Samurai and Silk: A Japanese and American Heritage

by Haru Matsukata Reischauer

Samurai and Silk is a rare a book of penetrating insight into the Japanese character and the forging of modern Japan from the feudal Tokugawa shoguns to present day economic titans. Only Haru Reischauer could have written this extraordinary family account, beginning with her two illustrious one, a provincial samurai who became a founding father of the Meiji government; the other, a scion of a wealthy and enterprising peasant family who almost single-handedly developed the silk trade with America. Their remarkable stories, and those of their notable descendants, demonstrate the unbounded vision and determination that explain so much about Japan's legendary success.

Genres: Japan, History, Biography, Asian Literature, Nonfiction, Memoir

424 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 1986

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now out of print, but very interesting review of the rapid westernization of Japan following Commodore Perry's visit forcing open the doors of trading. First half on Matsukata can be a little textbook- dry, loaded with facts, foreign names, but so much to learn. Second half on silk trader Arai more memoir-like and personable. A lot of research went into this.

[Margy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt so good while reading because I was learning so much about something I knew nothing about previously. The history of modern (post feudal) Japan is told through the lives of the author's two grandfathers. One is from a samurai background, the other, responsible for the successful silk trade between the US and Japan. But it's the author's smooth writing that makes the very complex stories understandable. One is amazed at story after story.

[Bookish Tokyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

“At times I felt almost bitter that I had been raised to be so different from other Japanese. Why couldn't I have been brought up the ordinary way to make me a real American, I would think, since being different didn't seem make me a real American either?”
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In one family, Haru illustrates the revolutionary change of Japan, a family that produced, from austere samurai stock and merchants, a prime minister and a significant player in establishing the modern Bank of Japan, as well as a merchant who was one of the first Japanese to make a success of himself in America. When you take a moment to think about the change that occurred in Japan, from the almost medieval Tokugawa era, a country still stoically rooted in the past, to its incredibly rapid industrialisation and modernisation, modernisation really meaning following the West in its political and industrial footsteps, it is quite remarkable.
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Haru’s two grandfathers were pivotal figures in this change, along with their relatives and, arguably, Haru herself at a later stage, quite remarkably being married to the American ambassador to Japan during an equally important period in the country’s history.
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Where this book really shines is when Haru talks about her own life, a life of difficulties during the war and her rather beautiful thoughts on wanting peace and humanity between her two countries, Japan and America. We share her sadness when that dream evaporates amidst the destruction of war. The larger sections on her grandfathers were largely rather dry, more like hagiographies, in which everything felt a bit linear and there was little sense of criticism. Clearly a very well researched book, but I really enjoyed it when Haru dwelt on her own life or offered more personal insights into her grandfathers.
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Overall, a very serviceable read. I would not say this sets the non-fiction world alight, but as a resident of Japan I found it rather interesting.

[Myridian · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book Reischauer uses the experiences of her two grandfathers to document the changing times within Japan in the transition period that straddles the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and much of the Meiji period. It is fascinating to see large national and international events through the eyes of these two influential figures with one representing the political world and the other commercial. Having these specific stories to ground history with gave the events a perspective and reality that hearing a lecture on this period just isn't able to convey.

At the same time Reichauer's accounts border on hagiography with little to no negative critiques of either man, their actions, their relationships, their characters. It's all cast in a great man light. Reischauer is very clear that she has almost no first hand memory of either individual and pieced together these reports from second hand accounts and documents. She has been very thorough in her research and presents a book that has strong utility as a historical reference but is clearly told with a highly sympathetic eye.

My one recommendation might be to even skip the Descendants and Relatives section. This felt like either pure self indulgence or something prominent family members convinced her to write to see their names in print. While the life events of the individuals Reichauer features do intersect with historical events it takes us far afield from the original scope of the book and sometimes feels like she is just stroking the egos of these highly privileged sons of great men.

[Noreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a real eye opener into Japanese History of the Meiji Restoration when my grandfather was growing up in Japan near Tokyo in the late 1870's (?) Only Haru could have written this book, and I thank her for this historical legacy. I learned the difference between a concubine and a mistress. The survival of the family name is more important than the genetics. I know an American who dated a Fujiwara in college. If he married her, he would have lost everything.

[Sy De Witt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent narrative by the author detailing the contributions of her paternal and maternal grandfathers to the development of Japan in the middle of the 19th Century. Unfortunately, my interest waned after the contributions of the two principal protagonists were finished and the author moved on to other (lesser) members of her family.

[Karyl]

I had to quit about a third of the way through. The idea is wonderful, but I found the writing rather dry. I rarely give up on books, so I feel it's more a failure on my part.

[Joanne Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting chronicle.