Historical Premises of Japan as a Modern State-Parliament and Territory in "Far East"

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03094
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Sugimoto Fumiko (山田史子) 東京大学, 史料編纂所, 教授 (10187669)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 議会 / 海洋 / 裁判 / 情報 / 海図 / 日本 / 国土 / 蒸気船

Outline of Final Research Achievements

(A) Further depth was added to T. Winichakul’s concept of “Geo-Body” so as to turn it into a concept that takes into account not only the land but also the sea. (B) ① It was shown that in the nineteenth century Japan was incorporated into the international system for sharing maritime information and that Japan made its own attempt to reorganize its maritime knowledge; ② that during the Boshin Civil War there was established in Edo a bicameral assembly under the leadership of scholars of Western learning, concurrently with but separately from the new government’s searching for a parliamentary system; ③ and that while the shogunate’s Judicial Council was a precondition for understanding of the modern judicial system, its adjudicating functions had become dysfunctional. (C) Edo Castle was reinterpreted as a segmentalized political space that partially overlapped with urban space, and an attempt was made to bridge the gap between urban history and political history.

Free Research Field

19世紀史　近世日本史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

①　日本は、西洋世界から見ると、地球最後の未測海域に隣接する列島であった。「新しい海洋」の登場（「研究開始当初の背景」参照）と近代化過程とが、同時に、並行して進行した。この地域を研究対象とし、海陸関係の変容も含めて近世近代移行期像を再検討することは、西洋モデルの「国民国家の形成」像を相対化するものである。
②　国土の問題を、海洋を視座に入れて論じることは、こんにちの海洋国境問題の歴史的前提の議論を学問的レベルで行なう糸口を提供することができる可能性を有している。