Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first shogun. A great warrior, he defeated his rival warlords at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and brought all Japan under his rule. Credited with bringing peace, unity and stability, he made Edo his capital, built Edo Castle and developed the city. He employed the British seafarer William Adams to build … Read more
November 1861. Sunlight glitters on the lances and pikes of hundreds of attendants and guards, as a procession winds slowly along a mountain road in central Japan. In all, there are 20,000 people – lords and ladies in palanquins, warriors on horseback and on foot, officials, ladies-in-waiting, maids and maids of maids. Then come shoe … Read more
Watch Lesley talking about The Last Concubine on Meet the Author.
Listen to Lesley talking about The Last Concubine: broadcast on Woman’s Hour on Radio 4 on February 19th at 10.30 am.
Various journalists have been phoning me up and asking me how it’s possible that in Japan up until the late nineteenth century there was no word for ‘love’. ‘Can that be true?’ they ask. One of the most fascinating things about Japan is the way in which it makes you question everything you’ve taken for … Read more
Not many people know that the fifteen shoguns had a harem much like a middle eastern seraglio (and, if truth be told, so did the emperors up until Hirohito). The words every young woman in the shogun’s harem hoped to hear were ‘What is her name?’ – the code to indicate that the shogun wanted … Read more
The Last Concubine is out now. *** The Last Concubine tour dates 2008 Wednesday March 19th 6.45 pm Asia House 63 New Cavendish Street, London www.AsiaHouse.org Illustrated lecture on The Last Concubine: Secrets of the Women’s Palace This is a joint lecture with the Japan Society and Asia House. See also http://www.japansociety.org.uk/events/080319_combined_lecture.html Asia House members … Read more
Every woman has wondered what it must be like to be able to stop a man in his tracks with a single glance. Among the geisha the art of alluring men is not a matter of innate sexuality but a skill they learn. Geisha are not high class courtesans, despite what people think. They are … Read more