- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804757775
- eISBN:
- 9780804779623
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804757775.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This introductory chapter discusses the depiction of family in Japanese melodramatic fiction of the Meiji era. This volume examines four novels initially serialized in daily newspapers at a time of ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the depiction of family in Japanese melodramatic fiction of the Meiji era. This volume examines four novels initially serialized in daily newspapers at a time of burgeoning circulations. These include Hototogisu, Konjiki yasha, Chikyōdai, and Gubijinsō. This volume explores how these melodramatic fictions responded to the concept of ie-seido and kazoku kokka kan (the family-state concept) and investigates the cultural impact of Meiji melodramatic novels. It also argues for the modernity of Meiji melodramatic fiction because of its specific concerns.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the depiction of family in Japanese melodramatic fiction of the Meiji era. This volume examines four novels initially serialized in daily newspapers at a time of burgeoning circulations. These include Hototogisu, Konjiki yasha, Chikyōdai, and Gubijinsō. This volume explores how these melodramatic fictions responded to the concept of ie-seido and kazoku kokka kan (the family-state concept) and investigates the cultural impact of Meiji melodramatic novels. It also argues for the modernity of Meiji melodramatic fiction because of its specific concerns.
MATT K. MATSUDA
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195162950
- eISBN:
- 9780199867660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162950.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the rise of Japan to global visibility during the Meiji Restoration after 1868, and the ways that the almost simultaneous collapse of the French in the Franco-Prussian war of ...
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This chapter examines the rise of Japan to global visibility during the Meiji Restoration after 1868, and the ways that the almost simultaneous collapse of the French in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 leads to a re-ordering of civilizations in the late 19th century. Organized around the contract marriage in Pierre Loti's popular story Madame Chrysanthème (similar to Madame Butterfly), the question of whether the Japanese are capable of emotion becomes central to debates about what constitutes an advanced society. French commentaries insisting on Gallic passion are contrasted to Japanese material and political developments that rapidly transform the tea-house vision of Japan into a picture of the imperialist “Yellow Prussians” of Asia, both fascinating and threatening to increasingly uncertain European powers.Less
This chapter examines the rise of Japan to global visibility during the Meiji Restoration after 1868, and the ways that the almost simultaneous collapse of the French in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 leads to a re-ordering of civilizations in the late 19th century. Organized around the contract marriage in Pierre Loti's popular story Madame Chrysanthème (similar to Madame Butterfly), the question of whether the Japanese are capable of emotion becomes central to debates about what constitutes an advanced society. French commentaries insisting on Gallic passion are contrasted to Japanese material and political developments that rapidly transform the tea-house vision of Japan into a picture of the imperialist “Yellow Prussians” of Asia, both fascinating and threatening to increasingly uncertain European powers.
Julia Adeney Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228542
- eISBN:
- 9780520926844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228542.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the contentious conception of nature in Japan during the early Meiji era. It attempts to provide a rough guide to nature's chaotic career in the early Meiji period in order to ...
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This chapter examines the contentious conception of nature in Japan during the early Meiji era. It attempts to provide a rough guide to nature's chaotic career in the early Meiji period in order to underscore how volatile conditions were. The chapter argues that that the contentious efforts to reconstruct the relationship between politics and nature demonstrate how deeply and completely Japan's cosmopolis was being reconfigured during these years. It explains that the variegated concepts of nature during the Tokugawa period were dissolved in the early years of Meiji as Japan expanded physically and intellectually.Less
This chapter examines the contentious conception of nature in Japan during the early Meiji era. It attempts to provide a rough guide to nature's chaotic career in the early Meiji period in order to underscore how volatile conditions were. The chapter argues that that the contentious efforts to reconstruct the relationship between politics and nature demonstrate how deeply and completely Japan's cosmopolis was being reconfigured during these years. It explains that the variegated concepts of nature during the Tokugawa period were dissolved in the early years of Meiji as Japan expanded physically and intellectually.
Morris Low
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013987
- eISBN:
- 9780262265935
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013987.003.0082
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter is organized into four parts. The first examines the reinvention of Tokyo as imperial capital during the Meiji era. The second considers how looking to the past was necessary in order ...
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This chapter is organized into four parts. The first examines the reinvention of Tokyo as imperial capital during the Meiji era. The second considers how looking to the past was necessary in order for Japan to move forward. Museums were important in this process. Participation in international exhibitions and the holding of domestic industrial exhibitions also helped the Japanese to envision a future led by science and technology. The third part focuses on how Japan put itself on display abroad, and on the educational value of showcasing its achievements and foreign know-how at home. The fourth part examines how Gotō Shinpei (1857–1929), mayor of Tokyo and then home minister, sought to rebuild Tokyo according to “scientific” principles after the Great Earthquake of 1923.Less
This chapter is organized into four parts. The first examines the reinvention of Tokyo as imperial capital during the Meiji era. The second considers how looking to the past was necessary in order for Japan to move forward. Museums were important in this process. Participation in international exhibitions and the holding of domestic industrial exhibitions also helped the Japanese to envision a future led by science and technology. The third part focuses on how Japan put itself on display abroad, and on the educational value of showcasing its achievements and foreign know-how at home. The fourth part examines how Gotō Shinpei (1857–1929), mayor of Tokyo and then home minister, sought to rebuild Tokyo according to “scientific” principles after the Great Earthquake of 1923.
Merry Isaacs White
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520217546
- eISBN:
- 9780520936591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520217546.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
Are Japanese families in crisis? This book looks back at two key moments of “family making” in the past hundred years—the Meiji era and postwar period—to see how models for the Japanese family have ...
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Are Japanese families in crisis? This book looks back at two key moments of “family making” in the past hundred years—the Meiji era and postwar period—to see how models for the Japanese family have been constructed. The models had little to do with the families of their eras and even less to do with families today, it finds. The book vividly portrays the everyday reality of a range of families: young married couples who experience fleeting togetherness until the first child is born; a family separated by job shifts; a family with a grandmother as babysitter; a marriage without children.Less
Are Japanese families in crisis? This book looks back at two key moments of “family making” in the past hundred years—the Meiji era and postwar period—to see how models for the Japanese family have been constructed. The models had little to do with the families of their eras and even less to do with families today, it finds. The book vividly portrays the everyday reality of a range of families: young married couples who experience fleeting togetherness until the first child is born; a family separated by job shifts; a family with a grandmother as babysitter; a marriage without children.
M. Cody Poulton
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833411
- eISBN:
- 9780824869151
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833411.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the debates surrounding theatre reform in 1880s Japan, which revolved around efforts to recognize the artistic value of the dramatic text and to reform kabuki playscripts ...
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This chapter examines the debates surrounding theatre reform in 1880s Japan, which revolved around efforts to recognize the artistic value of the dramatic text and to reform kabuki playscripts (kyakuhon) in accordance with newly imported Western ideals of dramatic form. In addition to the high social status accorded to theatre in nineteenth-century Europe and America, the importance accorded there to drama as a literary genre exercised some of the best minds of the Meiji era. Moreover, these occurred during a time of modernization, when theatre “reform” (as it was called) was part and parcel of a public effort to create a modern, “civilized” nation.Less
This chapter examines the debates surrounding theatre reform in 1880s Japan, which revolved around efforts to recognize the artistic value of the dramatic text and to reform kabuki playscripts (kyakuhon) in accordance with newly imported Western ideals of dramatic form. In addition to the high social status accorded to theatre in nineteenth-century Europe and America, the importance accorded there to drama as a literary genre exercised some of the best minds of the Meiji era. Moreover, these occurred during a time of modernization, when theatre “reform” (as it was called) was part and parcel of a public effort to create a modern, “civilized” nation.
James L. Huffman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824872915
- eISBN:
- 9780824877866
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824872915.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This work examines the daily lives of Japan’s very poor—the kasō shakai or underclass—during the last half of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Focusing on urban slums (hinminkutsu), it attempts to ...
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This work examines the daily lives of Japan’s very poor—the kasō shakai or underclass—during the last half of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Focusing on urban slums (hinminkutsu), it attempts to understand how poor people themselves experienced life. After examining the dominant popular views of hinmin or poor people in this era as a baseline, the author looks at what brought masses of hinmin to the cities, where they lived, and what work they did: everything from pulling rickshaws to making textiles, from carrying night soil to providing sex. It looks too at the daily challenges of stretching budgets, grappling with educational issues for children, and preparing meals. One chapter concentrates on the major problems, such as illness and disasters, that made the poverty-stricken life especially difficult, while another examines the endless ways in which the very poor acted as agents, filling life not just with hope but with activism and celebration in the here and now. Final, comparative chapters take up the nature of rural poverty and the lives of poor Japanese immigrants in Hawai’i’s sugar plantations as a way of understanding what was unique about urban poverty. The work contends that despite massive difficulties, the hinmin attacked life as intelligent agents, experiencing a range of life experiences similar to those that typified the more affluent classes.Less
This work examines the daily lives of Japan’s very poor—the kasō shakai or underclass—during the last half of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Focusing on urban slums (hinminkutsu), it attempts to understand how poor people themselves experienced life. After examining the dominant popular views of hinmin or poor people in this era as a baseline, the author looks at what brought masses of hinmin to the cities, where they lived, and what work they did: everything from pulling rickshaws to making textiles, from carrying night soil to providing sex. It looks too at the daily challenges of stretching budgets, grappling with educational issues for children, and preparing meals. One chapter concentrates on the major problems, such as illness and disasters, that made the poverty-stricken life especially difficult, while another examines the endless ways in which the very poor acted as agents, filling life not just with hope but with activism and celebration in the here and now. Final, comparative chapters take up the nature of rural poverty and the lives of poor Japanese immigrants in Hawai’i’s sugar plantations as a way of understanding what was unique about urban poverty. The work contends that despite massive difficulties, the hinmin attacked life as intelligent agents, experiencing a range of life experiences similar to those that typified the more affluent classes.
Teresa A. Algoso
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267374
- eISBN:
- 9780520950320
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267374.003.0012
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Whereas sex and status had been inseparable social identifiers during preindustrial times, reforms and discourses during the Meiji era had created a new “category of woman that cut across all classes ...
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Whereas sex and status had been inseparable social identifiers during preindustrial times, reforms and discourses during the Meiji era had created a new “category of woman that cut across all classes and that was set in opposition to man”. As a system of rights and obligations came into existence in Meiji, it had become important to identify who qualified for which privileges and their attendant responsibilities. Because one of the key determinants is the individual’s sex, medical jurisprudence played a major role, particularly when the individual’s sex was difficult to ascertain. From the Meiji era, medical jurisprudence focused on the new phenomenon, han’in’yō. Han’in’yō referred to those individuals whose sex cannot be easily determined as male or female, or hermaphrodites. This chapter explores how medical jurisprudence discourse on hermaphroditism supported the role of conscription exam in defining the new ideal of masculinity. Because the rights and responsibilities of citizenship were assigned on scientifically measured masculinity, individuals with bodies that did not conform to this new definition of masculinity were legally and socially marginalized.Less
Whereas sex and status had been inseparable social identifiers during preindustrial times, reforms and discourses during the Meiji era had created a new “category of woman that cut across all classes and that was set in opposition to man”. As a system of rights and obligations came into existence in Meiji, it had become important to identify who qualified for which privileges and their attendant responsibilities. Because one of the key determinants is the individual’s sex, medical jurisprudence played a major role, particularly when the individual’s sex was difficult to ascertain. From the Meiji era, medical jurisprudence focused on the new phenomenon, han’in’yō. Han’in’yō referred to those individuals whose sex cannot be easily determined as male or female, or hermaphrodites. This chapter explores how medical jurisprudence discourse on hermaphroditism supported the role of conscription exam in defining the new ideal of masculinity. Because the rights and responsibilities of citizenship were assigned on scientifically measured masculinity, individuals with bodies that did not conform to this new definition of masculinity were legally and socially marginalized.
Julia Adeney Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228542
- eISBN:
- 9780520926844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228542.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the political conceptions of nature in Tokugawa, Japan. It analyzes the homologous characteristics that make these different natures comparable and which set them apart from ...
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This chapter examines the political conceptions of nature in Tokugawa, Japan. It analyzes the homologous characteristics that make these different natures comparable and which set them apart from later ideas in the Meiji and Taisho eras. The chapter outlines assumptions common to most Tokugawa views of nature and details the variety of politically meaningful senses of nature. It suggests that a belief shared by almost all these contending positions is that nature provided a sanctioned locale for correct political practice.Less
This chapter examines the political conceptions of nature in Tokugawa, Japan. It analyzes the homologous characteristics that make these different natures comparable and which set them apart from later ideas in the Meiji and Taisho eras. The chapter outlines assumptions common to most Tokugawa views of nature and details the variety of politically meaningful senses of nature. It suggests that a belief shared by almost all these contending positions is that nature provided a sanctioned locale for correct political practice.
Hans Martin Krämer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824851538
- eISBN:
- 9780824868079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824851538.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter stresses the historical semantics of secularization, analyzing secularization as a concept used in discursive attempts to understand and structure historical experience rather than as an ...
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This chapter stresses the historical semantics of secularization, analyzing secularization as a concept used in discursive attempts to understand and structure historical experience rather than as an objectified and quantifiable phenomenon. An important prerequisite for the emergence of “secularization” as a conceptual tool in modern Japan was the earlier reconception of “religion:” In this sense, this chapter showcases one of the consequences of the conceptual work performed in the early Meiji years. At the same time, this chapter negotiates an additional premise of that work by highlighting another, older conceptual tradition that was crucial to the evolution of the thought of Shimaji Mokurai.Less
This chapter stresses the historical semantics of secularization, analyzing secularization as a concept used in discursive attempts to understand and structure historical experience rather than as an objectified and quantifiable phenomenon. An important prerequisite for the emergence of “secularization” as a conceptual tool in modern Japan was the earlier reconception of “religion:” In this sense, this chapter showcases one of the consequences of the conceptual work performed in the early Meiji years. At the same time, this chapter negotiates an additional premise of that work by highlighting another, older conceptual tradition that was crucial to the evolution of the thought of Shimaji Mokurai.
