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- Convenor:
-
Constantine Vaporis
(University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Send message to Convenor
- Discussant:
-
Anne Walthall
(University of California, Irvine)
- Stream:
- History
- Location:
- Bloco 1, Piso 0, Sala 0.05
- Sessions:
- Thursday 31 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
Short Abstract:
This panel examines the modern uses of Edo-period samurai in order to understand issues relating to historical reception, memory landscapes, as well as collective and cultural memory. This is done through the study of historical texts, castle sites, and memory landscapes.
Long Abstract:
For more than a decade, there has been considerable interest in the field of Japanese studies in the subject of "memory"— some have even referred to it as a "memory boom." The papers in this panel seek to engage in this discourse through the subject of the Edo-period samurai. Taniguchi Shinko's paper (The Historical Reception of Hagakure—Honor, Loyalty, and Patriotism) examines the historical treatment of Hagakure, an early eighteenth-century work that later became a seminal text in bushido ideology, in the context of Meiji and Showa-era nationalism and patriotism. With Oleg Benesch's paper (Japan's Modern Castles between Nostalgia and Neglect), the focus switches from a textual realm of memory to a collection of historical sites: castles. The paper examines the transformation that took place in the transition from the Edo to Meiji periods in popular perceptions of castles, from symbols of a discredited past to positive symbols with close associations with the military and imperial house. This transformation was necessary before the "memory activists"—civil society groups, government officials, and the military—could later take action to reconstruct castles that had been destroyed, sold off, or just neglected. Finally, Constantine Vaporis' paper (Reconsidering Yoshida Shôin through his Memory Landscape) again shifts the focus from one type of object, castles, to a number of different sites of memory (monuments, graves, statues, shrines, and other historical sites)—a memory landscape—associated with a single historical personage, Yoshida Shôin (1830-59), one of the most controversial samurai and imperial loyalists of the late Edo period. In sum, the three papers will examine various realms of memory concerning the samurai over the broad expanse of Japanese history, from the late nineteenth century until today. The papers will reveal substantive issues related to the Edo-period subjects at hand: a text (Hagakure), castles, and the life of an individual samurai (Yoshida Shôin). At the same time, we explore broader themes such as historical reception, memory landscapes, as well as collective and cultural memory.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 31 August, 2017, -Paper short abstract:
This paper is a reevaluation of the early 18th-century text Hagakure, within the context of the development of bushido thought, from its first appearance until today. A particular focus will be how the concepts of honor and loyalty came to be read within the context of modern nationalism.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the historical reevaluation of the early eighteenth-century text Hagakure, compiled by Yamamoto Tsunemoto (1659-1719), within the context of the development of bushido thought, from its first appearance until today. Hagakure is one of the seminal texts in bushido thought or ideology, and is particularly famous for its first line: “The Way of the warrior can be found in death.” However, Hagakure was compiled not as an ideological tract directed towards samurai in general, but rather more as a lifestyle or etiquette guide for retainers in service to their lord.
When studies of Hagakure first began, during the late Tokugawa period, they usually adopted an historical approach. But, from the Meiji period onward, when studies such as Hagakure rongo (The Analects of Hagakure) were published, Hagakure became a symbol of loyalty and nationalistic spirit, and later became identified with the notion of “kamikaze spirit” or 9-11-style terrorism.
In this paper I will, from my perspective as an historian of early modern Japan, examine how the honor and loyalty to one’s lord that samurai held during this time, came to be read within the context of modern nationalism as symbols of patriotism.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the often-neglected history of castles in modern Japan, and how they were transformed from unwanted “feudal” relics to symbols of Japan’s proud martial heritage. It further explores the central role castles played in the militarization of society in imperial Japan.
Paper long abstract:
In 1931, following months of construction work, the great keep of Osaka Castle was opened to the public to great fanfare, 270 years after the last keep on the site had burned down due to a lightning strike. The new massive concrete structure was now the largest keep in Japan, and was the culmination of an unprecedented push by civil society groups to reconstruct “their” castle.
By the 1920s, castles were firmly established as key symbols of local and national heritage, but this was a recent development. Only 50 years earlier, the vast majority of Japan’s castles were destroyed as unwanted “feudal” relics in the drive towards “civilization and enlightenment” at the start of the Meiji period.
This paper looks at the role of castles in the transition from the Tokugawa to Meiji periods. Like samurai, castles were seen by many in Japan as embarrassing reminders of the discredited old order. There was little nostalgic feeling towards castles, and they were auctioned off, torn down, or left to decay, just as former samurai received scant consolation from the majority of the population that saw them as its oppressors. By 1900, however, both samurai and castles had become established as positive symbols of Japan’s proud and supposedly ancient martial heritage. This transformation was driven by events in Japan, but was also closely tied to global developments in attitudes to history, heritage, and the growth of nationalism throughout the world. In Japan specifically, while inextricably tied to the premodern past, castles became directly linked to the military and imperial house, playing a vital role in the militarization of society in Imperial Japan.
Paper short abstract:
This paper reconsiders the historical legacy of Yoshida Shôin (1830-59), the controversial imperial loyalist and Chôshû domain samurai, primarily through an examination of the sites or realms of memory—e.g., the monuments, graves, statues, shrines—that comprise his memory landscape.
Paper long abstract:
Was he the "spiritual father" and a "martyred prophet" of the Meiji Restoration or a not-so-great xenophobic terrorist who failed in most everything he did during his short life? Opinion about Chôshû domain samurai Yoshida Shôin (1830-59) can be quite divided, but the former interpretation certainly has been dominant in historical and popular discourses since the late-nineteenth century. In fact, just a little more than two decades after the Restoration, Shôin's reputation had already crossed the sea, as immortalized in Robert Louis Stevenson's biographical collection of notable figures, Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1895). In Japan, Shôin's status was elevated by numerous Meiji-period figures such as Tokutomi Sohô and Inoue Tetsujirô, for whom he was a republican revolutionary and pivotal figure in the development of bushido ideology, respectively. However, his reputation in Japan was sealed largely through the efforts of the Meiji government—induction into Yasukuni Shrine (1888), the awarding of honorary court title (Senior Fourth Rank, 1889), the construction of statues of Yoshida and other forms of commemoration. Those efforts continued during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s, as Shôin the imperial loyalist was thrust into a prominent position in moral education and training, for soldiers and schoolchildren alike.
This paper reconsiders the historical legacy of Yoshida Shôin, primarily through an examination of the sites or realms of memory—monuments, graves, statues, shrines, and other historical sites—that comprise his memory landscape. It also considers commemorative activity such as tourist campaigns, visitation and pilgrimage to Shôin shrines in Tokyo and Hagi, as well as Shôin's treatment in popular culture, including film and textually mediated historical memory. In doing so, this paper aims to reassess Shôin's historical legacy as well as to examine the role of memory landscapes in the construction of historical memory.