Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, originally published in Japanese, Shiba intersperses her narration with excerpts from the actual travel diaries and sheds new light on womenâs literary activities in early modern Japan, which are noticeably understudied compared to other genres of Japanese literary history. The translation includes notes for general English readers.
Trade ReviewHistorian Keiko Shiba’s work gathers travel diaries from women throughout the Tokugawa shogunate and further reveals the liberties of thought still present in the feminine mind. Motoko Ezaki, coordinator of the Japanese program at Occidental College in Los Angeles, offers a comprehensive English translation to Shiba’s collection, with additional notes to further explain the historical and cultural significance of the many travel diaries. Stylistically Ezaki’s commentaries are direct, clearly elucidating the historical or cultural references found in the diaries…. These concrete diaries invariably contain abstract wonderings, and the literary reader will delight to uncover both practical and poetic reactions to life on the road. -- Kris Kosaka, the Japan Times
