东京前传：德川幕府与江户城

by Timon Screech, 泰门·斯科里奇, 吕长清 (Translator)

本书所讲述的，是东京成为现代日本首都之前的故事。在1868年之前，它还不叫东京，彼时这座城市一直被称为江户。江户城始建于1590年，德川家康在这里建立了德川幕府，由此开始了它的繁盛时期。作为日本贸易、经济和城市文明的中心，江户直到1868年才演变成东京，成为日本的现代首都。

德川幕府为何选择江户城作为政权中心，又对江户城有着怎样的城市布局和规划？

江户是如何一步一步确立首都地位的，那些知名的地标和建筑如何建造起来？

德川幕府对江户城两百余年的管辖，给今日的东京留下了哪些文化遗产？

本书精选百余幅精美插图，结合日记、旅游指南和木刻版画等材料，生动详尽地讲述了江户的城市起源与成长史，以探寻东京这座魅力都市的历史基因。

Genres: Japan, History, Art, Nonfiction, Japanese History, Academic

256 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2022

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let Me See The Real Japan

While I found this book was informative and well-researched, I also found it to be a bit dense and difficult to get through at times. However, I appreciated the depth of information provided about the history of Tokyo and the shogunate.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the author's attention to detail and the way in which they painted a vivid picture of what life was like in Edo-era Tokyo. It was fascinating to learn about the power structures and social customs of that time, and I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of Japan's history as a result.

While some readers may find the book a bit repetitive or dry, I think it's worth pushing through in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Tokyo's past.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Japanese history or the development of cities in general.

3.7/5

[Paul Hoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

TBT is a well researched album of stories about Japan's Edo capital. Tim ties together earlier Japanese periods into an outline of the great city that the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled for over two hundred years. As a resident of Tokyo from 1978, I was thrilled to read the back stories on many places I have visited, as well as histories of places that no longer exist. Edo/Tokyo has metamorphosed into new neighborhoods, districts and thoroughfares with the 20th Century events and disasters. It's good to know the earlier periods before we have to start piecing together the back stories to the megametropolis that Tokyo has become.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Screech’s training as an art historian is readily apparent in TBT. In a systematic way he carefully and yet still succinctly for the most part explains the cultural, political, and social dynamics which underlaid the development of Edo from a small fishing village in 1603 to the country’s political, cultural, and economic center with a population of 1 million by 1720. His scholarship is demonstrated by notes in the text with 9 pages of references at the end of the book. There are also 3 pages of selected sources and further reading and a 5 page general bibliography.

The author utilizes art to demonstrate the points he is making quite effectively. Readers like me who are already familiar with famous woodblock artists like Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Utamaro will enjoy and learn a great deal about pieces of their work I was already familiar with. The reproductions of the prints are of excellent quality. The ways in which their prints reflected the ideology that the Shogunate was trying to foster about its rule and the social and cultural elements of the city are explained in a readily understandable manner. Poetry and, to a lesser extent folk tales are also used as vehicles through which he explains such things.

Screech uses a great deal of Japanese vocabulary. But he translates and explains the terms very thoroughly. This is no small feat because written Japanese is quite complex. The Japanese proclivity to communicate through the use of puns is noted and carefully articulated.

There are places where the narrative is so thorough as to be a bit slow going. But those who are patient and love things Japanese as I do will be richly rewarded. I came away with a deep appreciation for and understanding of many aspects of Tokyo’s history which I had never known before.

Thanks to my Goodreads friend DJ who informed me of a lecture Screech gave about this book in Feb 2021. It can be seen here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hCuAtG6...

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this was a pleasure and very enlightening. I’d recommend it to anyone with a strong desire to understand the historical development of the city of Tokyo.

Timon. Screech draws on his deep understanding of Japanese Art and Literature to explain how and why the city developed up to the Meiji period. The epilogue covers the early part of the 20th Century and the author acknowledges that the destruction caused by the 1923 earthquake and firebombing of World War II erased the old city. Anyone familiar with the geography of Tokyo as a city today, will nonetheless find plenty of interest in this beautifully produced book.

[Kyle Goetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely accessible book about the history of Tokyo (then Edo, 江戸) during the Tokugawa shogunate with a brief afterward bringing us into the Meiji era and modernity. Highly recommended for any amateur interested in the history of Japan. I can't speak to academics about this book's value bc I'm not one.

[Otter Kohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real dry, incredibly detailed, but not what I was hoping for in a history of Edo. Some chapters were great, others were so heavy with minute art or architecture details that I had to start skipping through. Overall, I wasn't left with a clear picture of the city or its role in Japanese history.

[Alan Tsuei · Rating 2 out of 5]

雖說名為東京前傳，但其實是摻了一堆京都、歷史、文化、藝術等玩意煮出來的大雜燴，所以讀者如果懷抱著單純了解東京的前世今生而來，那肯定會敗興而歸，因為作者只是帶著你東繞西繞卻不直指東京的本心，另外，作者雖然找了一堆浮世繪或水墨畫來參考比較，但藝術是一種表達心境的創作，而不是照片那樣照搬寫實，這樣做自然只會讓讀者更加混亂而已，畢竟歷史是社會科學是建築在史料與證據上，但藝術就是在完全相反的象限上了…

[Jeremy Jl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into to the development of Tokyo as Japan's capital covering urban planning, art, literature and sub-culture (ie the 'floating world'!)