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The Deer Cry Pavilion: A Story of Westerners in Japan 1868-1905
This is a sequel to "The Coming of the Barbarians" and deals with the period from the accession of Emperor Meiji to the end of the Ruso-Japanese war. In the author's own words, it is "a story of Meiji Japan through the eyes of the Westerners who were involved in the process of its rapid modernization." The Japanese reactions to this process are recorded and explained. The author has written "A Curious Life for a Lady", "To China With Love", "The Memsahibs" and "Taming the Jungle".
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First published January 1, 1968
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August 16, 2019
The righteous and the rogues of the Rokumeikan
After Admiral Perry “opened” Japan in 1853-54, Japan went through a rapid transformation. The Japanese, isolated for over two centuries, hungered (or at least many did) for the new, the industrial, the powerful, the scientific. Japan changed in an historically extremely short time; between 1860 and 1905, she had built up such an industrial and military base as to be able to defeat Russia and join the colonizing nations instead of the colonized. [I wonder if we can call this “progress”, but that was the trend of history.] Westerners represented to Japanese all that was progressive, all that was modern and new. Deserving or not, Japanese listened to them, even aped them before there was a backlash. The old culture, the old ways, and the formerly respected arts all bit the dust while Western styles and technology captured most of the elite, mainly in the big cities. There was a sumptuous center built in Tokyo with a ballroom, with French chefs for the dining room, and games-room for suitably attired gentlemen. This building, called the Rokumeikan, symbolizes the period for many writers and has given its name to the whole age of Japan’s transformation. It was built at government expense for the express purpose of “proper communication with foreigners”.
Although the title of the present book refers to the English translation of “Rokumeikan”, the contents are far more varied and interesting than just a zeroing in on a single pleasure palace. Ms. Barr fills her work with tales of many of the variety of Westerners who came and ultimately wrote about Japan---Pierre Loti (a romantic cad), Isabella Bird (doughty English lady traveler in the Japanese “outback”), John Batchelor (missionary to the Ainu), Lafcadio Hearn (Irish-Greek writer of ghost stories and travels who even changed his name to a Japanese one), William Griffs (a schoolteacher from New Jersey), and J.H. Snow (sea otter hunter off the Kuriles and Hokkaido). Missionaries and medicos, travelers and tramps are all described with ironic humor that keeps you reading what Barr has chosen, from dozens of narratives available, to put in her well-written book. You will not read this to learn about the Japanese; it is rather a book about the Westerners who worked, traveled or just hung about in Japan. The last section presents the views of Frederick Villiers, a war correspondent to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, especially the siege of Port Arthur, and of a Russian sailor who survived the disastrous (for Russia) Battle of Tsushima Straits when the whole Russian fleet was destroyed by the victorious Japanese. It’s all very fascinating. One wonders if the mix of Westerners had been different, if Japan’s trajectory might have been different too. They were certainly a motley crew.
After Admiral Perry “opened” Japan in 1853-54, Japan went through a rapid transformation. The Japanese, isolated for over two centuries, hungered (or at least many did) for the new, the industrial, the powerful, the scientific. Japan changed in an historically extremely short time; between 1860 and 1905, she had built up such an industrial and military base as to be able to defeat Russia and join the colonizing nations instead of the colonized. [I wonder if we can call this “progress”, but that was the trend of history.] Westerners represented to Japanese all that was progressive, all that was modern and new. Deserving or not, Japanese listened to them, even aped them before there was a backlash. The old culture, the old ways, and the formerly respected arts all bit the dust while Western styles and technology captured most of the elite, mainly in the big cities. There was a sumptuous center built in Tokyo with a ballroom, with French chefs for the dining room, and games-room for suitably attired gentlemen. This building, called the Rokumeikan, symbolizes the period for many writers and has given its name to the whole age of Japan’s transformation. It was built at government expense for the express purpose of “proper communication with foreigners”.
Although the title of the present book refers to the English translation of “Rokumeikan”, the contents are far more varied and interesting than just a zeroing in on a single pleasure palace. Ms. Barr fills her work with tales of many of the variety of Westerners who came and ultimately wrote about Japan---Pierre Loti (a romantic cad), Isabella Bird (doughty English lady traveler in the Japanese “outback”), John Batchelor (missionary to the Ainu), Lafcadio Hearn (Irish-Greek writer of ghost stories and travels who even changed his name to a Japanese one), William Griffs (a schoolteacher from New Jersey), and J.H. Snow (sea otter hunter off the Kuriles and Hokkaido). Missionaries and medicos, travelers and tramps are all described with ironic humor that keeps you reading what Barr has chosen, from dozens of narratives available, to put in her well-written book. You will not read this to learn about the Japanese; it is rather a book about the Westerners who worked, traveled or just hung about in Japan. The last section presents the views of Frederick Villiers, a war correspondent to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, especially the siege of Port Arthur, and of a Russian sailor who survived the disastrous (for Russia) Battle of Tsushima Straits when the whole Russian fleet was destroyed by the victorious Japanese. It’s all very fascinating. One wonders if the mix of Westerners had been different, if Japan’s trajectory might have been different too. They were certainly a motley crew.
Displaying 1 of 1 review