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The New Cambridge History of Japan #2
The New Cambridge History of Japan: Volume 2, Early Modern Japan in Asia and the World, c. 1580–1877
This major new reference work presents an accessible and innovative survey of the latest developments in the study of early modern Japan. The period from about 1580 to 1877 saw the reunification of Japan after a long period of civil war, followed by two and a half centuries of peace and stability under the Tokugawa shogunate, and closing with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which laid the foundation for a modern nation-state. With essays from leading international scholars, this volume emphasizes Japan's place in global history and pays close attention to gender and environmental history. It introduces readers to recent scholarship in fields including social history, the history of science and technology, intellectual history, and book history. Drawing on original research, each chapter situates its primary source material and novel arguments in the context of close engagement with secondary scholarship in a range of languages. The volume underlines the importance of Japan in the global early modern world.
764 pages, Hardcover
First published November 23, 2023
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September 8, 2025
Disclaimer: One of the contributors to this volume was a professor of mine at university
A magisterial work of early modern Japanese history, encompassing the Tokugawa/Edo period and its immediate aftermath. This is tied (along with volume III in this series and a copy of Annotations on Zuo Tradition Volume I) as one of the most expensive books I’ve purchased at just over £100, but honestly it’s absolutely worth it for its modern scholarship. It had previously been confined to only a reference work, I’d read a relevant chapter when I needed to for an essay, but now that my studies have finished and I have a bit more free time I thought I’d finally sit down and read it from start to finish.
21 chapters, each from a different author (minus Howell who authored two chapters) are split into three parts, each covering a particular niche (Regional authority, castle towns, foreign relations, religion etc.). The first part covers political history and foreign relations, the second deals with economy and science, before the last part, the largest one, on social and cultural history. I would say that the first part is reasonably general, whereas parts two and three seem to incline very academically. Chapter 19, covering the Early Modern city, I remember being quite difficult to parse at times, taking me a bit more time.
This is not an introductory survey to Japanese history, I do fully believe that one could use it as such, but I found that it does assume a baseline knowledge, and instead digs deeper into ideas and concepts that are less commonly covered. This is also a work of modern scholarship, which eschews certain topics that have been well covered in the past in favour of more under-discussed ones or where cutting-edge discoveries have been made. Several times throughout the volume it references and directs the reader to not just chapters in the yet-to-be published Volume I or the currently available Volume III of the New Cambridge History of Japan, but previous essays in the 30 year old now original Cambridge History of Japan, which gave me the impression of this being more of an update to that, including new discoveries, rather than a pure replacement.
That being said, for someone with that baseline knowledge, this work is invaluable. I learned so much about a great variety of topics (Chapters 4, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 21 stick out to me particularly) and I’m very much looking forward to reading Volume III. My only real criticism would be that I wish it was as big as the older Cambridge History, with more chapters so that I wouldn’t have to refer back to that (although I know how great of a work that was).
All in all, 4.8 stars out of 5, rounded up.
A magisterial work of early modern Japanese history, encompassing the Tokugawa/Edo period and its immediate aftermath. This is tied (along with volume III in this series and a copy of Annotations on Zuo Tradition Volume I) as one of the most expensive books I’ve purchased at just over £100, but honestly it’s absolutely worth it for its modern scholarship. It had previously been confined to only a reference work, I’d read a relevant chapter when I needed to for an essay, but now that my studies have finished and I have a bit more free time I thought I’d finally sit down and read it from start to finish.
21 chapters, each from a different author (minus Howell who authored two chapters) are split into three parts, each covering a particular niche (Regional authority, castle towns, foreign relations, religion etc.). The first part covers political history and foreign relations, the second deals with economy and science, before the last part, the largest one, on social and cultural history. I would say that the first part is reasonably general, whereas parts two and three seem to incline very academically. Chapter 19, covering the Early Modern city, I remember being quite difficult to parse at times, taking me a bit more time.
This is not an introductory survey to Japanese history, I do fully believe that one could use it as such, but I found that it does assume a baseline knowledge, and instead digs deeper into ideas and concepts that are less commonly covered. This is also a work of modern scholarship, which eschews certain topics that have been well covered in the past in favour of more under-discussed ones or where cutting-edge discoveries have been made. Several times throughout the volume it references and directs the reader to not just chapters in the yet-to-be published Volume I or the currently available Volume III of the New Cambridge History of Japan, but previous essays in the 30 year old now original Cambridge History of Japan, which gave me the impression of this being more of an update to that, including new discoveries, rather than a pure replacement.
That being said, for someone with that baseline knowledge, this work is invaluable. I learned so much about a great variety of topics (Chapters 4, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 21 stick out to me particularly) and I’m very much looking forward to reading Volume III. My only real criticism would be that I wish it was as big as the older Cambridge History, with more chapters so that I wouldn’t have to refer back to that (although I know how great of a work that was).
All in all, 4.8 stars out of 5, rounded up.
Displaying 1 of 1 review