Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese NobilityThis latest work from Japanese-born anthropologist Takie Sugiyama Lebra is the first ethnographic study of the modern Japanese aristocracy. Established as a class at the beginning of the Meiji period, the kazoku ranked directly below the emperor and his family. Officially dissolved in 1947, this group of social elites is still generally perceived as nobility. Lebra gained entry into this tightly knit circle and conducted more than one hundred interviews with its members. She has woven together a reconstructive ethnography from their life histories to create an intimate portrait of a remote and archaic world. As Lebra explores the culture of the kazoku, she places each subject in its historical context. She analyzes the evolution of status boundaries and the indispensable role played by outsiders. But this book is not simply about the elite. It is also about commoners and how each stratum mirrors the other. Revealing previously unobserved complexities in Japanese society, it also sheds light on the universal problem of social stratification. |
Contents
Constructing Inherited Charisma | 62 |
Immortalizing the Ancestors | 106 |
Markers of Status and Hierarchy | 147 |
Realignment of Women and Men | 196 |
Acquisition and Transmission | 243 |
Privilege and Liability | 285 |
Conclusion | 334 |
Other editions - View all
Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility Takie Sugiyama Lebra Limited preview - 1993 |
Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility Takie Sugiyama Lebra Limited preview - 1993 |
Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility Takie Sugiyama Lebra No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
adoption Aizu ancestors aristocratic blood branch house Buddhist buke called career ceremony chapter child Chōshū classmates commoner concubine consorts court rank cultural daimyo daimyo houses daughter descendants domain dōzoku dyarchy elite emperor Emperor Meiji Emperor Shōwa empress example father former Fujiwara Gakushuin genealogical Genji grandfather heir hereditary hierarchy househead household iemoto imperial house informants involved Japan Japanese kami kazoku kazoku children kazoku status kazoku title kinship Kizokuin koku kuge kuge house Kunaishō life-style lineage lord maids main house marquis marriage married Meiji Meiji period Meiji Restoration military monzeki mother nobility noble origin oshirushi otsuki palace parents peers percent political position postwar prewar Princess Restoration rites ritsuryō ritual role royal princes royalty samurai Satsuma sekke servants sesshō Shimazu shinnō Shinto shogunal Shōwa shrine social sons successor symbolic temples Tokugawa shogunate Tokyo vassals viscount Western wife woman women