Nationalism

Japanese: 国粋主義 - こくすいしゅぎ
Nationalism

In a broad sense, it refers to the idea of ​​emphasizing the racial (ethnic) cultural characteristics of a nation or people in order to distinguish them from those of other nations, and is often asserted in combination with emphasizing the historical glory and traditional values ​​of the nation. Like ethnic ideology, nationalism, and nationalism, it is understood as one of the translations of nationalism or nationality.

The origins of modern Japanese nationalism can be seen in the rise of the Sonno Joi movement and the rejection of Western civilization in the late 19th century, when Japan faced foreign pressure at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. This awareness of the value of indigenous culture eventually emerged in the Meiji era as a backlash against the Meiji government's superficial Westernization policies, as symbolized by treaty revision negotiations and the Rokumeikan.

That is, the "nationalism preservation principle" movement was advocated by various nationalist groups formed in the late 1870s and 1880s and members of the ideological group Seikyosha. However, the nationalism of the mid-Meiji period was different from the xenophobic nationalism of later years, and did not oppose Westernization per se. In the words of Shiga Shigetaka, "It was not someone who wanted to thoroughly preserve Japan's unique old elements and maintain its old elements, but rather, even though it imported Western enlightenment, it was someone who wanted to chew it up with the stomach of Japanese nationalism, digest it, and assimilate it into the Japanese body" ("Confessing the principles that the 'Japanese' embrace"). Its characteristic was the subjective selective intake of Western civilization in order to develop Japanese civilization. However, this kind of healthy nationalism with an open perspective did not last long, and eventually evolved into Nihonshugi (Japanism) advocated by Takayama Chogyu and Kimura Takataro, right-wing nationalist groups in the mid-Taisho period (Yuzon-sha, Kochi-sha, Dai Nippon Kokusaku-kai, etc.), and then into a fascist political movement in collaboration with young officers from the Manchurian Incident to the Second Sino-Japanese War in the early Showa period. Especially around the time of the Pacific War, nationalism was rampant as a narrow-minded nationalism and xenophobic ideology (Imperial History View and Japanese Spirit Theory). Due to the historical circumstances of the early Showa period, nationalism is often understood as fascism or ultra-nationalism, but this is not necessarily a correct way of understanding it.

[Takeshi Nishida]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

広義には一国家ないし国民の人種(民族)的文化的特性を他国のそれと区別して強調する考え方をいい、それはまた、民族の歴史的栄光や伝統的価値の強調と結合して主張されることが多い。民族主義、国家主義、国民主義などと同じくナショナリズムnationalismないしナショナリティnationalityの訳語の一つとして理解されている。

 近代日本における国粋主義の源流は、19世紀後半の幕末期に外圧に直面して台頭してきた尊王攘夷(じょうい)論や西洋文明の排除にみられる。こうした土着主義的な固有文化の価値の自覚は、やがて明治時代に入って、明治政府の推進する条約改正交渉や「鹿鳴館(ろくめいかん)」に象徴される皮相的な欧化政策への反発となって現れた。

 すなわち、明治10年代後半から20年代にかけて結成された各種の国粋派グループや、思想集団政教社のメンバーたちによって唱導された「国粋保存旨義(しぎ)(主義)」運動がそれである。ところが明治中期の国粋主義は後年の排外的な国家主義(ナショナリズム)とは異なり、欧化それ自体に反対を示すものではなかった。志賀重昂(しがしげたか)のことばを用いれば、「徹頭徹尾日本固有の旧分子を保存し旧原素を維持せんと欲するものに非(あら)ず、只泰西(ただたいせい)の開化を輸入し来るも、日本国粋なる胃官を以(もっ)て之(これ)を咀嚼(そしゃく)し之を消化し、日本なる身体に同化せしめんとする者也(なり)」(「『日本人』が懐抱(かいほう)する処(ところ)の旨義を告白す」)という、わが国の文明を発達させるための主体的な西洋文明の選択的摂取にその特質があった。しかし、このようないわば開かれた視座をもつ健康なナショナリズムとしての国粋主義は長くは続かず、やがて、高山樗牛(ちょぎゅう)や木村鷹太郎(たかたろう)らによって提唱された日本主義、大正中期の右翼的な国家主義団体の叢生(そうせい)(猶存(ゆうぞん)社、行地(こうち)社、大日本国粋会など)そして昭和初期の満州事変から日中戦争にかけて、青年将校らと協働したファッショ的政治運動へと進展してゆく。とりわけ太平洋戦争の時期にかけては、国粋主義は偏狭な国家主義、排外主義のイデオロギー(皇国史観や日本精神論)として猛威を振るった。このような昭和初期の歴史的事情から、往々にして国粋主義即ファシズムないし超国家主義という一元的な理解がなされやすいが、それはかならずしも正しい把握の仕方とはいえないであろう。

[西田 毅]

出典 小学館 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について 情報 | 凡例

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