State Formation in Japan


Book Description

This volume brings together for the first time a significant body of Professor Barnes' scholarly writing on Japanese early state formation, brought together so that successive topics form a coherent overview of the problems and solutions of ancient Japan. The writings are, in some cases, the only studies of these topics available in English and they differ from the majority of other articles on the subject in being anthropological rather than cultural or historical in nature.




State Formation in Japan


Book Description

This volume brings together for the first time a significant body of Professor Barnes' scholarly writing on Japanese early state formation, brought together so that successive topics form a coherent overview of the problems and solutions of ancient Japan. The writings are, in some cases, the only studies of these topics available in English and they differ from the majority of other articles on the subject in being anthropological rather than cultural or historical in nature.




State Reconstitution in China, Japan and East Africa


Book Description

Presented through an investigation of Sengoku Japan and Republican China, this book proposes an innovative explanation of state formation that focuses on ideational and geographic factors. This study addresses the question; why are some collapsed states able to reconstitute themselves where others have not? Graham F. Odell employs two cases of successful state reconstitution – Republican China (1912-1949) and Sengoku Japan (1477-1615) – to derive a new theoretical framework around this question. These cases are distinct across several significant factors, making them ideal for a research design that seeks to formulate an original theoretical explanation for a phenomenon. Taken together, these two periods of Chinese and Japanese history are paradigmatic cases of state collapse and reconstitution and thus intrinsically compelling to the study of state formation. By developing a new theory of successful state reconstitution through emphasizing the roles of ideology, political symbolism and the geographical distribution of social power, this text provides an answer to the question that has not only scholarly and practical implications, but also a wide geographical applicability. This book will be key reading for scholars interested in matters of international politics, political science, and state formation, especially in East Asia.




The "Greatest Problem"


Book Description

"At its inception in 1868, the modern Japanese state pursued policies and created institutions that lacked a coherent conception of religion. Yet the architects of the modern state pursued an explicit “religious settlement” as they set about designing a constitutional order through the 1880s. As a result, many of the cardinal institutions of the state, particularly the imperial institution, eventually were defined in opposition to religion. Drawing on an assortment of primary sources, including internal government debates, diplomatic negotiations, and the popular press, Trent E. Maxey documents how the novel category of religion came to be seen as the “greatest problem” by the architects of the modern Japanese state. In Meiji Japan, religion designated a cognitive and social pluralism that resisted direct state control. It also provided the modern state with a means to contain, regulate, and neutralize that plurality."




War and State Building in Medieval Japan


Book Description

The nation state as we know it is a mere four or five hundred years old. Remarkably, a central government with vast territorial control emerged in Japan at around the same time as it did in Europe, through the process of mobilizing fiscal resources and manpower for bloody wars between the 16th and 17th centuries. This book, which brings Japan's case into conversation with the history of state building in Europe, points to similar factors that were present in both places: population growth eroded clientelistic relationships between farmers and estate holders, creating conditions for intense competition over territory; and in the ensuing instability and violence, farmers were driven to make Hobbesian bargains of taxes in exchange for physical security.




Burning and Building


Book Description

"Soon after overthrowing the Tokugawa government in 1868, the new Meiji leaders devised ambitious plans to build a modern nation-state. Among the earliest and most radical of the Meiji reforms was a plan for a centralized, compulsory educational system modeled after those in Europe and America. Meiji leaders hoped that schools would curb mounting social disorder and mobilize the Japanese people against the threat of Western imperialism. The sweeping tone of this revolutionary plan obscured the fact that the Japanese were already quite literate and had clear ideas about what a school should be. In the century preceding the Meiji restoration, commoners throughout Japan had established 50,000 schools with almost no guidance or support from the government. Consequently, the Ministry of Education’s new code of 1872 met with resistance, as local officials, teachers, and citizens sought compromises and pursued alternative educational visions. Their efforts ultimately led to the growth and consolidation of a new educational system, one with the imprint of local demands and expectations. This book traces the unfolding of this process in Nagano prefecture and explores how local people negotiated the formation of the new order in their own communities. "




Burning and Building


Book Description

"Soon after overthrowing the Tokugawa government in 1868, the new Meiji leaders devised ambitious plans to build a modern nation-state. Among the earliest and most radical of the Meiji reforms was a plan for a centralized, compulsory educational system modeled after those in Europe and America. Meiji leaders hoped that schools would curb mounting social disorder and mobilize the Japanese people against the threat of Western imperialism. The sweeping tone of this revolutionary plan obscured the fact that the Japanese were already quite literate and had clear ideas about what a school should be. In the century preceding the Meiji restoration, commoners throughout Japan had established 50,000 schools with almost no guidance or support from the government. Consequently, the Ministry of Education’s new code of 1872 met with resistance, as local officials, teachers, and citizens sought compromises and pursued alternative educational visions. Their efforts ultimately led to the growth and consolidation of a new educational system, one with the imprint of local demands and expectations. This book traces the unfolding of this process in Nagano prefecture and explores how local people negotiated the formation of the new order in their own communities. "




State Formation in Japan


Book Description

This volume brings together for the first time a significant body of Professor Barnes' scholarly writing on Japanese early state formation. The writings are, in some cases, the only studies of these topics available in English.




Japanese Civilization


Book Description

One of the world's leading social theorists provides a monumental synthesis of Japanese history, religion, culture, and social organization. Equipped with a thorough command of the subject, S. N. Eisenstadt focuses on the non-ideological character of Japanese civilization as well as its infinite capacity to recreate community through an ongoing past.




The Taming of the Samurai


Book Description

This book demonstrates how Japan's so-called harmonious collective culture is paradoxically connected with a history of conflict. Ikegami contends that contemporary Japanese culture is based upon two remarkably complementary ingredients, honorable competition and honorable collaboration. The historical roots of this situation can be found in the process of state formation, along very different lines from that seen in Europe at around the same time. The solution that emerged out of the turbulent beginnings of the Tokugawa state was a transformation of the samurai into a hereditary class of vassal-bureaucrats, a solution that would have many unexpected ramifications for subsequent centuries.