Library's review
A series of picaresque adventures set against the backdrop of a Japan still closed off from the rest of the world, Musui's Story recounts the escapades of samurai Katsu Kokichi. As it depicts Katsu stealing, brawling, indulging in the pleasure quarters, and getting the better of authorities, it
Katsu Kokichi (1802-1850) was a low-ranking smaurai who lived during the last decades of the Tokugawa period of Japan. Upon his retirement he wrote an autobiography that offers modern readers a richly detailed account of daily life in Edo during the early nineteenth century.
'(T)his charming book...portrays Tokugawa socienty as it was actually lived, instead of as it was portrayed in moralizing tracts and governmental ordinances. Attractively translated by Teruko Craig, it depicts the life of a man born into a family with the hereditary privilege of audience with the shogun, yet he shamelessly consorted with the riffraff of Edo, ran a protection racket, lied, cheated, and stole...Anyone interested in Japanese history and society or in how people interact with each other in whatever age or place will enjoy reading this book.'-Mounmenta Nipponica
'...a lively revelation of the world of brawls, gangsterism, and petty swindling behind the formal facade of nineteenth-century Japanese society. M. Craig's introduction and notes are excellent, as are the maps and illustrations supporting the text.'-The Atlantic
'Fruit from an esoteric branch of literature, to be sure, but also a colorful, involving glimpse of the gritty side of a distinctly foreign culture.'-Kirkus Review
Cover Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka Tameike, by Ando Hiroshige Courtesy, The Brooklyn Museum.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue
Childhood
I run away
Youth
I run away again
Adult years
Life after retirement
Some other incidents
Reflections on my life
Notes to the translation
Appendix One: Geneaology of Katsu Kokichi
Appendix Two: Currency in the Tokugawa Period
Bibliography
Credits for the Hiroshige Prints
Show More
also provides a refreshing perspective on Japanese society, customs, economy, and human relationships. From childhood Katsu was given to mischief. He ran away from home, once at thirteen, making his way as a beggar on the great trunk road between Edo and Kyoto, and again at twenty, posing as the emissary of a feudal lord. He eventually married and had children but never obtained official preferment and was forced to supplement a meager stipend by dealing in swords, selling protection to shopkeepers, and generally using his muscle and wits. Katsu's descriptions of loyalty and kindness, greed and deception, vanity and superstition offer an intimate view of daily life in nineteenth-century Japan unavailable in standard history books. Musui's Storywill delight not only students of Japan's past but also general readers who will be entranced by Katsu's candor and boundless zest for life.Katsu Kokichi (1802-1850) was a low-ranking smaurai who lived during the last decades of the Tokugawa period of Japan. Upon his retirement he wrote an autobiography that offers modern readers a richly detailed account of daily life in Edo during the early nineteenth century.
'(T)his charming book...portrays Tokugawa socienty as it was actually lived, instead of as it was portrayed in moralizing tracts and governmental ordinances. Attractively translated by Teruko Craig, it depicts the life of a man born into a family with the hereditary privilege of audience with the shogun, yet he shamelessly consorted with the riffraff of Edo, ran a protection racket, lied, cheated, and stole...Anyone interested in Japanese history and society or in how people interact with each other in whatever age or place will enjoy reading this book.'-Mounmenta Nipponica
'...a lively revelation of the world of brawls, gangsterism, and petty swindling behind the formal facade of nineteenth-century Japanese society. M. Craig's introduction and notes are excellent, as are the maps and illustrations supporting the text.'-The Atlantic
'Fruit from an esoteric branch of literature, to be sure, but also a colorful, involving glimpse of the gritty side of a distinctly foreign culture.'-Kirkus Review
Cover Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka Tameike, by Ando Hiroshige Courtesy, The Brooklyn Museum.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue
Childhood
I run away
Youth
I run away again
Adult years
Life after retirement
Some other incidents
Reflections on my life
Notes to the translation
Appendix One: Geneaology of Katsu Kokichi
Appendix Two: Currency in the Tokugawa Period
Bibliography
Credits for the Hiroshige Prints
Show Less
ISBN
816512566
Publication
The University of Arizona Press