The Religious Transmission of Evolutionary Theory in Meiji-Era Japan

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Clinton Godart
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
Mediating Factor ◽  
Religious Transmission

Religion was a crucial mediating factor in the early transmission of evolutionary theory to Japan. Even before the Meiji period, certain evolutionary ideas appeared within a religious context. Evolutionary theory and Christianity arrived in Japan in the same period, and conflict ensued as the early conveyors of evolutionary theory, such as Edward S. Morse and Ernest Fenollosa presented the theory as one that delegitimized Christianity; simultaneously, several important Christian missionaries and Japanese Christian thinkers, presented science and Christian faith as part of one package necessary for the modernization of Japan.

scholarly journals A Meiji-kori japán nyelv forrásai

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2018/1) ◽  
Author(s):  
András Zsigmond Albeker
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Language ◽  
Congressional Record ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Linguistic Material

While the stenographic records of the Meiji era have been analyzed in thecontext of linguistic research into the unification of the spoken and writtenlanguage (gembun icchi 言文一致), vocabulary and grammar, there is somedebate as to the value of these records. This paper aims to clarify what kinds of difference occurred in the process of translating and typing the shorthand symbols into magazines andnewspapers. It has become clear that the stenographed speeches published in newspapers and magazines were not faithful reproductions of the original texts. Tomake it easier for the reader to understand, mistakes were rectified in the transcribing process, words and word forms were corrected by the stenographer and/or the editor. It seems that- as linguistic material - the value of a stenographic record ishigher than that of a shorthand book. However, very few shorthand manuscripts have so far been confirmed and in genre they are closer to stenographed speeches. We can assume that if a shorthand manuscript such as rakugo落語 or the Imperial Congressional Record were to be discovered, our understanding of the Meiji period Japanese language would be further enhanced.

scholarly journals Telaah Kritis Konstruktif Struktur dan Isi Pemahaman Bersama Iman Kristen dalam Perspektif Lutheran

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Riris Johanna Siagian
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Constructive Analysis ◽  
Church Unity

The Understanding of  Together Christian Faith was the second document of the four of church unity document (DKG), was published by the resource department of Indonesia Church Communion. This document has seven chapters, the first chapter is talking about God, and the last chapter is talking about the Holy Bible. Since this document was published as a document of together in Indonesia in 1984 at Ambon, for churches have good awareness to get a theology for together in understanding. Nowadays, Indonesia has many problems about how to manage many persons with much different religion. For goal by doing a constructive analysis in Lutheran perspective for this document is very important to prepare this document to be relevant in many situations especially in multicultural, ethnic and religious context in Indonesia.AbstrakPemahaman Bersama Iman Kristen (PBIK) adalah dokumen kedua dari  empat bagian  Dokumen Keesaan Gereja (DKG), yang diterbitkan oleh Litbang Persekutuan Gereja-gereja di Indonesia. Dokumen ini terdiri dari 7 bab. Bab I, memuat  tentang Allah, dan bab terakhir yakni bab 7, memuat tentang Alkitab. Sejak ditetapkan sebagai Pengakuan Iman Bersama di Indonesia tahun 1984 di Ambon, bagi gereja-gereja makin tumbuh kesadaran akan pentingnya satu teologi yang dapat dipahami bersama sehingga aksi oikumenis dapat dilakukan dalam kehidupan beragama di Indonesia. Telaah kritis konstruktif dari perspektif Lutheran  atas dokumen ini dilakukan terutama untuk mempersiapkan agar dokumen ini tetap relevan menghadapi berbagai persoalan sosial dan kecenderungan di tengah-tengah masyarakat yang multikultural dalam konteks Indonesia.

Evolution, Individuals, and the Kokutai

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Clinton Godart
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Religious Elements

The Meiji period saw the development of political tensions between evolutionary theory and the emerging kokutai ideology of the Japanese state. Kokutai ideology emerged as an unstable hybrid of mainly Shintō, but also Confucianism, Bushidō, and other religious and semi-religious elements. Important ideological thinkers began to reject elements of evolutionary theory, finding the “struggle for survival,” materialism, and individualism in tension with kokutai ideology and its emphasis on harmony, obedience, and spirit. Herbert Spencer’s influence waned and his thought was criticized.

scholarly journals Education and ‘Civilization’

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2021/1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferenc Takó
Keyword(s):  
Educational System ◽  
Educational Reforms ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Meiji Japan ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
The Family ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
Meiji Era

Studies on the transformation of the Japanese educational system in the Meiji period usually emphasise the intensity of reforms and their comprehensive character. In the framework of the present study, I will briefly summarise the central aspects of this transformation, then turn to the examination of the tension manifested in Meiji period discourses on education. This is a tension that emerges when one compares the interpretation of the Meiji era as the introduction of ‘enlightened’ Western liberalism with the ideology of centralised reform, far from being as liberal as reported by Meiji period intellectuals themselves. I draw attention to this tension as manifested in the purposes of Meiji educational reforms, then I turn to the analysis of the education of women as a central question in terms of the interpretation of the family in Meiji Japan. The analysis is based on the writings of the leading intellectuals of the time, basically their essays published in the famous journal of the 1870s, Meiroku Zasshi 明六雑誌.

The Dharma after Darwin

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Clinton Godart
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Religious Plurality

Modernizing Buddhists such as Inoue Enryo in the Meiji period actively and creatively embraced, interpreted, and disseminated evolutionary theory. Buddhists also created new evolutionary theories. This was partly because of the competition between Buddhists and Christians. Religious plurality and competition stimulated the dissemination of scientific thought. Buddhism also stimulated creative biological thought, especially in the works of Minakata Kumagusu and Oka Asajiro. In contrast to associating evolutionary theory with nineteenth century progress, Buddhists often casted doubt on evolution as progressive.

External-PIXE identification of material for popular music pipes during the late Meiji era, Japan

1998 ◽  
Vol 08 (02n03) ◽  
pp. 155-166
Author(s):  
YOSHIE TOKIMITSU ◽  
KUNIKO MAEDA ◽  
SATOSHI MURAO ◽  
EWALD HENSELER
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Meiji Era

Two types of music pipes, Ginteki and Suifûkin, that were popular during the late Meiji period in Japan were semi-quantitatively analyzed by the external-PIXE at RIKEN. The aim of this study is to identify the material used for these pipes and to assist the description to make an instrumental catalogue. Our results show that most of the collected Ginteki, literally silver flute, is composed of two parts. One is the whistle head of Pb - Sb alloy with the Pb to Sb ratio between 5.9 and 6.4; and the other is the main body with six holes which is made of tinplate. All of the Ginteki in this study are nickel coated. The Suifûkin, on the contrary, is made of only tinplate and is not coated with nickel.

Contesting the Myths of Samurai Baseball

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T. Keaveney
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Way

The Japanese passion for the game of baseball stretches back over one hundred years, and has its origins in the Meiji period. Baseball has long been Japan’s national pastime, and the game constitutes an important part of the social fabric of Japan. Moreover, baseball occupies a prominent position in modern Japanese culture. Starting with Masaoka Shiki’s poetry and fiction about baseball in the Meiji era and continuing all the way up to the recent baseball manga of Adachi Mitsuru, this work chronicles cultural representations of baseball in Japan with chapters devoted to poetry, fiction, manga and films that incorporate or represent baseball. The book makes the case that in Japan baseball has been used by writers, filmmakers and artists both to validate the time-honored model of Bushidō-inspired “Samurai baseball” and to challenge rigid cultural values and assumptions. Baseball has served in the modern era as a cultural touchstone to which artists have returned again and again.

Zangirimono [Cropped-hair Plays]

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Wetmore
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
Office Workers ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Social Elite ◽  
The Social ◽  
Meiji Era

In Meiji-era Japan, as part of the reforms to kabuki in response to modernization, playwright Kawatake Mokuami (1816–1893) and actor Onoe Kikugorō V (1844–1903) developed a new genre of kabuki that focused on presenting both external Western elements and contemporary dramatic narratives onstage in the kabuki style. In the late 1870s, seeking contemporary pieces that would meet government-dictated reforms within kabuki, Onoe Kikugorō V (1844–1903) asked Mokuami to write modern kabuki plays for him to perform in. The result was "cropped-hair plays" [zangirimono]. As the reforms of the Meiji period took hold, an obsession with the surface elements of Western culture and modernity took hold over the middle and upper classes. The social elite rejected the traditional garments and hairstyles of the samurai, which were perceived as premodern. Kimonos were discarded in favor of Western suits. Swords were no longer worn. Bowler hats, pocket Watches, rickshaws, newspapers, and canes grew in popularity, and topknots (chonmage, the hairstyle of the samurai) were cut off, resulting in "cropped-hair plays": dramas that featured modern office workers and government officials without topknots in contemporary settings.

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