Samurai Executioner

Samurai Executioner

Daniel Botsman - Professor of History, Yale University

Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 5:30pm
Peabody Museum See map
170 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511
Yamada Asaemon. Image from the Keibatsu Daihiroku, an early 19th century manuscript

A few years ago, Professor of History Daniel Botsman stumbled across a set of old Japanese documents in Yale’s East Asia Library.  On closer examination, they turned out to be records kept by the official executioner for the great city of Edo (now Tokyo) during the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate.  Taking these records as a starting point, this talk will introduce the career of this remarkable individual and consider its significance for our understanding of various aspects of samurai culture–swords, violence, the penal system, and even medical care.

Sponsored by the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
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Japan