The eight essays translated here by Motoyama's colleagues from North America and Europe broadly cover the eventful half century that witnessed the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the rise of the modern Japanese state to the position of an international power.

They deal topically with political, intellectual, and educational issues that occupied the attention of the Japanese government and public in the period from 1853, the momentuous year of Commodore Perry's arrival, to 1905 and the aftermath of another climactic event, Japan's victory over Russia.

In the essay from which the book's title is derived, Motoyama examines a private school in Kumamoto, the Seiseiko (School of Proliferating Talent), which was run by a group with a rebel background but statist interests. The group and its school are a prime example of the ambiguities explored throughout the volume.

The essays muster a great variety of sources, ranging from graffiti and popular doggerel of the period immediately before the Meiji Restoration to the discourses, letters, and diaries of major intellectual and political figures of the Meiji period.