The Kyoto School and the Japanese Navy

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 Japan’s 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 Oshima’s 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 Japan’s controversial wartime bids. It is for anyone interested in understanding the impact philosophers can have on realpolitik.