The books which have been written of late years about Japan have either been compiled from official records, or have contained the sketchy impressions of passing travelers. Of the inner life of the Japanese the world at large knows but little: their religion, their superstitions, their ways of thought, the hidden springs by which they move -- all these are as yet mysteries. Nor is this to be wondered at. The book, which was written in 1871, forms an introduction to Japanese literature and culture, both through the stories, all adapted from Japanese sources, and Mitford's supplementary notes. Also included are Mitford's eyewitness accounts of a selection of Japanese rituals, ranging from harakiri (seppuku) and marriage to a selection of sermons. The recent revolution in Japan has wrought changes social as well as political; and it may be that when, in addition to the advance which has already been made, railways and telegraphs shall have connected the principal points of the Land of Sunrise, the old Japanese, such as he was and had been for centuries when we found him eleven short years ago, will have become extinct. . . . -- Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Lord Redesdale, G.C.V.O., K.C.B. Formerly Second Secretary to the British Legation in Japan

Author: Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Aegypan
Published: 01/01/2007
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.34lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.88d
ISBN: 9781603129626
Audience: 01 - 12

About the Author
Freeman-Mitford, Algernon Bertram: - "Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale (1837 - 1916) was a British diplomat, collector and writer. Nicknamed Barty, he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Entering the Foreign Office in 1858, Mitford was appointed Third Secretary of the British Embassy in St Petersburg. After service in the Diplomatic Corps in Shanghai, he went to Japan as second secretary to the British Legation at the time of the migration of the Japanese Seat of Power from Kyoto to Edo (modern-day Tokyo, known as the Meiji Restoration. Mitford`s memoirs recount the troubled time of the foreign settlements at Kobe over the fortnight following American Rear-Admiral Henry Bell`s death and the death of British consul Francis Gerard Mijburgh. Rededale served as secretary under Myburgh`s replacement, John Frederik Lowder. There he met Ernest Satow and wrote Tales of Old Japan (1871), a book credited with making such Japanese Classics as The Forty-seven Ronin first known to a wide Western public. He resigned from the diplomatic service in 1873. Following the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, in 1906 he accompanied Prince Arthur on a visit to Japan to present the Emperor Meiji with the Order of the Garter. He was asked by courtiers there about Japanese ceremonies that had disappeared since 1868. He is one of the people credited with introducing Japanese knotweed to England."