“八千天日记”中隐藏的近世日本

Early Modern Japan as Seen in "A Journal of Eight Thousand Days"

二战后首次披露、被日本官方封禁达两个半世纪之久的大型日记汇编《鹦鹉笼中记》,作为从下层社会反映时代原貌的白描者,为今人全面了解人性解放、财富渴求与腐败、贪婪、贫穷和垂死现象共存的德川实况,提供了鲜为人知的第一手资料。它与官方记载相表里,真实再现了近世日本人在中世与近代、农业经济与货币经济过渡过程中的自然面貌,也毫无遮掩地将宋明理学和近代化因素在近世日本的实际存在状态,展现在世人面前。它使以往历史学家对元禄时代所作的任何单纯式描述,均显得意义有限。

Notes of a Parrot in Cage (Omurochiki) , a journal of over 8,800 days that was banned by the Japanese government for 250 years and was not published until after World War Ⅱ, provides an unadorned reflection from the lower levels of society that helps us understand more fully To-kugawa Japan in which the liberation of human nature and the pursuit of wealth stood side by side with corruption, greed, poverty and decline. As a supplement to official history, it faithfully brings to life a natural portrayal of the Japanese of recent times in their transition from the medieval to the modern era, and from an agricultural to a monetary economy. It also gives an unvarnished picture of the actual interaction of Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism with modernizing factors in early modern Japan. It makes the one-dimensional picture of the Genroku era painted by previous historians appear of limited significance. The journal's value as reference material for related times and similar situations may lie in stripping away the concepts added by later generations.