This thesis deals with the myth of Maitreya, the next Buddha to come. The myth is traced from its earliest emergence in the Buddhist scriptures, briefly through its metamorphosis in China, with a view to presenting its evolution in Japan. The myth's history in Japan spans thirteen centuries, and as a result it is interesting to explore it in its historical context to see how the myth evolves and changes according to the exigencies of the times. / Buddhism has in many ways been synthesized into the Japanese indigenous Shinto context, with the result that the myth of Maitreya has emerged not simply as a Buddhist figure, but a pan-Japanese phenomenon very much responding to the Japanese ethos of "world-mending". This underlying current has become particularly strong in the twentieth century with the result that Maitreya has become a vehicle for social rectification as well as hope.

Typescript. / Bibliography: leaves 184-191. / Photocopy. / Microfilm. / xii, 191 leaves, bound 29 cm

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The thesis is concerned with three so-called "incidents of intense violence" (gekka jiken) that occurred between late 1882 and late 1884: the Fukushima, Kabasan, and Chichibu incidents. All three revolts occurred simultaneous to, and were connected with, the rise and fall of the "freedom and popular rights movement" (jiyu minken undo), especially with its principal institutional expression, the Jiyuto or "Liberal Party." One of the most important of the connections between the revolts and the Jiyuto is that of their overlapping leadership. For the most part, local Jiyuto leaders served as the leaders of these three revolts. Due to this fact, and the other equally important one of the critical extent to which the local Jiyuto leaders embraced the ideological principles of the national Jiyuto—as opposed to the pragmatic, perhaps cynical, approach toward these principles taken by the national leadership—the "natural right" basis of the Liberal's ideology and its corresponding endorsement of the "right of revolution" filtered down to the farmers, hunters, day-labourers and others who participated in these incidents. Notions of "natural right" were used as guiding principles to govern the aims of their revolutionary organisations and as explanations to justify their attempts to overthrow the government. Popular songs, poems, the courtroom testimony of those participants arrested, the content of their revolutionary manifestos, their statements of aims as presented in their organisational charters, the content of lectures given in peasant villages, by local Jiyuto organisers, and the like attest to the beginnings of a strong liberal-democratic undercurrent existing in the early 1880's among Japan's common people (heimin). These findings call into question the conclusions regarding the early failure of democracy in Japan reached by such noted Western scholars as E. H. Norman, Robert Scalapino, and Nobutaka Ike. This is due partly to the fact that each of these scholars analysed Japan's politics of this period almost exclusively at the level of national, elite figures and thereby ignored the impact that the popular rights movement had upon local politics and rural folk. By neglecting local politics, the above-mentioned scholars prematurely drew the conclusion that Japan's common people acted as a collective Atlas who patiently bore the burdens of modernisation upon their peasant backs in obedient silence. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

In the latter half of the sixteenth century, Japan, which for almost one hundred years had been fractured into a great number of small domains ruled by daimyo, was in the process of being unified. Three important figures, of whom the first was Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), brought about that unification. Gda Nobunaga's role as a unifier of the Japanese state has been extensively studied by Japanese historians, but in those studies historians have usually misconstrued the nature and purpose of Oda's policies towards Buddhist institutions by portraying them as merely destructive, and have overlooked the most important effect of those policies. Oda Nobunaga's policies towards Buddhist institutions were not as sweepingly negative as has been generally asserted, and their effect was not the destruction of those institutions but a profound redefinition of the place of Buddhism in Japanese society. The greatest obstacle that Oda Nobunaga encountered in his efforts to unify the country was the Buddhist institutions which by the sixteenth century had come to possess great power. That power was of three types: many Buddhist institutions maintained armies of "cleric-soldiers" (so-hei) or "lay followers" (monto) that interfered in secular affairs and engaged in military campaigns; many owned vast stretches of land spread throughout the country; and many enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, independence, and extraterritoriality. By far the most powerful opposition to the realization of Oda's goal of a unified country was that put forward by the Ishiyama Honganji, the chief temple of the Honganji branch of True Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo Shinshu). The Ishiyama Honganji was the apex of a huge organization of monto. and it was also the hub of the anti-Nobunaga league that was made up of a number of Buddhist institutions, daimyo, and eventually the shogun Ashikaga Toshiaki. In order to unify the country Oda Nobunaga had to reduce the power of the Buddhist institutions, and to that end he pursued three policies, each one directed against one of the types of power enjoyed by those institutions: he eradicated the Buddhist armies of sphel and monto in a series of campaigns over the years from 1569 to 1582; he reduced the size of the Buddhist institutions' land holdings by confiscating many of their estates and by instituting a new land-ownership policy; and he denied their right to independence from the central administration. The result of Oda Nobunaga's policies was twofold: the power, land-holdings, and independence of Buddhist institutions was severely and permanently reduced; and more importantly, there was a redefinition of the place that Buddhism was to occupy in Japanese society in the centuries following the sixteenth. The classical definition of the role that Buddhism played in Japanese society was no longer accepted; Buddhism lost its influence on affairs of state as society underwent a process of secularization. Oda Nobunaga's policies were instrumental in ushering in a secular world. Oda Nobunaga's policies towards Buddhist institutions were investigated through an examination of a collection of 1461 documents, the vast majority of which are considered to have been issued by Oda between the years 1549 and 1582. Because the majority of the documents that were is sued by Oda deal with Buddhist institutions, it is possible to gain an understanding of his policies towards those institutions by a study of these documents. Much information on Oda's relations with Buddhist institutions is also contained in a biography of Oda, the Shincho K5ki. that was written by Ota Izumi no Kami Gyuichi in 1610, twenty-eight years after Oda's death. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

In 1868, the Meiji government decided to establish a military system that would improve not only the fighting capacity but also the military discipline of Japan's army. On the one hand the Meiji leaders rebuilt Japan's army with inspiration from Western models, initially the French. On the other hand they adopted from Western countries modern military justice system, that helped to shape gradually the Japanese navy and army in the 19th century.;This thesis delves deep into the introduction and evolution of the military justice system in the Meiji era, in an effort to explain how it helped reshape military discipline within the Imperial Japanese Army. Utilizing a range of primary sources, it studies the creation and enforcement of the military justice system from a military history rather than legal history perspective. It is hoped that this thesis reveals the crucial role that the military justice system played in Japan's military modernization during this period. The findings also explain why military discipline of the Imperial Japanese Army began to decline again after the Russo-Japanese War.

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Bibliography: leaves 339-364. / 364 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of History and Women's Studies, 1994

This thesis examines the contribution and influence that American Protestant missionary girls’ schools had on Japanese women’s education during the Meiji period. Between 1868 and 1912, over thirty missionary girls’ schools were established. These schools had the primary aim of introducing Christianity to Japanese female students. However, at the same time, they provided young women with opportunities for schooling outside of their families and played a pioneering role in promoting “Western enlightenment” inside and outside the classrooms. Set against the backdrop of Japan’s modernization efforts, this thesis uses as a case study St. Agnes’ School (Heian Jogakkō), one of the oldest missionary girls’ schools in the Kansai region, to consider how it cultivated new middle-class women through its education. Under the slogan of ryōsai kenbo (good wife, wise mother), the Japanese government introduced primary school education for girls as a part of its initiative to build a modern nation. The government considered the home women’s proper sphere and showed little interest in developing women’s secondary and higher education in the first two decades. Therefore it was private schools including missionary girls’ schools like St. Agnes’ that stepped in and filled the void for secondary education. Furthermore, the school introduced advanced courses such as bungaku bu (Arts Division) and kasei bu (Home Economics Division) in 1895. The aim of bungaku bu was to cultivate women who could engage in work for the public benefit. St. Agnes’ School was established by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America in 1875 in Osaka and later moved to Kyoto in 1895. The thesis explores the academics and practical skills St. Agnes’ taught in its classrooms, chapel, and dormitory. These included English language, Bible classes, science, physical training, and domestic science, including skills such as needlework and the concept of hygiene, which were considered important for American middle-class women. In addition, the school presented regulations on girl students’ decorum, provided a mentoring relationship between missionaries and students, and encouraged girl students to participate in charity and volunteer work such as raising funds for the poor, orphans, and disaster victims. By using historical documents, including the letters of American Episcopal missionaries and students’ letters and essays in from the archives of St. Agnes’ School, the thesis argues that missionary girls’ schools like St. Agnes’ School cultivated new ryōsai kenbo and ultimately new middle-class womanhood. It presents a case study of its two star graduates: Ukita Fuku, a scholarship recipient who later became a teacher at her alma mater; and Izumi Sonoko, who successfully developed American cookie-baking skills into a family business and became one of the most successful businesswomen and philanthropists of her time. Through their missionary school education, they acted as new middle-class women who engaged in “socially sanctioned activities” such as teaching and charity services in the social sphere. The education helped to construct new norms for middle-class women who worked in both domestic and social spheres in modern Japan. / published_or_final_version / Modern Languages and Cultures / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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