Before the Nation

“Before the Nation is a highly original and richly illustrated analysis of how Kojiki was used to promote ideology. It is one of those rare studies that goes beyond simply conveying the magnitude of change associated with the transition from Edo to Meiji….” - Patrick Caddeau , MLQ

“Burns introduces us to a selection of ‘dissident’ Kokugakusha and opens our eyes to the multivocality that this genealogy suppresses.” - Mark Teeuwen , Monumenta Nipponica

"[A] most interesting study of the Kokugaku tradition." - Olivier Ansart , Asian Studies Review

"[A] superb analytical study of the Kokugaku movement before and during the early stages of the Meiji era. . . . [Burns] works from a very broad range of original sources and engages in extensive literary analysis of contemporary texts to support her arguments. Her work is like a brilliant search light that exposes the reader to both the complexity as well as the brilliance of Japanese scholarship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. . . . Before the Nation is one of those rare feats of scholarship that should become mandatory reading for any student of pre-modern Japanese history and politics." - Daniel A. Metraux, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies

"[A] thought-provoking analysis. . . . [A]lthough this is a work of intellectual history, it is one that adroitly makes intellectual issues comprehensible as instances of social and cultural history. . . . [Burns's] study is accessible to those who do not read Japanese. . . . This work will interest not only scholars of the early modern era . . . but will also interest scholars interested in the pre-war era." - Bill Sewell , Canadian Journal of History

"[A] truly scholarly work, providing an abundance of information and insights. . . . [I]mpressive. . . . [B]rilliant. . . . [T]he book is a must for anybody interested in Kokugaku." - Ernst Lokowandt , Asian Folklore Studies

"Burns rightly argues that scholars of Japanese culture and antiquity during the early modern period were not ideologically united. Although the analyses presented in this book are sometimes demanding, they help to further our understanding of an important yet often misunderstood phenomenon." - Mark McNally, American Historical Review

"Susan Burns has produced a fine study of a complex and important subject. . . . [T]he book will be read with great profit by historians, linguists, specialists in literature and anyone trying to untangle the many puzzles of Japanese nationalism." - Sandra Wilson, Intersections

"Susan L. Burns provides an excellent corrective to the impression that kokugaku scholarship of the eighteenth century led almost inevitably to the development of modern Shinto nationalism. . . . Beautifully written for a specialized audience, . . . Before the Nation provides provocative insights into the varied logic and concerns of eighteenth-century kokugaku, with welcome summaries of later, less renowned scholars' work as well." - Sarah Thal, Social Anthropology

“Before the Nation is a significant addition to the field of Japanese intellectual history and a very fine book.” - Leslie Pincus, author of Authenticating Culture in Imperial Japan: Kuki Shuzo and the Rise of National Aesthetics

“In Before the Nation Susan L. Burns offers rock-solid research on a crucial topic in the intellectual history of state-formation and nationalism in Japan." - J. Victor Koschmann, author of Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan