Meiji Period Research Articles

Chinese Fiction as a ‘Signal Bell of the Revolution’ and the Transregional Birth of an Author

Abstract This essay examines late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century interest in Shi Nai’an, the putative author of the traditional Chinese novel, The Water Margin. Despite the paucity of reliable evidence attesting to Shi Nai’an’s composition of The Water Margin, Japanese writers of the Meiji period were keenly interested in Shi on the basis of his alleged stature as a pioneering author of Oriental or East Asian (Tōyō) fiction. This characterization of Shi Nai’an was a byproduct of the recently established academic discipline of literary history in Japan, and the concomitant desire by Meiji-period historians to locate a literary text that could compete with Western works in terms of narrative and structural complexity. When late Qing-period Chinese authors became aware of Japanese writing on Shi Nai’an, they built on this budding biographical tradition by emphasizing Shi’s identification with an incipient Chinese nationalism, evidenced by his alleged resistance to the Mongol regime during the Yuan dynasty. The case study of Shi Nai’an thus illustrates the nexus between the construction of authorial personae and the pursuit of various ideological goals, as well as demonstrates the centrality of transregional literary contact in the formation of emergent concepts of authorship and canonization in modern East Asia.

A Study on the process of establish electric power supply and power grid of Tokyo in Meiji period.

A Study on the process of establish electric power supply and power grid of Tokyo in Meiji period.

The Analysis of Basic Establishment Concept, Maintenance and Operation Contents about Haneda Athletic Ground Established by Keihin Electric Railway After the Late Meiji Period

The Analysis of Basic Establishment Concept, Maintenance and Operation Contents about Haneda Athletic Ground Established by Keihin Electric Railway After the Late Meiji Period

Branding: A Prosthesis of Identity

This article investigates the prosthesis of identity through the process of branding. It examines cross-cultural manifestations of this phenomena from sixth millennium BCE Syria to twelfth century Japan and Britain. From the Neolithic Era, humanity has sort to extend their identities using pictorial signs that were characteristically simple. Designed to be distinctive and instantly recognisable, the totemic symbols served to signal the origin of the bearer. Subsequently, the development of branding coincided with periods of increased in mobility both in respect to geography and social strata. This includes fifth millennium Mesopotamia, nineteenth century Britain, and America during the 1920s. There are fewer articles of greater influence on contemporary culture than A Theory of Human Motivation written by Abraham Maslow in 1943. Nearly seventy-five years later, his theories about the societal need for “belongingness” and “esteem” remain a mainstay of advertising campaigns (Maslow). Although the principles are used to sell a broad range of products from shampoo to breakfast cereal they are epitomised by apparel. This is with refence to garments and accessories bearing corporation logos. Whereas other purchased items, imbued with abstract products, are intended for personal consumption the public display of these symbols may be interpreted as a form of signalling. The intention of the wearers is to literally seek the fulfilment of the aforementioned social needs.

The Fall of the Family-State and Rise of the Enterprise Society: Family as Ideology and Site of Conservative Power in Modern Japan

Recent literature on the history of family in Japan reveals that what is commonly understood as the “traditional” Japanese family—called the ie family—is largely a political construct that was institutionalized in Japan’s Meiji period (1868–1912). While the ie model was effectively removed from the US-imposed postwar constitution and replaced with the western nuclear family as the new ideal, this historical analysis reveals that the neo-Confucian principles and social structures of the ie model were reintegrated into Japan’s company work culture, to the degree that the ie continued to shape Japan’s collectivist social structures and identities well beyond the end of the war. This analysis highlights key ideologies employed by the ruling elite in modern Japan as a means of social control and nation building. It demonstrates a continuation of the historically close relationship between family and the state in postwar Japan that challenges deterministic notions of westernization applied to the Japanese context; it highlights articulations of family that complicate culturally bound conceptions that see it as inherently separate from the state, and clarifies the modern history of collectivist society in Japan.

Binary Opposition as the Manifestation of the Spirit of Meiji in Natsume S?seki�s Kokoro

Every period in history has its own unique identity. Meiji period in historical Japan is no exception to this, having its own identity called the spirit of Meiji. This research attempts to reveal this identity, which present in the story of Kokoro, by using binary opposition. Binary opposition allows comparing and examining contradicting elements. Since the spirit of Meiji is defined as having two contradictory elements, therefore, binary opposition is suitable for revealing the spirit of Meiji.The goal of this research is to show how binary opposition constitutes as a crucial element to the unique identity of Meiji period, which is the spirit of Meiji. In order to achieve this, two research problems are used as guides. One is how story of Kokoro presents the binary oppositions and two is how the spirit of Meiji manifests in the binary oppositions.In this research, library research was conducted in order to collect the relevant data. It uses texts in both printed form and digital form. The primary source for the research is the novel Kokoro by NatsumeS?seki while the secondary sources are taken from various books and articles.The first step in explaining the spirit of Meiji is to examine the binary oppositions within in the story. The binary oppositions itself are revealed through the characters and the setting of the story. Through these two elements, five binary oppositions are revealed. They are past against present, old against young, rural against urban, community against privacy, and family against individual. These binary oppositions are then compared to the situation in real-world Meiji period in order to validate whether they really are the spirit of Meiji or not. It is then, through this direct comparison, the binary oppositions are found mirroring the situation in the real Meiji period. Therefore, it can be concluded that binary opposition is the manifestation of the identity of Meiji period, which is the spirit of Meiji.

Rebecca Corbett. Cultivating Femininity: Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan; Taka Oshikiri. Gathering for Tea in Modern Japan: Class, Culture and Consumption in the Meiji Period.

Rebecca Corbett. Cultivating Femininity: Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan; Taka Oshikiri. Gathering for Tea in Modern Japan: Class, Culture and Consumption in the Meiji Period.

森本隆子著『〈崇高〉と〈帝国〉の明治――夏目漱石論の射程』

森本隆子著『〈崇高〉と〈帝国〉の明治――夏目漱石論の射程』

In search of a moral standard: debates over ethics education and religion in Meiji Japan

ABSTRACTIn the mid-Meiji period, the leading scholar Katō Hiroyuki proposed relying on religion in moral education as he was dissatisfied with the Ministry of Education’s inclination towards Western ethics in their reform. Triggered by Katō’s proposal, there arose an intense debate over the ‘standard’ for moral education in the educational circles. The Ministry of Education failed to present a debate-ending ‘standard’, while the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript on Education enforced the ‘royal standard’ for moral education and therefore cast aside all other propositions advanced in the debate. However, the main participants of the debate presented a dynamic discursive space revolving around ethics education and religion. By examining this discursive space, we can enable our investigation of the history of moral education in the Meiji period to go beyond the simplistic narrative framework centred on The Imperial Rescript on Education.

메이지 초기 수도 도쿄의 청국인 관리 - ‘재류청국인민적패규칙(在留淸國人民籍牌規則)’ 시행을 중심으로 -

메이지 초기 수도 도쿄의 청국인 관리 - ‘재류청국인민적패규칙(在留淸國人民籍牌規則)’ 시행을 중심으로 -

The Oldest Japanese Picture Postcards in Today’s Slovenia

As a part of the research activities “East Asian Collections in Slovenia”, many old Japanese postcards have been identified in recent years. For the postcards archived in the National and University Library (NUK) in Ljubljana, no information was available in relation to their user or collector, when and from whom these postcards were acquired, etc. Out of 16 Japanese and Chinese postcards in the Library, seven have been actually used and sent with some messages from Japan or China to today’s Slovenia in the year 1899. During the research on other picture-postcards archived in today’s Slovenia, and in cooperation with specialists in Japanese Studies and the history of the modern era (end of the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries, the Meiji period in Japan) in the context of East Asian and Austro-Hungarian exchanges, it has gradually become clear who the user of the postcards was and in what setting. It was Jožef Obereigner, the second son of the caretaker of the Snežnik estate, who was an engineer and served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

The Oldest Japanese Picture Postcards in Today’s Slovenia

As a part of the research activities “East Asian Collections in Slovenia”, many old Japanese postcards have been identified in recent years. For the postcards archived in the National and University Library (NUK) in Ljubljana, no information was available in relation to their user or collector, when and from whom these postcards were acquired, etc. Out of 16 Japanese and Chinese postcards in the Library, seven have been actually used and sent with some messages from Japan or China to today’s Slovenia in the year 1899. During the research on other picture-postcards archived in today’s Slovenia, and in cooperation with specialists in Japanese Studies and the history of the modern era (end of the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries, the Meiji period in Japan) in the context of East Asian and Austro-Hungarian exchanges, it has gradually become clear who the user of the postcards was and in what setting. It was Jožef Obereigner, the second son of the caretaker of the Snežnik estate, who was an engineer and served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

The Global Influence of China and Europe on Local Japanese Tapestries Mainly from the 19th through Early 20th Centuries

In general, Japanese culture has developed under the influence of foreign cultures, and textiles are no exception. In this presentation, I will focus on tapestries from the 19th century (the late Edo period) to the early 20th century (the Showa period), and discuss how Japanese tapestries achieved their original expression under the influence of Chinese and European tapestries. The Japanese began to seriously produce tapestry weaving around the end of the Edo period, but in the beginning, they just copied Chinese and European tapestries. Regarding these early productions, little research has been accomplished yet. In this presentation, I will try to clarify the difference between Japanese copies and Chinese and European originals; which points were learned; and which parts of the originals were ignored by the Japanese craftsmen. Until the late 19th century (the Meiji period), Japanese textiles had specific functions, such as designs for clothing or partitions for home interiors. However, around the early 20th century (the early Showa period), textiles with no such specific functions began to be produced. Such pieces were used specifically for appreciation, such as paintings. In this presentation, I will also introduce several pieces of this kind from the 19th century through the early 20th century, and I will discuss the social context and influence of foreign cultures in forming such transformations from the pieces with functions to the pieces for pictorial appreciation and artistic self-expression. Through these discussion, I hope to shed light on how globally traded textiles influenced the formation of local Japanese tapestries and their artistic expression.

HISTORY OF MEDICAL SERVICE SYSTEM IN UROLOGY

The present paper is a review of the history of the medical service system. Medical treatments were performed mainly as free services until the Edo era. In the Meiji period, the necessity of medical insurance was advocated from the point of view of health care, especially for young males. Around the end of the Taisho period, the health insurance act was established despite incomplete legislation. In 1961, the medical insurance service system was chosen as the health care system for the entire Japanese population and was completed after several revisions. Reimbursements for medical services for urological diseases are shown chronologically from the Edo era until present time and they provide interesting results. Finally, the activities of the JUA health insurance committee are summarized and are demonstrated to have a considerable impact on the present medical insurance system.

A Report on “Old Map Collection” by Geospatial Information Authority of Japan

Abstract. Historical maps are valuable resources to understand the topography, land use, and land cover of the country in the past. Recently they have been used as basic data in fields such as education, disaster prevention or research on local history. Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) has been working on collecting and archiving historical maps which were drawn before than Meiji period. However, public use of these maps is often confined because they are almost non-existent or have the possibility of being damaged. Therefore, in order for everyone to use these maps, GSI created a website “Old Map Collection” (Figure 1), which provides various digitized historical maps. In this presentation, we introduce the summary of “Old Map Collection” and some of its new contents.In 2005 GSI created a website “Old Map Collection” to provide historical maps for public use as historical, cultural, and academic documents. Users can browse about 1,500 map sheets including various related information, e.g., name, size, date-of-creation, author, and pictorial image. Also all maps are categorized into 15 fields such as maps made in Meiji period, maps of Japan, world maps, and Ino’s maps, based on their age of publication, range of area, and purpose of use, which enables users to find maps more easily.2018 marked the 150th anniversary since the beginning of Meiji period, when the modernization of Japan started. In order to bequeath the history of Meiji to future generations, Japanese government has promoted the policy named “MEIJI 150th”. One of the projects GSI conducted related to “MEIJI 150th” was the additional release of 1:20,000 scale original rapid survey map, e.g., Figure 2, on “Old Map Collection”. This map was created from 1880 to 1886 (the 13th -19th years of Meiji period) in advance of the national survey by General Staff Office of the Imperial Japanese Army, and is now owned only by GSI. It contains 921 colored map sheets which cover the area of capital Tokyo and its surrounding regions.

Mapping vanished mountain shapes – The struggle between limestone mining and establishing a natural park at Mount Bukō –

Abstract. This report searches for the Japanese view of beauty and nature through a study of the mapping of the transformation of a mountain’s shape. A normal map primarily intends to express existing shapes, but this report maps the vanished shape of a mountain from the limestone mining of its slopes. This is done to consider how its vanished shape has impacted the Japanese view of beauty and nature. The mountain studied is Mount Bukō located in Chichibu City and Yokozemachi in Saitama Prefecture. Mount Bukō is suitable for limestone mining, and during the Edō Period, limestone was mined on this mountain to obtain material for mortar and fertilizer. In the Meiji Period, cement was used in Japan to construct buildings and surface roads, and limestone (raw material for cement) was produced and consumed in large quantities. During the Taishō Period, corporations started to mine vast quantities of limestone. At Mount Bukō, the shape of the mountain was heavily transformed by limestone mining (Figure 1,2).However, during the 1940s, Mount Bukō was mentioned as a candidate site for a national park. In 1957, the entire area – including the mining site – was designated the Saitama Prefectural Natural Park. Parks are designated in Japan in imitation of Europe and America, and their major purposes are to preserve beautiful scenery and serve as places for residents’ recreational activities. Thus, by the Meiji Period, national parks such as Nikko National Park (which includes the Tōshōgū Shrine) were already being designated. Considering the above historical background, the movement to designate Mount Bukō as a park can be understood as an effort to preserve its scenery and provide a place for residents’ activities. But limestone mining continues to transform the shape of the mountain as, for example, a total of roughly 6.99 million tons of limestone were mined on Mount Bukō in 2016. By analyzing the facts of this case, this study can portray the Japanese consciousness of the change of the shapes of mountains and clarify the nature of their view of beauty and nature in mountains.This paper reports on the preparation of a stereoscopic map based on topographical maps and photos created since the start of the Meiji Period, Chichibu fudasho temple drawings from the Edō Period, and the chronological mapping of the shape of the mountain before and since its designation as a park. Mapping using diverse source materials to represent exposed rock and landslides caused by limestone mining permits a detailed study that would be impossible based on topographical maps lacking contour lines, photographs, or drawings from one direction, primarily from the northern side of the mountain (Figure 3,4). This study shows which parts of the disappearing Mount Bukō are important to people and which parts of the remaining mountain shape they value highly. It also portrays the Japanese view of beauty and nature from a cultural perspective to aesthetically evaluate artificially formed “nature” as seen in temple gardens or bonsai.

Mapping of Geospatial Information on Disasters Predicted to Occur in Wetland Areas of the Shonan Region

Abstract. Ground damage, such as liquefaction events, occurred in the Kanto region during the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Similar disasters can be expected to occur in the future. Disaster prevention and preparedness plans have been developed by municipal governments based on the principle of Jijo (self-aid), Kyojo (community assistance), and Kojo (government assistance). With national land information, including the latest satellite images and Jinsokusokuzu (QuickMap) prepared during the Meiji period, being compiled, consolidated and analysed, it is now expected that such national land information can be utilized in the field of disaster mitigation.According to an old map, the old Kugenuma Lake used to be spread in the southeast of the city of Fujisawa, which is currently located in the dune lands in the Shonan region. This area is composed of sandbanks formed by the Hikichi River and the Sakai River. From the synthetic images based on satellite images and QuickMap, among other things, it is expected that a disaster may cause serious damage in areas of weak ground conditions along the old river ways and the brinks (cliffs) of the old Kugenuma Lake as they have been rapidly converted into residential areas (Figure 1). The evacuation map prepared based on this assumption indicates that nearby tsunami evacuation buildings should serve as an emergency evacuation centre for evacuees (Figure 2). In the vicinity of these emergency evacuation centres, however, there are various areas that may become impassable for evacuees and emergency vehicles due to the potential collapse of stone walls and utility poles, among other things.From the synthetic images based on geospatial information, it is possible to identify areas prone to liquefaction in regions whose past land cover is related to water (Figure 1). The evacuation map, which has been prepared based on the reading of hazard maps and the results of our field investigation, has exposed a number of issues facing disaster-predicted areas (Figure 2). As a result, it is recommended that 1) a community association ensure to always keep evacuation routes operable and clear of any obstructions that may impede evacuation and 2) to conduct an emergency evacuation drill in different seasons and time zones. It is also essential to ensure that a community will develop its own technical capability and autonomous community-based capability to provide relief to its own community members through Kyojo.

Potential of Digital Elevation Topographic Maps reveal the history of the region: comparing Those Maps with Marsh data in the early Meiji Period

Abstract. Landform of lowland is remains of the natural disasters and the history. Residents of this area are influenced of the landform with history of natural disaster. Therefore, there is an inseparable relationship between topography and social life. At Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI), we are creating Thematic maps which clearly express topographic information. We also create, Thematic maps which distinguish the topography from the formation of the land. New findings can be obtained by considering these thematic maps in combination. In this paper, we study the relationship between landform and history of Tokyo by comparing “Digital Elevation Topographic Map” and “Marsh data in the early Meiji Period”. (This early Meiji Period here is the 1880s.)

The Politics of the ‘Civilized War’ in the Meiji period Japan : Ariga Nagao's Political Thought during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars

It is the subject which has been researched in various fields that, during the Meiji period, Japan succeeded to emerge into full membership in the international society which was controlled by western powers at the time. This paper takes the approach of the study of the history of political thought to understand the rise of Japan during the Meiji period. In order to do that, this paper will focus on Ariga Nagao who was one of the pioneers of the study of international law and history of diplomacy. Ariga argued a war, even without a declaration, is a fully legitimate act, since it is the expression of the ‘free will’ of independent states. Ariga’s pro-war theory of international law was affected by Lorenzo von Stein who was a scholar of Staatswissenschaft which means the sciences of the state in German. In Ariga’s theory, military intervention by a powerful nation to a weaker one is justified with this magic word of the ‘free will’. At the same time, Ariga strongly states that, if Japan is to become one of the ‘civilized countries’, it is required to follow the diplomatic custom of them: And there was no exception during the war time. He rather considers the war as the most effective way to prove how ‘civilized’ Japan is. During the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, he accompanied a army for the purpose of proving that the Japanese army is conducting a war in accordance with the ‘civilized custom . In conclusion, Ariga shows two different seemingly contradictory arguments: One is the absolutization of national sovereignty, which even justifies ‘imperialism’, and the other is the observance of the ‘civilized custom’ of the international community. A ‘civilized empire’ would be an appropriate definition to describe Japan s diplomatic ideals of the time.

Relocation and Restoration of Collection Data, for Two Taxonomically Important Japanese Reed Bunting Emberiza yessoensis Specimens Collected by Thomas Blakiston in the Early Meiji Period

Relocation and Restoration of Collection Data, for Two Taxonomically Important Japanese Reed Bunting <i>Emberiza yessoensis</i> Specimens Collected by Thomas Blakiston in the Early Meiji Period