Japanese History: Shoguns, and Origins of the State

The standard narrative when it comes to Japanese nationalism is that they rapidly modernized out of fear of being colonized by the west. One issue with this narrative is that it assumes that nation states arise via diffusion, rather than through a countries own internal societal circumstances. On today’s episode we dive into pre-modern Japan looking for traces of national unity. We discuss shoguns, great unifiers, and Japanese proto-nationalism. Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/brohistory #188 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices