The First Samurai: Isolationism in Englebert Kaempfer's 1727 "History of Japan"

Wallace discusses Englebert Kaempfer's two-volume work, A History of Japan: Giving an Account of the Ancient and Present State of the Government of that Empire, which was translated and published in 1727. Among other literary notes, Kaempfer's remarkable work, long recognized among Japanese scholars, now receives additional attention from eighteenth-century scholars, who appreciate it as a significant record of early-modern civilization. Moreover, the English translation and publication of Kaempfer's History of Japan intervenes in twenty-first century discussions about globalism to offer a paradox. As a critic emphasizes, the very existence of this text demonstrates both the possibilities of translation for expanding knowledge about other nations and the impracticalities of Japan's rigid attempts to prevent virtually all cultural and linguistic exchange with other nations.