Abstract
This is the first example of Japanese scholarship to appear in PROD Translations. The author examines the historical role of the Emperor in Japanese political life, especially in relation to the shogunate, or military government, that ruled in his name until the 1860's. The shogunate was overthrown by members of the feudal nobility who professed a return to the traditional idea of the effective absolute authority of the Emperor, and demanded the expulsion of foreigners, yet who paradoxically destroyed the feudal order, organized the Japanese government along Western lines, and developed a new concept of the Imperial role. The historical material presented here is not new to Western scholars; its interpretation very likely is new.
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