... . Yokozuna officially became a rank in 1909 when the Sumo Association of Japan recognized it, yet it really gained its modern meaning and prestige only after 1951 when the Yoshida family agreed to license yokozuna as a rank (this account based on Thompson 1998:176-77). The first half of the 20th century also saw the codification of stricter, more explicit and statistically ... rituals as older and more "primordial" as they are -- legitimizing the nation itself -- may be detected. In other ! cases, however, such as the printing of the "special" banzuke in 1890, symbols created "accidental...

• Word Count: 6746
• Approx Pages: 27
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the Tokugawa clan died in 1867 and was replaced by the son of a lord who was a champion of Japanese historical studies and who agreed with the imperialists claims about restoring the Emperor. Footnote7 So in 1868 the new shogun handed over all his power to the Emperor in Kyoto ... did not rule. This was useful for the new Meiji bureaucrats, it kept the Emperor a mythic and powerful symbol.Footnote14 The traditions and symbols of Confucianism and the Imperial Institution were already deeply ingrained in the psyche of the Japanese but the new Meiji rulers through both an education ... and ...

• Word Count: 3764
• Approx Pages: 15
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School