Kotoku Shusui Portrait of a Japanese Radical [Paperback]

This text examines the life and times of KMtoku Shksui (18711911).This 1971 text examines KMtoku Shksui (18711911), Japans leading left-wing thinker at the turn of the century who was a bitter opponent of aggressive Japanese nationalism and militarism. Drawing on KMtokus extensive diaries and correspondence, Professor Notehelfer examines the psychological conflict KMtoku suffered between traditional and Western ideas.This 1971 text examines KMtoku Shksui (18711911), Japans leading left-wing thinker at the turn of the century who was a bitter opponent of aggressive Japanese nationalism and militarism. Drawing on KMtokus extensive diaries and correspondence, Professor Notehelfer examines the psychological conflict KMtoku suffered between traditional and Western ideas.This 1971 text was the first Western study of KMtoku Shksui (18711911) - Japan's leading left-wing thinker at the turn of the century - whose career and ideas had a decisive influence on subsequent radical movements in Japan and also in China. KMtoku was a bitter opponent of aggressive Japanese nationalism and militarism, foreseeing as early as 1906 that its ultimate consequence would be conflict with the United States. He was executed in 1911 on charges of 'high treason' in a plot to take the life of the Meiji Emperor. Professor Notehelfer presents a personal as well as political biography. Drawing on KMtoku's extensive diaries and correspondence, he examines the psychological conflict KMtoku suffered between traditional and Western ideas. The book therefore has the wider theme of illustrating the pressures and difficulties faced by a traditional society in a period of rapid social change.List of plates; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The Tosa years, 18711888; 2. In search of power and glory, 18891899; 3. From loyalism to socialism, 18991903; 4. Pacifist opposition to the Russo-Japanese War, 19031905; 5. The transition to anarchism, 19051906; 6. Direct action, 19061907; 7. High treason,lS/