Open Conference Systems, JSAC 2015 Annual Conference in Japan

Font Size: 
The Last Samurai: The War against Rationalization
Robert Hideo Mamada

Last modified: 2015-03-04

Abstract


Seinan Sensō (The South Western War) in 1877 C.E. is the last civil war in Japan, and this war is widely regarded as the end of “traditional” Japan and the birth of Japan as a modern nation state.  This was a rebellion by the samurai in Satsuma (today’s Kagoshima prefecture), and the newly established government by the Grand Council of State in Tokyo defeated the samurai completely.  This research inquires the reason of the last samurai rebellion, Seinan Sensō (The South Western War) in 1877 C.E.  The reason of their rebellion is not to overthrow the newly established government by the Grand Council of State (Dajōkan) in Tokyo.  In fact, their “enemy” was the process of modernization and the “disenchantment” – the inevitable consequences of modernity and rationalization.  By rising up, they wanted to “destroy” disenchantment and once again set up the polity which was to be governed by the charismatic leader and the libidinal bonds between the leader and the members, which had been prevalent before the Meiji Restoration.  Thus, for the rebels, their real enemy was modernity and rationalization, not the Grand Council.


Keywords


Seinan Senso, Saigo Takamori, Meiji Japan