Contenu du sommaire : Lectures

From a Marginal History to the History of Margins Urban Studies in pre-Modern Japan Historians and other academics see in the Meiji era a drastic shift, and the starting point of a continuous assimilation of western elements by Japanese scholars. But the urban history of Japan, particularly flourishing during the Edo period (17th- 19th centuries) is far from limited to the imitation of European and North-American models. The various currents that have been predominant in the field for the past decades are also the fruit of rich and complex debates, to be considered within the context of a social history that, after the war, bears the mark of both Marxist theory and its critiques. This paper offers an overview of the evolution of the urban history of Japan, starting at the beginning of the 20th century. Emphasis will be put on the original results put forth, since the 1980s, by Yoshida Nobuyuki and his circle, who display particular interest in urban space, and who are at the origin of a fundamental renewal of the questions at the heart of the social history of pre-modern Japan.

A Warrior in the city : The Duties and Recreation of a Samurai stationed in Edo in the 19th century An « alternate residence » system had all lords (daimyô) required to regularly spend some time in the shogoun capital of Edo, so as to demonstrate their obedience to the Togukawa shogunate. An impressive suite of vassals were to accompany the lords, and Edo was thus continuously home to a significant population of warriors hailing from all the provinces of the country. The soldiers were often assumed to be dull provincials overindulging in the pleasures of the capital. Through the analysis of the diary of Shonai fief warrior Kanai Kuninosuke, who spent time in Edo on four occasions during the 1840s and 50s, this paper attempts to better describe the actual duties and leisure of a provincial vassal in the city.

Male and Female Hairdressers of Edo and Tokyo The male hairdressers of the city of Edo offer a typical example of a trade that is at the margin of recognized social statuses in the days of the Tokugawa, and as such have drawn the attention of Japanese scholars of urban history. The condition of their female counterparts, however, is much less known, even though the increasing importance of the profession in the daily life of Japanese women is established since the late 18th century. Only with the Meiji era will haircare professionals be able to legally practice their trade, as the Tokugawa shogunate found it an improper livelihood for women. The study of differences in the evolution of the practice of haircare in Edo-Tokyo, between the end of the shogunate and the first decades of the Meiji era, allows for a better understanding of how gender could have factored in the significant dissimilarities in the practices and organization of the trade for male and females hairdressers.

Edo by the Water The capital of the Tokugawa shogoun and the largest city in the Japanese archipelago since the 17th century, Edo (Tokyo since the Meiji era) was built in part on grounds filled to expand the shoreline into the bay. A seaport, the city is also a major river port, in particular because of its supplies needs. Yet, Edo as a port has enjoyed little attention from historians. The location and port function of the city, where canals and waterways abound, are however essential to the structure of the urban space. This paper aims to describe the various port functions of the city and the space devoted to them, as well as the typical social and professional structures necessary to their operations. The study of several districts of Edo will then allow the description of the local types of micro-societies that developed around the piers.

Uruk and Mari : recent Researchs of the first urban Revolution in Mesopotamia The main purpose of this paper is to present recent results of urban studies about the first urban révolution : two case studies are particularly developed, Uruk and Mari. Building analysis and landscape analysis are the two principles tools used in tis study, based on old and latest field results.

From Archaeology to Social History : Recent Researches on Cities of the Egyptian Chôra (Late Pharaonic and Greco-Roman Periods) The strong urban character of the ancient Egyptian ‘‘pharaonic'' civilization has long been ignored or questioned but is nowadays acknowledged. Moreover, the Greeks recognized it when they called ‘‘cities'' (poleis) the innumerable built-up areas, big or small, scattered all along the Nile valley. From the eighties, Egyptology devoted itself to urban archaeology and social sciences. Recent researches concentrate upon the beginnings of the urban phenomenon during the predynastic period, upon royal settlements of the New Kingdom, particularly in the Delta (Avaris, Pi-Ramses, Tjaru), and especially upon urbanism during the socalled Late Period (Ist Millennium B.C., see François Leclère's recent book). Studies concerning this last era highlight the continuum, till the end of the Ptolemaic Period (30 B.C.), of a urban model based on huge ‘‘temenos'', not defensive enclosures, as was long thought, but walled areas devoted to priestly activities (temples and high-based buildings). A real break occur at the beginning of the current era : the Roman Power, when harshly distinguishing villages (kômai) from towns (‘‘nome metropoleis''), introduced the biggest settlements into the mood of urbanism and civilian socialization. Investigations on this subject have for long been private ground of papyrologists alone (see Richard Alston's recent works), but they open now, more and more, to archaeology, as we hope to do when excavating ancient Pelusium (Eastern Delta, North-Sinai).