Japans Private Spheres: Autonomy in Japanese History, 1600-1930

By W. Puck Brecher

Japan's Private Spheres: Autonomy in Japanese History, 1600-1930 traces the shifting nature of autonomy in early modern and modern Japan. In this far-reaching, interdisciplinary study, W. Puck Brecher explores the historical development of the private and its evolving relationship with public authority, a dynamic that evokes stereotypes about an alleged dearth of individual agency in Japanese society. It does so through a montage of case studies. For the early modern era, case studies examine peripheral living spaces, boyhood, and self-interrogation in the arts. For the modern period, they explore strategic deviance, individuality in Meiji education, modern leisure, and body-maintenance. Analysis of these disparate private realms illuminates evolving conceptualizations of the private and its reciprocal yet often-contested relationship to the state.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9004447547
• ISBN13: 9789004447547
• Release Date: April 2021
• Publisher: Brill
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.8"