J. R. Seeley in Japan, 1880s–1940s

Abstract

This article explores how the late nineteenth-century British historian J. R. Seeley was ‘used’ in Japan. The focal points are three translations of his The expansion of England, published in 1899, 1918, and 1942. By placing each translation in context, I attempt to clarify the ideological moves made by those who produced the translations. In the context of the first translation, Seeley was a historian who offered a vision of Japan's future. In the second context, however, he became a lens through which present-day British policy could be understood. In the third context, he became an unintentional detractor of Britain's past colonial policies in India. Through a comparative examination of these three translations, this article uncovers both the ‘potential’ of Seeley's imperial history, which anglophone reception of his work had not exhausted, and the ‘creative’ aspect of translation, thus contributing to intellectual history on both the local and global levels.