Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World

*Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography* *Winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award* *Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography* A &;captivating&; (The Washington Post) work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman during the first half of the 19th century in Edo&;the city that would become Tokyo&;and a portrait of a city on the brink of a momentous encounter with the West.The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother&;s. But after three divorces&;and 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 prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry&;s fleet, which transformed Japan. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno bounces from tenement to tenement, marries a masterless samurai, and eventually enters the service of a famous city magistrate. Tsuneno&;s life provides a window into 19th-century Japanese culture&;and a rare view of an extraordinary woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, in defiance of social conventions. &;A compelling story, traced with meticulous detail and told with exquisite sympathy&; (The Wall Street Journal), Stranger in the Shogun&;s City is &;a vivid, polyphonic portrait of life in 19th-century Japan (that] evokes the Shogun era with panache and insight&; (National Review of Books).