This is a book about early modern Japan and its special world. (We will call it “the Tokugawa world” because it, for the most part, corresponds to Japan under the long line of Tokugawa shoguns, from 1603 to 1868). It has been several years in the making, involving as it does dozens of contributors, translators, and editors. As co-editors we have tried to organize a volume that brings together cutting-edge research by international scholars (from the U.S., Japan, China, Korea, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere) on a broad range of topics of interest to a wide spectrum of readers. We have commissioned survey articles on essential topics (such a peasant protests, samurai life, and the kabuki theater) as well as subjects of growing contemporary interest (the history of soba noodles, whaling, comic books, etc.). Our selection reflects a diminished interest in recent years in institutional history and the rise in research on gender and sexuality.