РОССИЯ И ПЕТР I В ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ КОНЦЕПЦИИ ЯПОНСКОГО ПИСАТЕЛЯ СИБА РЁТАРО
RUSSIA AND PETER THE GREAT IN THE HISTORICAL CONCEPTION OF JAPANESE WRITER SHIBA RYOTARO

Summary/Abstract: Shiba Ryotaro (1923–1996) is one of the most popular Japanese writers of the second half of the XX century. He worked in the genre of historical novel focusing on the history of early modern and modern Japan, including its relationship with the neighbouring countries. Shiba had his own view on the history and culture of Russia and even wrote a separate book about it. The popularity of Shiba’s works, as well as television series and films based on them in Japan suggests a strong influence of his ideas on the historical consciousness of the contemporary Japanese. This article examines the context and reasons for Shiba Ryotaro’s appeal to the history of Russia-Japan relations and the history of Russia as a whole. The author analyzes Shiba’s most significant texts about Russia and identifies the main aspects of this country’s image in them. Two main functions of Russia in Shiba’s texts are identified: as a factor in Japanese history and as the “Other” for Japan in the formation of its national identity. The image of Peter the Great on the pages of Shiba’s books is also considered to reveal its ambivalent nature: on the one hand, Peter is portrayed as the initiator of modernization and the creator of a new Russia, while on the other hand, he remains the embodiment of the Russian autocracy with all its faults. It is in the latter that Shiba sees the reason for the success of Russian modernization, which also gives it a dual meaning. This paper is the first-of-its-kind Russian analysis of Shiba Ryotaro’s texts as a source for studying the images of Russia and Peter the Great in Japan. Shiba’s books clearly illustrate that history, in particular the history of Russia-Japan relations, remains important for how Russia is perceived in Japan, therefore, studying the concept of historical memory and the mechanisms of its formation is highly relevant.

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