On Nationalism
Motoori
Norinaga
I often think about the roots of the anti-Tokugawa movement that became manifest
in the 1850s and 1860s and how deep they run in contrast to the evident impact
of famines and foreign treaties.
Today I stumbled upon an essay on Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801) which discusses his ideas of good and evil through the lense of kami (shinto gods) - 'a nation is not just a territory but a spirit' - and the divine nature of Japan corrupted by, amongst many other things, Confusian teachings. His nationalistic and nativist ideas led me to those of Natsuo Taseko (1811-1894), a disciple of Hirata Hatsutane, himself a disciple of Motoori.
In my next read 'The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Restoration', Anne Walthall details the singular life of a woman, a peasant and poetess who relocated to Kyoto in the 1860s to support the nativist campaign to expell foreigner and abolish the Tokugawa system to restore imperial rule. Whilst a minor actor in the unfolding of events that led to the collapse of the Bakufu, she is celebrated by rightist nationalists.
More: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2385145
Today I stumbled upon an essay on Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801) which discusses his ideas of good and evil through the lense of kami (shinto gods) - 'a nation is not just a territory but a spirit' - and the divine nature of Japan corrupted by, amongst many other things, Confusian teachings. His nationalistic and nativist ideas led me to those of Natsuo Taseko (1811-1894), a disciple of Hirata Hatsutane, himself a disciple of Motoori.
In my next read 'The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Restoration', Anne Walthall details the singular life of a woman, a peasant and poetess who relocated to Kyoto in the 1860s to support the nativist campaign to expell foreigner and abolish the Tokugawa system to restore imperial rule. Whilst a minor actor in the unfolding of events that led to the collapse of the Bakufu, she is celebrated by rightist nationalists.
More: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2385145
Comments
Post a Comment