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Charter Oath
The was promulgated on 6 April 1868 in Kyoto Imperial Palace. The Oath outlined the main aims and the course of action to be followed during Emperor Meiji's reign, setting the legal stage for Japan's modernization. This also set up a process of urbanization as people of all classes were free to move jobs so people went to the city for better work. It remained influential, if less for governing than inspiring, throughout the Meiji era and into the twentieth century, and can be considered the first constitution of modern Japan. Rules As the name implies, the text of the Oath consists of five clauses: Origin and subsequent influence The first draft of the Oath was written by junior councilor Yuri Kimimasa in January 1868, containing progressive language that spoke to the frustrations that the radical but modestly born Meiji leaders had experienced in "service to hereditary incompetents."Jansen (2002), p. 338. Yuri's language was moderated by his colleague Fukuoka Takachika in Feb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chōshū Domain
The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was based at Hagi Castle in Nagato Province, in the modern city of Hagi, located in the Chūgoku region of the island of Honshu. The Chōshū Domain was ruled for its existence by the '' tozama'' ''daimyō'' of the Mōri, whose branches also ruled the neighboring Chōfu and Kiyosue domains, and was assessed under the '' Kokudaka'' system with peak value of 369,000 '' koku''. The Chōshū Domain was the most prominent anti-Tokugawa domain and formed the Satchō Alliance with the rival Satsuma Domain during the Meiji Restoration, becoming instrumental in the establishment of the Empire of Japan and the Meiji oligarchy. The Chōshū Domain was dissolved in the abolition of the han system in 1871 by the Meiji government and its territory was abso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Breen (scholar)
John Lawrence Breen (born 3 March 1956) is a British academic and Japanologist. He is a specialist in Japanese history at the in Kyoto. He writes in English and Japanese on the history of Shinto and the imperial institution. Early life Breen was awarded his BA at the University of Cambridge in 1979. He earned a Ph.D. in 1993 at Cambridge. Career From 1985 through 2008, Breen was a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader in Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is currently Professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal ''Japan Review''. Breen's critical examination of religious practices in Japan has been informed by his historical research. Historicity is construed as a fundamental component of Breen's view of Shinto.Rambelli, Fabio "Dismantling stereotypes surrounding Japan's sacred entities,"''Japan Times.'' July 15, 2001 Breen's work on Shinto is influenced by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology, religion, film, and international studies. History Founded in May 1893, In 1933 the first four volumes of the ''History of the State of New York'' were published. In early 1940s revenues rises, partially thanks to the ''Encyclopedia'' and the government's purchase of 12,500 copies for use by the military. Columbia University Press is notable for publishing reference works, such as ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'' (1935–present), ''The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry'' (online as ''The Columbia World of Poetry Online'') and ''The Columbia Gazetteer of the World'' (also online) and for publishing music. First among American university presses to publish in electronic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Keene
Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years. Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he retired from Columbia, moved to Japan permanently, and acquired citizenship under the name . This was also his poetic and occasional nickname, spelled in the ''ateji'' form . Early life and education Keene was born in 1922 in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City and attended James Madison High School. He received a Bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1942 and studied under Mark Van Doren, Moses Hadas, Lionel Trilling, and Jacques Barzun. He then studied the Japanese language at the United States Navy Japanese Language School in Boulder, Colorado and in Berkeley, California, and serve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirement of William P. Sisler in 2017, the university appointed as Director George Andreou. The press maintains offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Harvard Square, and in London, England. The press co-founded the distributor TriLiteral LLC with MIT Press and Yale University Press. TriLiteral was sold to LSC Communications in 2018. Notable authors published by HUP include Eudora Welty, Walter Benjamin, E. O. Wilson, John Rawls, Emily Dickinson, Stephen Jay Gould, Helen Vendler, Carol Gilligan, Amartya Sen, David Blight, Martha Nussbaum, and Thomas Piketty. The Display Room in Harvard Square, dedicated to selling HUP publications, closed on June 17, 2009. Related publishers, imprints, and series HUP owns the Belknap Press imprint, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marius Jansen
Marius Berthus Jansen (April 11, 1922 – December 10, 2000) was an American academic, historian, and Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at Princeton University.Princeton University, Office of Communications"Professor Marius Berthus Jansen, scholar of Japanese history, dies,"December 13, 2000. Biography Jansen was born in Vleuten in the Netherlands to Gerarda and Bartus Jansen, a florist who moved his family to Johnston, Rhode Island in the fall of 1923. Jansen grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Princeton in 1943, having majored in European history of the Renaissance and Reformation. The same year, he began serving in the Army, studying Japanese and working in the Occupation of Japan. He took his PhD in history at Harvard in 1950, studying Japan with Edwin O. Reischauer and China with John K. Fairbank. His dissertation dealt with the interactions of the two countries and was published as ''The Japanese and Sun Yat Sen'' in 1954. He was a member of the Council on F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seventeen-article Constitution
The is, according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' of 720, a document authored by Prince Shōtoku in 604. It was adopted in the reign of Empress Suiko. The emphasis of the document is not so much on the basic laws by which the state was to be governed, such as one may expect from a modern constitution, but rather it was a highly Buddhist and Confucian document that focused on the morals and virtues that were to be expected of government officials and the emperor's subjects to ensure a smooth running of the state, where the emperor was to be regarded as the highest authority. It is one of the earliest constitutions in history. Validity The degree to which the document matches the definition of a "constitution" is debated. While it introduces principles of governance much like the preamble of modern constitutions such as the United States Constitution, it lacks other elements commonly expected. As William Theodore de Bary writes, “Prince Shotoku's ‘constitution’, placed more emphasis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Public Notices
The were five officials bulletins posted on 7 April 1868 aimed at the common people, and which constituted the first decrees put out by the Meiji government of the Empire of Japan. Significance The Charter Oath, which was released the day before the Five Public Notices, was simply shown to the ''kugyō'' and the ''daimyō'' and was decreed in the public journal of the ''daijō-kan'' on sale in cities. By contrast, the Five Public Notices were made public for nearly the entire country. The content of the notices continued the system of the Tokugawa shogunate, including policies such as observing loyalty to the monarchy and the head of one's family, and prohibitions on forming factions and on "the evil religion of Christianity". On the other hand, since the Meiji government was already in the process of ordering the scrapping of the feudal notice board system, the Five Public Notices symbolized the reach of the new government’s authority. For instance, because the Notices were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humanity Declaration
The , also known as the , , and ''Imperial Rescript Denying His Divinity'', is an imperial rescript issued by the Emperor Shōwa as part of a New Year's statement on 1 January 1946 at the request of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (also known as General Headquarters, abbreviated as GHQ). In the rescript, which started with his citation of the Five Charter Oath of 1868, the Emperor denied the concept of his divinity, which would eventually lead to the promulgation of the new Constitution, under which the Emperor is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people".Emperor, Imperial Rescript Denying His Divinity (Professing His Humanity) '' |
Kokutai
is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as "system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitution" or nation. The word is also a short form of the (unrelated) name for the National Sports Festival of Japan. Etymology ''Kokutai'' originated as a Sino-Japanese loanword from Chinese ''guoti'' (; "state political system; national governmental structure"). The Japanese compound word joins and . According to the ''Hanyu Da Cidian'', the oldest ''guoti'' usages are in two Chinese classic texts. The 2nd century BCE ''Guliang zhuan'' () to the Spring and Autumn Annals glosses ''dafu'' () as ''guoti'' metaphorically meaning "embodiment of the country". The 1st century CE ''Book of Han'' history of Emperor Cheng of Han used ''guoti'' to mean "laws and governance" of Confucianist officials. Pre-1868 The historical origins of ''kokutai'' go b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Hirohito
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was succeeded by his fifth child and eldest son, Akihito. By 1979, Hirohito was the only monarch in the world with the title "emperor". He was the longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world. Hirohito was the head of state under the Meiji Constitution during Japan's imperial expansion, militarization, and involvement in World War II. Japan waged a war across Asia in the 1930s and 40s in the name of Hirohito, who was revered as a god. After Japan's surrender, he was not prosecuted for war crimes, as General Douglas MacArthur thought that an ostensibly cooperative emperor would help establish a peaceful Allied occupation, and help the U.S. achieve their postwar objectives. His role durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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