Political Space and Open Secrets in Tokugawa Japan

Performing the Great PeacePerforming the Great Peace: Political Space and Open Secrets in Tokugawa Japan, by Luke S. Roberts, offers a cultural approach to understanding the politics of the Tokugawa period, at the same time deconstructing some of the assumptions of modern national historiographies. Deploying the political terms uchi (inside), omote (ritual interface), and naisho (informal negotiation)—all commonly used in the Tokugawa period—the author explores how daimyo and the Tokugawa government understood political relations and managed politics in terms of spatial autonomy, ritual submission, and informal negotiation.

February 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3513-2 / $49.00 (CLOTH)