{"product_id":"koumes-world-9780231211857","title":"Koumes World","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKawai Koume (1804–1889) was an accomplished poet and painter and a wife, mother, and grandmother in a lower-ranking samurai family in a provincial castle town. Through her eyes and words, Simon Partner opens a window on social, economic, and cultural life amid some of the most dramatic periods of Japan’s transformative nineteenth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSimon Partner’s latest biography\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a fresh look at nineteenth-century Japan through the diary of a Wakayama artist. In elegant prose, \u003ci\u003eKoume’s World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ereconstructs how this prolific painter gained the respect of her castle-town community and helped steer her family’s fortunes through tumultuous times. A valuable addition to the slim shelf of English-language volumes on Tokugawa women's lives. -- Kären Wigen, Stanford University\u003cbr\u003eSimon Partner’s \u003ci\u003eKoume’s World\u003c\/i\u003e is a tremendously interesting account of the daily life of a samurai woman based on her detailed diary about how she took care of her household, engaged in painting and poetry, and observed her world. Partner employs many other sources to present an uncommonly sensitive view of regional urban society, in this case the understudied and fascinating city of Wakayama, which he reveals in its normal rhythms and the riveting drama pervading the collapse of the Tokugawa regime and the dynamic society of the early Meiji era. -- Luke Roberts, University of California, Santa Barbara\u003cbr\u003eSimon Partner’s wonderfully engaging \u003ci\u003eKoume’s World\u003c\/i\u003e is chockablock with surprising details about the uncertain fortunes of a poor but respectable samurai family during a time of unprecedented change. Based on the matriarch’s diary, this book opens a window onto the travails of samurai in real life in mid-nineteenth-century Japan. -- David L. Howell, Harvard University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface and Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eKawai Family Tree\u003cbr\u003eMonetary Values\u003cbr\u003eChronology\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e1. Growing Up in Kishū Domain\u003cbr\u003e2. A Year of Calamities\u003cbr\u003e3. In the Shadow of the Black Ships\u003cbr\u003e4. Work and Family\u003cbr\u003e5. War and Revolution\u003cbr\u003e6. The Artist’s Life\u003cbr\u003e7. Across the Divide\u003cbr\u003eConclusion\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400379375959,"sku":"9780231211857","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780231211857.jpg?v=1730470549","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/koumes-world-9780231211857","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}