A Regional and Media Historical Study of the TOA- DOUBUNKAI as a Thought Group and Its Social Support Base

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K13098
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03020:Japanese history-related
• Research Institution: Ehime University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAGAWA Mirai 愛媛大学, 法文学部, 准教授 (60757631)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 東亜同文会 / アジア主義 / 国粋主義 / 義和団事件 / 田舎青年 / 近衛篤麿 / 野﨑武吉郎 / 荒尾精

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The TOA-DOUBUNKI was an ideological group whose purpose was cultural and economic cooperation between Japan and China in response to the new imperialist expansion by Western powers in East Asia that became prominent after the Sino-Japanese War. This study aims to clarify the social foundations of the group, an “Asianism” ideological group. Specifically, I made full use of a vast collection of historical documents (in the collection of the Nozaki Family Museum of Salt Industry History) left by NOZAKI Bukichiro (Okayama Prefecture, member of the House of Peers), a prominent supporter of the TOA-DOUBUNKAI to empirically clarify the ideas and activities of KAMITSU Suketaro,OHARA Makoto, INABA Iwakichi, who were sent to China around 1900 by the group under financial support of NOZAKI. By elucidating the ideas and activities of them, the project reexamines the relationship between modern Japanese involvement in Asia and Japanese local society.

Free Research Field

日本近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現代の中国と日本の間に存在する政治的・経済的・社会的な摩擦を解消し、東アジア諸国・地域の安定と協調を実現するためには、近現代史の正確な知識とその共有が不可欠である。本研究では、日清戦後の新たな東アジア秩序が形成されつつあった1900年前後の時期にあって、日本の地域社会に「アジア主義」の思想集団たる東亜同文会が中国情報を発信し、それに呼応して「田舎青年」が立身出世のため中国に向かった歴史過程を検証した。
日本社会からの疎外感が逆に青年層の国家意識を高め、中国への経済的侵出を促す結果を生んだという事実は、現在の日中双方の社会と国家を俯瞰的、かつ理性的に理解する上で多くの気づきを促すだろう。