Difference between revisions of "Seiyo kibun"
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| + | [[File:Seiyo-kibun.jpg|right|thumb|400px|An 1821 copy of ''Seiyô kibun'' on display at the [[Tokyo National Museum]]]] | ||
*''Written: c. [[1708]]-[[1714]], [[Arai Hakuseki]]'' | *''Written: c. [[1708]]-[[1714]], [[Arai Hakuseki]]'' | ||
*''Japanese'': 西洋紀聞 ''(seiyou kibun)'' | *''Japanese'': 西洋紀聞 ''(seiyou kibun)'' | ||
Latest revision as of 03:10, 13 April 2018
An 1821 copy of Seiyô kibun on display at the Tokyo National Museum
- Written: c. 1708-1714, Arai Hakuseki
- Japanese: 西洋紀聞 (seiyou kibun)
Seiyô kibun, or "Records of Things Heard About the West," is a three-volume compilation by Confucian shogunal advisor Arai Hakuseki of information he learned about Europe from his interrogations of Giovanni Battista Sidotti, a Jesuit missionary captured by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1708. Sidotti was held until his death in 1714.
The contents of the book range widely, touching upon European customs & culture, history, geography, philosophy, and religion. Despite being a prisoner, Sidotti is said to have answered Hakuseki's questions politely.
References
- Gallery labels, "Seiyô kibun," Tokyo National Museum.[1]
- Arai Hakuseki, Joyce Ackroyd (trans.), Told Round a Brushwood Fire, University of Tokyo Press (1979), 290n64.
