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Review: Stranger in the Shogun’s City
Story of a Rebellious Japanese woman in the 19th century
I normally don’t read history books. I prefer to get my knowledge of history through historical fiction. Following the story of a character in context of their history holds my attention. I have attempted to read many history books and failed to finish them. But this one, written by Amy Stanley, a history professor based at Northwestern University in Illinois, in the U.S., drew me in and kept my attention for the entire book. Was she writing for audiences like me? Her writing style was almost conversational, as if she is telling you about her subject’s life, and then providing all these asides for your benefit.
Stanley writes that she became obsessed with the woman, Tsuneno, a unique, rebellious, non-stereotypical Japanese woman born in 1804, who lived in the historical period right before the Meiji era. From a mountainous area in the countryside, she eventually made her way to the big city, Edo, which later became named Tokyo. Her life was known through her letters home and family records kept by her father, and then by her brother who became the head of the family at a young age when her father died. Through Tsuneno’s life and Stanley’s writing of it, we catch a glimpse of what life was like in her time.
