Aizawa Seishisai was a Japanese Confucian scholar that wrote Shinron in 1825. The thesis is a warning to the Japanese about allowing the West to get too close. The fear is that the Japanese will be exploited by Britain, France, and the United States like China had. The main idea of the writing is nationalism. Seishisai believes the West has become so powerful because of the influence of Christianity, which has allowed political leaders...
Aizawa Seishisai was a Japanese Confucian scholar that wrote Shinron in 1825. The thesis is a warning to the Japanese about allowing the West to get too close. The fear is that the Japanese will be exploited by Britain, France, and the United States like China had. The main idea of the writing is nationalism. Seishisai believes the West has become so powerful because of the influence of Christianity, which has allowed political leaders to expect obedience from its citizens. He believes that Japan can achieve this by rallying around the emperor and elevating his status.
Seishisai warns against the ships coming to Japan for "fishing." He feels that missionaries could corrupt the Japanese people which would make them a target for exploitation. His distrust of Christian nations is demonstrated in the passage below.
The barbarians coming to spy on our Middle Kingdom during the past three hundred years arrived one after another from various nations. Though their homelands differ, they all revere the same god. This means that Christianity has had designs on our Middle Kingdom for the past three hundred years.
In the following passage, Seishisai further demonstrates his distrust of the West:
Their ships can be outfitted for trading, or fishing, or fighting. Can anyone guarantee that their merchant vessels and fishing boats of today will not turn into warships tomorrow?
This further supports the idea that Japan needs to isolate itself from Western influence and that the Christian nations should not be trusted by the Japanese.
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