Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World

A few years ago historian Jill Lepore wrote “Book of Ages, The life of Jane Franklin.” This about Benjamin Franklin’s little known brilliant sister. The point of Lepore’s book was the importance of telling history through many voices, not just great men. This is the viewpoint I thought of when reading historian Amy Stanley’s book about Tokyo in the early 1800’s; this before the American’s showed up on Japan’s doorstep, and when the city’s name was Edo. A city seemingly built of wooden sticks susceptible to fire and the most exciting place to live in the country.Stanley discovered an archive of letters written by a rural Japanese woman named Tsuneno who was born in 1804. The letters were between her and her Buddhist family, written in a difficult to translate text. The book follows Tsuneno’s life’s journey where at age 35 she walks to some 200 miles to Edo. From that point in the narrative, Stanley provides a duel biography of Tsuneno and Edo. Tsuneno died in 1853 at age 49 just as Admiral Perry’s arrived to “open” Japan from isolation and gave a push to the end of Shogun rule.Tsuneno was born into a Buddhist temple priests family. At age 12 her family married her off to the leader of another Buddhist temple some 180 miles away. The marriage ended some 15 years later and she was married twice more, the third time the marriage lasted only 4 months. These were all childless marriages. Her letters were mainly written to her unapproving older brother who became the chief Buddhist priest at her parent's temple. She dreamed of the large city across the mountains: Edo. At 35 she walked to Edo where she found herself a newcomer and broke.At this point in the book, Stanley describes the appeal of the big city, Edo and through numerous disconnected anecdotes paints a history of where Tsuneno found her destiny. All the while her family back home found her to be a headstrong embarrassment out of step with the traditional roll a Buddhist woman was destined to fill. Her older brother kept trying to forget her… thinking her as the sister who ran away to the big city. The story and history are fascinating and I discovered how little I knew of this period of Japanese History. For example, there were no wars or violent clashes during the two centuries before’s Tsuneno’s birth.The book's Prologue is wonderfully written, but once you're into the main text you left with many disconnected events and descriptions that bounce from place to place and year to year. Tsuneno’s life is so full of dysfunction and questionable decisions that she is a rocky tour guide. This leads to several weaknesses in the structure of the book. None of the actual original letters make an appearance so we do not have Tsuneno or her brother’s first-person interpretation or narrative of events. The writing is fine but I feel shorter more concise chapters, or more organized timelines, would have helped make the book more readable. I couldn’t help but compare the book and Tsuneno’s story to the wonderful novel “Pochenco” and how, in novel form, this story could have been more fleshed out and the characters' better described. Stanley did not have the option of writing a novel of Tsuneno’s life, choosing instead to keep the book a history book.Strange sympathetically points out that the future city named Tokyo was built by many women living lives similar to Tsuneno. Not the story of great men but the lives of those like hers who helped create the city. I recommend it to anyone interested in the Japanese history of this period.

The texture carefully woven into this work is tangible and exquisite. Well work reading and rereading.Thank you, Amy Stanley.

Amy Stanley's "Stranger in the Shogun's City" is one of those rare scholarly books that appeals to general readers, and you don't have to know anything about Japan to find it fascinating. Though I majored in Japanese history, I found much to learn from Stanley's biography of Tsuneno Izawa (1803-1853), the rebellious daughter of a priestly family from Echigo, a province in the Japan Alps. The fact that Tsuneno, after three failed marriages, escaped rural life and made a new life in Edo (now Tokyo) would have been noteworthy thirty years ago, but the fact that she did so during Tokugawa Era (1600-1868), when Japan was under centralized feudal rule, is remarkable. Stanley brings Tsuneneo's world to life: Echigo (now Niigata Prefecture), where her life revolved around Buddhist rituals, farming and the seasons, at least two of which brought snow so heavy that the region was cut off; and Edo, the vibrant, glittering capital that drew her like a magnet. By the time Tsuneno reached Edo in 1832, it was not only the largest city in the world but probably the most exciting, boasting not only theater, restaurants and nightlife but imported food and goods from all over Japan and beyond. That she chose a life of poverty and servitude in Edo over a stultifying existence as a country priest or farmer's wife is easy to understand; what's rare is the record of it. Japan's literacy rate, which has hovered near 100% for the past century, was arguably the highest in the world for both men and women in the Tokugawa Era, and Tsuneno could read and write not only the Japanese syllabaries but Chinese characters. She wrote letters throughout her tumultuous life, first to her parents and then to her older brother, and these were preserved in the prefectural archives, along with the family's accounts and genealogy. On a personal note, I was thrilled by references to places that still exist, especially the magnificent red Chinese-style gate she sees at the entrance to the Lord of Kaga's estate in Edo. The gate, the last of its kind in the city, now marks the main campus of Tokyo University, where I spent time during my last visit. The shock of recognition goes far beyond Tokyo: Akakura, the hot springs resort where Tsuneno stops on her journey to Edo, is where I learned to ski as a child. Stanley also mentions a high-born Echigo author, born a generation later than Tsuneno, who went even further from home than Tsuneno: Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, whose memoir "A Daughter of the Samurai" was my childhood favorite. Sugimoto not only traveled to the United States but lived here, first as a young wife and mother and later as a professor of Japanese language at Columbia. The fact that both these women were born a stone's throw from one another in the so-called Snow Country of Japan--a nation not lacking in northern boondocks--is astonishing.

The history of Edo Japan at the beginning of the end of the Shogunate period is entirely fascinating. Wonderful research and nice writing make it a period I wish I could visit invisibly. I guess I sort of did that through Amy Stanley's writing.Tsuneno, the woman whose life is followed is less interesting. There is just too little information--especially near the end of her life--to be satisfying. Her life ends for us when her brothers die which is a shame even though I didn't particularly like her. I would have liked knowing what she did in her later years that didn't last long.I finished the book feeling slightly disappointed.

tells the story of Tsuneno, a young woman born in 1804 into a priestly family, but who ached to make her own way in the big city of Edo, now known as Tokyo.In her letters home Tsuneno painted a vivid picture of Japan in the first half of the 19th century, just before American might forced an opening up to the outside word. In these pages we have the artist Hokusaki, stars of Kabuki theatre, magistrates, samurai, and shop keepers. We learn what people ate, what they wore, what they did to earn a living and to survive, and quite a lot along the way of how the world of the Shoguns operated.The tale of Tsuneno's life is touching and fascinating. She emerges from these pages as of course she was - a real living person with hopes, dreams, fears, weaknesses and strengths, just like us. The times were very different, but the human condition is eternal, and the author has evoked old Edo, and the life of Tsuneno and her family brilliantly.This is one of the best books of history writing that I have read in a very long time, and in my view it throughly deserves all the acclaim and nomination for prizes that it has received. The many many notes at the end of the book are testament to the deep research which has informed the story. I am not sure how the author will top this for her next book, but I am certainly looking forward to reading whatever tale she may have to tell next.Highly recommended

This is a great biography of an ordinary woman. I've very little knowledge of Japanese history, much less social development, but the footnotes are first class, and technically work well on the kindle, and your heart goes out to Tsuneno, a younger sister, much married and much divorced who in her middle years set off to live in Edo, the city that became Tokyo. A preserved family archive enables us to follow the footsteps of her life, and i for one thoroughly enjoyed it.

A timeless tale of a young woman from the country who tries to make it in the big city: the city was Edo, the year 1836.A wonderful account of the life in the Shogun's city with a very contemporary feel. Enthralling.

History as its best. Interesting, accessible, deeply researched and a good read. This is a story of a real person brought to life in a world on the cusp of huge changes. Really, read it!

I am really upset for the author and the publisher that this book, which is clearly marked Free Proof Copy - Not for Re-sale has been sold as new. I have heard the author speak and am sure her book will be wonderful and deserve 5*. I am rating this practice which Amazon should not allow this to happen. I have contacted the publisherI wasn't allowed to give no stars