispensable role played by outsiders.But this book is not simply about the elite. It is also about commoners and how each stratum mirrors the other. Revealing previously unobserved complexities in Japanese society, it also sheds light on the universal problem of social stratification.

Genres: Japan, History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Japanese History, 20th Century, Japanese Literature

Paperback

First published December 30, 1992

Reviews

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fan of the Japanese aristocracy, but reading about them from an ethnological perspective was fascinating. Dr. Lebra is the perfect guide as an insider outsider, and she presents her informants with just the right degree of academic detachment. She is also forthright about all the apparent contradictions and how they are rationalized or even self-reinforcing. I am glad I read this book, and feel like I have deepened my understanding of Japanese society as a whole.

[Winterwade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating exploration of the now-extinct 'kazoku', the Japanese peerage. Lebra explores participants' views of their ancestors and the impact thereof upon their self-images and how they feel they ought to act as representatives of, in many cases, very great figures in Japanese history. A particularly interesting point for me was the institution of adoption for the continuance of a family name, something rather alien to the U.K.'s equivalent gentry and peerage families.