In the Edo period (1603–1867), the Japanese reconfigured geographical features and built abundant infrastructure, as this bundle shows. Where multiple rivers met, engineers changed their flow. Numerous canals emerged, providing transportation, protecting land from disasters, supplying water to fields, and stimulating commerce. New aqueducts connected rivers, and new wells created access to groundwater. So popular was the 井戸 (いど: well) during the Edo era that people jokingly call it the "Ido" era! And in 1767 on Kyushu, people launched an ambitious project to reclaim vast quantities of land from the sea. That effort continues today!

As one essay in this bundle shows, theft wasn't rampant in the Edo period (1603–1867). Regular people didn't even lock their homes, greatly trusting their communities. But as other essays reflect, the era gave rise to copious crime novels, detectives' memoirs, and dramas, so people clearly did commit crimes. Arrests ensued; barbed metal made it possible to catch suspects, and the police then bound detainees' hands with rope. Officers weren't squeaky-clean, though. One expression alludes to a particular man who was both a gambler and a policeman. In the latter capacity, he cracked down on gamblers!

Justice was severe in the Edo era (1603–1867), as this bundle shows. People could legally kill enemies. Samurai faced house arrest for crimes. The shogunate locked tax evaders in cages and submerged them in frigid water. Some criminals had their foreheads tattooed. Capital punishment modalities included burning at the stake, crucifying someone and stabbing the body with spears, and decapitation, which was a punishment for murder, robbery, or even the production of fake masu boxes! Some criminals were publicly displayed and kept alive for days as the public hacked at the neck with a dull bamboo saw. Fun times!

This collection shows that the government had massive control issues during the Edo era (1603–1867)! Commoners couldn't wear silk and could have surnames and swords only if granted permission. The authorities kept borders closed, greatly delaying access to vaccines. The government also banned Christianity and oppressed Christians. To justify extreme levels of control over citizens, the shogunate adopted Confucianism. Its teachings include dedication to one's master, a philosophy supporting the shogun's absolute power. But a rival doctrine emerged, and its criticism of Confucianism as repressive contributed to the collapse of the shogunate, ending the Edo era.

This bundle examines financial culture in the Edo period (1603–1867). Because most Japanese couldn't save much, they honored frugality, embracing the sayings "Bear noble poverty, despise riches" and "A man is still a man even if he's poor." Money was tight even for many provincial lords, who halved samurai salaries. But some folks did have money; they bought things on credit, paying off debts at year's end, and whatever the Edo native earned by day, he famously spent at night on drinking and prostitutes. Garments in which people stored cash gave rise to a term for "financial standing."

As this bundle shows, new industries in the Edo era (1603–1867) changed Japanese culture. Ample whaling caused whale images and whaling byproducts to proliferate in people's lives. Mining technology greatly improved, providing ongoing wealth for the shogunate and enabling the Japanese to export precious metals. Despite productive copper mining, Japan nearly exhausted that metal by using it to pay China for abundant raw silk, so citizens cultivated silkworms throughout Japan, and artisans developed techniques for weaving and dyeing silk. One other emergent industry was most resourceful; traders sold household sewage to farmers as fertilizer!

This bundle reflects that samurai in the Edo era (1603–1867) had an unusual relationship with money. They viewed earning as a "dirty thing," and they devalued vendors for selling things that others made. Still, the samurai must have resented putting in a day's work only to be paid in rice. When they lost their jobs, many former samurai became petty thieves and muggers. One famous movie showcases unemployed Edo-era samurai who avenged the death of their lord. The tale demonstrates the samurai code of honor, perhaps showing that values mattered to them more than anything, including money.

What a figure the samurai must have cut in the Edo era (1603–1867). As these essays explain, men shaved the tops of their heads. Kabukimono (samurai gangsters) had even stranger hairstyles, plus eye-catching clothes and behavior so eccentric that people often translate "kabukimono" as "the crazy ones." Samurai wore two swords—one large and one small—whereas commoners had only small ones. In urban areas, the rebellious kabukimono were both hated for their lawlessness and admired for their manliness. Samurai culture flourished so much that people created a rectangular mochi and playfully named it with a samurai allusion!

These essays depict the explosion of visual arts in the Edo era (1603–1867). Although sumi-e (ink drawing) works were originally done in shades of black, colorful sumi-e really took off in the 17th century. Then bright ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) emerged, overtaking sumi-e. Ukiyo-e had implicit political content, but erotic woodblock prints also abounded. Ukiyo-e developed in tandem with tattoos that covered a great deal of the body, and many currently popular tattoo designs come from Edo-era ukiyo-e. Finally, manga go back at least to the time of the artist Hokusai (1760–1849).

In the Edo era (1603–1867), Japanese streets vibrated with sounds, spectacles, and surprises. As these essays show, peripatetic performers entertained people in all kinds of ways. Some magicians would repeatedly say something like "Abracadabra" and produce a different wooden doll each time from under a bamboo basket. Jugglers would spin plates to make their juggling performances more appealing. Candy vendors would drum up business by playing flutes while walking around. And street performers sold utensils and incense, as well as medicines, giving rise to a term that means "showman; charlatan; quack."

In the Edo period (1603–1867), audiences were spoiled for choice. As these essays show, kabuki (a dance-drama combination featuring elaborate costumes, vivid makeup, outlandish wigs, and exaggerated movements) originated in the first year of the era! Immediately popular, the comic performances depicted everyday life, eventually with suggestive themes (and was particularly fashionable in the red-light districts). Then there was joruri, storytelling done via dramatic chanting, sometimes complemented by puppet shows. Finally, Noh, a type of classical musical drama that mainly involves masked male actors, offered Edo-era citizens yet another entertaining option.

As this bundle shows, red-light districts abounded in the hedonistic Edo era (1603–1867). In fact, second-class, unauthorized pleasure quarters lay adjacent to top-class, government-authorized red-light districts. A multifaceted, euphemistic term emerged that meant "geisha quarter," "prostitute," "red-light district," and more. Prostitutes were classified as 松, 竹, and 梅, with 梅 being the lowliest and with rankings likely based on looks and lovemaking techniques! A popular play in those days featured a prostitute named 梅ヶ枝 (there's 梅 again!) driven by financial desperation. Real-life prostitutes mimicked her behavior, also inspiring one woodblock print by Kuniyoshi.

The Edo era (1603–1867) lacked standard education, but institutions formed to meet the need. Teachers ran "terakoya" (private schools) from their houses. After-hours private academies emerged, as did an Osaka school that taught Dutch studies, medicine, astronomy, and other Western sciences. Adult scholars also made great advances, enhancing a mathematical system called "sampo," inventing "enri" (a calculus-like system), and devising complex calculations with the soroban (a Japanese abacus). One expert quantified a term that means "too many grains of sand to count"! These essays explore such topics, also showing how a word for "Pythagoras' theorem" represented an imaginative leap.

The Edo era (1603–1867) was a golden age for boatbuilding, and the 掘 essay explains why: political stability led to economic stability, and the burgeoning economy prompted a need for canals to transport goods, services, and people. As the 舟 piece shows, the Japanese actually devised boats with many styles and functions, including canal and river taxis. The 峠 article asserts that wealthy people traveled via commercial ships and that companies transported most goods domestically by boat. Indeed, the 垣 essay describes an odd-looking ship used to move items between Edo (the old name for Tokyo) and Osaka.

For thousands of years, Japan was isolated and homogeneous, particularly because the Tokugawa shogunate government closed the country from 1639 to 1854. The essays on 排 and 痘 show the costs of that, including the way this policy prolonged the smallpox crisis by delaying the arrival of vaccines in Japan. The essays on 謁 and 彰 describe how both Townsend Harris (the first U.S. consul general to Japan) and Commodore Matthew Perry signed treaties to change Japan's foreign trade policies, thereby opening the country to other cultures and sparking a westernization that delighted some Japanese and dismayed others.