4 Stars
First published in the late 1950s and early 1960s, George Sansom's three-volume history of Japan is still a valuable English-language introduction, though it does show its age in a few ways. This first volume surveys the history of Japan from its earliest prehistory to the Kemmu Restoration of 1334. Sansom focuses largely on political and military history, but also spends considerable time on high culture, especially as related to Buddhism. Sansom includes a lot of detail, which makes his history especially useful as a reference, though sometimes tough to read straight through.
Sansom, typically for historians of his generation (he was born in 1883), focuses almost exclusively on the elite and upper classes. Though his discussions of cultural matters expand his account beyond the proverbial 'princes and battles', they are still in line with the elite focus; it often seems as though Sansom doesn't actually recognize any culture at all among the lower classes. For instance, he dismisses Japan's indigenous "pagan cult" as a collection of "rudimentary beliefs": "simple", "illogical", "weak and primitive", without theological, cultural or intellectual merit and of interest chiefly in its relations with the civilized Buddhism imported from the continent (23, 228-233). According to Sansom, it was not until the ninth century that Japanese culture even began to take shape, based on the example of China (129).
China plays a major role in Sansom's interpretation of Japanese history: the general story he tells is one of importation of political and cultural ideas from China, and their gradual adaptation to Japanese circumstances (132). This interpretation is not necessarily wrong, but Sansom weakens his argument by swearing off any interpretive treatment in his preface and promising to restrict his work to "the mere collection and arrangement of facts." The result is that even though he presents an interpretation of Japanese history, he doesn't argue for it effectively, making some of his conclusions seem more like sweeping generalizations with insufficient support than they might otherwise have been. This unfortunately detracts from the generally high quality of his history.
Another annoying habit of Sansom's is to explain features of Japanese history by analogy to Europe. Christianity and European paganism stand in for Buddhism and indigenous Japanese religious practices; the Fujiwara regency is explained through reference to the Merovingian Mayors of the Palace in seventh and eighth century Frankish kingdoms; literary accomplishments of Japan and Europe are put alongside each other. Sansom assumes extensive familiarity with European history. I, for example, was put in the ironic position of trying to understand the roles of the Merovingian Mayors of the Palace by using my prior knowledge of the Fujiwara regency, where Sansom had intended precisely the opposite.
Even though I've been somewhat critical in this review, I don't want to give the wrong impression. Despite its age, Sansom's history remains a good comprehensive (and affordable) English-language introduction to Japanese history. Indeed, the fact that it remains such a popular and respected study so long after its creation speaks volumes about its overall quality and worth. The high level of detail makes it especially valuable as a reference or supplement to other works that assume familiarity with the basic facts.
(4 February 2006)
