japansociety
Japan-UK Review
Volume 2 No. 2 April 2007

Japan Book Review - Japan Stage, Movie, Arts and Event Review

Editor: Sean Curtin

Contents

Managing Editor: Clare Barclay
n this colourful spring issue our main theme is photographic books
about Japan and we review an excellent selection of new books on
the topic. We can only present a very limited number of photographsfrom these books in the following pages, but if you visit our website you
will find a host visual gems. As usual, we also have some great reviews of
new historical works plus exciting general interest books. The featured
Japanese courtyard gardens book also boasts an array of impressive on-line
photographs. Finally, don't forget that our printed edition only represents
a fraction of our new reviews, all of which can be found on the website
along with movie and stage reviews.

I

Sean Curtin
New reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews.html
Archive reviews: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews_archive.html(1) Photography in Japan 1853-1912(2) Old Japanese Photographs:
Collectors’ Data Guide(3) Tokyo Love Hello(4) Hokusai's Project: The Articulationof Pictorial Space(5) Innovation and Business
Partnering in Japan, Europe and theUnited States(6) Philipp Franz von Siebold and The
Opening of Japan: A Re-Evaluation(7) A History of Japan, 1582-1941:
Internal and External Worlds(8) Courtyard Gardens of Kyoto's
Merchant Houses

Japan Book Review

Photography in Japan 1853-1912,

Old Japanese Photographs: Collectors'
Data Guide,

Terry Bennett,
Terry Bennett,
320 pages, 350 photographs (colour and black and white), Periplus
Editions Tuttle Publishing, 2007, ISBN 080486337, £45308 pages, over 200 illustrations, Bernard Quarritch, 2006, ISBN10: 0-9550852-4-1, and ISBN-13: 978-0-9550852-4-6, £65.
Reviews by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

japansociety

Japan-UK Review: April 2007

Terry Bennett is a world expert in the history ofphotography in Japan and has done a vast amount of original
research. His two new books bring together a vast amount of
information never collected before and cover in detail thewestern and Japanese photographers who developed the artof photography in Japan. Anyone with an interest in thisfascinating aspect of Japan in the last half of the nineteenth
century and the first years of the twentieth century will findthese books instructive and absorbing. For collectors of old
Japanese photographs they will be indispensable.
The reproductions in the first volume are excellent in
definition and the colour in the hand-tinted photographs isfaithful to the originals.
Early Japanese photographs are of great benefit to thehistorian who can see through them contemporary images ofpeople and events instead of having to rely solely on written
records. The student of Yokohama-e (prints of foreigners, theirbuildings and their vehicles) can find the models on which theprints are based.

entourage at Yokohama on 1 January 1872. The Japanese
authorities were furious and confiscated the negative, but aprint came to light at a London auction a few years ago.
Perhaps as result of the clandestine photo official portraits ofthe Emperor and Empress were taken shortly afterwards. In
the same chapter Bennett describes the first illustrated paper
produced in Japan The Far East which began publication in
May 1870 in Yokohama. (There is more about this journal inCollector's Data Guide).
Chapter 4 covers the 1880s which Bennett describes under
the heading "Western Studios give way." Chapter 5 on the
1890s is described as "Japanese Studios dominate" andChapter 6 on the 1900s is headed "In full control." In fact
throughout the period covered by this book both Japanese andwestern photographers competed but also cooperated. One of
the most extraordinary and eccentric of the western
photographers was Adolfo Farsari (1841-98). He trained hiscolourists so that they "accurately reflected the actual colours
in Japanese costumes, scenery and architecture." But others
were equally successful as photographs of flowers by Ogawa
Kazumasa (reproduced on page 212) show. This is of a

In his preface to Photography in Japan Bennett explains that
his aims had been to provide an up-to-date picture of research
into Japanese photo-history, to provide biographical details ofearly photographers, to stress the importance of identifying
the photographer and to provide practical research tools. No
doubt further research will add to what we know about thephotographers and their images but those who follow will
inevitably have to refer back to Bennett's pioneering work.
In his introduction Bennett explains how photographycame to Japan. In Chapter 1 he describes the first images andfirst cameras used in Japan and the complicated and bulky
equipment then needed to take images and to develop andprint them. He gives many examples of the stereo images
which became popular. Chapter 2 is devoted to the firstwestern studios but he notes that, while some of the western
photographers such as Felix Beato were outstanding, anumber of able Japanese photographers, such as Shimooka
Renjo and Ueno Hikoma entered the photographic businessand produced some very good photographs. Because of the
difficulties involved in outdoor photography at the time andthe need for long exposures photographs of people and ofJapanese at work inevitably involved poses which sometimes
seem false or wooden. But the photo by Beato of a samurai on
his horse in 1867 p. 94 is realistic.

Japanese lily and was produced in the 1890s:

Ogawa was also a fine photographer of people as can beseen from this masterly portrait of an old couple (page 215):
There is no doubt that earlyphotographers in Japan were realartists as well as good technicianswith the camera as the following threephotos show:

Chapter 3 is headed "1870s: Japanese Competition" but
includes a number of foreign photographers. Bennett
discovered the first photograph ever taken of a JapaneseEmperor. This was a secretly taken photo (page 138) by Baron
Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz of the Emperor Meiji and his

2Woodland scene by Enami Tamotsu,
1890s, (page 234)

japansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007

The photographs provide a cultural reading of Japan thatcan be interpreted differently depending on the viewers'
background knowledge of the country. Having lived in Japan
during the time when the early images were taken, I instantly
have a recollection of this period and the book enables me toreminisce and identify with the subjects based on my own
experiences. Others coming to the book with an entirely cleanslate in terms of their knowledge of Japan may read theimages differently, whilst those who have been immersed in
the culture to the extent that Richie has may agree that theimages show the "incongruity of contemporary Japan."Mt Fuji in snow by Elias Burton Homes, 1890s (page 357)

Spanning the period from 1997 to present, each image ispresented with the month and year in which it was taken as
well as a simple statement of the subject content. It is left up to
the viewer to absorb the often multiple meanings and on
several viewings their reading may change as a great deal of
the images are very information rich.
A few of the pictures are reminiscent of images taken by
Henri Cartier-Bresson or Elliot Erwitt but ultimately SteelePerkins brings his own creative style to the collection in a
vibrant way.

Stairs over road in Shinjuku.
Toyko 05/1997

Walter Clutterbuck: Boats at Naha Harbour, Okinawa, 1899, (page249)

Business District of Shinjuku.
Tokyo 10/1999

Tokyo Love Hello,by Chris Steele Perkins,
Editions Intervalles, January 2007, 240 Pages, £29.00, ISBN 2916355-05-7
Review by Clare Barclay
Emerging from the sideline images taken during his fouryear study of Fuji-san, Chris Steele-Perkins has produced aphotographic overview of everyday life from the instantly
recognisable in western society to that only seen by someone
truly immersed in the culture of Japan.
Written in French and English this volume includes 100
photographs as well as an introductory essay by Donald
Richie.

japansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007

This eclectic mix of images certainly gives an insight intomodern Japan and includes some personal images of thephotographer, which are quite enlightening in terms of his
inspiration. There are indeed some images that show thesometimes-misunderstood aspect of the Japanese in terms of
their fun loving nature, which is on occasion demonstrated inwhat westerners may view to be an obscure manner; but alsoa wide range of images, which give just a glimpse into a
culture so different from what we experience in Britain.
Covering a wide range of topics from the business world toschool and social life as well as the life of a Japanese pampered3pet the images don't follow any consistent theme or time scale
in any particular order but rather a jumble of topics. The
majority however feature the people of Japan in a range ofsituations and could be considered a cultural study of thecountry through photography in a certain time or rather
Tokyo in a certain time captured for posterity on film.

Children on the way to school. Tokyo 03/2002
Chris Steele-Perkins has succeeded in showing someoverriding elements of Japanese culture from their use oftechnology to their street culture as well as their roots intradition through festivals and offerings at temples for good
fortune. Whilst this is not an all encompassing volume on theculture of Japan is does provide a good snapshot of life inJapan in the early part of this new century. The book offers
something for those both familiar with Japan and those whohave no direct contact with the country.

Hokusai's mastery of drawing and his determination that "thedrawn image represented the real object in a convincing
manner." Chapter 2 is entitled "How Hokusai Learned his
Trade" and shows the extent to which he absorbed the styles ofthe various schools of Japanese painting and western
perspective. Hokusai was, however, to quote Laurence
Binyon, a "fiercely independent but eclectic figure, constantly
changing course, in his artistic career as in his personal life,
unable to resign himself to any settled mode of existence, andso completely industrious as to be quite insensible to theworld about him." Bell notes that Hokusai increasingly
diverged from ukiyo-e's emphasis on the hedonistic world of
the theatre and the Yoshiwara, and "focussed on the humble,
the everyday, the unremarkable."
Chapter 3 "Hokusai, Fuji and the Articulation of Pictorial
Space" is the longest in the book, although Bell points out that
"Fuji pictures occupy a relatively small part of Hokusai's
project." Bell draws attention to the imaginative way in which
Hokusai depicted Fuji and how "by constructing a deep
pictorial space" he "could represent the landscape itself in anaturalistic manner, and could arrange the incidental interestof figure groups, architectural complexes or well-known
landmarks within convincing pictorial contexts." After
discussing Hokusai's famous thirty-six views of Mount Fuji
(in fact the there were forty-six views in the series) Bell turns
to the less well-known "hundred views" which were"constructed within closely delimited, sometimes almost
minimalist, means." One of the most striking is that of "Fuji ina Downpour" (page 135, plate 52):
"Fuji in a Downpour"

Chris Steele-Perkins was born in Burma in 1947 and has
been a Magnum photographer since 1979.

Hokusai's Project:
The Articulation of
Pictorial Space,David Bell,189 pages including bibliography,
glossary and index, numerous
colour illustrations, Global
Oriental, 2007, ISBN 978-1905246-15-1
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
David Bell of the University of Otago, New Zealand, is a
specialist in ukiyo-e and has written a number of books for
specialists in Japanese art history including Ukiyo-e
Explained published by Global Oriental in 2004. His new book
is a useful addition to the many volumes written about
Hokusai, his life and his art. It will be primarily of interest to
students of Japanese colour prints.
David Bell explains that his study concentrates on how
Hokusai employed "pictorial conventions in the organizationof pictorial space" or in other words how he set about making
pictures. Bell is concerned not with who Hokusai was or what
he did but rather with "why his works appear the way theydo."In his "Prologue: Hokusai's Project" Bell draws attention to

4

The fourth and last chapter
is entitled "Hokusai: Flowers,
the Poets and Aesthetic
detachment." Here Bell draws
attention to Hokusai's delicate
juxtaposition of a bird or an
insect with the fugitive beautyof flower petals."
The book requires aconcentrated effort on thereader's part as Bell's writing
is dense and his sentences
often long and convoluted.
The colour of the reproductions is uneven.

Innovation and Business
PartneringinJapan,
Europe and the UnitedStates, edited
by Ruth Taplin,
Routledge, 2006, ISBN 0-415-40287-5
Review by J. Sean Curtin
As the juggernaut of globalization relentlessly races
forward, the importance of global innovation is becoming a
crucial factor in economic competitiveness. This book assesses
the different innovation strategies small and medium-sizedjapansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007

enterprises (SMEs) are adopting in Japan, Europe and theUnited States. It also explores the European Union's chancesof being able to meet the innovation challenge posed by Japan,
China, India and the United States - planet Earth's four mostdynamic innovators. Business partnering is seen as an
essential strategy for SMEs to keep their competitive edge.
Humanity is riding a breakneck innovation rollercoaster as
the stock of scientific knowledge incredibly doubles every five
years, creating the potential for breathtaking advances. In aworld where some new technologies may have the capacity toreshape the global economy, innovation has become thecritical factor in the battle for global economic survival. It's an
arena in which Asia's position is continually strengthening
while Europe needs to take swift action if it is not to fallbehind. New technologies, shorter product development leadtimes, revolutionary new business models and concepts alongwith lower labour costs are giving China and India a crucial
edge in this make-or-break element of the global economy.
This book argues that the innovative abilities of small andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold the key to future
economic success. This is especially the case for Europe whichcannot hope to keep up with its competitors without moreinnovative SMEs. A new SME model for Europe is proposed
based on business partnering and collaborative alliances for
new ventures and high-technology research anddevelopment. This strategy offers a viable alternative tomergers and acquisitions (M&A) as it allows companies withlimited resources to maximize their individual strengths anddrive forward investment in innovation.
Today, it is not just Japan that invests heavily in innovation,
China has tripled its spending on research and development(R&D) over the past five years, while India produces morescience graduates each year than the whole of the EU
combined. East Asia is also galloping ahead in the area ofintellectual property (IP) with China, South Korea and Japanaccounting for about 25% of all registered patent applications
globally.
In a series of highly readable essays written byinternational experts the book (i) explores the rapidly shifting
global innovation landscape and the value of business
partnering for SMEs; (ii) analyzes the importance of SMEs inpushing forward Japanese innovation; (iii) examines thechallenges facing the EU and suggests suitable solutions; and(iv) looks at American models for sustaining a position as aleading global innovator.
Takuma Kiso and Akio Nishizawa provide a wealth ofmaterial on Japanese innovation strategies which has not
before appeared in English, making this book an excellent
resource for those who want to understand more about the
dynamics of Japanese innovation. Other chapters examine
innovation in the United States and European countries. In the
introductory chapter, "Business innovation globally at a
crossroads," Anthony Murphy analyzes the situation from a
global perspective, setting out some of the challenges facing
the European Union. He observes, "In the near future theworld will be in the grip of the claws of the Chinese dragon
and the Indian Tiger."
In a chapter entitled "Can Europe make it?" Ruth Taplin
explains why many large European companies have been able
to adapt to the fast moving changes created by the global
innovation challenge, but crucially many SMEs have not. Most

japansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007

large companies in Europe have developed in size through
M&A, unlike in the US where many big companies havegrown out of smaller ones (75 percent of large US firms
founded since 1980 have grown from small beginnings). Thishas meant that while many large companies in Europe aremoving explicitly to a new model of corporate innovation,
pro-actively building a global network of innovation partners,
and setting up cost-sharing innovation consortia, at the otherend of the spectrum a great many European SMEs are doing
little and failing to fulfill their potential.
The reasons for European shortcomings are examinedutilizing new case studies from SMEs in the UK, Scandinavia
and Eastern Europe. This stimulating chapter has some great
insights into the innovation dilemmas confronting European
SMEs. A major reason for their lack of success is that R&D
costs for innovation are beyond the means of the average
European SME, which undertake seven to eight times lessresearch activities than their American counterparts. This
comparative weakness is all the more acute in light of the factthat SMEs account for 65 per cent of European GDP, but only
45 percent in the US.
This book provides a global perspective on key economic
trends as well as offering some excellent comparative material
on Japan. It makes an important contribution to ourunderstanding of the dynamics of global innovation andbusiness partnering.

Philipp Franz vonSiebold and The
Opening of Japan: A
Re-Evaluation
by Herbert Plutschow,
Global Oriental, 2007, 240 pages,
ISBN 978-1-950246-20-5, £50
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Philipp Franz von Siebold is much admired and revered inJapan as one of the three great interpreters of Japan to theWest during Japan's years of "seclusion." He was a meticulous
scholar and his books about Japan mainly in German were an
important source of information about Japan for theAmericans and other powers in their efforts to "open" Japan in
the middle of the nineteenth century. His role in these efforts
is the focus of Plutschow's study.
Plutschow's book begins with a brief account of Siebold's first
period in Japan from 1823-29 including his visit to Edo and his
subsequent arrest and expulsion. After a summary of hisachievements as a scholar Plutschow devotes a major part ofhis book to a discussion of the influence which Siebold had,through his correspondence, on the Dutch, Russian andabove all on the American efforts to open Japan. He thendescribes Siebold's second visit to Japan from 1859 until his
second expulsion in 1861. The next chapter deals withSiebold's subsequent attempts to influence the Russian andFrench governments in relation to Japan. Finally Plutschow
recounts what happened to Siebold's daughter by his Japanesewife and his two sons born to his German wife.

5

While Plutschow does his best to defend Siebold, his picture of
Siebold is of an unattractive personality. His egoism, vanity
and arrogance were prominent features and there is no
indication that he had any sense of humour. He was also awomaniser; both his Japanese and German wives were
neglected and he took a Japanese mistress on his second visit.
Siebold's interest in and sympathy with Japan were genuine
even if he allowed himself to think that he alone understood
Japan. He regarded himself as the Europe's greatest, indeed
only, expert on Japan. Unfortunately his judgements about
what was good for Japan were sometimes mistaken. Siebold"actively sought, not a Westernized Japan, but a continuationof Japan's feudal institutions, which he believed constituted
the foundation of 'this happy country.'" (page 34)
Plutschow has had access to correspondence between Siebold
and members of the American and Russian expeditions toJapan and with the government of the Netherlands whichshow that his advice was sought if not always followed.
Plutschow says (page 101) that Siebold gave advice to the
British government and that he met Lord Palmerston andQueen Victoria in 1851, but that "no details are known." If suchmeetings took place it seems most unlikely that no trace could
be found in the National Archives or in Queen Victoria's
papers. The author is of course right in asserting that no one
country, let alone one individual, can claim the kudos for
opening Japan. This was an historical process with multiple
facets.
The author has clearly worked hard on the Siebold papers.
Unfortunately he has not studied fully the papers which
explain the background to some of the events he describes. He
does not seem to be aware of the various accounts, including
my own, of the attack on the British legation at Tozenji in Edo
in 1861, of the Namamugi incident in the same year, the British
attack on Kagoshima and the joint operations to reopen the
Shimonoseki straits in 1862. There are a number of unfortunate
misprints such as John Russel for Lord John Russell, Colonel
Neal for Lt Col Neale etc. He is also wrong to refer to England
when he means Britain and he makes a number of historicallyquestionable assertions such as that [page 198] "the parley [thenegotiations following the Namamugi incident] eventually led
to British support of the pro-imperial, anti-shogunal faction in
Japanese politics." These errors and omissions sadly detractfrom a book which throws some interesting new light on
Siebold and on the opening of Japan.

modern trade. An acquaintanceship with a Japanese scholar(Matsuo Taro) in Dublin and two more years at Hosei
Universiry and the International Research Center for JapaneseStudies in Kyoto turned the expert in Irish history, in aremarkably short time, into an expert in Japanese history. In
this book the author demonstrates a proficiency in theJapanese language, a familiarity with the Japanese sources, amastery of the historical details, and a grasp of the voluminous
scholarship on this subject in the west and Japan. His
knowledge of western history and the history of trade enables
him to look at Japanese history in a new and fresh way.
The second novelty is the periodization. We
areaccustomed to the classical division of Japanese history into
premodern and modern eras, with the dividing line being the
opening of Japan in 1854 or the Meiji Restoration of 1868. In
the sub-division of those eras, we have been taught that thelast part of premodern Japan was the Tokugawa period, whichstarted with the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and ended withthe fall of the shogunate in 1868; while the first part of modern
Japan was the imperial period which ended with the defeat of1945. Instead of that conventional periodization, we arepresented here with a 360-year story that starts in 1582 (the riseof Hideyoshi) and ends in 1941 (the attack on Pearl Harbor).
This forces us to rethink the premodern and modern historyof Japan in new paradigms as a continuum.
The third novelty lies is the book's approach. Most history
books of Japan focus on personalities, ideas, perceptions, andpolitical differences. This book focuses on economic andpolitical interests, multilateral interactions, and strategies ofsurvival. Social developments are explained in terms of trade,growth, and administrative changes. The protagonists of thisbook are neither the great individuals of classicalhistoriography, nor the feuding classes of Marxist
historiography, but rather the interest groups which acted andreacted in complex national and international systems. The
decisions of the policy makers are judged by their effectivenessto promote their group interests.

(Review first appeared in Reviews of Institute of Historical Research,
February 2004)

After an introductory first chapter, Chapter 2 ("Japan and its
Chinese and European worlds, 1582-1689") discusses foreign
trade in East Asia in the seventeenth century. It shows that
unlike the situation in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Indian
Ocean, where international trade implied a vast exchange ofvoluminous goods, foreign trade in East Asia was restricted tothe exchange of high-value goods (like silk and silver) carriedon a small number of large ships. As international trade was ofless importance in East Asia than in the west, the international
traders there were viewed with suspicion, and thegovernments tended to impose controls on the conduct oftrade. The author claims that the closure of Japan in the 1630s(he refers to it as "sakoku," although the term was coined onlyin the nineteenth century) was not a sharp change, as
portrayed in the standard textbooks, but rather a refinement ofprevious controls. The exclusion of the Portuguese and theconfinement of the Chinese and the Dutch traders to the portof Nagasaki was motivated by a wish to preserve the balance
between shogun and daimyo more than by the fear of
Christianity

There are several novel things about this book that make itworth reading. The first one relates to the author. Unlike mostother historians of Japan, who come from the areas of Japaneseor East Asian studies, the author of this book arrives from an
unexpected field. L.M. Cullen is professor of modern Irish
history at Trinity College, Dublin, and a scholar of early

Chapter 3 ("The Japanese economy, 1688-1789") describes
the phenomenal economic growth of Japan in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. It dismisses the theory that theeighteenth century was a period of stagnation, and asserts that
despite the fall in foreign trade and a few harvest failures, theeconomy continued to grow. Edo became a huge consumption

A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internaland External Worlds.
By L.M. Cullen,
Cambridge University Press, 2003, xiv+357 pages, 0-521-52918-2
Review by Ben-Ami Shillony

6japansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007

centre for shogun and daimyo, Osaka turned into a great
marketing and finance centre, and Japan's coastal trade was
the largest in the world. Chapter 4 ("An age of stability: Japan's
internal world, 1709-1783, in perspective") describes theeighteenth century as an era of unprecedented security andstability, when threats of foreign invasions (European orChinese) and internal turmoil finally disappeared. This eased
the way for the authorities to seek and acquire European("Dutch") knowledge to promote their interests.
Chapter 5 ("Prosperity and crises, 1789-1853") describes the
economic problems of the late eighteenth and early nineteenh
centuries, and the ways in which the shogunal and daimyo
authorities grappled with them. Far from proving the
ineptitude of the national and local governments to handle thesituation, as some historians have argued, the author regards
the measures that were taken as wise responses, given thefiscal and administrative constraints of that time. In clear
difference from the old regimes of Europe, which tried to solve
similar problems by increasing taxation and indebtedness, theJapanese acted in a clever way by cutting expenditures.
Chapter 6 ("Sakoku under pressure: the gaiatsu of the 1850s
and 1860s") shows the rationality with which the shogunate
responded to the growing military threat of the west in the
mid-nineteenth century. Contrary to the conventional image ofan inefficient and irresponsible government which failed tolead Japan in the right way, the author maintains that under
the difficult internal and external circumstances thegovernment acted remarkably well. It possessed a realistic
perception of the threat, it achieved a degree of national
consensus, and it managed to ward off the foreign peril in
exchange of modest concessions.
The last two chapters are devoted to modern Japan. Chapter
7 ("Fashioning a state and a foreign policy: Japan 1868-1919")
shows how the Meiji government became convinced thatwesternization was the only way to preserve independence
and achieve strength and prosperity. According to Cullen, theMeiji reforms were not reactionary or oppressive measures, as
left-wing historians claim, but rather rational and pragmatic
responses. They neutralized opposition, freed productive
forces, and mobilized resources for development. In theinternational arena they obtained western support, making
Japan into a strong and modern state that could defeat China
and Russia within one decade. Chapter 8 ("From peace[Versailles 1919] to war [Pearl Harbor 1941]") differs from theothers. The positive and optimistic picture of the Tokugawa
and early Meiji regimes turns here into a negative andpessimistic view of Japan in the twentieth century. The
rationality which had characterized the Japanese governmentsfrom the early seventeenth century broke down in the 1930s,
leading the country to a disastrous war and foreign
occupation. The author does not stop in 1941, but discusses
shortly the postwar governments, which in his view have beencharacterized by an amalgam of rational and irrational
elements.
This is a thought provoking book, providing interesting
information and interpretation, but it also invites criticism ofboth its assumptions and conclusions. The first element thatcan be questioned is the periodization. Granted that any
division of history into rigid periods is arbitrary, the adoptionof a new division requires persuasion. Why start "A History ofJapan" in 1582 and end it in 1941? When Toyotomi Hideyoshi
assumed power in central Japan after the assassination of Oda
Nobunaga in 1582, the country was still in the throes ofinternal war. It was only in 1590 that Japan was unified underjapansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007

Hideyoshi, and only in 1600 that Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated
his opponents and established the long rule of his family.
Starting the premodern (or some would say modern) historyof Japan in 1600 may look old-fashioned, but it is more sensible
than starting it in 1582. Ending the story in 1941 is even morequestionable. In that year Japan had already been at war (withChina) for four years and the attack on Pearl Harbor was aculmination of the policy of expansionism that had beendeveloping for at least a decade. The end of this process
occurred in 1945, when the whole militaristic and imperialistic
structure collapsed, and not in 1941, when it embarked on its
final stage.
The sub-division of this period, as proposed in the titles of
the chapters, raises similar questions. One wonders why thechapter on "The Japanese economy" carries the dates 16881789. Nothing special happened in 1688, except for the changeof the era name from Jokyo (which lasted for four years) toGenroku (which lasted for six years), and nothing special
happened in 1789, except for the suppression of an Ainu
rebellion in the far north and the change of the era name from
Temmei (which lasted for eight years) to Kansei (which lasted
for fifteen years). These two dates make more sense in Europe,
where they stand for the Glorious Revolution and the French
Revolution, than in Japan.
A more problematic feature is the use of the dichotomy ofrationality and irrationality, sometimes phrased as
pragmatism and recklessness, or realism and adventurism.
These attributes rest on hindsight. Everything which succeeds
is ultimately praised as far-sighted, rational, pragmatic andrealistic. Everything that fails is ultimately condemned as
short-sighted, irrational and unrealistic. Was Ieyasu's policy of
inward orientation more rational than Hideyoshi's policy of
external expansion? Yes, because we know the outcome, but
no if we look at the personalities of these two leaders, both ofwhom were highly pragmatic. Was "sakoku" more rational
than the continuation of openness to the outside world, as theauthor claims? Yes, because we know the positive outcome,but no if we think about the risks that self-isolation involved.
The author's assertion that "Realism was one of Japan's
strengths from the 1850s onwards; abandonment of realism
was the country's later undoing in the 1930s" (p. 13) ishistorically problematic, because the people who make thedecisions never know the outcome. There were many moves
before the 1930s (like the decision to attack Russia in 1904)
which might have ended in disaster, and there were later
initiatives (like the negotiations with the United States in 1941
about a new status quo in Southeast Asia) that might haveended in success.
The book's strength lies in the panoramic view that itpresents, but its weakness lies in sweeping and dubious
generalizations that this approach produces. It is difficult toagree with the author that "Japanese history poses greater
problems of interpretation than the history of other countries"(p. 17). It seems highly exaggerated to say that "in somerespects, up to 1945 Japan had remained the bakufu that it had
still been under Meiji: a wide range of groups existed whose
interests never fully converged" (p. 279), as it seems greatly
overstated that "in a sense, Japan's place in the world has neverbeen settled since 1868" (p. 282). These generalizations
obscure the historical picture of Japan more than they
enlighten it.
This review continues online:
http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews/07history.html

7

Courtyard
Gardens of
Kyoto's
Merchant
Houses,photographs and text by
Katsuhiko
Mizuno,translated by Lucy
North,
Kodansha International,
November 2006, 160 pages(149 colour plates and 8
illustrations),
ISBN:
4770030231, £25.
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
This is a book which will fascinate all lovers of Japanesegardens. It provides an introduction to the tiny gardens,
generally referred to as tsuboniwa, incorporated into Japanesehouses in Kyoto. These, unlike temple and palace gardens, are
not normally open to visitors. A tsubo is a Japanesemeasurement of a small area approximately 35.5 feet square.
Not all tiny gardens were necessarily of this size but the term
underlines the small scale of these gardens.

In his preface Mr Mizuno explains that these gardens weredeveloped as essential parts of the typical Kyoto town houseor machiya. In the late sixteenth century merchants built single
storey wooden houses along the sides of the streets of thecapital. These had a narrow frontage on the streets as taxes
were assessed on the width of a house's façade, but extended
a long way to the back. The tsuboniwa were built to provide
greenery and air, so essential in a hot climate such as that of
Kyoto in summer. Mizuno points out that the heart of themachiya architectural design was "the desire to live as much as
possible in harmony with nature - to treat it with respect andaffection, at the same time as
fully utilizing its blessings andgifts." Machiya are "dwellingplaces that are gentle, both tonature and to human beings
who live in them."in Kyoto houses througha series of excellent
photographs.
Sixteenmerchant houses arecovered in part I, twelve
fine restaurants andteahouses in Part II andtwenty four residences inpart III. The book also
contains notes on stones
and plants used intsuboniwa
andsome
garden plans.
It is difficult to choosesome typical examples
from such an excellent
collection of photographs,
but here are some which I
particularly liked. The inner garden of the Shikunshi, akimono shop, is simple and refreshing (page 18). Theintermediate garden of Yuzuki, an accessories shop, is atsuboniwa "best described as a walkway that connects the front
rooms of the house with the rooms in the wing behind (page25)." The rear garden of Suzuki Shofudo (maker of paper
products) has (page 39) "an Oribe lantern and several streaked
green stones…on a gourd-shaped carpet of hair moss" with abamboo fence "whose light colour echoes the Shirakawa
gravel." In the main garden of the Shiraume, a traditional
Japanese inn (page 52), all the stone features are small and low
creating an "overall effect, both graceful and spacious." Thefront garden of the Tamura residence (page 116) filling "asimple rather shallow rectangle… necessitated a very simple
design, a well corb made of Shirakawa stone…a medium-sized
washbasin, stepping stones of Kurama rock, and…small
evergreen bushes. The result is light and open."

There are many other photographs to delight the eye andmake the reader wish that he could not only revisit Kyoto but
also somehow arrange private visits to a few of these houses
with their charming little gardens.

The author gives plans ofmachiya in both the omoteyazukuri style where the storefront
is separated from the residential
part of the house and the daibeizukuri style where the house
was built behind a wall directly
abutting the main thoroughfare.
The book then depicts tsuboniwa

8japansociety Japan-UK Review: April 2007