Patriots and Redeemers in Japan: Motives in the Meiji Restoration / Edition 1

by George M. Wilson

Overview

In this concise but ambitious historiographical essay, Wilson argues for an approach to the Meiji Restoration that emphasizes multiple lines of motive and action.

"By bringing some very interesting critical theory to his reading, Wilson has produced a book that will shift the terms of discussion on this event."—Harry D. Harootunian

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226900926
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	01/08/1992
Edition description:	1
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Prologue: Agency and Structure in the Meiji Restoration
The Myth of the Meiji Restoration
The Meaning of the Meiji Restoration
2. Time and History in Japan
3. Pax Tokugawa
Characterizing Tokugawa Japan
The Tokugawa Feudal System
Pax Tokugawa: Multistate Balance of Power
Levers of Change
The Realm as a Normative Concept
4. Plotting the Bakumatsu History: A Fourfold Narrative
Motives and Narratives in Writing History
A Matrix of Motivational Determinants
Reconsidering the History of Motives
5. Pursuing the Millennium in Bakumatsu Japan
Apocalypse and Artifice at Liminal Moments
Millennial Dreams as Models of Social Action
Salvation Sects: Tenrikyo and Konkokyo
The Millenarian Conversion of Samurai Nativism
6. What the Hell! Ee ja nai ka Dancing as a Form of Protest
Falling Charms and Dancing Parties
Paralysis of Central Space
Foreign Views of ee ja nai ka
Urban ee ja nai ka in Kyoto
Rural ee ja nai ka in Harima
A Historiographical Question
A Revolutionary Situation?
Ee ja nail ka the Movie
7. Epilogue: The Crowd in the Meiji Restoration
A Funeral in Fujisawa
Carnival or Festival?
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Addresses the question of who took part in making the Meiji Restoration. By arguing that there are many answers, that many groups of agents participated, Wilson offers a novel perspective on the decade of the 1860s in Japan, one that identifies and develops multiple lines of thought and action. Paper edition (90092-4), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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