Conrad Totman

The origins of Japan's modern forests : the case of Akita

The woodlands of Japan vary substantially from north to south, and the patterns of their use and abuse differed from area to area during the Edo, or early modern, period (1600–1868). Nevertheless, the basic characteristics and rhythms of forest history were common to all of Japan (except the sparsely populated northern island of Hokkaidō). It is possible, therefore, to illuminate the general experience by scrutinizing a section of the whole. The section selected here is Akita, a prefecture of northern Japan whose forests are among the nation’s most famous. Three considerations make this choice attractive. The topic has clearly delineated boundaries, largely because the Akita region was a single coherent political unit during the Edo period; the documentation on the early modern forest situation there is extensive and accessible; finally, and as a consequence of the second factor, Japanese scholars have already published excellent studies on key aspects of Akita forestry. These factors have made this a relatively convenient area to examine and discuss in the short compass of this study.

Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia

Preface Maps 1 The Foreign Impact on East Asia WARREN I.COHEN 2 Social and Political Change in Nineteenth-Century China MARY BACKUS RANKIN 3 Visions ofthe Future in Meiji Japan DAVID L. HOWELL 4 Koreas Transition to Modernity: A Will to Greatness CARTER J. ECKERT 5 State and Society in Interwar Japan SHELDON GARON 6 China in the Early Twentieth Century: Tasks for a New World ERNEST P. YOUNG 7 The Nationalist Regime and the Chinese Party-State,1928-1958 WILLIAM C. KIRBY 8 The Search for Social Cohesion in China, 1921-1958 R. KEITH SCHOPPA 9 Society and Politics from Transwar through Postwar Japan ANDREW GORDON BR> 10 Searching for the Appropriate Model for the Peoples Republic of China MERLE GOLDMAN and ANDREW J.NATHAN Chronologies Notes Contributors Index

From Sakoku to Kaikoku. The Transformation of Foreign-Policy Attitudes, 1853-1868

T s HIS year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of one of the major pioneer English-language studies of Japanese history, W. G. Beasleys Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853-1868, Oxford University Press, 1955. The volume consists of a complex, compact 93-page Introduction and about two hundred pages of documents in translation. It was the first truly scholarly English-language study of the bakumatsu, or late Tokugawa, years, and it was splendidly executed, a lucid, perceptive, and sophisticated analysis of an extremely complicated era.

Fudai Daimyo and the Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu

In Treasures among Men; the Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan (Yale, 1974), Harold Bolitho has discussed the role of the fudai daimyo in the functioning and collapse of the Tokugawa polity, arguing in fine that their conduct during the 1860s was dictated by their concern for the security of their han . This concern, he argues, led them to refuse to assist the bakufu even in its moment of supreme crisis. He sees this outcome as the final expression of an enduring situation in which the interests of fudai daimyo were in permanent conflict with the interests of the bakufu.

English-Language Studies of Medieval Japan: An Assessment

A number of English-language scholarly studies of medieval Japanese institutional history have appeared in print in the past few years. This seems a fitting time to appraise their contribution to our understanding of Japanese history from late Heian through the Muromachi period, ca. A.D. 1100 to 1600. I do not intend to evaluate the works as individual monographs, but rather to consider their larger cumulative historiographical significance. After summarizing the main interpretive constructs used by scholars writing in English I will discuss ways in which the recent works have and have not enriched these constructs or suggested helpful new ones.

The Kan/Min Division Of Woodland In Early Meiji Japan, 1871–76

The Meiji governments 1870s-1880s program of woodland reorganization created the greatest conflict between government and people in the entire history of Japan. The issue of woodland organization was in part a by-product of early Meiji land-tax reform, an undertaking that encompassed both arable and woodland (as well as urban property). One can plausibly date the start of woodland reorganization to 1871. By then, the new Meiji ruling group had established basic control of the realm, but it also was severely strapped for cash. Leaders saw land sales as a way to generate income. During 1871-73, reformers in Tokyo had made considerable progress in identifying landownership on arable acreage, and they had begun selling woodland. During 1873-76, they carried to completion most of the land-tax reform on arable. The process of creating a large, well-organized and productive government woodland took many years.Keywords: Japan; Kan/Min division; land-tax reform; Meiji; woodland organization

Early Modern Japan.

This thoughtfully organized survey of Japans early modern period (1568-1868) is a remarkable blend of political, economic, intellectual, literary, and cultural history. The only truly comprehensive study in English of the Tokugawa period, it also introduces a new ecological perspective, covering natural disasters, resource use, demographics, and river control.

Shogunal Politics: Arai Hakuseki and the Premises of Tokugawa Rule.

Arai Hakuseki, advisor to the sixth and seventh Tokugawa shogun, played an important role in politics between 1709 and 1716, during an era of large changes in the bakufu. He participated in major policy decisions on currency, foreign trade, and local administration, while simultaneously trying to enhance the shoguns authority both within the bakufu and as a national ruler. The following shogun retained Hakusekis fiscal and trade policies, but promptly reversed those measures designed to make the shogun a king-like figure. Nakai examines these successes and failures against the background of the time, especially the bifurcated and ambiguous distribution of authority between the Tokugawa shogun and the tenno in Kyoto. She also traces the influence of Confucian political theory on Hakusekis program and on his defense of that program in the face of criticism. Nakai draws upon Hakusekis autobiography and diary and the reportorial letters of a contemporary for Hakusekis political activities, and on Hakusekis historical works and memorials for the theoretical basis for his programs, rooted in Confucianism. Illustrative and lively translations from Hakuseki enrich the book, helping to portray a multi-faceted personality who managed to blend practical politics and Confucian idealism within the complicated and dynamic environment of the early-eighteenth-century bakufu.