Table Of ContentTHOUGHT AND BEHAVIOUR IN
MODERN JAPANESE POLITICS
BLANK PAGE
THOUGHT AND BEHAVIOUR IN
MODERN
JAPANESE
POLITICS
EXPANDED EDITION
~asao ~aruyanna
Ivan Morris
EDITED BY
Oxford University Press
LONDON OXFORD NEW YORK
Copyright © 1969 by Oxford University Press. Inc.
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 74-90162
English translation of Thought and Behaviour in Modern Japanese Politics
was first published by Oxford University Press, London, 1963.
@ Oxford University Press, 1963
First issued, in an expanded edit~on, as
an Oxford University Press paperbadt, 1969
Printed in the United States of America
Editor's- Preface
Among the spate books about- Japan that have appeared
of~
since the war in English -and-other European languages one
type is -almost -conspicuous -by its rarity: namely, studies- by
Japanese scholars about -their~ own coUntry. Several-bookshelves
could be filled with works: by Western experts dealing with the
history, politics, economics, religion, -art, and -literature of the
colintry. When-itcomes-to ttanslationofwhat modem Japanese
writers say about their own its-people, how
have~to land~and
ever, we have been limited largely to fiction. the:. past
DuriJig~
fifteen years a remarkable translated -novels, plays,
num-ber~~0f
and short stories have been published-:in the- West, and-
cumu~
latively they give a authentic picture of life in these
-vivid~and
distant islands which, -f.hough- theye can nOw be -reached--by
air in a matter of hourS, still tend in -many ways to be- inaeces.;
sible.
Yet, valuable as these translations may be, both in
~offiction
c
their own right- as ·liter~tUr-e- and ~ for- the-tmderstanding~ they
provide· of Japan- past and p~esent,c-they hardly <?-bViate the
need-m lhe West for seholarly::studies by
J~apanese=scholarswho
have systematically exanililed different aspects of their count-ry.
A ·translation of essays by Professor Maruyama Masao* -may
c
help to fill-at least--a small-part of the gap. ·:Both the-Japan~se
themselves and those few We&terners· w~o read their language
generally· regard him as one-of the most creative and stimulating
writers-wno have been at-work-during--the-past-few decades. He
has been mainly concerned With Japanese history,
~intellectual-
and is perhaps best known for his cstudies-on the-influence of neo
Confucianism and on the develepment of nationalist thought
in the modem-=period. His interests, -however, are by no--means
confined to the history of-his own- country, and the present
volume includes essays on general questions like political power
and OD- specific~y non-Japanese matters like de-Staliriiiation.
Even-in the essays that ate focused onJapan he usually broadens
- - -
• HeR and throughout this book .names are given in th~ Japanese. order, i.e. with
family Dames first. -
vi Editor's Preface-
his discussion by suggesting significant parallels or contrasts
with developments elsewhere. In examining Japanese national
ism, for example, he frequently refers to modem Chinese
history, and his study of japan's wartime leadership owes a
great deal to provocative comparisons with Nazi Germany.
Although Professor Maruyama is far -from being an easy
writer, his books and articles are-enormously popular (his recent
Intellectual History of Japan, and -earlier -works _a lso, are best
sellers), and they _have undoubtedly considerable influence
h~d
in Japan,- particularly on the- generali on that -has- reached
maturity since the war. Most of the e_ssays in this volume have
been widely read, discussed, and criticized- by those Japanese
who are seriously concerned-with politics and- with the intel
lectual development of their COllntry.
-c
The essays-devoted to the Japanese political scene cover a
wide- range of topics. All of them,however, share a certain
general approach that Professor Maruyama had defined as
follows. In the first place, he- has tried to -analyse Japanese
politics not so much by studying its legal, institutional setting
(the more conventional method) but rather in terms of the
general cultural context and thepatter-n of interpersonal rela
tionships, paying particula_r attention.to the impact ofn on-politi
cal behaviour and~activities in politics. . Secondly, he has made an
effort to define the underlyi:Q.g values of the Japanese {especially
of the members of the ruling elites) that were not formalized
into any doctrinal or theoretical pattern, and toshow-how-such
systems conditioned the leadership and d,ecision-making process
of Japanese politics. In examining conte-mporary -politics on a
world scale, -Professor Maruyama has been particularly guided
by the- belief that contemporary ideological tensions, -notably
those-associated -with the Cold -War,-have been -aggravated by
the tendency _of the 'isms' on -both sides -to refuse to recognize
that there -are features of political dynamics com_mon -to all
societies, which, in a given situation, make certain patterns of
behaviour inevitable, regardless of ideology_.
Without wishing in -any way to prejudge the validity of this
approach, or its success as it applies to the essays in the
p~esent
volume, I would nevertheless suggest that it has in_ general made
for a most original type of analysis. Profess_or Maruyama's
writing can be challenging, provocative, sometimes even infuria-
Editor's PreftlCe .1
VB
ting; it is rarely banal. Among his most-valuable contributions
is_ to_ have called into question certain conventional -theories
about Japanese poJitics, for instance the idea that a slow but
steady pr-ogress towards democracy was rudely, and more or
less fortuitously, interrupted -in ~e -1930S by the 'militarists'
and that since the war Japan has -returned to her normal
course.
One reason for the liveliness of Professor Maruyama's--writing
is his readiness to express emotions and value judgements-of a
type that Western scholars nowadays tend to eschew when
dealing with of this kind. A propensity towards such
subj~cts
value judgements seemsto have been prevalent amongJapanese
scholars -in-the social sciences, especially since 945. -As. Professor
I
Dore points out, this may be- the effect of the almost endemic
sense of crisis in post-war Japan, which-has prompted an urgent
sense' -of personal involvement among Japanese intellectuals,
exacerbated in some cases by a feeling of guilt at not having
been sufficiently committed -to do anything effective to prevent
the success of militarism in the 930S.
I
Whatever justification -there may be for the introduction of
value judgement in scholarly writing -(and Professor Maruyama
cogently argues the case in his essay on 'Politics as a- Science'),
the practice is bound to shock many Western readers, especially
since his values are- often different from ours. One difference
may arise from the fact that, like so many modem Japanese
intellectuals, Professor Maruyama is deeply conversant with
Hegelian dialectics and .influenced by Marxist ideas and termi
nology. This is certainly not to suggest that he is a committed
member of any extreme political group. Even a cursory reading
of an essay like 'A Critique of De-Stalinization' will indicate
how far Maruyama is from being an .o rthodox Marxist. Indeed
his approach to contemporary politics cannot be classed in any
ready-made category. His point of view-on most questions is
thoroughly individual and has the merit of incensing members
of both political extremes.
Where the intellectual history of his country is concerned,
Professor Maruyama writes with erudition and authority. Yet
the reader-should remember that his conclusions-are often hotly
disputed by eminent Japanese colleagues. If Maruyama's
position is to be classified, one would presumably describe him as
Editor's Preface
VIII
an independent member of the left. Inasmuch as the left-wing
intelligentsia nowadays exerts an influence in Japan out of all
proportion to its numbers, arid since it is generally recognized
that the West should try to maintain a dialogue with the non
communist left in Asia, we have a good deal to learn from these
writings by one of its most talented and ereative representatives.
It remains, perhaps, to be added that the views in
expressed~
these essays are not necessarily shared by the respective trans
lators or by- the editor.
* * *
The editor's aim has been to present these translations in as
free a style as was possible while still accurately preserving the
sense of the original. Maruyama's ideas tend to be complicated
and the language he uses does nothing to make them appear any
simpler than they are. The Teutonic style has had a major influ
ence on Japanese scholars, and it is particularly pronounced in
the writing of Maruyama, who has been greatly by
influenced~
German writers. The length and complexity of his sentences
and his penchant for abstract words and curious turns of phra
sing make his work difficult even -for educated Japanese readers-.
Toput this into fairly readable En-glish has involved taking
considerable liberties with the structure and phrasing of the
original. Professor Maruyama, however, has thoroughly checked
each of the- -translations (occasionally making amendments to
the original text), and the editor feels confident that ifviolence
has been done to the author's thought it is only very rarely and
in minor matters.
Professor Maruyama's notes appear at the bottom of each
page and the translators' notes at the end of each essay. The
glossary at the back of the volume contains explanations of all
the important proper names occurring in the nine essays, and of
many less important names also. The editor would like to
express his thanks to Kaoru and David Titus and to Paul
Varley for their help in preparing this glossary, as well as the
index. I should also take this opportunity to thank the teams of
translators (whose names appear in the list of contents) for
their faithful co-operation, and the following people for the
as-sistance they have given at one stage or another in the pre
paration of this volume: Professor George Totten (University
Editor's Preface ix
of Rhode Island); Dr. Ronald Dore (London School of Econo
mics); Mr. Richard Storry (St. Antony's, Oxford); Professors
James Morley and Herschel Webb, Miss Miwa Kai, and Mr.
Shumpei Okamoto (Columbia University).
IVAN MORRIS
BLANK PAGE
