Science and Culture in Traditional Japan

This book of Japanese history explores the development of science and technology in traditional Japanese society.

It may be surprising to some readers familiar with the history of Japan that that scientific thought existed at all in traditional Japan. However, Science and Culture in Traditional Japan show the development of premodern science in Japan in the context of that country''s social and intellectual milieu.

Anyone who wishes to understand the development of Japan''s science and technology over the last hundred years will appreciate this history of the centuries that preceded modernization, for it is the story of why and how Japan was ready and, more importantly, able to make the leap from Eastern to Western science. The history and culture book shows how Japan''s long pattern of assimilation—in advancing and receding waves—of Chinese science (and some Western science) laid the foundation for an appreciation of the need for and value of the "new" Western knowledge.