, ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the ''

American Cyclopaedia American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

'', the 1834 French translation of ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'' was one of very few books about Japan available in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Prepared under the patronage of the ''tairō'' Sakai Tadakatsu

The material selected for inclusion in the narrative reflects the perspective of its original Japanese author and his

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

patron, the ''

tairō ''Tairō'' (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the Tokugawa shogunate government of Japan, roughly comparable to the office of prime minister. The ''tairō'' presided over the governing '' rōjū'' council in the event of an ...

Sakai Tadakatsu was a Sengoku period Japanese samurai, and early Edo period ''daimyō'' and served in several important positions within the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate. Papinot, Edmund. (2003)''Nobiliare du Japon'' Sakai. pp. 50–51 Biography Ta ...

, who was ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of the

Obama Domain The was a '' Fudai'' feudal domain of the Edo period of Japan. It is located in Wakasa Province, in the Hokuriku region of the island Honshū. The domain was centered at Obama Castle, located in the center of what is now the city of Oba ...

Wakasa Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the southwestern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Wakasa''" in . Wakasa bordered on Echizen, Ōmi, Tanba, Tango, and Yama ...

. It was the first book of its type to be brought from Japan to Europe, and was translated into French as "''Nipon o daï itsi ran''". Dutch Orientalist and scholar

Isaac Titsingh Isaac Titsingh FRS ( January 1745 – 2 February 1812) was a Dutch diplomat, historian, Japanologist, and merchant.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Isaak Titsingh" in . During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was a senior official of the ...

brought the seven volumes of ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'' with him when he returned to Europe in 1797 after twenty years in the Far East. All these books were lost in the turmoil of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, but Titsingh's French translation was posthumously published. The manuscript languished after Titsingh's death in 1812; but the project was revived when the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland sponsored printing and publication in Paris with distribution to be handled from London. The Paris-based philologist and orientalist

Julius Klaproth Heinrich Julius Klaproth (11 October 1783 – 28 August 1835) was a German linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, orientalist and explorer. As a scholar, he is credited along with Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, with being instrumental in turni ...

was engaged to shepherd the text into its final printed form in 1834, including a ''Supplément aux Annales des Daïri'', which generally mirrors the pattern of Titsingh's initial ''Annales des empereurs du Japon;'' and the reach of this additional material stretches thinly through the 18th century history of Japan.

First book of its type to be published in the West

This became the first Japanese-authored historical account of its sort to be published and circulated for scholarly study in the West. It is fitting that this rare book was selected as one of the first to be scanned and uploaded for online study as part of an ongoing international digitization project which has now been renamed the

Google Books Library Project Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

: :: Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/ iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō_(1652)">Hayashi_Gahō.html"_;"title="iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō">iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō_(1652)_''Nipon_o_daï_itsi_ran;_ou,_Annales_des_empereurs_du_Japon,_tr._par_M._Isaac_Titsingh_avec_l'aide_de_plusieurs_interprètes_attachés_au_comptoir_hollandais_de_Nangasaki;_ouvrage_re.,_complété_et_cor._sur_l'original_japonais-chinois,_accompagné_de_notes_et_précédé_d'un_Aperçu_d'histoire_mythologique_du_Japon,_par_M._J._ iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō_(1652)">Hayashi_Gahō.html"_;"title="iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō">iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō_(1652)_''Nipon_o_daï_itsi_ran;_ou,_Annales_des_empereurs_du_Japon,_tr._par_M._Isaac_Titsingh_avec_l'aide_de_plusieurs_interprètes_attachés_au_comptoir_hollandais_de_Nangasaki;_ouvrage_re.,_complété_et_cor._sur_l'original_japonais-chinois,_accompagné_de_notes_et_précédé_d'un_Aperçu_d'histoire_mythologique_du_Japon,_par_M._J._Julius_Klaproth">Klaproth.''__Paris:_Royal_Asiatic_Society.html" ;"title="Julius_Klaproth.html" ;"title="Hayashi_Gahō_(1652).html" ;"title="Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō (1652)">Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō (1652) ''Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Julius Klaproth">Klaproth.'' Paris: Royal Asiatic Society">Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Irelandbr>--''Two copies of this rare book have now been made available online: (1) from the library of the University of Michigan, digitized January 30, 2007; and (2) from the library of Stanford University, digitized June 23, 2006.'' Click here to read the original text in French.
Work on this volume was substantially complete in 1783 when Titsingh sent a manuscript copy to Kutsuki Masatsuna, daimyo of Tamba. Masatsuna's comments on this text were lost in a shipwreck as the edited manuscript was being forwarded from Japan to India in 1785 where Titsingh had become head of the Dutch East Indies Company trade operations at Hooghly (town), Hoogly in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. The final version of Titsingh's dedication of the book to his friend Masatsuna was drafted in 1807, a little more than a quarter-century before the book was eventually published.

17th-century text in Japanese and Chinese

The original multi-volume text was compiled in the early 1650s by

Hayashi Gahō , also known as Hayashi Shunsai, 林春斎, , was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher and writer in the system of higher education maintained by the Tokugawa ''bakufu'' during the Edo period. He was a member of the Hayashi clan of Confucian ...

. His father,

Hayashi Razan , also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher and writer, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four ''shōguns'' of the Tokugawa ''bakufu''. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japa ...

, had developed a compelling, practical blending of

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

and

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

beliefs and practices. Razan's ideas lent themselves to a well-accepted program of samurai and bureaucrat educational, training and testing protocols. In 1607, Razan was accepted as a political advisor to the second shōgun,

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

. Sometime thereafter, he became the rector of Edo's Confucian Academy, the Shōhei-kō. This institution stood at the apex of the country-wide educational and training system which was created and maintained by the Tokugawa shogunate. In the elevated context his father engendered, Gahō himself was also accepted as a noteworthy scholar in that period. The Hayashi and the Shōheikō links to the work's circulation are part of the explanation for this work's 18th and 19th century popularity. Gahō was also the author of other works designed to help readers learn from Japan's history, including the 310 volumes of ''The Comprehensive History of Japan'' (本朝通鑑/ほんちょうつがん, ''Honchō-tsugan'') which was published in 1670. The narrative of ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'' stops around 1600, most likely in deference to the sensibilities of the Tokugawa regime. Gahō's text did not continue up through his present day; but rather, he terminated the chronicles just before the last pre-Tokugawa ruler. In ''

Keian : ''For the Zen Buddhist monk, see Keian Genju (1427–1508).'' was a after '' Shōhō'' and before '' Jōō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1648 through September 1652. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales d ...

5'', 5th month (1652), ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'' was first published in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

under the patronage of one of the three most powerful men in the Tokugawa bakufu, the ''

'' Sakai Tadakatsu. In supporting this work, Sakai Todakatsu's motivations appear to spread across a range anticipated consequences; and it becomes likely that his several intentions in seeing that this specific work fell into the hands of an empathetic Western translator were similarly multi-faceted. Gahō's book was published in the mid-17th century and it was reissued in 1803, "perhaps because it was a necessary reference work for officials." Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822.'' p. 65. Contemporary readers must have found some degree of usefulness in this chronicle; and those who ensured that this particular manuscript made its way into the hands of Isaac Titsingh must have been persuaded that something of value could become accessible for readers in the West. Post-Meiji scholars who have cited ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'' as a useful source of information include, for example,

Richard Ponsonby-Fane Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane (8 January 1878 – 10 December 1937) was a British academic, author, specialist of Shinto and Japanologist. Early years Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby was born at Gravesend on the south bank of the Tham ...

in ''Kyoto: the Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.'' The American poet

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, writing to a contemporary Japanese poet in 1939, confirmed that his reference library included a copy of ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran.'' At that time, Pound explained that "as far as

e had E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...

time to read", the work seemed a "mere chronicle." However, modern literary critics have demonstrated by textual comparisons that Pound relied on Titsingh's French translation in crafting some sections of the ''Cantos.''

19th century translation in French

Titsingh's translation was eventually published in Paris in 1834 under the titl
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''
The 1834 printing incorporates a slim "supplement" with material which post-dates Titsingh's departure from Japan in 1784. This additional section of the book was not the product of translation, but must have been informed by oral accounts or correspondence with Japanese friends or European colleagues still in Japan. Titsingh worked on this translation for years before his death; and in those final years in Paris, he shared his progress with orientalists

and

Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treatise ...

, who would edit his first published posthumous book: ''Mémoires et anecdotes sur la dynastie régnante des djogouns'' (Memoirs and anecdotes on the reigning dynasty of shōguns). Rémusat would later become the first professor of Chinese language at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

. Titsingh's correspondence with William Marsden, a

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

colleague in the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in London, provides some insight into the translator's personal appreciation of the task at hand. In an 1809 letter, he explains: ::"Accompanying I offer you the three first volumes of '' ihon Ōdai Ichiran' ... Notwithstanding the clouds of darkness oncerningthe origin of the Japanese ..., heprogressive detail of the various occurrences spread much light on the customs still prevailing, and fully proves, they have been already a civilized and enlightened nation at the time our modern empires were either unknown, or plunged in the utmost barbarism ... We are no prophets. We cannot foretell what at a more distant period is to happen; but for the present, it is a fact

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

nobody exists in Europe but me, who can rovidesuch an ample and faithful detail about a nation, quite unknown here, though fully deserving to be so in every respect." – Isaac Titsingh Klaproth dedicated the book to George Fitz-Clarence, the Earl of Munster, who was Vice President of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

and also a Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. The fund had sponsored Klaproth's work and was the principal underwriter of the publication costs

Critical analysis

Japanologist

John Whitney Hall John Whitney Hall (September 13, 1916 – October 21, 1997),"John Whitney Hall papers, 1930–1999", Yale University Library was an American historian of Japan who specialized in premodern Japanese history. His life work was recognized by the Japan ...

, in his Harvard-Yenching monograph on

Tanuma Okitsugu (September 11, 1719, in Edo, Japan – August 25, 1788, in Edo) was a chamberlain (''sobashū'') and a senior counselor ('' rōjū'') to the '' shōgun'' Tokugawa Ieharu of the Tokugawa Shogunate, in the Edo period of Japan. Tanuma and ...

assessed the utility of this translation and its context: ::These few examples of the outstanding contacts which Titsingh records suffice to give us an idea of the intimate associations which the Japanese had established with the Dutch at this time, associations from which the Dutch were also to gain a great deal. Titsingh's ''Illustrations of Japan'' shows the result of careful translation from Japanese sources, as does also the posthumous ''Annales des Empereurs du Japon'', which is a translation of the ''Ōdai-ichiran.'' Titsingh's ability to take away without molestation numerous books on Japan as well as maps and drawings of the Japanese islands illustrates the liberal state of affairs at Nagasaki. Hall, John Whitney. (1955). ''Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719-1788'', pp. 94-95. Isaac Titsingh himself considered the ''Nihon odai ichiran'' fairly dry. He viewed the work of translation as "a most tedious task".

Notes

References

* Brownlee, John S. (1997) ''Japanese Historians and the National Myths, 1600–1945: The Age of the Gods and Emperor Jimmu.'' Vancouver:

University of British Columbia Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971. The press is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has editorial offices in Kelo ...

. Tokyo:

University of Tokyo Press The is a university press affiliated with the University of Tokyo in Japan. It was founded in 1951, following the post-World War II reorganization of the university. Honors * Japan Foundation: Special Prize, 1990. Location The headquarters o ...

. * __________. (1991). ''Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712).'' Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. * Hall, John Whitney. (1955). ''Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719-1788.'' Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

. * Leguin, Frank, ed. (1990). ''Private Correspondence of Isaac Titsingh.'' Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben. * Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia.'' Cambridge:

.
OCLC 48943301
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956)
''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 36644
* Ripley, George. (1871)
''The American Cyclopaedia: a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge'', vol. 9.
New York: Appleton
OCLC 46337599
* Screech, Timon. (2006)
''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822.''
London:

RoutledgeCurzon Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

. * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Nihon Odai Ichiran''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.''
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691
* Yamashita, Samuel Hideo. "Yamasaki Ansai and Confucian School Relations, 1650–1675" in ''Early Modern Japan'', (Fall 2001). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.

External links

*Manuscrip
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Waseda University Library The collections of Waseda University Library (早稲田大学図書館; ''Waseda Daigaku Toshokan'') form one of the largest libraries in Japan. Established in 1882, they currently hold some 5.6 million volumes and 46,000 serials. History The W ...

【続日本王代一覧】
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nihon Odai Ichiran Edo-period works German orientalists Historiography of Japan 17th-century history books 1834 books Edo-period history books