The Paradoxes of Japan's Cultural Identity: Modernity and Tradition in Japanese Literature, Art, Politics and Religion

Roy Starrs

Published by Amsterdam University Press 2023

The Paradoxes of Japan's Cultural Identity

Modernity and Tradition in Japanese Literature, Art, Politics and Religion

Roy Starrs

Volume 6 in the series Distinguished Asia Studies Scholars: Collected Writings

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048559763

Overview
Contents

About this book

Japan is widely regarded as having a unique culture and a strong national identity. Paradoxically, however, many basic elements of Japanese culture are not originally Japanese. Since the beginning of its history, Japan has been one of the world’s major importers of foreign cultures. Its culture was thoroughly "hybrid" long before that word became fashionable in contemporary global studies. But this does not mean that Japan’s culture lacks originality. The Japanese have always made strikingly original contributions, even improvements, to whatever they imported. Even more significantly, the "hybridity" of their culture produced ongoing tensions that served as a kind of creative dynamo for Japanese writers, artists, and intellectuals. This book explores the fundamental creative tension between the native and the foreign in many areas of Japanese culture, from politics and religion to art and literature – a tension also often interpreted as between tradition and modernity.

Author / Editor information

Starrs Roy :

Prof. Roy Starrs, PhD (UBC) teaches Japanese studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. His publications include Modernism and Japanese Culture, When the Tsunami Came to Shore: Culture and Disaster in Japan, and Politics and Religion in Modern Japan: Red Sun, White Lotus.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Part One: Japanese Politics, Religion and Society
1. Politics and Religion in Japan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Kojiki as Japan’s National Narrative Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
3. Prince Shōtoku and Japan’s ‘China Complex’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
4. Japan’s Perennial New Man: The Liberal and Fascist Incarnations of Masamichi Rōyama Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
5. From Mishima to Aum: Religiopolitical Violence in Late Twentieth-Century Japan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Part Two: Japanese Literature and Art
6. Japanese Poetry and the Aesthetics of Disaster Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
7. In Search of the Great Meiji Novel: From Ukigumo to Yoake mae Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
8. Nation and Region in the Work of Dazai Osamu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
9. Ink Traces of the Dancing Calligraphers: Zen-ei Sho in Japan Today Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
10. Mishima, Bowie and the Anti-Metaphysics of the Mask Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
11. D.T. Suzuki’s Theory of Inspiration and the Challenges of Cross-Cultural Transmission Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Part Three: Selected Reviews
12. Ninomiya Masayuki, La pensée de Kobayashi Hideo: Un intellectuel japonais au tournant de l’histoire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
13. Doug Slaymaker, Confluences: Postwar France and Japan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
14. Alex Bates, The Culture of the Quake: The Great Kantō Earthquake and Taishō Japan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
15. Alan Tansman, The Aesthetics of Japanese Fascism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
16. Japanese Literature as a Modern Invention: a review of Haruo Shirane and Tomi Suzuki (eds.), Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identity, and Japanese Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
17. Haruo Shirane, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
18. Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright (eds.), Zen Masters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	250
Bibliography of Roy Starrs Publications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 324
Keywords: Japan; culture. literature; politics; religion

eBook

Published: October 20, 2023
ISBN: 9789048559763