The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3: Medieval Japan (Volume 3) [Hardcover]

Kozo Yamamura (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 1990 | ISBN-10: 0521223547 | ISBN-13: 978-0521223546

This third volume in The Cambridge History of Japan is devoted to the three and a half centuries spanning the final decades of the twelfth century when the Kamakura bakufu was founded, to the mid-sixteenth century when civil wars raged following the effective demise of the Muromachi bakufu. Volume 3 contains thirteen specially commissioned essays written by leading Japanese and American scholars that survey the historical events and developments in medieval Japan's polity, economy, society, and culture, as well as its relations with its Asian neighbors. The essays reflect the most recent scholarly research on the history of this period. The volume creates a rich tapestry of the events that took place during these colorful centuries, when the warrior class ruled Japan, institutions underwent fundamental transformations, the economy grew steadily, and Japanese culture and society evolved with surprising vitality to leave legacies that still characterize and affect contemporary Japan.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Essays by six American and six Japanese specialists provide readers with significant new perspectives and detailed information on political and economic institutions, foreign relations, and cultural developments...will be required reading for anyone wishing to take the measure of medieval Japanese historiography in English." Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History

Book Description

Volume 3 is devoted to the period from the final decades of the twelfth century, when the Kamakura bakufu was founded, to the mid-sixteenth century when civil wars raged following the demise of the Muromachi bakufu. The volume creates a rich tapestry of the events that took place during these colourful centuries, when the warrior class ruled Japan, institutions underwent fundamental transformations, the economy grew steadily, and Japanese culture and society evolved with surprising vitality to leave legacies that still characterize and affect contemporary Japan.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 734 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 27, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521223547
• ISBN-13: 978-0521223546
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great scholarship, dull reading, February 9, 2010

By 

Manuel Del Rio Rodriguez "Galician Bookworm" (Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3: Medieval Japan (Volume 3) (Hardcover)

This volume is the third installment of a set of six Cambridge Histories of Japan. It is centered on 'Medieval Japan', which in Japanese History usually applies to the period between 1185 and 1568, covering the Kamakura, Nambokucho and Muromachi periods. In this age the Imperial Court loses ground and power, and the military government of the Shoguns is established. In society, Buddhism takes a greater stranglehold on the mentalities and beliefs, and new sects arrise (Jodo, Jodo Shin, Zen, Nichiren). Central authority is progressively weakened, and a socio-economic order vagely similar to western Feudalism appears, with a strong decentralization of political power (especially for the last century or so, when daimyos rule the land with almost complete autonomy).

Now, centering on the volume: it contains all the good and bad things of the Cambridge Histories. The good ones are the superb scholarship, made by specialists on the field and touching its subjects with depth and technical expertise. But that virtue is also the greatest setback. Don't expect a clear-cut, linear, mainly political history of Medieval Japan in this volume. On the contrary, you get a set of independent and hardly related monographs which are very vaguely ordered bearing in mind chronological order and subject-matter (first the ones on political history and economy; then the ones about foreign relations, culture and religion).

If what you're looking for is an extensive an coherent historical account of Medieval Japan, and/or you're a begginer to the subject, this book isn't for you. Now, if you already have a clear scheme of the main reigns, battles, events... in your head, and you want to deepen (or even subvert) the conventional truths and explanations, the book will come handy; bear in mind that even its 'political' monographs take for granted you are acquainted with events like Jokyu no ran or the Gempei wars and don't bother to narrate much.

That being said, all monographs are high quality, but can make very dull reading (especially if, for example, you aren't too interested in different types of land tenure or taxes). Best way to use the Histories is to navigate to the monographs that interest you. In this volume, I liked very much the one by Barbara Ruch, which tried to dispell topics and stereotypes about 'Japanese Medieval Culture'.

That's about it. I give it 4 stars. The scholarship deserves more, but it is only of real use to specialists, and the occasional dullness and lack of general historial narration would take it down rather fast. 4 is the middle ground, although I feel it might be too positive for the expectations I had when I got the book.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Scholarly Review of Medieval Japan, January 5, 2002

By 

Timothy J. Logan (USA and Japan) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 3: Medieval Japan (Volume 3) (Hardcover)

This is an outstanding work and provides both the lay reader and the scholar with a comprehensive discussion of Medieval Japan with all its complexities, richness, and fascinating detail. Understanding Japanese history is a challenge and this work provides an excellent and detailed background of the feudal period.