Literary Creations on the Road - by Keiko Shiba (Paperback)

About the Book

In this book, originally published in Japanese, Shiba intersperses her narration with excerpts from the actual travel diaries and sheds new light on women's literary activities in early modern Japan, which are noticeably understudied compared to other genres of Japanese litera...

Book Synopsis

In this book, originally published in Japanese, Shiba intersperses her narration with excerpts from the actual travel diaries and sheds new light on women's literary activities in early modern Japan, which are noticeably understudied compared to other genres of Japanese literary history. The translation includes notes for general English readers.

Review Quotes

[The book's] wealth of insight and the hints it gives for further research make it well worth reading.

Historian Keiko Shiba's work gathers travel diaries from women throughout the Tokugawa shogunate and further reveals the liberties of thought still present in the feminine mind. Motoko Ezaki, coordinator of the Japanese program at Occidental College in Los Angeles, offers a comprehensive English translation to Shiba's collection, with additional notes to further explain the historical and cultural significance of the many travel diaries.

Stylistically Ezaki's commentaries are direct, clearly elucidating the historical or cultural references found in the diaries.... These concrete diaries invariably contain abstract wonderings, and the literary reader will delight to uncover both practical and poetic reactions to life on the road.

About the Author

Keiko Shiba is an historian and author specializing in women's literary activities during Japan's early modern period. She is particularly renowned in the area of women's travel diaries.
Motoko Ezaki is assistant professor at Occidental College where she teaches Japanese language and literature. Her areas of interest include semantics, pragmatics, and literature of early modern to contemporary Japan.