Tales of Old Japan - Freeman-Mitford, Algernon Bertram
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This fascinating collection of short stories focuses on aspects of Japanese life before the Meiji Restoration. Written in 1871, the book provides an introduction to Japanese literature and culture, both through the stories (all adapted from authentic Japanese sources) and Mitford's extensive supplementary notes. Also included are Mitford's eyewitness accounts of a selection of Japanese rituals, including harakiri (seppuku) and marriage, along with a selection of fairy tales and a sampling of sermons. Compiled just as the age of the Samauri was ending, this collection of tales provides an…mehr

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Produktbeschreibung
This fascinating collection of short stories focuses on aspects of Japanese life before the Meiji Restoration. Written in 1871, the book provides an introduction to Japanese literature and culture, both through the stories (all adapted from authentic Japanese sources) and Mitford's extensive supplementary notes. Also included are Mitford's eyewitness accounts of a selection of Japanese rituals, including harakiri (seppuku) and marriage, along with a selection of fairy tales and a sampling of sermons. Compiled just as the age of the Samauri was ending, this collection of tales provides an intriguing look at the now-lost customs and worldview of the denizens of old Japan. The author writes, "It has appeared to me that no better means could be chosen of preserving a record of a curious and fast disappearing civilization than the translation of some of the most interesting national legends and histories, together with other specimens of literature bearing upon the same subject. Thus the Japanese may tell their own tale, their translator only adding here and there a few words of heading or tag to a chapter, where an explanation or amplification may seem necessary. I fear that the long and hard names will often make my tales tedious reading, but I believe that those who will bear with the difficulty will learn more of the character of the Japanese people than by skimming over descriptions of travel and adventure, however brilliant. The lord and his retainer, the warrior and the priest, the humble artisan and the despised Eta or pariah, each in his turn will become a leading character in my budget of stories; and it is out of the mouths of these personages that I hope to show forth a tolerably complete picture of Japanese society."
Autorenporträt
Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale (1837 - 1916) was a British diplomat, collector and writer. Nicknamed "Barty", he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Entering the Foreign Office in 1858, Mitford was appointed Third Secretary of the British Embassy in St Petersburg. After service in the Diplomatic Corps in Shanghai, he went to Japan as second secretary to the British Legation at the time of the migration of the Japanese Seat of Power from Kyoto to Edo (modern-day Tokyo, known as the "Meiji Restoration". Mitford`s memoirs recount the troubled time of the foreign settlements at Kobe over the fortnight following American Rear-Admiral Henry Bell`s death and the death of British consul Francis Gerard Mijburgh. Rededale served as secretary under Myburgh`s replacement, John Frederik Lowder. There he met Ernest Satow and wrote Tales of Old Japan (1871), a book credited with making such Japanese Classics as "The Forty-seven Ronin" first known to a wide Western public. He resigned from the diplomatic service in 1873. Following the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, in 1906 he accompanied Prince Arthur on a visit to Japan to present the Emperor Meiji with the Order of the Garter. He was asked by courtiers there about Japanese ceremonies that had disappeared since 1868. He is one of the people credited with introducing Japanese knotweed to England.