CNCS Annual Welcome Event co-hosted with the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies with Professor Oleg Benesch of University of York

The Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies are hosting their annual launch event at the Conservatory, 7 Owengate, Durham. Join us to hear from Professor Oleg Benesch (University of York) with his fascinating paper 'Samurai Nation: Japan and the Medievalization of the Modern World'

Abstract: Almost exactly 150 years after their abolition, the samurai are a global icon, and a staple of popular culture produced not only in Japan but around the world. This is a significant departure from how they were viewed in the 1870s, as a rapidly modernizing Japan sought to leave behind samurai, castles, and other relics of Japan’s recent “feudal” past. Around the turn of the twentieth century, however, the samurai were rehabilitated and reinvented into symbols of a new Japanese national identity that quickly became known around the world. This talk examines the process by which the samurai became a global icon, placing this into the context of a wider celebration of the Middle Ages that took place around the world from the late nineteenth century onward. During this age of imperialism, colonialism, and nationalism, societies around the world discovered and mined their own medieval pasts for national symbols and legitimacy. Japanese medievalism came to be recognized and even celebrated throughout much of the world in the early twentieth century, with many people holding up idealized samurai virtues as a model for their own societies.

The photograph is of a group of lecturers and students at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1910, dressed in samurai armours for a photo shoot that was published in an album that year. Full book available online at the National Diet Library.