Things Japanese
Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan

This 1890 book, organised alphabetically by topic, gives an affectionate account of aspects of fast-disappearing Japanese culture.

Basil Hall Chamberlain (Author)

9781108073851, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 July 2014

418 pages, 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.4 cm, 0.53 kg

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) first encountered Japan on a journey intended to promote the recovery of his health: he had suffered a nervous breakdown while working for Barings Bank. In May 1873, he arrived in Yokohama, and was immediately fascinated by traditional Japanese culture. The drive for modernisation had created a need for teachers of English, and Chamberlain was taken on as a tutor in the naval academy, at the same time studying the Japanese language to such good effect that in 1886 he was made professor of Japanese and philology of the Imperial University (later Tokyo University). This book, first published in 1890, and going into six editions over the next fifty years, is in the form of an encyclopaedia, with topics from 'abacus' to 'zoology'. It gives an affectionate account of aspects of Japanese culture which Chamberlain realised were disappearing under the relentless impact of Western influence.

Preface
Introductory chapter
Postscript
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]