A History of Japan to 1334 [Paperback]

George Sansom (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1958)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804705232
• ISBN-13: 978-0804705233
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars George Sansom (1883-1965), still major historian of Japan., May 12, 2005

By 

Robert E. Morrell (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A History of Japan to 1334 (Paperback)

While all four reviewers give Sansom's 3-vol. history high marks for readability and accuracy, several note that it is somewhat dated, and that the alternative Cambridge History of Japan is rather pricey for most students or casual readers -- $750 for all 6 volumes through Amazon, at the moment. This raises several issues which merit consideration.

George Sansom is probably the last of the great solo historians of Japan, following James Murdoch (1903, 1910, 1926) and Frank Brinkley (1915). Today the mass of information is too great for any one individual to digest and integrate, and any book covering the entire history of Japan will inevitably be a collaboration. Hence the 6-volume Cambridge History in which, for example, Volume 3 ("Medieval Japan," i.e., the Kamakura and Muromachi periods) consists of an introduction followed by 13 articles by distinguished scholars. This makes the set somewhat bumpy to read when compared to a single, integrated narrative
history; and it raises the question of whether one might be better off with a timeline and, say, the 2-volume Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Kodansha 1993), condensed from the 10-vol. original (1985) Encyclopedia of Japan, now offered on Amazon.com for an amazing $95!!! Or something even less pricey but still adequate. In any case, the day of the one-man band seems to be over: Gibbon was a very busy fellow indeed, and we are not likely to see a repeat performance any time soon.

A few more items of interest. Sansom is variously identified on Amazon.com and elsewhere as George Sansom, G. Sansom, George Bailey Sansom, G. B. Sansom, George B. Sansom, and Sir George Sansom (yes, he was knighted in 1935 and again in 1947). He himself uses three of the above. The 3-vol. set is signed "George Sansom," but the earlier Japan: A Short Cultural History (1931; Revised Edition, 1943) has G.B. Sansom.

Also, his third volume of the series stops at 1867. Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond this year is that he had lived too close to events of the Meiji Restoration (1868) for him to develop a perspective that only distance could supply. For readers interested in later events, The Making of Modern Japan(2000; 2002), by Marius B. Jansen, another outstanding scholar of Japanese history, would be a good choice. Since this history begins at 1600, there are
overlapping accounts of the Edo period, but from two quite different perspectives.

In short, this set is a good buy and is likely to remain a standard text for decades to come.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, if somewhat dated, February 3, 2006

By 

David Schaich "David Schaich" (Boulder, Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A History of Japan to 1334 (Hardcover)

First published in the late 1950s and early 1960s, George Sansom's three-volume history of Japan is still a valuable English-language introduction, though it does show its age in a few ways. This first volume surveys the history of Japan from its earliest prehistory to the Kemmu Restoration of 1334. Sansom focuses largely on political and military history, but also spends considerable time on high culture, especially as related to Buddhism. Sansom includes a lot of detail, which makes his history especially useful as a reference, though sometimes tough to read straight through.

Sansom, typically for historians of his generation (he was born in 1883), focuses almost exclusively on the elite and upper classes. Though his discussions of cultural matters expand his account beyond the proverbial 'princes and battles', they are still in line with the elite focus; it often seems as though Sansom doesn't actually recognize any culture at all among the lower classes. For instance, he dismisses Japan's indigenous "pagan cult" as a collection of "rudimentary beliefs": "simple", "illogical", "weak and primitive", without theological, cultural or intellectual merit and of interest chiefly in its relations with the civilized Buddhism imported from the continent (23, 228 - 233). According to Sansom, it was not until the ninth century that Japanese culture even began to take shape, based on the example of China (129).

China plays a major role in Sansom's interpretation of Japanese history: the general story he tells is one of importation of political and cultural ideas from China, and their gradual adaptation to Japanese circumstances (132). This interpretation is not necessarily wrong, but Sansom weakens his argument by swearing off any interpretive treatment in his preface and promising to restrict his work to "the mere collection and arrangement of facts." The result is that even though he presents an interpretation of Japanese history, he doesn't argue for it effectively, making some of his conclusions seem more like sweeping generalizations with insufficient support than they might otherwise have been. This unfortunately detracts from the generally high quality of his history.

Another annoying habit of Sansom's is to explain features of Japanese history by analogy to Europe. Christianity and European paganism stand in for Buddhism and indigenous Japanese religious practices; the Fujiwara regency is explained through reference to the Merovingian Mayors of the Palace in seventh and eighth century Frankish kingdoms; literary accomplishments of Japan and Europe are put alongside each other. Sansom assumes extensive familiarity with European history. I, for example, was put in the ironic position of trying to understand the roles of the Merovingian Mayors of the Palace by using my prior knowledge of the Fujiwara regency, where Sansom had intended precisely the opposite.

Even though I've been somewhat critical in this review, I don't want to give the wrong impression. Despite its age, Sansom's history remains a good comprehensive (and affordable) English-language introduction to Japanese history. Indeed, the fact that it remains such a popular and respected study so long after its creation speaks volumes about its overall quality and worth. The high level of detail makes it especially valuable as a reference or supplement to other works that assume familiarity with the basic facts.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable AND informative., June 15, 2001

By 

Seth H. Wilson (Venice, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A History of Japan to 1334 (Paperback)

The dilema for me, as an undergraduate History student, has been finding books that are factual and historically accurate and yet readable enough to hold my interest and not so incredibly dry or overburdened with place names and characters. Often the books that are most readable are based primarily upon anecdote, rather than real historical evidence, even if the author has clearly done his/her homework.

Sansom manages to stay comfortably within these two extremes. His writing style is quite enjoyableyet his representation of the facts rarely wavers. Another essential element, in my opinion, is that the ootnotes be within the text itself, and not collected at the end of each chapter or at the back of the book. Sansom does an excellent job of this as well, citing sources on the spot.

Overall a wonderful work, especially in a field so poorly represented in scholarly works--in English, at least.