was a Japanese scientist and early advocate of Japanese Westernization. He is considered the founder of the "Greater

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

" concept.

Thought

Science and Shinto

Satō attempted to synthesize Western science (especially

Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

) with Japanese political and philosophical thought. His ideas contributed to the early modern consolidation of the religion of

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

, especially in the form of

State Shinto was Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for Kannushi, priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that ...

. In his 1825 treatise ''Tenchūku'', Satō argued that the cosmology in the '' Kojiki'' was both indigenous to Japan and the most compatible of all world religions with astronomy. He extended the Western model, however, by arguing that Shinto provided additional explanations for astronomical phenomenon that had not yet been explained by Western astronomy.

Politics

Satō advocated an

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

government based on Western science and political institutions. In his ''Keizai yōryaku'' (''The Epitome of Economy''), he wrote that "The rationale of economy is to manage the realm, develop goods, make domains affluent, and succor everyone."

Military conquest

Satō considered the Western European

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...

s to be a threat that Japan needed to counter by radical economic and military reforms, as well as imperial expansion along Western European lines. His 1823 work called for Japanese world domination, describing how

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

should be conquered via

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. He suggested that the Japanese government embark on " colonial and

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

undertakings" on uninhabited islands in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

. He also said that the Japanese government should take the Ryūkyū as a base to attack and capture Luzon Island by surprise, then use Luzon as a base for its "southward advance" to seize

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and other places, ultimately spreading its "military might" in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. He believed that Japan should "adopt suitable means of aggression and

annexation Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...

" to "increase its national interests." This became the first draft of Japan's " southward advance" strategy.

References

*Wang Ping. "Co-Prosperity is False, Aggression is True" Renmin Ribao, July 19, 2005 *Ienaga, S. ''The Pacific War, 1931-1945''.

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, 1978 1769 births 1850 deaths Kokugaku scholars Writers of the Edo period New Imperialism Deified Japanese men 19th-century agronomists 18th-century agronomists History of agriculture in Japan 18th-century Japanese philosophers 19th-century Japanese philosophers {{Japan-bio-stub

Thought

Science and Shinto

Politics

Military conquest

See also

References