The Gait as Political Choreography

This book explores the entangled relationship between marching and political ceremonies in schools for the consolidation of the nation-state in Germany and Japan in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through addressing the relationship between the individual marching body, gymnastics classes in schools, and political ceremonies in public spaces, this book aims to crystalize the ways in which the authorities choreographed the ideal gait, transmitted it to students and deployed it in political ceremonies.

By analyzing archived sources written in German and Japanese, Ami Kobayashi investigates the transnational character of the marching ceremony and the knowledge transfers behind it. She explores the process of nation-state building primarily in terms of cultural performance, arguing that the collective upright gait was a form of political choreography orchestrated by political authorities and performed by youth.