Japan After Dark : The Tokugawa Transformation of the Night

Laura Nenzi draws readers into a fascinating world of samurai, shipwrecks, nocturnal monsters and partying crowds to show how the night transformed in early modern Japan. This detailed and evocative history creates a vivid picture of everyday life in the Tokugawa period, challenging readers to rethink accepted definitions of modernity.

Laura Nenzi draws readers into a fascinating world of samurai, shipwrecks, nocturnal monsters and partying crowds, in this richly detailed, illustrated and evocative history of the night. The world over, the installation of public lights transformed the night, reshaping expressions of authority; altering centuries-old forms of production and consumption; and enabling the expansion of legitimate daytime activities into the night hours. The cities of Tokugawa Japan, however, lacked any kind of public illumination until the late nineteenth century. Nonetheless, Nenzi shows, many of the attributes associated with the modern night were firmly in place in cities and villages well before the age of streetlights. This exploration of the transformation of early modern Japan after dark challenges accepted definitions of modernity, encouraging readers to rethink the way we write history.