Awards

• Winner of Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize, Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture 2022-2023

Overview

In the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman Ōgimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai for whom she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Machiko assisted Yoshiyasu in his ascent to the rank of chief adjutant to the Tokugawa shogun. She kept him in good graces with the imperial court, enabled him to study poetry with aristocratic teachers and have his compositions read by the retired emperor, and gave birth to two of his sons. Writing after Yoshiyasu's retirement, she recalled it all-from the glittering formal visits of the shogun and his entourage to the passage of the seasons as seen from her apartments in the Yanagisawa mansion. In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japan's early modern era. Featuring Machiko's keen eye for detail, strong narrative voice, and polished prose studded with allusions to Chinese and Japanese classics, this memoir sheds light on everything from the social world of the Tokugawa elite to the role of literature in women's lives. Machiko modeled her story on The Tale of Genji, illustrating how the eleventh-century classic continued to inspire its female readers and provide them with the means to make sense of their experiences. Elegant, poetic, and revealing, In the Shelter of the Pine is a vivid portrait of a distant world and a vital addition to the canon of Japanese literature available in English.

Full Product Details

Author:   G. G. Rowley (Waseda University) ,  Ōgimachi Machiko
Publisher:   Columbia University Press
Imprint:   Columbia University Press
ISBN:  

9780231199513

ISBN 10:   0231199511
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   29 June 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction, by G. G. Rowley Principal Characters 1. Musashi Moor: From Ages Past Through the Winter of 1690 2. In Traveler’s Garb: 1691, Spring to Summer 3. Ages Past: Summer 1691 Through Spring 1692 4. The Truth of the Buddha’s Law: Summer 1692 Through Spring 1694 5. A Thousand Springs: Summer 1694 to Spring 1696 6. The End of the Year: 1696, Spring Through Winter 7. Spring Pond: 1697, Spring Through Winter 8. Lamp of the Buddha’s Law: 1698, Spring to Autumn 9. From the Shores of Japanese Poetry: Autumn 1698 to Autumn 1700 10. Chinese Robe: Autumn 1700 Through the Fourth Month of 1701 11. Visitors Awaiting Flowers: 1701, Summer to Winter 12. Towering Pine: Winter 1701 to Spring 1702 13. Villa Amid Mountain Cherries: 1702, Spring to Summer 14. Noble Oak: 1702, Summer Through Autumn 15. Hills and Streams: Winter 1702 to Spring 1703 16. Autumn Clouds: 1703, Spring to Autumn 17. Moon of Old: 1703, Autumn to Winter 18. A Tree Deep in the Mountains: 1703, Eleventh Month Through 1704, Third Month 19. A Bond with the Blossoms: 1704, Spring to Winter 20. Celebratory Cane: Winter 1704 Through Spring 1705 21. Mountain of Dreams: Summer 1705 22. Records of Enlightenment: 1705, Autumn Through Winter 23. The Grand Courtier: 1706, Second and Third Months 24. Garden of the Six Styles: 1706, Summer Through Winter 25. House for a Thousand Ages: 1707, Spring to Autumn 26. Two Pines: Autumn 1707 Through Summer 1708 27. Binding Sash: 1708, Autumn Through Winter 28. Blessed Dew: 1709, New Year Through the Second Month 29. Path of the Kindling Cutter: Spring 1709 Through the Eighteenth of the Sixth Month 30. Moon and Flowers Glossary Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

G. G. 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 <i>Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World</i> [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 * 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 <i>The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan</i> G. G. Rowley's sparkling translation of Ogimachi 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 <i>How to Read a Japanese Poem</i> 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 <i>Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History</i>

G. G. 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 <i>Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World</i> [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 * 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 <i>The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan</i> G. G. Rowley's sparkling translation of Ogimachi 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 <i>How to Read a Japanese Poem</i> 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 <i>Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History</i> 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 *

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, socio-political networks, and the symbolic and practical manifestations of power during the reign of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. -- Marcia Yonemoto, author of <i>The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan</i> Written by a noble woman in Edo and elegantly translated by Gaye Rowley, this unique memoir illustrates how shogun Tsunayoshi and his attendant Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu brought noble women 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 <i>Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History</i> A graceful translation of an eighteenth-century classic, In the Shelter of the Pines 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 <i>Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World</i>

G. G. 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 <i>Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World</i> [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 <i>The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan</i> G. G. Rowley's sparkling translation of Ogimachi 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 <i>How to Read a Japanese Poem</i> 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 <i>Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History</i> 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 *

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, socio-political networks, and the symbolic and practical manifestations of power during the reign of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. -- Marcia Yonemoto, author of <i>The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan</i> Written by a noble woman in Edo and elegantly translated by Gaye Rowley, this unique memoir illustrates how shogun Tsunayoshi and his attendant Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu brought noble women 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 <i>Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History</i>

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, socio-political networks, and the symbolic and practical manifestations of power during the reign of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. -- Marcia Yonemoto, author of <i>The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan</i>

Author Information

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).

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