Maruyama Masao (1914–1996)

Rikki Kersten

Maruyama Masao (1914–1996) was a historian of Japanese political thought and a political scientist who became a pivotal intellectual presence in post-World War II Japan. Renowned for his sharp intellect and incisive analysis, Maruyama addressed the vital issues confronting his country at a time of crisis and confusion after defeat in 1945. He was the first to enquire why ordinary Japanese had followed their government into a disastrous war, who was responsible for that war, and what needed to be done in order for Japan to build a liberal democratic society in the postwar world. His core intellectual concerns formed the mosaic of his opus: ultranationalism and nationalism, fascism, modernity, democracy, and autonomy. Maruyama was primarily a scholar, but he also became engaged in political activism, notably in the pacifist movements of the 1950s and in the movement against revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960. He remains the ...

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