SCHOLARS OF EAST Asia are not supposed to write books outside their specialties. But Donald Keene does not know that, and we should be thankful for his ignorance. Once more, this authority on Japanese literature has ventured into unfamiliar territory to give us rich material on Japan's past, this time the late nineteenth century, when Japan rushed from isolation to international power.

By some standards, the book is a disappointment. Focusing on a single work, the thirteen-volume Meiji tennō ki (Chronicles of Emperor Meiji), Keene leaves us often with relatively thin historical analyses and gives scant voice to people outside the world of elite politics. One has the sense that Keene is not conversant with the secondary literature on the era, particularly that in English. Even as biography, the work falls somewhat short. Noting that ‘it is the task of the biographer to make his subject come alive again’ (p. 717), Keene admits that Meiji, who ruled from 1868 to 1912, is unusually hard to capture: a reticent man who left behind limited clues to his own thoughts and nature. While Keene gets closer than most others have, he is often forced to speculate on what the emperor might have felt, and at the end Meiji remains an enigma.

That said, this is a masterly work, perhaps not Keene's best but certainly one of his most appealing, both for its narrative style and for its rich lode of stories and materials. Though one wishes he departed more often from the narrative structure provided by Meiji tennō ki, the fact that he makes so much of that massive chronicle available is a major contribution in itself. Meiji tennō ki gives us details about court ceremonies, ministerial manoeuvring, relationships among members of the imperial line, the role of the empress, and even the emperor's many mistresses, that are available nowhere else.

Keene is one of the best storytellers of his generation, and this work overflows with tales and details of the era's political life. He brings Meiji's chauvinistic father, Emperor Kōmei, to life as a deeply engaged ruler, more interesting than Meiji himself.