Individuality in Early Modern Japan

Individuality in Early Modern Japan PDF Author: Peter Nosco
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351389610
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Two of the most commonly alleged features of Japanese society are its homogeneity and its encouragement of conformity, as represented by the saying that the nail that sticks up gets pounded. This volume’s primary goal is to challenge these and a number of other long-standing assumptions regarding Tokugawa (1600-1868) society, and thereby to open a dialogue regarding the relationship between the Japan of two centuries ago and the present. The volume’s central chapters concentrate on six aspects of Tokugawa society: the construction of individual identity, aggressive pursuit of self-interest, defiant practice of forbidden religious traditions, interest in self-cultivation and personal betterment, understandings of happiness and well-being, and embrace of "neglected" counter-ideological values. The author argues that when taken together, these point to far higher degrees of individuality in early modern Japan than has heretofore been acknowledged, and in an Afterword the author briefly examines how these indicators of individuality in early modern Japan are faring in contemporary Japan at the time of writing.

Individuality in Early Modern Japan

Individuality in Early Modern Japan PDF Author: Peter Nosco
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351389610
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two of the most commonly alleged features of Japanese society are its homogeneity and its encouragement of conformity, as represented by the saying that the nail that sticks up gets pounded. This volume’s primary goal is to challenge these and a number of other long-standing assumptions regarding Tokugawa (1600-1868) society, and thereby to open a dialogue regarding the relationship between the Japan of two centuries ago and the present. The volume’s central chapters concentrate on six aspects of Tokugawa society: the construction of individual identity, aggressive pursuit of self-interest, defiant practice of forbidden religious traditions, interest in self-cultivation and personal betterment, understandings of happiness and well-being, and embrace of "neglected" counter-ideological values. The author argues that when taken together, these point to far higher degrees of individuality in early modern Japan than has heretofore been acknowledged, and in an Afterword the author briefly examines how these indicators of individuality in early modern Japan are faring in contemporary Japan at the time of writing.

The Darker Angels of Our Nature

The Darker Angels of Our Nature PDF Author: Philip Dwyer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350140619
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
In The Better Angels of Our Nature Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argued that modern history has witnessed a dramatic decline in human violence of every kind, and that in the present we are experiencing the most peaceful time in human history. But what do top historians think about Pinker's reading of the past? Does his argument stand up to historical analysis? In The Darker Angels of our Nature, seventeen scholars of international stature evaluate Pinker's arguments and find them lacking. Studying the history of violence from Japan and Russia to Native America, Medieval England and the Imperial Middle East, these scholars debunk the myth of non-violent modernity. Asserting that the real story of human violence is richer, more interesting and incomparably more complex than Pinker's sweeping, simplified narrative, this book tests, and bests, 'fake history' with expert knowledge.

Values, Identity, and Equality in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Japan

Values, Identity, and Equality in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Japan PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004300988
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The chapters in this volume variously challenge a number of long-standing assumptions regarding eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japanese society, and especially that society’s values, structure and hierarchy; the practical limits of state authority; and the emergence of individual and collective identity. By interrogating the concept of equality on both sides of the 1868 divide, the volume extends this discussion beyond the late-Tokugawa period into the early-Meiji and even into the present. An Epilogue examines some of the historiographical issues that form a background to this enquiry. Taken together, the chapters offer answers and perspectives that are highly original and should prove stimulating to all those interested in early modern Japanese cultural, intellectual, and social history Contributors include: Daniel Botsman, W. Puck Brecher, Gideon Fujiwara, Eiko Ikegami, Jun’ichi Isomae, James E. Ketelaar, Yasunori Kojima, Peter Nosco, Naoki Sakai, Gregory Smits, M. William Steele, and Anne Walthall.

Japan’s Private Spheres: Autonomy in Japanese History, 1600-1930

Japan’s Private Spheres: Autonomy in Japanese History, 1600-1930 PDF Author: William Puck Brecher
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004450157
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Japan's Private Spheres: Autonomy in Japanese History, 1600-1930 explores the genesis and historical development of autonomy and its evolving relationship with public authority in early modern and modern Japan.

From Country to Nation

From Country to Nation PDF Author: Gideon Fujiwara
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501753959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
From Country to Nation tracks the emergence of the modern Japanese nation in the nineteenth century through the history of some of its local aspirants. It explores how kokugaku (Japan studies) scholars envisioned their place within Japan and the globe, while living in a castle town and domain far north of the political capital. Gideon Fujiwara follows the story of Hirao Rosen and fellow scholars in the northeastern domain of Tsugaru. On discovering a newly "opened" Japan facing the dominant Western powers and a defeated Qing China, Rosen and other Tsugaru intellectuals embraced kokugaku to secure a place for their local "country" within the broader nation and to reorient their native Tsugaru within the spiritual landscape of an Imperial Japan protected by the gods. Although Rosen and his fellows celebrated the rise of Imperial Japan, their resistance to the Western influence and modernity embraced by the Meiji state ultimately resulted in their own disorientation and estrangement. By analyzing their writings—treatises, travelogues, letters, poetry, liturgies, and diaries—alongside their artwork, Fujiwara reveals how this socially diverse group of scholars experienced the Meiji Restoration from the peripheries. Using compelling firsthand accounts, Fujiwara tells the story of the rise of modern Japan, from the perspective of local intellectuals who envisioned their local "country" within a nation that emerged as an empire of the modern world.

Science in an Enchanted World

Science in an Enchanted World PDF Author: Julie Davies
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042988026X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Best known as the Saducismus triumphatus (1681), Joseph Glanvill’s book on witchcraft is among the most frequently published from the seventeenth century, and its arguments for the reality of diabolic witchcraft elicited passionate responses from critics and supporters alike. Davies untangles the intricate development of this text and explores how Glanvill’s roles as theologian, philosopher and advocate for the Royal Society of London converge in its pages. Glanvill’s broader philosophical method and unique approach to the supernatural provide a case study that enables the exploration of the interaction between the rise of experimental science and changing attitudes to witchcraft.

The English Chartered Trading Companies, 1688-1763

The English Chartered Trading Companies, 1688-1763 PDF Author: Michael Wagner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429877110
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
This book provides a collective view of the five major English chartered trading companies which were active during the period 1688-1763: The East India Company, the Royal African Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, The Levant Company, and the Russia Company. Using both archival and secondary sources, this monograph fills in some of the knowledge gaps concerning the less well-studied companies, and examines the interconnections between international rivalry, the financial operations of the companies, and politics which have not featured prominently in the historiography.

The Reformation of England's Past

The Reformation of England's Past PDF Author: Matthew Phillpott
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429886055
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This book is a detailed examination of the sources and protocols John Foxe used to justify the Reformation, and claim that the Church of Rome had fallen into the grip of Antichrist. The focus is on the pre-Lollard, medieval history in the first two editions of the Acts and Monuments. Comparison of the narrative that Foxe writes to the possible sources helps us to better understand what it was that Foxe was trying to do, and how he came to achieve his aims. A focus on sources also highlights the collaborative circle in which Foxe worked, recognizing the essential role of other scholars and clerics such as John Bale and Matthew Parker.

The Taming of the Samurai

The Taming of the Samurai PDF Author: Eiko Ikegami
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674868083
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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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.

The Sociology of Arts and Markets

The Sociology of Arts and Markets PDF Author: Andrea Glauser
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030390136
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
This edited collection offers an in-depth analysis of the complex and changing relationship between the arts and their markets. Highly relevant to almost any sociological exploration of the arts, this interaction has long been approached and studied. However, rapid and far-reaching economic changes have recently occurred. Through a number of new empirical case studies across multiple artistic, historic and geographical settings, this volume illuminates the developments of various art markets, and their sociological analyses. The contributions include chapters on artistic recognition and exclusion, integration and self-representation in the art market, sociocultural changes, the role of the gallery owner, and collectives, rankings, and constraints across the cultural industries. Drawing on research from Japan, Switzerland, France, Italy, China, the US, UK, and more, this rich and global perspective challenges current debates surrounding art and markets, and will be an important reference point for scholars and students across the sociology of arts, cultural sociology and culture economy.