Yamaji Aizan and His Time

Yushi Ito is Director, Japanese Programme, School of Asian and European Languages and Cultures, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Recent publications include Nashonarizumu to rekishi ronso – Yamaji Aizan to sono jidai [Nationalism and Debating History – Yamaji Aizan and his Time] (Tokyo, 2005), ‘National History vs Japanese History - Yamaji Aizan's View of Japan and the World’ (in: Asian Futures, Asian Traditions (2005)), ‘Japanese Nationalism and China's Independence - Yamaji Aizan 1865-1917’ (in: Japanese Cultural Nationalism – at Home and in the Asia Pacific (2003)). His current areas of research are conflicting views of the world in modernizing Japan and the place of Okinawa in Japanese history.

• Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; 1 Yamaji Aizan's early life; 2 The liberation and oppression of the human spirit; 3 An approach to history; 4 The progressive view of history; 5 Social history (1) - Neglected commoners; 6 Social history (2) - Japan as a heterogeneous nation; 7 Social history (3) - Japan as a maritime nation; 8 The state and the individual, 1897-1917; 9 Korea and China; 10 International education and national education; Conclusion: Yamaji Aizan's legacy; Notes; Bibliography; Index