Naming the Northeast: Identifying “Tohoku” in the Restoration Histories of 19th-Century Japan

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 Tohoku, the northeastern region of Japan, attracted worldwide attention from March 11, 2011 for the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis, and the ensuing efforts of recovery and rebuilding in the affected areas.

Over five years of the “post disaster” period have exposed a renewed dynamic of Tohoku regionalism and Japanese nationalism, which extend from relations between this region and Japan originating in the Meiji period (1868-1912) and earlier.
This presentation begins with an introduction of Tohoku in contemporary times, before surveying past scholarship on the region. I then look at how the histories of the Meiji Restoration and Boshin civil war from 1868 to 1869 contributed to constructing the modern image of Tohoku.
My analysis focuses on the Records of the Restoration (Fukko ki), the “official history” of this period commissioned by the Meiji state.

I examine how the region variously labeled “Oku,” “Ou,” “Mutsu,” “Ezo,” and “Tohoku,” including the domains themselves are represented in the record of events and primary documents of this work, while considering how such official views were formed, perpetuated and contested.
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Room or Area: 
C 610

Contact:

Alain Flaubert Takam | alain.takam@uleth.ca | (403) 329-2561 | uleth.ca/artsci/modern-languages/speaker-series

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