A History of Japan, 1615-1867

A History of Japan #3

by George Bailey Sansom

This is the concluding volume of a three-volume work that culminates the life study of the West's most distinguished scholar of Japanese history. A straightforward narrative of the development of Japanese civilization to 1867, the three volumes constitute the first large-scale comprehensive history of Japan. Unlike the renowned Short Cultural History , it is concerned mainly with political and social phenomena and only incidentally touches on religion, literature, and the arts. The treatment is primarily descriptive and factual, but the author offers some pragmatic interpretations and suggests comparisons with the history of other peoples. A History of 1615-1867 describes the political and social development of Japan during the two and half centuries of rule by the Tokugawa Shoguns, a period of remarkable development in almost ever aspects of the national life. Under Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun, a system of checks and balances to keep the great feudatories in order began to be devised. His successors continued this policy, and indeed the essential features of government by the Tokugawa Shoguns was a determination to keep the peace. Freed from civil war, the energies of the nation were devoted to increasing production of goods in agriculture, manufacturers, and mining. Breaches in the traditional policy of isolation began to occur with the arrival of foreign ships in Japanese waters, the first intruders being the Russian in the 1790s. Thereafter, the government struggled to keep foreign ships away from Japanese ports, but before long the pressure of the Western powers, strengthened by the arrival of warships under the command of Commodore Perry in 1853, forced Japan to take part in international affairs.

Genres: History, Japan, Japanese History, Nonfiction, Japanese Literature, Asia, World History

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Sir George Bailey Sansom GBE KCMG was a British diplomat and historian of pre-modern Japan, particularly noted for his historical surveys and his attention to Japanese society and culture.

Reviews

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.50-star

I found reading this third volume by Sir George Sansom arguably pleasurable due to, of course, his powerful and knowledgeable narratives based on various authoritative references including the chief primary sources and some useful modern works as we can see in the Bibliographical Note (p. 249); the first and the second volumes being "A History of Japan to 1334" and "A History of Japan, 1334-1615", all printed by Stanford University Press. Despite its handsome, high-quality printing in 1993, I had no choice but had .50 deducted from the 5-star rating since I regrettably found its defective quake-like fonts called such a blurred phenomenon (my term) in all together 11 pages (pp. 52, 56-57, 60-61, 64-65, 72-73, and 76-77). I wonder how I should find solace on the matter.

We can't help being amazed, I think, from all of its eighteen chapters, 258-page narratives; especially, when we don't expect to read the following, "It may be asked why the Shoguns did not abolish the Throne, which depended upon them from its very existence. History gives the answer." (p. 235) And in three paragraphs, the author has kindly briefed some key points related to the characteristics and the policies of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu from which I would extract some related sentences from the second and the third paragraphs; the quoted two sentences above being in the first one in this case.

Nobunaga's attitude towards the Emperor was one of great reverence, . . . , as when he stopped military operations against Koya-san at the Emperor's request in 1581. Hideyoshi paid great respect to the Emperor, . . . The oath of loyalty to the Toyotomi family signed by the daimyos in 1588 was sworn in the Emperor's presence. Ieyasu, while depriving the Throne of all political power, made generous gifts to the Court and recognized its importance as a fountain of honour. . . . (pp. 235-36)

To continue . . .

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the first two incredible volumes by Sansom, we come to the final volume where the emperor starts losing power and the Tokugawa shoguns take over. This is the period of ninjas and sumptuous local courts. Castles in Osaka and Nagoya, epic battles - Game of Thrones level violence and betrayal consolidated under a central power. In my second to last trip to Japan, I visited Nikko and enjoyed seeing the mausoleum's of the first two shoguns and was happy to actually know something about how they seized power. OK, I'll admit that I cannot remember all the precise names, but nonetheless, it helped me put some context around it. The Japanese achieved a military superiority via their war techniques were nearly unbeatable and moved the capital from Kyoto to the eastern capital Tokyo. Missionaries that dared try to convert Japan to Christianity were tortured and killed. It was an extremely closed society. It was also during this period that the geniuses of Japanese art: Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshima created their woodcuts and the manga was born. The isolation of Japan was only stopped by Admiral Perry's sudden appearance in Tokyo Bay with his battleship, forcing Japan to enter the modern period and everything rapidly fell apart. It is a fascinating piece of history leading to the Meiji period of growing curiosity and insatiable want of technology from the west.
An amazing book and a fitting end to Sansom's awesome survey of Japanese history.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note to self: Read chapters on ‘Foreign Relations’ and ‘Breaches to Seclusion’ for research.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultimately Sansom's books spent a lot of time dwelling on things that didn't interest me quite as much - that means I should simply do more reading!

[Alex Helling · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a History of Japan from 1615-1867 Sir George Sanson completes his trilogy on pre-modern Japan. These years cover the period from just after the establishment of Tokugawa Shogunate through to the Meiji restoration and the opening up to the west which is taken as the start of modern Japan. This period is roughly comparable to the pre-modern period in European history. It is however very different; the Tokugawa Shogunate held a feudal pre-eminence over hundreds of domains that was not challenged until the very end of the period. With firearms banned, Christianity rooted out, and outside influence tightly guarded Japan might be seen as the opposite of the rapid change and conflict seen in western Europe as it rose, but that would be a misconception as this did not prevent Japan from developing its economy and society within the constraints set by geography and its government.

Pros
Good introduction to Tokugawa Japan
Self contained

Cons
Flat start and end

The rise of the Tokugawa was only going to be covered once across the trilogy of books, and Sanson decided to do so as the end point of volume 2. This leaves the start of the third book rather flat as the Shogunate is already up and running. More surprising is that the Shogunate’s end isn't really covered either. The Meiji restoration is covered as “There was a brief civil war in which the Shogun's forces were defeated without much trouble, and the whole country submitted to the rule of the Emperor early in 1868.” (p241) and that is it. This to me means that it feels like we don't have the beginning and end of the Tokugawa story despite this being otherwise a full history of the Tokugawa Bakufu.

This is the third of three volumes. But in practice it is pretty self contained and could easily work as a standalone book on the Tokugawa Shogunate - itself a remarkably self contained period, though not quite the almost complete isolation sometimes imagined, as is shown by Sanson’s book.

Perhaps because we are the closest to the present day, and therefore there are commensurately more sources, we find out more about individuals who are neither the ruler, nor a visionary monk. Samurai, like Yamaga Soko who tried to intellectualise the role of a samurai, with no war and little to otherwise do had much more time to write and to think. Similarly with peace and stability warlords (daimyo) are not the only ones who do things worthy of inclusion, there are reformers in the bakufu (as the shogunate was called) or in individual domains, courtiers, writers. And while still chronological there is also more on life for the masses than in previous books where their life was mostly covered by how the economic system worked and they were succored by religion.

Otherwise much of what I said for vol 1 applies here. A history of Japan is a decent read with a pretty good narrative but a little weak on the non-political elements. And given it is a bit dated despite it being a general introduction there is particularly a lack of non-traditional elements such as looking at outcasts, or gender.

A good book for those wanting a general introduction to the whole of the tokugawa period (excepting the start and the end for which you will need to go to, respectively, vol 2 or somewhere else entirely.

[Damon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sansom hit his stride in the final volume of his A History of Japan trilogy. This volume, which neatly encapsulates the Tokugawa shogunate, is a fine balance of historical fact, colorful anecdotes, and international context. His written style, which had been near-sterile in the previous two volumes, softens up a bit and becomes engaging. There is plenty left on the cutting-room floor, of course, but including a lot of that material would over-burden this work, and leaves the reader (or at least the reader who is interested in Japan's history) plenty of side-streets to explore in the rich corpus of books on Japanese history. I give this a strong recommend to anyone interested in Japanese history, even if they decided to skip the first two volumes of this series.

[Ziyad Khesbak · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting text that describes the internal development of Japan after an era of war and its seclusion, eventual opening to the world. Really quite an enjoyable third volume, well demarcated and easily digestible, glutted with extensive primary sources, although perhaps a bit too much detail for the first-time Japanese history reader. I am taken to find that descriptions of minor figures become laborious, which may be remedied by offering broad strokes as introductions to (perhaps artificial) eras of time, though this may just be my personal preference. Still, happy to have on my shelf and would recommend.

[Luis Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book of the "saga", and I have to say this was my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, this book is awesome and is a must read if you like Japan's history, but it talk a lot about philosophical stuff, and the seclusion reform of the Tokugawa Bakufu. The other books by Sansom talk more about wars and stuff like that, that's why I liked those ones more. Well, if you're interested in Japanese history, or you just like this period of time, you should give it a try.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Sydney]

Another solid history of Japan. Very glad I read this before my visit this summer.