浮田和民の「帝国主義」論と国民教育 : 明治自由主義の系譜

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When we trace the intellectual history of modern Japan, we realize that liberalism has not been understood properly and has consistently failed to obtain its citizenship. In general, liberalism has been misunderstood or even misinterpreted, intentionally or unintentionally. In the intellectual history of modern Japan, liberalism has been a stumbling block for both right wing nationalism and left wing revolutionary ideologies. Liberalism has frequently been regarded as an enemy of nationalism because it emphasizes individual values. Some interpreted liberalism as the unlimited expression of arbitrary desire. Some interpreted it as synonymous with laissez faire economy of capitalism or with anarchism. Not only the opponents of liberalism but even some of the socalled liberals caused further misunderstanding because of their misleading grasp of liberalism. The indigenous cultural soil with its traditional value concepts, which lacked concern for individual freedom, negatively colored and affected the nature of liberalism in the process of its indigenization. On the other hand, some types of traditional value concepts such as Wang Yang-ming's Confucianism or the teachings of Shinran, founder of the Jodo Shinshu Sect, positively affected and helped its indigenization. In view of this general situation, we need to trace the deveolpment of liberalism in modern Japan and examine carefully the nature and characteristics of liberalism in Japan. In the first half of this article I briefly traced the genealogy of the rather genuine liberalism of the early part of the Meiji Period and then the process of distortion and supperession of this quality through the impact of chauvinistic nationalism. In the second half of this article, I tried, to explore the significance of the liberalism of Ukita Kazutami, a unique liberal who made important contributions to liberalism during the latter part of the Meiji Era (1900-1912). Ukita Kazutami (1859-1946), one of the Kumamoto Band Protestants, was educated at Doshisha and Yale University. He taught briefly at Doshisha and was an outstanding, lifelong professor at Waseda University as a scholar of the history of civilization and political science. He also served from 1909 to 1919 as the chief editor of Taiyo (the Sun), a leading and influential monthly magazine of that period. His essays on current affairs appearing every month in the magazine made a great impact on the Japanese public in the areas of constitutional democracy and universal suffrage. Thus he helped prepare the way for Taisho Democracy. In Japan as well as in the West in the early part of the twentieth century imperialism was not yet a clearly defined word, though this terminology was becoming popular as that which signified a vital or progressive nationalism. In Japan on the one hand Kotoku Shusui, a leading socialist (and later anarchist) published his book Imperialism: a Monster of the 20th Century (1901) in which he defined, with original insight, the word imperialism as an aggressive, dangerous nationalism woven with militarism (the warp) and patriotism (the woof). On the other hand Tokutomi Soho, former advocate of heiminshugi (democracy), was beginning to propagate "Great Japan's Expansionism" particularly after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). In England John A. Hobson published his famous book, Imperialism (1902), but this had not yet been introduced into Japan. Lenin's notable essay on imperialism appeared in 1916, fifteen years later than Kotoku's Imperialism (1901). During such a period Ukita wrote books and articles on imperialism and national education from a basic interest in liberalism. The latter part of this article is aimed at examining the nature of Ukita's interpretation of imperialism and its relation to liberalism. Contents I. A Genealogy of Meiji Liberalism A. Liberalism of the Japanese Enlightenment intellectuals such as Nakamura Masanao and Fukuzawa Yukichi who were under the influence of Victorian Liberalism of Great Britain. B. Liberalism of Nakae Chomin, a representative ideologue of the left Jiyu minken undo, and Ono Azusa, an ideological leader of the Kaishin-to and co-worker of Okuma Shigenobu, and the quality of the indigenous moral ideas of their liberalism. C. Christian concept of freedom - Uemura Masahisa and Uchimura Kanzo. D. Kato Hiroyuki's social Darwinism (theory Tof social organism) and family state ideology which refuted and negated liberalism in order to give strong idealogical support to the Emperor's nation. Such trends were strengthened by Japan's expansionism and imperialism through the wars with China and Russia. II. Ukita Kazutami's Interpretation of Imperialism and his Proposal for National Education A. Various interpretations and definitions of imperialism which appeared in the early part of the 20th century in Japan and the West. B. The unique characteristics of Ukita's interpretation of imperialism and its relation to liberalism. C. Ukita's advocacy for national education : to foster forward and responsible people to live in a world of imperialism. D. Ukita's contributions toward Taisho Democracy and Liberalism support of the "organ theory of the Empepor", protest against the undemocratic handling of Kotoku's high treason, advocacy of consti. tutional democracy with universal suffrage, etc. E. Ukita's perspective on the progress of human rights for the future one hundred years in view of the progress of the past one hundred years.
国際基督教大学の論文

著者

武田清子
国際基督教大学

浮田和民の「帝国主義」論と国民教育 : 明治自由主義の系譜

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