This theory was made widely known during the Edo period of Japan so as to maintain its society's peaceful state (sakoku society, where foreigners were not allowed to enter the nation) as a way to avoid the imperialism of Europe and America, who were, in those days, approaching Asia for the purpose of invasion, expansion, and colonization.
帝国主義の発想を持つ欧米のアジアへの接近（侵略・進出・植民地化）により、それまでの江戸の天下泰平の世の中（鎖国体制下の社会）を維持したいという発想として盛り上がった。