Travels in Manchuria and Mongolia: A Feminist Poet from Japan Encounters Prewar China

by Yosano Akiko, Joshua Fogel

Overview

Yosano Akiko (1878-1942) was one of Japan's greatest poets and translators from classical Japanese. Her output was extraordinary, including twenty volumes of poetry and the most popular translation of the ancient classic The Tale of Genji into modern Japanese. The mother of eleven children, she was a prominent feminist and frequent contributor to Japan's first feminist journal of creative writing, Seito (Blue stocking).

In 1928 at a highpoint of Sino-Japanese tensions, Yosano was invited by the South Manchurian Railway Company to travel around areas with a prominent Japanese presence in China's northeast. This volume, translated for the first time into English, is her account of that journey. Though a portrait of China and the Chinese, the chronicle is most revealing as a portrait of modern Japanese representations of China—and as a study of Yosano herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231123198
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/26/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joshua A. Fogel is professor of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is author of The Literature of Travel in the Japanese Rediscovery of Japan, 1862-1945 and, most recently, editor of The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography.

Table of Contents

Yosano Akiko and Her China Travelogue of 1928, by Joshua A. Fogel
Travels in Manchuria and Mongolia, by Yosano Akiko

What People are Saying About This

Akira Iriye

Full of fascinating anecdotes and interesting observations from the pen of a famous poet, this travelogue helps us understand the many subtle nuances of imperialism and nationalism that grand historical studies often sweep aside.

Jonathan Chaves

One of the masterpieces of modern Japanese travel writing, this book conveys valuable insights into the psychology and daily lifestyles of Japanese travelers abroad, while also evoking scenes that will remind the reader, as they reminded Akiko, 'of the enchanted land one encountered in old Chinese texts.' Joshua A. Fogel's meticulous yet highly readable translation provides a new readership with a real literary delight.