Changes

Shihei's ''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'' (Illustrated General Survey of Three Countries), completed in [[1785]], provides descriptions of [[Ezo]], [[Joseon|Korea]], and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]], the three lands nearest Japan. The text has been described as "the first attempt to define Japan's position in relation to its neighbors."<ref>Tessa Morris-Suzuki, ''Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation'', M.E. Sharpe (1998), 23.</ref> Maps included in the publication are perhaps the first to show the islands of Japan all in one color, and lands associated with other polities or cultures in other colors, implying a proto-national(ist) understanding of Japan as a single, unified, political or cultural entity.

Shihei's ''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'' (Illustrated General Survey of Three Countries), completed in [[1785]], provides descriptions of [[Ezo]], [[Joseon|Korea]], and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]], the three lands nearest Japan. The text has been described as "the first attempt to define Japan's position in relation to its neighbors."<ref>Tessa Morris-Suzuki, ''Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation'', M.E. Sharpe (1998), 23.</ref> Maps included in the publication are perhaps the first to show the islands of Japan all in one color, and lands associated with other polities or cultures in other colors, implying a proto-national(ist) understanding of Japan as a single, unified, political or cultural entity.

In [[1792]], Shihei was placed under house arrest, and the [[printing and publishing|printing blocks]] for his books ''[[Kaikoku Heidan]]'' (Military Discussion of Maritime Nations) and ''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'' (Illustrated General Survey of Three Countries) were seized and destroyed. Maps were seen by he shogunate as matters of national secrecy, and similarly, discussions of military matters were sometimes seen as fomenting political dissension, by criticizing the shogunate's foreign policy, or suggesting better ways to do things. Shihei's arrest may have also been spurred in part by critiques of his works made by [[Furukawa Koshoken|Furukawa Koshôken]] to the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]].

In [[1786]], Shihei began composing a text, titled ''[[Kaikoku Heidan]]'' (Military Discussion of Maritime Nations). Inspired by the stories of the Hungarian [[Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky]], who landed on [[Amami Oshima|Amami Ôshima]] in [[1771]] and told of the great threat of Russian expansion, Shihei wrote of his concerns about [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] military strength, and the potential for China to once again [[Mongol Invasions|attempt to invade Japan]], as it had done under [[Yuan Dynasty|its previous barbarian dynasty]].<ref>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 88-89.</ref>

 

The ''Kaikoku Heidan'' was completed and published in [[1791]], and the following year, Shihei was placed under house arrest, and the [[printing and publishing|printing blocks]] for his books ''Kaikoku Heidan'' and ''Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu'' were seized and destroyed. Maps were seen by he shogunate as matters of national secrecy, and similarly, discussions of military matters were sometimes seen as fomenting political dissension, by criticizing the shogunate's foreign policy, or suggesting better ways to do things. Shihei's arrest may have also been spurred in part by critiques of his works made by [[Furukawa Koshoken|Furukawa Koshôken]] to the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]].

He died the following year.

He died the following year.

==Selected Works==

==Selected Works==

*''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'' (Illustrated General Survey of Three Countries, 1785)

*''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'' (Illustrated General Survey of Three Countries, 1785)

*''[[Kaikoku Heidan]]'' (Military Discussion of Maritime Nations, 1786)

*''[[Kaikoku Heidan]]'' (Military Discussion of Maritime Nations, 1786-1791)

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