Project description
Nature and consumer culture in early modern Japan
The 'consuming nature' concept argues that non-elites developed a new way of engaging with nature during Japan’s Tokugawa period (1600-1868), amidst the changes brought about by early modernity. The ERC-funded J-NAT project will analyse the commercialisation of nature in early modern Japan, focusing on urbanisation, literacy and consumer culture. It will explore how nature as a leisure product varied by location, social status and sex and examine changes over time. Moreover, it will analyse 17th- to 19th-century objects and texts to show how commoners began to view plants and animals as commercial products and leisure activities, reshaping our understanding of early modernity in Japan. Project findings will be situated within early global modernities and will challenge the perceived divide between the Tokugawa and Meiji periods regarding the commodification of nature.
Objective
The central hypothesis of Consuming Nature is that a new mode of interacting with the natural world developed among non-elites during the social and economic upheavals of Japan’s Tokugawa period (1600–1868), with consequences for our understanding of “early modernity” in the Japanese case and beyond. Previous studies, both of Japan and of other regions, have examined early modern nature from the perspective of environmental degradation and resource management or elite philosophy and natural science. In contrast, the focus of this cultural historical study will be on a largely untapped corpus of objects and texts from 17th to 19th century Japan attesting to a new kind of (purchasing) power over nature, one which saw the commercialized enjoyment of plants, animals, and natural phenomena as consumer products and leisure activities among commoners. The project will collate this corpus and analyse it in light of the characteristics associated with Japanese early modernity: rapid urbanization, increasing literacy, a commercial print industry, and a consumer culture concentrated in large urban centres connected to rural areas by improved communication and transport networks. How was the commercialization of nature as a leisure product linked to these so-called “early modern” developments? Did it also draw upon older traditions and institutions? How did this consumption of nature vary by urban versus rural locations, by social status or sex? Did it vary over time or by type of product? The final stage will connect the project’s findings to the history of global early modernity/ies, and to research on nature and Japanese modernity, which usually takes the Meiji Period (1868–1912) as its starting point. It will interrogate the supposed rupture between the early modern Tokugawa period and the modern Meiji period when it comes to the consumption and commodification of nature, and will provide a scholarly framework for challenging Eurocentric teleologies of nature and modernity.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.