Le Japon, « la plus grande merveille de l’histoire », vu par Élisée Reclus et Léon Metchnikoff

Abstract

The anarchist geographers Élisée Reclus (1830–1905) and Léon Metchnikoff (1838–1888) offered an innovative vision of Meiji Japan that is as original now as it was in its day. Having spent over two years in Tokyo (1874–1876) at the invitation of Satsuma leaders, Metchnikoff provided Reclus with crucial elements that enabled him to consider the evolution of Japan as something other than a simple process of Westernisation or servile imitation. Instead, he saw it as an endogenous process rooted in Japan’s awareness and memory of the imperialist danger and in the country’s biogeographical abundance. Reclus also warned of the rising imperialist and militarist threat from Japan, which was underestimated at the time by the majority of his contemporaries.

Keywords

• Meiji Revolution
• Reclus
• Metchnikoff
• Anarchism
• Geography