Unsung heroes of old Japan
By: Michifumi Isoda ; translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter = Mushi no Nihonjin / chosha Isoda Michifumi ; yakusha Jurietto Wintāzu Kāpentā
Contributors: Carpenter, Juliet Winters, translator
Edition: First edition.
Series: Japan library; Japan library (Shuppan Bunka Sangyō Shinkō Zaidan)
Publisher: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 207
ISBN-13: 9784916055767
Subjects: Biography; History
Other titles: Mushi no Nihonjin
Work titles: Mushi no Nihonjin
Description: "True stories of three little-known Japanese of the Edo period who lived lives of sublime selflessness and purity, blurring the boundary between self and others. Merchant Kokudaya Jūzaburō comes up with a brilliant scheme to rescue his dying town from poverty. He and others go deep into debt, risking all to raise money for the cash-strapped daimyo and receive annual interest in return. Prodigious scholar and former Zen monk Nakane Tōri refuses a government post and elects to live in abject poverty, weaving sandals. Though perhaps the age's greatest poet, he throws his works into the fire and ends his days teaching in a country village. Ōtagaki Rengetsu, a noted beauty in Kyoto, loses two husbands and five children. She becomes a Buddhist nun and devotes her life to poetry and pottery. With her savings she feeds the hungry and builds a bridge across Kamo River"--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (page 206).

Translated from the original Japanese into English.
Table of contents: title: Kokudaya Jūzaburō (1719-1777); title: Nakane Tōri (1694-1765); title: Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875).