Read ahead to enter your name in a giveaway for this book

Here is part one of our book review and giveaway series, in collaboration with Tuttle Publishing. In this post, you’ll find my review of the fascinating book, Just Enough, and details for how you can enter to win your own copy. It’s quite simple… read ahead for more!

Just Enough: A Book Review

Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green From Traditional Japan is a meandering portrayal of life in Edo period Japan. There’s a whole lot of appeal for me in this book’s subject and style. First and foremost, it feeds my compulsive curiosity in Japanese culture and history, and the book’s careful attention to the intimate details of a life-once-lived provide a lot of fodder for one’s imagination to run wild.

The strength of Azby Brown’s book lies in his ability to paint a very vivid picture, both with words and beautiful illustrations, taking us back to a fascinating period of Japanese history (1603-1868) when there was more than a semblance of living in balance with the local ecosystem. Brown’s depiction of Edo Japan suggests that this former society was a lot closer to living sustainably than most of civilized culture is today. I would not hesitate to agree after reading.

Brown documents how Japanese society at the time found creative ways to live efficiently within the confines of the depleted, almost deforested landscape. Prior to the 1600s, much of the archipelago had been over-exploited, and society was faced with depleted forest and water supplies, and the need to feed a growing population to boot. (Sound familiar?) Incredibly, however, solutions were created and successfully imposed and people found ways to reverse the trends of exploitation and waste, both in the countryside and in cities, and on a micro and macro scale.

One example of the many awesome illustrations contained within ‘Just Enough’

The books begins by weaving its way through the countryside as our fictional host Shinichi takes us on a tour of the family farm operation, providing all manner of details about the typical agrarian lifestyle. Interestingly, a lot of what is described is not unlike what you might read about in a permaculture guidebook today. The accompanying sketches of the rural architecture and agricultural infrastructure are absolutely wonderful. I love the drawings of the “minka” (farmhouse) layout and construction, the orientation of fields and rice paddies and irrigation systems, all the way down to sketches of cooking stoves, tools, and clothing at the time.

We then find our way out of the countryside and into the city, touring the capital city of Edo itself. Brown’s depiction of the city is similarly stylized here as we follow another fictional host, picking up bits of information about the city infrastructure along the way. I was particularly wowed reading about how freshwater and wastewater were dealt with, and discovering that every bit of human “waste” was carefully transported out of the city (amazingly, mostly by cart and occasionally with animal power) back to the fields for use as fertilizer. Reading this chapter, I realized many of the dreams I have now about how cities can be better designed were in practice hundreds of years ago. It’s both exciting, but sad to realize how far we have slipped back into the cycle of over-exploitation and waste.

Brown’s illustration of an Edo Japan tenement block

Brown interjects lessons throughout the book, examining how we can learn from Edo Japan to transform current day society to be more sustainable. My favorite aspect of the book, however, is the wonderful attention to detail and depiction of daily life at the time, and the truly excellent illustrations that draw you into the time and place. My only complaint is that I think Brown might be painting too rosy of a picture sometimes, ignoring the faults of Edo society. (For example, how did city peasants fare at the time?)

If you have any interest in sustainable or traditional living, Japanese history, architecture, or agriculture (or all of the above!), Just Enough is an inspirational feast for the mind and eyes.

An efficient Japanese bathing method

Win Your Own Copy of Just Enough

Okay, and now for the giveaway. Do you want to win your own copy of Azby Brown’s Just Enough? Follow these very simple steps (it’s just one step, really)!

• Comment on this post, and tell us one reason why you’re excited about adding this book to your collection.
• Please be sure to leave your full name and email address, or else your name will not be entered in the drawing.
• The drawing will take place July 31, at 8:00 A.M., and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards. I will add giveaway participants to The Year of Mud newsletter.

So… go ahead, comment, and cross your fingers!