Originally published in 1984 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, reprinted here with a brief new preface by the author. His two Dawn to the west volumes, written over a 15-year period, study the literatu
Modern Japanese Diaries is a collection of journals written by Japanese who journeyed to America, Europe, and China between 1860 and 1920. It begins with entries by the first Japanese to be sent abroa
Yoshimasa may have been the worst shogun ever to rule Japan. He was a failure as a soldier, incompetent at dealing with state business, and dominated by his wife. But his influence on the cultural lif
Thousands of books and monographs have been devoted to the poet and critic Ishikawa Takuboku (1886–1912). Although he died at the age of twenty-six and wrote many of his best-known poems in the space
Rather than resist the vast social and cultural changes sweeping Japan in the nineteenth century, the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) instead incorporated new Western influences into his country's nati
Rather than resist the vast social and cultural changes sweeping Japan in the nineteenth century, the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867--1902) instead incorporated new Western influences into his country's nat
The attack on Pearl Harbor, which precipitated the Greater East Asia War and its initial triumphs, aroused pride and a host of other emotions among the Japanese people. Yet the single year in which Ja
The New Yorker has called Donald Keene "America's preeminent scholar of Japanese literature." Now he presents a new book that serves as both a superb introduction to modern Japanese fiction and a memo
Donald Keene, the preeminent authority on Japanese literature, crafts a definitive and vivid history of the life and times of the emperor who opened Japan to the West. When Emperor Meiji began his rul
When Emperor Meiji began his rule, in 1867, Japan was a splintered empire, dominated by the shogun and the daimyos, who ruled over the country's more than 250 decentralized domains and who were, in th
Keene (Japanese literature, Columbia U.) provides both scholars and lay readers a history of the vast literary production during the 250 years in which the Tokugawa shoguns kept Japan isolated from th
Donald Keene employs his prodigious wealth of knowledge, critical insight, and narrative aplomb to guide readers through the first nine hundred years of Japanese literature -- a period that not only d
The fourth book in a multivolume history of modern Japanese literature by one of the world's most accomplished translators and scholars of Japanese culture and literature, this volume offers unparalle
Essays on Japanese diaries written from the ninth to the nineteenth centuries present a literary history of the art of journal writing in Japan while providing insight into Japanese life and culture
This is the third book in a multivolume history of modern Japanese literature by the world's authoritative translator and scholar of Japanese culture and literature. The Columbia paperback edition, wi
The production and design of this brief introduction to traditional Japanese culture for the general reader is as lovely as the writing is enjoyable and informative. Keene's deep learning illuminates
Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), also known as the story of the Forty-Six (or Forty-Seven) Ronin, is the most famous and perenially popular of all Japanese dramas. Written around 1748 a
Donald Keene combines informative works on two forms of classical Japanese theater into a single volume. The No text looks at all aspects of this traditional theater form including its history, its st
