Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material CultureJapan was the only non-Western nation to industrialize before 1900 and its leap into the modern era has stimulated vigorous debates among historians and social scientists. In an innovative discussion that posits the importance of physical well-being as a key indicator of living standards, Susan B. Hanley considers daily life in the three centuries leading up to the modern era in Japan. She concludes that people lived much better than has been previously understood—at levels equal or superior to their Western contemporaries. She goes on to illustrate how this high level of physical well-being had important consequences for Japan's ability to industrialize rapidly and for the comparatively smooth transition to a modern, industrial society. While others have used income levels to conclude that the Japanese household was relatively poor in those centuries, Hanley examines the material culture—food, sanitation, housing, and transportation. How did ordinary people conserve the limited resources available in this small island country? What foods made up the daily diet and how were they prepared? How were human wastes disposed of? How long did people live? Hanley answers all these questions and more in an accessible style and with frequent comparisons with Western lifestyles. Her methods allow for cross-cultural comparisons between Japan and the West as well as Japan and the rest of Asia. They will be useful to anyone interested in the effects of modernization on daily life. |
Contents
The Level of Physical WellBeing in Tokugawa Japan | 1 |
Housing and Furnishings | 25 |
A ResourceEfficient Culture | 51 |
A Healthful Lifestyle | 77 |
Urban Sanitation and Physical WellBeing | 104 |
Demographic Patterns and WellBeing | 129 |
Other editions - View all
Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture Susan B. Hanley Limited preview - 1999 |
Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture Susan B. Hanley Limited preview - 2023 |
Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture Susan B. Hanley Limited preview - 2023 |
Common terms and phrases
areas average Bakufu baths became bedding began beriberi building built cities clothing consumption cooking cotton daikon daimyo deathrates developed diet eating Edo's eighteenth century England estimates Europe evidence expectancy farm farmers fertilizer floor Fujito grains growth Hanley Hayami Akira household houses income increase industrialization irori Japanese Japanese cuisine jinkō kamado kenkyū kimono Kinsei Kozo Yamamura labor level of physical lifestyle major material culture meal meat Meiji period Meiji Restoration mid-nineteenth century minka miso modern night soil Nihon nineteenth century nutrition Okayama Osaka percent physical well-being population premodern Princeton University Princeton University Press protein region rekishi rice rooms ryō samples samurai sanitation seikatsu seikatsu-shi Sengoku period seventeenth century shoin style shoku sixteenth social soy sauce standard of living staple Tama River tatami tion toilet tokonoma Tokugawa Japan Tokugawa period Tokyo traditional urban village waste water supply West Western women wooden