01698cam a2200253Ii 4500 9784924971325 4924971324 LWU jpn 320 INT 2012 A010 Or. Watanabe, Hiroshi, A history of Japanese political thought, 1600-1901 / First English edition xiv, 543 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm LTCB international library selection ; Originally published in Japanese as: Nihon seiji shis¿‍shi : 17-20 seiki. Tokyo : University of Tokyo Press, 2010 In 1853 a flotilla of U.S. Navy warships led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan. A scant fourteen years later the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, which had lasted two and a half centuries, was at an end. What lay behind the sudden collapse of samurai rule? Watanabe Hiroshi traces the quiet changes in political thought that culminated in the dramatic events of the Meiji Revolution in 1868. Confucian ideals such as a universal Way and benevolent government under a virtuous ruler possessing the mandate of heaven were taught by successive Japanese Confucians and came to permeate the country, posing an implicit threat to military rule. Over time the development of a national consciousness, the rising prestige of the imperial court in Kyoto, and increased knowledge of the Western world created the conditions for a national debate over opening up to the West and for radical political change Political science Political science Political science Political scientists Noble, David, EK 13739 13739 0 0 0 320_000000000000000_INT_2012_A010_OR 0 65083 LBA LBA A010 2017-08-30 320 INT 2012 A010 Or. a19652 2017-08-30 2017-08-30 EK