Japan's Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace

Description

An innovative examination of heritage politics in Japan, showing how castles have been used to re-invent and recapture competing versions of the pre-imperial past and project possibilities for Japan's future. Oleg Benesch and Ran Zwigenberg argue that Japan's modern transformations can be traced through its castles. They examine how castle preservation and reconstruction campaigns served as symbolic ways to assert particular views of the past and were crucial in the making of an idealized premodern history. Castles have been used to craft identities, to create and erase memories, and to symbolically join tradition and modernity. Until 1945, they served as physical and symbolic links between the modern military and the nation's premodern martial heritage. After 1945, castles were cleansed of military elements and transformed into public cultural spaces that celebrated both modernity and the pre-imperial past. What were once signs of military power have become symbols of Japan's idealized peaceful past. Cover Half-title page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Considering Castles and Tenshu Modern Castles on the Margins Overview: “From Feudalism to the Edge of Space” Part I From Feudalism to Empire 1 Castles and the Transition to the Imperial State Castles in the Global Early Modern World Castles and the Fall of the Tokugawa Useless Reminders of the Feudal Past Remilitarizing Castles in the Meiji Period Considering Heritage in the Early Meiji Period Castles and the Imperial House Conclusions 2 The Discovery of Castles, 1877–1912 Making Space Public Civilian Castles and Daimyō Buyback Castles As Sites and Subjects of Exhibitions Civil Society and the Organized Preservation of Castles Conclusions 3 Castles, Civil Society, and the Paradoxes of “Taisho Militarism” Building an Urban Military Castles and Military Hard Power Castles and Military Soft Power Challenging the Military The Military and the Public in Osaka The Reconstruction of Heritage in Osaka Conclusions 4 Castles in War and Peace: Celebrating Modernity, Empire, and War The Early Development of Castle Studies The Arrival of Castle Studies in Wartime Castles for Town and Country Castles for the Empire Conclusions Part II From Feudalism to the Edge of Space 5 Castles in War and Peace II: Kokura, Kanazawa, and the Rehabilitation of the Nation The Imperial Castle and the Transformation of the Center Kanazawa Castle and the Ideals of Progressive Education Losing Our Traditions: Lamenting the Fate of Japanese Heritage Kokura Castle and the Politics of Japanese Identity Conclusions 6 Fukkō: Hiroshima Castle Rises from the Ashes Hiroshima Castle: From Castle Road to MacArthur Road and Back Prelude to the Castle: Rebuilding Hiroshima’s Gokoku Shrine Reconstructions: Celebrations of Recovery in Hiroshima Between Modernity and Tradition at the Periphery and on the World Stage The Weight of Meiji: The Imperial General Headquarters in Hiroshima and the Meiji Centenary Conclusions 7 Escape from the Center: Castles and the Search for Local Identity Elephants and Castles: Odawara and the Shadow of Tokyo Victims of History I: Aizu-Wakamatsu and the Revival of Grievances Victims of History II: Shimabara Castle and the Enshrinement of Loss Southern Barbarians at the Gates: Kokura Castle’s Struggle with Authenticity Conclusions 8 Japan’s New Castle Builders: Recapturing Tradition and Culture Rebuilding the Meijō: (Re)Building Campaigns in Kumamoto and Nagoya No Business Like Castle Business: Castle Architects and Construction Companies Symbols of the People? Conflict and Accommodation in Kumamoto and Nagoya Conclusions Conclusions Bibliography Index