Space as A Metaphor

This paper focuses on the interrelationship between the three spatial concepts of " Toyo”, " East Asia” and " Eastern Eurasia” appeared in the historiography of Japan since the middle of the Meiji period. The author argues that there were " spatial turns” in Japan’s modern historiography on the study of the relationship between China and its surrounding world. Firstly, in first Sino-Japanese War of 1894−1895, Toyoshi(Oriental History) subverted the Confucian tradition of Hua-yi narrative with China as the center of Tianxia (" 天下”) by emphasizing the " equal” competition and confrontation between the Han Chinese and the surrounding ethnic groups. Secondly, the theory of East Asian World proposed by Nishijima Sadao after the World War II emphasized that Japan has historically belonged to the " East Asian World” centered on the Chinese Empire. Thirdly, in recent years, the research of " Eastern Eurasia” focuses on the " North-South issue,” namely, farming and nomadic, Han and non-Han issues, and echoes the " decentralized” narrative of East Asian history with the pre-war Oriental history.