Samurai, violence, and state making: The development of the military and militarism in Japan

Abstract

These six volumes chart the development of Japanese militarization—the routine existence of military attitudes and practices and the glorification of military ideals—from its beginnings in the warrior bands that roamed the Kansai plain to the actions of the Japanese army during World War II. The books span institutional history and ideological developments, individual voices and collective texts, and the creation of a culture of militarism as they bear on the grand project of state making in Japan. Diverse in their focuses, methodological approaches, and theoretical sophistication, these books nevertheless shed light on some intriguing questions about the evolution of this society into the aggressor of World War II. Let me first outline the contents of each specific book and the questions it raises, and then deal with two issues that undergird all of them as a collection.