This study revolves around the career of Kobayashi Hideo (1902–1983), one of the seminal figures in the history of modern Japanese literary criticism, whose interpretive vision was forged amidst the c
Under the Ancestors’ Eyes presents a new approach to Korean social history by focusing on the origin and development of the indigenous descent group. Martina Deuchler maintains that the surprising con
Mark E. Byington explores the formation, history, and legacy of the ancient state of Puyo, which existed in central Manchuria from the third century BCE until the late fifth century CE. As the earlies
Plucking Chrysanthemums is a critical study of the life and works of Narushima Ryuhoku (1837–1884): Confucian scholar, world traveler, pioneering journalist, and irrepressible satirist. A major figure
Translation’s Forgotten History investigates the meanings and functions that translation generated for modern national literatures during their formative period and reconsiders literature as part of a
“Autumn wind, autumn rain, fill my heart with sorrow”—these were the last words of Qiu Jin (1875–1907), written before she was beheaded for plotting to overthrow the Qing empire. Eventually, she would
How did modern Chinese painters see landscape? Did they depict nature in the same way as premodern Chinese painters? What does the artistic perception of modern Chinese painters reveal about the relat
Ennobling Japan’s Savage Northeast is the first comprehensive account in English of the discursive life of the Tohoku region in postwar Japan from 1945 through 2011. The Northeast became the subject o
Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari) is traditionally identified as one of the most important Japanese literary texts of the Heian period (794–1185). Since its enshrinement in the classical literary canon as
In the early 1990s, South Korea was showcased as a country that had combined extraordinary economic growth with a narrowing of income distribution, achieving remarkably low rates of unemployment and p
The nine essays in this volume reexamine the "hundred days" in 1898 and focus particularly on the aftermath of this reform movement. Their collective goal is to rethink the reforms not as a failed att
During China’s transition from dynastic empire to nation-state, the crowd emerged as a salient trope. Intellectuals across the ideological spectrum have used the crowd trope to ruminate on questions o
Money and finance have been among the most potent tools of colonial power. This study investigates the Japanese experiment with financial imperialism—or “yen diplomacy”—at several key moments between
Often depicted as one of the world’s most strictly isolationist and relentlessly authoritarian regimes, North Korea has remained terra incognita to foreign researchers as a site for anthropological fi
This interesting history of Japanese colonialism in Korea examines the lives of early settlers and entrepreneurs during the period of Japanese rule at the beginning of the twentieth century. Drawing o
Monstrous Bodies is a cultural and literary history of ambiguous bodies in imperial Japan. It focuses on what the book callsmodern monsters—doppelgangers, robots, twins, hybrid creations—bodily metaph
Like all empires, Japan’s prewar empire encompassed diverse territories as well as a variety of political forms for governing such spaces. This book focuses on Japan’s Kwantung Leasehold and Railway Z
As the Ch'ing government's Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service, Robert Hart was the most influential Westerner in China for half a century. These journal entries continue the sequence be
Here is the first full-length biography in English of the most important political figure in premodern Japan.Hideyoshi—peasant turned general, military genius, and imperial regent of Japan&mdas
Between 1751 and 1784, the Qianlong emperor embarked upon six southern tours, traveling from Beijing to Jiangnan and back. These tours were exercises in political theater that took the Manchu emperor
