Rethinking of "MUTSU Diplomacy" in Modern Japan

• Project/Area Number: 11620084
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: KUMAMOTO UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: OHSAWA Hiroaki Kumamoto University, Law, Professor, 法学部, 教授 (70213684)
• Project Period (FY): 1999 – 2000
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2000)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000); Fiscal Year 2000: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000); Fiscal Year 1999: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
• Keywords: Tientsin Treaty / Modernization / Sino-Japanese Concord / アジア主義 / 朝鮮永世中立化

Research Abstract

The following insights can be gained from a critical examination of the references to the Tientsin Convention in Kenkenroku, Mutsu Munemitsu's personal account of the diplomacy of the Sino-Japanese War.
1. The four perspectives on the Tientsin Convention in prior research lack proof, contain excessive value judgments, and are narrow in viewpoint.
2. The perspectives on the Tientsin Convention in prior research can be found in contemporary evaluations and existed as marginal critiques. This means that the prior research completely ignores the core assessments of the period on the Tientsin Convention.
3. The very framework of modern Japanese diplomacy is rooted in the problems in these assessments of the Tientsin Convention in prior research.
4. The image of Mutsu's diplomacy presented under this framework was formed without critical examination of the references in Kenkenroku.
In Kenkenroku, Mutsu intentionally downplays the political significance of the Tientsin Convention by focusing on the issue of legal interpretation. It could be thought that Mutsu did this out of a need to conceal his own diplomatic failure. From items 1 through 4 above, it is clear that the image of Mutsu's diplomacy created based on understanding Kenkenroku as unquestioned truth is very problematic in terms of proof.