Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 11 - Ornamental Diplomacy

  • from Part 3 - Domestic Resolutions
  • Edited by Robert Hellyer, Wake Forest University, North Carolina, Harald Fuess, Universität Heidelberg
  • Book:
    The Meiji Restoration
    Published online:
    14 April 2020
    Print publication:
    07 May 2020, pp 232-248

  • Summary

    Discussions of the Emperor Meiji are typically absent from histories of modern Japan’s interstate relations; modern Japanese diplomacy does not feature in the many extant studies of the emperor. I propose that these are shortcomings that need addressing. In this chapter, I argue that the Meiji emperor played a critical role in the development of modern Japan’s interstate relations, and that he did so by deploying what I call “ornamental diplomacy.” “Ornamental diplomacy” refers to the emperor’s engagement with foreign sovereigns through the exchange of collars, cordons, medals and ribbons, those material objects that constitute all modern honors systems. I explore the fashioning of the modern Japanese honors system in the early Meiji period, and its deployment by the emperor in rituals of diplomacy within the imperial palace. I highlight the strategic, contested nature of this sovereign-centered diplomacy by making special reference to the ornamental dimension to Japan’s relationship to China and to Britain. The time frame for this discussion is 1868 to 1894.