Samurai and Silk: A Japanese and American Heritage [Hardcover]

Haru Matsukata Reischauer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674788001 | ISBN-13: 978-0674788008 | Publication Date: March 20, 1986 | Edition: First

"Samurai and Silk" is a rare treasure: 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 grandfathers: 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Reischauer, wife of a noted Japanese historian and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, tells the story of her two grandfathers: the famous Meiji statesman Matsukata Masayoshi, whose stringent financial policies are credited with steering Japan safely through its first economic crisis, and Arai Rioichiro, who helped develop Japan's silk exports to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their lives, inextricably interwoven with modern Japanese history, are vividly presented, along with fascinating glimpses of the family life of Japan's upper class in this period. The book should be popular with general readers as well as specialists. Evelyn S. Rawski, History Dept., Univ. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Samurai and Silk is beautifully written, with a sense of intimacy that only firsthand experience and family traditions could confer. It is also a work of broad historical value, since both grandfathers played a major role in reshaping Japan and laying the foundations of its modern economic power. (John Gross New York Times )

[Haru Reischauer] is a sensitive and skilled biographer and storyteller. Full of charm and insight...Samurai and Silk is at once an autobiography, a double biography, and a family saga covering three generations. It is a treat to read...Samurai and Silk may be the Japan book of the year, and one does not have to be an old Japan hand to savor its pleasures. (David S. Williams Los Angeles Times Book Review )

What gives Samurai and Silk special value is that it approaches the story of modern Japan through that of Mrs. Reischauer's own family. This has made possible the use of family records not only to give point and liveliness to much of what she writes, but also, because of the particular strands of lineage that came together in her parents' generation, to demonstrate some of the central realities of Japanese modernization. (W. G. Beasley Times Literary Supplement )

The book offers a superb portrait, containing both the broad strokes and the fine details of a crucial era in Japan's history. (Alan Moores Asiaweek )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press; First edition (March 20, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674788001
• ISBN-13: 978-0674788008
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,451,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great perspective on the history of modern Japan, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai and Silk: A Japanese and American Heritage (Paperback)

I found this book particularly well written, as it "filled in the blanks" for me, having visited Japan on business numerous times and having studied the language for about 2 years. I used the Internet to find the author's son to say how heart warming and enlightening I found the book. I also learned that the author is currently writing another book and hope to meet her soon. Regards, Rich Blish, Saratoga CA

4.0 out of 5 stars Memoir of merchant and samuri families in Meiji-era Japan., December 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samurai and Silk: A Japanese and American Heritage (Paperback)

This book gives a wonderful view of Meiji-era Japan. The Meiji era started, I believe, in the 1870's and extended to 1912[?]. During the reign of the Meiji Emperor, Japan first opened itself to Western culture and trade.

One of Haru Matsukata Reischauer's grandfathers was an early silk merchant who journeyed to the United States. He came from a merchant/farmer family. Her other grandfather was a prominent Meiji-era statesman of the samuri class. (I believe a marriage from these two families could only have occurred after the opening of the Meiji-era.)

This wonderfully written, elegant memoir gives an intimate portrayal not only of the Meiji era, but of the author's own experiences as her prominent family courageously distanced itself from the rising Japanese militartism that resulted in World War II.

The author is the wife of Edmund O. Reischauer, Professor of History at Harvard University and Ambassador to Japan during the Kennedy administration.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mistresses and Concubines, September 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai and Silk: A Japanese and American Heritage (Paperback)

This book gets a 5 because of the number of light bulbs that turned on. I have always wondered what the difference was between a mistress and a concubine. This book clears the mystery. The difference between the initial driving forces for Japanese immigrants is apparent today. One group came develop business and trade, the other came as contract labor. I wonder if there are parallels or similarities between Meiji reformers and Scotch Presbyterians?