"New Chronicles of Yanagibashi" and "Diary of a Journey to the West"
Narushima Ryuhoku Reports from Home and Abroad

Ryuhoku Narushima (Author), Matthew Fraleigh (Translated by)

9781933947518

Paperback / softback, published 30 September 2010

456 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.907 kg

This book features complete annotated translations of Narushima Ryuhoku's two most widely read and influential texts, both of which showcase the innovative and experimental use of Chinese-language discourse taking place in Japan during the nineteenth century. Focused on one of the capital city's celebrated geisha districts, the satirical New Chronicles of Yanagibashi serves as both a documentary record of changing customs during the tumultuous 1850s–70s and an amusingly nuanced social critique. Banned multiple times, the work nevertheless became a favorite of the Meiji reading public. This text is paired with Diary of a Journey to the West, Ryuhoku's travelogue from his world tour of 1872–1873.