The Kokugo Revolution: Education, Identity, and Language Policy in Imperial Japan (Japan Research Monograph 16)

Through a study of the development of the Japanese national language,
the author discusses reforms in the education system and the creation of
a modern cultural identity in the Meiji era and beyond. The book begins
by noting the varied early forms of spoken and written Japanese and goes on to explain how the colloquial version was promoted, especially by
Ueda Kazutoshi, and became kokugo.