In the Shelter of the Pine by G G Rowley
In the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman Ogimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Elegant, poetic, and revealing, In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japans early modern era.
GG. Rowley’s elegant translation captures the graceful rhythms of Machiko’s prose, enabling us to step inside this unimaginably different era and see Machiko’s world through her own eyes. -- Lesley Downer * Times Literary Supplement *
A graceful translation of an eighteenth-century classic, In the Shelter of the Pine introduces readers to a world in which little girls grind their fathers’ ink, concubines write elegant prose, and an ambitious man—the author’s husband—defies social convention to rise in the world. -- Amy Beth Stanley, author of Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World
[In the Shelter of the Pine] is a work following a long tradition of Japanese women adding colour and detail to the often dull male official histories. Machiko speaks to us across three centuries, telling of the events of official history and the oft overlooked details of private lives. Given the way she does so, I’m sure many readers out there will be interested in hearing what she has to say. * Tony's Reading List *
Overall, this is a treasure-trove of information about life and politics in 17-18th century Japan....This translation is extremely well executed in terms of the beauty and precision of the language, clarity and flow of thoughts, and materials added to explain what it all signifies. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *
This is an enormously important work, wonderfully translated and annotated. Not only is it one of the few lengthy memoirs written by a woman during the Tokugawa period, it offers the reader insight into daily life, sociopolitical networks, and the symbolic and practical manifestations of power during the reign of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. -- Marcia Yonemoto, author of The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan
G. G. Rowley’s sparkling translation of Ōgimachi Machiko’s memoir reveals Machiko’s experience as a woman of great learning, sensitivity, and taste whose study of the Japanese classics thoroughly informed her writing. Despite her use of a classical idiom, one has the strong sense that she is writing of her own place in the scheme of Edo period society. The book will be a must-read for all students of Edo history, government, and literature. -- Steven Carter, author of How to Read a Japanese Poem
Written by a noblewoman in Edo and elegantly translated by G. G. Rowley, this unique memoir illustrates how shogun Tsunayoshi and his attendant Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu brought noblewomen from Kyoto into their households and used them as conduits for courtly cultural capital that they employed for diplomatic and political ends. -- Anne Walthall, editor of Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History
Beautifully and sensitively translated . . . In the Shelter of the Pine gives us a portrait of a highly-refined, structured and rather formal world, brought to life for us by a learned and delightful guide, who navigates that world with ease and charm. -- John Butler * Asian Review of Books *
For its combination of detailed narration and literary complexity, In the Shelter of the Pine is valuable both as a source of information on the lives of Japanese elites in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as well as being a work of literature that will be of interest to students of narrative historiography, memoirs, and women’s writing in Japanese and in world history. The translation represents the fruits of many years of careful research into a highly complex text and historical period, yet wears its erudition lightly and will be accessible to undergraduate students as well as to seasoned researchers. -- Rebekah Clements * Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies *
An enjoyable, fascinating record of power relations and gender dynamics in a daimyo household as seen through the eyes of a woman. -- Laura Nenzi * H-Japan *
Those interested in issues of self-representation and the generic conventions of memoir writing will welcome this translation as a rich resource for comparison. -- Bettina Gramlich-Oka * Japan Review *
A graceful translation of an eighteenth-century classic, In the Shelter of the Pine introduces readers to a world in which little girls grind their fathers’ ink, concubines write elegant prose, and an ambitious man—the author’s husband—defies social convention to rise in the world. -- Amy Beth Stanley, author of Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World
[In the Shelter of the Pine] is a work following a long tradition of Japanese women adding colour and detail to the often dull male official histories. Machiko speaks to us across three centuries, telling of the events of official history and the oft overlooked details of private lives. Given the way she does so, I’m sure many readers out there will be interested in hearing what she has to say. * Tony's Reading List *
Overall, this is a treasure-trove of information about life and politics in 17-18th century Japan....This translation is extremely well executed in terms of the beauty and precision of the language, clarity and flow of thoughts, and materials added to explain what it all signifies. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *
This is an enormously important work, wonderfully translated and annotated. Not only is it one of the few lengthy memoirs written by a woman during the Tokugawa period, it offers the reader insight into daily life, sociopolitical networks, and the symbolic and practical manifestations of power during the reign of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. -- Marcia Yonemoto, author of The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan
G. G. Rowley’s sparkling translation of Ōgimachi Machiko’s memoir reveals Machiko’s experience as a woman of great learning, sensitivity, and taste whose study of the Japanese classics thoroughly informed her writing. Despite her use of a classical idiom, one has the strong sense that she is writing of her own place in the scheme of Edo period society. The book will be a must-read for all students of Edo history, government, and literature. -- Steven Carter, author of How to Read a Japanese Poem
Written by a noblewoman in Edo and elegantly translated by G. G. Rowley, this unique memoir illustrates how shogun Tsunayoshi and his attendant Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu brought noblewomen from Kyoto into their households and used them as conduits for courtly cultural capital that they employed for diplomatic and political ends. -- Anne Walthall, editor of Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History
Beautifully and sensitively translated . . . In the Shelter of the Pine gives us a portrait of a highly-refined, structured and rather formal world, brought to life for us by a learned and delightful guide, who navigates that world with ease and charm. -- John Butler * Asian Review of Books *
For its combination of detailed narration and literary complexity, In the Shelter of the Pine is valuable both as a source of information on the lives of Japanese elites in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as well as being a work of literature that will be of interest to students of narrative historiography, memoirs, and women’s writing in Japanese and in world history. The translation represents the fruits of many years of careful research into a highly complex text and historical period, yet wears its erudition lightly and will be accessible to undergraduate students as well as to seasoned researchers. -- Rebekah Clements * Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies *
An enjoyable, fascinating record of power relations and gender dynamics in a daimyo household as seen through the eyes of a woman. -- Laura Nenzi * H-Japan *
Those interested in issues of self-representation and the generic conventions of memoir writing will welcome this translation as a rich resource for comparison. -- Bettina Gramlich-Oka * Japan Review *
G. G. Rowley teaches English and Japanese literature at Waseda University in Tokyo. She is the author or translator of several biographies of Japanese women, including An Imperial Concubine’s Tale: Scandal, Shipwreck, and Salvation in Seventeenth-Century Japan (Columbia, 2013) and Autobiography of a Geisha (Columbia, 2003).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780231199513 |
| ISBN 10 | 0231199511 |
| Title | In the Shelter of the Pine |
| Author | G G Rowley |
| Series | Translations From The Asian Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Columbia University Press |
| Year published | 2021-06-29 |
| Number of pages | 368 |
| Prizes | Winner of Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize, Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture 2022-2023 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |