Datsu-A Ron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since June 2006. |
Datsu-A Ron (Japanese Kyūjitai: 脫亞論, Shinjitai: 脱亜論) was an article written by Japanese author and political theorist Fukuzawa Yukichi. It was first published in a newspaper in Japan called Jiji Shimpo on March 16, 1885 (Year Meiji 18th) issue. Datsu-A Ron can be translated as 'Leaving Asia Theory' or 'The Argument for Abandoning Asia'. The article came at a critical juncture between a change in Japanese society.
Contents |
[edit] Abstract
The article first declared that the "Wind of Westernization" was blowing through the east and either countries would adopt the movement to "taste the fruit of civilization" or be left in without a choice as to their own destiny. "Civilization is like the measles. And it is better than the measles that it can bring interests." It was therefore Fukuzawa's assertion that in order to develop personal and national self-determination, one must sail on the aforementioned winds of civilization. Impeding the road to civilization lay a conservative government (Tokugawa Shogunate); only when this government was overthrown could civilization be realized in Japan. The key to get rid of old, and gain new is :"Leaving Asia". During the Meiji Restoration Japan was seen as spiritually "Leaving Asia," although its two neighbors, China and Korea, did not appear to be embracing such reformation. Unless there were pioneers to reform these countries, they would be conquered and divided by external forces, as evidenced by the unequal treaties and threat of force pushed on Asian counties by the U.S.A and other Western powers.
A corroborating passage from Datsu-A Ron reads:
| “ | In my view, these two countries [China and Korea] cannot survive as independent nations with the onslaught of Western civilization to the East...It is not different from the case of the righteous man living in a neighborhood of a town known for foolishness, lawlessness, atrocity, and heartlessness. His action is so rare that it is always buried under the ugliness of his neighbors' activities...The spread of civilization is like the measles...Those [who] are intimate with bad friends are also regarded bad, therefore we should deny those bad Asian friends from our hearts. | ” |
[edit] Article Background
"Datsu-A Ron" was said as Fukuzawa's response to a failed attempt by Koreans to organize an effective reform faction, an attempt he had supported. He had invited young Korean aristocrats to his school. He supported Yu Giljun who is the first foreign student of Korea and one of his disciples, Kim Okgyun, tried a coup d'état but failed. This failure made Fukuzawa have a step toward his idea, Datsu-A Ron. Neverless the assistance provided to radical Koreans during this era was never intended to lead to complete independence for the peninsula, but on the contrary sought to bring Korea under ever greater Japanese influence. This was amply demonstrated by the cynical power-plays undertaken in Korea by both Koreans supported by Fukuzawa and the Japanese Imperial Army during the Sino-Japanese War.
His enthusiastic support of the Sino-Japanese War had much to do with his opinions about modernization. Like many of his peers in the government, Fukuzawa ultimately believed modernization in Asia could best be achieved at the point of a gun. He believed that China suffered from archaic and unchanging principles. At the time of the war, foot binding was still the practice in China as well as cruel punishments like torture that Japan had already outlawed, opium had been sold on street, and political institutions were failing to fend off foreign incursions and selling interests like railroads and taxation to pay the debt. Japan, similarly, suffered the humiliation of having to endure unequal treaties with the Western powers, and Fukuzawa hoped a display of military prowess would sway opinion in the West towards treaty revision. In his hopes for a strong Japan, Fukuzawa saw the Asian countries around Japan as potential deterrents in need of guidance.
"In my view, these two countries [China and Korea] cannot survive as independent nations with the onslaught of Western civilization to the East. . . It is not different from the case of the righteous man living in a neighborhood of a town known for foolishness, lawlessness, atrocity, and heartlessness. His action is so rare that it is always buries under the ugliness of his neighbors' activities," Fukuzawa wrote in "Datsu-A Ron."
[edit] Effects
This article was widely spread in Japanese population and caused a great effect in the civilization and modernization movement of the Meiji period. And Fukuzawa Yukichi is also regarded as one of the greatest thinkers in Japanese history. His image is still on the 10000-Yen bank note.
