Choshu in the Meiji Restoration (Studies of Modern Japan) [Paperback]

Albert M. Craig (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0739101935 | ISBN-13: 978-0739101933 | Publication Date: September 26, 2000

When Commodore Perry arrived in Japan to open the country to Western trade in 1853, he found a medieval amalgam of sword-bearing samurai, castle towns, Confucian academies, peasant villages, rice paddies, upstart merchants, bath houses, and Kabuki. Fifteen years later, Japan was on its way to becoming the only non-Western nation in the nineteenth century with a modern centralized bureaucratic state and industrial economy. This book is a study of the Meiji Restoration that changed the face of Japan. Prominent historian Albert M. Craig tells its story through that of the domain of Choshu—whose role in the formation of modern Japan was not unlike that of Prussia in Germany—during the fifteen crucial years between 1853 and 1868. Whereas previous studies have stressed the role of discontented lower samurai and frustrated rich merchants and peasants in this transition, claiming that they provided the motive power behind the political movements of the Restoration period, this work sharply challenges these earlier interpretations. Craig instead emphasizes the vitality of traditional values in Japan's early reaction to the West and foregrounds the critical contribution of the old society to the formation of the new Meiji state. Choshu in the Meiji Restoration is a seminal work for scholars and students of Japanese history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Albert M. Craig is Yenching Research Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the author, with others, of The Heritage of World Civilization (1999), Personality in Japanese History (1995), and East Asia: Tradition and Transformation (1989).

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Lexington Books (September 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739101935
• ISBN-13: 978-0739101933
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,322,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chosu on Choshu!, June 25, 2001

By 

Aaron Larsen (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choshu in the Meiji Restoration (Studies of Modern Japan) (Paperback)

If you want to understand how Japan catapulted from being a nation of feudal swordsman to being a a world power that beat the stuffing out of Russia in just 50 years... then you need to study the Meiji Restoration. If you want to understand the Meiji Restoration... then you need to study a bit about Choshu, the fuedal principality that was most responsible for making it all happen. Craig's magisterial study is still the monograph on the subject, even today.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Choshu!, June 24, 2001

By 

Aaron Larsen (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choshu in the Meiji Restoration (Studies of Modern Japan) (Paperback)

One simply cannot begin to understand Japan without understanding this turbulent period in its history and one simply cannot being to understand this period without studying the history of a few key feudal domains that spear-headed the major changes in Japanese history. Craig's work remains the definitive one on the subject, in spite of its age.