Japan in Print: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period: 12 (Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes)

Book Details:

• Publisher: University of California Press

• Author: Mary Elizabeth Berry

• Language: English

• Edition: 1st Edition

• ISBN: 9780520254176

• Pages: 342

• Cover: Paperback

• Release Date: 01-08-2007

• Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.0 x 0.9 inches

• Format: Import

About The Book:

Japan in Print by Mary Elizabeth Berry offers a fascinating exploration of the intellectual and social changes in early modern Japan. The book focuses on the period after 1600, a time marked by the advent of state-sponsored investigations and the distribution of knowledge through printed materials such as maps, gazetteers, and encyclopedias. Berry examines how these texts, circulating in public, transformed the Japanese populace from passive subjects into active participants in a shared space of cultural literacy.

In this meticulously researched work, Berry considers the social processes behind the explosion of information in the 1600s, showing how the dissemination of knowledge helped unify the public and subverted traditional hierarchies. The new public texts, from agricultural manuals to travel guides, created a national collective consciousness that emphasized accessibility to markets, mobility, and sociability, while also empowering individuals to reshape their own identities.

Through a detailed examination of the development of these texts, Japan in Print reveals how print culture contributed to the development of a modern Japanese society where the line between ruler and ruled began to blur. The book is essential for readers interested in the history of Japanese society, print culture, and the early modern period.