Stranger in the Shogun's City

- Blurb -

A vivid, deeply researched work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman in Edo - now known as Tokyo - and a portrait of a great city on the brink of momentous change The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in 1804 in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a life much like her mother' s. But after three divorces - and with a temperament much too strong-willed for her family' s approval - she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world- Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak. With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of Edo just before the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry' s fleet, which would open Japan up to trade and diplomacy with the West for the first time. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno bounces from tenement to tenement, marries a masterless samurai and eventually ends up in the service of a famous city magistrate. An extraordinary woman at an extraordinary time, Tsuneno' s life provides a window into 19th-century Japanese culture - and a rare view of a woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, despite social conventions. Immersive and gripping, Stranger in the Shogun' s City is a revelatory work of history, layered with rich detail and delivered in beautiful prose, about the life of a woman, a city and a culture.