Description
Book SynopsisPublished by Edition Synapse, Japan and distributed by Routledge outside of Japan.
This is the very first collection of all the English works produced by an author renowned for her autobiographical novel A Daughter of the Samurai, which became a bestseller in pre-war America. Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto was born 1874 in the province of Niigata in Japan and after attending a Methodist school in Tokyo, she moved to the USA for a pre-arranged marriage to a Japanese merchant in Cincinnati. After her husband’s death, she started writing about Japan in local newspapers and then in a series of articles for the magazine Asia. A Daughter of Samurai, which was her first book and was based on the magazine series, was published by Doubleday, a leading US publisher. The book became one of the publisher’s biggest sellers and continued to be in print for many editions. A British edition was produced, as were translations into most other major Western languages. The book’s influence has been profound. For example, Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, one the most widely read books on Japan in the West is deeply indebted to Sugimoto’s novel. Sugimoto later lived in New York and taught Japanese language and culture at Columbia University.
In addition to her first novel, she published three other novels and a children’s book, all in English. Even in the anti-Japanese atmosphere of pre-war America and Britain, they were favourably reviewed on the both sides of the Atlantic. Reviews of her work appeared in the New York Times, and the Times Literary Supplement.
This Collected English Works of Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto includes all of those books as facsimile reprints of first editions, together with colour plates and illustrations. The collection also gathers her newspaper and magazine articles. Selected reviews of her novels are also included.
… Neither Americans nor Japanese, they felt alien in both countries, winning a sort of spiritual hybridism which is one of the tragedies of abi-racial background. The story takes root from this tragedy and serves as a commentary upon the life of both nations. In every sense A Daughter of the Samurai is an attempt to explain the life of the Samurai to the American people. "Unless the red barbarians and the children of the gods" she writes, "learn each other’s hearts the ships may sail and sail, but the two lands will never be nearer." At a time when a wholesome piece of American legislation was marred with ill manners toward the proud and sensitive nation of Japan and when American jin goes invoke a Yellow Peril analogous to Japan’s White Peril, such a book is useful and honorable. In unveiling the reticences of a Japanese heart, Mme. Sugimoto has deserved well not only of her caste and of her nation, but also of the many well-bred people in this land who desire a sympathetic understanding of the two peoples. --- from the review of A Daughter of the Samurai in The New York Times, January 10, 1926
Table of ContentsVolume 1:
A Daughter of the Samurai, How a daughter of feudal Japan, living hundreds of years in one generation, become a modern American
Special Edition published for Japan Society, New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. [1925],
＋ additional illustrations in color from the editions in 1926 & 1934
Volume 2
With Taro and Hana in Japan,
New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Co., 1926
A Daughter of the Narikin
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1932
Volume 3
A Daughter of the Nohfu,
Garden City: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1935
Volume 4
Grandmother O Kyo
Garden City: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1940
Volume 5: Miscellaneous Writings by and on Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto
Part 1: 37 Articles in Newspapers and Journals by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (1901-27)
Cincinnati Enquirer, March 1901 to June 1902
March 17, 1901; Quaint Japan Dedicates This Month of March to Its Gentle Women Folk
July 28, 1901; Spirit of the Dead
October 27, 1901; The Japanese Halloween
December 22, 1901; Japan's Pathetic Struggle
June 8, 1902; At Home in Japan
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June to December 1902
June 1, 1902; In the Land of the Mikado (The same article appeared in the June 1 issue of Cincinnati Enquirer)
July 6, 1902; Cherry Blossom Season A Holiday Time in Japan
October 12, 1902; Sad Ceremonial in Memory of the Dead, A Picturesque Japanese Custom
November 30, 1902; Wrestling Japan's National Sport
December 7, 1902; Odd Old Time Wedding Customs are Still to be Seen in Japan
Cincinnati Enquirer, August to September 1916
August 6, 1916; Little Corner for Little People
August 13, 1916; The Blind Firefly
August 20, 1916; Sangoro and His Shadow
August 27, 1916; Snow-Maiden and Crow-Maiden
September 3, 1916; The Cunning Fly and the Simple Fan
Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia), May to August 1918
May 10, 1918; Who is More Modest?
May 13, 1918; Two-Toed Folks
May 23, 1918; Curly Hair
July 23, 1918; Kissing
July 30, 1918; Twelve Centuries of Meatless Days
August 9, 1918; The Social Standing of Dogs
August 24, 1918; Chewing Gum
The Bookman, February to May 1919
February 1919; Japan
May 1919; The First Books of a Japanese Child
Asia, November to December, 1924: A "Samurai’s" Daughter
Vol. 23 # 11 (November, 1923); Along the Trail with the Editor
Vol. 23 # 12 (December, 1923); I. A Japanese Child in Snowy Nagaoka,
Vol. 24 # 1 (January, 1924); II. "Curly-Locks" in the Land of Lacquered Coiffures
Vol. 24 # 2 (February, 1924); III. Japanese Fete-Days in Feudal-Hearted Nagaoka
Vol. 24 # 3 (March, 1924); IV. Off to Tokyo
Vol. 24 # 4 (April, 1924); V. The Fairy-Land of Tokyo School-Days
Vol. 24 # 8 (August, 1924); VI. My First Days in America
Vol. 24 # 9 (September, 1924); VII. "Flower in a Strange Land"
Vol. 24 # 10 (October, 1924); VIII. Japanese Hearts Homeward Bound
Vol. 24 # 11 (November, 1924); IX. "Untrained Feet" in a Tokyo Home
Vol. 24 # 12 (December, 1924); X. Honorable Grandmother
Articles in Journals by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, June 1926 to October 1933
The Bookman (June 1926); Japanese Love Stories
The Saturday Review of Literature (January 22, 1927); Women of Japan (Book Review of The New Japanese Womanhood, by Allen K. Faust)
Part 2: A Booklet privately printed by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto: [In Loving Memory of Florence Mills Wilson, October, 1933], Courtesy of Keisen Jogakuen Archives
Part 3: 12 Book Reviews of Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto’s Novels (1926-40)
New York Times (January 10, 1926); Book Review of A Daughter of the Samurai
New York Times (October 23, 1932); Book Review of A Daughter of the Narikin
New York Times (December 1, 1935); Book Review of A Daughter of the Nohfu
New York Times (May 12, 1940); Book Review of Grandmother O Kyo
The Saturday Review of Literature (New York) (March 26, 1926); Book Review of A Daughter of the Samurai
The Saturday Review of Literature (New York) (May 27, 1933); Book Review of A Daughter of the Narikin
The Saturday Review (New York) (December 7, 1935); Book Review of A Daughter of the Nohfu
The Times (London) (March 10, 1933); Book Review of A Daughter of the Samurai
The Times Literary Supplement (March 9, 1933); Book Review of A Daughter of the Samurai
The Times Literary Supplement (November 19, 1933); Book Review of A Daughter of the Narikin
The Times Literary Supplement (March 21, 1936); Book Review of A Daughter of the Nohfu
The Times Literary Supplement (October 12, 1940); Book Review of Grandmother O Kyo
Part 4: 7 Miscellaneous Articles related to Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (1898-1950)
Cincinnati Enquirer (June 3, 1898); Japanese Wedding was Solemnized in This City Yesterday
Cincinnati Enquirer (February 23, 1902); Literary Women of Japan Discussed by Mrs. Sugimoto at a Reception of Women's Press Club
Evening Public Ledger (April 24, 1919); The Electric Chair
The Bookman (May 1920); The Literature of a Modern Japanese Girl (Article by Hanano Inagaki Sugimoto)
New York Times (July 4, 1920); Find Japanese Easy at Columbia
The Bookman (January 1926); The Gossip Shop
New York Times (June 22, 1950); Obituary
Part 5: Two-page Autograph Letter signed by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (No Date)
