In the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman Ōgimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai for whom she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Machiko assisted Yoshiyasu in his ascent to the rank of chief adjutant to the Tokugawa shogun. She kept him in good graces with the imperial court, enabled him to study poetry with aristocratic teachers and have his compositions read by the retired emperor, and gave birth to two of his sons. Writing after Yoshiyasu’s retirement, she recalled it all—from the glittering formal visits of the shogun and his entourage to the passage of the seasons as seen from her apartments in the Yanagisawa mansion.

In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japan’s early modern era. Featuring Machiko’s keen eye for detail, strong narrative voice, and polished prose studded with allusions to Chinese and Japanese classics, this memoir sheds light on everything from the social world of the Tokugawa elite to the role of literature in women’s lives. Machiko modeled her story on The Tale of Genji, illustrating how the eleventh-century classic continued to inspire its female readers and provide them with the means to make sense of their experiences. Elegant, poetic, and revealing, In the Shelter of the Pine is a vivid portrait of a distant world and a vital addition to the canon of Japanese literature available in English.

"G. G. Rowley’s elegant translation captures the graceful rhythms of Machiko’s prose, enabling us to step inside this unimaginably different era and see Machiko’s world through her own eyes." - Times Literary Supplement

"[In the Shelter of the Pine] is a work following a long tradition of Japanese women adding colour and detail to the often dull male official histories. Machiko speaks to us across three centuries, telling of the events of official history and the oft overlooked details of private lives. Given the way she does so, I’m sure many readers out there will be interested in hearing what she has to say." - Tony's Reading List

"Overall, this is a treasure-trove of information about life and politics in 17-18th century Japan....This translation is extremely well executed in terms of the beauty and precision of the language, clarity and flow of thoughts, and materials added to explain what it all signifies." - Pennsylvania Literary Journal

"Beautifully and sensitively translated . . . In the Shelter of the Pine gives us a portrait of a highly-refined, structured and rather formal world, brought to life for us by a learned and delightful guide, who navigates that world with ease and charm." - Asian Review of Books

"For its combination of detailed narration and literary complexity, In the Shelter of the Pine is valuable both as a source of information on the lives of Japanese elites in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as well as being a work of literature that will be of interest to students of narrative historiography, memoirs, and women’s writing in Japanese and in world history. The translation represents the fruits of many years of careful research into a highly complex text and historical period, yet wears its erudition lightly and will be accessible to undergraduate students as well as to seasoned researchers." - Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

"An enjoyable, fascinating record of power relations and gender dynamics in a daimyo household as seen through the eyes of a woman." - H-Japan

"Those interested in issues of self-representation and the generic conventions of memoir writing will welcome this translation as a rich resource for comparison." - Japan Review