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No.1055 November 2024
| Special Issue: Memories of War in History | ||
| Preface | the Editorial Board | (1) |
| Articles | ||
| Memories of War in Ancient Japan: The Jinshin Revolt and the Battle of Hakusuki-no-e in the 8th and 9th Centuries | HASEBE Masashi | (2) |
| Memories of the Boshin War: With a Focus on Memorials and Honoring the Defeated | TAKATA Yusuke | (12) |
| A Song That Cannot Be Forgotten: War and Occupation Echoed in “Shina no Yoru”, 1938-1973 | AOKI Shin | (26) |
| Wars as Related in Tombstone Inscriptions: Selecting War Memories at the End of the Northern Dynasty | AIDA Daisuke | (38) |
| The Culture of Military Commemoration and Remembrance in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars | NAKAMURA Takeshi | (50) |
| Praising Soldiers’ Sacrifice for Home and Liberty: The United Confederate Veterans and Its Internal Tension in Shaping the Lost Cause Collective Memory | KANEKO Ayumu | (61) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| KAWAOKA Tsutomu, Study on the Power of the Shugo during the Sengoku Period | FUJII Takashi | (73) |
Summary
Memories of War in Ancient Japan: The Jinshin Revolt and the Battle of Hakusuki-no-e in the 8th and 9th Centuries
HASEBE Masashi
In ancient times, when media forms were underdeveloped and the collective memory was limited in scope, the memories of impactful wars tended to persist until later generations and were often modified in response to changing circumstances. In particular, the memory of victory was more important to those inheriting positions of power than the actual victors themselves. Regarding the Jinshin Revolt, Emperor Jito revived memories of Yoshino which was the starting point of the war in order to bolster her own legitimacy and that of her son, Prince Kusakabe. As the writing of Nihon-Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) completed and memories of the event as a civil war took hold, Fujiwara-no-Nakamaro emphasized the absence of his great-grandfather Nakatomi-no- Kamatari, assigning him the memory of being a great mediator. On the other hand, memories of defeat often served as Hoji-kongen (the rationale for participation in the Imperial Court) among the parties involved, even if little was openly said about the defeat itself. In addition, the memory of the Battle of Hakusuki-no-e was reconstructed as a narrative of suffering leading to redemption against the background of the spread of Buddhism. The narrative was used as a text by Buddhists in preaching, which lead its permeating the memory of local society.
Memories of the Boshin War: With a Focus on Memorials and Honoring the Defeated
TAKATA Yusuke
This paper explores the complexities of memory formation surrounding the Boshin War and examines shifts in the ways that the defeated commemorated and eulogized their dead. It demonstrates that the situation prevailing in the region and the realities surrounding the commoration of the fallen immediately after the Boshin War were overshadowed by memories formed after the late Meiji Period. Furthermore, the cases where monuments were erected by the losing side in the Boshin War in the first years of the Meiji period demonstrate that it was difficult to publicly enshrine fallen individuals by inscribing their names on memorial stones. Even after erecting memorial monuments inscribed with individuals' names became possible, it was not until the middle of the Meiji Period at the earliest that they could erect monuments eulogizing the deeds of the fallen.
In the third decade of the Meiji Period between 1887 and 1897, the promulgation of Japan’s first Constitution, along with the issuing of pardons and conferral of posthumous ranks, facilitated reconciliation between victors and the defeated in the Boshin War throughout Japan. Nonetheless, while the "martyrs" of the defeated side in the Boshin War were honored at the private or prefectural levels, they remained excluded from the framework of state commemoration.
In 1897, DOI Bansui wrote the song "Kojo no Tsuki" (The Moon over the Ruined Castle), which was published in Chugaku Shoka (Songs for Middle School). After the Asia-Pacific War (WWII), it was revealed that Tsuru-ga-Jō Castle in Aizu Wakamatsu and Aoba Castle in Sendai, both key castles of the losing side in the Boshin war, were the models for this song. This song projected memories of the Boshin War, formed up until the 1930’s; in other words, reconstructed memories of the war. Subsequently, in Aizu Wakamatsu and Sendai, the experience of defeat in the Boshin War and the Asia-Pacific War were superimposed on each other to make this song a lament of the defeated. These examples illustrate the difficulties faced starting from the third decade of the Meiji Period in trying to bring about reconciliation and undo the wounds left by the Boshin War.
A Song That Cannot Be Forgotten: War and Occupation Echoed in “Shina no Yoru”, 1938-1973
AOKI Shin
“Shina no Yoru,” a Japanese wartime song that stereotypically portrays “China” in its sound and lyrics, was first released in 1938. It became popular in Japan and the territories under its occupation during the Asia-Pacific war. After the Second World War, it emerged as a favorite among U.S. military personnel who came to Japan during the Allied occupation and the Korean War, eventually gaining popularity in the United States as “China Nights” until the early 1970s. With this transformation of the relationship between the song and “occupation” in mind, this article discusses the evolving significance and memories of “Shina no Yoru” in postwar Japan, from the Allied occupation through the post-occupation era until the period of rapid economic growth. Despite its popularity with American servicemen, the song’s public performance was restricted in occupied Japan. However, it gradually made a comeback after the occupation ended, becoming one of the representative “Natsu Melo” (oldies songs) in the 1960s. As a popular song imbued with multilayered histories and memories of military invasion and occupation, it evoked mixed emotions linked to experiences of both “occupying” and “being occupied.”
Wars as Related in Tombstone Inscriptions: Selecting War Memories at the End of the Northern Dynasty
AIDA Daisuke
How did the bureaucracy remember wars during the period of Northern and Southern dynasties in China? This paper investigates the inscriptions on 199 tombstones of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty from the latter half of the sixth century for war narratives in order to gain insights into how the memories of wars were recorded at the end of the Northern Dynasty.
Our findings revealed that more than 70% of the inscriptions on tombstones of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty included no references to war. When wars were touched upon, the inscriptions tended to note promotions, elevations to the peerage, and donations immediately after them. Furthermore, in cases where the war ended in a defeat but resulted in an opportunity for promotion for the deceased, the tombstones tended to gloss over the fact of the defeat. When the deceased was a former adversary who gained service with either of the two dynasties after being defeated in war, this was recorded in the inscription. Conversely, if wars did not provide opportunities for advancement or service for the interred, the tombstones did not mention the war.
Tombstone inscriptions were written to eulogize the deceased and record their family history, so that they recorded wars as an opportunity for promotion and service, rather than focusing on the memory of the war itself. However, references to the tragedy of war and memories of defeat are found in literary works and compilations. We believe that bureaucrats selected the memories of war they recorded according to the medium and the timing of the narrative.
The Culture of Military Commemoration and Remembrance in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars
NAKAMURA Takeshi
The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars played a significant part in making and reconfiguring nations and their memories in long nineteenth-century Europe. This paper examines the culture of commemoration and remembrance in Britain during that period with peculiar attention to the invention of a British naval and military pantheon in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. After an overview of parliamentary commemoration since the War of Austrian Succession in the 1740s, this paper reveals the criteria and meanings of erecting naval and military monuments. It also explores the potential and problems inherent in national monuments. The proliferation of naval and military monuments was closely connected with the frequency of parliamentary votes of thanks to British victories; St Paul’s Cathedral became an important site of naval and military commemoration by the government and parliament; and these monuments would be expected as appealing to a wider nation. The conjunction of the metropolitan cathedral with the pantheonisation of the hero, however, might be contingent on wartime context.
Praising Soldiers’ Sacrifice for Home and Liberty: The United Confederate Veterans and Its Internal Tension in Shaping the Lost Cause Collective Memory
KANEKO Ayumu
This essay aims at analyzing historical constructions of the Lost Cause, the collective memory vindicating the Southern states’ secession from the United States and founding the Confederate States of America. Many historians have argued that the Lost Cause represented white supremacy, patriarchal gender relations, and class hierarchy, but they have assumed static linkage between the Southern White community and the memory.
On the contrary, the purpose of this essay is to explicate how many non-elite Confederate veterans found attractive and made use of the logic of Lost Cause for their own sake, and how potentially tense relations non-elite veterans had with former Confederate leaders, by focusing on activities of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), founded in 1889 as an umbrella organization for Confederate veterans’ camps all over the U.S. South.
UCV reunions and its organ promulgated its unique version of the Lost Cause memory in which private soldiers’ suffering was praised as manly heroism. UCV acclaimed the Confederate veterans for their self-sacrifice without expecting material or secular rewards, and represented them as the vanguard against anarchy and mob—implying labor movements at the turn of the 20th Century. Many non-elite veterans actively participated in UCV activities, but their purposes were to show their presence and value in the memory of the Civil War, and their ambitions sometimes contradicted the UCV leaders’ yearning for hierarchical social order. Nonetheless, the Lost Cause contained the veterans’ potentially subversive expectations.
No. 1054 Special Edition October 2024
The Annual Meeting of the Society in May 2024
Rethinking the Master Narratives Now
| Plenary Session | ||
| Rethinking the Master Narratives Now | OTA Atsushi HASHIMOTO Michinori KAKINUMA Yohei | (2) |
| Ancient History Section I | ||
| Local Societies and Family in Ancient World | TADA Makiko | (35) |
| Ancient History Section II | ||
| Transformation of the Ancient States and the Clan Orders | UEMURA Masahiro | (51) |
| Medieval History Section | ||
| Power and Religion in Medieval Japan | KOIKE Katsuya TAKATORI Ren | (66) |
| Early Modern History Section | ||
| Social Change and Cities during the Meiji Restoration | TAKAKU Tomohiro YOSHIOKA Seiya | (88) |
| Modern History Section | ||
| The World after the First World War | ANEGAWA Yudai MISAWA Takuya MARUYAMA Misato | (112) |
| Contemporary History Section | ||
| The 1970s as a Global Society: A New Perspective for the Late Cold War Era | CHO Fumitaka SHIMIZU Soh | (131) |
| Joint Section | ||
| Ancient and Medieval “Autonomy” and Communication | SHIMPO Yoshiaki MUKAI Shinya | (155) |
| Special Section | ||
| Dialogues for the Public History: Doing History in Tateishi, Tokyo | MAKITA Yoshiya MUNAKATA Shunsuke HAMA Yusuke OHNO Junya OZAKI Rinka AOKI Naoto ITO Youju HIGUMA Shuichiro HIURA Yuria KURAOKA Reiya IMAI Mamiri NAKANISHI Yuko KAMO Chihiro | (177) |
No.1053 October 2024
| Special Issue: Art and History | ||
| Preface | the Editorial Board | (1) |
| Articles | ||
| Practice of Art and Practice of History: Local Communities, Art, and History | MAKITA Yoshiya | (2) |
| Inheritance of the Voices and FUJII Hikaru’s “Record of the Bombing”: An Aspect of a Crossover of Art and History in the 2010s | YAMAMOTO Tadahito | (12) |
| Art and the History of Psychiatry | SUZUKI Akihito | (22) |
| Thoughts on the collaboration with IIYAMA Yuki in producing “In-Mates” | TONOMURA Masaru | (31) |
| Museum Places Narrating: Art Making History Alive | KOMORI Masaki | (36) |
| Current Topics | ||
| A Method of Estimating Damaged Cultural Heritage Using the “Cultural Heritage Disaster Prevention Map”: From the Great East Japan Earthquake to Noto Peninsula Earthquake of 2024 | EBINA Yuichi | (53) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| ITABASHI Takumi, Overcoming Divisions 1989-1990: West Germany’s Diplomatic Challenges to German Unification. | KOMORI Hiromi | (62) |
Summary
Museum Places Narrating: Art Making History Alive
KOMORI Masaki
This study discusses museum activities and art practices that engage with the historical narrative. The paper aims to provide examples from museums and art exhibitions to consider the recent diversification and transformation of modes of historical narrative, and to examine their significance.
The paper covers the period from the mid-1990s to the present. It provides examples of activities related to museums and various art forms that are not limited to historical exhibitions and "fine arts," but rather to new ways of narrating history in these five sections including "Aesthetic Museographies," "Contact Zone with Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology," "Self/Criticism in Museums," "Digitalizing Museums and Art" and "Narrating Outside Museums." Through my analyses of case studies in these fields, this study aims to consider how the space of museums has influenced the process of historical narrative-making, and how museums and art have initiated and invented ways of narrating history/histories. As a result of these examinations, the paper concludes that museums can be media that critique and transcend various socially, culturally, and politically constructed boundaries, and can make history contemporary and alive by narrating it through the museum space.
No.1052 September 2024
| Articles | ||
| Attributes of the Three Empress Offices of Ancient Japan as Seen in the Ritsuryo Regulation | SAKURADA Marie | (1) |
| Series: Writing History(4) Entertainment and History | ||
| Citizens, Researchers and Historiography around Shinsengumi Representation | MINO Yukinori | (18) |
| Historical Entertainment and Historical Research | SASHI Akihiro | (25) |
| A Crossover of Entertainment and History: Comic A Witch’s Life in Mongol | TANIKAWA Haruna | (31) |
| A Dilemma of Educational Comic: Between Entertainment, Academism and Education | TABUSHI Yuji | (39) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| KANEGAE Hiroyuki, The Establishment and Development of Ritsuryo System of Domination | ASANO Keisuke | (47) |
| TANIGUCHI Ryosei, The Political Space of the Parliamentary Republic: Deputies, Parliaments, and Voters in the First Phase of the French Third Republic | OKAMOTO Taku | (50) |
| YAMAZAKI Akira, The Birth of Modern German Rural Society: Development, Conflicts and Education as Seen Through Territorial Documents | HIRAI Susumu | (53) |
| The Society’s Report | ||
| Report on the 2024 General Assembly | The Committee | (57) |
Summary
Attributes of the Three Empress Offices of Ancient Japan as Seen in the Ritsuryo Regulations
SAKURADA Marie
The Imperial House of Japan has three “empress” titles, collectively known as the sango. Kogo (translated as Empress), Kotaigo (Empress Dowager), and Taikotaigo (Grand Empress Dowager), are the titles given to the Emperor’s legitimate wife, biological mother, and grandmother, respectively.
Japan’s distinctive Hi status was predicated on the fact that the social order headed by the Emperor extended to female members of the Imperial Family. Accordingly, to have an empress title, which was superior to the Hi title, one would first have to be a Naishinno (Imperial Princess). One could only be the kotaigo or taikotaigo if one had first been the kogo; this rule was to prevent a situation in which a naishinno would be subject to someone of a lower status to her.
The Ritsuryo Code bestowed no sovereign authority to any of the three empress offices, as it deprived all but the Emperor of any sovereign authority. However, the contents of the three empress titles were not stipulated in the Ritsuryo Code and their office transcended the Code, as did the office of Emperor. When the Code was drawn up based on the Tang Dynasty model in 701 AD, it failed to incorporate the pre-existing system of imperial empresses. The Japanese Ritsuryo Code incorporated the native office of empress by making it transcend the system.
No. 1051 August 2024
| Articles | ||
| The Approach of Japan Economic Federations to the International Chamber of Commerce about the Japanese Trade Issue in the 1920s | FUJII Takashi | (1) |
| Views and Reviews | ||
| From the History of Chocolate: We Can Learn Useful Historical Perspectives from the Material Turn in Histories | IWAMA Toshihiko | (19) |
| On the Joint Review Session: TAKAZAWA Norie and Guillaume Carré (eds), At the Crossroads of Histories: Social Statuses in Modern France and Japan | KISHIMOTO Mio, EGAWA Atsushi, YOKOYAMA Yuriko, and TAKAZAWA Norie | (27) |
| The History Festival Report | OSAWA Takehiko, KATO Masaki, SHIKANO Mie, and SASAKI Makoto | (38) |
| Current Topics | ||
| Local Historical Materials’ Preservation Challenged in Times of Disasters | AMANO Masashi and ONOZUKA Koichi | (48) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| HIRAKAWA Arata, The Politics of Public Opinion in the Edo Period | KODAMA Kenji | (55) |
| MATSUMOTO Toshiro, Post-Manchukuo Industrialization: Construction upon Heritage | MINE Takeshi | (58) |
Summary
The approach of Japan Economic Federations to the International Chamber of Commerce about the Japanese trade issue in the 1920s
FUJII Takashi
As Japan’s exports increased during the 1920s, it came to face increasing obstacles due to the creation of economic blocks by the major powers and boycotts of Japanese goods in China. It was against this background that the Japan Economic Federation (JEF), the most influential economic association in Japan, came to value the importance of negotiating problems of international commerce in international forums and started to engage with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which was closely related to the League of Nations. This paper examines how the JEF tried to engage with the ICC, and what impact the ICC had on the Japanese businessmen who sought the expansion of trade in 1920s.
As an organization, the ICC’s orientation was overwhelmingly centered on Europe. However, under the influence of Inoue Jun’nosuke, the JEF recognized that the ICC’s advocacy of Freedom of Trade had valuable implications for the development of Japan’s export trade. The JEF took the opportunity of the 1927 Geneva World Economic Conference to present the views of the home export industry to the ICC, and co-operated with Japanese diplomats to appeal to open up debate on unresolved obstacles to free trade in Japan’s major markets in the Pacific Rim region. In this process, the importance of negotiations at the ICC came to be more widely recognized within Japan, and in the ICC Amsterdam Congress in 1929, Japanese businessmen pressed for negotiations to resolve the standing issues of the treatment of Japanese nationals with South Africa and the boycott of Japanese products within China. The JEF tried to raise the problem of South Africa. On the other hand, it chose to avoid appealing to boycotts in China because China had also joined the ICC and started lobbying against the Japanese motion.
During the decade of the 1920s, the JEF listened to the opinions of domestic entrepreneurs and increasingly came to engage with the ICC as a way of resolving problems of international commerce. It insisted on an expansion of the scope of debate in the ICC from being totally Eurocentric to embracing Japan’s overseas markets as well. However, as membership of the ICC also expanded, this ironically resulted in raising the specter of colliding with countries targeted by Japanese export trade, especially China.
No.1050 July 2024
| Special Issue: Expanding the Frontiers of Historical Studies through Data Analysis （Ⅱ） | ||
| Articles | ||
| Rapid Decline in Smallpox Mortality in Eastern Part of Ashigara Prefecture Due to the Introduction of Smallpox Regulations: Results from the “Demographic Analysis System in Japan Using the Relational Database of Historical Documents (DANJURO)” | KAWAGUCHI Hiroshi | (1) |
| Re-evaluation of the Cadastral Maps of Meiji era for the Historical Landscape Study on GIS | FUKUMURA Mizuki | (14) |
| Changes in the Perception of Peace in Hiroshima, as Seen in Editorials Published on the Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing | WATAKABE Akira | (25) |
| Utilizing Satellite Data in the Study of Ancient Chinese History: A Case Study of "Pastures" in the Qin and Han Dynasties | MURAMATSU Koichi | (36) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| CHONG, Young-hwan, Korean Nationality in History | TONOMURA Masaru | (50) |
| ONODERA, Shiro, Statism and Military Nationalism in Modern China | KAWAJIRI Fumihiko | (53) |
| HASHIMOTO, Koichi, Research on Fujian People's Revolutionary Government: Anti-Chiang Kai-shek Anti-Japanese Regime by a Third Force and Various Domestic and Foreign Forces | MIZUHA, Nobuo | (56) |
| Announcements | ||
| Statement Calling for the Withdrawal of the Decision by the Minister of State for Special Missions, "Toward the Incorporation of the Science Council of Japan" (December 22, 2023) and Strongly Opposing the Incorporation of the Science Council of Japan | (62) | |
Summary
Possibility of Rapid Decline in Smallpox Mortality in Eastern Ashigara Prefecture Due to the Introduction of Smallpox Regulations: Results from the “Demographic Analysis System in Japan Using the Relational Database of Historical Documents (DANJURO)”
KAWAGUCHI Hiroshi
We have developed the data analysis system for the village vaccination reports compiled in 1875 by the village heads in Ashigara Prefecture and estimated the smallpox morbidity and mortality in seven villages in Ashigara-Kami, Ashigara-Shimo, Yurugi, Ohsumi, and Tsukui Counties during the 25 years from 1851 to 1875. Then we compared the smallpox morbidity and mortality level in 1851-1875 with the data in 1884-1899 calculated from the Statistical Yearbooks of Kanagawa Prefecture. The average annual smallpox morbidity and mortality in 1884-1899 sharply dropped. In Ashigara Prefecture, which received the smallpox regulations, vaccination against smallpox were rapidly spread among children and young people under 25 years of age in the first half of 1875. Therefore it is possible to say that from the second half of 1875 to 1879, the smallpox morbidity and mortality in eastern Ashigara Prefecture sharply decreased.
Re-evaluation of the Cadastral Maps of Meiji era for the Historical Landscape Study on GIS
FUKUMURA Mizuki
Digitalizing old maps and cartographic materials is opening up new possibilities in the research of historical landscapes. However, it is imperative that we can establish principles for making unbiased evaluations of the accuracy of old maps and develop appropriate methodology in order to be able to utilize them.
This paper is a case study of using cadastral maps created around 1890 in the Shimo’ina Region of Nagano Prefecture. We analyze a range of related documents to develop a hypothesis concerning the surveying methods of land and forests used in these maps. Western surveying technology based on the plane table technique is not suitable for surveying Japan’s rugged mountain forest lands, and we propose that surveyors used traditional Japanese traverse surveying techniques to survey forests and fields in mountainous areas in the period 1887-1912. The degree of accuracy in such maps falls within a range which makes it possible to apply GIS geometric correction to obtain usable data.
Using cadastral maps from the 1890’s to reconstruct historical landscapes enables detailed discussion of the cultural landscape in regional Japan in this period. This period marks the last stage before Japan’s rural areas embarked on a course of rapid modernization, and we can read the data contained in maps from the 1890’s as an important source of reliable data on the traditional rural cultural landscape.
Changes in the Perception of Peace in Hiroshima, as Seen in Editorials Published on the Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing
WATAKABE Akira
This paper identifies the changes that have taken place in the contents of editorials published in Chūgoku Shinbun, the newspaper of the city of Hiroshima, on the anniversary of the atomic bombing, as one of the changes in social circumstances that have occurred since the end of World War II. The contents of editorials published between 1946 and 2023 were analyzed using quantitative text analysis, specifically the structural topic model. The analysis yielded the following types of topics: 1. those related to the atomic bomb victims, 2. those related to concepts such as permanent peace and having anti-war and anti-nuclear argument, and 3. those related to nuclear strategy that had anti-war and anti-nuclear argument. Although the topics in category 1 have appeared frequently in the postwar era, those in category 2 were more frequent in the early postwar period; topics in category 3 appeared more frequently after the first half of the 1980s. What drives the high frequency of category 1 editorials may be the fact that the problems directly faced by atomic bomb victims remained unresolved, while the shift in frequency from category 2 to category 3 may be due to the decrease in influence of a movement to ban atomic and hydrogen bombs as division spread among its members, as well as due to changes in the security environment with the collapse of the Cold War structure.
Utilizing Satellite Data in the Study of Ancient Chinese History: A Case Study of "Pastures" in the Qin and Han Dynasties
MURAMATSU Koichi
This paper aims to consider new methods for studying ancient Chinese history utilizing satellite data. Firstly, it introduces the achievements of recent studies on ancient Chinese history using remote sensing and GIS. Furthermore, as a specific case, it elucidates the position of "pastures" scattered across the Loess Plateau and Ordos Plateau during the Qin and Han dynasties and the surrounding geographical environment using satellite data. Through examination, it identifies the location of pastures by using GIS slope analysis to extract plains on valley basins and plateaus in the southwestern part of the Loess Plateau, uses cross-sectional diagrams created from elevation data to suggest the environment including salt lakes and grasslands where pastures were established in the eastern part of the Ordos Plateau, and suggests that pastures were placed on sloping terrain from mountains to salt lakes along rivers using river basin data in the southern part of the Ordos Plateau. It also examines the relationship between pastures in the Qin dynasty and the Great Wall and the direct roads. Finally, it discusses the possibilities and challenges of historical research utilizing satellite data.
No. 1049 June 2024
Summary
Development of Ancient Kibi and Migrants from the Korean Peninsula
IMAZU Katsunori
This paper examines the regional demographics of the central plain of ancient Kibi. From the changes in the number of residences in this area, we can see that since the 5th century (the Middle Kofun period) the population increased at a mean rate of 0.8%; it can therefore be assumed that approximately 25% of the population of the central plain in the first half of the 8th century were immigrants from the Korean Peninsula. From the 6th century (the Late Kofun period), technology introduced into Kibi by immigrants, such as irrigation and iron smelting, was continuously developed, resulting in the dense population of the central plain area. This phenomenon arose in Kibi in the Middle Kofun period because of longstanding links between the central Wa polity and the regional Kibi polity, as well as because of interventions in the Korean Peninsula by the Kibi polity. For societies on the Japanese archipelago, which were established on the periphery of Northeast Asia and were externally dependent, the immigration of people from the Korean Peninsula was of definitive importance for increasing social complexity.
Air Pollution and Infant Mortality in Late Meiji Japan: A Quantitative Analysis Approach
INOUE Tatsuki
This paper investigates the impact of coal smoke on infant mortality in the early stage of industrialization. The Industrial Revolution rapidly increased coal consumption, leading to serious air pollution. However, there have been only few studies on the adverse health consequences of coal smoke due to a lack of data on air pollutants. This study addressed this problem by utilizing actual coal-use panel data at the prefectural level between 1899 and 1910. Employing a fixed effects model as the identification strategy, I found that air pollution from coal combustion significantly increased the infant mortality rate. This finding remains robust when controlling for the numbers of factories and factory workers, which indicate the level of industrial development. The estimation result suggests that the impact of coal smoke equals to approximately 20% of the overall increase in infant mortality rate from 1899 to 1910. In addition, this paper highlights the importance of using a fixed effects model in the field of history.
Historiography and Data Analysis: The Case of Farm Labor Demand and Seasonality in Childbirth
IGARASHI Erika
In this paper, we apply the historical demography method to create new datasets of family and demography with statistics software. Using this data set, we examine the relationship between the seasonality of childbirth and the farm household economy in postwar Japan. As a result of regression analysis, we can find that households that engaged in sericulture, where women were expected to be part of the labor force, tended to give birth outside of the busy farming season, while households that did not engage in sericulture tended to give birth during the busy farming season. It suggests that seasonal fluctuations in women's labor demand, rather than the household, affect the seasonality of childbirth. This discovery, which has had an impact on family history, population history, and economic history, was achieved through the introduction of data analysis, and it is therefore desirable for historians to use data analysis even more in the future.
Structuring Textual Data and Literature Study: The Case of Ming- and Qing-dynasty Catholic Doctrines in Chinese Translation.
WANG Wenlu
This paper presents a case study in which text encoding is applied as a data processing methodology to analyze early modern Chinese Christian texts. The case study looks at how the content of religious education changed during the 17th century through ten variants of a Chinese catechism entitled jiaoyao that has a complex genesis. Since traditional methodologies of recording and organizing content variation of such a level of complexity are challenging, this study explores more effective alternatives by creating a critical apparatus of the texts according to the Text Encoding Initiative guidelines. Based on the encoded data and its visualizations, this paper provided the first systematic analysis of this group of texts, grouping and dating the variants and analyzing the gradual development of translations in theological terminologies and doctrinal contents. This case study demonstrates that processing text data through encoding is both feasible and effective. In the jiaoyao case, this methodology enables precise recording and flexible comparisons of the variants, thus greatly improving the quality of analysis. It also argues that the encoding is an interpreting process, a reading against diverse textual traditions, thus offering fresh perspectives and opening new threads of inquiry.
A Commonative Study of Japanese and English Village History and Data Analysis: Past, Present and Near Future
TAKAHASHI Motoyasu
It is natural for historians to make use of the tools of civilisation as the development of civilisation gives rise to more convenient things. Therefore, it can be said that all fields and disciplines have enjoyed the benefits of science and technology. In some cases, the use of such technology has led to the advancement of research. On the other hand, as specialisation increases, communication with neighbouring disciplines tends to be neglected, and interdisciplinary and international research is being conducted with the aim of overcoming this. Therefore, the digitalization of data analysis is progressing in all fields, and the author's study of Japanese-English (European) village history contrasts is no exception. Nevertheless, as will be seen below, genealogy has long been in a situation where it is difficult to say that there has been relatively close contact with other fields. However, ongoing data analysis foreshadows the enormous contribution that genealogical approaches can make to society in collaboration with neighbouring disciplines. The resulting increase in the number of people contributing to the foundation of the family tree of humanity as a whole should increase the demand for the necessary skills and technology in this field.
Changes in the Nature of the Executive Candidates for Local Officials in 19th Century France: The case of Conseillers de Préfecture in the Purénées-Orientales
OKAMOTO Taku
As the method of numerical and typological analysis through prosopography alone cannot elucidate the inner reality of change in the target social group, this paper compensates for this shortcoming by using descriptive historical documents and presents one attempt at historiographical research through data analysis.
The analysis of the group of conseillers de préfecture, who were local executive candidates for administrative positions in 19th-century France, revealed a rapid increase in youth at the time of appointment to the position of conseillers de préfecture in the Pyrénées-Orientales during the Second Empire, as well as a rapid increase in career experience, as they gained 'career experience' in many departments and public offices in a short period of time, Numerical and typological analysis reveals that they were systematically trained.
The will of historical actors, which could not be clarified by numerical and typological analysis alone, was complemented by the use of descriptive historical sources. As a result, it became clear that the change in the local ruling class from 'notable de Ancien Régime' to 'administrateur moderne professionalisé' had a more multifaceted aspect.
No. 1048 May 2024
| Articles | ||
| Studies on the Hon. Pal’s Dissenting Judgement Paper and his Invitation to Japan: A Study of Criticism of the Tokyo War Trials Court in the 1950’s and 1960’s | NAKADATE Yuki | (1) |
| Do the “radicals” overthrow or activate democracy?: The “Radical Decree” in Hesse, West Germany in the 1970s | KAWASAKI Satoshi | (18) |
| International Exchange | ||
| Reflections on Japan-Korea Historical Dialogue: Participation in the 23rd Japan-Korea Conference of Historians | SASAKI Makoto | (35) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| TAKATORI Ren, Temples under the Political Order of Ashikaga Shogun Family | SAITO Natsuki | (42) |
| KIKUCHI Kazutaka, Chinese Kuomintang Special Agencies and the Anti-Japanese War: ＣＣ Groupe, Blue Shirts Society and The Three Principles of the People Youth League | FUJII Motohiro | (45) |
| Preparatory Papers for the General Meeting of the Historical Science Society of Japan in May 2024 | (50) | |
| Announcements | ||
| Notice of Amendments to the Regulations on Journal Submissions | The Committee | (64) |
| The 2024 General Meeting of the Historical Science Society of Japan | (65) | |
Summary
Studies on the Hon. Pal’s Dissenting Judgement Paper and his Invitation to Japan: A Study of Criticism of the Tokyo War Trials Court in the 1950’s and 1960’s
NAKADATE Yuki
This paper is an empirical study of the process of the translation of the dissenting judgement papers submitted at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal by the Indian judge, the Honorable Radhabinod Pal’s, and his subsequent invitation to visit Japan. This was brought about during the 1950’s and 1960’s when members of three different groups drawn from former members of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy such as Toyoda Kumao, politicians who had been arrested or tried by the Tribunal such as Kishi Nobusuke and Kiyose Ichiro, and members of the Pan-Asia Study Group such as Shimonaka Yasaburo, came together to criticize the War Crimes Tribunal. By examining this process, this paper aims to demonstrate how these criticisms gained expression in contemporary politics and society, what influence this had.
We show that the military clique of Toyota etc. formed the Study Group of the Tokyo Tribunal and clashed with Tanaka and other former Pan-Asianists as to whether the Hon. Pal’s judged Japan to be innocent of war crimes. However, Kishi and Kiyose supported both factions, and brought them together to invite the Pal to Japan in 1966.
Moreover, organs of the Japanese government provided covert support the publishing of the translation of the Pal judgement papers and his invitation to Japan. We conclude that the three groups involved in this process worked to undermine the intent of the 11th article of the San Fransico Peace Treaty.
Do the “radicals” overthrow or activate democracy?: The “Radical Decree” in Hesse, West Germany in the 1970s
KAWASAKI Satoshi
This article examines changes in the understanding of democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s, with the “Radical Decree” as an example. This decree was issued after the protest movement of 1968 to prevent mainly radical left-wing activists, who were potentially hostile to the “free and democratic basic order”, from being employed as public servants. The Hessian state government administered this decree circa 1975–1978.
Regarding the “Radical Decree”, there was a conflict between the “defensive democracy”, which restricted political forces opposed to the state’s “free democratic basic order”, and the “party privilege”, which activated the diversity of political activities of the democracy as a whole, and there consequently was no need to repress smaller radical forces too harshly. During the conflict, various controversies arose, such as citizens’ dissatisfaction with political belief inspections, the burden of the Nazi past on West German democracy, the “contribution” of communists to the Anti-Nazi-Movement and democracy, and the expectations of citizens’ political capacity to sustain the democratic system. This analysis of the “Radical Decree” reveals part of the historical development of West German democracy.
No. 1047 April 2024
| Special Issue: Japan as Revealed by Diplomatic Rituals | ||
| Preface | the Editorial Board | (1) |
| Articles | ||
| Circumstances Surrounding Rituals Held in Honor of Guests: Banquets at Ancient Japanese Private Residences, Imperial Meeting Halls, and Korokan | HAMADA Kumiko | (2) |
| Perspectives on Historical Diplomatic Ritual Study: Focusing on Japan-Ming Relations in the Muromachi Period | HASHIMOTO Yu | (13) |
| The Diplomatic Ceremony between Japan and Korea at Busan and Tsushima in the Early Modern Times | YONETANI Hitoshi | (23) |
| Diplomatic Rituals of the Ryukyu Kingdom in the 18th and 19th Centuries: Focusing on Ceremonial Rites Related to the Written Pledges and Investiture to the Throne | ASO Shinichi | (34) |
| Developing the “Cultural History of Diplomacy”: On Researching Bakumatsu Diplomatic Ceremonial | SANO Mayuko | (47) |
| Announcement | ||
| The 2024 General Meeting of the Historical Science Society of Japan | (63) | |
Summary
Circumstances Surrounding Rituals Held in Honor of Guests: Banquets at Ancient Japanese Private Residences, Imperial Meeting Halls, and Korokan
HAMADA Kumiko
Previous research has placed considerable emphasis on identifying the various roles assigned to the Emperor, who participated only in the rituals honoring guests, and the Daijokan (highest governing body in the imperial system), which was responsible for all diplomatic activities. However, when foreign envoys who were not provided with an official welcome were received with a feast upon arrival, retainers sometimes held banquets. This study examines the feasts held at the private residences of nobles, imperial meeting halls, and the Korokan (official guest houses) to determine the circumstances surrounding rituals held in honor of guests.
The results indicate that three types of rituals were held upon arrival at the capital: 1) poetry banquets at rituals honoring guests, 2) farewell parties to which retainers were dispatched, and 3) poetry banquets held by members of the literati. These were all held under the diplomatic authority of the Emperor. The second type has been considered a variation of the banquets held at aristocrats’ mansions in the eighth century, but on the occasion of the arrival of envoys from the Tang Dynasty court in China in 779 (the tenth year of hoki) in Japan, a custom began in which the king was given presents at a farewell party given by retainers. In the ninth century, it became customary to hold a national diplomatic ritual consisting of a banquet held at an imperial meeting hall at which unofficial presents would be given in reciprocity. The third type was thought to be a private banquet held by the nobility where interactions as equals were possible. However, our results indicate that this third type was also permitted by the diplomatic authority of the Emperor.
Perspectives on Historical Diplomatic Ritual Study: Focusing on Japan-Ming Relations in the Muromachi Period
HASHIMOTO Yu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the practice of diplomatic ritual theory and to see what kind of scholarly scope it could have. The subject of this study is how the third Muromachi Shogun Yoshimitsu and the sixth Muromachi Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori received Ming envoys and Ming state documents. The research materials are the Mansai jugō nikki Diary, which dates from 30 years after the ceremony of the Yoshimitsu period, and the Socho-so Ho-hencho-ki (Japanese Record of Ming Dynasty Diplomatic Envoys’ Letters of Reply), which dates from the same time (Yoshimitsu period) but has not been examined previously. The two documents describe the same scene, but there are contradictory passages between them. In the past, I reconciled the two and stated that Yoshinori did not adopt as self-deprecatory a pose towards the Ming as Yoshimitsu. This time, however, I basically credited the latter account and adopted the position of relativizing the former. As a result, the conclusion is that Yoshimitsu adopted a far more coercive stance than Yoshinori.
There are other examples of Mansai writing falsehoods in his diary, and it is therefore possible for Mansai lied in his diary. Thus, the study of historical diplomatic rituals is directly related to the issues of historical material research and social history. I would argue that this is one of the destinations of Historical diplomatic ritual Study.
The Diplomatic Ceremony between Japan and Korea at Busan and Tsushima in the Early Modern Times
YONETANI Hitoshi
During the pre-modern period, a diplomatic protocol known as shukuhai (a form of veneration) was performed as part of the international relations between Japan and Korea. Diplomatic envoys would perform this ritual when granted an audience with the head of state of the country being visited. The diplomatic envoys would first bow from the waist while standing, then kneel with their hands placed together, and finally return to a standing position. This was done a total of four times and was known as kikkyu-shihairei (one bow and four genuflections) or simply shihairei (four genuflections). All envoys from Japan who visited Hanseong during the medieval period performed the four genuflections in the garden of the palace when granted an audience with the Korean king. However, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea, Japanese envoys were completely banned from visiting Hanseong; as a result, they performed the four genuflections in front of a wooden tablet known as the Jeonpae in Choryang Ceremony Hall in Busan. Thus, as it was impossible for the envoys to have an audience with the Korean king, they venerated the Jeonpae in place of the king. A Jeonpae was also erected in the main hall of a temple building on the island of Tsushima known as Itei-an where Korean envoys would perform the four genuflections when visiting Tsushima.
Diplomatic Rituals of the Ryukyu Kingdom in the 18th and 19th Centuries: Focusing on Ceremonial Rites Related to the Written Pledges and Investiture to the Throne
ASO Shinichi
This paper examines how the Shuri royal government managed to reconcile the reproduction of subordination in diplomatic rituals with the Satsuma clan and Qing China with the exaltation of Ryukyuan kingship, using the rituals related to the Written Pledges and the Investiture to the Throne. The Written Pledges of high-ranking officials of the royal government showed a double oath structure, with the various Ryukyuan officials pledging to the king and the king pledging to the head of the Shimazu family. On the other hand, in the ritual of making the written pledges, which was performed in Ryukyu with Satsuma clan officials as observers, the making of the written pledges took precedence over Ryukyu's fidelity. I pointed out that the rituals related to the investiture of the throne involved a diplomatic performance that concealed the relationship between Japan and the Ryukyus, represented an ideal "vassal state", and emphasised the "small state" status of the Ryukyus.
And it is clear that the royal costume represented the authority of the Ryukyu king and was used differently depending on the other party and the content of the rite.
Developing the “Cultural History of Diplomacy”: On Researching Bakumatsu Diplomatic Ceremonial
SANO Mayuko
“Bakumatsu diplomatic ceremonial” primarily refers to the seventeen audience ceremonies for Western diplomats at the shogun’s castle between Ansei 4 (1857) and Keio 3 (1867). This practice, analogous to today’s credential presentation ceremonies, expresses the establishment of a relationship of equality between the host nation and foreign nation by having two bodies (of the former’s head of state and a diplomatic envoy representing the latter’s head of state) come face to face, and ceremonially demonstrates the essence of modern diplomacy. Traditionally believed to have been introduced post-Meiji Restoration (1868), it actually began under the Tokugawa regime.
A significant portion of this paper revisits my research published in 2016 as Bakumatsu gaikō girei no kenkyū: Ōbei gaikōkan tachi no shōgun haietsu (Kyoto: Shibunkaku), focusing on the important continuity it discovered at the beginning and end of these eleven years. At the beginning, the shogunate adopted ceremonial practices used for receiving Korean missions, linking early modern Asian diplomacy to new international relations with the West. At the end, the final ceremony became a model for the diplomatic ceremonial of Emperor Meiji that started in the following year.
In its second part, this paper argues that such research on ceremonial leads to a multi-layered understanding of diplomacy, especially by looking at individuals at the forefront of diplomatic operations and thereby challenging the traditional view of nineteenth-century international relations that understands historical phenomena primarily in terms of pressure exerted by the West on the East. Furthermore, I also discuss issues surrounding the internationalization of research, mainly drawing from my monograph’s seven-year-long English translation process (the results of which will soon be published by Amsterdam University Press as Japanese Ceremonial for Western Diplomats Attending Shogunal Castle Audiences 1857–1867), and juxtapose these with the lingering “West on East” pressure dynamics that, despite the findings of my research, still characterize bakumatsu diplomatic ceremonial.
No. 1046 March 2024
| Articles | ||
| The Beginning of Modern Chinese Maritime Policy: Fishery Protection Policy of the Nationalist Government of Nanjing | SATO Ryosei | (1) |
| Morals and the Economy seen from Taverns in Eighteenth Century France | KIMIZUKA Hiroyasu | (18) |
| Trends | ||
| A Review of Research on the Soviet-Japanese War of August 1945 | ASADA Masafumi | (32) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| IMAZU Katsunori, Environment and Society in Ancient Japan | SATODATE Shodai | (40) |
| EBARA Masaharu, The Middle Ages in Maps: Traffic and Society | OCHIAI Yoshiaki | (43) |
| KANEKO Hajime, The State and Merchants in Modern China: The Dynamics of Tax Administration and the Order of Trade Associations | KAJIMA Jun | (46) |
| IKEHATA Setsuho, A Study of the Philippine Revolution | HIROSUE Masashi | (50) |
| HORII Yutaka, The Formation of the Early Modern Eastern Mediterranean: Mamluk Dynasty, Ottoman Empire and Venetians | TAKADA Ryota | (53) |
| NAKAZAWA Tatsuya (ed.) , Republic with a King: The Jacobins Reconsidered | UEGAKI Yutaka | (56) |
| NAGAI Nobuhito, Society and Politics in Modern Paris: Exploring the Everyday Life of the City | TANIGUCHI Ryosei | (59) |
Summary
The Beginning of Modern Chinese Maritime Policy: Fishery Protection Policy of the Nationalist Government of Nanjing
SATO Ryosei
In the mid-1920s, Japanese fishing vessels covered almost the entire Chinese coast, and fishing disputes between Japan and China became chronic. The Beijing government of the Republic of China drew up plans to protect the Chinese fishing fleet, but it was the Nationalist government located in Nanjing that brought this plan into realization. This paper examines modern Chinese maritime policy, focusing on this fishery protection plan of the Nationalist government of Nanjing.
Fishery protection plan of the Nationalist government of Nanjing consisted of two dimensions: the enclosure of coastal fisheries by enacting relevant laws and asserting Chinese territorial waters, and the enforcing an aggressive policy of excluding foreign fishing vessels. The former, however, only enclosed a minimal area due to difference of opinion among the central government agencies regarding the territorial waters, while the latter was largely unrealized due to the inadequate financing from fiscal agencies such as the Ministry of Finance and Chinese Maritime Customs.
The sequence of events surrounding the fisheries protection policy points to structural problems facing the Nanjing National Government as an administrative body. Administrative agencies of the Nationalist government of Nanjing were not only in the process of organizational formation, but also limited by a lack of adequate enforcement agencies and administrative resources. In addition, the problems faced by the government as a whole, such as discrepancies between policy issues and administrative structures and budget shortfalls, also piled up. As a result, there were disagreements among the administrative offices of the Nationalist government of Nanjing, and the fishery protection plan did not fully develop.
The Nationalist government of Nanjing marked a milestone in modern China's maritime policy by establishing sovereignty over coastal waters through the establishment of territorial waters and at the same time implementing a policy of fisheries protection based on territorial waters. However, various challenges such as differences of opinion among departments and the lack of administrative resources, still remained. Although the Nationalist government of Nanjing had established the appearance of a modern territorial sovereign state, it had only just begun to develop the administrative organs that would support state operations.
Morals and the Economy seen from Taverns in Eighteenth Century France
KIMIZUKA Hiroyasu
This paper examines the connection between the "civilization of morals" and the economy through state policies and discourses of taverns in early modern France.
First, the Police adopted the image and discourse from earlier times that taverns were "meeting places" for people of various classes, and supervised their operation in the name of maintaining social order.
Second, the supervision of taverns by the Police reflected the economic importance of taverns. In fact, moralists did not deny the taverns themselves, but rather criticized the fact that intoxication in taverns reduced work efficiency, linking the disorder of morals to the stagnation of economic activity.
Third, as the spirit of diligence and thrift became incorporated into the identity of the elite class, they shifted away from taverns. As a result, the clientele of taverns came to be dominated by "the masses," including laborers. Thus, taverns became associated with the lives of the masses, who had not yet achieved a "civilization of morals," and were integrated into the modern urban economy under the supervision of the authorities.
A Review of Research on the Soviet-Japanese War of August 1945
ASADA Masafumi
Russia has displayed a marked tendency in recent years to use the Soviet-Japanese War of August 1945 for political purposes. Japan long lagged in research on this issue. The results of Japanese scholarly investigations have gradually come to be published. Nevertheless, Japanese studies on the Soviet-Japanese War remain behind on the following three points: first, emperor Showa’s attitude toward the war and how his stance affected his operations; second, women as victims of the war and why Soviet soldiers committed acts of sexual violence and pillage against Japanese civilians; and third, the overall image of damages incurred by the Japanese in this war, including the number of casualties. A recent trend is observed to elevate Japanese military personnel such as Higuchi Ki’ichiro above historical facts or, conversely, to discredit them. Instead, there is a need for a balanced discussion based on primary historical documents, for example as in the context of the origins of the Siberian internment. Support is also required for research that is not restricted to written documents, for example, surveys of war-related sites or interviews with people who experienced the war.
No. 1045 February 2024
| Article | ||
| Chinese Studies in Japan and Research Grants from U.S. Foundations: A Reconsideration of the A/F Debate, 1962 | KUBO Toru | (1) |
| Series: Writing History (3) | ||
| Issues and Possibilities of Historical Exhibits as Public History | TAKEUCHI Yuri | (17) |
| Historical Revisionism and What the Display of "Simplified Narratives" in Museums Represents | KANEKO Atsushi | (24) |
| What "Writing History" Means for Regional Museum Curators | NISHIMURA Takeru | (32) |
| Considering the History of Disaster-Stricken Areas and the Passing on of the Memory of the Disaster: From the Fukushima Prefecture Reconstruction Memorial Park and the Editing of Oazashi | IZUMITA Kunihiko | (38) |
| New Insights into the Clandestine Research Conducted by the Japanese Imperial Army at the Noborito Research Institute | WATANABE Kenji | (45) |
| Book Reviews (Unless otherwise noted, the works are written in Japanese) | ||
| SHIMIZU Katsuyuki, A Social History of the Muromachi Period: Autonomy in the Medieval World | MATSUZONO Junichiro | (51) |
| MOTOJIMA Kazuto, A Study of Manchurian Migrants and the Youth Volunteer Army: the Execution of National Policy in Nagano Prefecture | KIMURA Miyuki | (54) |
| IKUTA Michiko, From Manchuria to the Siberian Internment: Women in the Soviet-Japanese War | FUKUCHI Svetlana | (56) |
| KIM Hanbark, An Era of Exile: The Qing Dynasty and Punishment | TAKATO Takuji | (60) |
Summary
Chinese Studies in Japan and Research Grants from U.S. Foundations: A Reconsideration of the A/F Debate, 1962
KUBO Toru
In the 1960s, funding for the Center for Modern Chinese Studies at Toyo Bunko by the Asia Foundation and the Ford Foundation aroused much controversy. From 1962 onwards, the Center's focus on collecting materials and issuing catalogs reflected this debate. The first point to note is that along with the opinions criticizing the acceptance of grants, various scholars also supported accepting the grants. The second point is that the deep sense of war guilt amongst scholars of Chinese studies for their activities in the pre-war and wartime periods was a background to the expansion of the movement. Third, one of the problems was that both of the grants were considered to be roughly the same. While the Ford Foundation's grant was an academic grant from a private foundation, the Asia Foundation's grant was funded by the CIA, an important fact which was covered up at that time. After the A/F problem debates, quite more Japanese researchers became to consider that independence of research activities is very important. Some of articles published at this time criticized the one-sided viewpoints of either despising or lavishing praise on China. On the other hand, it was also an undeniable fact that various biases, including views that placed excessive emphasis on popular struggles and revolutionary movements, emerged in Chinese studies.
No. 1044 January 2024
Summary
Difficulties and Possibility of (My) Talking About Gender
ONODERA Takuya
Talking about gender is not easy as what each person sees differs greatly depending on their position. Even “difficulties in life” that may seem insignificant to one person may be very serious to another. The significance of this symposium is that each person speaks as “I” in such a situation, sharing various “life hardships” that they have not been able to see on their own until now.
This study examines how we can “upgrade” our narratives about gender from four viewpoints. First, to create a space where we can talk openly and freely about gender. Second, to speak about the issue of gender as introspectively as possible. Third, to consider the extent to which we as researchers should seek to “upgrade” society in terms of the “layers” and “emotions” of our readers. Fourth, to consider both social diversity and “whataboutism.”
Academism and Gender: From the Experience of the National Museum of Japanese History’s Special Exhibition
YOKOYAMA Yuriko
This article discusses the current state of academism and gender in the context of the National Museum of Japanese History, based on the museum’s experience of holding the 2020 Special Exhibition in Japanese History. The 2017 International Research Meeting, held in preparation for the planned exhibition, reported on experiences at the National Museum of Taiwan History, the National Museum of Singapore, and the Manchester Natural History Museum in England since 2000. In Taiwan, the Gender Equality Education Act ensures that all museum operations, including research, collection, organization, and visitor services, are based on gender equality principles. In Singapore, gender is always incorporated into the overarching perspective of diversity, and in Manchester, efforts are being made to make the biased gender consciousness of exhibitors themselves visible. Compared to these global trends, Japanese history museums are completely behind the curve. Tas a premise to overcome this situation, it will first be necessary to reform the administrative structure of musems on a clear basis of gender equality. The next step would be to introduce a gender perspective into the research underpinning exhibitions, and to utilize the potential of artifacts as we strive for improve the current situation.
The Tracks of University of the Sacred Heart’s History Club for Alumnae: 1966–1996
TSUCHIDA Hiroshige
The OG Club of the University of the Sacred Heart’s History Department was founded in 1966 and disbanded in 1996. Its activities included book readings, lectures, publication of a newsletter (once a year), and tours of historical sites. In March 1971, there were approximately 200 members, about 30 of whom were available to participate in activities. Particularly enthusiastic members established study groups such as the “Toynbee Reading Group” within the association and continued their studies by reading historical books and teaching each other. The University of the Sacred Heart also appreciated and supported the activities of the OG Club, which remained active for the 30 years of its existence until it was disbanded owing to a lack of successors and the aging members of its members. The OG Club was founded at a time when it was difficult for women to continue their higher education and advanced studies. In this situation, women who wanted to study history after graduation created their own places of study. Similar examples can likely be found elsewhere. When considering “academism and gender,” it is also necessary to pay attention to activities outside the university.
Thinking about the Culture of Historiography： From the Perspective of Men's History and Gender History
YUGE Naoko
Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903) and Heinrich von Treitschke (1834-1896), who were leading figures in the field of modern historiography, belonged to men's associations during their student days; these associations strengthened the bonds between men through drinking parties, duels, etc., and honed their masculinity. The historiographers at that time believed that men made and wrote history. It can be pointed out that the methods of historical research, practiced in German universities which, since the 19th-century, did not allow the admission of women and were called “schools of masculinity” second only to the military, also incorporated “competition between men over the truth.”
This culture of “academic masculinity” forms the basis of contemporary Japanese historiography. It is important to critically examine, in terms of masculinity, the image of historians and the state of this field of study and to recognize that these are historically constructed and can be changed. It is necessary to cultivate an awareness of these issues through gender (history) education in specialized courses. Historiography, by transforming itself from something monolithically male to something diverse in terms of gender and sexuality, will come to offer society a richer and more mature array of knowledge.
Move Forward Beyond the Symposium ‘Discussion on “Academia and Gender”’: Empirical Research in Historical Studies and its Inheritance
IWAMA Toshihiko
This symposium demonstrated that the awareness of gender issues enriches historical research, that we should rethink our confrontational and ‘masculine’ research stance, that gender issues are challenges that require our resources and energy, and that we need to take the initiative in addressing gender issues in historical research. While tackling these issues, we reconfirmed the importance of critical reading of previous works, collecting documentary and other evidence and then critically examining these sources, and searching and analyzing digitized primary sources. Even for us who are conscious of gender issues, we need to verify and inherit the methods of empirical research in historical studies.
Opening up Academia to Society as a Place for Talking about Gender
INOSE Kumie
Shortly after its establishment, the Gender Equality Association for Humanities and Social Sciences (GEAHSS) carried out a large-scale WEB survey on gender equality among researchers in the humanities and social sciences, and provided data on the actual situation of gender equality in these fields. In response, the Historical Science Society of Japan (HSSJ) discussed this theme at a special subcommittee for its 2018 annual conference. Moreover, HSSJ chose “hardship in history and in our time” as the theme for its 2020 annual conference, and in the course of planning and preparation, it was found that “hardship” was and has been linked to gender inequality as well as it being socially constructed in its structure. The book Academia and Gender (2022) is a result of these on-going discussions among HSSJ and its members.
The landmark nature of this book can be seen prominently in section III, a dialogue among its editors who tried to tell their own stories of “being a historical researcher” in the first person. In addition, we can recognize that gender equality enriches historical research throughout the book. This recognition is precisely the reason why positive actions for gender equality are important in academia. Though it is difficult to prove the relationship between gender equality and the quality of research, we must pay more attention to the possibility of how the first-person narrative will be shared and developed into the second-person narrative, “We”. This will encourage historical researchers to open up their own research to the world outside the university.
The Movement to ‘Eliminate Unlawful Influence’: The Establishment of the Electoral Amendment 1304 (1925) on the Eve of Pahlavi Iran
TOKUANGA Yoshiaki
This paper aims to portray the early efforts to implement the universal male suffrage system effectively in Iran, by focusing on the legislation of the Electoral Amendment 1304 (1925), the first reform attempt since the establishment of the system. Specifically, it analyzes the parliamentary deliberations on the amendment along with their political and social backgrounds. This analysis indicates that many individuals who were involved, including government officials, local notables, and even ordinary voters, committed electoral fraud at that time. To eradicate this widespread fraud, deputies of urban intellectuals called for reforms of elections in rural areas, with the aim of eliminating unlawful influences. They took the initiative for legislating the necessary amendments which gave authority to the central government to supervise provincial governors who had all-pervasive influences on rural elections. However, the newly crowned king Reza Shah (1925–1941) abused this authority of the central government, controlling constituencies all over the nation and manipulating their election results as he liked, even though the legislation originally aimed at preventing unlawful influences on elections. Consequently, the Electoral Amendment 1304 in fact helped the central government to systematize electoral fraud, in contrast to its legislative intents.