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The Dutch-language book ''Bijzonderheden over Japan, behelzende een verslag van de huwelijks plechtigheden, begrafenissen en feesten der Japanezen, de gedenkschriften der laatste Japansche keizers, en andere merkwaardigheden nopens dat rij. Uit het Engelsch, met gekleurde platen naar Japansche originelen'' is about Japanese history, customs and ceremonies during the Tokugawa period observed by Dutch senior official in the VOC Isaac Titsingh, published in 1824 in The Hague by Wed. J.Allart. It was based on the English book ''Illustrations of Japan; consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning dynasty of The Djogouns, or Sovereigns of Japan; a description of the Feasts and Ceremonies observed throughout the year at their Court; and of the Ceremonies customary at Marriages and Funerals: to which are subjoined, observations on the legal suicide of the Japanese, remarks on their poetry, an explanation of their mode of reckoning time, particulars respecting the Dosia powder, the preface of a work by Confoutzee on filial piety,'' published two years before in 1822 by R. Ackermann in London. == About the book == The book recounts the observations of Isaac Titsingh during his stay in Dejima from 1779 to 1784 in his position as Dutch East India Company (VOC) senior official ('opperhoofd'). During his stay in Japan, Titsingh had the project of an overall collection on Japanese history, culture and civilization in mind. This project should be his life work and accomplishment. Therefore, he collected and translated data and wrote essays for his collection. In his perception this collection was important in order to show and present the high degree of sophistication of the Japanese people and the importance of the Japanese states, which the Europeans should be informed about. In addition, he also possessed enough and vital material, which would add to the otherwise lack of material on Japan in the 18th century. Titsingh wished to have his collection published in three European languages, important to him: Dutch (his native language), French (language of philosophy) and English, the language which was important for the scientific, natural and modern sciences in the 18th century. He planned to have his book divided into two parts, the first one being a history of Japan, including biographies of the dairis and complimented with biographies on the shoguns of the then-reigning Tokugawa clan, and about the Japanese culture, conditions and customs. This part would consist of a discussion on an individuals life cycle and occasions, including marriage and death, as birth is not a special occasion in Buddhism in Japan. Within this scope he wanted to only include original sources in translations by himself into the collection, as he believed this would distinguish his work from other Japanese travel accounts and stories. Nevertheless, after he left Japan he did not have any access to more complimentary texts and lacked the help of Chinese and Japanese translators. As a consequence it took Titsingh an enormous amount of time to translate the sources and he could only edit some manuscripts or polish over, due to the lack of his fluentness in Japanese. In 1812 his collection was still not published and after his death, his two friends Jean-Pierre-Abel Remusat and Heinrich Julius von Klaproth, who were both fluent in Chinese and von Klaproth in Japanese, sorted out the remains of his manuscripts and published his work posthumously. This Remusat-Klaproth edition was published in 1820 under the title of ''Memoires et anecdotes sur la dynastie regnante des djogouns'' (Memoirs and anecdotes on the reigning dynasty of shoguns). This posthumous work collection was a clear success and therefore an English edition was published in 1822 by Frederic Shoberl, a well-known journalist and translator as ''Illustrations of Japan''. As the original Dutch manuscript by Titsingh was lost, a new Dutch translation was created based on the English edition in 1824-25. Therefore, other editions of the book include: *The First Edition from 1820, published in French by M. Abel Rémusat Paris: ''Mémoires et anecdotes sur la dynastie régnante des djogouns, souverains du Japon avec la description des fêtes et cérémonies observées aux différentes époques de l'année à la cour de ces princes, et un appendice contenant des détails sur la poésie des Japonais, leur manière de divisor l'année, etc.''. * The Second Edition from 1822, published in English by R. Ackermann London: ''Illustrations of Japan; consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning dynasty of The Djogouns, or Sovereigns of Japan; a description of the Feasts and Ceremonies observed throughout the year at their Court; and of the Ceremonies customary at Marriages and Funerals: to which are subjoined, observations on the legal suicide of the Japanese, remarks on their poetry, an explanation of their mode of reckoning time, particulars respecting the Dosia powder, the preface of a work by Confoutzee on filial piety.''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Illustrations of Japan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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