The description for this book, The Culture of the Meiji Period, will be forthcoming. "A fascinating account of aspects of Japanese culture between 1868 and the early twentieth century. . . . Irokawa Daikichi is an indefatigable researcher, and the fruits of his own and others' labors on back roads and in old storehouses are amply represented here. Moreover, he has discovered materials untouched since the Meiji period, and he is able to interpret them in fresh, provocative ways. He makes excellent use of poetry, letters, diaries, and songs to probe the mentality of peasants and rustic intellectuals, and he interprets his findings in a way that challenges major post-World War II trends in historiography."---J. Victor Koschmann, Journal of Asian Studies