Tales of Old Japan

This text about Japan was written by A.B. Mitford and originally published in 1871. Ever since its publication it has become a classic on Japanese history and culture. From the amazing story of the Forty-Seven Ronin to an eyewitness account of Hara-Kiri (ritual Japanese suicide) this text covers many Japanese stories and traditions unknown to the West at that time. "The recent revolution in Japan has wrought changes social as well as political; and it may be that when, in addition to the advance which has already been made, railways and telegraphs shall have connected the principal points of the Land of Sunrise, the old Japanese, such as he was and had been for centuries when we found him eleven short years ago, will have become extinct. It has appeared to me that no better means could be chosen of preserving a record of a curious and fast disappearing civilization than the translation of some of the most interesting national legends and histories." -Tales of Old Japan 1871