Framing the Concept of Kokumin: A Case Study of Shuken Gairon (Study of Sovereignty), translated by Kuga Katsunan

Abstract

This is a case study to elucidate how translation contributed to the process of framing the concept of 国民 “kokumin” （“nation”） in the mid-Meiji era（1868–1912）. We conducted a contrastive analysis of Kuga Katsunan’s translated work Shuken genron（Study of sovereignty, 1885） and its original French text Étude sur la souveraineté by Joseph de Maistre. The study demonstrates that Kuga used the word 国民 “kokumin” in place of “nation” to portray an image specific to Japanese society in that era, which was transitioning from feudal domination to a modern nation-state. We contextualized the result of the analysis in the social and cultural framework of the era, and found that the concept of 国民 “kokumin” embodied by Kuga had been deeply related to sociocultural and political factors including the idea of family registration, monarchism, and a national language, which were established during the process of Japan’s modernization.