Rice as Self: Japanese Identies Through Time PDF
Preview Rice as Self: Japanese Identies Through Time
RICE AS SELF RICE AS SELF JAPANE SE IDENT I T I ES T H ROUGH T IME Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright1993byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress, Chichester,WestSussex AllRightsReserved LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Ohnuki-Tierney,Emiko Riceasself:Japaneseidentitiesthrough time/EmikoOhnuki-Tierney p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes. 1.Nationalcharacteristics,Japanese. 2.Japan— Civilization. 3.Rice—Socialaspects—Japan. I.Title. DS830.033 1993 952—dc20 92-43711 CIP eISBN 1-4008-0585-6 ThisbookhasbeencomposedinAdobeSabon To the late Fujita Sensei and KÉnan Elementary School Contents Acknowledgments ix A Note to the Reader xiii One FoodasaMetaphorofSelf:AnExerciseinHistorical Anthropology3 Two RiceandRiceAgricultureToday12 Three RiceasaStapleFood?30 Four RiceinCosmogonyandCosmology44 Five RiceasWealth,Power,andAesthetics63 Six RiceasSelf,RicePaddiesasOurLand81 Seven RiceintheDiscourseofSelvesandOthers99 Eight FoodsasSelvesandOthersinCross-culturalPerspective114 Nine SymbolicPracticethroughTime:Self,Ethnicity,andNationalism127 Notes 137 References Cited 149 Index 171 Acknowledgments I BEGAN this work at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciencesduringmyfellowshipyeartherein1989–1990.Itwasindeedan idyllicyearforfull-timeresearch.Iammostgratefultothecenterandthe National Science Foundation (grant no. BNS87-00864), and the gradu- ate school of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for their support. Thisstudycouldnothavebeencompletedwithoutthegeneroussupport of the Vilas Research Professorship from the William F. Vilas Trust. WordscannotexpressmyappreciationfortheTrust,thegraduateschool oftheUniversityofWisconsin,Madison,andtheuniversity. Miyata Noboru has not only supplied me with information but has also patiently listened to some of my arguments and has offered invalu- ablesuggestions andcritiques.JanVansinareadanearlierversionofthe manuscript,offeringmealmostpagebypagecommentsandsuggestions. He demands meticulous historical and ethnographic data for his own work but has been most encouraging about my interpretations. Donald Keen wrote an extensive critique of my article on the emperor, and his suggestions andcriticismswereextremelyhelpfulwhenIrevisedthesec- tion on the imperial system. Chester S. Chard introduced me to Japa- nesearchaeology,enormouslyeasingmydealingswithprehistory.Many others generously contributed to this work, only some of them are mentioned here: Joseph Nagy, Mathew Kramer, Kishima Takako, the late Robert M. Bock, Stephen Gudeman, Lawrence Sullivan, and Kenji Tierney. As I developed this book, I was fortunate to be invited to lecture on material from various sections of it. Space does not allow me to thank each host for the marvelous feedback I received: the Department of An- thropology, University of Minnesota (1992); the Center for World Reli- gions, Harvard University (1991); theEast-WestCenter,Hawaii (1991); the Department of Social Anthropology, London School of Economics (1990); the Center for Japanese Studies, University of California at Berkeley (1989); and the East Asian Program, Stanford University (East AsianProgram)(1989). I must include a special acknowledgement to my colleagues in Paris. The feedback for the seminars I was invited to give at the École des HautesÉtudesenSciencesSocialesduringApril1992turnedouttobeso valuablethatIrevisedtheentiremanuscriptaftermyreturnfromFrance. I warmly thank Marc Augé for his invitation and his lively discussion with me. It was through his insistence on l’espace that I came to realize
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