Phase One. Speculation : Pre-Encounter Knowledge of the Japanese (1300-1543). 1. The emergence of "Cipangu" and its precursory ethnography ; 2. The "Cipanguese" at the opening of the age of discovery -- Phase Two. Observation : A Burgeoning Discourse of Initial Encounters (1543-1640). 3. Initial observations of the Japanese ; 4. The Japanese position in contemporary hierarchies ; 5. Concrete mirrors of a new human order ; 6. "Race" and its cognitive limits during the phase of observation -- Phase Three. Reconsideration : Antecendents of a Mature Discourse (1640-1735). 7. Dutch reappraisal of the Japanese body and origins ; 8. Power, status, and the Japanese position in the global order ; 9. In search of a new taxonomy : botany, medicine, and the Japanese ; 10. "Race" and its perceptual limits during the phase of reconsideration -- Conclusion : The discourse of race in early modern Europe and the Japanese case
Summary
When Europeans landed in Japan they encountered people they perceived as white-skinned and highly civilized, but these impressions did not endure. Gradually the Europeans' positive impressions faded away and Japanese were seen as yellow-skinned and relatively inferior. This book traces racial roots of the modern clash between Japan and the West
Notes
"Legal deposit fourth quarter 2014"--Title page verso
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 511-615) and index
