Tom Ashbyトム ∙ アシュビー
@tomaashby.bsky.social
Historian 思想史家 ∙ JSPS Fellow @utokyoofficial.bsky.social nominated @britishacademy.bsky.social ∙ Review Ed @global-ih.bsky.social ∙ Co-org @gpolthought.bsky.social ∙ PhD @eui-eu.bsky.social ∙ early modern English republicanism ∙ England & Sengoku/Edo Japan
Today, I spent the afternoon writing about historiography beside the beach on Miyajima
November 18, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Today, I spent the afternoon writing about historiography beside the beach on Miyajima
Herons of Hiroshima
November 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Herons of Hiroshima
Autumnal hues – a day away from the writing desk to the mountainside woods and shrines of Nikkō
November 12, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Autumnal hues – a day away from the writing desk to the mountainside woods and shrines of Nikkō
Today, I gave a talk on 'Pākehā Poetry, History, and Imagination in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1939–1948' to my colleagues at the University of Tokyo. This included a discussion on the young John Pocock and Antipodean birds. Helpful comments! This article has been accepted, it is forthcoming next year.
November 7, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Today, I gave a talk on 'Pākehā Poetry, History, and Imagination in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1939–1948' to my colleagues at the University of Tokyo. This included a discussion on the young John Pocock and Antipodean birds. Helpful comments! This article has been accepted, it is forthcoming next year.
Writing about bricolage, historiography, and the history of political thought
October 29, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Writing about bricolage, historiography, and the history of political thought
The walls of old Edo, mighty and defiant to time
October 27, 2025 at 11:42 AM
The walls of old Edo, mighty and defiant to time
What happens when the philosophy of love meets a neo-Roman sense of liberty as independence? Are lovers doomed to be "made Slaves to Venus"? Read my essay on érōs as an enslaving and emancipatory power in the first close analysis of Algernon Sidney's "Of Love": classiques-garnier.com/le-republica...
October 23, 2025 at 6:34 AM
What happens when the philosophy of love meets a neo-Roman sense of liberty as independence? Are lovers doomed to be "made Slaves to Venus"? Read my essay on érōs as an enslaving and emancipatory power in the first close analysis of Algernon Sidney's "Of Love": classiques-garnier.com/le-republica...
Various; it pops up!
October 22, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Various; it pops up!
The collection totals 315 books. Find more about it here: www.lib.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/?pag...
October 22, 2025 at 8:43 AM
The collection totals 315 books. Find more about it here: www.lib.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/?pag...
And the frontispiece, of course. I also viewed Smith's copies of Hume, Burke, and Defoe. All housed at the Library of Economics here at the University of Tokyo!
October 22, 2025 at 8:19 AM
And the frontispiece, of course. I also viewed Smith's copies of Hume, Burke, and Defoe. All housed at the Library of Economics here at the University of Tokyo!
Today I worked with Adam Smith's copy of Hobbes's "Leviathan" (1651)
October 22, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Today I worked with Adam Smith's copy of Hobbes's "Leviathan" (1651)
Latest acquisition
October 12, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Latest acquisition
This is astonishing – the entire US economy is currently propped up by AI – 40% of US GDP growth this year is AI, and AI companies account for 80% of gains in US stocks in 2025. Will it pop?
October 7, 2025 at 12:45 PM
This is astonishing – the entire US economy is currently propped up by AI – 40% of US GDP growth this year is AI, and AI companies account for 80% of gains in US stocks in 2025. Will it pop?
Bertrand Russell's message from 1959 to future generations
October 6, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Bertrand Russell's message from 1959 to future generations
I was kindly introduced to Kamakura and Yokohama by three exceptional Japanese colleagues – a day of walking and talking, cafes and kissaten, temples and shrines, dining and discussion. Reflections on history, in history, and the perils and possibilities of our unfolding future across the world.
September 30, 2025 at 6:31 AM
I was kindly introduced to Kamakura and Yokohama by three exceptional Japanese colleagues – a day of walking and talking, cafes and kissaten, temples and shrines, dining and discussion. Reflections on history, in history, and the perils and possibilities of our unfolding future across the world.
Today on campus – writing on historiography
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Today on campus – writing on historiography
The programme!
September 24, 2025 at 7:09 AM
The programme!
Last week I spoke on athleticism in seventeenth-century English political thought at "Republican Bodies" @imems.bsky.social (albeit online). This was a stimulating coming together (programme below!) including @beccapalmer99.bsky.social and @rhammersley99.bsky.social. I look forward to its future!
September 24, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Last week I spoke on athleticism in seventeenth-century English political thought at "Republican Bodies" @imems.bsky.social (albeit online). This was a stimulating coming together (programme below!) including @beccapalmer99.bsky.social and @rhammersley99.bsky.social. I look forward to its future!
13/14 The volume ends turning to early modern German lands with @thehistorywoman.bsky.social (@newcastleuni.bsky.social) tracing "The Reception of Algernon Sidney in the German Enlightenment", including editions of "Discourses" by Christian Daniel Erhard (pictured) and Ludwig Heinrich von Jakob.
September 23, 2025 at 7:04 AM
13/14 The volume ends turning to early modern German lands with @thehistorywoman.bsky.social (@newcastleuni.bsky.social) tracing "The Reception of Algernon Sidney in the German Enlightenment", including editions of "Discourses" by Christian Daniel Erhard (pictured) and Ludwig Heinrich von Jakob.
12/14 In the penultimate chapter, Christopher Hamel (@univrouen.bsky.social) looks at how Sidney and Locke informed the political thought of Richard Price, "'Locke and all the writers on civil liberty': Locke, Sidney et la pensée politique de Richard Price".
September 23, 2025 at 6:50 AM
12/14 In the penultimate chapter, Christopher Hamel (@univrouen.bsky.social) looks at how Sidney and Locke informed the political thought of Richard Price, "'Locke and all the writers on civil liberty': Locke, Sidney et la pensée politique de Richard Price".
11/14 Myriam-Isabelle Ducrocq (@uparisnanterre.bsky.social) looks more broadly, and comparatively, at the reception of Sidney and James Harrington in eighteenth-century France in: "Les œuvres politiques de Harrington et de Sidney et leur réception dans la France des Lumières et de la Révolution".
September 23, 2025 at 6:34 AM
11/14 Myriam-Isabelle Ducrocq (@uparisnanterre.bsky.social) looks more broadly, and comparatively, at the reception of Sidney and James Harrington in eighteenth-century France in: "Les œuvres politiques de Harrington et de Sidney et leur réception dans la France des Lumières et de la Révolution".
10/14 Following this, Jean Terrel (@ubmontaigne.bsky.social) undertakes an analysis of references in "L’Esprit des lois" (1748) by Montesquieu to Sidney's "Discourses" (1698), a text that was first translated into French in 1702.
September 23, 2025 at 6:13 AM
10/14 Following this, Jean Terrel (@ubmontaigne.bsky.social) undertakes an analysis of references in "L’Esprit des lois" (1748) by Montesquieu to Sidney's "Discourses" (1698), a text that was first translated into French in 1702.
9/14 In her chapter "Experiencing Political Texts", @rhammersley99.bsky.social (@newcastleuni.bsky.social) addresses the role of genre in shaping the arguments of Sidney's works as well as the importance of taking materiality seriously and what this reveals about his editors and printers.
September 23, 2025 at 5:51 AM
9/14 In her chapter "Experiencing Political Texts", @rhammersley99.bsky.social (@newcastleuni.bsky.social) addresses the role of genre in shaping the arguments of Sidney's works as well as the importance of taking materiality seriously and what this reveals about his editors and printers.
Over the last two days, I attended the annual festival at Nezu-jinja – my local Shinto shrine. This festival has been continuously held since the Edo era. This evening, I watched a sanza-no-mai (三社舞) performance, a kagura dance only performed at this shrine and at this time.
September 21, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Over the last two days, I attended the annual festival at Nezu-jinja – my local Shinto shrine. This festival has been continuously held since the Edo era. This evening, I watched a sanza-no-mai (三社舞) performance, a kagura dance only performed at this shrine and at this time.