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Displays the uniqueness and creativity of Japan in terms of the interplay between traditional and postmodern perspectives. It deals with the traditional elements in Japanese culture in the light of or in contrast to postmodernism.
In this book, each of the chapters offers an analysis of the origins and development of an important aspect of Japanese culture, including religion (Pure Land Buddhism and Zen, Shinto and folk religions, Confucianism and Tokugawa era ideology), philosophy (classical Buddhism and the contemporary Kyoto School), literature and the arts (medieval poetry and drama, modern fiction and films), and social behavior (family system, feminism, nationalism, and economic growth).
The central, underlying theme is the uniqueness and creativity of Japan as seen from twentieth century perspectives. One of the fascinating things about Japanese culture is that, on the one hand, it seems to have held onto its traditional foundations with a greater sense of determination and celebration than most societies and, at the same time, it appears to have attained a position at the forefront of international modernist and postmodernist developments. The authors explore several approaches to this issue. One school of thought is influenced by recent Japanese writers and intellectual historians such as Mishima, Tanizaki, Watsuji, and Nakamura. Another approach is influenced by Western poststructuralist commentators such as Barthes, Derrida, and Lyotard. A third approach is to argue against the thesis known as nihonjinron ("Japanism" or cultural exceptionalism), by suggesting that the notion of Japanese uniqueness is itself a cultural myth generated by nationalist and particularist trends originating in the Tokugawa era.
The volume features an essay by Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, entitled "Japan, the Dubious, and Myself."
"A major point of attraction is the cross-disciplinary approach of this volume, which deals with issues of traditionalism and postmodernism in the fields of Japanese religion, philosophy, literature, film, economics, and social structure. It also serves as a solid, up-to-the-moment introduction to the subject of postmodernism and Japan. The editors set forth an ambitious and sophisticated hermeneutical agenda for the volume that not only brings postmodern approaches to bear on the interpretation of distinctive aspects of Japanese culture but also considers various ways in which traditional and postmodern perspectives interact in the Japanese context. It shows how these interactions can work both to undermine, and to perpetuate, the Orientalist and 'reverse Orientalist' stereotypes of Japanese and Western scholars." — Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University
Introduction: From "The Beautiful" to "The Dubious": Japanese Traditionalism, Modernism, Postmodernism
Steven Heine And Charles Wei-Hsun Fu
Acknowledgments
1. Derrida and the Decentered Universe of Ch'an/ZenBuddhism
Steve Odin
2. Ie-ism ("Sacred Familism") and the Discourseof Postmodernism in Relation to Nativism/Nationalism/Nihonism
Steven Heine
3. Intervals (Ma) in Space and Time: Foundations for a Religio-Aesthetic Paradigm in Japan
Richard B. Pilgrim
4. Lyricism and Intertextuality: An Approach toShunzei's Poetics
Haruo Shirane
5. A Methodological Examination of the"Post-Confucian Thesis" in Relation to Japanese (and Chinese) Economic Development
Charles Wei-Hsun Fu
6. The Murky Mirror: Women and Sexual Ethics as Reflected in Japanese Cinema
Sandra A. Wawrytko
7. The Intertextual Fabric of Narratives by Enchi Fumiko
S. Yumiko Hulvey
8. Tradition, Textuality, and the Trans-lation of Philosophy: The Case of Japan
John C. Maraldo
9. The Kyoto School and Reverse Orientalism
Bernard Faure
10. Tradition Beyond Modernity: Nishitani's Response to the Twentieth Century
Dale S. Wright
11. Critical Reflections on the Traditional Japanese View of Truth
Masao Abe
12. Japan, the Dubious, and Myself
Kenzaburo Oe
Contributors
Index