Description
Book SynopsisFrom Country to Nation tracks the emergence of the modern Japanese nation in the nineteenth century through the history of some of its local aspirants. It explores how kokugaku (Japan studies) scholars envisioned their place within Japan and the globe, while living in a castle town and domain far north of the political capital.
Gideon Fujiwara follows the story of Hirao Rosen and fellow scholars in the northeastern domain of Tsugaru. On discovering a newly opened Japan facing the dominant Western powers and a defeated Qing China, Rosen and other Tsugaru intellectuals embraced kokugaku to secure a place for their local country within the broader nation and to reorient their native Tsugaru within the spiritual landscape of an Imperial Japan protected by the gods.
Although Rosen and his fellows celebrated the rise of Imperial Japan, their resistance to the Western influence and modernity embraced by the Meiji state ultimately resu
Trade Review
This volume's rich illustrations make visceral the abstractions of intellectual history, religiosity, and spirituality. The narrative offers a new perspective on war and memory as impacted by philosophy, providing insight into how Japan transformed into a modern nation.
* Choice *
This volume offers a colorful portrait of a regional Kokugaku world that has hitherto remained unexplored. This study of Hirosaki Kokugaku, then, inspires us to see the bakumatsu-period growth of the Ibukinoya school in a less political and more "religious" light. Fujiwara's study is valuable for helping us understand the logic behind this development.
* Monumenta Nipponica *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Seeing the "Country" of Tsugaru in Northern Japan
2. Visions of Japan and Other "Countries" in the World
3. Hirata Kokugaku and the National Network
4. The Academy and the Tsugaru Disciples
5. Locating Tsugaru within Sacred Japan
6. Sacred Mountain, Landscape, and Afterlife
7. Supporting the Restoration in War and Ritual
8. Modern Society and the Tsugaru Disciples
Conclusion: Ethnography, Kokugaku, and Community in Modern Japan
