Paper short abstract

The Japanese Dutch scholar Kawamoto Komin (川本 幸民 1810-1871), translated several chemistry books. In his Book Reader Kagaku dokuhon, Kawamoto listed a table of thirty-seven chemical elements, Their names in Dutch, Latin, chemical symbol, Chinese and atomic weight. The book research is presented.

Paper long abstract

Japan started studying books from the West by translating books in Dutch, either original Dutch books or translated into Dutch from other languages in Europe in late 18th century.

Books in Dutch were allowed to enter Japan by the ruling Tokugawa authorities. These are called Dutch Studies and the Dutch scholars called rangakusha. Udagawa Youan (1798-1846)1 and Kawamoto Komin are the more prominent chemistry translators of their time. Kawamoto Komin (川本 幸民 1810-1871), translated several book, first for himself, and then for a limited reading audience.

The text Kawamoto translated in Kagaku dokuhon is thought to be from the original Dutch-language book by the chemist J.G. Gunning. Leerboek der Scheikunde. Ten Gebruike aan intrigtingen van lager en middelbaar onderwijs, en tot zelf-onderrigt, (1864-1866). In Kagaku dokuhon, Chemistry Reader, he lists a table of thirty-seven chemical elements. The scholarly list includes, from top down, the name of an element in Dutch, then in Latin, both are written in katakana. The middle page includes the chemical symbol of each element, then its names in Latin by kanji characters, and the Chinese-Japanese name. The last entry is of the atomic weight of each element, either corrects or mistaken.

Five translated books by Kawamoto Komin were mentioned by Yatsumimi Toshifumi　in Encyclopedic Dictionary of the History of Chemistry.2 Kawamoto's books in the Japan Academy include kagaku Tsu, which he wrote after his retirement to his home town Sanda.

Kawamoto's translation of Kagaku dokuhon will be presented.

Paper short abstract

Kanzen chōaku shaped Edo-period literature beyond didactic works. It worked as a narrative vector organizing texts through value points. This paper examines its evolution across yomihon, kusazōshi, and ninjōbon, demonstrating how its manifestations corresponded to era's ideological transformations.

Paper long abstract

Kanzen chōaku (rewarding good and punishing evil) was among the most prominent didactic mechanisms employed by authors to shape readership values during the Edo period. Rooted in Confucian ideology, its sphere of influence extended beyond conventional didactic fiction, such as yomihon (reading books), to encompass entertainment-oriented literary productions as well.

As Tanaka Norio has argued, kanzen chōaku evolved into a crucial element of text organization, functioning analogously to what Gérard Genette termed a “narrative vector”, since it determined the overall architecture of texts, enabling readers to understand character roles and narrative developments through the lens of numerous “value points” – what Vincent Jouve describes as “expressions of values at the textual level”.

While kanzen chōaku constituted a foundational element of explicitly didactic literary works, it gradually came to influence texts unrelated to an educational strategy. This paper examines the evolution of narrative structures and dramatis personae in a corpus comprising yomihon, kusazōshi, and ninjōbon under the action of kanzen chōaku. The study aims to demonstrate how different manifestations of kanzen chōaku – and different textual structures – correspond to transformations in the broader ideological landscape of the era.

Paper short abstract

Imports of large mammals such as elephants or pantherinae attracted considerable attention in 18th- and 19th-century Japan. Their mere sight was believed to cure infectious diseases. Using the example of a kawaraban advertising a “tiger”, my presentation examines the backgrounds to this view.

Paper long abstract

In the 18th and 19th centuries, foreign animals increasingly reached Japan through trade relations with China and the Netherlands. Rare mammals in particular attracted great attention. Species such as dromedaries, elephants or tigers were presented as “show objects” (misemono) and fixed in art and literature. In popular belief, they were perceived as divine beings, and their mere sight was accredited with healing and protective effects against feared infectious diseases such as measles and smallpox.

Using the example of a popular broadsheet about a leopard that arrived at the new port in Yokohama in the seventh month of the year 1860 and was afterwards put on show in Ryōgoku, I would like to shed light on the backgrounds to this view. Utagawa Yoshitoyo (1830–66) and Kanagaki Robun (1829–94) provided images and texts relating to the creature, which the latter identified as a tiger. This source, too, contains references to the animal’s medicinal benefits alongside information about the rare species.

A combination of actor-network theory and human-animal studies guides my analysis. I regard the tiger / leopard as an active agent. The aim is to investigate how, within a network of actors, texts, objects and practices, the perception of a healing effect arising from the sight of the big cat evolved.

The sources examined in this presentation show that, contrary to the descriptions in the Chinese medical encyclopaedia Bencao gangmu (1596), the animal was used as a cure for measles and smallpox. Whereas the earlier work describes the healing properties of individual body parts and the remedies produced from them, popular medical views in 19th-century Japan focused on the effect of merely looking at the beast. The use of images of imported species as treatments and for the prevention of diseases testifies to the creativity and imagination of the population in dealing with epidemics at that time.

Paper short abstract

Analyzing Shionoya Tōin’s Heitei Keikairoku, this paper explores the strategic use of Song history of China to defend Interactions Between Heaven and Humankind against Western science, reframing omens as indispensable moral and political warnings for late Edo rulers.

Paper long abstract

The late Edo period witnessed a profound crisis in the traditional views on Interactions Between Heaven and Humankind (tenjin sōkan-ron 天人相関論), which held that natural disasters were divine warnings directed at the ruler’s conduct. While intellectual predecessors like Koga Seiri 古賀精里 noted that the increasing precision of Western astronomy threatened to render "Heaven" indifferent to human affairs, scholars sought new strategies to maintain the political efficacy of cosmic warnings.

This paper focuses on the strategies of the Confucian scholar Shionoya Tōin 塩谷宕陰(1809–67), specifically his compilation of the Heitei Keikairoku 丙丁炯戒録(1838). We examine how Tōin appropriated the "Heitei prophecy" (Heitei saiisetsu 丙丁災異説)—a Song dynasty theory asserting that catastrophic events occur cyclically in the years of Heigo 丙午 and Teibi 丁未—to provide a historical and providential framework for political reform.

In the first section, we analyze Tōin’s motivation for reviving this Song-era discourse. We argue that Tōin sought to address the mounting domestic unrest and external threats of the 1830s and 40s by superimposing the tragic fall of the Northern Song dynasty onto the Tokugawa Shogunate’s political reality.

The second section elaborates on Tōin’s theoretical synthesis. Confronted with "Western theories" (Taisei no setsu 泰西の説) that reduced celestial phenomena to natural laws, Tōin attempted a harmonization. He utilized the concept of "Establishing Teachings via the Way of the Spirits" (shindō sekkyō 神道設教), effectively reframing traditional omens as a necessary "decoration" of scientific truth to ensure the moral restraint of the ruling elite.

The final section discusses the influence of Tōin’s work, particularly the critique by the hardline scholar Ōhashi Totsuan. Totsuan rejected Tōin’s conciliatory approach, arguing that reframing Interactions Between Heaven and Humankind as an "expedient means" (hōben 方便) or "deception" undermined the absolute truth of the Way.

By analyzing these debates, this paper uncovers the unexpected legacy of Song dynasty history in Japan. It clarifies how late Edo intellectuals used the Heitei prophecy not merely as superstition, but as a sophisticated weapon of words to preserve a moral universe of Interactions Between Heaven and Humankind against modern scientific rationalism.

Paper short abstract

The “turn to nature” developed by intellectuals in the Edo period did not only concern the use of the land’s resources. For thinkers like Honda Toshiaki or Kaiho Seiryō, it also involved a “naturalization” of politics and economics—which they articulated in traditional “Confucian” terms.

Paper long abstract

At least among intellectuals, the Edo period saw a fundamental “turn to nature” in the way the environment was named, conceived and treated. This involved not only the understanding, exploration, and exploitation of the land as a well-spring of resources that was highlighted by Marcon in his influential study on the Knowledge of Nature, but also a new perspective on politics and the economy. Remarkably in light of the endemic equation between modernization and Westernization, it was possible to articulate this new approach to the world in traditional terms.

Marcon highlighted how Satō Nobuhiro 佐藤信淵 (1769-1850) understood the land as an inexhaustible source of wealth and harvesting its riches as a primary task of good government. Nobuhiro was neither alone nor the first one to posit such endeavors as a central duty of those governing the realm, and the most expedient means to provide for its people. Honda Toshiaki 本多利明 (1744-1821), a slightly older theorist, had furthermore proposed that government along these interventionist lines meant to “grasp the nature” (shizen o toru 自然を採る) of social and political dynamics, much as the dexterous control of money supply meant to “grasp the nature” of the economy. His phrasing makes explicit a conviction that we find also in other philosophers such as Miura Baien 三浦梅園 (1723-1789), Yamagata Bantō 山片蟠桃 (1748-1821), or Kaiho Seiryō 海保 青陵 (1755-1817): the conviction that there is a “natural” order not only of heaven and earth, but also of society and the economy; and that it is the task of scholars to understand the patterns of this order and how they translate into processes that may be directed toward human ends. This shared conviction in the abstract appears to converge with the modern understanding of nature—which may suggest inspiration by contact with European science. But a closer look at the sources reveals that all these philosophers draw on older East Asian traditions, each selecting and rewriting them in his particular way.

Paper short abstract

This paper reassesses Obata Tokujiro as a pivotal mediator of modern thought in Meiji Japan. By analyzing his strategy of "Annotation," it explores how he recontextualized Western concepts—including Fukuzawa Yukichi's radicalism—into a coherent, functional intellectual "stock" for Japan.

Paper long abstract

Obata Tokujiro (1842–1905), a central figure in the Keio Gijuku circle, has long been viewed as a secondary figure following in the footsteps of the enlightenment giant Fukuzawa Yukichi. This paper challenges this narrative by defining Obata as a pivotal mediator who provided the systematic framework and intellectual "annotation" (chūkai) necessary to ground modern social thought in the Japanese landscape. 

While Fukuzawa’s thought was characterized by pioneering provocations, Obata acted as a vital intermediary who interpreted and adapted these ideas into workable social systems. His uniqueness lay in his methodological strategy of "Annotation". For instance, in formulating the Code of Morals (Shushin Yoryo) in 1900, Obata mediated between radical enlightenment and traditional sensibilities by arguing that morality is historically contingent. He legitimized this shift by citing the history of Confucian hermeneutics, demonstrating that the interpretation of texts must evolve with the social context. 

Beyond morality, Obata applied this functionalist approach to politics and economics. He introduced parliamentary procedures (Giji Hikkei) as the essential "wheels" for the "carriage" of civilized politics and provided a functional defense of commercial society by inverting traditional hierarchies. This paper argues that Obata was an active interpreter who mediated even Fukuzawa’s ideas into a durable intellectual "stock" for Meiji Japan. His work reveals that Japan's modernization was not a simple displacement of tradition, but a continuous process of intellectual mediation.

Paper short abstract

The role of intellectuals in social movements became significant theme in Japan since the mass conversions of the 1930s. Many converts were co-opted by nationalism, but a minority resited. this report examines how the latter group revised their view of society and redisconvered their social role.

Paper long abstract

In Europe, there have been repeated discussions about the role of intellectuals in social movements. As Marxism became the mainstream of the socialist movement, it became necessary to clarify the relationship between the proletariat as the theoretiacal revolutionary subject and the intellectual class that in reality almost monopolized the leadership position.

In Japan, issues surrounding the relationship between the socialist movement and intellectuals came to light around 1930, but this was significantly influenced by Japan's unique historical position as a latecomer in a non-Western region. In Japan at that time, Marxism was virtually the only means of grasping society as a whole logically and systematically. Therefore, whether embraced as a revolutionary theory to advance social reform or shunned as a dangerous ideology threatening the Tenno system, the formidable power of Marxism was highly valued among the social elite. Meanwhile, among the impoverished and lower classes - whom Marxism regarded as both subjects of salvation and agents of revolution - its influence remained extremely limited.

Thus, in a situation where assessments of Marxism diverged not only between left and right but also sharply across social strata, intensified repression by the authorities led to a mass conversions of socialists in the early 1930s. Many converts, like Nabeyama Sadachika and Akamatsu Katsumaro, were co-opted into the narrative of Tenno nationalism, but a few individuals resisted it. The latter did not entirely reject the socialist movements they had previously been involved in. Amidst their frustration, helplessness, and sense of defeat, they identified problems such as elitism within Fukumoto-ism and great-power chauvinism of the Soviet Union, which led the Comintern, and worked to overcome them. At that time, one of the unavoidable themes was, after all, the question of how to recognize their own class identity as intellectuals.

This report analyzes how converts who resited Tenno nationalism - such as Haniya Yutaka, Hani Goro, Shiina Rinzo - revised their social perspectives and positioned themselves within them. It then clarifies the lifestyles and forms of social participation they adopted, highlighting their significance and challenges.

Paper short abstract

This paper examines Japanese intellectual opposition to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, arguing that the 1951 debate marked both the first large-scale public discussion of peace in postwar Japan and the definitive breakdown of the postwar “community of remorse” amid Cold War polarization.

Paper long abstract

he Treaty of San Francisco, signed on September 8, 1951, between Japan and the Allied powers of World War II, was an event that not only provided the basis for the end of the American occupation half a year later, but also profoundly shaped international relations, giving birth to what is often called the “San Francisco system.” Especially impactful—in the global Cold War context—was the refusal of the Soviet Union to sign the treaty, as well as the exclusion of Communist China from the treaty negotiations and conference.

Most studies analyze the Treaty of San Francisco from the perspectives of either Japan’s political history or international relations. This paper proposal is an attempt to shed light on the opposition to the treaty among contemporary Japanese intellectuals. My thesis is that the intellectual debate over the Treaty of San Francisco fulfilled two key functions in Japan’s early postwar history. First, it served as an instance in which the topic of peace (which emerged in Japan in late 1948 with the Peace Problem Discussion Group) became the subject of national public debate for the first time on such a large scale. The wider Japanese peace movement, which started in 1954, to a large extent drew on the arguments articulated during the 1951 debate over the peace treaty. Second, I argue that this debate marked the moment when the relatively tight-knit postwar community of Japanese intellectuals (often referred to as the “community of remorse”) definitively broke down, signaling rising tensions related to Cold War polarization.

This paper proposal is firmly rooted in my own research on the intellectual history of occupation-era Japan in the context of the Cold War, which was unfolding on a global scale at the time the treaty negotiations were taking place. My analysis is heavily based on Japanese primary sources, such as sōgō zasshi (“general opinion magazines”) including Sekai, Chūō Kōron, Tenbō, and Bungei Shunjū, as well as on memoirs of prominent historical actors. I utilize both English- and Japanese-language scholarship on the subject.

Paper short abstract

Izutsu Toshihiko’s philosophical semantics enables intercultural dialogue through a "flexible mind" and reveals latent existential attitudes towards nature in ancient texts. This paper explores its extension to ecological ethics as a non-anthropocentric transformation of language.

Paper long abstract

Izutsu Toshihiko (井筒俊彦, 1914-1993) was a major Japanese philosopher, best known for his works on Islamic mysticism and his translation of the Qurʾān. Yet, with philological mastery over more than twenty languages, he also studied many intellectual traditions across East Asia, like Zen, Taoism, and Mahāyāna Buddhism, among others. In his later works, written in Japanese, Izutsu sought to provide a field (場) in which such highly idiosyncratic voices could become mutually intelligible, by means of what he termed "philosophical semantics" (哲学的意味論, tetsugaku-teki imi-ron).

In this regard, Ōno Junichi, in his recent book Izutsu Toshihiko: Philosophy in Dialogue with the World (井筒俊彦　世界と対話する哲学), highlights Izutsu’s "vertical approach", which posits a substructure of unmanifest, fluid meanings akin to a linguistic unconscious, and seeks to disclose the existential conditions subtly shaping texts and their authors from within. This approach grounds intercultural communication as a hermeneutical dialogue between semantic fields, made possible only when interlocutors possess a "flexible mind" (柔軟心, jūnanshin) that allows the other’s field to permeate and transform one’s own.

However, amidst such profound analysis of language, a discussion on the notion of nature seems nowhere to be found. But the omission is only apparent: for Izutsu, I argue, nature constitutes the pre-linguistic ground, the empirical basis of language itself, continuously dynamic and re-arranging its semantic articulation brought about by humans.

As such, this paper asks whether Izutsu’s aforementioned philosophical semantics can be extended likewise to ecological matters. First, I will apply his methodology to uncover some latent existential attitudes towards the natural world (mainly interdependence, respect, and "true reality") that predate its modern mechanistic devaluation. Second, formulate Izutsu’s epistemic–hermeneutic notion of the "flexible mind" as an ecological virtue open towards the more-than-human otherness. The final attempt would be to point to a reconception of ecological responsibility, not as a moral prescription, but as a transformation of meaning grounded in a non-anthropocentric conception of language, one for which Izutsu, from Japan, provided a compelling theoretical foundation with remarkable intercultural value.

Paper short abstract

I trace how the concept ‘shumi’ was rhetorically deployed to shape how people sensed, behaved and consumed. More than a translation of ‘taste’, I claim that ‘shumi’ tied aesthetic sensibility to social participation, benefiting specific actors as middle-class identities formed in modernizing Japan.

Paper long abstract

This paper positions the concept of ‘shumi’ – introduced into the Japanese vernacular in the late 19th century as a translation for the word ‘taste’ – as a marker that reveals how the cultivation of a sensibility toward nature and art was directly tied to socio-economic participation. I demonstrate how the language of ‘shumi’ was deployed in a broad spectrum of socio-historical contexts to shape how people ought to behave, sense, and consume, while serving the interests of specific individuals and institutions. An analysis of ‘shumi’ thus goes beyond merely acknowledging the friction that arises when abstract concepts are transposed across cultures and languages. Rather, this paper sheds light on how the often ambiguous discursive language of beauty disrupts and conditions the socio-political realm, serving as a medium through which newly emerging middle-class identities were negotiated and established.

Drawing on Jacques Rancière’s idea of ‘le partage du sensible’ – the sensible as that which is simultaneously shared and divides – I argue not only that ‘shumi’ holds a unique status among the many translation words from the same period tasked with sustaining the rhetoric of a modernizing nation-state, but also that it represents the intersection of aesthetics and politics in late 19th and early 20th century Japanese literary discourse and fiction.