Shchepkin, V. V. RUSSIA AND PETER I IN THE HISTORICAL CONCEPTION OF SHIBA RYOTARO. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2021;43(6):77–83. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2021.659


World history

RUSSIA AND PETER I IN THE HISTORICAL CONCEPTION OF SHIBA RYOTARO

Shchepkin
V. V. 		Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Keywords:
Shiba Ryotaro
Peter I
Meiji Japan
history of Russia-Japan relations
modernization
historical fiction
image of Russia
image of Peter I		 Summary: Shiba Ryotaro (1923–1996) is one of the most popular Japanese writers of the second half of the 20th century. He worked in the genre of the historical novel, focusing on the history of early modern and modern Japan, including its relationship with Russia. Shiba had his own view on the history and culture of our country and even dedicated a book of essay to it. The popularity of the writer’s works and television series and films based on them in Japan suggests a strong influence of his ideas on the historical consciousness of contemporary Japanese. This article examines the context and reasons for Shiba Ryotaro’s appeal to the history of Russia-Japan relations and the history of Russia as a whole. The author analyzes Shiba’s most significant texts dedicated to Russia and identifies the main aspects of the image of Russia in them. Two main functions of Russia in Shiba’s texts are defined: as a factor in the history of Japan and as the “Other” for Japan in its formation of national identity. The image of Peter I on the pages of Shiba’s books is also considered to reveal its ambivalent nature: on the one hand, Peter appears as the initiator of modernization and the creator of a new Russia, on the other, he remains the embodiment of the Russian autocracy with all its minuses. It is in the latter that Shiba sees the reason for the success of Russian modernization, which also gives it a dual meaning.



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