Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan (Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power)

Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power #6

by Takashi Fujitani

Using ceremonials such as imperial weddings and funerals as models, T. Fujitani illustrates what visual symbols and rituals reveal about monarchy, nationalism, city planning, discipline, gender, memory, and modernity. Focusing on the Meiji Period (1868-1912), Fujitani brings recent methods of cultural history to a study of modern Japanese nationalism for the first time.

Genres: History, Japan, Japanese History, School, 19th Century, Academic, Nonfiction

322 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 1996

Reviews

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading about how the early emperors consolidated their power in The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, I jumped a millennium ahead to read about the Meiji restoration, when the emperor was put back in the center of the government again after the overthrow of the last shogun. It turned out to be a good juxtaposition. Though both books focus on state rituals - in this case, imperial progresses, the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution, the emperor's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and his funeral - they're too different otherwise to make comparison easy. The Emergence of Japanese Kingship was about the interaction between the monarchs and the rest of the elite, whereas this book is about the interaction between the elite in general and ordinary people. Specifically, it describes how the new revolutionary elite invented and disseminated the idea that the emperor was the symbol of a national community, creating a mass culture of nationalism in Japan for the first time. Even though it's medium-short for a history monograph, it comes at the phenomenon from a lot of angles. The best-developed of them is how it describes two components to the emperor's symbolism. One was a masculinized image associated with progress, modernity, and the new capital in Tokyo and the other was a gender-ambiguous image associated with the continuity of tradition and the old capital in Kyoto. I think this would be a provocative book for anyone who's interested in or worried about the role of rituals and holidays in nationalism. I guess it's appropriate I'm finishing it on Thanksgiving weekend.

[peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

good for anyone interested in symbols of power, monarchy, japan, or many other things for that matter. amazing descriptions and analyses of why and how the emperorship and various rituals of "tradition" were created. leaves you wondering, and not quite satisfied, as to why japan chose to form a constitutional monarchy instead of following the path of the american or french revolutions. concentrating too much on rupture, this book denies continuities that it is a stretch to ignore (eg the long history of ceremonial legitimation on the part of the imperial family for any political institution)

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have done a fair amount of reading about the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) over the years, I must admit that none of it involved the role that the Emperor played in Japan's noteworthy modernization. This was largely out of my own ignorance and admittedly perhaps an anti-monarchy bias because of my being an American. If it were not for the fact that this book was required reading for a course on Japan, which I am auditing, I probably would not have read it. I am glad, for the most part, that I did.

Fujitani provides a comprehensive analysis of the various ways in which the leaders of the Restoration created myths about as well as ceremonies, pageants, rites, and rituals in which the Emperor engaged. Per the author, this was done as part of a concerted and carefully orchestrated effort by the oligarchy leaders of the Restoration aimed at gaining recognition from the Western world and at unifying the country. It was largely through instilling reverence for the Emperor that men like Okubo, Ito, and others were able to get the population to perceive of themselves as Japanese as opposed to residents of local regions. And then to get them to sacrifice and to work collectively to modernize the country. This included building up a powerful military that won wars against China in 1894-95 and Russia in 1904-05 which led to recognition by the West as almost an equal to be reckoned with.

It was interesting that the presentation of the Emperor and the Empress as a happy couple in public ceremonies during the 1870’s and 80's along with laws passed requiring people to register their marriages and making divorce more difficult to accomplish in the late 1890’s altered the perspective that the public had on marriage. Apparently, the rates of divorce went down dramatically by the early 1900's. Women were not allowed to participate in politics at all but they were strongly urged that it was their patriotic duty to be 'good wives, wise mothers.'

To his credit the author's prose was readable and thus engaging. He explained complex concepts developed by Foucault, and others, concisely. He then effectively applied these concepts in his efforts to explain how the monarchy worked in Japan.

IMHO, there are two modest flaws with this book. First, some of the analysis is so thorough as to become a bit tedious. As it became a bit of TMI to me I found myself skimming some parts of it by the last 2-3 chapters. Second, there are an increasing number of typos as the text goes along. This is somewhat surprising and disappointing for a book published by a major company.

Overall, however, Splendid Monarchy is a well formulated argument based on a great deal of research. It is worth reading for someone who has an interest in the Meiji Restoration period in Japan. I would suggest that the reader have done some other general reading about the period beforehand. Otherwise, he/she might not know the context in which to place some of what Fujitani writes about.

[Myoungseok Jeong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meiji restoration was always big puzzle to me. This book shows how ruling class came up with “modern traditions”. Like 1984, now people believes the tradition has been there for all the way back. Probably not limited to Japan.

[๖ۣۜSαᴙαh ๖ۣۜMᴄĄłłiƨʈeʀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I lived in Japan for seven years, I claim no scholarly knowledge of the country; despite this handicap, I was able to comprehend Fujitani's thesis with very little difficulty and because of this, I do give him props. He writes clearly and is straightforward with his argument. I was certainly never lost and I highly recommend this book if you are a Japan scholar or if you are, like me, someone who is researching the topic of public political theatre (my two countries of focus are China and Great Britain in the early twentieth century) because you will not be disappointed with the treasure trove of information at your disposal in this piece of scholarly literature.

[Benemint · Rating 3 out of 5]

...Foucault.