Anesaki Masaharu's Reception of Leo Tolstoy and His Failed Attempt at Finding the Faith
Authors
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Susanna Fessler
University at Albany
Susanna Fessler is Professor of Japanese Studies in the East Asian Studies Department of the University at Albany.
Among the voices opposed to the Russo–Japanese war of 1904–5 was that of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who published an essay titled Bethink Yourselves, arguing against hostilities. The essay was translated and published in Japanese, but gained little traction among the intelligentsia in Japan. There was, however, one strong voice that supported Tolstoy’s ideas: that of the religious studies scholar Anesaki Masaharu. Anesaki’s response to Tolstoy’s essay was at once a commentary about the spiritual state of Japan at the turn of the century and also a veiled criticism of the Japanese government.
Copyright (c) 2018 Susanna Fessler

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Copyright (c) 2018 Susanna Fessler

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
