Much of Ravina's scholarly work centers on notions of national identity and state-building in early modern Japan.
His book Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan (published in 1999) centers on this topic, as do a number of journal articles and talks given by Ravina.
He is one of only a few scholars actively working to challenge those who equate the Tokugawa shogunate's authority with the "state" in Japan in this period.
Numerous scholars, including Luke S. Roberts, Ronald Toby and John Whitney Hall have made reference to his work, engaging with it in their own pursuits of a reexamination of notions of statehood and national identity in the Tokugawa period.
The title and subject of his book on Saigō Takamori, upon whom the film's central character Lord Katsumoto was based, was purely coincidence.