The Kyoto School and the Japanese Navy: The Hidden Truth Behind the Alleged War Collaboration
(Hardback)
Publishing Details
The Kyoto School and the Japanese Navy: The Hidden Truth Behind the Alleged War Collaboration
By (Author) Professor Ryosuke Ohashi
Translated by Dr Takeshi Morisato
Translated by Dr Cody Staton
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic
22nd January 2026
United Kingdom
Classifications
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Physical Properties
Hardback
256
Width 156mm, Height 234mm
Description
The Japanese philosopher Ryosuke Ohashi offers a rare, historical-grounded perspective about what transpired in the secret meetings of wartime intellectuals at the Kyoto University.
In the first English translation of his work, Ohashi analyses the memos written by Oshima Yasumasa, who coordinated and documented the secret meetings of intellectuals at the University of Kyoto between February 1942 and July 1943. He sheds light on the large intellectual circle that participated in these meetings, contending that while the group did indeed collaborate with the navy, they did not directly support imperial Japans project in asserting its dominance in Asia. Instead hey hoped that their cooperation with the Japanese navy would contribute to correcting the war policy of the Imperial Japanese army.
Covering the intellectual history of the Kyoto School and the fundamental nationalism that dominated Japan during the Pacific War, Ohashi explores Oshimas philosophical contribution as a part of the Kyoto School and provides an intellectual biography of this thinker and his presentative ideas.
Ohashi' study of key philosophers of the Kyoto School and the role they played between 1939-1945 makes an important contribution to the debate around how implicated they were in imperial Japans controversial wartime bids. It is for anyone interested in understanding the impact philosophers can have on realpolitik.
Author Bio
Ryosuke Ohashi is Director of the German-Japanese Cultural Institute in Kyoto and the Nishida Kitaro Museum of Philosophy in Kahuho-shi. Before his retirement, he taught at the Ryukoku-University in Kyoto, after having worked in several universities in Japan and Germany. Ohashi has published extensively on Japanese Philosophy, phenomenology, aesthetics, German idealism etc. He is considered to be one of the few living exponents of the Kyoto School.
Takeshi Morisato is Lecturer of Non-Western Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is the editor of the European Journal of Japanese Philosophy.
Cody Staton is Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy at Kennesaw State University, USA.
