The opening up of Japan and Japanese trade with the west in the late-nineteenth century sparked a huge interest in Japanese culture back in Europe. Though Japanese goods, and imitations of Japanese wares, had been arriving in Europe from the seventeenth century, the opening of Japanese ports meant that these objects were now available to a wider section of society. Artists and designers began to look at Japan for inspiration, and a fashion for all things Japanese developed.

A.B. Mitford served as an interpreter at the British Legation in Japan between 1866 and 1870, including for the watershed visit of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh in 1869. In the early years of his posting, civil war between the Tokugawa shogunate and supporters of the emperor posed a significant threat to foreigners on Japanese soil. Confined to Kyoto for his own safety for five months from November 1867, Mitford spent his leisure time mastering the Japanese language and collecting ‘a quantity of legends of Old Japan which throw an entirely new light upon the manners and customs which have astonished travellers so much’.

Published in 1871, his two-volume Tales of Old Japan provided the first glimpse for many Britons of Japanese life beyond official government accounts. The work is remarkable for its inclusion of folk tales and accounts of particular Japanese customs, some of which Mitford had witnessed, most notably marriage ceremonies, the ritual suicide seppuku and the forging of swords, illustrated here. Heavily edited to appeal to western audiences, Mitford’s Tales provided his readers with a romantic view of ‘Old Japan’, a remote country yet to be affected by modernisation.

Text adapted from Japan: Courts and Culture (2020)