![]() ![]() It was so far that she was unable to make the ritual visit to her parents’ home after a month of marriage. At the age of 12, Tsuneno was married to the priest of a larger temple in a village more than 180 miles from Ishigami. As such, she would be expected to not only tend the altar, but also to read poetry, write letters, and consult manuals, perhaps even keep records. Though not as well tutored as her brothers, who were expected to master the Confucian classics, she was likely to become the wife of a village headman or priest someday. Tsuneno began her education at about age 7 or 8. ![]() ![]() There, in 1804, the priest of the prosperous Rinsen-ji temple and his wife welcomed their second child, a baby girl they named Tsuneno. Author Amy Stanley begins her narrative not in Edo, but in the tiny rural village of Ishigami, deep in Japan’s snow country. It is also the story of a complicated family with a headstrong daughter whose life reflected the spirit of the times. This fascinating book is the story of the last generation of people to know the thriving metropolis of Edo before it became Tokyoーpeople who counted years according to the old calendar, and who lived and died under the aegis of the shogunate. ![]()
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