Emperor of Japan

Meiji and His World, 1852-1912

By: Donald Keene

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

When Emperor Meiji began his rule in 1867, Japan was a splintered empire dominated by the shogun and the daimyos, cut off from the outside world, staunchly antiforeign, and committed to the traditions of the past. Before long, the shogun surrendered to the emperor, a new constitution was adopted, and Japan emerged as a modern, industrialized state.

Little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan's history.

In this vivid and engrossing biography, we move with the emperor through his early, traditional education; join in the formal processions that acquainted the young emperor with his country and its people; observe his behavior in court, his marriage, and his relationships with various consorts; and follow his maturation into a "Confucian" sovereign dedicated to simplicity, frugality, and hard work. We witness Meiji's struggle to reconcile his personal commitment to peace and his nation's increasingly militarized experience of modernization. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest.

©2022 Donald Keene (P)2022 Tantor

An invaluable work on Japanese history - monumental

This book is an incredible achievement by its author: comprehensive, informative, sympathetic, lively, and beautifully written.

Lots of information

But I still don’t feel I understand the man. This might be the fault of the material rather than the author. One learns about the Meiji period, but one is looking at the period through a narrow window. This isn’t the book to start with to learn about the period.

A great summary of Meiji and his reign.

I really enjoyed listening to this, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the time period. My only minor complaint is that the book focuses much more on the period itself and not the man, but I believe that is not the fault of the author but of the limited sources available. Overall 10/10

You are in for a treat

You might not recognize the name Donald Keene. Until his death in 2019 Keene was perhaps the most prolific author of Japanese studies writing in English. Although this is a history book, and recounts the major events and figures surrounding Emperor Meiji, Keene is first and foremost a professor and interpreter of Japanese literature. His History of Japanese Literature series is the best overview of the subject someone can read in English.
Despite this, his background in literature is not a handicap but instead uniquely positions Keene as the person who is most adept to write about the enigmatic Emperor Meiji in English.
The major challenge with writing a biography of this figure is the lack of concrete, humanizing details. There are no private journals, letters, or any of the other primary sources which would normally form the backbone of a biography. Instead Meiji appears to us from a distance, a figure hidden away from the common people behind a crew of courtiers. Even those with privileged access to the Emperor spoke to and interpreted the Emperor through an impenetrable glaze of reverence. Meiji is undoubtedly a character who played a central role in the most seismic 60-year period in Japan's history, but what he felt about the events swirling around him and, indeed, who he actually was is difficult to grasp.
With this caveat, Keene is able to get as close as any author writing one hundred years after his death has a right to get. He is a master of subtlety, in particular, with the kind of subtlety which was meaningful amongst Japanese aristocracy. As a result he finds these small insights into the man that manage to bridge the years and distance. One of the main gifts left to us is Emperor Meiji's poetry, which he often composed in response to significant events. Through Keene's mind, the allusions and hidden meanings in these short glimpses come within our grasp. It's hard to imagine a typical military historian bringing the same nuanced interpretation.
It is a long book. It is a dense book. It asks that you have patience for and interest in the slow-paced action of the court and later early democratic Japanese government. But just comparing the Japan that Meiji left from the Japan he was born to is testament to how much actually happened during his reign.
Last year I was asked to name my favorite history books of all time, and I came up with this and The Metaphysical Club. I feel very fortunate that this audiobook version was produced just last year in time for me to revisit it. The narration is very easy to listen to and the pronunciation of Japanese words is very competent. If you want to understand how Japan went from a feudal state to a modern democracy, there's no better introduction.

Reads like a drama

This is an extremely well written account of the Meiji era and it is very captivating. Overall I think the narrator does an extremely good job except his mispronunciation of and mapping of English stress accent onto almost every single Japanese name is a bit distracting.