Tales of Old Japan

About This Book

Published in 1871 by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford (later Lord Redesdale), this anthology appeared just three years after the Meiji Restoration and stands as one of the earliest serious attempts by a Western writer to present Japanese literature and culture to an English-speaking audience. Drawing on his experience as second secretary at the British Legation in Tokyo, Redesdale compiled stories, legends, and historical accounts that captured the feudal society then on the verge of transformation. The collection famously introduced the tale of the Forty-seven Ronin to Western readers, shaping perceptions of samurai honor and Japanese ethics for generations. Alongside dramatic narratives of loyalty, vengeance, and duty, the book includes supplementary notes on Japanese customs, ceremonies, and religious practices. Redesdale wrote with the observational clarity of a diplomat and the literary sensibility of a Victorian man of letters. For readers interested in how feudal Japan was first understood in the West, Tales of Old Japan remains an essential and historically grounded primary source.

Excerpt

The books which have been written of late years about Japan have either been compiled from official records, or have contained the sketchy impressions of passing travellers. The inner life of the Japanese, their religion, their superstitions, their ways of thought, the hidden springs by which they move — all these are as yet mysteries sealed to the Western reader.— Opening of Tales of Old Japan

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