The member of a distinguished British literary family, A. B. Mitford traveled widely with his parents as a youth and lived in various European countries. From 1866-70, he served as an attaché with the British legation at Edo (Tokyo) — one of the first foreign diplomats to do so. During his brief stay there, Mitford lived through a period of dramatic and tumultuous change in Japanese history. A feudal nation on his arrival, Japan had entered the era of...
Compiled by a British diplomat and published in 1871, «Tales of Old Japan» is an anthology of short stories that makes earlier centuries of Japanese life vibrantly immediate to the contemporary reader. They focus on various facets of everyday existence in ancient Japan, from numerous rituals, like hara-kiri and marriage, to sermons and fairy tales indicative of desirable traits and warnings needed in that time. From tales of samurai revenge to the plots of Noh theatre plays, «Tales of Old Japan»...
