Botchan: a Microcosm of Lessening Importance of Ancestry and Social Rank in the Meiji Restoratoin
2/18/2013 EA332 Botchan Essay
Botchan: A microcosm of the lessening importance of ancestry and social rank in the Meiji Restoration In the novel Botchan, author Natsume Sōseki tells the story of a young Tokyoite cast into the rural countryside of Japan to work as a mathematics teacher. This literary masterpiece has struck resounding cords in the heart of Japanese society since its publication in 1906, partially because of its humor as the narrator, Botchan, is the butt of pranks orchestrated by his unruly students. However, the novel also holds historic reverence. Specifically, Botchan exemplifies a citizen who upholds the moral values of his high-ranked ancestors in a period where the importance of ancestry is declining. Though Botchan himself descended from samurais, the Meiji Restoration, a time of extreme modernization in Japan, rendered his ancestral superiority null. Resulting from this breakdown of social hierarchy, Botchan interacts and works under people of lowranking ancestors. These interactions represent a microcosm of the breaking down of social classes in the Meiji Restoration. A comparison of this Restoration with a time of change in a western culture, such as the American Revolution, yields an agreement with the breaking down of social classes, but with differing outcomes for society. Botchan is set in the Meiji Restoration. This turbulent time was spurred by terminating the self-imposed seclusion from the outside world, called Sakoku in Japan. Shoguns of the Edo period attempted to escape western influences, especially Christianity, and made it so that from 1633-1853, it was punishable by death to enter
1
or leave Japan. However, with little knowledge of the outside world, Japan was at an industrial and economic standstill. Woefully behind other nations, Tokugawa shogunate was surprised when American Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Japanese waters with his display of technologically advanced ships. Perry convinced Tokugawa, who was
Botchan: A microcosm of the lessening importance of ancestry and social rank in the Meiji Restoration In the novel Botchan, author Natsume Sōseki tells the story of a young Tokyoite cast into the rural countryside of Japan to work as a mathematics teacher. This literary masterpiece has struck resounding cords in the heart of Japanese society since its publication in 1906, partially because of its humor as the narrator, Botchan, is the butt of pranks orchestrated by his unruly students. However, the novel also holds historic reverence. Specifically, Botchan exemplifies a citizen who upholds the moral values of his high-ranked ancestors in a period where the importance of ancestry is declining. Though Botchan himself descended from samurais, the Meiji Restoration, a time of extreme modernization in Japan, rendered his ancestral superiority null. Resulting from this breakdown of social hierarchy, Botchan interacts and works under people of lowranking ancestors. These interactions represent a microcosm of the breaking down of social classes in the Meiji Restoration. A comparison of this Restoration with a time of change in a western culture, such as the American Revolution, yields an agreement with the breaking down of social classes, but with differing outcomes for society. Botchan is set in the Meiji Restoration. This turbulent time was spurred by terminating the self-imposed seclusion from the outside world, called Sakoku in Japan. Shoguns of the Edo period attempted to escape western influences, especially Christianity, and made it so that from 1633-1853, it was punishable by death to enter
1
or leave Japan. However, with little knowledge of the outside world, Japan was at an industrial and economic standstill. Woefully behind other nations, Tokugawa shogunate was surprised when American Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Japanese waters with his display of technologically advanced ships. Perry convinced Tokugawa, who was
Cited: Eisenstadt, S.N. Japanese Civilization: A Comparative View. Chicago and London: University of Chicago, 1996. Print. Frank, Andrew. American Revolution: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print. Natsume, Sōseki. Botchan. Tōkyō: Kōdansha, 1985. Print. Nisbet, Robert. "Prejudices Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary a Philosophical Dictionary." Alibris Marketplace. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. 6