Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World

In this NEH supported biography, Amy Stanley tells the story of a rebellious, discontented woman flees her rural Japanese village to live in Tokyo (then called Edo) in the first half of the 19th century. The book follows Tsuneno from her rural snow country childhood, through three tragic marriages and a devastating famine, and to her escape to the shogun’s capital—a bustling metropolis at its peak.  

Through the lens of Tsuneno’s life, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World allows readers to experience the drama and excitement of Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno moves often, marries a masterless samurai, and enters the service of a famous city magistrate, showcasing a rare view of an extraordinary woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, despite social conventions at the time.  

Stranger in Shogun’s City was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography and the recipient of both the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. 

Read an interview with author Amy Stanley in NEH’s Humanities magazine.