The Research on the Arrival of the Southern Barbarians Screen- European Sources of Japan's Modernization

Abstract

Most mainstream studies of the so-called Age of Exploration have been dominated by Europe, while the dominance of Africa, the Americas, and especially Asia has often been neglected. In East Asia, the early activities of the colonizers did not resort to direct violent plunder, but rather proceeded gradually in terms of trade, religion and culture. These activities are reflected in many of the East Asian artefacts of the colonial era. Using Kanou Naizen's The Arrival of the Southern Barbarian Screen as the object of study, this study attempts to uncover the European colonial elements reflected in it, and also focuses on Japan's proactive diplomatic behavior, highlighting East Asia's equal status with Europe in the early colonial era. As a result, we have been able to change our perceptions of pre-nineteenth-century East Asia as "uncivilized" and "closed", and become aware of the one-sidedness of Eurocentric narratives. Furthermore, it illustrates the long-term impact of the arrival of European colonizers on Japan and even East Asia.