Seikanron
Encyclopedia
The Seikanron debate was a major political conflagration which occurred in Japan in 1873.

Saigō Takamori
Saigo Takamori
was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, living during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. He has been dubbed the last true samurai.-Early life:...

 and his supporters insisted that Japan confront Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 due to the latter's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Emperor Meiji
Emperor Meiji
The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...

 as head of state of the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

, and insulting treatment meted out to Japanese envoys attempting to establish trade and diplomatic relations. The war-party also saw the issue in Korea to be an ideal opportunity to find meaningful employment for the thousands of out-of-work samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

, who had lost most of their income and social standing in the new Meiji social and economic order. These samurai posed a threat to the government, and (as a samurai himself) Saigō sympathized with their situation.

According to orthodoxy, "Saigo himself volunteered to go to Korea as a special envoy, inviting an assassination attempt that would provide justification, if any were needed, for a punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...

." However revisionist historians argue that Saigo's statement was an attempt to win over the support of Itagaki Taisuke
Itagaki Taisuke
Count was a Japanese politician and leader of the , which evolved into Japan's first political party.- Early life :Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking samurai family in Tosa Domain, , After studies in Kōchi and in Edo, he was appointed as sobayonin to Tosa daimyo Yamauchi Toyoshige,...

. Additionally, while the expedition to Korea was aimed at providing income for unemployed samurai, Saigo did not object to the Inoue-Yoshida plan, which abolished samurai stipends. Thus Saigo's condemnation of Meiji's provocation against Korea in 1876 suggests that Saigo had always been to "establish a firm relationship." In any case the other Japanese leaders strongly opposed these plans, partly from budgetary considerations, and partly from realization of the weakness of Japan compared with the Western countries from what they had witnessed during the Iwakura Mission
Iwakura mission
The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji period. Although it was not the only such "mission", it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period...

.

While orthodox historians view the dispute as a matter of whether or not to invade Korea, the provocation against Korea in 1876 supports the claim that the Iwakura party never disagreed on the validity on an attack. Revisionists see the Seikanron as not a dispute of whether to invade, but instead when and who to do it. The former because those returning from the Iwakura Mission believed that Japan was too weak to attract international attention and needed to focus on internal reforms, the latter because the separation of the government between the caretaker government and the Iwakura groups allowed power-struggle between them. (Okubo
Okubo Toshimichi
, was a Japanese statesman, a samurai of Satsuma, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. He is regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan.-Early life:...

, for example, had no real position of power at that time, seeing as his position was taken up after his departure). The arguments against invading Korea were outlined in Okubo Toshimichi's "7 Points Document", dated October 1873, in which he argued that action against Korea was premature because Japan was in the stages of modernizing and an invasion would be far too costly for Japan to sustain. Okubo's views were supported by the anti-war faction which mostly consisted of those returning from the Iwakura Mission. Iwakura had the emperor reverse the decision to send Saigo as an envoy to Korea, thus putting an end to the debate.

As it was decided that no action was to be taken against Korea, many of the War Party, including Saigō and Itagaki, resigned from their government positions in protest. Saigō returned to his hometown of Kagoshima, although he was never officially resigned from his role in the palace guard. Some historians (mainly orthodox) suggests that this political split paved the way for the 1874 Saga rebellion
Saga Rebellion
The was an 1874 uprisings in Kyūshū against the new Meiji government of Japan. It was led by Etō Shimpei and Shima Yoshitake in their native domain of Hizen.-Background:...

 and the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion
Satsuma Rebellion
The was a revolt of Satsuma ex-samurai against the Meiji government from January 29 to September 24, 1877, 9 years into the Meiji Era. It was the last, and the most serious, of a series of armed uprisings against the new government.-Background:...

. Itagaki, on the other hand, became involved with the liberal political party Aikoku Koto
Aikoku Koto
The ' was a political party in Meiji period Japan.The Aikoku Kōtō was formed in January 1874 by Itagaki Taisuke, Etō Shimpei, Gotō Shōjirō and others as part of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. Its purpose was to petition the Meiji government to establish a national assembly...

 and rebelled against the Iwakura clique through legal means.

Further reading

  • Kenneth B. Pyle, The Making of Modern Japan. Second Edition (1978). ISBN 0-669-20020-4
  • Jansen, Marius B.
    Marius Jansen
    Marius Berthus Jansen was an American academic, historian, and Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at Princeton University....

     (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
    Harvard University Press
    Harvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...

    . 10-ISBN 0674003349/13-ISBN 9780674003347; OCLC 44090600
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