The New Cambridge History of Japan: Volume 2, Early Modern Japan in Asia and the World, c. 1580–1877

Volume II in this major new reference series places Japanese history from c. 1580 to 1877 in its Asian and global contexts.

David L. Howell (Edited by)

9781108417938, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 November 2023

764 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 4.1 cm, 1.35 kg

This major new reference work presents an accessible and innovative survey of the latest developments in the study of early modern Japan. The period from about 1580 to 1877 saw the reunification of Japan after a long period of civil war, followed by two and a half centuries of peace and stability under the Tokugawa shogunate, and closing with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which laid the foundation for a modern nation-state. With essays from leading international scholars, this volume emphasizes Japan's place in global history and pays close attention to gender and environmental history. It introduces readers to recent scholarship in fields including social history, the history of science and technology, intellectual history, and book history. Drawing on original research, each chapter situates its primary source material and novel arguments in the context of close engagement with secondary scholarship in a range of languages. The volume underlines the importance of Japan in the global early modern world.

Introduction: Genealogies of Japanese early modernity David L. Howell
Part I. The Character of the Early Modern State: 1. The end of civil war and the formation of the early modern state in Japan Morgan Pitelka
2. Politics and political thought in the mature early modern state in Japan, 1650–1830 Kiri Paramore
3. Regional authority during the Tokugawa period David L. Howell
4. Tokugawa philosophy: a socio-historical introduction Federico Marcon
5. Foreign relations and coastal defense under the mature Tokugawa regime Robert Hellyer
6. The Meiji restoration Mark Ravina
Part II. Economy, Environment and Technology: 7. International economy and Japan at the dawn of the early modern era Adam Clulow
8. The Tokugawa economy: of rulers, producers and consumers Bettina Gramlich-Oka and Komuro Masamichi
9. The pacific context of Japan's environmental history Brett L. Walker
10. Scientific communities and the emergence of science in early modern Japan Yulia Frumer
11. The problem of western knowledge in late Tokugawa Japan Hansun Hsiung
12. Technology, military reform and warfare in the Tokugawa–Meiji transition D. Colin Jaundrill
Part III. Social Practices and Cultures of Early Modern Japan: 13. Religion in the Tokugawa period Mark Teeuwen
14. The medical revolution in early modern Japan Susan L. Burns
15. Flows of people and things in early modern Japan: print culture Laura Nenzi
16. Labor and migration in Tokugawa Japan: moving people Amy Stanley
17. The Tokugawa status order Maren Ehlers
18. On the peripheries of the Japanese archipelago: Ryukyu and Hokkaido David L. Howell
19. The early modern city in Japan Thomas Gaubatz
20. Popular movements in early modern Japan: petitions, riots, martyrs Anne Walthall
21. Civilization and enlightenment in early Meiji Japan Amin Ghadimi.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]