New Chronicles of Yanagibashi and Diary of a Journey to the West: Narushima Ryūhoku Reports from Home and Abroad

This book features complete annotated translations of Narushima Ryuhoku's two most widely read and influential texts, both of which showcase the innovative and experimental use of Chinese-language discourse taking place in Japan during the nineteenth century. Focused on one of the capital city's celebrated geisha districts, the satirical New Chronicles of Yanagibashi serves as both a documentary record of changing customs during the tumultuous 1850s-1870s and an amusingly nuanced social critique. Banned multiple times, the work nevertheless became a favorite of the Meiji reading public. This text is paired with Diary of a Journey to the West, Ryuhoku's travelogue from his world tour of 1872 to 1873. Together, these texts show Ryuhoku in the process of becoming one of Meiji Japan s pioneering journalists and illustrate the range of ways in which Chinese discourse continued to serve as a vital medium in modernizing Japan.