Autobiography of Yasukuni Michirō (Footprints of a Historian)

Author: (Japanese) Yasuyuki Iehara, translated by Shi Xiaojun, Liu Yan, Tian Yuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: After Japan's defeat in the war, democratic and peace forces had once flourished in Japan for two decades. This tradition gradually faded away as a generation of intellectuals passed away. Today, these people and this tradition are nearly extinct. The publication of this book leaves a record of justice and calls for progress for Japan. Yasuyuki Iehara, a renowned scholar with profound research in Japanese culture, history, philosophy, art, and education, established the Iehara School of History, which has had a significant impact on Japanese academia and thought. Who would have thought that he was a scholar who spent his life struggling with a frail body and constantly challenged his country's culture and values in court! Raised in a military family and educated in the traditional Japanese model, Yasuyuki Iehara grew more conflicted about his country the more he understood it—feeling both love and hatred for it. Deeply remorseful for being unable to stop a century of injustice, he resolved to use schools and courts as battlegrounds to harshly criticize Japan's past history, current education system, and judicial system, and to reform the values of the Japanese nation. This led to a 32-year-long textbook lawsuit, during which the ups and downs of the case stirred a unprecedented intellectual movement in Japan. This book is not only Yasuyuki Iehara's personal autobiography but also a history of his thoughts, and a microcosm of modern Japanese history. The Chinese edition of this book was specially translated for the Chinese readers, fulfilling the author's deep wish at the age of nearly 90—to let Chinese readers, especially the younger generation, gain a deeper understanding of his life and the era he lived in, which would help open up a new world for the future. Yasuyuki Iehara is a prolific Japanese scholar whose unique "Iehara School of History" has had a significant impact on Japanese academia. Beyond academia, he is known for his efforts to uphold academic freedom by suing the Japanese government for altering historical facts about the invasion of China and interfering with textbook compilation. He alone undertook the 32-year-long "Ministry of Education Textbook Censorship Constitutional Case," during which the ups and downs of the case stirred a unprecedented intellectual movement in Japan.