ABSTRACT
Concepts have a driving influence on the history of societies. Under the framework of concepts, countries legitimize their political, economic, and social policies, guide their reforms, and preserve their national existence; on the other hand, concepts can also push societies into irreversible and difficult processes. The influence of concepts in the sharp transformations experienced by Japanese society is undeniable. During the Meiji Period (1868-1912), concepts assumed roles that guided reforms in the process of modernization. In particular, the concept of bunmei (文 明-civilization) served to legitimize the reforms Japan would implement, while kokutai (国体-national essence) stood at the center of debates by providing the ground for the reconstruction of national identity during the modernization process. In the midst of the political crises of the Meiji Period, Fukuzawa Yukichi’s 1875 work titled Bunmeiron no Gairyaku (An Outline of a Theory of Civilization) offers a systematic design of civilization and a model of national exis- tence shaped around the concepts of bunmei and kokutai. This article aims to analyze the construction of civilization and national existence in the early stages of Japanese modernization, based on the concepts of bunmei and kokutai in Fukuzawa Yukichi’s (1835-1901) Bunmeiron no Gairyaku. These concepts in the work have been examined through the method of content analysis, and their relationship with the historical process has been revealed. Through this method, the study aims to identify the contexts in which the focused concepts are used throughout the text using quantitative and qualitative data, thereby reaching qualified findings regarding the design of civilization and the construction of national existence in the early periods of Japanese modernization.