The Popularization of MIRRORS and Changing Self-Perception

1: Meiji JAPAN and the “Historical Mirror Stage”

Abstract

Researchers in the field of engineering often refer to the “human-artifact relationship.” Viewed from a medium- to longterm perspective, that relationship becomes a matter of interest for historians as well. This paper focuses on the mirror as an artifact that had a significant latent influence on people’s self-perception. In Japan, industrial production of plate glass—and thus, of glass plane mirrors as well—became possible in the Meiji period. For the first time, people encountered their own image in mirrors in practically the same way that people do today, and they demonstrated a wide range of reactions. This paper focuses on that period as a “historical mirror stage” underlying the development of the modern self and differences in national traits.