Sources of Japanese Tradition: 1600 to 2000 / Edition 1

by Wm. Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene, Carol Gluck, Ryusaku Tsunoda, George Tanabe

Overview

Since it was first published more than forty years ago, Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume 2, has been considered the authoritative sourcebook for readers and scholars interested in Japan from the eighteenth century to the post-World War II period. Now greatly expanded to include the entire twentieth century, and beginning in 1600, Sources of Japanese Tradition presents writings by modern Japan's most important philosophers, religious figures, writers and political leaders. The volume also offers extensive introductory essays and commentary to assist in understanding the documents' historical settings and significance. Wonderfully varied in its selections, this eagerly anticipated expanded edition has revised many of the texts from the original edition and added a great many not included or translated before. New additions include documents on the postwar era, the importance of education in the process of modernization, and women's issues.

Beginning with documents from the founding of the Tokugawa shogunate, the collection's essays, manifestos, religious tracts, political documents, and memoirs reflect major Japanese religious, philosophical, social and political movements. Subjects covered include the spread of neo-Confucian and Buddhist teachings, Japanese poetry and aesthetics, and the Meiji Restoration. Other documents reflect the major political trends and events of the period: the abolition of feudalism, agrarian reform, the emergence of poltical parties and liberalism, and the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. The collection also includes Western and Japanese impressions of each other through Western religious missions and commercial and cultural exchanges. These selections underscore Japanese and Western apprehension of and fascination with each other.

As Japan entered the twentieth century, new political and social movements — Marxism, anarchism, socialism, nationalism, and feminism — entered the national consciousness. Later readings in the collection look at the buildup to war with the United States, military defeat and American occupation. Documents from the postwar period echo Japan's struggle with its own history and its development as a capitalist democracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231086059
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	03/22/1964
Series:	Records of Civilization Sources and Studies Series
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	406
Sales rank:	661,959
Product dimensions:	(w) x 6.60(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Wiliam Theodore de Bary is the John Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus and the Provost Emeritus of Columbia University and currently holds the title of Special Service Professor. He has written extensively on Confucianism and East Asia and was general editor of the first editions of sources of Chinese Tradition, Sources of Indian Tradition, Sources of Japanese Tradition, and Sources of Korean Tradition.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Early Japan
1. The Earliest Records of Japan
2. Early Shinto
3. Prince Shotoku and His Constitution
4. Chinese Thought and Institutions in Early Japan
5. Nara Buddhism
Part 2: Mahayana Universalism and the Sense of Hierarchy
6. Saicho and Mt. Hiei (Ryusaku Tsunoda and Paul Groner)
7. Kukai and Esoteric Buddhism
8. The Spread of Esoteric Buddhism
9. The Vocabulary of Japanese Aesthetics I
10. Amida, the Pure Land, and the Response of the Old Buddhism to the New
11. New Voices of History (Paul Varley)
12. The Way of the Warrior (Paul Varley)
13. Nichiren: The Sun and the Lotus (Philip Yampolsky)
14. Zen Buddhism (William Bodiford)
15. Shinto in Medieval Japan
16. The Vocabulary of Japanese Aesthetics II
17. Women's Education
18. Law and Precepts for the Warrior Houses (Paul Varley)
19. The Regime of the Unifiers (Jurgis S. A. Elisonas)

What People are Saying About This

Joshua Fogel

A tour de force... This book will, as it has for 40 years, be exceedingly useful to a wide variety of entry-level courses in Japanese history, culture, civilization, as well as high-level courses in Japanese thought and religion.

— Joshua Fogel, author of The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography

John W. Dower

A treasure—far and away the most eloquent, elegant, and incisive selection of ancient and medieval writings available in English. The appearance of this new edition is true cause for celebration by anyone seriously interested in Japan.

Editorial Reviews

The richness of this new collection is difficult to overstate... Essential.

Choice

A superb aid for teaching and research.

Pacific Affairs

New edition of a selection of source readings on Japanese history, society, politics, education, philosophy, and religion. De Bary (Heyman Center for the Humanities), Donald Keene (Japanese literature, Columbia U.), George Tanabe (religion, U. of Hawaii) and Paul Varley (history, U. of Hawaii) have restructured this volume to span the period from the early Japanese chronicles to the end of the 16th century. In addition, they have revised or retranslated many of the texts and added new readings on early and medieval Shinto, the tea ceremony, state Buddhism and Chinese political thought that has affected Japan, women's education, medieval innovations in the uses of history, and laws and precepts of the medieval warrior houses. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Sources of Japanese Tradition will perform a useful function... and the volumes should find a place on library shelves wherever Japanese history is taught.

Japanese Studies - Sandra Wilson

Greatly expanded with the addition of many new sources, and the compilers did a wonderful job in organizing.

Pacific Affairs - Nam-Lin Hur

I am a fan of Volume One of Sources of Japanese Tradition... The daunting task of revisiting such a classic was skillfully handled by the editors.

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies

The long awaited second edition, with new contributions reflecting who's who in the field, adds new readings and revisions for a more balanced perspecitve... Sources lives again as a useful introduction that "lets the Japanese speak for themselves."

Religious Studies Review