Historical Studies of National Property Administration in Japan

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12513
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03020:Japanese history-related
• Research Institution: Ryukoku University (2020); Fukui National College of Technology (2018-2019)
• Principal Investigator: Teshima Yasunobu 龍谷大学, 文学部, 講師 (20707517)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 国有財産 / 公共 / 官有財産 / 国有地 / 特別名勝 / 文化財保護 / 宮城県

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Treating the history of National Property Administration in modern Japan, this project analyzes how modern Japan worked in behalf of the public interest, and what kind of problems were concealed.
This project clarifies following two points. From the Meiji era to the Taisho era, because the term of ‘kokyo (the public)’ was used mostly in the local administration, promotion of the public interest was a task of the local administration. And, even as the important question of ‘what is Public’ arose in the political process, local officers put the highest priority on smooth conduct of local affairs because it was clearly designated as their primary responsibility. This resulted in a situation during the Meiji Era in which awareness about the idea of the ‘public’ failed to become a focal point in local administration.

Free Research Field

日本近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「公共」という単語が主に地方行政過程で使用される用語であったということが明らかになったことから、今後、近現代日本の「公共」観について分析する際には、地方行政過程を分析することが有効であるということが判明した。これによって、同種の学術研究の進展が期待される。
また、近現代の日本において、「公共」観が深められない理由の一端とその仕組みが判明したことによって、今後社会全体として「公共」について議論する際、考慮すべきポイントが明らかになるとともに、そうした議論に有用な材料を提供できるようになった。