This collection of essays challenges the notion that Japan's present cultural identity is the simple legacy of Japan's premodern and insular past. Building on the pathbreaking historical analysis of British traditions,The Invention of Tradition, sixteen American and Japanese scholars examine age-old Japanese cultural practices, ranging from judo to labor management, and show these to be largely creations of the modern era.
Stephen Vlastosis Professor of History at the University of Iowa, and author ofPeasant Protests and Uprisings in Tokugawa Japan(California, 1986).
This book forces a rethinking of the contentional dichotomy between tradition and modernity. The authors argue provocatively that much of Japanese 'tradition' is a modern invention. Gail Lee Bernstein, author ofHaruko's World
Sure to stimulate debate in the field of Japanese studies, this important work deftly historicizes the origins of such 'traditional practices' as judo or Japanese-style management. Peter Duus, author ofThe Abacus and the Sword
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
1. Tradition: Past/Present Culture and Modern Japanese History
Stephen Vlastos
PART ONE • HARMONY
2. The Invention of Japanese-Style Labor Management
Andrew Gordon
3. The Invention of Wa and the Transformation of the Image
of Prince Shotoku in Modern Japan
Ito Kimio
4. Weak Legal Consciousness as Invented Tradition Frank K Upham
PART TWO • VILLAGE
5. The Japanese Village: Imagined, Real, Contested Irwin ScheMer
6. Agrarianism Without Tradition: The Radical Critique of Prewar Japanese Modernity Stephen Vlastos
7. Colonizing Manchuria: The Making of an Imperial Myth Louise Young
8. It Takes a Village: InternationlÃè
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