sentences:  Recently Ishimoda's historical materialism has come in for criticism.However it cannot be denied that he prompted and quickened the reconstruction of the discipline in postwar world of Japanese historical studies, which at the time was caught up in the chaos and stagnation caused by the collapse of an historicism centered on Japan's Imperial institution.Aoki Kazuo (青木和夫) is now editing the Collected Works of Ishimoda Shō (Ishimoda Shō Chosakushū), published by Iwanami Shoten in 16 volumes.