The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko

The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko
Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages : 282
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780824853891
ISBN-13 : 082485389X
Rating : 4/5 (89X Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko by : Laura Nenzi

Download or read book The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko written by Laura Nenzi and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2015-02-28 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko is the story of a self-described "base-born nobody" who tried to change the course of Japanese history. Kurosawa Tokiko (1806–1890), a commoner from rural Mito domain, was a poet, teacher, oracle, and political activist. In 1859 she embraced the xenophobic loyalist faction (known for the motto "revere the emperor, expel the barbarians") and traveled to Kyoto to denounce the shogun's policies before the emperor. She was arrested, taken to Edo's infamous Tenmachō prison, and sentenced to banishment. In her later years, having crossed the Tokugawa-Meiji divide, Tokiko became an elementary school teacher and experienced firsthand the modernizing policies of the new government. After her death she was honored with court rank for her devotion to the loyalist cause. Tokiko's story reflects not only some of the key moments in Japan's transition to the modern era, but also some of its lesser-known aspects, thereby providing us with a fresh narrative of the late-Tokugawa crisis, the collapse of the shogunate, and the rise of the Meiji state. The peculiar combination of no-nonsense single-mindedness and visionary flights of imagination evinced in her numerous diaries and poetry collections nuances our understanding of activism and political consciousness among rural nonelites by blurring the lines between the rational and the irrational, focus and folly. Tokiko's use of prognostication and her appeals to cosmic forces point to the creative paths some women constructed to take part in political debates and epitomize the resourcefulness required to preserve one's identity in the face of changing times. In the early twentieth century, Tokiko was reimagined in the popular press and her story was rewritten to offset fears about female autonomy and to boost local and national agendas. These distorted and romanticized renditions offer compelling examples of the politicization of the past and of the extent to which present anxieties shape historical memory. That Tokiko was unimportant and her loyalist mission a failure is irrelevant. What is significant is that through her life story we are able to discern the ordinary individual in the midst of history. By putting an extra in the spotlight, The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko offers a new script for the drama that unfolded on the stage of late-Tokugawa and early Meiji history.


The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko Related Books

The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko
Language: en
Pages: 282
Authors: Laura Nenzi
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-02-28 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko is the story of a self-described "base-born nobody" who tried to change the course of Japanese history. Kurosawa Tokiko
The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko
Language: en
Pages: 263
Authors: Laura Nenzi
Categories: Japan
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko is the story of a selfdescribed obase-born nobodyo who tried to change the course of Japanese history. Kurosawa Tokiko (1806
Mediated by Gifts
Language: en
Pages: 266
Authors:
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-11-21 - Publisher: BRILL

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Mediated by Gifts is a collection of essays by top scholars on gifts, giving and the social and political forces that shaped these practices in medieval and ear
Commemorating Meiji
Language: en
Pages: 152
Authors: D.V. Botsman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-09-16 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

2018 marked the 150th anniversary of Japan’s Meiji Restoration, a milestone that the government of Prime Minister Abe Shinzō has actively sought to highlight
The Tokugawa World
Language: en
Pages: 1484
Authors: Gary P. Leupp
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-09-20 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

With over 60 contributions, The Tokugawa World presents the latest scholarship on early modern Japan from an international team of specialists in a volume that