H381 On A Context for Taoka Reiun

It seems like we are seeing a sequential set of links between Japanese writers and intellectuals over time....

The Meiji Restoration and

The Meiji Revolution

Ideals for Change Expressed in

The Charter Oath

which seemed to point towards a more

Open and Particpatory Political Framework

When this did not seem to be in the Cards,

Instead it was government by

OLIGARCHY

Some Restoration leaders left the government. Some went into armed resistance mode (Eto, Saigo)-- which was doomed to failure.

Others tried more of a

Political Resistance/Opposition stragegy,

hence the birth of the

Popular Rights Movement

(PRM)

Or the Jiyûminken Undô

(= Movement for Freedom and People's Rights)in both its

Organizational

(political parties, the Jiyûto, the Liberal Party) and its

Ideological

(Natural Rights Theory, Liberty, Individualism, Freedom of Press and Assembly, etc.)

dimensions

It was against the backdrop of all of this that Writers and Critics began to emerge, writing, publishing, translating, etc.

The tone of the age was set in part by

1. Fukuzawa Yukichi (b. 1835) active 1860s-1870s

translator, popularizer, who highlighted

bunmei-kaika

"Civilization and Enlightenment"

meaning this was the occasion for Japanese to emerge from the Darkness, Learn from the West, and become more Enlightened

There was a period in the 1870s when Japanese seemed to be earnestly looking at what was out there, and to think about what they could become.

But by 1875, Fukuzawa stepped back a bit because of harsh Press Laws, and, then, after the Political Crisis of 1881, the Golden Age of Liberal Poliitcal Philosophy seemd to be on the wane.

Enter....

2. Tokutomi Sohô (b. 1863)

Considered Fukuzawa to be out of date, an "old man of Tempo"); he embraces "Commonerism" or "Populism" (heiminshugi) and full out Westernism.

He takes the publishing world by storm in the mid-1880s, Books, Journals, Newspapers!! Offers a new social role for young people--become literary, social and cultural critics. Think about things, write, get a discourse going with your countrymen!

But Tokutomi's rise occurs just after the most radical elements in the PRM were crushed by government forces. What Reiun writes about in Meiji Hanshin den

Some disillusionment sets in, typified by....

3. Kitamura Tôkoku (b. 1868)

Smitten by the Popular Rights Movement and its Ideals.

He was a devotee---> but took the

Inward Turn---->

encapsulates the idea of

"Seiji kara, bungaku e" or

"From Politics, into Literature"

He Embraces Romanticism; but commits suicide young

4. Taoka Reiun (b. 1870) emerges in 1895

Stirred by PRM in Kôchi;

Rejects Fukuzawa's bunmei and Tokutomi's Westernism;

More concerened with the individual Self and Asian identity;

Drawn to Asian texts and philosophy;

Embraces his own form of "Socialism"

Close friends with---->

5. Kôtoku Shûsui (b. 1871)

Leading Socialist-Anarchist thinker; also from former domain of Tosa, near Kôchi; lived with and studied under Nakae Chômin for 5 years, one of major theorists of PRM -- the Rousseau of the Orient!

Went farther left; Embraced Socialism (gasp!) and even Anarchism.

Ran afoul of the authorities and was Hanged in 1911

6. Ishikawa Takuboku (b. 1886) - the next Gen

A Poet of the everyday,

"Poems to Eat,"

Socialist inclinations;

Disturbed and confounded by Kôtoku's execution; called for "Researching Today" because of the necessity of tomorrow.

Was an artist but wanted to be FOR and OF the People.

Alas, died of TB--modernity's disease?--in the same year as Reiun (1912)

Instructions

H381 On A Context for Taoka Reiun

It seems like we are seeing a sequential set of links between Japanese writers and intellectuals over time....

The Meiji Restoration and

The Meiji Revolution

Ideals for Change Expressed in

The Charter Oath

which seemed to point towards a more

Open and Particpatory Political Framework

When this did not seem to be in the Cards,

Instead it was government by

OLIGARCHY

Some Restoration leaders left the government. Some went into armed resistance mode (Eto, Saigo)-- which was doomed to failure.

Others tried more of a

Political Resistance/Opposition stragegy,

hence the birth of the

Popular Rights Movement

(PRM)

Or the Jiyûminken Undô

(= Movement for Freedom and People's Rights)in both its

Organizational

(political parties, the Jiyûto, the Liberal Party) and its

Ideological

(Natural Rights Theory, Liberty, Individualism, Freedom of Press and Assembly, etc.)

dimensions

It was against the backdrop of all of this that Writers and Critics began to emerge, writing, publishing, translating, etc.

The tone of the age was set in part by

1. Fukuzawa Yukichi (b. 1835) active 1860s-1870s

translator, popularizer, who highlighted

bunmei-kaika

"Civilization and Enlightenment"

meaning this was the occasion for Japanese to emerge from the Darkness, Learn from the West, and become more Enlightened

There was a period in the 1870s when Japanese seemed to be earnestly looking at what was out there, and to think about what they could become.

But by 1875, Fukuzawa stepped back a bit because of harsh Press Laws, and, then, after the Political Crisis of 1881, the Golden Age of Liberal Poliitcal Philosophy seemd to be on the wane.

Enter....

2. Tokutomi Sohô (b. 1863)

Considered Fukuzawa to be out of date, an "old man of Tempo"); he embraces "Commonerism" or "Populism" (heiminshugi) and full out Westernism.

He takes the publishing world by storm in the mid-1880s, Books, Journals, Newspapers!! Offers a new social role for young people--become literary, social and cultural critics. Think about things, write, get a discourse going with your countrymen!

But Tokutomi's rise occurs just after the most radical elements in the PRM were crushed by government forces. What Reiun writes about in Meiji Hanshin den

Some disillusionment sets in, typified by....

3. Kitamura Tôkoku (b. 1868)

Smitten by the Popular Rights Movement and its Ideals.

He was a devotee---> but took the

Inward Turn---->

encapsulates the idea of

"Seiji kara, bungaku e" or

"From Politics, into Literature"

He Embraces Romanticism; but commits suicide young

4. Taoka Reiun (b. 1870) emerges in 1895

Stirred by PRM in Kôchi;

Rejects Fukuzawa's bunmei and Tokutomi's Westernism;

More concerened with the individual Self and Asian identity;

Drawn to Asian texts and philosophy;

Embraces his own form of "Socialism"

Close friends with---->

5. Kôtoku Shûsui (b. 1871)

Leading Socialist-Anarchist thinker; also from former domain of Tosa, near Kôchi; lived with and studied under Nakae Chômin for 5 years, one of major theorists of PRM -- the Rousseau of the Orient!

Went farther left; Embraced Socialism (gasp!) and even Anarchism.

Ran afoul of the authorities and was Hanged in 1911

6. Ishikawa Takuboku (b. 1886) - the next Gen

A Poet of the everyday,

"Poems to Eat,"

Socialist inclinations;

Disturbed and confounded by Kôtoku's execution; called for "Researching Today" because of the necessity of tomorrow.

Was an artist but wanted to be FOR and OF the People.

Alas, died of TB--modernity's disease?--in the same year as Reiun (1912)

Instructions