Modern Japanese Aesthetics: A Reader

333 Pages·1999·1.7 MB·English

by  Michael F. Marra

M O D E R N
J A P A N E S E
A E S T H E T I C S

M O D E R N
J A P A N E S E
A E S T H E T I C S
A R E A D E R
MICHELE MARRA
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
Publication of this book has been assisted by a grant from
the Kajiyama Publications Fund for Japanese History,
Culture, and Literature at the University of Hawai‘i at Ma¯noa.
© 1999 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Paperback edition 2002
02 03 04 05 06 07 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marra, Michele.
Modern Japanese aesthetics : a reader / Michele Marra.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–8248–2173–4
ISBN 0–8248–2077–0 (pbk)
1. Aesthetics, Japanese—19th century. 2. Aesethetics,
Japanese—20th century. I. Title.
BH221.J3M36 1999
111(cid:1).85(cid:1)0952—dc21 99–27949
CIP
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper
and meet the guidelines for permance and durability of the
Council on Library Resources.
Designed by Ken Miyamoto
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
To Professor Robert E. Morrell
and to Mrs. Sachiko Morrell
on the occasion of their retirement from
Washington University in St. Louis

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
THE SUBJECT OF AESTHETICS
1. The Introduction of Aesthetics: Nishi Amane 17
Text: “The Theory of Aesthetics” by Nishi Amane 26
2. A Voice of Resistance: Tsubouchi Sho¯yo¯ 38
Text: “What Is Beauty?” by Tsubouchi Sho¯yo¯ 48
3. Hegelian Reversal: Okakura Kakuzo¯ 65
Text: “A Lecture to the Painting Appreciation Society”
by Okakura Kakuzo¯ 71
4. Idealism, Christianity, and Poetics: O¯nishi Hajime 79
Text: “There Is No Religion in Waka” by O¯nishi Hajime 83
5. The Aesthetics of the Nation: Takayama Chogyu¯ 93
Text: “Observations on Aesthetic Pleasure” by Takayama Chogyu¯ 98
AESTHETIC CATEGORIES
6. O¯nishi Yoshinori and the Category of the Aesthetic 115
Text: “Aware”by O¯nishi Yoshinori 122
7. The Creation of Aesthetic Categories 141
Text: “The Logic of Passional Surplus” by Kusanagi Masao 148
vii
viii Contents
POETIC EXPRESSION
8. The Space of Poetry: The Kyoto School and Nishitani Keiji 171
Text: “Emptiness and Sameness” by Nishitani Keiji 179
9. The Calonology of Imamichi Tomonobu 218
Text: “Expression and Its Logical Foundation”
by Imamichi Tomonobu 220
POSTMODERNISM AND AESTHETICS
10. The Play of Mirrors: Sakabe Megumi 231
Text: “Mask and Shadow in Japanese Culture: Implicit Ontology
in Japanese Thought” by Sakabe Megumi 242
Text: “Modoki:The Mimetic Tradition in Japan” by Sakabe Megumi 251
11. The Complicity of Aesthetics: Karatani Ko¯jin 263
Text: “Edo Exegesis and the Present” by Karatani Ko¯jin 270
Glossary 301
Chronology 305
Bibliography 311
Index 319
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The basic idea behind this book came from a combination of fortunate
circumstances that brought me into contact with distinguished scholars of
aesthetics from Japan and the West. As a fellow of the Japan Foundation
in 1993, I was privileged to work in the Department of Aesthetics and Art
History of the University of Osaka under the supervision of Professor
Kambayashi Tsunemichi, the current president of the Japanese Association
of Aesthetics. Professor Kambayashi was then organizing a major sympo-
sium on the future of philosophical thought to which he invited major
twentieth-century philosophers, including Professor Gianni Vattimo of the
University of Turin. It was ironic indeed that I, a graduate of the Univer-
sity of Turin, would meet my former dean of humanities for the first time
in Japan and would be asked to be his interpreter. This encounter encour-
aged me to reread the insightful work of Professor Vattimo, who has been
very vocal on the need to make the past relevant to the present in the hu-
manities. As a scholar of medieval Japan, I grew considerably interested in
the role played by aesthetic categories in the formation of contemporary
discourses on premodern Japan. Urged by a desire to know more about the
use of Western hermeneutics in the construction of images of Japan, I be-
gan to teach a series of undergraduate courses on Japanese aesthetics and
hermeneutics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Unfortunately,
I soon discovered the paucity of materials on these topics. What one need-
ed on the Japanese side was a publication similar to Gianni Vattimo’s bril-
liant anthology of texts on aesthetics, Modern Aesthetics (Estetica Moderna,
1977). Although the present work falls short of reaching the completeness
of Vattimo’s work, it is nevertheless a step in that direction. To Professors
Kambayashi and Vattimo, therefore, go my deepest thanks for allowing me
to envision this book. To the Japan Foundation I am particularly grateful
for financing four months of research at the University of Osaka.
From 1993 to 1995 at UCLA I held several graduate seminars on Japa-
ix
x Acknowledgments
nese aesthetics in which students worked on preliminary drafts of some of
the texts presented in this book. Bruce Baird, Joseph Essertier, Ryuko Flo-
res, Makiko Fujiwara, Gregory Golley, and Leslie Winston were among
them. Christopher Bush of the Department of Comparative Literature took
upon himself the task of reading the entire manuscript. Several colleagues
from my home department were very supportive of this project, foremost
among them Professor Herbert Plutschow, a truly learned, generous, and
ideal colleague. Conversations with Haun Saussy, now of Stanford Univer-
sity, were inspirational in making me aware of the complexities of “the
problem of a Chinese aesthetic,” to use the title of his thought-provoking
book. Fred Notehelfer, director of the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies,
has made the UCLA experience truly enjoyable and rewarding by shaping
the center into UCLA’s most vital organization on Japan. Mihoko Miki and
Toshie Marra of the Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library shared with
me, as always, their unique bibliographic expertise. The UCLA Council on
Research Award was very generous in supporting this study.
The completion of this book’s first draft was made possible by a lavish
grant from the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Koku-
sai Nihon Bungaku Kenkyu¯ Senta¯) where I spent a most rewarding year
from 1996 to 1997. I deeply thank Professor Haga To¯ru, emeritus, of the
University of Tokyo for his kind invitation. At the Nichibunken I benefit-
ed from the expertise of Professors Suzuki Sadami (modern Japanese liter-
ature), Inaga Shigemi (Japanese and Western art), Mitsuta Kazunobu (pre-
modern Japanese literature), Hayakawa Monta (Japanese art), Kasaya
Kazuhiko (Japanese history), and Inoue Sho¯ichi (Japanese architecture, de-
sign, and popular culture).
My interest in issues related to Japanese aesthetics and hermeneutics
would not have evolved without the guidance of my teachers of Japanese
literature. Without their pioneering efforts in making philosophy relevant
to the field of Japanese literature, in fact, this book would not exist. It gives
me infinite pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to them once again.
They are Professors Robert E. Morrell (M.A. adviser), William R. LaFleur
(Ph.D. adviser), and J. Thomas Rimer (whole life adviser). It is with deep
regret that I think of all the mistakes they will find in this book despite
such a strong didactic presence. Responsibility, of course, stays with the
imperfect student.
Patricia Crosby, executive editor of the University of Hawai‘i Press, is
the embodiment of loyalty and determination in the field of publishing. I
thank her deeply for all her hard work in defending and promoting my re-
search. I also want to thank Masako Ikeda, managing editor, and Don
Yoder, copy editor for the press, for their professional care.