Conrad Schirokauer

My knowledge of Japanese history is cobbled together from bits of other history books, chambara and other Japanese movies, and some Japanese fantastika fiction. So, I decided it was time to read a survey book to put it all in context. Specifically, I wanted one fairly new to accommodate new findings in Japanese archaeology and that covered all of Japanese history, not just from the Tokugawa Shogunate on.

This is a text book. Despite some attempts to liven things up, it’s fairly dry going show more – especially when covering post-WWII Japanese politics. It is fairly thorough and concise for 297 pages of actual text. It’s well supplied with maps and pictures of Japanese art and architecture. 119 of those pages cover the history of Japan before 1573.

I particularly appreciated covering the various permutations of Buddhism in the country and their rivalries, the translations of Japanese poetry from various times (there is much more to Japanese poetry than haiku), and the frequent appearances by members of the Fujiwara house – a family that has been involved in Japanese politics since the seventh century AD. I also thought its coverage of all the different ways that rival factions in Japan have used the idea of the emperor valuable.

I was a bit surprised by some omissions. No mention is made of Lafcaido Hearn though other Westerners important to the Japanese are mentioned. While Kurosawa, Ozu, and Kobayashi are certainly significant and worthy exports of Japanese cinema, I’m not sure that the “horror and monster films” can be categorized as mere “ephemeral entertainments”.

Obviously, for the very reasons I read this book, I can’t compare it to similar works or pronounce any significant opinion on its coverage of Japanese civilization. However, it certainly seems not at all a bad place to start in your readings about Japan show less

This was assigned to me as a textbook for my Asian History class in college, and I found it to be a good introduction to Asian history. This is by no means a complete history of China and Japan, and reading it will not make you an expert. However, as an introduction, the book is pretty well-organized, presenting enough of history to apprise the reader with the basics of each country through various eras in history. The reader learns enough about this or that, that if they are interested in show more something specific, they can use this book as a springboard for learning more specific aspects of Chinese or Japanese history. show less

Very useful history of Chinese civilization, written with a heavy emphasis on the culture -- the arts, philosophy, and social systems. My husband and I both read this before a trip to China a few years back, and found it very helpful in creating a context for us.

This is a great introductory book for students who are unfamiliar with modern east asian history.