DOCSLIB.ORG

Noh Theater and Religion in Medieval Japan

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Noh Theater and Religion in Medieval Japan Copyright 2016 Dunja Jelesijevic RITUALS OF THE ENCHANTED WORLD: NOH THEATER AND RELIGION IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN BY DUNJA JELESIJEVIC DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages and Cultures in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Elizabeth Oyler, Chair Associate Professor Brian Ruppert, Director of Research Associate Professor Alexander Mayer Professor Emeritus Ronald Toby Abstract This study explores of the religious underpinnings of medieval Noh theater and its operating as a form of ritual. As a multifaceted performance art and genre of literature, Noh is understood as having rich and diverse religious influences, but is often studied as a predominantly artistic and literary form that moved away from its religious/ritual origin. This study aims to recapture some of the Noh’s religious aura and reclaim its religious efficacy, by exploring the ways in which the art and performance of Noh contributed to broader religious contexts of medieval Japan. Chapter One, the Introduction, provides the background necessary to establish the context for analyzing a selection of Noh plays which serve as case studies of Noh’s religious and ritual functioning. Historical and cultural context of Noh for this study is set up as a medieval Japanese world view, which is an enchanted world with blurred boundaries between the visible and invisible world, human and non-human, sentient and non-sentient, enlightened and conditioned. The introduction traces the religious and ritual origins of Noh theater, and establishes the characteristics of the genre that make it possible for Noh to be offered up as an alternative to the mainstream ritual, and proposes an analysis of this ritual through dynamic and evolving schemes of ritualization and mythmaking, rather than ritual as a superimposed structure. Chapters Two through Five are analyses of four Noh plays, Kanawa, Dōjōji, Yamamba, and Hyakuman. This selection reflects my argument that a particularly efficacious form of Noh ritual is one that best responds to the liminal quality of the medieval worldview, and this is expressed through a specific way in which the main protagonist of each play is constructed as a ritualist and an object of ritual, and symbolically embodied in various incarnations of the character of demon - oni. ii Acknowledgements I would like to offer my endless gratitude to the following persons, without whom this project would have never been possible: To Professor Brian Ruppert, for his guidance and mentorship in this dissertation and throughout the course of my doctoral studies. For his constant encouragement, intellectual stimulation and punctual advice, which were invaluable to me over the years he has taught and advised me on all aspects of Japanese religion and culture. For his endless patience, kindness, and understanding. To Professor Elizabeth Oyler, Chair of this Committee, for helping me build my knowledge on literature, performance, and Noh. For teaching me how to read and analyze literary texts, which questions to ask, and how to seek answers to them. For her unwavering support and faith in my work, even in the moments when my own faith would falter. To Professor Ronald Toby for sharing from the bottomless well of his knowledge on all things Japanese, and beyond. For stimulating discussions in his reading classes and meetings, for kind advice, support, and encouragement. To Professor Alexander Mayer for helping me better understand the intricacies of Buddhist text and Buddhist doctrine, and helping me place them within the perspective of larger scholarship. To Japan Foundation for supporting my research in Japan, at the Nagoya University. To Professor Abe Yasuro of Nagoya University, my adviser and mentor during my research year as a Japan Foundation Fellow, for helping me build my strength in archival study and field work, for the amazing opportunities to attend an impressive number of festivals, rituals, and performances while imparting on me the knowledge and understanding about them which prompted my research in the direction it has assumed. To Professor Abe Mika, for her kind iii advice and help in matters both academic and otherwise during my year in Nagoya. To the fellow- graduate students from Professor Abe’s research seminar for their help and camaraderie. At UIUC, apart from my Committee with whom I had worked the closest, I would like to mention those whose courses I was fortunate to take and which had provided me with the knowledge and the tools to be the researcher I am. I owe particular gratitude to Professor Robert Alun Jones from Department of Religion, and Professor Joyce Tolliver from Department of Spanish and Portuguese. To my friends and family, without whom I could not have made it. To Professor David Goodman, with excruciating pain in my heart that he is not here today. Words fail me to say anything else. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………..…………......1 Framing the “Medieval”…………………………………………………………………………..4 Kami-buddha Discourse – The Shinbutsu Paradigm……………………………………………...6 From Ritual to Noh: Religious and Ritual Origins of Noh………………………………………10 Ritual and Ritualization………………………………………………………………………….21 Oni – Embodiment of the Enchanted World…………………………………………………….27 Performer – Ritualist of the Enchanted World…………………………………………………..32 Overview of Chapters……………………………………………………………………………35 CHAPTER 2: KANAWA…………………………………..………………………….…...……39 Kurui, Jealousy, and Aberrant Disposition………………………………………………………40 Origins of Kanawa: Hashihime Legend, Generic Conventions and Ritual Concerns…………...47 Counterpoint: Abe no Seimei, Demons and Exorcism…………………………………………..52 Kanawa: Demonic Wife………………………………………………………………………….55 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….74 CHAPTER 3: DOJOJI………………………………………………..…………..…..………….77 Origins of Dōjōji: The Kiyohime Legend and Its Rebirths……………………………………...79 Religious Implications Of the Serpent motif……………………………………………..……...89 The Ritualist Snake – Shirabyōshi………………………………………………………..……...94 Competing Rituals; Ritualization and Ritual Dialectic; Subject/Object Dichotomy…….……..100 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...109 CHAPTER 4: YAMANBA……………………………………….……………………….…...111 Yamanba-as-oni……………………………………………………………………..…………113 Yamanba: Dragging Feet on Buddha’s Path...............................................................................125 Yamanba’s Religious Framework………………….…………………………………………..136 Good and Evil – The “Way” of the Actor………………………………………………………146 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...…………………152 CHAPTER 5: HYAKUMAN…………………………………………………………………..154 Liminality of Womanhood and Female Performers……………………………………………155 Demon Hiding in Plain Sight – Monogurui…………………………………………………….160 Hyakuman – Origins and Inspirations………………………………………………...………..163 Hyakuman – Saving Mother, Possessed Mother……………………………………………….166 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...…………172 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION………………...……………………………………………….173 CHAPTER 7: FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….176 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………183 v Chapter 1: Introduction In the past three decades, scholarship on medieval Noh theater has been steadily calling into question the presumed unchanging character of Noh by placing it within historically- and culturally-specific frames of reference. Among others, Janet Goff, Michele Marra, Arthur Thornhill, and more recently Steven Brown, Susan Blakely Klein, Shelley Fenno Quinn, Eric Rath, Paul Atkins, and Thomas Looser have interpreted Noh theater through analyzing its performative aspects, its interaction with literary and religious sources, and the ways it reflected or responded to its political and social contexts.1 Within this trend, much valuable research has been done on the relationship between Noh theater and religion. Klein has drawn attention to the relationship between the Kamakura esoteric literary commentaries, waka poetry, and the Noh. Thornhill and Noel Pinnington examined the religious and philosophical underpinnings of Komparu Zenchiku’s (1405 – c. 1470) treatises,2 and how Zenchiku’s aesthetics was informed by the religious ideologies of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Kami-worship traditions.3 Atkins does the same in analyzing 1 See Goff 1992, Mara 1993, Thornhill 1993, Brown 2002, Klein 2003, Quinn 2005, Rath 2006, Atkins 2006, Looser 2008. 2 Noel Pinnington, Traces in the Way: Michi and the Writings of Komparu Zenchiku (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University East Asia Series, 2005) 3 Throughout this study I will use term “kami-worship,” due to the problematic nature of the term Shinto with its long-held association with an indigenous Japanese religion. Scholarship has recognized that, rather than being indigenous religion of Japan with continuity throughout history, “Shinto” as institutionalized monolithic religion is a purely modern construct, and the term kami, likewise, does not designate a specific native Japanese deity or deities, but can be applicable to a host of varied “moot” entities. For more detailed discussion on this issue see Kuroda 1981: 1–21, and Teeuwen and Rambelli 2006: 1-2. 1 Zenchiku’s plays. Thomas Hare in a similar vein explores the treatises and performance notes of Zeami (c. 1363 – c. 1443).4 Most of these studies, broadly speaking, have looked at how diverse religious elements were appropriated and employed by Noh. Building on this foundation, my dissertation examines the relationship between
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Katsushika Hokusai and a Poetics of Nostalgia
    ACCESS: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EDUCATION 2015, VOL. 33, NO. 1, 33–46 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2014.964158 Katsushika Hokusai and a Poetics of Nostalgia David Bell College of Education, University of Otago ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This article addresses the activation of aesthetics through the examination of cultural memory, Hokusai, an acute sensitivity to melancholy and time permeating the literary and ukiyo-e, poetic allusion, nostalgia, mono no aware pictorial arts of Japan. In medieval court circles, this sensitivity was activated through a pervasive sense of aware, a poignant reflection on the pathos of things. This sensibility became the motivating force for court verse, and ARTICLE HISTORY through this medium, for the mature projects of the ukiyo-e ‘floating world First published in picture’ artist Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai reached back to aware sensibilities, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2015, Vol. 47, No. 6, subjects and conventions in celebrations of the poetic that sustained cultural 579–595 memories resonating classical lyric and pastoral themes. This paper examines how this elegiac sensibility activated Hokusai’s preoccupations with poetic allusion in his late representations of scholar-poets and the unfinished series of Hyakunin isshu uba-ga etoki, ‘One hundred poems, by one hundred poets, explained by the nurse’. It examines four works to explain how their synthesis of the visual and poetic could sustain aware themes and tropes over time to maintain a distinctive sense of this aesthetic sensibility in Japan. Introduction: Mono no aware How can an aesthetic sensibility become an activating force in and through poetic and pictorial amalgams of specific cultural histories and memories? This article examines how the poignant aesthetic sensibility of mono no aware (a ‘sensitivity to the pathos of things’) established a guiding inflection for social engagements of the Heian period (794–1185CE) Fujiwara court in Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • The Acculturation Process for Kaigaishijo: a Qualitative Study of Four Japanese Students in an American School
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1998 The acculturation process for kaigaishijo: A qualitative study of four Japanese students in an American school Linda F. Harkins College of William & Mary - School of Education Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Harkins, Linda F., "The acculturation process for kaigaishijo: A qualitative study of four Japanese students in an American school" (1998). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539618735. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-6dp2-fn37 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORM ATION TO U SE R S This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted.
    [Show full text]
  • Jichihan and the Restoration and Innovation of Buddhist Practice
    Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1999 26/1-2 Jichihan and the Restoration and Innovation of Buddhist Practice Marc Buijnsters The various developments in doctrinal thought and practice during the Insei and Kamakura periods remain one of the most intensively researched fields in the study of Japanese Buddhism. Two of these developments con­ cern the attempts to restore the observance of traditional Buddhist ethics, and the problem of how Pure La n d tenets could be inserted into the esoteric teaching. A pivotal role in both developments has been attributed to the late-Heian monk Jichihan, who was lauded by the renowned Kegon scholar- monk Gydnen as “the restorer of the traditional precepts ” and patriarch of Japanese Pure La n d Buddhism.，’ At first glance, available sources such as Jichihan’s biograpmes hardly seem to justify these praises. Several newly discovered texts and a more extensive use of various historical sources, however, should make it possible to provide us with a much more accurate and complete picture of Jichihan’s contribution to the restoration and innovation of Buddhist practice. Keywords: Jichihan — esoteric Pure Land thousfht — Buddhist reform — Buddhist precepts As was n o t unusual in the late Heian period, the retired Regent- Chancellor Fujiwara no Tadazane 藤 原 忠 実 （1078-1162) renounced the world at the age of sixty-three and received his first Buddnist ordi­ nation, thus entering religious life. At tms ceremony the priest Jichi­ han officiated as Teacher of the Precepts (kaishi 戒自帀；Kofukuji ryaku 興福寺略年代記，Hoen 6/10/2). Fujiwara no Yorinaga 藤原頼長 (1120-11^)0), Tadazane^ son who was to be remembered as “Ih e Wicked Minister of the Left” for his role in the Hogen Insurrection (115bハ occasionally mentions in his diary that he had the same Jichi­ han perform esoteric rituals in order to recover from a chronic ill­ ness, achieve longevity，and extinguish his sins (Taiki 台gd Koji 1/8/6， 2/2/22; Ten，y6 1/6/10).
    [Show full text]
  • Enmoku (Programm) Yamata-No-Orochi (Story Against
    Enmoku (programm) There are more than 60 different stories, episodes or repertoire called Enmoku, each lasting 30 to 60 minutes, but it's adjustable. Most stories come from ancient myths called the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712AD) and the Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720AD) written in the eighth century. Yamata-no-Orochi (Story against giant evil serpent) 大蛇 30 - 40min. Ancient time in Izumo, an old couple was living. They had 8 daughters but lost 7 of them already because of giant serpents. This old couple was sad because they have to sacrifice thier last daughter this year. The hero "Susa " heart this story from them and decide to save her. Susa found where serpents are, made them drank with Sake, and while they were sleeping, he got rid of them with a sword. (This sword is one of 3 ancient national treasure), and married to this rescued daughter. Jinrin (a story based on the battle in 198) 塵輪 20 - 30min. The battle between the Chuai Tenno (14th emperor in Japan they say) and the powerful demonic king, Jinrin. Jinrin had the ability to fly anywhere in Japan with wings. He and his troops attacked people to death. Chuai decided to defeat Jinrin. Yumi Hachiman (a story based on another battle) 弓八幡 20 - 30min. The battle between the Oujin Tenno (15th emperor in Japan they say) and the another evil foreign king. (Hachiman is enshrined at Usa-Hachiman shrine in Kyushu, had a power to allow to build Todaiji temple in Nara, worshiped by many Shoguns and Samurais throughout history.
    [Show full text]
  • Vaitoskirjascientific MASCULINITY and NATIONAL IMAGES IN
    Faculty of Arts University of Helsinki, Finland SCIENTIFIC MASCULINITY AND NATIONAL IMAGES IN JAPANESE SPECULATIVE CINEMA Leena Eerolainen DOCTORAL DISSERTATION To be presented for public discussion with the permission of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki, in Room 230, Aurora Building, on the 20th of August, 2020 at 14 o’clock. Helsinki 2020 Supervisors Henry Bacon, University of Helsinki, Finland Bart Gaens, University of Helsinki, Finland Pre-examiners Dolores Martinez, SOAS, University of London, UK Rikke Schubart, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Opponent Dolores Martinez, SOAS, University of London, UK Custos Henry Bacon, University of Helsinki, Finland Copyright © 2020 Leena Eerolainen ISBN 978-951-51-6273-1 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-6274-8 (PDF) Helsinki: Unigrafia, 2020 The Faculty of Arts uses the Urkund system (plagiarism recognition) to examine all doctoral dissertations. ABSTRACT Science and technology have been paramount features of any modernized nation. In Japan they played an important role in the modernization and militarization of the nation, as well as its democratization and subsequent economic growth. Science and technology highlight the promises of a better tomorrow and future utopia, but their application can also present ethical issues. In fiction, they have historically played a significant role. Fictions of science continue to exert power via important multimedia platforms for considerations of the role of science and technology in our world. And, because of their importance for the development, ideologies and policies of any nation, these considerations can be correlated with the deliberation of the role of a nation in the world, including its internal and external images and imaginings.
    [Show full text]
  • Mother of the Nation: Femininity, Modernity, and Class in the Image of Empress Teimei
    Mother of the Nation: Femininity, Modernity, and Class in the Image of Empress Teimei By ©2016 Alison Miller Submitted to the graduate degree program in the History of Art and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. Maki Kaneko ________________________________ Dr. Sherry Fowler ________________________________ Dr. David Cateforis ________________________________ Dr. John Pultz ________________________________ Dr. Akiko Takeyama Date Defended: April 15, 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Alison Miller certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Mother of the Nation: Femininity, Modernity, and Class in the Image of Empress Teimei ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. Maki Kaneko Date approved: April 15, 2016 ii Abstract This dissertation examines the political significance of the image of the Japanese Empress Teimei (1884-1951) with a focus on issues of gender and class. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Japanese society underwent significant changes in a short amount of time. After the intense modernizations of the late nineteenth century, the start of the twentieth century witnessed an increase in overseas militarism, turbulent domestic politics, an evolving middle class, and the expansion of roles for women to play outside the home. As such, the early decades of the twentieth century in Japan were a crucial period for the formation of modern ideas about femininity and womanhood. Before, during, and after the rule of her husband Emperor Taishō (1879-1926; r. 1912-1926), Empress Teimei held a highly public role, and was frequently seen in a variety of visual media.
    [Show full text]
  • Kyoto Confidential
    japan // asia K YOTO CONFIDENTIAL From the charming hot spring town of Kinosaki Onsen where visitors dress up to strip down, to a heritage fishing village unchanged in 300 years on the Sea of Japan… Rhonda Bannister veers off the tourist trail to discover the captivating treasures of Kyoto Prefecture 94 holidaysforcouples.travel 95 japan // asia Chilling in a hot spring Delving deeper into the Kyoto Prefecture (an administration area that’s a little like a state or territory), our next stop was around 100 kilometres north, on the Sea of Japan. Kinosaki Onsen is defined by its seven public bathhouses, dozens of ryokans (a traditional Japanese inn) with private hot spring baths, and a warm welcome wherever you wander. The town is adorable at first sight. The further we roamed the streets and laneways, criss-crossing the willow-lined Otani River on little stone bridges, the more enamoured we became – especially in the evening when lanterns bathe the river and trees in their seductive glow. The mystical history of Kinosaki Onsen fter the tourists have left and reaches back 1300 years when a Buddhist priest the streets are quiet, the ancient received a vision from an oracle telling him to area of Gion in Kyoto appears pray for a thousand days for the health of the straight from the pages of Memoirs people. Legend says that in addition to prayer, of a Geisha. This is one of Kyoto’s he fasted the entire time and on the last day, best-preservedA historical areas, and Japan’s most a hot spring shot up from the ground.
    [Show full text]
  • Being in the Noh: an Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays —
    Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays — http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=628 Conventions of the Noh Play A. The Five Types of Noh Plays: 1. The god play (Kami)—congratulatory piece praising the gods in a quiet, dignified tone. 2. The warrior play (Shura)—a slain warrior comes back as a ghost and relives his suffering 3. The woman play (Katsura)—an elegant, stylish woman is the protagonist 4. The mad woman (or madness) play/realistic play 5. The supernatural (or demon) play (Kiri)—a battle between a demon or other supernatural figure and a hero in which the demon is usually subdued. B. The Order of Performance 1. Okina-Sanbaso—a ritual piece 2. The god play (Noh) 3. A Kyogen play 4. The warrior play (Noh) 5. A Kyogen play 6. The woman play (Noh) 7. A Kyogen play 8. The mad play (Noh) 9. A Kyogen play 10. The demon play C. The Characters of a Noh Play 1. Shite (pronounced sh'tay)—the main character, the “doer” of the play Maejite—(pronounced may-j’tay) the shite appears in the first part of the play as an ordinary person Nochijite—(pronounced no-chee-j’tay) the shite disappears and then returns in the second part of the play in his true form as the ghost of famous person of long ago. 2. Tsure—(pronounced tsoo-ray) the companion of the shite 3. Waki—a secondary or “sideline” character, often a traveling priest, whose questioning of the main character is important in developing the story line 4.
    [Show full text]
  • War Sum up Music
    BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival #WarSumUp Brooklyn Academy of Music Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board Karen Brooks Hopkins, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer War Sum Up Music. Manga. Machine. Hotel Pro Forma Vocals by Latvian Radio Choir BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Nov 1 & 2 at 7:30pm Approximate running time: one hour & 20 minutes; no intermission Directed by Kirsten Dehlholm BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival sponsor Music by The Irrepressibles, Santa Ratniece with Gilbert Nouno Concept by Willie Flindt and Kirsten Dehlholm Musical direction by Kaspars Putnins Costumes by Henrik Vibskov Leadership support for War Sum Up provided by The Barbaro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation Lighting design by Jesper Kongshaug Libretto from classic Noh theater edited by Willie Flindt Leadership support for opera at BAM Manga drawings by Hikaru Hayashi provided by: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Performed in Japanese with English titles The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation Stavros Niarchos Foundation Premiere: September 2, 2011, Latvian National Additional support for opera at BAM provided Opera, Riga by The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust Major support for music at BAM provided by The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Photo: Gunars Janaitis War Sum Up Latvian Radio Choir Soprano Ieva Ezeriete, Inga Martinsone, Iveta Romanca¯ne Alto Li¯ga Paegle, Dace Strautmane, Inga Žilinska Tenor Aigars Reinis, Ka¯rlis Ru¯tenta¯ls, Egils Ja¯kobsons Bass Gundars Dzil¸ums, Ja¯nis Kokins, Ja¯nis Strazdin¸š “Gamemaster” Ieva Ezeriete “Soldier” Aigars Reinis “Warrior” Gundars Dzilums “Spy” Liga Paegle Set design Kirsten Dehlholm, Willie Flindt, Jesper Kongshaug Video technique Kasper Stouenborg Video design Sine Kristiansen Manga drawings Hikaru Hayashi Black and white photos Zoriah Miller, Dallas Sells, Timothy Fadek, Kirtan Patel, Mário Porral, Richard Bunce Director’s assistant Jon R.
    [Show full text]
  • Positive Psychology – Unmitigated Good, and Pessimism As a Categorical Impediment to Wellbeing
    E L C I contrasting phenomena were implicitly T conceptualised as negative, positioned as R intrinsically undesirable. So, for example, A optimism tended to be valorised as an Positive psychology – unmitigated good, and pessimism as a categorical impediment to wellbeing. Some scholars did paint a more nuanced the second wave picture; for instance, Seligman (1990, p.292) cautioned that one must be ‘able Tim Lomas delves into the dialectical nuances of flourishing to use pessimism’s keen sense of reality when we need it’. However, in terms of the broader discourse of the field, and its cultural impact, a less nuanced binary t is nearly 20 years since Martin wellbeing – could be brought together message held sway. Seligman used his American and considered collectively. Thus, as While seemingly offering an upbeat IPsychological Association presidential a novel branch of scholarship focused message – linking positive emotions to address to inaugurate the notion of specifically and entirely on ‘the science beneficial outcomes, such as health ‘positive psychology’. The rationale for its and practice of improving wellbeing’ (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998) – this creation was Seligman’s contention that (Lomas et al., 2015, p.1347), it was valorisation of positivity was problematic, psychology had tended to focus mainly a welcome new addition to the broader for various reasons. Firstly, it often failed on what is wrong with people: on church of psychology. to sufficiently appreciate the contextual dysfunction, disorder and distress. There However, positive psychology was complexity of emotional outcomes. For were of course pockets of scholarship that not without its critics. A prominent instance, ‘excessive’ optimism can be held a candle for human potential and focus of concern was the very notion harmful to wellbeing (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Maeri Megumi 2014
    Copyright by Maeri Megumi 2014 The Dissertation Committee for Maeri Megumi Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Religion, Nation, Art: Christianity and Modern Japanese Literature Committee: Kirsten C. Fischer, Supervisor Sung-Sheng Yvonne Chang Anne M. Martinez Nancy K. Stalker John W. Traphagan Susan J. Napier Religion, Nation, Art: Christianity and Modern Japanese Literature by Maeri Megumi, B.HOME ECONOMICS; M.A.; M.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2014 Acknowledgements I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my advisor and mentor, Dr. Kirsten Cather (Fischer). Without her guidance and encouragement throughout the long graduate student life in Austin, Texas, this dissertation would not have been possible. Her insight and timely advice have always been the source of my inspiration, and her positive energy and patience helped me tremendously in many ways. I am also indebted to my other committee members: Dr. Nancy Stalker, Dr. John Traphagan, Dr. Yvonne Chang, Dr. Anne Martinez, and Dr. Susan Napier. They nourished my academic development throughout the course of my graduate career both directly and indirectly, and I am particularly thankful for their invaluable input and advice in shaping this dissertation. I would like to thank the Department of Asian Studies for providing a friendly environment, and to the University of Texas for offering me generous fellowships to make my graduate study, and this dissertation, possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations of Pleasure and Worship in Sankei Mandara Talia J
    Mapping Sacred Spaces: Representations of Pleasure and Worship in Sankei mandara Talia J. Andrei Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2016 © 2016 Talia J.Andrei All rights reserved Abstract Mapping Sacred Spaces: Representations of Pleasure and Worship in Sankei Mandara Talia J. Andrei This dissertation examines the historical and artistic circumstances behind the emergence in late medieval Japan of a short-lived genre of painting referred to as sankei mandara (pilgrimage mandalas). The paintings are large-scale topographical depictions of sacred sites and served as promotional material for temples and shrines in need of financial support to encourage pilgrimage, offering travelers worldly and spiritual benefits while inspiring them to donate liberally. Itinerant monks and nuns used the mandara in recitation performances (etoki) to lead audiences on virtual pilgrimages, decoding the pictorial clues and touting the benefits of the site shown. Addressing themselves to the newly risen commoner class following the collapse of the aristocratic order, sankei mandara depict commoners in the role of patron and pilgrim, the first instance of them being portrayed this way, alongside warriors and aristocrats as they make their way to the sites, enjoying the local delights, and worship on the sacred grounds. Together with the novel subject material, a new artistic language was created— schematic, colorful and bold. We begin by locating sankei mandara’s artistic roots and influences and then proceed to investigate the individual mandara devoted to three sacred sites: Mt. Fuji, Kiyomizudera and Ise Shrine (a sacred mountain, temple and shrine, respectively).
    [Show full text]