Miyake Setsurei

Miyake Setsurei

Miyake Setsurei ( Japanese 三 宅 雪嶺 , real name: Miyake Yūjirō (三 宅 雄 二郎); born July 7, 1860 in Kanazawa ; died November 29, 1945 ) was a Japanese journalist and political thinker during the Meiji , Taishō, and Shōwa Time .

life and work

Miyake Setsurei was born a samurai in Kanazawa . After graduating from the University of Tokyo in philosophy in 1883 , he worked briefly in administration. From 1887 he worked as a journalist and in 1888 he founded the “Society for Political Education” (政教 社, Seikōsha) and the associated magazine “Der Japaner” (日本人, Nihonjin) with colleagues.

Miyake was interested in politics and criticized the "Hanbatsu system" (藩 閥), that is, the distribution of state posts based on the applicant's regional origin, that is, the applicant's Han . He took an active part in politics in the 1880s, but then withdrew in disappointment and concentrated on writing, on journalism.

Philosophically, Miyake was “Japanist”. For example, he criticized the, in his opinion, too unreflective assumption of the “western pursuit of profit”, as demonstrated by the environmental destruction caused by the Ashio copper mine . He called for a stronger preservation of traditional Japanese culture and advocated a separate path into the future.

Miyaka was an ultra-nationalist (国 粋 主義 者, Kokusui shugisha) who hoped for a strong, independent Japan. He wrote a lot, and his analyzes of pre-war Japan are important historical sources. - He was the father-in-law of Nakano Seigō , whom he greatly influenced. In 1943 he received the Order of Culture .

Works (selection)

• 宇宙 (Uchū): "The Universe"; 1909.
• 同時代 史 (Dōjidai-shi): "History of the present"; 6 volumes, 1949 to 1954.

Remarks

1. ↑ The magazine was renamed in 1907 in "Japan and the Japanese" (日本 及 日本人, Nihon oyobi Nihonjin).

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Miyake Setsurei . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X .
• Hunter, Janet: Miyake Setsurei . In: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984. ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

Commons : Miyake Setsurei  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Miyake is the family name, Setsurei the first name.