Ienaga Saburo (家永三郎: September 3, 1913 - November 29 2002) was a Japanese historian.

He graduated the University of Tokyo in 1937. He was a professor of the Tokyo University of Education (the forerunner of Tsukuba University ) from 1949 to 1977 and of Chuo University from 1977 to 1984.

He was a radical establishmentarian before the end of World War II. But he became a radical dissident and attacked what he had enthusiastically supported. Some determine that his motive of conversion was not Japan's defeat but a private grudge about his failure to be a professor of the University of Tokyo.

He compiled the national history textbook Kuni no Ayumi (The way of our country) under the direction of the GHQ to disavowed prewar Japanese teaching. He fought in court with the Ministry of Education over a long term from 1965. His controversial history book for high schools based on his Marxist view caused problems during the ministry's screening procedures. He claimed "academic freedom" while the ministry attached importance on equal educational opportunity and maintenance of the level of education content. His opponents accused him of attempting to implant his ideology in children. After the series of legal battles, the constitutionality of textbook screening was guaranteed but the ministry's abuse of discretion was recognized to some degree.

Books

• History of Japan
• Japan's Past, Japan's Future: One Historian's Odyssey, 2001. ISBN 0742509893
• Pacific War, Nineteen Thirty-One to Nineteen Forty-Five: A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II, 1979. ISBN 0394734963
• Japan's Last War: World War II & the Japanese, 1931-45, 1979. ISBN 070810312X

External Links

• Teaching War, an article by Ienaga Saburo
• Examining the Japanese History Textbook Controversies touches upon the role and experiences Ienaga Saburo in changing Japanese history text books.
• Coming to terms with the past, an article about Ienaga Saburo's life.
• Review of Japan's Past, Japan's Future: One Historian's Odyssey