Kyushu : gateway to Japan : a concise history
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Kyushu : gateway to Japan : a concise history
Global Oriental, 2009
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Note
"This book began life several years ago when I was teaching a course on regional history for international students at Kyushu University in Fukuoka City."--Pref., p. xi
Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-319) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In this first major study of the region in English, the author examines the key themes of Kyushu's history from earliest times - the cultural interaction with the continental mainland, settlement, location and infrastructure as well as trade and commerce, - arguing that it was the principal stepping-stone in terms of Japan's cultural, social and economic advance through history up to the present day. Although an integral part of Japan, Kyushu is culturally distinct in that its location on the East China Sea has exposed the region to an unusually high degree of influence from overseas. There was diplomatic exchange between this island and China, for example, even before the political entity of Japan came into existence. Kyushu, in fact, has been the setting for many of the major cultural encounters in Japan's history, from the introduction of Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity to gunpowder, coffee and tea. The volume also includes a colour plate section containing 60 images which support the text and provide the reader/researcher with invaluable pictorial references to Kyushu's history from earliest times to the present day.
Table of Contents
- List of maps
- List of plates
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Takachiho: The Floating Bridge of Heaven
- 2 Himiko's lands: gateway to Wa
- 3 Tsukushi: Isle of unknown fires
- 4 Dazaifu: The distant court
- 5 Hakata: The making of a mercantile centre
- 6 Divine Wind: The Mongol invasions
- 7 Divided loyalties: Pirates and rival courts
- 8 All under Heaven: Missionaries and warlords
- 9 Turbulent decades: State control and resistance
- 10 The great peace in Kyushu
- 11 Kyushu in the Meiji Restoration
- 12 The twentieth century
- Postscript
- Appendix: Major domains in Kyushu circa 1850
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
by "Nielsen BookData"