The Forgotten Japanese

Encounters with Rural Life and Folklore

Tsuneichi Miyamoto author Jeffrey Irish author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Stone Bridge Press

Published:21st Oct '21

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Forgotten Japanese cover

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The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Japan Times, Kyoto Journal, Japan Forward, Nippon, Nikkei Asian Review, LA Times, National Book Review, Book Forum, Book Riot, Booklist, BookPage, Foreword, Kirkus, Library Journal, NPR, Pop Matters, Portland Book Review, City Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Rain Taxi, SF Chronicle, Shelf Awareness, The Guardian, Washington Post, Seattle Times, JQ Magazine, Asian Review of Books, Books on Asia.

  • Excerpts with book related blogs such as Books on Asia, Asia Pacific Journal, Asian Review of Books.
  • Podcast interviews with book related podcasts such as Books on Asia, Asian Review of Books.

A revealing look at rural lives and lifestyles that have all but disappeared today.

Tsuneichi Miyamoto (1907-1981), a leading Japanese folklore scholar and rural advocate, walked 160,000 kilometers to conduct interviews and capture a dying way of life. This collection of photos, vignettes, and life stories from pre- and postwar rural Japan is the first English translation of his modern Japanese classic. From blowfish to landslides, Miyamoto's stories come to life in Jeffrey Irish's fluid translation.

"Though largely unknown in the West, Miyamoto Tsuneichi (1907-81) was a pioneering figure in the field of Japanese folklore studies, on a par with the legendary Yanagita Kunio. Fishermen, farmers, and itinerant peddlers regaled him with tales of local legends, sex, violence, natural disasters, and folk religion. Translator [Jeffrey] Irish, a resident of a rural Japanese village himself, brings a deft touch to the translation."--Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

"Miyamoto's years of walking and listening in the remote farming and fishing communities of Japan put him in touch with the basics. The translation by Jeffrey Irish is excellent. It's our good luck that we get to savor this text now too."―Gary Snyder

"Miyamoto...captures utterly ordinary folk rituals of everyday life with flair and grace." ―Tokyo Art Beat

"It’s a treasure trove of information about life in Japan just before WWII. This is a keeper for the book shelves as I am sure I will refer back to it often."--Amy Chavez, Books on Asia

"The past, one sees, really is a foreign country, Miyamoto’s journey into that foreign place, his visits with its forgotten people, exquisitely told and exquisitely translated, is essential."--Japan Times

"In what Miyamoto sets out to do, he succeeds. He has made the 'forgotten Japanese' eminently memorable."--Clark Chilson, University of Pittsburgh, in Asian Ethnology.

ISBN: 9781611720761

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

316 pages