ASDP Japanese History and Culture (II) - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

ASDP Japanese History and Culture (II)

Peter Nosco - May 22, 2013Slide2

Compare these observations of Japan in the 1570s (left) and 1620 (right)

“[The people] rebel against [their rulers] whenever they have a chance, either usurping them or joining up with their enemies…. The chief root of the evil is the fact that … Japan was divided up among so many usurping barons that there are always wars among them….” Alessandro

Valignano

, SJ

“The government of Japan may well be accounted the greatest and most powerful Tyranny that was ever heard of in the world, for all the rest are as Slaves to the … great commander as they call him….” Richard Cocks Slide3

Oda Nobunaga (1533-1582)

Succeeds remarkably in bringing about 35% of Japan (including Kyoto) under his control

Abolished toll barriers that the Ashikaga Bakufu and many daimyo and temples had established

“free markets” and “free guilds”Removes taxes on merchants

Establishes an office for the oversight of temples and shrines

Fixes exchange rates for gold-silver-copper

Orders repairs to roads and bridges

Friendly to Christians

Betrayed by a former allySlide4

Toyotomi

Hideyoshi

1536-1598

By avenging Nobunaga’s death, Hideyoshi becomes the great rags-to-riches story.Three extraordinary policies:

1) 1590 Census recording population by household and after 1592 organization of the society into mutual responsibility groups

2) 1583-1598 A complete land (cadastral) survey of each province

1588 Sword hunt: Disarmament by confiscation, resulting in 1591 separation of warriors and farmers

And one disaster: the 1592 invasion of KoreaSlide5

Hideyoshi’s concern over an heir

After years of frustration, in 1593

Hideyoshi

finally has a son named Toyotomi Hideyori

, who in 1596 is installed as

Hideyoshi’s

3-year-old successor

Increasing evidence of

Hideyoshi’s

mental instability

In 1598

Hideyoshi’s

health begins to fail seriously and quickly deteriorates

Sets up a council of regency for

Hideyori

comprised of the five leading families in Japan and headed by Tokugawa

Ieyasu

of

Mikawa

They promise their loyalty to

Hideyoshi’s

heir but the result is predictable once

Hideyoshi

dies in 1598.Slide6
Slide7

The Battle of

Sekigahara

and its aftermath

1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu’s (1543-1616) decisive victory at Battle of Sekigahara

1/3

rd

of the world’s muskets used

Political capital (Bakufu) moved to Edo (today’s Tokyo)

Grows from a sleepy fishing village to a city of a million in 100 years

1603

Ieyasu

takes and redefines the title of

seii

taishōgun

Title had been vacant for thirty years

1605

Ieyasu

passes title of Shogun to his son

Hidetada

(d. 1632) while controlling matters himself for another ten yearsSlide8

Again, compare

these observations of Japan from the 1570s and 1620

“[The people] rebel against [their rulers] whenever they have a chance, either usurping them or joining up with their enemies…. The chief root of the evil is the fact that … Japan was divided up among so many usurping barons that there are always wars among them….” Alessandro

Valignano

, SJ

“The government of Japan may well be accounted the greatest and most powerful Tyranny that was ever heard of in the world, for all the rest are as Slaves to the … great commander as they call him….” Richard Cocks Slide9

Sakoku (“Closing the Country”)

edicts 1633-1635

Forbid Japanese from traveling abroad

Forbid Japanese living abroad from returning to JapanForbid Europeans in Japan other than the Dutch on

Deshima

(

Dejima

) in Nagasaki Harbor

Decisively prohibit Christianity (with bounties for informants) and execute clergy

Remains the law of the land until the 1850sSlide10

What is now there in 1640 and what is still needed for “early modernity”?

Yes - The capacity for major resource mobilization

Getting there - An urbanized and literate society with meaningful surplus wealth distributed broadly

Getting there - A developed communications and transportation infrastrure

A half-century away – a self-sustaining popular culture

100 years away – An increasing sense of collective identity

150 years away – a proto-scientific outlook grounded in rationalistic and humanistic perspectives.Slide11

Europe

China

Japan

Korea

Religion / Philosophy

Late-Renaissance Christianity / Neo-Platonism

Late-Ming

Neo-Confucianism

& Buddhism

Early-Tokugawa Buddhism, turning to Confucianism

Mid-Choson Neo-Confucianism, shamanism

Government

Early modern monarchies

Imperial state

Shogunate (Bakufu)

Kings (tribute)

Power

Expansionist and maritime

Expansionist but land-based

Limited imperial, turning to isolationist

Isolationist

Degree of early modernity: collective identity and resource mobilizationStrong in both Strong in bothStill weak in collective identity but strong in resource mobilizationWeak in both

Japan’s place in the

e

arly modern

world

c. 1600:

The Clash of CivilizationsSlide12

The Confucian concept of four classes in Tokugawa Japan (1600-1867):

Note the great range within each class though limited mobility between classes

Samurai

士Agriculturalists

農

Artisans

工

Merchants

商

An organic (organism-like) view of society

Outliers: Entertainers, priests, physicians, diviners, and so on

The outcastes or

burakumin

engaged in problematic occupations like morticians, butchers, tanners, and so onSlide13

The effects of the epistemological shift from Buddhism to Neo-Confucianism

Fundamental rationalism

Humanism

Historical mindednessEthnocentrismConfidence in self-cultivation and the perfectibility of people.One effect with implications for civil society: The rise of public and private academiesSlide14

A revolution in Confucian thought:

Ogyū

Sorai 1666-1728 and the issue of nature v. inventionThe Confucian Way = The Way of the Former Kings, and not the Way of Heaven

The Confucian Way

道

= comprehensive term comprised of the policies, music, rituals, laws and punishments of the past

The Confucian sages

聖人

are just men who are special because of what they invented

The Confucian Way is to be found through texts and in history, and not in nature.

It thus must be modified if it is to be applied successfully in another time and placeSlide15

The Genroku

period and popular culture

Formally 1688-1704, but

more commonly used to refer to reign of 5th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa

Tsyunayoshi

(r. 1680-1709)

Grandson of a Kyoto greengrocer

The “dog shogun”

The rise of the

chōnin

町人

or urban townsman (non-samurai commoner)

Popular culture as culture that pays for itselfSlide16

Five requisites for a self-sustaining popular culture: 1) Urbanization

Cities concentrate

c

onsumers of popular culture10% of Japan’s population in 1700 lived in communities with 10,000+ populationsThis urban/semi-urban population grows tenfold in Japan in 100 years

5-7% live in Japan live in 100K+ cities, compared with 2-3% in Europe

Populations of Nagoya and Kanazawa at 100K each are like Rome and Amsterdam; Osaka at 350K is like Paris; Kyoto at is 400K like London; Edo at 1M may be world’s largest citySlide17

2) Surplus wealth

Surplus wealth necessary for consumers of popular culture

Agricultural yield increases by 40% in 1600s

Benefits experienced differently by urban samurai, merchants, artisans, and even rich agriculturalists Prominence of economic themes in the popular culture (bill paying, etc.)Slide18

3) Literacy

Woodblock printing technology reduces cost

Rejection of movable type

By end of Tokugawa period (c. 1850) male literacy of 40-50% and female literacy at 20-25% (compare with England-Wales/Holland)Question of how so many learned to read?Consider Ihara

Saikaku’s

story of the pawned love letter

Print culture and creating of communitySlide19

4) Communications and transportation infrastructure

Introduction of movable print technology, initially by Jesuits and also from Korea (recall invasion of 1590s)

The “Five Highways” (

Gokaidō)Post stationsEngelbert

Kaempfer’s

observations on

Tōkaidō

linking Kyoto to Edo: number of travels “scarce credible” and “on some days more crowded than the public streets” of Europe’s largest citiesSlide20

5) Cultural liberality

Promotion of diversity and appreciation for the diverse possibilities of life (Charles Frankel)

Little interest in censorship except where peace/security might be threatened

Creation of licensed pleasure quarters in major metropolisesShimabara in Kyoto and Yoshiwara

in EdoSlide21

Legacy of this popular culture

It was now realistically possible for someone to make a living and a reputation through various forms of

cultural production.

It was essential that one neither satirize the government or challenge the status quo.It is originally during the Genroku

an urban phenomenon, but by the end of the Tokugawa all of its features will have reached through networks into semi-urban regions—part of a long process of nationalization of Japanese culture.Slide22

“Dutch” (Western) Learning

Tokugawa

Yoshimune’s

relaxation of the ban on European booksWestern Learning called Rangaku (Oranda

= Holland;

gaku

= learning)

Two main strains:

Medicine (including botany, pharmacy, mining, chemistry and physics),

and astronomy (including calendrical science, cartography and geography)

Different reasons than why we study foreign languages and cultures todaySlide23

The autopsy of 1771

Conducted by Sugita

Genpaku

(1713-1787) who came from a family trained for generations in Chinese medicineWith Maeno Ryōtaku

, witnessed the autopsy by an

eta

of a 50-year old woman from Kyoto, comparing what they saw with charts in a Dutch translation of the German

Anatomische

tabellen

by Johan

Kalmus

(d. 1745)

They translated

Kalmus

’ book into Japanese as “A New Book of Anatomy”Slide24

The significance

A European book on anatomy could be more accurate than a Chinese book

Dutch learning might be in some areas superior to Japanese learning

There is the physical basis for a universal humanityConsider the relationship between Rangaku

(Western Learning) and

Kokugaku

(National Leaning)—1771 as a remarkable year

Effect on painting and European style realism

A new way of seeing

the worldSlide25

Painting c. 1783 by

Shiba

Kōkan: “A View of Mimeguri” in Eastern EdoSlide26

In nativism

there is

Motoori

Norinaga 1730-1801

Born and lived most of his life in

Matsusaka

Family of cotton merchants

Norinaga

was only interested in studies

Sent by his mother to study medicine in Kyoto 1752-57

Returns to

Matsusaka

and starts a medical practiceSlide27

Themes in Norinaga’s

thought

His work on

Tale of Genji and notion of mono no aware (the pathos of things) as the essence of Japanese literature and poetry

A defense of the emotional

His sense of the wondrous qualities of life

His lifelong work on

Kojiki

of 712

The 1763 “evening in

Matsusaka

” and his sole meeting with

Kamo

no MabuchiSlide28

1771 “Rectifying Spirit” (

Naobi

no

mitama)The ancient Way of Japan is the Way of the kami, (kami no michi or Shinto

神道

)

Neither natural nor man-made, it is a Way created by kami, not humans

Owing to the introduction of Chinese language and ways of doing things, there was a Fall from an ancient state of grace when Japanese lived in total harmony with the kami.

No separation between the past and present

Kami still control everything

Amaterasu

, ancestress of the imperial family, is both the sun goddess and the sun itself

Japanese deities, and hence Japan itself is the ancestral country of the rest of the world.

The Way to cleanse oneself of the “Chinese heart” (

Karagokoro

) and foreign contamination is to turn to the Rectifying Deities

One can thereby reanimate one’s true “Japanese heart”

and Slide29

Construction of identity: Who are you?

Orientating oneself in time and space

The creation of a heritage (patrimony)

Who are we not, as much as who are we?A deep nostalgia and an idealized pastA sense of a shared destination

Touching the sacred in

everyday life

Collective identity (“we Japanese”) vs. individual identity (“I”)Slide30

1844 King William of Holland sends a letter to the shogun via Nagasaki

It warns Japan that the rest of the world is being knit together by trade

“The process is irresistible, and it draws all people together. Distance is overcome by the steamship, and any nation that holds itself aloof from this process risks the enmity of others…. When ancient laws by strict construction threaten the peace, wisdom directs that they be softened.”

The Bakufu through replies that the suggestion is impossible and asks that the King not write again

The central government simply does not know how to respond.Slide31

Biddle Mission

1846 Captain James Biddle from the U.S. arrives in Edo Bay with two ships hoping to open relations with Japan.

He was told that foreign relations could only take place in Nagasaki, and lacking authorization to use force, he withdraws.

The Bakufu again interprets this as validation of its policiesThe U.S. interprets this as proof that a stronger approach is neededSlide32

The Perry Mission of 1853

Aware of the Biddle Mission’s failure, Commodore Matthew C. Perry prepares carefully, insisting that he have enough military force to guarantee his mission’s success

He arrives in Edo Bay on July 2 1853 with four “Black Ships” mounting 61 guns and carrying 967 men

His demands include protection of seamen and permission to obtain supplies and to trade, justifying these demands as the “law of nations.”

After a formal ceremony on shore, Perry departs announcing that he will return in April or May 1854—he instead returns in February.Slide33

Perry and one of his “black ships” (

kurobune

)Slide34

The 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa

1853 Abe Masahiro, head of the Council of Elders, circulates Perry’s demands to all the

Daimyō

soliciting their opinions (there is no consensus) and informs the imperial court as wellIt can be said that Perry thus “opens” Japanese politics as well as its ports!Upon Perry’s return, Japan is represented in the negotiations by Hayashi, head of the

Bakufu’s

Shōheikō

Neo-Confucian academy

Japan agrees to open two harbors at

Shimoda

and Hakodate where US ships could receive supplies and coal (but not actually trade)

Japan also agrees to open a consulate at

Shimoda

Both sides felt that they had prevailed in the negotiations.

1856 Townsend Harris arrives in

Shimoda

as the first US Consul

This first consulate is soon followed by diplomatic missions from the British and Russians

Harris meets the Shogun in 1857 and in 1858 concludes a treaty opening five ports including Edo to trade and residency for US vessels and citizensSlide35

1863-1868 Four struggles for control

1) For control of

domainal

politics in Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa, i.e., the domains that will lead the coup

d’etat

2) For control over the Court and its nobles in Kyoto, as well as the person of the Emperor

3) For control over the

Bakufu’s

own policies and politics

4) (Among the foreign powers) competition for the best possible deal with Japan.Slide36

The last days: Once intense rivals,

Satsuma and

Chōshū

acting together1866 Satsuma and Chōshū now form an anti-Bakufu alliance

Both shogun

Iemochi

and emperor

Kōmei

die in the same year

Hitotsubashi

Keiki becomes the last Tokugawa shogun, reigning less than one year, and Meiji (b. 1852) becomes emperor

Ee

ja

nai

ka (

ain’t

it grand?

)

movement of spontaneous reverie erupts in cities

Bakufu launches reform movement with French assistance (the final Tokugawa rally)The writing on the wall becomes clear that the Bakufu might be able to resist one or another of the domains, but that it cannot withstand the joint military opposition of both Satsuma and Chōshū 1867 The Shogun in Kyoto resigns his officeJanuary 1868 A “restoration” (ishin維新) of imperial rule is proclaimed by the Court, resulting in a successful coup d’etat led mostly by Satsuma and Chōshū, and with support from Mito, Tosa and EchizenThis coup and the new government have profoundly conservative leadershipThe last pro-Bakufu naval units don’t surrender until Spring 1869.Slide37

Immediate issues

The open ports

Extraterritoriality and loss of control of tariffs vs.

Windows of opportunity through trade and development of navyExperiencing the WestAfter 1853 an explosion of interest in Western studies

The 1860 mission to the States to ratify Townsend Harris’ treaty

The strangeness of North America and Europe to even highly educated and accomplished Japanese

There were five more similar missions by the end of 1867Slide38

A study in contrasts

Fukuzawa

Yukichi 1835-1901

Meiji Emperor 1852-1912Slide39

Emp. Meiji 1852-1912

Becomes emperor in February 1867

The missing presence in the Meiji Restoration

The intense competition among the leaders of the “restoration” to control his personNov. 1868 moves by palanquin to Edo which is renamed Tōkyō (Eastern Capital 東京

)

The open question of his own agency or power

His return visit by train to Kyoto years laterSlide40

Fukuzawa

Yukichi

1835-1901

Studied Dutch in OsakaEnters Bakufu service in the new Institute for the Study of Barbarian BooksWas the interpreter for the first two Bakufu embassies to the States and Europe in 1860 and 1862

Was principally responsible for popular knowledge in Japan of the West

Focused on explaining everyday things like hospitals, banks, political institutions, etc.

Modernization and Westernization

1868 Founds a private academy that later becomes Keio UniversitySlide41

The Charter Oath of April 1868—

The Search for Consensus

“By

this oath we set up as our aim the establishment of the national weal on a broad basis and the framing of a constitution and laws

.

1. Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided

by public

discussion.

2. All classes, high and low, shall unite in vigorously carrying out

the administration

of affairs of state.

3. The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall each

be allowed

to pursue his own calling so that there may be no discontent.

4. Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the

just laws

of Nature.

5. Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen

the foundations

of imperial rule

.”Slide42

The new times

1871 Intermarriage between commoners and samurai allowed and class distinctions eliminated

Tokugawa domains replaced by prefectures

1872 Compulsory elementary public education begins1872-73 Universal male military conscription requiring four years of serviceFarmers receive legal title to the land they cultivate

1876 Samurai banned from wearing their swords

1877 The failed Satsuma rebellion led by

Saigō

TakamoriSlide43

Changing times

Early modernity

Collective identity

LiteracyResource mobilizationUrbanization

Subject political culture

Loyalties to village and feudal lord

Centralized feudalism

Modernity

Participant political culture

Widespread use of inanimate sources of energy

Technologically advanced forms of communication and transportation

National armies and navies

Public education

Independent judiciarySlide44

Some additional key dates

in the late-Meiji Period

1889 Meiji Constitution

1890 First Diet Imperial Rescript on Education

1894-95 Victory in Sino-Japanese War

1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance

1904-05 Victory in Russo-Japanese War

1910 Annexation of Korea

1912 Death of Meiji, suicide of Gen.

NogiSlide45

“The Japanese Miracle”

As recently as fifty years ago, Japan was the only Asian country universally agreed to have achieved “modernity”.

The manner in which this came about was perceived by many to be a kind of miracle.

This launched a quest to duplicate the accomplishment elsewhere.But was it a “miracle” and could it be reproduced?