THE JAPAN FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER VOL. XXVIII/NO. 1 AUGUST 2000
On Other Pages Sound Japan Cultural Highlights From the Japanese Press (January 1–May 31, 2000) 8 Christopher Yohmei Blasdel Research Reports Depiction of the Family in Con- temporary Japanese Cinema 9 Masao Maruyama 12 Reclaiming Cultural Identity, Re- everal people sit in a simple tatami-matted room, enjoying the deliberate move- jecting Deviance, and “Doing ments of the tea ceremony. All is silent except for the susurrant rattle of the Homelessness” in Ueno Park 15 teapot’s iron lid as steam rushes out. This murmur is punctuated by the soft Book Reviews 18 S whisks of the bamboo stirring brush. Foundation Activities A shishiodoshi bamboo ladle, set along the stream in a traditional Japanese garden, Exhibition of Children’s Pic- ture Book Illustrations from slowly fills with water. As critical mass is achieved, the liquid is dropped. The base of Korea 20 the ladle hits a stone on the rebound, sending a report throughout the garden. In another part of the garden, a suikinkutsu jar, partially filled with water, is buried just below ground level. As water slowly drops into the jar from above, sonorous plops The Japan Foundation Newsletter is distrib- escape into the garden, audible only to those who wait, patiently, near the jar’s opening. uted free of charge to individuals and organizations interested in Japanese Cicada hum in unison from the luxuriant growth of summer. Later, as evening cools Studies and international cultural ex- to night, the shrill sounds of their higurashi cousins reverberate back and forth, as they change. Requests for subscriptions or call to each other; the same phrases repeated at di‡erent pitches and rhythms. for copies of articles that have appeared in the Newsletter should be addressed to: Sounds of a shakuhachi flute drift over the grounds of a quiet temple. The soulful The Editor tones lead directly to the heart, as if they were meant for none but oneself. Farther away, The Japan Foundation Newsletter in the center of the city, the strains of shamisen lute music can be heard as a delicate Media Department The Japan Foundation punctuation to the tra‹c noises. ARK Mori Bldg. 20F These descriptions of Japan’s soundscape are still not uncommon, although in the 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku Tokyo 107-6021, Japan cacophony and din of the modern nation one must make an e‡ort to search out such Tel: +81 (03) 5562-3532 fleeting but richly satisfying sounds. This article will attempt to describe what sound Fax: +81 (03) 5562-3501 has meant in an artistic and religious context in Japan and briefly outline the idea of E-mail: [email protected] url: http://www.jpf.go.jp/ “timbre aesthetics” in hπgaku (traditional Japanese music) and its relationship to cul- If you are already a subscriber, we tural perceptions of sound. I will also describe how awareness of timbre (the tonal over- would appreciate being informed of structure of sound that gives each instrument its characteristic sound) plays a vital role any change in your address. in traditional Japanese music and how modern Japanese composers approach timbre ©2000 The Japan Foundation in their compositions. Lastly, the contradictions of the traditional receptivity to sound Reproduction of Newsletter articles in whole or in part is prohibited without contrasted with the stressful sound pollution of modern Japanese society will be dis- permission of the author. After per- cussed. mission has been received, articles may be reproduced providing the credit line reads, “reprinted from The Japan Founda- Ear Cleaning Before discussing sound we need to talk about one of the most basic tion Newsletter, Vol. xx, No. xx,”and the Japan Foundation is notified. Printed of all senses, that of listening. It is both easier and more di‹cult than in Japan. ISSN 0385-2318 most imagine. Above all, careful and sensitive listening is indispensable for the under- Design by Becky Davis, EDS Inc., Editorial & Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, a twenty-eight-year resident of Japan, is a shakuhachi performer, researcher, and essayist. His Design Services, Tokyo recent discography includes Zen Reveries, for shakuhachi and synthesizer (Moonbridge, 1996), and Heart of Bam- boo (Copper Canyon Press, 1999), a CD collaboration with the American poet Sam Hamill. His English-language 国際交流基金 publications include The Shakuhachi: A Manual for Learning (Tokyo: Ongaku no Tomo Sha, 1988). His Japa- nese-language book (describing his experiences studying shakuhachi in Japan, the state of hπgaku in Japanese education, and his travels performing shakuhachi around the world) Shakuhachi Odessei [Shakuhachi Odyssey] (Tokyo: Kawade The Japan Shobo Shinsha, 2000) was awarded the prestigious Rennyo Prize for nonfiction. He teaches, records, and performs shakuhachi and works as advisor to the arts program at the International House of Japan, in Tokyo. His Web site is at Foundation
A Cultural Sensitivity “The Japanese are a people A cuckoo cries, Toward Sound who have been endowed with and through a thicket of bamboo a keen receptivity towards the late moon shines timbre from ages past,”writes composer Tπru Takemitsu Awakened at midnight 3 (1930–96). Indeed, one of the earliest chronicles of Ja- by the sound of the water jar pan, the Nihongi (720), describes the creation of the land cracking from the ice through the imagery of sound—a drum beat. “The noise like that of drums was the sound made by the And my favorite:
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 SOUND JAPAN 3 Lonely silence, the listener and the listened, between the action and the a single cicada’s cry deed, between life and death. This, stresses Kannon, is the sinking into stone true way to control the mind and look into the essence The painter and poet Buson (1716–83) also was fond of nature. It is rather like listening to a frog plunge into of using sound in writing. His sounds tend toward the the sound of water. dramatic; they jump out and hit the reader like the keisaku Mantra Yoga—the intoning of certain holy syllables, stick used on Zen meditating novices to keep them awake: usually consisting of the name of the historical Buddha —was extensively used as a means for attaining enlighten- A lightning flash— ment. Such “sound yoga” is a mainstay of Buddhism. It the sound of water drops is much easier to recite a mantra than it is to concentrate falling through the bamboo on breathing or to visualize various mandala, because The late evening crow anyone, regardless of learning, can recite prayers or in- of deep autumn longing tone mantras. It is no wonder many popular present-day suddenly cries out Buddhist sects emphasize chanting as a means to sal- vation. The thwack of an ax in the heart of a thicket— Attaining Enlightenment The shakuhachi, of all and a woodpecker’s tat-tats! Through One Tone Japan’s musical instru- The poetry and stories left by Buddhist monks also ments (besides the voice contain a wealth of sound. The Zen priests’experience of itself), has the longest connection with spiritual seek- kenshπ, or sudden awareness of the true nature of things, ing.8 A popular epithet among shakuhachi players, Ichi on was often instigated by some kind of sound. Dπgen jπbutsu (“attaining enlightenment through a single tone”), (1200–1253), the founder of the Sπtπ Zen sect, was said suggests the depth that can be attained through simply to have attained enlightenment upon hearing the cry of a playing and concentrating on the single tone. nightingale and the sound of bamboo splitting. Sounds, The idea of tone as spiritual salvation is central to the both musical and nonmusical, were also vital to the experi- theme of the Kyotaku Denki Kokuji Kai, a shakuhachi-related ences of the famous Zen priest Ikky√ (1394–1481). document published in Edo (present-day Tokyo) at the Throughout Ikky√’s Kyπunsh√ [The Crazy Cloud An- end of the eighteenth century. This document outlines thology], a collection of Chinese-style poetry, there are the putative origins of the Fuke shakuhachi sect, which many references to both music and sound as vehicles for flourished during the Edo period (1603–1868). enlightenment. Most revealing is his account of his own The document begins with the story of an actual Zen moment of kenshπ, occasioned by the cry of a crow that monk, Fuke, who lived in China in the seventh century. Ikky√ heard while meditating on a small boat on Lake The eccentric Fuke walked about, ringing his bell and Biwa. speaking such bewildering sentences as “If attacked from the light, I will strike back in light, if attacked from the Now, as ten years ago, dark, I will strike back in the dark, if attacked from all A mind attached to arrogance and anger four quarters, I will strike back as the whirlwind. If at- But at the laugh of the crow tacked from emptiness, I will lash out like a flail.” As adept from the dust arises The purpose of Fuke’s cryptic words, along with the And an illumined face sings sound of the bell, is much like the present-day koan In the morning sun.7 used in Zen meditation, in which a series of sounds and In the Surangama Sutra, the bodhisattva Avalokitesh- nonlogical ideas act to jog the quotidian consciousness vara (known in Japan as Kannon; this Japanese rendering enough to let the reality of another, more spiritual di- of the original Sanskrit means “seeing/hearing”) gives a mension enter. lengthy discourse on entry into the supersensible realm, The document continues with the story of the novice or samadhi, through the organ of hearing. The trick for monk Chπhaku, who tried to persuade master Fuke to such self-cultivation is to realize the duality of nature teach him the secrets of bell ringing. Fuke refused, so and by doing so attain a transcendent state that em- Chπhaku fashioned a flute and named it Kyotaku (liter- braces the opposites. Not an easy task, to be sure, but ally, “that which is not a bell”). His idea was to imitate Kannon says that proper hearing is the most suitable for the bell’s ringing with the flute. Various shakuhachi pieces this exercise. extant today with the name “Kyorei”or “Reibo”suggest Through concentration on an external sound, a dis- the shakuhachi’s imitation of Fuke’s bell. tinction is created between the listener and the source of The Kyotaku Denki also describes the origin of the the sound. Further meditation on the sound, however, wandering monks called komusπ.The komusπ were a com- leads into a realm where there is no distinction between mon feature of the Edo-period landscape. Wearing deep
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 4 SOUND JAPAN
A group of modern-day komusπ at the World Shakuhachi Festival 1998, in A sankyoku-style shakuhachi ensemble. From left to right: Mariko Yamamoto on Boulder, Colorado. koto, Satomi Fukami on shamisen, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel on shakuhachi. basket-shaped hats, these monks walked the countryside, transverse bamboo flute, koto thirteen-stringed zither, visited various Fuke temples, and played shakuhachi. shπ bamboo mouth organ, and hichiriki double-reed verti- Their aim was spiritual enlightenment through sound, a cal flute. Many of the characters in Genji played these in- practice they called suizen, “blowing Zen” (as opposed struments, which were used in the gagaku classical court to zazen, “sitting Zen”). They enjoyed considerable pro- orchestra of the times. tection by and support from the government and, in a The individual timbres of the above-mentioned in- time when internal travel in Japan was stringently con- struments all di‡er according to the unique sonic prop- trolled, they were allowed to move around freely. Komusπ erties of their construction and playing techniques, but were also highly visible in the literature, theater, and a few common aesthetic points are evident. One of these woodblock prints of the time; in the Kabuki play Suke- is the idea of the perishing tone. Rather than the begin- roku, the eponymous protagonist is a shakuhachi-wield- ning, or incipit tone, the tone that remains and lingers ing komusπ dandy. into fade-out is more important; and many techniques, Although the historical references in the Kyotaku Denki like hiki-iro, oshide, ato-oshi, tsuki-iro, and yuri-iro, executed on were specious and the komusπ had grown quite decadent the perishing tones of the koto are employed to alter and by the Edo period’s end, their original motives were pure. ornament the perishing tones. They used the shakuhachi as a discipline for enlighten- Another salient aesthetic point, common to all in- ment and blew their flutes with the realization that just struments, is the use of “nonmusical” sounds. In nine- one tone has the power to bring about buddhahood. teenth-century Western orchestral music we are much accustomed to hearing pure sounds, with no scratching Aesthetics Much Japanese music, especially of the of the strings or breath in the wind instruments. Indeed, of Hπgaku Edo period, was not overtly religious; such extraneous noise suggests musical incompetence. nonetheless, it was influenced by Buddhism Not so in traditional Japanese music. Scraping the strings and the awareness of sound as a holistic experience. of the koto, breathy sounds on the shakuhachi, and the Japanese musical tastes and aesthetics vary, of course, unique pitches from the kotsuzumi hand-held drum are according to historical period, but love of timbre seems highly appreciated as the pinnacle of the art. Especially to transcend all the ages, continuing into the present. A intriguing is the sawari twang of the shamisen, a three- highly evolved awareness and use of timbre is, therefore, stringed plucked lute that came into Japan via China and a definitive aspect of traditional Japanese music. Both the Okinawa in the sixteenth century and quickly became the music and the instruments are structured in a way that most widely used instrument in Japan. Somewhat remi- requires the performer to consciously manipulate tone niscent of the twang of the Indian sitar, sawari is created color in order to bring about the full e‡ect of the music, by allowing the shamisen string to come into slight con- and appreciation of the various timbres is a key to under- tact with the hard wood of the instrument’s neck. The standing the music. It is also a key to appreciating much result is a slightly impure ringing of sound that remains Japanese contemporary music. and builds in intensity after the string is plucked. Again, literature provides us with an example of an- Japanese instrumental timbres are greatly influenced cient Japanese sensibilities toward sound. An important by and imitative of natural sounds; wind in the pines, in- subtheme in the Genji Monogatari [Tale of Genji], the novel sect cries, waves, etc. In fact, many Japanese-music scholars describing Japanese court life of the late tenth and early have suggested that the premodern Japanese didn’t make eleventh centuries, is the feelings and sentiments pro- strict distinctions between the sounds of nature and the voked by the timbres of various hπgaku instruments, such sounds of art music. as the biwa lute, shakuhachi vertical bamboo flute, fue A third aesthetic point—closely related to the others
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 SOUND JAPAN 5 —is the fact that traditional Japanese music is extremely music. The Western-trained composers worked to as- economical and uses very limited materials to create the similate mostly European-style orchestration and mu- maximum e‡ect, something often pointed out in the lec- sical sensibilities, while the hπgaku composers, who were tures and writings of the noted Japanese-music scholar for the most part performers themselves, worked upon Dr. William Malm. expanding the limits of their tradition. It is only recently Simplicity can be observed, foremost, in the con- that the Western-trained composers have begun to cross struction of the instruments themselves. For example, over and experiment with Japanese instruments in their the shakuhachi is basically compositions, perhaps the most famous and earliest ex- a piece of hollowed bam- ample being Tπru Takemitsu’s 1964 composition Novem- boo, fifty-four centimeters ber Steps, which successfully combined the shakuhachi and in length, with five finger biwa with a Western orchestra. holes and a simple mouth- In their own thinking, most Japanese maintain a con- piece insert, yet there are scious division between hπgaku and Western music, due endless possibilities for to a very Western-oriented music-education system producing a variety of tim- and a feudalistic structure pervading the hπgaku world. bres. Likewise, the three Takemitsu was no exception. It was at the suggestion of strings of the shamisen are John Cage that he began using the shakuhachi for his able to handle extremely composition. complicated melodic lines Because of the very nature of hπgaku instruments, how- that often undergo rapid ever, it is easy to ensure traditional aesthetics in con- modulations. temporary compositions that use these instruments It is because of these —indeed, that is the reason many composers write for structural and sonic limi- them in the first place. What I want to point out here is tations inherent in the in- A shakuhachi. how hπgaku techniques and subtleties are translocated to struments and music that Western instruments to obtain a similar e‡ect. the individual tone and its timbre take on such impor- In this, Takemitsu was a master. His style, character- tance. The single tone and its timbric richness create a ized by long, deftly articulated phrases that move through microcosm of total aesthetic expression, much as the time, seems to pay a kind of homage to the traditional sparse lines of a haiku poem suggest images that reach aesthetics of timbre. “The sensing of timbre is none far beyond the actual words. other than the perception of the succession of movement Any serious discussion of traditional Japanese music within sound.”9 Timbre in hπgaku also plays a very im- and aesthetics should include the rich vocal tradition— portant spatial role. Whereas in Western classical music from the shπmyπ Buddhist chanting to the dramatic recita- the highly developed harmonic system confers a sense of tive and song of the giday√ in the Bunraku puppet theater. spatial expansion and structure, the individual tone color Song comprises more than eighty percent of all Japanese and its minute variations do the same for traditional music, and timbre in voice is just as important as it is in Japanese music. Takemitsu unites the spatial and tem- instrumental music. poral aspects as he creates fascinating timbres that meta- Space constraints prevent a further and detailed analy- morphose through time. For him, this shifting of sound sis of these aesthetic points, but I believe that any listener “is symbolized by the word sawari (which also has the with a sensitive ear can hear and respond to them. Aware- meaning of touching something lightly), something of ness of this aesthetic makes a heretofore formidable and a dynamic state.”10 distant tradition accessible and understandable; it is also Takemitsu also allows for various “nonmusical” the key to understanding the process by which many suc - sounds in structuring his work; anappreciation of natu- cessful contemporary Japanese composers approach their ral sounds reminiscent of hπgaku.This use of cacophony work. in well-tempered music can be heard in his musique concrète compositions, such as Ki (Tree, for temple bells, pre- Timbre in Contempo- In discussing contemporary pared piano, and wooden instruments) and Yuki (Snow, rary Compositions Japanese composers, it is for shakuhachi and stone instruments). This latter piece, helpful to realize that until helped by the consummate ability of the shakuhachi to relatively recently there has been a distinction between alter tonal colors, celebrates timbre through both time composers who were trained in Western compositional and space. techniques, with influences primarily from German, Ryπhei Hirose (b. 1930) is contemporary with Take- French, and more recently, American composers, and mitsu and was also trained in Western compositional those composers whose musical influences stemmed from techniques. Although the majority of Hirose’s works are their association and immersion in traditional Japanese for Western orchestral instruments, he writes much
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 6 SOUND JAPAN more extensively for Japanese musical instruments than own words, “My music is limited to certain elements of did Takemitsu. Nonetheless, Hirose’s pieces for Western sound and there are many calm repetitions. There is also instruments demonstrate a similar approach to the much prolongation of a single sound. I think silence and importance of timbre in providing temporal and spatial the prolongation of sound [are] the same thing in terms depth. of space.”13 Especially important for Hirose’s development of The title piece of Satoh’s CD Litania is for two pianos timbre aesthetics is the shakuhachi. “For better or worse, with a digital delay. The piece uses the reverberative aspects the tone of shakuhachi is the soul of the Japanese.”11The of the piano (aided by the electronic delay), with which absolute control of the breath, the wide range of musi- a basic tremolo is repeated, ever undulating in intensity cal dynamics, and the subtle possibilities of variation in and volume. “This creates a sonic interference resulting rhythm and melisma (the elongation of sung vowel in an extremely rich harmonic texture, which is further sounds) were aspects of this instrument that Hirose intensified by the overlaying of second or third piano.”14 could incorporate into his music. The list of composi- In addition to the intense concentration of the tonal so- tions Hirose wrote for the solo or duo shakuhachi from norities, we have in this composition another aspect that the early 1970s through the 1980s is quite impressive,12 is common to hπgaku, that of creating the maximum ef- but equally interesting are the works for solo or small- fect with the minimum amount of material. Although ensemble Western wind instruments that are clearly compared with traditional Japanese instruments, there influenced by shakuhachi techniques. Perhaps the best is nothing minimal about a piano, Satoh is able to create examples are the series of compositions he wrote after on it the e‡ect of great economy, and among the rich several trips to India in the 1970s. tapestry of quick tremolos and massive pianic reverbera- Kalavinka (1973), for recorder, oboe, strings, and per- tions, one begins to hear drones that suggest the lucid cussion, has for its theme the mythical bird of the same intensity of the single tone. name, which lives in the Western Paradise of the buddha Amida (Amitabha or Amitayus). The oboe sings back Modern Insensi- Now that we’ve seen how aware- and forth (reminiscent of bird calls) with the recorder in tivity to Sound? ness of the beauty of timbre and a call and response technique, kakeai, that is found through- the single tone informs and en- out Edo-period shamisen and koto music. Pippala (1973) riches Japanese religion, poetry, and music, let’s go back features a bassoon playing delicate portamentoes, micro- to the elegiac soundscapes evoked at the opening of this tones, and nonmusical sounds (overblowing and double essay. They make Japan sound like the most sonically tones) in very meditative, long phrases (the name of the pleasing place on earth; a nation of silence punctuated title signifies the bodhi tree under which the historical only by most delicate and sublime sounds. Buddha attained enlightenment). The bassoon strongly Actually, the opposite is closer to the truth. Like all suggests a shakuhachi timbre, and the harp punctuates urban spaces, Japanese cities are filled with noxious noise these tones with short arpeggiated chords, sounds very from trains, cars, and planes that bombard the ears from much like koto techniques that alter the perishing tones. all directions. The interiors of buildings, walkways, and Of this series, however, perhaps the most significant shopping streets that might escape the noises of the city composition is Paramita (1973), for solo alto flute. The are filled instead with announcements and incessant back- playing techniques of the flute are very closely patterned ground music. after the shakuhachi. These techniques include a dynamic Ride any escalator in Japan and you are reminded, by overblowing of the sound, which produces an explosive hidden loud speakers, to keep a firm grip on the handrail rush of air (muraiki on the shakuhachi), delicate porta- and on your children and remain standing in the center. mento and pitch bending (nayashi), finger trills (korokoro), Bus rides are punctuated with shrill voices announcing and the long, meditative tones that are the shakuhachi’s the bus stop in between commercial advertisements and hallmark. warnings that the brakes might be applied suddenly so Lastly, let us take a look at the work of a postwar- you should hold on tightly. While queuing for a museum generation Japanese composer. Somei Satoh, born in show, young men with intimidating loudspeakers order 1947, combines in his music a high degree of sensitivity you to stay in line and get your tickets ready. In between to traditional timbre with the powerful expressionism of the loud bells and inane little melodies announcing the nineteenth-century Romanticism and the cleverness of train doors’ closing, the station attendants on the plat- electronics. His sonorities of sound and the sensation form yell at the passengers through loudspeakers, order- of pulse in his music—almost like the vibrations of the ing them to stop running for trains. vocal kobushi melisma found throughout all Japanese vo- Perhaps it would be better in the countryside, one cal music—create, as in Takemitsu’s work, a sensation of might think, but it is actually worse there. A townwide the tone that exists only for the sake of itself, and in which speaker system informs the residents, minute by minute, time seems to be caught in a rhythmic “limbo.”In Satoh’s of every meeting and town activity. Escaping to moun-
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 SOUND JAPAN 7 tains or beach o‡ers no relief either. The sounds of wind now we have the ranting rightists or nanny-like admoni- through the pines and the swish-swish of skis plying tions in public places overpowering the insects cries, bam- fresh snow on the ski slopes are now replaced with loud- boo splitting, or plaintive plunks of the shamisen. speakers blaring heavy-beat popular music throughout What is needed, more than ever, is awareness and the mountains. On the beaches, loudspeakers periodi- selectivity, that people realize the problems of negative, cally exhort the beachgoers to swim within the buoys, destructive sounds in the environment and regain an ap- exercise before entering the water, not drink too much preciation of the subtle qualities of timbre that make liquor, and be careful of the tides, hot sands, pickpockets, the Japanese soundscape so spiritually rewarding. I have and food poisoning. Whence the healing sounds of the found training in hπgaku invaluable for urging awareness waves and water? of this problem while sensitizing the ears and the mind. Some of the modern-day cacophony, especially the ubiquitous use of loudspeakers, can be explained in terms Notes of power. Simply put, the bigger sound system you have, 1. R. Murray Schafer, Ear Cleaning: Notes for an Experimental Music the more power of control you exert over the listeners. Course (Don Mills, Ontario: BMI Canada, 1967), 1. Volume reigns supreme. That is one reason for the ubiqui- 2. Schafer, 2. tous loudspeakers mounted on the trucks of politicians 3. Tπru Takemitsu, “My Perception of Time in Traditional and right-wing groups in Japan, blaring rhetoric in mega- Japanese Music,”in Contemporary Music Review (London: Harwood decibels. Content of message is secondary; what is im- Academic Publishers, 1987), 1:9. 4. W. G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest portant is the overpowering violence of the sound itself. Times to A.D. 697 (1896; reprint, London: George Allen & Unwin Even well-intentioned announcements in public places Ltd., 1956), 2:366. can be obnoxious; for example, periodic train announce- 5. All haiku here are quoted from The Sound of the Water, trans- ments telling the passengers not to use cellular phones. lated by Sam Hamill, © 1995 by Sam Hamill. Reprinted by arrange- Such announcements tend to cause more bother than ment with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 8 CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS
From the Japanese Press (January 1–May 31, 2000)
AWARDS example, that he went to the cinema on base, which contains some twenty-three the day of his college entrance exams. thousand items, including ukiyo-e genre Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes The address sections contain names and pictures from the Edo period (1603– The joint winners of the 122d Akuta- addresses of American movie stars, and 1868). The URL of the National Diet gawa Prize for belles-lettres by new the diaries also mention sending fan Library site is
Abbreviations used here: A: Asahi Shimbun M: Mainichi Shimbun N: Nihon Keizai Shimbun S: Sankei Shimbun Y: Yomiuri Shimbun
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 RESEARCH REPORTS 9
Depiction of the Family in Contemporary Japanese Cinema Eija Niskanen
he prevalence of the family as lar fiction, etc.), and other film cultures made in Japan or the way certain stylis- the central setting of a story is (Hollywood, European art cinema, tic or narrative structures are handled. Tobvious in Japanese films. My Hong Kong cinema) influence the style The 1960s nouvelle vague, or new interest lies in the ways that both classic of Japanese cinema. (3) Production: the wave, cinema brought a change to the for- and contemporary Japanese cinema han- change from films produced by major mula films made by the major studios dle this theme and the ways the theme studios to those produced by independ- when filmmakers like ∏shima criticized has diversified over time. I make no claims ent companies (starting in the 1960s such directors as Yasujirπ Ozu (1903–63) about the nature of Japanese family life. with Nagisa ∏shima [b. 1932] and Shπ- for perpetuating the societal status quo My aim is not to use cinema to study the hei Imamura [b. 1926]) and then to with their films. ∏shima clearly saw nature or history of the Japanese family sponsored productions and coproduc- films not only as stories of families but system in a sociological sense, but to tions with television stations (for ex- as symbols of social order. The younger study the ways cinema as a popular dis- ample, Japan Satellite Broadcasting, Inc. directors broke away from the major stu- course and an art form has used the fam- [WOWOW]). dios and established independent pro- ily both to tell stories and to articulate duction companies, ATG (Art Theatre ideological and stylistic constructs. An An Era of Change Guild of Japan Co., Ltd.) being the example of the latter is the postwar cin- The production-marketing-consump- most famous. The 1960s political turn ema during the Allied occupation, when tion pattern changed greatly between in filmmaking led to a rebellion against the SCAP (Supreme Commander for the the 1960s and the 1990s. The independ- the entrenched topics and styles of films. Allied Powers) censors tried to instill ent production system exists alongside Cinema had “to confront rather than Western values in Japanese society. This the major studio production system, appeal to its audience”; “Films must e‡ort was reflected in the way such issues but the number of independently pro- not depict feeble complexes, shabby as women’s roles, the family system, and duced films currently exceeds that of emotions, or quiet virtue,”∏shima pro- the concept of marriage were handled films produced by major studios. One claimed,1 thus questioning the pseudo- in films. I have relied mainly on post– important factor is the Pia Film Festi- individuality of such film genres as nouvelle vague cinema, from the 1970s val, inaugurated in the late 1970s, which melodrama, one of the genres often de- to the present, but I draw comparisons has become influential in introducing picting families. with earlier cinema to highlight the debts and encouraging young filmmakers and As Japan pursued its middle-class contemporary cinema owes to or its de- brought many directors domestic and economic miracle, the new-wave direc- partures from earlier cinema. international attention. The changes in tors called for a generational war chal- Methodologically I study these films the film production system have also af- lenging societal homogeneity. For them through three approaches: (1) Thematic: fected the position of the director: the personal desire was an antidote to a so- the main themes and their handling as previous studio mentorship has become ciety that showcased state-promoted the themes di‡er from those of earlier more flexible, but it is also more com- nuclear families (advantageous for the films and transform traditional Japanese petitive, since anyone can gain training new capitalist consumer society) and film genres (hπmu dorama [family drama], in film and art schools and make films. sexuality confined to marriage. Abrupt melodrama). (2) Stylistic: the way that The internationalization of Japanese changes of scene, extreme ellipses in the postmodern aesthetics, other popular cinema a‡ects the production and mar- narrative, surprising camera angles, and arts, entertainment (manga [Japanese keting of Japanese films. Many art house so forth created a Brechtian model, comics], advertising, television, popu- films are premièred at foreign film festi- making the audience aware of the nar- vals prior to their Japanese theatrical re- rative strategies of cinema itself. This is Eija Niskanen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Depart- lease. A prize from a foreign festival is evident in such highly formalistic films ment of Film and Television at the University of Art a marketing tool for a film even in the as The Ceremony [Gishiki; 1971], in which and Design, Helsinki. Her research on the theme “The Family in Contemporary Japanese Cinema: domestic market. This raises the ques- ∏shima used various family ceremonies Themes, Style, and Production”was supported by a tions of whether international film fes- (funerals, weddings) to explore power 1999–2000 Japan Foundation fellowship. tival tastes will a‡ect the kind of films relations within the family.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 10 RESEARCH REPORTS The 1970s saw a turning point, when began, and was popularized through dramatic situations that were given a lot political filmmaking tangled with the mass media coverage of package tours, of space in the original novel.5 For ex- problems of postindustrial society. Af- local villages, traditional lifestyles, and ample, the role of the youngest daugh- ter that, depictions of the family split matsuri (festivals) of di‡erent areas of ter, Taeko, whose actions o‡er the most into two di‡erent narrative strategies: Japan. This boom was most clearly ex- melodramatic situations (several lovers, the nostalgic and the ironic. ploited in the Japan National Railway’s pregnancy), is smaller than in the 1959 “Discover Japan” tourism campaign.4 version. In Ichikawa’s version style takes Nostalgia for a Reinvented Past Professor Marilyn Ivy, of Columbia over and becomes the most dominant Shochiku Co., Ltd., a producer of hπmu University, uses the word “phantas- feature of the film. Apropos here is a dorama films, came up with a big hit in matic” to describe this nostalgic ten- comment by Professor Kπichi Iwabu- the early 1970s with Yπji Yamada’s (b. dency in the current popular culture of chi, of International Christian Univer- 1931) series Otoko wa Tsurai yo [It’s Tough Japan. By this, Ivy means the past can sity, Tokyo, about the general consumer Being a Man, aka Tora-san; 1969–95], never be reexperienced in its original culture of Japan: “What is significantly which was a return to a more sentimen- form; the attempt to return to it is al- conspicuous in Japan is that its own tra- tal depiction of the family. The fixing ready a re-creation of the original. But ditionalism is exoticised and becomes a of the Tora-san films in a clearly defined this term does include the real losses ex- part of the range of postmodern, inter- existing locale—Tokyo’s shitamachi, or perienced by people because of rapid national cultural commodities available old downtown district—also fixed the industrialization, losses that sent people to the domestic consumer. . . . In so do- social class and family relations ofTora- in search of these manufactured re- ing, the gaze of Others appreciating Japa- san films. Instead of living in a nuclear creations of authenticity. A similar kind nese otherness or exoticism sells perhaps family, in Tora-san’s world the Kurumas of nostalgic longing for a traditional past most to the Japanese themselves.”6 live in a family in which the ie, or house- can be seen in many of Studio Ghibli’s What has actually happened is the hold as an economic entity, and the uchi, animated films, such as My Neighbor To- reexotization of Japanese cultural arti- or family as the center of emotional at- toro [Tonari no Totoro; 1988]. facts, as described by Professor Norma tachment, coincide. The family’s dangoya A more complex approach to the Field, of the Unversity of Chicago, in traditional confectionery unites them past is taken in Kon Ichikawa’s (b. 1915) her article on Yasuo Tanaka’s (b. 1956) economically. The younger generation film The Makioka Sisters [Sasameyuki; 1983], novel Nantonaku Kurisutaru [Somehow, —the wife, Sakura; the husband, Hiro- based on the novel by Junichirπ Tanizaki Crystal; 1980], lending them “a glossy shi; and their son, Mitsuo—live under (1886–1965). The novel has been filmed novelty—much as do scenes from Kyoto one roof with the senior Kurumas until three times: in 1950, 1959, and 1983. The or Kamakura when they are featured on the early 1990s. From then on Sakura, first adaptation, by Yutaka Abe (1895– [sic] the pages of magazines bearing such Hiroshi, and Mitsuo are seen living in 1977), faithfully follows the plot twists names as An-an or Non-non [sic].”7 Thus their own house. Thus originally the three of Tanizaki’s novel, in a somewhat epic Kon Ichikawa’s version, as an example generations formed a family in Japan’s style. In contrast, Kπji Shima’s (1901–86) of the many contemporary films that traditional small merchant-family busi- 1959 version gives the story a melodra- deal with the Edo period (1603–1868) or ness structure, but later the ie and uchi matic treatment, highlighting situations the prewar twentieth century, finds this separated partly, a sign of the Kurumas’ with dramatic plot twists. He brings ac- past exotically beautiful, highlighting modernization. But Tora-san himself tion and confrontations to the fore. As such elements as kimonos as the normal stayed the same, a relic from the past. in Abe’s version, scenes are shorter and attire of the women, traditional Kyoto TheTora-san films exist—to use the more intense. Interestingly, this version scenery, traditional Japanese houses— term coined by Professor Masao Miyo- was set in the late 1950s, which was a all in contrast to the earlier film versions shi, of the University of California, San convenient way to avoid the topic of the of Sasameyuki, both of which incorpo- Diego—in a “‘chronopolitical’ dimen- rising militarism of the 1930s, a theme rated many signifiers of modernization sion,”2 a condition typical of Japan, central to the novel. The Makiokas of (the wearing of Western dress, having which throughout its history has had to this version live in a postwar industrial- permanents, going to the cinema). While reconcile its inner time with the outer ized society, shown through details in Ichikawa deconstructs the previous ad- time of enforced modernization. But a the stage setting. aptations through plot by depicting the stronger current in the Tora-san films is Kon Ichikawa’s 1983 adaptation dif- economic power structures within the the nostalgic longing for the authentic fers remarkably from the other two. Ichi- family, he at the same time glamorizes traditional Japan, a condition, according kawa, typical of many contemporary the story through style. to Professor Fredric Jameson, of Duke Japanese directors, is concerned as much University, typical of postmodern so- with style as with plot twists. As Profes- Ohayπ as Modernization, ciety.3 sor Markus Nornes, of the University Kazoku G¡mu as Postmodernism Japan’s nostalgia boom began in 1970, of Michigan, has noted in his article Yoshimitsu Morita’s (b. 1950) The Family around the time that the Tora-san series about this film, Ichikawa omits many Game [Kazoku G¡mu; 1983] launched a flow
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 RESEARCH REPORTS 11 of films about the nuclear family. These New Hπmu Dorama? genre. For example, Yπji Yamada deals in films satirize a very stereotypical family In the 1990s a di‡erent type of hπmu do- his film My Sons [Musuko; 1991] with the —structurally resembling the families rama emerged. The aim is no longer to same topic as in Ozu’s Tokyo Story [Tokyo of 1950s American films and TV pro- satirize society via the family but to de- Monogatari; 1953]: a father goes to Tokyo grams—with a father employed as an of- construct the family by taking a closer to meet his children. Often family films fice worker, a homemaker mother, and look at its mechanisms. A recent ex- incorporate the same ritual events—fu- two kids. The Family Game takes education ample is Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s (b. 1955) nerals, weddings, and so on. Wait and See fever as its topic;The Yen Family [Kimura-ke film License to Live [Ningen Gπkaku; 1998]. In begins with the scene of a Buddhist me- no Hitobito; 1988] by Yπjirπ Takita (b. 1955) an interview in the influential biweekly morial service for the late husband. This looks at the economic miracle—every- journal Kinema-jumpπ, the director him- is a very familiar scene from Yasujirπ body in the family concentrates on mak- self said that he found the opening Shimazu’s (1897–1945) films from the ing money;The Crazy Family [Gyakufunsha situation, the coma of the son and the 1930s and 1940s. Here, however, it has Kazoku; 1984] by Sπgo Ishii (b. 1957) breakdown of a family, a good start for become an empty gesture, since the hus- tackles the housing issue with the story a film in a dramatic sense. Thus, inter- band turns out to be alive and returns as of a family digging a hole in the middle estingly, his topic is not the breakdown a drunken bum. of their new house; while The Funeral of the family but the compromises the Besides rituals, Japanese films and TV [Osπshiki; 1984] by J√zπ Itami (1933–97) family makes afterward. The story cen- dramas dealing with family situations deals with the meaning and understand- ters around a boy who, after ten years in always have scenes in which the family is ing of traditions in contemporary so- a coma, discovers that his family has sitting at the table, having a meal. Ac- ciety. A Sandcastle Model Home Family [Suna vanished through divorce and the indi- cording to Kuniko Mukπda (1929–81), a no Ue no Robinson; 1989] by Jun’ichi Suzuki vidual pursuits of each family member. Japanese TV drama writer, “Such a scene (b. 1952) is about a family that poses in He sets about reconstructing the family. is certainly one of the most important advertisements as a happy family living In the 1990s a new term, neo–hπmu elements of home drama. Meals would in a new house. All these films found the dorama, appeared in Japanese film writ- instantly reveal a family’s economic sta- exaggerated nuclear family to be a setting ing. The term was associated with films tus, and the state of their physical and through which to examine the problems dealing in more depth with the conflicts mental health.”8 The same is true of hπmu of 1980s Japan. The directors made these of modern life. Moving [Ohikkoshi; 1993] by dorama films as well. In License to Live one of films with independent production com- Shinji Sπmai (b. 1948) takes divorce as the happy occasions for the main char- panies, which allowed them to transform seen through the eyes of a twelve-year- acter is the scene in which his mother the hπmu dorama genre into a weapon for old girl as its theme. InTra‹c Jam [J√tai; and sister cook for him, but the audi- satire. By the 1990s, this independent 1991] by Mitsuo Kurotsuchi (b. 1947) a ence knows this is only an illusion, since production style started to influence the family travels three days to get to the the family has already ceased to exist. style of major studio productions as grandparents’ for the New Year holiday What Kiyoshi Kurosawa does with his well. and along the way solves its domestic film is take the genre of hπmu dorama and It is interesting to compare The Fam- problems. deconstruct the very essential aspects of ily Game, the quintessential film of this License to Live and other recent films, that genre. genre, with Yasujirπ Ozu’s Good Morning such as Osaka Story [Osaka Monogatari; [Ohayπ] from 1959. Both films tell the 1999] by Jun Ichikawa (b. 1948), M/Other Conclusion story of a family that has hired a tutor [M/Other; 1999] by Nobuhiro Suwa (b. Above I have described some general to help with the education of the sons 1960), and Wait and See [A, Haru; 1998] by tendencies in Japanese cinema seen and both depict neighborhood com- Shinji Sπmai, take new kinds of family through one theme. One conclusion is munication. Ozu’s film could be seen as situations, such as divorce, breakdown of that melodrama as a style for depicting spotlighting the modernization of Ja- the family, gender roles, and children’s family life disappeared, as Professor Mi- pan—though with typical Ozu irony— roles as topics. In License to Live the role of tsuhiro Yoshimoto, of the University with its subplot of buying a television the father is a central topic: for most of of Iowa, claims, because the shift from set, the eagerness with which the boys the film the son is with a surrogate fa- modernism to postmodernism in Japa- study English, and the contrasting of the ther, his father’s former friend. Oddly, nese society seems to have precluded the family’s cozy neighborhood with the the only scene in which the viewer senses emergence of melodramatic situations.9 nearby high-rise apartment buildings. a feeling of togetherness among the Instead, such genres as comedy, satire, Morita, on the other hand, shows post- family members is when the rest of the and contemporary art film—influenced modern stagnation, in which the educa- family sees the father on TV news, after by European art cinema—have taken tion of the sons will only lead them to he has been involved in an accident—a the family as their central setting. Often, an alienating trap similar to their father’s media-mediated family. as in the case of 1980s art cinema, these and in which nobody knows their neigh- Japanese directors very knowingly films used the family as a vehicle to make bor in their high-rise housing complex. comment on previous films of the same certain statements about society in gen-
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 12 RESEARCH REPORTS eral, and thus the depiction of the fam- 2. Masao Miyoshi and H. D. Haroo- cism: Japan and Its Other,” Continuum 8, ily per se did not need to be “realistic.” tunian, eds., Postmodernism and Japan (Dur- no. 2 (1994): 68. Lately there has been a new interest in a ham, N. C.: Duke University Press, 1989), 7. Norma Field, “Somehow: The Post- xvii. modern as Atmosphere,” in Miyoshi and more analytical study of family life per 3. Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, the Harootunian, Postmodernism and Japan, 173. se. At the same time, a tendency toward Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Durham, N. 8. Katsumi ∏yama, “The Shπwa 50’s nostalgia reigns in several films, espe- C.: Duke University Press, 1991), 15. and After,” in A History of Japanese Television cially in major studio productions. 4. Marilyn Ivy, Discourses of the Vanish- Drama: Modern Japan and the Japanese, ed. Ma- ing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan (Chicago: sunori Sata and Hideo Hirahara (Tokyo: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 22, The Japan Association of Broadcasting Notes 34–40. Art, 1991), 187–88. 1. Nagisa ∏shima, Cinema, Censorship, and 5. Markus Nornes, “Context and The 9. Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, “Melodrama, the State: The Writings of Nagisa Oshima, 1956– Makioka Sisters,”East-West Film Journal 5, no. 2 Postmodernism, and the Japanese Cin- 1978, trans. Dawn Lawson (Cambridge: (July 1991), 52. ema,” East-West Film Journal 5, no. 1 (January MIT Press, 1992), 5, 38. 6. Kπichi Iwabuchi, “Complicit Exoti- 1991), 45.
Masao Maruyama: Some Considerations on His Analysis of Japanese History and Modernity Joël Joos
s Japan a modern country? Though tragic yet logical consequence of an ab- cial and intellectual life are still regarded nowadays few people would doubt solutist regime that had suppressed any as most enlightening by many. However, Iit, fifty-five years ago, in the im- possible sign of fundamental social re- Maruyama did not repudiate the whole mediate postwar era, the same question form or modern political thought. of Japanese tradition—quite to the con- aroused considerable discussion. Mem- Modernists complained that too trary. One characteristic that marked his bers of the so-called modernist current many people had previously associated thought was his attempt to find traces of lamented the imperfect state of moder- modernity with merely technical issues, modern thought in Japan’s intellectual nity in Japan and vociferously condemned and they stressed the intellectual or so- heritage, usually typified as utterly di‡er- prewar social and political anomalies. cial aspects of the modernization proc- ent from any Western tradition. During Only a few years earlier, members of the ess. In this respect they faced a daunting the 1950s he took active part in political Kyoto school (an interdisciplinary group task in 1945: new and open debate had movements that challenged conserva- of scholars at Kyoto University) had to be reintroduced into an area that for tive government policies and advocated proclaimed Japan’s “overcoming of mo- decades had been subjected to censor- international neutrality. After the dra- dernity” and justified its status as a ship, especially when the apex of prewar matic events of the 1960 Japan-U.S. world leader, combining the best of the society, the imperial institution (and Security Treaty struggle, Maruyama Confucian East and the modern West. constitution), was involved. started stepping back from ongoing po- This argument was strongly refuted by litical discussions. He concentrated on the modernists. First, they did not con- Masao Maruyama’s the elaboration of a larger interpretive sider the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to Intellectual History framework, a backdrop against which be a modern revolution, since it had left One of the most representative members the peculiar course of intellectual his- too many feudal relics that were be- of the modernist current was Masao tory in Japan was to be understood. lieved to impede truly modern progress Maruyama (1914–96), professor emeri- What can we discern about the founda- in Japan. Second, they saw the milita- tus of the University of Tokyo. He was tions of his historical approach and the rism of the Shπwa era (1926–89) as the convinced the modern model was far position attributed to modernity within from established in Japan and continu- this framework? Joël Joos is a research assistant in the Department of ally published incisive criticism on pre- Fundamentally, Maruyama, like most Oriental and Slavic Studies at the Catholic Univer- war ultranationalism. His analyses of the of his colleagues at that time, accepted sity of Louvain. His research on the theme “Masao Maruyama: His Analysis of Japanese History and traditional elements that had supported a Hegelian-Marxist view of history. His- Modernity”was supported by a 1999–2000 Japan its rise and, conversely, had disturbed tory meant the unstoppable journey of Foundation fellowship. full-fledged modern development in so- humanity toward liberty, according to a
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 RESEARCH REPORTS 13 dialectical pattern of progress, in uni- not just as products of their age but also of political and moral judgment made versal stages and leaving no part of the as exemplars of the growth of universal Sorai a forerunner of modern politi- world una‡ected. He did, however, patterns of thought in the Edo period cal thinkers in Japan. Indeed, the in- encounter a variety of influences that (1603–1868) and Meiji era (1868–1912). troduction of the decisive concept of challenged this model: Neo-Kantian Nationalist historiographers had up- contingent, human “creation” into the epistemology, Weber’s ideal-typical so- held an image of the Meiji era as a understanding of society denoted no ciology, and Mannheim’s sociology of golden age of single-minded patriotism less than the first occurrence of a dis- knowledge. Japanese authors who in- in which the initial blind admiration for tinctively modern thought pattern in the spired him, be it on a less theoretical the West was vanquished by typically East. It was a development comparable level, included Shigeru Nanbara (1889– Japanese values like sacrifice or loyalty to the one that had taken place in Eu- 1974), Nyozekan Hasegawa (1875–1969), to the enlightened imperial rule and of rope, in the theories of Macchiavelli, and Tsuda Sπkichi (1873–1961). It is the the Edo period as a China-oriented and Luther, and others. combination of these influences, rather premodern period, one therefore barren A second instance of modern than the separate e‡ect of each of them, of any philosophy that would be useful thought in Japan to which Maruyama that marked Maruyama’s method in the in the Restoration—except the lingering paid great attention was the oeuvre of early part of his career. He believed that imperial ideology, of course. Yukichi Fukuzawa. Maruyama focused the intellectual sphere of society was Maruyama never wrote extensive de- mainly on Fukuzawa’s propositions re- not dominated solely by material condi- scriptions that covered the whole of in- garding the building of a civilized na- tions and could develop quite autono- tellectual history in these periods. He tion: the acquisition of a genuinely civil mously and thus run ahead of economic singled out a few cases that he then mindset, national awareness, and a free changes or political reforms. As a con- scrutinized most thoroughly. Widely spirit that does not wither because of sequence, he attributed great importance recognized is his treatment of Sorai, one criticism of the authorities or any form to the analysis of psychological mecha- of the foremost Confucian scholars of of inquiring debate. This free spirit nisms operating beneath the surface of the Edo period. Owing especially to the would in turn a‹rm Japan’s strength on social relations and expounded detailed publication of Maruyama’s essays, So- the international scene and be the ul- accounts of the changes in political and rai is esteemed by many as the direct or timate safeguard against foreign domi- historical awareness or even entire world- indirect initiator of some major intel- nation. Fukuzawa was convinced that views that Japanese intellectual history lectual developments in pre-Restoration Japanese tradition contained elements had witnessed. Japan: the philological thoroughness that could lead to the swift adaptation Because of his great admiration for of National Learning and its political of Western civilization and to the de- the accomplishments of Western so- implications, Tokugawa Yoshimune’s velopment of an indigenous equivalent. cial thought, he was and is often criti- (1684–1751) pragmatic statecraft and the Maruyama was very enthusiastic cized for Eurocentrism. But it should be political realism of later generations, the about the first part of Fukuzawa’s ca- noted that he seldom published on non- spread of Dutch (Western) Learning, reer, in which he expounded his demo- Japanese topics, and although his depic- and the economic pragmatism of Sorai’s cratic and liberal thought, but refused tion of European tradition may at times pupil Dazai Shundai (1680–1747). It was to attribute similar importance to the seem overly optimistic, it is not an un- these ideal/structural underpinnings later part, in which nationalist and even informed idealization. Rather, it is typi- that helped prepare the swift importa- expansionist views were prominent. Fu- cal of Maruyama that he did not take tion of Western/modern ideas on law kuzawa’s worth was to be found in his the Western/European precedent as and economy. systematic opposition to the old Con- an immediate and infallible model but The essence of Maruyama’s argu- fucian worldview and his perspicacity tried to discover signs of growth of in- ment is that Sorai introduced the idea in discovering an alternative to blindly digenous modern thought within Japan’s of society as a human-made and thus copying Western models. This alterna- own intellectual tradition. historically contingent order. Sorai be- tive implied the creation of an enter- lieved a perfect society once existed in prising and nationally conscious middle Sorai and Fukuzawa: ancient China. It was a creation of sage- class; the pragmatic exercise of politics, Exponents of Modern Thought emperors and not a part of the natural as one social force among a variety of The considerable attention Maruyama or even cosmic order. Leaders of later others; the introduction of a vibrant devoted to the thinkers Ogy√ Sorai ages were supposed to follow this model, debating culture into all levels of social (1666–1728) and Yukichi Fukuzawa described in the Confucian Classics. activity; and an unremitting e‡ort to- (1835–1901) should be seen against this Still, they should be guided by prag- ward the ultimate goal that is “civi- backdrop. He endeavored to situate matic rather than moral considerations lization.”Maruyama felt the nationalist these thinkers in a scheme of intellectual and should correctly assess the specific pu‡ery and even expansionist propa- history that transcended traditional his- circumstances of their own era. His un- ganda of the later days did not detract torical boundaries. They were depicted coupling of natural order and politics, from these innovations.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 14 RESEARCH REPORTS Certain historical factors are cru- to sprout from the cause (prototype) particularism, and, being a product of cial in understanding why Maruyama determine it, albeit in a negative way. Western civilization, it can only be dif- interpreted Sorai and Fukuzawa as he The prototype operates much like the ferentiated from others, for example, the did: (1) his resistance against the ultra- continuous bass in Baroque music, re- Japanese civilization. Since universality, nationalist ideology that prevented or peating itself and thereby altering the the values it stands for, and the modern prohibited any association between Ja- melody, surfacing at times but mostly social environment it is identified with pan and Western modernity; (2) his re- resonating somewhere beneath the main are actively sought after, that which dif- luctance to accept the assumptions of theme. fers from them is often interpreted as narrow-minded Marxism, subordinating At some specific moments in time, socially inadequate, historically incom- any intellectual development to changes the influx of foreign ideas, products of a plete, and geographically restricted. The in the means of production and thus higher civilization outside Japan, is mas- great attraction of the early Maruyama excluding modern thought in the Edo sive and seems to overwhelm any pre- was his indication of how this all too period; (3) his opposition to the asso- vious paradigm. After the initial period obvious pattern could be overcome by ciation of Fukuzawa with his national- of indiscriminate and all-pervasive im- showing the emergence of modern and, ist stance in the discourse of patriotic portation, specific considerations emerge in the end, universal elements in the historiographers and to the scathing and start transforming, moderating, and Japanese particular tradition. Nonethe- criticism of Marxists, both of which dis- sometimes eviscerating the foreign in- less, the somewhat puzzling interpreta- regarded the modernist implications of flux. Maruyama held that a closer look tions of his later work may lead one to Fukuzawa’s early thought; and (4) the at such transformations of Buddhism, conclude that those developments did identification of Maruyama’s historical Confucianism, and modern Western not measure up to the greater current of role and position with those of Fuku- thought revealed a pattern that can be Japanese intellectual tradition. Here lies zawa, and to a lesser extent Sorai, that traced back to the first importation of the theoretical or methodological weak- is, attempting to sow the seeds of a new Chinese ideas on statecraft in the sixth ness of the “continuous bass”concept: it and sound nationalism, of true moder- and seventh centuries. cannot adequately account for particu- nity in postwar Japan. Maruyama felt Japanese thought tended to elimi- larity within a universal context. that many of the insights of both nate references to any transcendent, uni- thinkers had been lost and had to be re- versal being and to neutralize idea(l)s The Fate of Modernity in discovered. In this respect, Maruyama’s with far-reaching social or political im- Modern Japan analysis is as much a depiction of mo- plications. It was prone to regard novel What, then, can we discern about Ma- dernity’s failure as it is an account of its ideas as superior and older ideas as no ruyama’s interpretation of modernity successful appearance. longer relevant, without assuming any within this historical context? The actual causality between the two, and as a result modern social order that Maruyama en- Foreign Influence and to introduce any new theory very easily visioned is not particularly original: a po- Indigenization —bearing in mind the transformations litically engaged, nationally committed Maruyama’s emphasis on indigenous de- it would be subjected to later. Maru- citizenry, a neutral state that embodies velopments does not mean he rejected yama did not, however, regard these the will of the people, and self-aware the notion of any foreign influence; to transformations as “distortions,” and individualism, all supported by moral the contrary, the further along his ca- his description of the prototype should independence, pluralistic debate, and so reer the more he stressed the historical not be confused with neoconservative forth. Here he borrows extensively from weight of cultural contacts. His general attempts to discover a purely Japanese Western authors, drawing on German picture of Japanese intellectual history identity. Still, the unchanged Japanese idealism and an Anglo-Saxon liberal was one of repeated influx of foreign intellectual “old layer” looms large as a heritage (for example, Locke). All these ideas and their assimilation. This assimi- thorny (or slippery) subject, which tends modern traits are pitted against the lin- lation entails an alteration of foreign to leave the reader with an impression of gering premodern features of Japanese concepts, an adaptation to the Japanese particularity and irreducibility, regard- political, social, and, above all, intellec- context. This alteration is the outward less of Maruyama’s intentions. tual life. Instances of modern thought expression of an invisible “prototype” The product of a Hegelian-Marxist in Japan are mostly relegated to the past, of Japanese historical thought, which heritage, Maruyama was strongly com- and the so-called modern era in Japan does not pertain to any specific age or mitted to a universal course of history, may have produced individual modern place in Japanese history but is a nega- advancing toward freedom for humanity people (Maruyama himself ?) but no tive category that is to be deduced from and slowly enveloping the whole world. overall modern social environment. what one can observe as the modifica- At the same time, he adopted the dialec- It is awkward to note that Maruyama tions occurring in foreign thought once tic approach and the strong conviction never informed his public of any ad- it enters Japan. Maruyama’s argument of geographical distinctiveness. Uni- vancements of this modern project in is circular: the e‡ects that are thought versality as a category is buttressed by the decades following World War II.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 RESEARCH REPORTS 15 One reason could be a global degra- bass.”How active is the continuous bass framework he provided is not faultless, dation in the modern idealistic content at this time, and to what extent are so- but it is a framework that leads us to of present developed societies; another cial scientists aware of its workings? Ma- a vantage point few others are able to could be more fundamental: Maru- ruyama remains vague on this point, and o‡er. The mechanisms, functions, and yama’s understanding of modernity this vagueness is suggestive: few recent fundamental changes that his writings basically coincides with modernization, a theories would support the idea of a have brought to light should be valued continuous, asymptotic process, coming “continuous bass” after all. as operational rather than ontological closer and closer to the ideal but never Still, what is to be valued most is that descriptions. That is to say, not as exact close enough to one day in the near fu- Maruyama erected an intriguing con- demarcations of existing matter but as ture proclaim its fulfillment. It is not struction in which were placed a variety a set of tools to interpret, as a contin- entirely clear if the nonfulfillment in of elements (thinkers, ideas, ideologies, gent yet plausible analysis of an infinite Japan results from the transformations and so on) that until then had seemed mass of data all too often linked to fixed of the modern condition itself, or if it is unrelated and been considered the prod- categories like identity, Asian values, or due to the workings of the “continuous uct of an impenetrable tradition. The cultural authenticity.
Reclaiming Cultural Identity, Rejecting Deviance, and “Doing Homelessness” in Ueno Park Abby Margolis
oming and going, and giving of Japanese hospitality, the setting is un- they are homeless and consist mostly of and receiving are said to express familiar to most. I am in a blue plastic- single men and itinerant laborers, force Cthe complexity of Japanese so- sheeted tent in Ueno Park, in Tokyo’s a reexamination of our concepts of Japa- cial life. I stop at P√-san’s door; “Gomen Taitπ Ward, where P√-san is one of three nese identity, the locus of which, most kudasai,” I call out, to see if he is home. hundred resident homeless. More strik- Western and Japanese scholars argue, “Yes, yes. Welcome. Come in.”I take o‡ ing, perhaps, is that the structural com- rests in culturally specific and sedentary my shoes and repeatedly excuse myself ponents of society that are argued to patterns of work, family, and marriage. for barging in, while he continues his constrain and determine the peculiar Yet, while the homeless seem to o‡er welcome. He o‡ers me a seat on the quality of Japanese social behavior are this critique simply by being Japanese only cushion on the floor and begins to lacking. P√-san is not tied to an ie, a and yet displaced by their own cultural boil water for co‡ee. Having brought corporate or family structure. Nowhere discourse, it is essential to note that some tangerines, I o‡er them to him. around him are there family, company, their challenge is more than a passive He accepts them with self-humbling rice agriculture, community organiza- one. More important for our reexami- speech, insisting that I should not have tions, or even government bureaucra- nation is recognizing the homeless flu- troubled. The co‡ee is brewed, and he cies. Yet here I am experiencing the very ency in and engagement with Japanese urges me to drink. With the customary “Japanese thing” that the social organi- culture. There is a tendency, in both courtesies, I do so. As I sip, I am sud- zations of Japanese society have been the United States and Japan, to define denly overcome by and aware of how argued to produce. These culturally con- the homeless as social dropouts. Yet the familiar all this is, of how comfortable textualized and socially proper encoun- homeless do not believe themselves to and proper, of how I learned about it ters composed the bulk of my social life be cultural anomalies, and their enact- all in my Japanese language and society with the homeless. ment of “core” elements of Japanese courses. Yet, while the actions seem or- culture challenges dominant represen- dinary to those familiar with the rituals Problematizing Homelessness tations of them as deviants. I argue that The homeless pose both a theoretical the homeless critique national and dis- Abby Margolis is a Ph.D. candidate in the Depart- problem for the anthropological debate ciplinary discourses on Japanese ho- ment of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. Her on Japanese identity and an ideological mogeneity through their rejection of research on the theme “Locating Japaneseness: As- sertions of Personal and Natural Identity Among problem for the Japanese state’s insist- a circumscribed status as deviant and the Homeless in Ueno Park” was supported by a ence on a homogeneous society. The through their adherence to rules of pro- 1998–99 Japan Foundation fellowship. Japanese homeless, precisely because priety in an unlikely place.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 16 RESEARCH REPORTS The Homeless Landscape called the “zero-point” of entry into national) right to food, shelter, and cloth- Surveys released in December 1999 rec- Japanese society.3 Some authors even ing. Householders strip the homeless ognize approximately 5,800 homeless claim that it is impossible to speak Japa- further, denying the homeless even their people on the streets of Tokyo,1 the ma- nese or participate in Japanese culture humanity, by calling them dirty, danger- jority of whom are men over fifty years without referencing one’s membership ous, and smelly. Householders have mo- of age.2 Many tumbled out of the infor- in a particular household or corporate bilized to prevent shelters from being mal day-labor system that flourished in group. Given that most Japanese home- built in residential neighborhoods with postwar Japan. These are men who in less do not maintain conventional homes the complaint that shelters would make their youth were tempted from the or family ties, and if they work, do so as the area unsafe for women and children. countryside by job opportunities in the itinerant day laborers, it would seem to The homeless, however, have re- city but who are now jobless due to eco- follow from the anthropological litera- sponded to these personal challenges nomic decline, new recruiting strategies, ture that the homeless are not part of with national pride and a deep engage- and their advancing age. Still others are Japanese culture and are void of cultural ment with and commitment to tradi- homeless due to personal bankruptcy identity. tional values and modes of propriety. or corporate restructuring. The national discourse, too, seems The homeless do not see themselves as Since there is little work opportunity to deny the homeless identity and loca- dropouts or victims in need of specific without a fixed address and most land- tion. The Japanese state views the home- aid or welfare. In fact, most say welfare lords demand an initial six months’rent less as lacking in national identity, as should be reserved for those among for an apartment, once homeless, the choosing not to work, be with their them incapable of supporting them- possibilities for gaining employment families, or participate in a productive selves. The homeless engage in a variety and permanent residence are limited. In society. Thus, while there were welfare, of activities to satisfy their daily needs recognition of these limitations and in health, and day-labor-related policies for food and shelter while preserving desire for stability, those in Ueno Park that applied to some homeless, there their dignity and autonomy by refusing began to take up semipermanent resi- was long no policy on homelessness in welfare, charity, and other handouts. dence there. They have created a place Tokyo. This “othering” and denial of Japanese homeless do not panhandle. where they can be contacted, make com- the homeless, however, is not new. The They tend to view their homelessness as panions, store goods, rest, and come first “discovery”and definitions of pov- a personal problem and not one for the home. They see themselves as privileged erty and vagrancy in Japan coincide state or society. Thus many find them- among the homeless. They have stoves with the nation-building strategies of selves situated outside the Japanese na- and shelter from rain, but, more impor- the Meiji-era (1868–1912) state.4 Di‡er- tional culture. Yet those in Ueno have tant, they have their independence and ence was a threat to Meiji policy and the found a way to resituate themselves, to pride. Yet this tent community is also a ideology of homogeneity; thus the poor maintain their cultural ideals, in fact to response to dominant ideology. Ueno were cast in the emerging national nar- essentialize and romanticize samurai Park serves as an alternative site from rative as uncivilized others and used as ideals, through actively pursuing and which the homeless can act and demon- one benchmark from which to measure perfecting a homeless lifestyle. It is by strate a “pure”cultural identity in order modern progress. Their individualism, “doing homelessness”—which involves to reclaim their cultural location and re- broken marriages, and residential mo- not only “shadow jobs,”such as itinerant sist an ideology of deviancy. bility marked them as less human, less labor and recycling, but also the main- civilized, and less “Japanese” as it was tenance of social relationships embrac- Discourses on Homelessness: then being defined. Current poverty ing traditional values of reciprocity and Denied Cultural Identity cannot be viewed apart from this gen- virtue—that the homeless locate them- Notions of Japanese identity have been esis; poverty from its very inception in selves within Japanese society and (re)- constructed around two basic prin- Japan was linked with failure to pre- produce their national identity. ciples: (1) Japan is ethnically and cultur- serve family, with indolence, and with ally homogeneous and (2) homogeneity abnormality. The poor were brought “Doing Homelessness” is melded by unique patterns of home, into the nation of Japan as essential ex- It is through this notion of “doing family, and work that take primacy in clusions in the state discourse of na- homelessness” and the way they root self-identity. While the first principle tional identity, and thus the nation-state this activity in Japanese history, culture, has been critiqued by scholars and rep- was defined, in part, in contrast to the and ideals of propriety that the home- resentatives of ethnic minorities, less at- poor and other excluded groups. less reclaim a pure cultural identity in tention has been paid to the second. Even advocates of a state homeless the face of public challenge to deny it. It The social organizations of family and policy tend to strip the homeless of their is precisely in response to this denial of work are still seen as key loci of the national and cultural identity by focus- cultural identity that the homeless have “Japanese self ”; in fact, one’s position ing appeals on their basic human needs essentialized, even exaggerated, their within these institutions (uchi) has been and their natural (i.e., precultural, pre- own Japaneseness.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 RESEARCH REPORTS 17 In talking with the homeless in Ueno Thus the homeless reject the state’s samurai ideals he banned himself from Park, I was repeatedly struck by the way definition of deviance, or at least dis- the mountain, abruptly and immediately. that most of them referred to them- place it, and begin to reclaim both their His choice was looked upon favorably, selves. Often they used the word “home- humanity and their cultural identity. and Den-san retained his respect and the less,” as in “Hπmuresu o suru,” or “I am Homeless identity is further tailored possibility of returning or establishing doing homeless.” Only supporters and by notions of tradition and propriety. relationships somewhere else. activists used the passive phrase “to be- Cultural ideals of duty, obligation, and come homeless” (hπmuresu ni naru). Still reciprocity are a real fabric of social Reclaiming Cultural Identity and the homeless in Ueno most often re- interaction on the mountain. The home- Resisting the State ferred to themselves as yama no ningen, or less claim to commit to their social re- Homeless action must be looked at “people of the mountain.”The “moun- lationships as a way to express their within a relationship of power, as the tain” (yama) refers to Ueno Park and is commitment to these ideals. Often I state in many ways defines the param- an archaic appellation from the Edo pe- heard praise of and commitment to one’s eters of meaningful homeless action. riod (1603–1868), when Ueno hill was companions: “If I quit [doing homeless- Since the Meiji era, the state has defined the site of a shrine and the family temple ness and scavenging food] others will homelessness as deviance. The state in- of the Tokugawa shoguns.5 Through su‡er”; “In this lifestyle, human rela- terprets the problems of poverty and this yama reference the homeless con- tionships are most important.”Oppor- vagrancy as problems of the individual, nect themselves to Japan’s national past tunity for mutual exchange, provided by not social, economic, or political prob- and, furthermore, distinguish their cul- a tented mountain life, is highly valued. lems. Thus it has provided little in terms tural identity from other homeless who It is because of this ideal that most on of policy measures. Currently activists live more nomadically in other parts of the mountain reject the soup lines. In true are pushing for the state to recognize the park or city, where permanent tents human relationships, I was told, o‡erings the larger problems of labor, economics, are prohibited. While all homeless are are mutually exchanged and given with and welfare surrounding the homeless declared “deviant others” by the state, words of acknowledgment, such as “You issue; yet the entrenched ideas of devi- the yama no ningen privileges the yama and must have had a hard day” (“Otsukare- ance remain. The option of a shelter, for declares other homeless deviant. This sama”). But churches make you sit, orate example, is regulated—with curfews e‡ectively rejects their own deviance long sermons, and give to anyone who and restrictions on eating, drinking, and while preserving the essential contrast will listen. Those on the mountain view sleeping. Furthermore, an interview to and hierarchy somewhere else. The yama others who line up, who merely receive receive support requires the applicant to no ningen associate themselves with a ro- without giving, and who do so in ano- provide a family and work history, which manticized and idealized diet (i.e., rice), nymity as void of humanity. They dis- most homeless feel will only bring shame work ethic, pride, and livelihood and miss these others along with churches to their relatives and former colleagues. use the not-on-the-mountain homeless and limit their relationships to those di- State recognition, therefore, is seen by as the symbol through which to do this. rectly involved in life on the mountain. the homeless as an invasion of privacy Often it was pointed out to me the way Of course the homeless recognize and an acknowledgment of deviance. in which “other homeless” line up in the fragility of relationships held among Most homeless, then, do not resist via soup lines, don’t cook with stoves, have strangers. The proper way to deal with protest, nor demand policy or support, dirty skin, don’t do laundry, and make breached commitments is to leave the nor even panhandle. Rather they have no e‡ort to “properly” do homeless- mountain. One man, for example, did found another means to resist—“doing ness.6 In other words, they have less exactly that. Den-san was praised for homelessness,”embracing propriety, and pride, determination, and commitment “understanding human relationships” rejecting deviance. They have mobilized and are, therefore, lesser people and and said never to have fought with any- their homeless identity rather than or- lesser Japanese. one on the mountain. I was very sur- ganizing to eliminate it; thus they have The yama no ningen, on the other prised to arrive one morning and find rescued homelessness from deviance hand, was described as an inaka no ningen, him gone. He had violated a commit- and redefined it in terms of Japanese a person of the countryside. Through ment to the mountain by selling an ap- propriety. this association with the countryside, pliance he was supposed to be holding Among the mainstream, whose Japa- the homeless inject themselves into the for another yama no ningen. So he de- nese identity is unquestionable, di‡er- pristine national past that the country- scended. Still no one mentioned to me ence may be seen as a quirk, but among side has come to represent. They reject what he had done. I had to pry the in- the homeless, with their cultural iden- a sullied urban living and claim their formation from another outsider in- tity in question, any di‡erence becomes purer Japaneseness; as one yama no ningen volved in the community; rather what rendered to and evidence of deviance. put it, “Unlike in town, on the mountain was stressed was that Den-san did the Given the Japanese state’s insistence on there is true human feeling; mountain right thing. Den-san betrayed a social the homogeneity of its people, the only people are good people. True people.” relationship and, therefore, following Continued on page 19
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 18 BOOK REVIEWS
Books in Other Languages
Memoirs of the Warrior Kumagai: Atsumori. According to the tale, the youth had A Historical Novel played exquisitely on his flute, which the retired onald Richie is perhaps best known as the emperor Toba had given to Atsumori’s grand- Dforemost Western expert on Japanese film, father, the night before the battle. Confronting on which he has written numerous works, in- Atsumori alone upon a strand, Kumagai, not re- cluding the definitive Japanese Cinema (1971), and alizing who the youth is, sees he is the same age he actually made about a dozen highly successful as his own son and wants to spare him. But just experimental films himself. His works were also then a group of Kumagai’s fellow warriors ap- instrumental in introducing both Kurosawa and pears, and to spare the lad prolonged su‡ering, Ozu to the West. Also known for his intriguing he beheads him. Disgusted by war and death, Memoirs of theWarrior Ku- essays, the classic Inland Sea (1971), and the fasci- Kumagai becomes a monk and ever prays for the magai: A Historical Novel. nating Japanese Tattoo (1980), he has written about repose of Atsumori’s soul. This tale is even taken Donald Richie. many aspects of Japan and its culture. What he up by the Noh and Kabuki repertoires, which Rutland, Vermont, and is not as well known for is his writing of novels, portray it as a true and sentimental tale. But is Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1998. 247 pp. ISBN although this is not his first. Among his previous the popular tale true—and if so, in what way? 0-8048-2126-7. works, perhaps Companions of the Holiday (1968)— Richie asks that very question. Purporting to a novel about upper-class life in Japan—is a good be the recently discovered memoirs of Kumagai example. But of all his writings, it is perhaps Zen himself, the work represents Kumagai’s own at- Inkings (1982; a thought-provoking, irreverant, yet tempt to come to terms with his past. He tries to endearing book of stories illustrated with origi- undo the untruths that have become his legend nal prints by Richie himself) that itself gives a few even during his lifetime and crept into the Tale of inklings of the present incredible work, which the Heike [Heike Monogatari]. He takes up his pen was well over a decade in the making. and writes this account. Anyone who reads Richie’s bibliographical As Kumagai remembers and retells his past, notes carefully will realize that he adores the ever comparing it with the fictional version, he work of the brilliant French author Marguerite paints glorious pictures of Heian-kyo (Kyoto); Yourcenar—especially her beautiful and lyrical the pain of the wars that almost ripped Japan Memoirs of Hadrian. Her novel creates a vivid and apart; the famous battle of Uji River; life in historically accurate portrait of the Roman em- the imperial court of the retired emperor Go- pire in the second century under the rule of Ha- Shirakawa; and the final defeat of the Taira at the drian (r. 117–38), who built the great wall across bay known as Dannoura, where the infant em- northern Britain. It is an Ich-Roman (tale narrated peror Antoku was drowned. in the first-person) written in the form of Ha- At the same time, Kumagai must create his drian’s letters—mostly to his nephew Marcus own version of the truth. He writes: “I want to Aurelius—written shortly before his death. put my life in some kind of order, and to create Thought-provoking and painfully honest exami- a permanence where none exists.”In order to be nations of his accomplishments, his aspirations, able to do so, he has first to determine the real and his personal relationships, the letters reveal meaning of his life. As he investigates and recalls Hadrian as an extremely intelligent, sometimes his own past, he discovers to his surprise that the Memoirs of the Warrior wise, man who was very conscious of the power hardest task he has ever faced still awaits him— Kumagai: A Historical he wielded. he must decide who he will become. Novel is reviewed by Stephen Comee, who has taught Japa- Richie has achieved the same richness of tex- The greatest epic in this novel, as in Yource- nese classics at Meiji Gakuin ture in his tale about a Japanese hero from the late nar’s books, is always in the readers’ minds. We University; is a professional twelfth century—Kumagai Jiro Naozane, a man receive from Richie, as if from some Kurosawa Noh actor; and is coauthor, who fought on both sides of the Taira-Mina- of the psychic realms, not only moving pictures with his mentor, Chifumi Shi- mazaki, of a volume on Noh moto struggle for control of the land. In Japanese of the distant past but vivid shots of spectacular forthcoming from Cornell legend, Kumagai is renowned for his hand in the battles and close-ups of people that give us a bet- University Press. death of the young, beautiful, noble Taira warrior ter understanding of the forces tearing away at
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 BOOK REVIEWS 19 Japan’s Golden Age, as if some terrible demon she also embarks upon a reflective, complex analy- were eating away at the proud, young, beautiful sis of the dynamics of human a‡airs. Like her, body of a noble warrior from deep inside. Richie beautifully portrays the love between Memoirs of the Warrior Kumagai is a tour de force Kumagai and Atsumori—as both platonic and combining a commanding mastery of historical nonplatonic love for someone of the same gen- fact and detail, a comprehensive understanding der—as something normal, yet he also delves of the human spirit, and a poetic quality of ex- deeper into the psyche of the medieval Japanese pression that transforms the hearts of all those warrior than ever before. it touches. In the bibliographical note to her Richie is terse in how he has Kumagai describe Memoirs of Hadrian, Yourcenar writes: “A recon- the youth’s flute-playing on the night before the struction of an historical figure and of the world battle of Ichinotani (p. 147): “It was a flute. And of his time written in the first person borders on beautiful it was—its voice rose and fell, speak- the domain of fiction. . . . It can therefore dis- ing of sorrow and transience, houses falling and pense with formal statements of evidence for men perishing and all things changed. It soared the historical facts concerned. Its human signifi- into the dark air, a wordless tongue that told the cance, however, is greatly enriched by close ad- truth.” herence to those facts.”It is obvious that Richie Ironically, it is precisely because Richie’s pen has followed her precept closely. Basing his work is so fluent with words that he has been able to upon some two dozen classical texts and another create this brilliant chronicle of how the sheer three score works in translation, Richie evokes humanity of this honest, hopeless, fearless man the humanity of this man, and, in so doing, not transcends his time to speak directly to us, here only gives us an incomparable view of the Kama- and now. Indeed, to paraphrase Edward Seiden- kura period (1185–1336) but also makes us reflect sticker’s praise of the book, Richie’s superior on what we believe to be history. narrative powers will carry readers easily along Yourcenar poetically portrays Hadrian’s love to the subtle implications of the “truths” in for Antinoüs as something that was natural, but their own lives. S. C.
From the Editor The Japan Foundation Newsletter is now being published on the continue receiving the Newsletter by postal mail, we ask that Japan Foundation’s Web site at
Continued from page 17 homogeneous cultural identity in Japan. 3. See Dorinne K. Kondo, Crafting Selves: o‹cial space for the homeless is as They claim to be Japanese via the prac- Power, Gender, and Discourses of Identity in a “others.”Within this context, denying tice of propriety, but do so in an unlikely Japanese Workplace (Chicago: University of di‡erence becomes a key element of place. While this might do nothing to Chicago Press, 1990) and Jane M. Bachnik and Charles J. Quinn, Jr., eds., Situated Mean- homeless resistance. As the homeless re- change their situation, it restores their ing: Inside and Outside in Japanese Self, Society, and ject the state’s discourse defining them dignity, protects their autonomy, and Language (Princeton: Princeton University as cultural deviants they challenge ideas challenges the idea that to be Japanese Press, 1994). about Japanese homogeneity. The state’s one must conform to uniform social 4. Masayoshi Ch√bachi and Kπji Taira, deviant definition of homelessness makes patterns and life pathways. “Poverty in Modern Japan: Perceptions it possible even for those that sympa- and Realities,” in Japanese Industrialization and Its Social Consequences, ed. Hugh Patrick thize with the homeless not to challenge Notes (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of their fundamental ideas about Japanese 1. Super-J Channel (weekday evening news), California Press, 1976). homogeneity. The homeless, on the other Asahi National Broadcasting Co., Ltd., 5. After the Meiji Restoration (1868) hand, demand even nonsympathizers to January 10, 2000. Support groups, how- Ueno was relandscaped into one of To- question. By declaring themselves the ever, estimate up to thousands more. kyo’s first public parks. same, staking a place in history and cul- 2. Surveys by the nonprofit organiza- 6. Those not living on the mountain, tion Furusato no Kai, in Taitπ Ward, the by contrast, say the yama no ningen are ture, embracing propriety, and denying labor organization San’ya Sπgidan, also in “stuck” because they have given up and the state the ability to place them out- Taitπ Ward, and the Resource Center for given in to a “real”homeless lifestyle. Thus, side the cultural norm, the homeless Homeless Human Rights, in Shinjuku seeing “other” homeless as deviant works challenge the very basic notions of a Ward. both ways.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1 20 FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES
Exhibition of Children’s Picture Book Illustrations from Korea
n conjunction with the opening of works reflected Korean artistic sensibil- being a very education-conscious soci- the International Library for Chil- ities and daily life. The illustrations in a ety, and in South Korea in particular, as Idren’s Literature in May 2000, an wide variety of genres depicted houses, the economy has grown, so has the num- exhibition titled “The World of Origi- foods, clothing, Korean-style quilts, tra- ber of children’s books, including picture nal Illustrations for Children’s Picture ditional events, old tales, and folk music, books, being published. The vibrantly Books from Korea” was held at the Ja- and all conveyed a strong sense of being creative spirit of the many young and pan Foundation Forum in Tokyo from firmly anchored in Korean culture. Be- talented picture book authors who par- April 28 through May 13, 2000, under cause Korean picture books for children ticipated in this exhibition is convincing the sponsorship of the Japan Founda- are not yet widely known in Japan, many evidence that Korean children’s picture tion, the League of Diet Members for exhibition visitors commented with books will continue to develop. the Establishment of the International surprise and admiration on the rich ex- Many comments in the exhibition’s Library for Children’s Literature, and pressiveness of the illustrations. Thus guest book—“I was surprised to learn the National Liaison Committee for the this exhibition introducing the essence that there are so many beautiful and en- Establishment of the International Li- of picture books from Korea—Japan’s joyable picture books, and this exhibition brary for Children’s Literature. nearest neighbor, in both historical and has made me interested in Korea” or The need for an international library cultural terms—was significant. “I’m happy that we are getting to know of children’s literature had long been rec- The word orini, which figured in our nearest neighbor better”—made it ognized and the project finally reached the exhibition’s Japanese title, means clear that children’s books readily cross fruition thanks to the concerted e‡orts “child” in Korean. However, this word national boundaries and contribute to of many people. The International Li- was coined only about eighty years ago better mutual understanding. Now that brary for Children’s Literature, in To- by Pang Jung-Hwan (1899–1931), a writer Japan is experiencing a sharply declin- kyo’s Ueno district, was o‹cially opened of stories for children; he defined it as ing birthrate, all child-related fields, on May 5, 2000, and the exhibition was “a young but complete human being.” such as education, will see concerted one of many commemorative events An essay in the exhibition catalog by e‡orts to ensure a better future for chil- held during 2000, which was designated Sang Keum Lee, professor emeritus of dren. Clearly, the times demand further “Children’s Reading Year”by the upper Ewha Woman’s University, fills in the development of children’s culture, in- and lower houses of the Japanese Diet. background of this word, explaining cluding picture books and other forms In addition to serving as the national that the Korean words nulguni and chol- of children’s literature; and the Japan repository for Japanese children’s litera- muni refer to “elder” and “younger,”re- Foundation can play a valuable role in ture and culture, the new International spectively, and ascribe to each an such development, particularly in con- Library for Children’s Literature is also autonomous personality, but that ever nection with international exchanges in expected to play a major role in the inter- since its invention, orini has been used to the field of children’s culture. national exchange of children’s books in refer to children. In his short life, Pang We at the Japan Foundation are the twenty-first century as an interna- devoted his energies to the orini move- happy that this exhibition introduced tional documentation center in the Asia- ment and succeeded in changing tradi- visitors to the peerless artistic sensibili- Pacific region. In view of these aims for tional perceptions in an adult-oriented ties embodied in Korean children’s pic- the library, an exhibition of children’s society strongly influenced by Confu- ture books and that we could contribute books that would stimulate exchanges cianism that gives precedence to older to the stimulation of a deeper under- with Korea was seen as a particularly apt over younger, and thus contributed to standing between the peoples of Japan celebration of the inauguration of the the development of children’s literature and Korea through these books. Al- library’s activities. and culture in Korea. This movement though this exhibition may be but a tiny The exhibition presented approxi- has been continued to the present day first step in comparison with the tasks mately two hundred original illustrations by people who perpetuated the orini spirit ahead in nurturing further interna- selected from twenty-five picture books and struggled to make it grow, even dur- tional exchanges of children’s culture, it by seventeen leading contemporary Ko- ing the years of Japan’s colonial rule has proved to be an initiation into a new rean authors of children’s books. All the over Korea. Korea has the reputation of field of endeavor for our organization.
The Japan Foundation Newsletter XXVIII/No. 1