Wakayama Castle and the Politics of Heritage on Japan's Periphery

This article examines the debates over the prewar preservation and postwar reconstruction of Wakayama Castle. These debates were entangled with the contentious local and national politics of memory and heritage making in modern Japan. The essay argues that heritage politics was a prime site for the configuration of the periphery’s relationship to the center under moderniza-tion. Heritage preservation was an important part of the rise of notions such as furusato (native place) and was connected with national and international ideas on heritage and the relations of localities with the nation.