Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University History Dissertations Department of History Spring 5-7-2011 Finding their Place in the World: Meiji Intellectuals and the Japanese Construction of an East-West Binary, 1868-1912 Masako N. Racel Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_diss Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Racel, Masako N., "Finding their Place in the World: Meiji Intellectuals and the Japanese Construction of an East-West Binary, 1868-1912." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_diss/26 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FINDING THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD: MEIJI INTELLECTUALS AND THE JAPANESE CONSTRUCTION OF AN EAST-WEST BINARY 1868-1912 BY MASAKO NOHARA RACEL Under the Direction of Douglas R. Reynolds ABSTRACT The Meiji era (1868-1912) in Japanese history was characterized by the extensive adoption of Western institutions, technology, and customs. The dramatic changes that took place caused the era’s intellectuals to ponder Japan's position within the larger global context. The East-West binary was a particularly important part of the discourse as the intellectuals analyzed and criticized the current state of affairs and offered their visions of Japan’s future. This dissertation examines five Meiji intellectuals who had very different orientations and agendas: Fukuzawa Yukichi, an influential philosopher and political theorist; Shimoda Utako, a pioneer of women's education; Uchimura Kanzō, a Christian leader; Okakura Kakuzō, an art critic; and Kōtoku Shūsui, a socialist. Also considered here are related concepts such as "civilization (bunmei)," "barbarism," and "imperialism." Close examination of the five intellectuals' use of the East-West binary reveals that, despite their varied goals, they all placed Japan as the leader of the Eastern world. Collectively, Meiji intellectuals’ use of the East-West binary elevated both East and West, while largely deemphasizing the middle part of Eurasia and "South," such as Africa and South America. INDEX WORDS: Japan, Meiji, Tōyō, Seiyō, Bunmei, Bunmei kaika, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Shimoda Utako, Uchimura Kanzō, Okakura Kakuzō, Okakura Tenshin, Kōtoku Shūsui FINDING THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD: MEIJI INTELLECTUALS AND THE JAPANESE CONSTRUCTION OF AN EAST-WEST BINARY 1868-1912 by MASAKO NOHARA RACEL A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2011 Copyright by Masako Nohara Racel 2011 FINDING THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD: MEIJI INTELLECTUALS AND THE JAPANESE CONSTRUCTION OF AN EAST-WEST BINARY 1868-1912 by MASAKO NOHARA RACEL Committee Chair: Douglas R. Reynolds Committee: Denis Gainty Ian C. Fletcher Christine Skwiot Jared Poley Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2011 DEDICATION For my father, Nohara Shigehiro (1938-2003). iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been completed without support I received from many people and institutions to whom thanks are due. My heartfelt thanks go to my adviser, Dr. Douglas Reynolds. Throughout my time at Georgia State University, Dr. Reynolds has always been my greatest advocate, ordering some books for GSU library so that I have an access to some important secondary sources, and even convincing the department not to cancel to Modern East Asia course because I desperately needed to it. He has always shown his faith in me and my project, and his encouragement and positive attitude has been invaluable. He has generously shared his great knowledge and insight of both Chinese and Japanese history. I also owe great debts to my dissertation committee members, Denis Gainty, Ian Fletcher, Jared Poley, and Christine Skwiot. I feel very fortunate to have gained Dr. Gainty, a world historian and Meiji specialist, as a member of my committee during my last year at Georgia State University. With his great knowledge of Japanese history, he has offered me a great deal of constructive criticism that I greatly appreciate. Dr. Fletcher was truly instrumental in choosing the five figures to be examined in this dissertation. The inclusion of Shimoda Utako in my study, was a result of his suggestion to look into women's perspective of the events after reading an earlier version of my dissertation proposal. Dr. Poley provided me with valuable advice on intellectual and world history. Dr. Skwiot, with her background on transnational history, has challenged me to think of important world history questions and how they relate to my work, for which I am very grateful. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. David Sehat for providing me an opportunity to study American intellectual history. The two seminars I took with Dr. Stephen Rapp were also instrumental in determining my dissertation topic by introducing such books as v Martin Lewis and Kären Wigen's The Myth of Continents and Michael Adas' Machines as the Measure of Men, both of which helped inspire my project. I am also thankful of fellow graduate students at GSU, especially the members of Tran- Empire Research Cluster (TERC): Diana Honey, Clif Stratton, Andy Reisinger, Supad Ghose, Shannon Bontrager, Karen Huggin, Beth Spencer and Denise Turner. The TERC meetings provided me an opportunity to share my work in a casual environment. Special thanks go to Ian and Yael Fletcher who generously hosted a number of the group’s meetings. My wonderful colleagues at Kennesaw State University have been also very supportive of me and cheered me along as they watched my progress. Howard Shealy, the Chair of the Department of History and Philosophy, and Tom Keene, interim chair, have provided me much needed guidance in my career path. Special thanks go to Susan Rouse and David Parker, the assistant department chairs, who have been very flexible in making accommodations to my teaching schedule while I was taking classes at Georgia State University. I am forever grateful that Dean Richard Vengroff, who is very attentive to the needs of faculty members, granted me a much needed reduced teaching load. A very special thank you goes to Stephen Bartlett, my dear friend, who volunteered to read and edit a number of chapters in this dissertation. I would also to like to thank my students at Kennesaw State University, for my love of teaching has kept me focused on my goal. This project would not have been possible without the services provided by libraries in the United States and Japan. I am especially indebted to Amy Thompson, and Chris Sharpe, and the other staff of KSU Interlibrary Service through whom I obtained many of my Japanese language materials. I was honored that Jissen Women's University allowed me to see their vi Shimoda Utako collection and I am also grateful to the National Diet Library of Japan and the numerous Japanese universities that generously share valuable documents by digitizing them and making them available to researchers on the internet. I also owe multitude of gratitude to my family in Japan and the US. My mother and father raised me in a relaxed environment as far as schoolwork was concerned (no juku, the prep- school for me) and allowed me to pursue my own dream. Neither of them had an opportunity to go to college, but they valued my happiness and fully supported my decision even though they were sometimes criticized for sending their daughter to foreign land. My father worked in a dairy factory for over forty years, while my mother took on numerous different jobs to support me and my brother. I dedicate this dissertation to my father who passed away in 2003, two years before I started the Ph.D. program. I am also grateful for my mother-in-law and father-in-law for their love and support. Finally, a very special thank you goes to my husband, Jeff. Not only emotional support he has provided all these years, he has been my sounding board to bounce off ideas. He also spent countless hours editing numerous versions of manuscripts, offered valuable advice, and helped me to express what I wanted to express. It is he to whom I offer my biggest and sincerest gratitude as I would have not been able to do this without his love, support and understanding. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: JAPANESE PERCEPTIONS OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD 22 BEFORE THE MEIJI ERA CHAPTER 2: FUKUZAWA YUKICHI (1835-1901): ONTO "CIVILIZATION" 72 CHAPTER 3: SHIMODA UTAKO (1854-1936): STRONG WOMEN, 106 STRONG NATION CHAPTER 4: UCHIMURA KANZŌ (1861-1930): CHRISTIAN 154 CIVILIZATION IN JAPAN CHAPTER 5: OKAKURA KAKUZŌ (1863-1913): EAST AND WEST MEET 198 IN ART CHAPTER 6: KŌTOKU SHŪSUI (1871-1911): A SOCIALIST CRITIQUE 238 CHAPTER 7: COMPARISONS, REFLECTIONS, AND LEGACIES 271 BIBLIOGRAPHY 292 GLOSSARY 308 viii INTRODUCTION "If we were to compare East and West today, the West is like a flower in full bloom, while the East is like a flower [past its prime and] dropping. Among the latter countries, Japan alone. is like a bud that is about to bloom. ."1 This statement was made in 1906 by Shimoda Utako下田歌子(1854-1936), a woman who devoted her life to Japanese women's education. For intellectuals of the Meiji era, the East-West binary, such as posited here by Shimoda, constituted an important element in their discourse. This concept was used to advance their visions of Japan’s future, it was used as a way to criticize Japanese society, and it was used to self-congratulate Japan on its various achievements.