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Turbulent Streams
An Environmental History of Japanâs Rivers, 1600â1930
Series: - Brill's Japanese Studies Library, Volume: 68
Author:
In Turbulent Streams: An Environmental History of Japanâs Rivers, 1600â1930, Roderick I. Wilson describes how the rivers of Japan are both hydrologically and historically dynamic. Today, these waterways are slowed, channeled, diverted, and dammed by a myriad of levees, multiton concrete tetrapods, and massive multipurpose dams. In part, this intensive engineering arises from the waterways falling great elevations over short distances, flowing over unstable rock and soil, and receiving large quantities of precipitation during monsoons and typhoons. But this modern river regime is also the product of a history that narrowed both these waterways and peopleâs diverse interactions with them in the name of flood control. Neither a story of technological progress nor environmental decline, this history introduces the concept of environmental relations as a category of historical analysis both to explore these fluvial interactions and reveal underappreciated dimensions of Japanese history.
Roderick I. Wilson, Ph.D., Stanford University, is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he teaches and writes about topics in Japanese and environmental history.
"Wilsonâs careful attention to the literature in Japanese and English and to questions of method and approach are present throughout. Altogether this is an important new contribution to the fast-developing fi eld of Japanese environmental history and has major implications for the urban history of Edo/Tokyo especially."
â Mark Metzler, in The Journal of Japanese Studies 49.1, pp. 162-167 (2023)
"Roderick Wilsonâs Turbulent Streams makes another fine contribution to this growing body of literature on Japanese environmental history, exploring the early modern Tokugawa era to well into the twentieth century. The book draws on a considerable volume of Japanese-language secondary sources that focus exclusively on Japan and also takes inspiration from well-known theoreticians and practitioners who make up the core of English-language environmental historical studies."
â Philip C. Brown, in Monumenta Nipponica 77.1, pp. 140-145 (2022)
â Mark Metzler, in The Journal of Japanese Studies 49.1, pp. 162-167 (2023)
"Roderick Wilsonâs Turbulent Streams makes another fine contribution to this growing body of literature on Japanese environmental history, exploring the early modern Tokugawa era to well into the twentieth century. The book draws on a considerable volume of Japanese-language secondary sources that focus exclusively on Japan and also takes inspiration from well-known theoreticians and practitioners who make up the core of English-language environmental historical studies."
â Philip C. Brown, in Monumenta Nipponica 77.1, pp. 140-145 (2022)
Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Tables
Note to Readers
Introduction
â1âA Riparian History of Ogura Lake
â2âCrossing the River between Nature and Society
â3âRiparian Relations: An Expanded Understanding of Rivers
â4âChapter Organization
1 Riparian Relations in the KantÅ Region
â1âProducing the KantÅ Region and Its Riverscapes during the Seventeenth Century
â2âWater Worlds of Farmers, Fishers, and Boat Pilots
â3âConclusion
2 Regional River Regime under the Tokugawa Government
â1âEstablishing Tokugawa Governance over the Waters of the KantÅ Region, 1590â1700
â2âMaintaining Riparian Governance in the KantÅ Region, 1700â1783
â3âLosing Ground against Continued Flooding, 1783â1868
â4âConclusion
3 Engineering and River Engineers in the Age of Imperialism
â1âThe Home Ministryâs Early Riparian Policies
â2âThe FudÅ River Worksite
â3âDutch Engineers in Japan
â4âEducating Japanese Engineers: The French Connection
â5âConclusion
4 Confluence along the Yodo River
â1âThe Yodo River
â2âHome Ministry Engineers
â3âLocal Communities
â4âConclusion
5 Constructing the Modern River Regime in Japan
â1âMaking Modern River Regimes
â2âTechno-Politics of Flood Control
â3âThe 1910 Flooding of Tokyo and Paris
â4âThe Effects of Building Japanâs Modern River Regime
â5âConclusion
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Note to Readers
Introduction
â1âA Riparian History of Ogura Lake
â2âCrossing the River between Nature and Society
â3âRiparian Relations: An Expanded Understanding of Rivers
â4âChapter Organization
Part 1: Regional River Regimes in the Tokugawa Period
1 Riparian Relations in the KantÅ Region
â1âProducing the KantÅ Region and Its Riverscapes during the Seventeenth Century
â2âWater Worlds of Farmers, Fishers, and Boat Pilots
â3âConclusion
2 Regional River Regime under the Tokugawa Government
â1âEstablishing Tokugawa Governance over the Waters of the KantÅ Region, 1590â1700
â2âMaintaining Riparian Governance in the KantÅ Region, 1700â1783
â3âLosing Ground against Continued Flooding, 1783â1868
â4âConclusion
Part 2: Techno-Politics of River Engineering in Imperial Japan
3 Engineering and River Engineers in the Age of Imperialism
â1âThe Home Ministryâs Early Riparian Policies
â2âThe FudÅ River Worksite
â3âDutch Engineers in Japan
â4âEducating Japanese Engineers: The French Connection
â5âConclusion
4 Confluence along the Yodo River
â1âThe Yodo River
â2âHome Ministry Engineers
â3âLocal Communities
â4âConclusion
5 Constructing the Modern River Regime in Japan
â1âMaking Modern River Regimes
â2âTechno-Politics of Flood Control
â3âThe 1910 Flooding of Tokyo and Paris
â4âThe Effects of Building Japanâs Modern River Regime
â5âConclusion
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
All interested in Tokugawa and modern Japanese history, water and environmental history, and those interested in new approaches to human-environment relations.