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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
In the transition of Japan into the modern world, the role of those who first introduced the techniques, institutions, and ideas of the West deserves special attention. Performing the service of what Toynbee has called “the human counterpart of the ‘transformer,’” these were the men who learned the secrets of a foreign civilization and adapted them to their own community to enable it to adjust its life to the intrusive Western society. To some degree the whole leadership of Meiji Japan carried out this function, for soon after the Restoration the pursuit and application of knowledge from the West was made official policy. For the most part the military and political leaders were concerned with the mastery of Western military techniques and administrative and economic forms. But among the intelligentsia there were those who performed the broader task of learning and teaching the manners and morals, customs, and beliefs of European society. As advocates of Westernization they were important agents of change before as well as after the Restoration.
1 Toynbee, Arnold J., A Study of History (London, 1934–54), V, 154Google Scholar.
2 The details of Nishi's life have been drawn from several sources, the most complete of which is a section entitled “Nishi Amane den” [“Biography of Nishi Amane”] in Mori Rintarō, Ogai zenshū (Tokyo, 1923), VII, 125–194.
3 Ōkubo Toshiaki, “Bakufu no Oranda gakusei” [“Bakufu Students Educated in Holland”], Nihon rekjshi, VII (July 1953), 2–9. It was through Professor Ōkubo's suggestions and articles that I first became interested in Nishi's career.
4 Orders for several ships had been placed with the American Minister in Edo and initial payments delivered when the Civil War in the United States caused a change in the plans to develop the navy and train naval personnel in America. See Ishin shiryō hensan jimukyoku, Ishin shi [History of the Restoration] (Tokyo, 1939–42), IV, 349.
5 Quoted by Ōkubo, “Bakufu no Oranda gakusei,” p. 3.
6 Facsimiles of notes kept by Nishi Amanc are reproduced in Okubo Toshiaki, comp., Nishi Amane zenshū (Tokyo, 1945), I, 296–562.
7 Ohira Zengo, “Japan's Reception of the Law of Nations,” The Annals of the Hitotsubashi Academy, IV, 1 (Oct. 1953), 55–66. Nishi dedicated the published volumes to the shogun.
8 Shigcki, Toyama, Meiji ishin (Tokyo, 1951), p. 59Google Scholar.
9 Yoshio, Matsushita, Meiji gunsei shi ronshū [Essays in the Military History of Meiji] (Tokyo, 1938), pp. 290–293Google Scholar.
10 Matsushita, Meiji gunsei shi ronshū, pp. 294–299.
11 This term is used by Miyake Setsurei, Dōjidai shi (Tokyo, 1949–54), III, 131.
12 Iichirō, Tokutomi, Kōshaku Yamagata Arilomo den [Biography of Prince Yamagata Aritomo] (Tokyo, 1933), II, 269Google Scholar.
13 Masaaki, Kōsaka, Meiji bunka shi: shisō genron hen [Cultural History of Meiji: Thought and Public Opinion] (Tokyo, 1953–57), IV, 70Google Scholar. It is noteworthy that Fukuzawa originated the terms enzetsu (public speech) and tōron (debate) to describe these activities of the society.
14 Quoted in Miyakawa Tōru, Kindai Nihon shisō no kōzō [The Pattern of Modern Japanese Thought] (Tokyo, 1956). p. 45.
15 Even Fukuzawa Yukichi and Nakamura Keifu, the two original members who were not in the government, had intimate private connections with the high bureaucracy.
16 Yoshino Sakuzō, comp., Meiji bunka zcnshū (Tokyo, 1927–30), XVIII, 3–7. In this volume major articles from each issue of the Meiroku zasshi are reprinted, including thirteen by Nishi.
17 Meiji bunka senshū, XVIII, 51.
18 In this the president of the society, Mori Arinori, showed the way in a celebrated Western-style wedding in which both he and his bride wore foreign clothes and signed a wedding contract pledging equal status for husband and wife. Fukuzawa added his blessing by signing the contract as a witness. See Zennosuke, Tsuji, Nihon bunka shi (Tokyo, 1950), VII, 186–187Google Scholar, for a description of th e wedding and a reprint of the contract.
19 Miyakawa, p. 63, n. 8.
20 The idea of such an organization took root. In Nov. 1879, David Murray, an American adviser to the Ministry of Education, recommended the formation of such a group. Shortly after his suggestion was made, an association of scholars known as the Tokyo Academy was formed by the government. It included most of the Meirokusha members and Nishi became its first president. This later became the Imperial Academy. Miyakawa, p. 44.
21 Shirō, Konishi, Meiji ishin (Tokyo, 1952), p. 256Google Scholar.
22 Nishi was the originator of the word tetsugaku as equivalent of the Western word “philosophy.” Kōsaka, p. 113.
23 Kosaka, p. 113. Nishi was particularly attracted to the positivism of Comte, although he agreed with some of Mill's criticisms of Comte and derived some of his ethical notions from Kant. Kōsaka, pp. 106–119.
24 These remarks were included in lectures delivered in 1878 under the title “Heibin ron” [“On Military Affairs”] and published serially in the army newspaper, Naigai heiji shimbun, between Sept. 1878 and Feb. 1881. Quoted by Umetani Noboru, “Kindai Nihon guntai no seikaku keisei to Nishi Amane” [“Nishi Amane and the Characteristic Features of the Modern Japanese Army”], Jimbun gakfthō, IV (1954). 38. I am indebted to Professor Umetani of Osaka University for his analysis of Nishi's army lectures.
25 Quoted by Umetani, p. 38.
26 Quoted by Umetani, p. 40.
27 The announcement is reprinted in Tokutomi, yamagata den, II, 195—196.
28 Quoted by Ōkubo Toshiaki, “Nishi Amane no gumbu ron” [“Nishi Amane's Military Essays”], Nihon rekjshi, XLIV (Feb. 1952), 4.
29 The full text of the “Admonition” is reprinted in Tokutomi, yamagata den, II, 764–779. The warning against discussing “important laws” is a reference to declarations and laws related to the agitation for a representative assembly. Evidence was uncovered indicating that demands for a constitution were being spread in the army, constituting a minor but contributing factor to the 1878 mutiny. See Matsushita Yoshio, Wadai no rikulkaigun shi [Topics in Army and Navy History] (Tokyo, 1937), pp. 54–55.
30 Tokutomi, yamagata den, II, 764.
31 Four lectures entitled “Heikei tokkō” [“Proper Conduct for Soldiers”] were delivered at the Tokyo officers' club and appeared in the Naigai hciji shimbun between May and Feb. 1878.
32 Quoted by Umetani, p. 26.
33 Quoted by Umetani, p. 27. Nishi used both the terms hrijō or jōdō shakai to refer to “normal” or civil society.
34 Quoted by Umetani, p. 28.
35 Quoted by Umetani, p. 28.
36 Quoted by Umetani, p. 28.
37 Ōkubo, “Nishi Amane no gumbu ron,” p. 9.
38 See Ōkub o Toshiaki, “‘Chusetsu’ to iu kannen no seiritsu katei” [“The Process of Establishing the Concept of ‘Loyalty’ ”], Nihon relyshi, X (Oct. 1953), 14–21.
39 Quoted by Umetani, p. 39.
40 Quoted by Umetani, p. 39.
41 Quoted by Umetani, pp. 39–40.
42 Quoted by Umetani, p. 40.
43 Quoted in Kee H Choi, “Tokugawa Feudalism and the Emergence of the New Leaders of Early Meiji Japan,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, IX, 2 (Dec. 1956), 81.
