Pomiędzy przeszłością a przyszłością. Wizje zmiany politycznej i ustrojowej w Japonii we wczesnym okresie Meiji
Between Past and Future. Visions of Political and System Change in Japan in the Early Meiji

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to show how time, or more precisely its two dimensions: past and future, functions in political discourse. The example to be analyzed will be the early Meiji period (1868–1912) in Japan when important political and systemic changes occurred. The starting point shows the ideological significance of time, which had a function in Japanese politics of the Meiji era to legitimize the transformation. To structure the argument, the article is divided into two parts, in which we will show in turn how this process took place. The examples discussed will be the concept of ishin, which, on an ideological level, was to justify the change’s essence, and the content of the Meiji Constitution, where references to time had a crucial legitimizing function.

• Details
• Contents