Janpanese Literature

The study of Japanese literature is usually divided into classical Japanese literature and modern Japanese literature. Line of demarcation is 1868, the date of the Meiji Restoration.

Pre-Meiji Japan
Tokugawa Period (1600-1868) = Period of Great Peace = Maintenance of the status quo = Domains and
Daimyō frozen in status

1. Official ideology -- Neo-Confucianism
Before Tokugawa period, Confucianism played subordinate role in Japanese thought.
Confucianism remained a secular moral and political philosophy.
Leaders of the Tokugawa Shōgunate established Neo-Confucianism, based on the teachings of Chu Hsi (1130-1200), as its official political ideology and established colleges based on it.

Neo-Confucianism as a natural philosophy.
a) human nature is basically good
b) the structure of the physical universe is rational and so are human beings
c) government is organic with the natural principles of nature and human nature and involves reciprocal relationships of justice from the superior and obedience from the subordinate.

i ruler and subject ii parents and children iii husband and wife iv elder and younger v friend and friend

d) A class order maintaining these human relationships grows naturally out of natural modes of production.

i warrior (bushi, bunbu) ii peasant/farmer iii artisan iv merchant

e) Protection of the environment

2. No matter what the ideology, the
Tokugawa held on to power by military and political force and political manipulation.

Methods:
a) sankin kōtai = regular attendance by
Daimyō in Edo
b) fudai tozama system
c) seclusion policy
d) expropriation of domains (rōnin)

3. Threats to Tokugawa hegemony
a) The ECONOMY
b) The ECONOMY
c) The ECONOMY i needs creating needs ii growth of merchant classes iii bushi indebtedness
d) Solutions i sumptuary laws ii currency manipulation iii increased taxation

MODERN TIMES

Causes of the Meiji