
Stranger in the Shogun's City
A Japanese Woman and Her World
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Narrated by:
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Joy Osmanski
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By:
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Amy Stanley
About this listen
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography
Winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award
Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
A “captivating” (The Washington Post) work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman during the first half of the 19th century in Edo - the city that would become Tokyo - and a portrait of a great city on the brink of a momentous encounter with the West.
The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother’s. But after three divorces - and a temperament much too strong-willed for her family’s approval - she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world: Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak.
With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno bounces from tenement to tenement, marries a masterless samurai, and eventually enters the service of a famous city magistrate. Tsuneno’s life provides a window into 19th-century Japanese culture - and a rare view of an extraordinary woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, in defiance of social conventions.
“A compelling story, traced with meticulous detail and told with exquisite sympathy” (The Wall Street Journal), Stranger in the Shogun’s City is “a vivid, polyphonic portrait of life in 19th-century Japan [that] evokes the Shogun era with panache and insight” (National Review of Books).
©2020 Amy Stanley. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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An Empathetic Glimpse Into The Past
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You really wish the book was longer
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Learn about the Japan you never knew existed.
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Sadly, there was not enough in the way of documented interactions with people who actually knew the main character to leave her as other than the ‘stranger’ in the title. I was left feeling the author’s sentiments of regret , and wanting more.
Not Clavell’s Shogun
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Evocative Story of 19th century Japan
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Sunano was not a city girl, but the daughter of a country priest expected to marry and raise a family near her community. Instead, she chose to not marry (after several failed arranged marriages) and go live independently in a city she had never been to: Edo. Even though she had no support from her family and no one to trust, she persisted in trying to live a life that she could choose for herself. The bravery of doing so in this period is remarkable and that Sunano eventually succeeded in her wish even more so.
This period is also before the arrival of the West in 1853, so Japan's closed nature allowed it to focus internally on culture and social norms. Stanley demonstrated well how tightly the shogunate controlled everyday life, from moving between cities to what plays could be performed. She also shows how life in the provinces was very different from the city, which tended toward tradition and being stationary. And of course, the opportunities for a single woman without family or connection in a new city were also limited.
I enjoyed this book and the glimpse it gave of Japan during the Tokugawa era. And Sunano's story was compelling and inspiring, showing how even a country girl could chart her own course in a new place. I definitely recommend it if you're interested in Japanese or women's history.
The Japan Before 1853
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10% plot 90% research
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Recommended for anyone with an interest in Japan
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Lovely microhistory
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Makes the past come alive!
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