Revolt in Japan
Revolt in Japan

Author: Ben-Ami Shillony

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1400872472

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"Revere the Emperor, Destroy the Traitors"—armed with this slogan, on February 26, 1936. Rebellious Japanese troops led by members of the Young Officers' Movement seized the center of Tokyo and murdered several prominent officials. The Young Officers wanted a "Showa Restoration" whereby political and economic power would be restored to the Emperor and people. The privileged classes were to be abolished, wealth redistributed, and the state, rather than big business, was to control the economy. Although the rebellion was suppressed in four days, it dramatized ideological clashes and factional strife within the Imperial Army and the tensions between civil and military authorities. The incident still stirs emotions in Japan and fascinates Japanese writers; Mishima Yukio, the famous novelist who committed suicide by seppuku in 1970, was a great admirer of the Young Officers. This exciting account by Ben-Ami Shillony includes the first full examination of the backgrounds and ideologies of the leaders, and discusses the crucial roles of such figures as the Emperor himself and his brother Prince Chichibu. Originally published in 1973. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Modern Japanese Thought
Modern Japanese Thought

Author: Bob T. Wakabayashi

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1998-03-28

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 9780521588102

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A comprehensive intellectual history describing the forces that made Japanese thinkers both receptive and hostile to Western ideas and values.

Peasant Protests and Uprisings in Tokugawa Japan
Peasant Protests and Uprisings in Tokugawa Japan

Author: Stephen Vlastos

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9780520072039

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The Japanese peasant has been thought of as an obedient and passive subject of the feudal ruling class. Yet Tokugawa villagers frequently engaged in unlawful and disruptive protests. Moreover, the frequency and intensity of the peasants' collective action increased markedly at the end of the Tokugawa period. Stephen Vlastos's examination of the changing patterns of peasant protest in the Fukushima area shows that peasant mobilization was restricted both ideologically and organizationally and that peasants did not become a prime moving force in the Meiji Restoration.

Peasant Uprisings in Japan
Peasant Uprisings in Japan

Author: Anne Walthall

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1991-12-15

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780226872346

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Combining translations of five peasant narratives with critical commentary on their provenance and implications for historical study, this book illuminates the life of the peasantry in Tokugawa Japan.

Christ's Samurai
Christ's Samurai

Author: Jonathan Clements

Publisher: Robinson

Published: 2016-04-07

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1472136713

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The sect was said to harbour dark designs to overthrow the government. Its teachers used a dead language that was impenetrable to all but the innermost circle of believers. Its priests preached love and kindness, but helped local warlords acquire firearms. They encouraged believers to cast aside their earthly allegiances and swear loyalty to a foreign god-emperor, before seeking paradise in terrible martyrdoms. The cult was in open revolt, led, it was said, by a boy sorcerer. Farmers claiming to have the blessing of an alien god had bested trained samurai in combat and proclaimed that fires in the sky would soon bring about the end of the world. The Shogun called old soldiers out of retirement for one last battle before peace could be declared in Japan. For there to be an end to war, he said, the Christians would have to die. This is a true story.

The Meiji Restoration
The Meiji Restoration

Author: Robert Hellyer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-05-07

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1108478050

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This volume examines the Meiji Restoration through a global history lens to re-interpret the formation of a globally-cast, Japanese nation-state.

Curse on This Country
Curse on This Country

Author: Danny Orbach

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2017-02-14

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1501708333

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Imperial Japanese soldiers were notorious for blindly following orders, and their enemies in the Pacific War derided them as "cattle to the slaughter." But, in fact, the Japanese Army had a long history as one of the most disobedient armies in the world. Officers repeatedly staged coups d'états, violent insurrections, and political assassinations; their associates defied orders given by both the government and the general staff, launched independent military operations against other countries, and in two notorious cases conspired to assassinate foreign leaders despite direct orders to the contrary.In Curse on This Country, Danny Orbach explains the culture of rebellion in the Japanese armed forces. It was a culture created by a series of seemingly innocent decisions, each reasonable in its own right, which led to a gradual weakening of Japanese government control over its army and navy. The consequences were dire, as the armed forces dragged the government into more and more of China across the 1930s—a culture of rebellion that made the Pacific War possible. Orbach argues that brazen defiance, rather than blind obedience, was the motive force of modern Japanese history.Curse on This Country follows a series of dramatic events: assassinations in the dark corners of Tokyo, the famous rebellion of Saigō Takamori, the "accidental" invasion of Taiwan, the Japanese ambassador’s plot to murder the queen of Korea, and the military-political crisis in which the Japanese prime minister "changed colors." Finally, through the sinister plots of the clandestine Cherry Blossom Society, we follow the deterioration of Japan into chaos, fascism, and world war.