Kokugaku in Meiji-period Japan : the modern transformation of 'national learning' and the formation of scholarly societies / / by Michael Wachutka.

• Author: Wachutka, Michael.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (329 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Kokugaku in Meiji-period Japan offers a new perspective on scholarly networks and the foundations of modern Japan. Utilizing never explored original sources and with a unique focus on the persons involved, Michael Wachutka elucidates how kokugaku as a cornucopia of traditional knowledge played an important role in raising a new generation of truly national citizens. Commonly perceived as a purely premodern Edo-period phenomenon, 'national learning' counterbalanced an overly Westernization of society in the process of nation building and identity formation. In addition to kokugaku activities in religious administration and higher education, Wachutka provides a compelling account of the organization and endeavour of three successive academic societies whose most prominent members served as junction of kokugaku’s intellectual network in Meiji Japan.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Kokugaku at the Dawn of the Meiji Period -- Kokugaku Scholars and Religious Administration -- Kokugaku Scholars and Higher Education -- New Venues for Kokugaku Training and Research -- The Boundless Society Yōyōsha -- The Historiological Association Shigaku-kyōkai -- The Great-Eight-Island Academic Society Ōyashima-gakkai -- The Great-Eight-Island School Ōyashima-gakkō -- Further Developments in Taishō and Shōwa Japan -- Conclusion -- Appendix I: The Members of Yōyōsha -- Appendix II: Main Members of Shigaku-kyōkai -- Appendix III: Main Members of Ōyashima-gakkai -- Bibliography -- Index of Names.