Memories of Silk and Straw

By Junichi Saga, Susumu Saga (illustrator), Garry Evans (translator)

Book cover of Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self-Portrait of Small-Town Japan

Book description

Interviews with a blacksmith, cotton dyer, undertaker, farmer, butcher, geisha, carpenter, hangman, midwife, and fisherman document life in a small Japanese town during the early part of this century

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Memories of Silk and Straw as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Saga was a country doctor who, after work hours, interviewed his patients about their lives. While this book was published way back in 1974, the stories he uncovers helped me understand the foundations of Japanese country folk today.

From life on the Tone River, where fishing families lived on their vessels, to farming families, where infanticide was accepted due to lack of birth control methods, Dr. Saga’s interviews are ripe with detail and confessions of the good times and the bad of his compatriots in Showa era Japan, before and after WWII.

From Amy's list on Japan’s countryside.

If you love Memories of Silk and Straw...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up


Want books like Memories of Silk and Straw?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Memories of Silk and Straw.

Browse books like Memories of Silk and Straw

Book cover of Inaka: Portraits of Life in Rural Japan
Book cover of At Home in Japan: A Foreign Woman's Journey of Discovery
Book cover of Lost Japan: Last Glimpse of Beautiful Japan

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,888

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Memories of Silk and Straw, you might also like...

Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS by Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more


Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. Brené Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Japan, geisha, and birth control?

Japan 517 books
Geisha 10 books
Birth Control 15 books