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Bibliographic Data: Verschuer, Charlotte von. Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese Trade with China and Korea from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries. Trans. Kristen Lee Hunger. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.
Main Argument: "Within a chronological framework, this book traces Japan's transformation over nearly a millennium from an importer of continental luxury items, raw materials, and techniques to an exporter of high-quality handicrafts" (ix).
Historiographical Engagement: Difficult to discern, if any.
( This is a bad book )
Critical assessment: Verschuer's ahistorically referring to the Chinese tributary system as "imperialism" really grates on me, as does her refusal to historicize aspects of the ancient Japanese chronicles, which cannot be read as sources of fact, but must be read in conjunction with other forms of evidence. Indeed, that is an early sign of a problem that she carries with her throughout, namely either ahistorically projecting backwards or simply taking written records at face value. Verschuer asserts in the preface that Joan Piggot agitated for the translation and publication of this book in English; one has to wonder why, given that it is workmanlike at best, but more often just bad.
Also, the copy editing is atrocious.
Further reading: Ethan Segal, Coins, Trade, and the State; Japan in the Muromachi Age
Main Argument: "Within a chronological framework, this book traces Japan's transformation over nearly a millennium from an importer of continental luxury items, raw materials, and techniques to an exporter of high-quality handicrafts" (ix).
Historiographical Engagement: Difficult to discern, if any.
( This is a bad book )
Critical assessment: Verschuer's ahistorically referring to the Chinese tributary system as "imperialism" really grates on me, as does her refusal to historicize aspects of the ancient Japanese chronicles, which cannot be read as sources of fact, but must be read in conjunction with other forms of evidence. Indeed, that is an early sign of a problem that she carries with her throughout, namely either ahistorically projecting backwards or simply taking written records at face value. Verschuer asserts in the preface that Joan Piggot agitated for the translation and publication of this book in English; one has to wonder why, given that it is workmanlike at best, but more often just bad.
Also, the copy editing is atrocious.
Further reading: Ethan Segal, Coins, Trade, and the State; Japan in the Muromachi Age
