Histories of Children and Childhood in Meiji Japan

This book bridges the gap between historical research on Japan and the field of childhood history by writing children and childhood into the general historical record of the Meiji period.

List of contents

Introduction 1. Childbirth and child-rearing in modern Japan 2. A case study on the life and work of Japanese children in the mid-nineteenth century 3. Children, family, and state schools in the Meiji era: From "savage" behaviour to "docile" and "useful" bodies 4. Children's bodies on the state's anvil 5. Gymnastics manuals and children 6. Children and parents in Japanese morality textbooks between 1870 and 1918 7. Defining child identity under the Meiji Civil Code (1898) 8. Meiji children's dual obligation: Reassessing the shift from work to school in Meiji Japan 9. The formation of the concept of sh¿nen (youth) and emergence of a corresponding life stage in mid-Meiji Japan: An analysis of the magazine Sh¿nen sekai (The Youth's world) 10. Children's street culture in Higuchi Ichiy¿'s Takekurabe (1896)

About the author

Christian Galan is a Professor of Japanese Studies at the University Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, France, Researcher at the French Research Institute on East Asia in Paris, and the co-director of the Collection Japon at Belles Lettres.
Harald Salomon is the Director of the Mori Ogai Center and a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.

Product details

• Authors: Christian Salomon Galan
• Assisted by: Galan Christian (Editor), Harald Salomon (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.06.2025
• EAN: 9780367651473
• ISBN: 978-0-367-65147-3
• No. of pages: 280
• Series: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Social education, social work; Japan, Sociology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Regional Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Children's Studies, HISTORY / Asia / Japan, Social issues & processes, Regional Studies, Philosophy & theory of education, Regional / International studies, Asian History, Philosophy and theory of education, Social and ethical issues, Meiji Japan;childhood;children;Japan;Youth;Meiji