Daisuke Ueno: The Distant "Early Modern" Period

2022/07/14

As is well known, Japanese history is often divided into four periods: Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern. The Early Modern period, which is my specialization, generally refers to the era from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the Edo period.

Ginzo Uchida's "Nihon Kinseishi" (History of Early Modern Japan) (Fuzambo, 1903) is sometimes cited as a pioneering work that advocated for "Early Modern" as a temporal concept. Uchida was a historian of the Meiji and Taisho periods who taught at Kyoto Imperial University and other institutions. Researchers at Kyoto University seem to have a tendency to hold Uchida in high regard.

On the other hand, some take the position of not highly evaluating the book's groundbreaking nature, arguing that "Early Modern" in the book refers to what we call "Modern" today, and "Latest Modern," which follows "Early Modern," refers to the "Contemporary" era. Keeping this perspective in mind, it becomes important to consider the process through which "Latest Modern" was clarified as the concept of the "Modern" period throughout the 20th century, while the preceding "Early Modern" period developed a rich historical image distinct from the modern era.

That said, the Japanese word "kinsei" originally means "an era close to the present" (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten). Today, as the modern era has exceeded 150 years since the start of the Meiji period, the "Early Modern" period is likely no longer a "recent era." The state of the nation and society, as well as the way people live, have transformed significantly.

In the periodization of literary history, there are terms such as joko (ancient), chuko (middle), kinko (early middle), and kinsei (early modern), where kinko refers to the period from the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period. In my view, the era from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the Edo period takes on the appearance of kinko rather than kinsei. It is an era that feels close yet distant.

Since around the 1970s, it has become common to distinguish the "Contemporary" period from the "Modern" period, defining the former as the time following Japan's defeat in 1945. The view prevalent in the 1960s, which considered the period after the interwar years of the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars as "Contemporary," has faded away. Sometimes, the entire era of the nation-state, capitalism, and civil society—including the contemporary period—is regarded as the "Modern" era.

Even if such a "Modern" era does not pass for some time, the definition of when the "Contemporary" period begins will likely continue to change. Today, it seems acceptable to consider the period from the 1960s onward, after the rapid economic growth, as the "Contemporary" era. Alternatively, the "Contemporary" era might start from the late 1990s, when the IT revolution was proclaimed.

In the future, the existing frameworks of Japanese historical research may become even more unstable. In such a context, how should the "Early Modern" period, including its name, be retold and passed down?