Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (196 page)

41.
Shiratori Kurakichi,
Kinsen “Kokushi
” (Benseisha, 1997), pp. 711–713.

42.
Tokoro, “Sh
wa tenn
ga mananda ‘kokushi' ky
kasho,” p. 136.

43.
Tokoro has argued that Sugiura used historical materials and interpreted them “deductively,” whereas Shiratori's aim in the
Kokushi
was to explain the process of development of Japanese history “inductively.” Shiratori's textbook simply recorded the circumstances of the succession to the throne and how many emperors worked hard and tried to promote the happiness of the people. Tokoro believes it is historically “precise and fair,” sometimes pointing out defects and shortcomings in the rule of different emperors. He compares the
Kokushi
to Kitabatake Chikafusa's
Jinn
sh
t
ki
of 1339, but does not use Kitabatake to explicate Shiratori. His comparison is essentially rhetorical, designed to drive home his point that Shiratori's
Kokushi
still has “persuasive power” and “may be called a modern version of the
Jinn
sh
t
ki
.” See Tokoro, “Sh
wa tenn
ga mananda ‘kokushi' ky
kasho,” p. 140.

44.
Iwai,
Meiji tenn
“taitei” densetsu
, p. 5.

45.
Nagazumi,
Sh
wa tenn
to watakushi
, p. 76.