Kiyoshi Inoue


Kiyoshi Inoue was a Japanese academic, historian, author and professor emeritus of the Kyoto University. He was considered a specialist in modern Japanese history. He was also known as a "progressive historian" and a "Marxist historian."

Early life

Inoue was born in Kochi Prefecture. He studied at the University of Tokyo; and his doctoral thesis was "The History of Modern Reform." He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1936.

Career

In 1954, Inoue joined the faculty of the University of Kyoto as an associate professor at the Institute of Humanities. In 1961, he was named a professor. He continued as a member of the Kyoto faculty until his retirement in 1977.
In his early career, Inoue established himself as a Marxist historian, publishing works on such subjects as the Japanese imperial system and buraku.
In his later years, Inoue worked to expand the number of academic exchanges between Japan and China, and led a movement seeking solidarity with Asian nations. He also published works on the subject of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute that sided with the Chinese claim.
Inoue received an honorary degree from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1997.

Inoue's views

Inoue had published a book criticizing the imperial system; and he continued to be critical of the Japanese emperor throughout his life. In a range of topics, his work was often viewed as controversial due to his active protests and lawsuits against the Japanese government. During the Japanese students riots in 1969, Professor Inoue openly supported the students who were demanding the scrapping of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.
Inoue was also very critical of "Japanese militarism" in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute with China, and had written a number of books on the subject.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Kiyoshi Inoue, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 100+ works in 200+ publications in 6 languages and 1,000+ library holdings.
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