The Chinese State at the Borders
Diana Lary, ed.
2007,Chapter 4: What Happens When Wang Yangming Crosses the Border? by Timothy Brook, p. 74-76.
The emperors of the Ming dynasty ruled a bounded territory. There might be occasional doubt as to where exactly the border ran in places where the terrain was rough and the state’s ability to control local populations weak. But everyone understood that borders existed, and all who served the Ming understood that imperial sovereignty extended only that far and not an inch beyond. A border marked a clear break between the order that Chinese sovereignty was thought to create and the disorder that its absence must imply. Being at the edge of sovereignty, where one thing became another, borderlands were places where sovereignty was difficult to enforce, where control required more stringent enforcement than was necessary elsewhere, and where administrative operations had to permit innovations and compromises that were unacceptable in the heartland. Borderlands were troubling to rule-enforcers; they were also politically dangerous for those faced with adjusting heartland rules to conditions in the periphery. This chapter is about one instance of alleged border-crossing in a Ming borderland and the great political excitement that this allegation caused. Continue reading…
Late in 1889, a few months after Mori’s death and a year before the Rescripton Education that would cause Uchimura so much trouble was promulgated, Kanzô delivered a speech that demonstrated how in fact typical of his day were his attitudes toward the great symbols of his nation. What he said there is remembered now because it contrasts with the image of the traitor that resulted from his later refusal to bow. He spoke to the students of a girls’ school in Azabu. One member of the audience recalled that Uchimura chose as his topic evidences of God’s favour to Japan. First he referred to the chrysanthemums that adorned the lecture platform to illustrate the beautiful botanical specimens in Japan; then he pointed out the window to the cone of Mount Fuji, visible on the clear horizon of a November day. He climaxed his talk with reference to the Imperial family, “the one great pride of the Japanese people.” No statement or act before his refusal to bow would have led any Japanese to suspect his loyalty. 
Monumenta Nipponica, an interdisciplinary journal on Japanese culture and society, was founded in 1938, making it one of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field of Asian studies. Published semiannually as an international forum for research on Japan by Sophia University, Tokyo, MN carries both original scholarly contributions on history, literature, art history, religion, and thought, and translations of important Japanese literary and historical sources. Early volumes included articles in German and other European languages, but from volume 19 (1964) English has been the sole language of publication. Beginning with volume 60 (2005), the journal has been published online through Project 
