著者

田中 和子

出版者

学術雑誌目次速報データベース由来

雑誌

人文地理 (ISSN:00187216)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.48, no.4, pp.321-340, 1996

被引用文献数

2

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Friedrich Ratzel wrote several papers (1878, 1879, 1895b, and 1895c) and book reviews (1881, 1887, 1894, 1895a, and 1897) relating to Japan, and during 1889-1902 at Reipzig University, he gave four lectures on the world outside Europe, including Japan (Fig. 1.). His notes (manuscripts and materials) for those lectures, which are listed in Tab. 1. A and B, have been preserved in the Archives of Geography, Institute of Regional Studies (Geographische Zentralbibliothek/Archiv f&uuml;r Geographie, Instit&uuml;t f&uuml;r L&auml;nderkunde), Leipzig.<br>The examination of his writings revealed Ratzel's discourse on Japan, which has never been investigated by geographers, in connection with his extensive geographical work. This paper makes it clear that:<br>A) Ratzel was interested in Japan and maintained study and a material collection throughout his academic career (Tab. 2).<br>B) At the watershed of 1895 when Japan won the Sino-Japanese War, his negative evaluation of Japan turned to a positive one. Parallel with this change, his research-focus in Japan itself was transferred, that is, his ethnographical and anthropological study shifted to the political geography of Japan as an island empire.<br>C) In his writings before 1895, he pointed out that 1) the physical and mental features of the residents of the Japanese Islands were inferior to those of Europeans, 2)the strange social class system, which, essentially, the Meiji Restoration did not alter at all, and 3) the mysterious pluralistic jurisdiction among East Asian countries, which could easily cause a political dispute. Ratzel's sense of values with reference to European culture and his contempt for an uncivilized race in East Asia were obvious.<br>D) With Japan's defeat of China, Ratzel realized the characteristics of a land of islands and a marine nation, which were common to England. After revisions and rearrangement (Tab. 3.), his discussion of the political geography of islands (1895c) was publishedas the chapter of &lsquo;Islands (Inseln)&rsquo; in &ldquo;<i>Politische Geographie</i>&rdquo; (1897). Ratzel expected that Japan would follow the achievements of England in the near future. The most important reason why he changed his evaluation was that Japanese could master Western culture, technology, and social and political systems within a short term.<br>E) According to Ratzel, because the Japanese were a marine nation with high learning-ability and followed Europe, they succeeded in the reexpansion of marine transport over the ocean, and exceeded thier neighbors China and Korea-China used to be accompanied by Japan and Korea respectively, in culture as well as politics.<br>F) Ratzel's continuing study of Japan could be a synthetic chorography, which describes and explains a peculiar combination between a land of islands in the Pacific Ocean and a marine nation with high learning-ability. The possiblity that he preparedthe publication of &ldquo;<i>Japan</i>&rdquo; can not be denied.