Shiga Shigetaka was a pioneering advocate of the preservation of Japan's cultural identity in the face of increasing pressure from the west. This book presents a realistic picture of Shiga's beliefs and thus gain insight into modern Japanese intellectual history.

The ‘High Treason Incident’ rocked Japanese society between 1910 and 1911, when police discovered that a group of anarchists and socialists were plotting to assassinate the Emperor Meiji. Following a trial held in camera, twelve of the so-called conspirators were hanged, but while the executions officially brought an end to the incident, they were only the initial outcome as the state became increasingly paranoid about national ideological cohesion. In response it deployed an arra...