Modern Japanese Studies
Introduction
Kun-Chiang
Chang (Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, National Taiwan Normal
University)
Special Issue Article
1. How
Modern Japan Conceptualizes and Constructs Narratives of Women from Warrior
Families
Kun-Chiang
Chang (Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, National Taiwan Normal
University)
2. Bushido
and Modern Age
Chin-Ping
Liao (Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University)
3. A
Study on the Samurai Spirit of Saka no Ue
no Kumo: Focus on Comparing with Bushido in Meiji Period
Shiaw-Hua
Chien (Professor and Chairman, Department of Applied Japanese, Chung Hua
University)
4. Problems
about Education on Chinese in Modern Japan and Confucian Classics’ Retreat: Through
Integrations of Textbooks of Chinese in
Meiji Period
Pei-Yi
Chin (Professor, Department of Chinese, National Taiwan Normal University)
5. The
Origin of Sun Yat-sen’s “Equalization of Land Rights” Policy: The Influences
from the Euro-American Theories and the Active Interactions with Japanese
Comrades
Tzu-Chin
Huang (Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)
6. The
Exotic Moon Shining Over Nationalism: a Close Reading of the Komin Literature in the Pan East Asian War Period by Fujii
Shozo and Some Theoretical Reflections on Literary and Cultural History
Yun-Hong
Lin (Ph. D., Department of Chinese and Literature, National Dong Hwa University)
Research Article
7. From
“Minshi” to “Shuishi”: On the Origin of Liang Qichao’s “Sleeping Lion”
Discourse
Jui-sung
Yang (Associate Professor, Department of History, National Chengchi University)
Special Issue Article
How Modern Japan Conceptualizes and Constructs
Narratives of Women from Warrior Families
Kun-Chiang
Chang (Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, National Taiwan Normal
University)
This paper is aimed at investigating how Japanese women, who have
undergone a transformation of consciousness from the “lessons for women” in
warrior families in the early modern period to “women of virtue” as “female
citizens” in modern times, were conceptualized as “women of virtue” by scholars
and politicians advocating Bushido. Women were also forced to adhere to the
tenets of loyalty and patriotism espoused by the code of Bushido in order to
fulfill the goal of having every man and woman swear loyalty and devotion to
the nation. Chapter II explores various ways “women of virtue” were raised and
educated in the early modern period in Japan. Chapter III investigates how
“women of virtue” were viewed and conceptualized after the Meiji Restoration.
Chapter IV analyzes images and characteristics of “female samurai” and “women
of virtue” in Japanese plays and novels. This paper intends to show how
intellectuals coped with national interests to transform and manipulate the
image of “women of virtue.” Based on these findings, the modern meaning of the
transformation of the status of women in Japan is explored.
Keywords:
Modern Japan, Bushido, Warrior Families, Women of Virtue, Female Citizens
Bushido and Modern Age
Chin-Ping
Liao (Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University)
The general concept or definition of Bushido has not been
satisfactory to any thinkers or scholars. And the concept or definition
concerning Bushido does vary owing to different time and occasion. It is owing
to this fact that the study of Bushido
is far from conclusion. During its encounter with the different value system
from the West, the traditional values of Japan went through unprecedented
changes. The moral standard and the life principles which samurai had followed
received some new and modern some interpretation and presentation in the book Bushido, The Soul of Japan by Nitobe
Inazou (1862-1933). As a result, Japanese in modern time had one more option in
their moral education. This paper, taking as its subject Bushido and modern
age, will examine the criticism which Hukuzawa Yūkichi (1835-1901), a Japanese
thinker devoted to promoting modern Western enlightenment, has had of feudal
system of Tokugawa period. It will then proceed to analyze the samurai image
equipped with the point of view of Christian morals in Nitobe Inazou’s Bushido.
The final part of the paper will discuss how Japan, when faced with the modern
West, had its self-criticism and attempted to imitate the West.
Keywords:
Bushido, Modern Age, Nitobe Inazou,
Moral Education, Christian
Moral
A Study on the Samurai Spirit of Saka no Ue no Kumo: Focus on Comparing with Bushido in Meiji Period
Shiaw-Hua
Chien (Professor and Chairman, Department of Applied Japanese, Chung Hua
University)
Saka no Ue no Kumo is a historical novel. What exactly was the samurai spirit in the
Meiji period as represented in Saka no Ue
no Kumo? Even though there are a few studies that have been done on this
subject, the question of how the samurai spirit in the Meiji period should be
presented, still demand much exploration to fill in the blank. In an attempt to
resolve this issue, this research seeks to compare the difference between the
samurai spirit as described in Saka no Ue
no Kumo and the true bushido present during Meiji 30-40 (1897-1912). After
comparing the facts, It is evident that both of these two great importance to
loyalty and obligation and bravery. However, it is more evident that the
difference lies in between how the Chuko Bushido (Bushido of Loyalty and Filial
Piety) was interpreted and handled, as mentioned in Gunjin Chokuyu (Imperial
Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors) and Kyoiku
ni Kansuru Chokugo (Imperial Rescript on Education). Due to the reason that
this ideology is often regarded as wartime propaganda, Shiba Ryotaro may have
chosen to play down this particular note in order to avoid deviation from the
focus of the novel, and to emphasize on the samurai spirit in the Meiji period
as the basis which traditional Japanese culture expands upon. This is the point
often neglected by past studies, as well as the defining writing technique of
this novel.
Keywords:
Saka no Ue no Kumo, Meiji period,
Bushido, Gunjin Chokuyu (Imperial
Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors), Kyoiku
ni Kansuru Chokugo (Imperial Rescript on Education)
Problems about Education on Chinese in Modern Japan
and Confucian Classics’ Retreat: Through Integrations of Textbooks of Chinese in Meiji Period
Pei-Yi
Chin (Professor, Department of Chinese, National Taiwan Normal University)
This paper analyses the problems about education on Chinese in Meiji
Japan through the textbooks in Integrations of Textbooks of Chinese in Meiji Period. There are four
characteristics of education on Chinese in Meiji Japan can be seen. First, it
was controlled by the government’s ideology. Second, the time to start learning
Chinese was postponed to the period in junior high school, and it augured the
trivialization of education on Chinese. Third, with Japan stood for its
national prestige, only the articles that mixed up Chinese and Japanese could
be collected into the textbooks. Fourth, Tong Cheng School’s works displaced
the classics before Song Dynasty to be collected into the textbooks.
The textbooks are limited by political and academic factors. The trivialization
of education on Chinese also showed the collision of Chinese and Japanese. This
kind of education on Chinese was made to “go into Europe” and let people be
Japanized. The most important problem is Confucian Classics’ retreat. It shows
the collapse of old civilization and the negation of learning of Confucian
Classics.
Keywords:
Sinology in Meiji Japan, textbooks of Chinese, education on Chinese, Confucian
classics, Integrations of Textbooks of
Chinese in Meiji Period
The Origin of Sun Yat-sen’s “Equalization of Land Rights”
Policy: The Influences from the Euro-American Theories and the Active
Interactions with Japanese Comrades
Tzu-Chin
Huang (Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)
The “Equalization of Land Rights” is the core concept of the
“Principal of Minsheng”. However, this core concept encountered opposition and passive
resistance from the comrades in the early years during Sun Yat-sen’s revolution.
This article will first explore the formation of Sun Yat-sen’s land
policy and his theoretical foundation. Especially focusing on the economic
theory and the foreign case studies he previously encountered to analyze the innovation
of his “Equalization of Land Rights” policy.
In addition, it focuses on the exchange between Sun Yat-sen and Mizayaki
Tamizou to clarify why many core concepts such as the “Equalization of Land
Rights” and the “Land Value Increment to the Public” were all published in
Japan during the construction of the “Principal of Minsheng”.
Keywords:
Sun Yat-sen, Mizayaki Tamizou, The Principle of Minsheng, The Equalization of
Land Rights
The Exotic Moon Shining Over Nationalism: a Close
Reading of the Komin Literature in the
Pan East Asian War Period by Fujii Shozo and Some Theoretical Reflections
on Literary and Cultural History
Yun-Hong
Lin (Ph. D., Department of Chinese and Literature, National Dong Hwa University)
Japanese scholar Fujii Shozo offeres an interesting explanation of
the Taiwanese Komin Literature during Japanese Occupation: he holds that because
of the widespread use of the Japanese Language and popularity of literary
works, what is called public sphere was gradually formed in Taiwan society,
while the reading market was maturing. Besides, masscirculated literary publications
stimulated the collective consciousness of the Taiwanese. Therefore, the
nationalism of Taiwan in its infancy could be observed. The present paper holds
that (1) Fuji Shozo actually misplaced such theoretical concepts of “print
capitalism” and “public sphere”. These concepts are intended for specific
historical circumstances, rather than those of colonial Taiwan. (2) Under the
overwhelming reign of the Japanese colonial government, the maturation of the
“public sphere” faced its hardships. (3) The concept of “print capitalism” is
an inadequate explanation for the formation of Taiwanese Nationalism during
Japanese Occupation. Last but not least, what is to be borne in mind is that
what we call “theory” is, in a sense, specific depiction of the society of
Western Europe and cannot integrate local experiences into an all-encompassing
cultural and historical model that rigidifies the knowledge of our own
uniqueness.
Keywords:
Komin Literature, Print Capitalism, Public Sphere, Taiwanese Nationalism,
Taiwanese Literary History
Research Article
From “Minshi” to “Shuishi”: On the Origin of Liang
Qichao’s “Sleeping Lion” Discourse
Jui-sung
Yang (Associate Professor, Department of History, National Chengchi University)
By far the studies on the “Sleeping Lion” metaphor have reached a consensus
that it was Liang Qichao, rather than Napoleon, who truly utilized the
“Sleeping Lion” as a metaphor for China in his works published in the end of
the 19th century. However, the question of why Liang came to choose the image
of lion to symbolize China, and also described it as a counter image of Frankenstein,
remains to be unanswered. In this study, I have argued that a Japanese article
on China translated into Chinese in 1898 should be the key factor inspiring
Liang’ use of the “Sleeping Lion” metaphor. This article by the Japanese
author, Osawa Ryo, clearly contained the passage that Marquis Zeng has ever
depicted China as a sleeping lion. This new discovery shows that sleeping lion
discourse was actually initiated in Meiji Japan and later elaborated by Liang
Qichao. Furthermore, by examining a number of key discourses on China during
the Meiji period, this study also tried to make a preliminary investigation of
how the “China as a Sleeping Lion” image was first emerged in Japan and then
became enormously popular in China. My arguments will shed new light on this
very significant transcultural and trans-lingual development in the modern
intellectual and cultural history of East Asia.
Keywords:
Liang Qichao, Marquis Zeng, Sleeping Lion, Osawa Ryo
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