This article analyzes the characteristics and meaning of Archaeology and Enlightenment Historiography that emerged during the establishment of modern Japanese history around the Meiji Restoration. Based on the discussion of Ishimoda Sho, a leading pos...
This article analyzes the characteristics and meaning of Archaeology and Enlightenment Historiography that emerged during the establishment of modern Japanese history around the Meiji Restoration. Based on the discussion of Ishimoda Sho, a leading postwar historian in Japan, I would like to consider what the study of “modern history” can be today. First, I will examine three books representing modern Japanese historical writing, “Honcho Tsukan”, “History of Great Japan”, and “Saryo”, and examine how Archaeology and Enlightenment Historiography emerged as a new methodology for historical writing, both in discontinuity and continuity. Next, I will show how Archaeology and Enlightenment Historiography collaborated to seize control of historical writing, and the existence of colonialism as a premise.