The Emperor and Nationalist Ideology in Meiji Era Japan Essay -- Meiji

The Emperor and Nationalist Ideology in Meiji term japanThe Meiji while in Japan is known as a time of rapid industrialization and Westernization where more institutions of society were genuinelyigned in matchless form or another to be consistent with their Western counterparts. Ironically, at the same time, it was a tip of growing nationalistic feelings that began to develop in Nipponese society. However, besides being a reactionary or wishful feeling experienced by the existence, this nationalist ideology was also actively promoted by the Meiji leadership. Central to this ideology was the emperor butterfly who was effectively and successfully use as a tool for legitimizing the Meiji government.According to myth, the Japanese emperor is a direct descendent of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Despite seldom having any real power, the emperor was often used by rulers of Japan as a means to add credibility to their governments. It comes as no surprise than that the thinkers of the Meiji Era would make the emperor profound to their efforts at fostering nationalist feelings among the population as a means of suppressing negative reaction towards their efforts at modernization. historically the emperor had three significant functions as a holder of power, he has served as a supreme ruler or at least(prenominal) a participant in the competition for power within Japan as the repository of sovereignty, he has served as the ultimate source of liberty within the Japanese state, exercising such authority if only to offer legitimacy for successive de facto hegemonies and as an ultimate symbol of the moral order of magnitude and identity of the Japanese people, he has served as the sanctifying element in a variety of theories of government and national organization. It is evident that the imperial institution has been many things at many times at it has undergone changes within these three utilitarian level for although a single imperial lineage was able to pr eserve itself in Japan, the relationship between the dynasty, the government and the people of Japan has changed oftentimes in the course of events.Since 1868, Japan was faced first with the crisis of national identity, the... ...f the Meiji period two ubiquitous images gradually emerged as symbols of civilization the monarch and the locomotive engine for modernity there were to be no two more goodly symbols for a long time to come. As we can see, the emperor has been central to the efforts of the Meiji rulers to legitimize their government and preempt reactionary feelings on the part of the Japanese population with a state-sponsored nationalistic ideology. Although rarely explaining in rational toll the reason for revering the imperial establishment, they were nevertheless correct in assuming that the emperor would prove to be a means at unifying the country. distinguish BibliographyConroy, Hilary, and Sndra T. W. Davis, eds. Japan in Transition Though and Action in the Meij i Era, 1868-1912. capital of the United Kingdom and Toronto Associated University Presses, 1984.Gluck, Carol. Japans innovative Myths Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1985.Pyle Kenneth B. The reservation of Modern Japan. Massachusetts D. C. Heath and Company, 1978.Ward, Robert E. ed. Political Development in Modern Japan. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1968.