Sound and Sense: Chōka Theory and Nativist Philology in Early Modern Japan and Beyond

Early Modern Japan Networ

Aikidō and spirituality: Japanese religious influences in a martial art

This thesis examines spirituality in the Japanese martial art aikidō, which was created in the 1940s in Japan by Ueshiba Morihei. He described aikidō entirely in spiritual terms and claimed that it is an art of peace which leads religion to completion. The study has two aims: first, to show how spirituality, defined as ultimate concern and action directed towards it, is possible in the context of a martial art; second, to gain an overview of the original teaching of Ueshiba Morihei which has been fragmented and often misunderstood since his death. After considering some conceptual hindrances to appreciation of spirituality in the martial arts, the main themes of Japanese spirituality are identified in order to provide context for spirituality in aikidō. An analysis of Ueshiba's life and the evolution of aikidō is then given. Spirituality in this martial art is then evaluated by comparing the aikidō world view and method of practice with those of four religious belief systems influential in Japan: Daoism, Zen Buddhism, Shingon Mikkyō and Shinto. The research entailed reading and analysing primary and secondary documents concerning aikidō in several languages scattered in private archives and libraries, as well as discussion with a member of the Omoto organisation, consultation of library resources and quality internet sites. By positioning aikidō within a religious context, this work aims to provide a clearer understanding of the origins of aikidō in Japanese spirituality and the intent of its founder. In so doing, it hopes to contribute to removing some of the confusion which has surrounded this art's role as spiritual technique since it spread outside Japan

The work of words: Poetry, language and the dawn of community

This essay explores the ontological movement of poetry, its language and words, by establishing a dialogue with the thought of three Japanese thinkers, Ki no Tsurayuki, Motoori Norinaga and Fujitani Mitsue, and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. The overall purpose, as we progress from one to the other, is to present, explore and disclose a horizon where poetry gradually becomes the locus of a philosophy of language that places it at the genesis of mutual understanding, ethics and, thus, of community.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Yasar, Kerim. 2018. Electrified Voices: How the Telephone, Phonograph, and Radio Shaped Modern Japan, 1868–1945. New York: Columbia University Press.

Kerim Yasar’s Electrified Voices is an innovative study on how sound technologies developed in Japan from 1868 to 1945. It includes detailed examples of how sound was central to the creation of a modern subjectivity and used by the Japanese nation state for ideological reasons. The volume is a valuable addition to scholarship on the relationships among sound, technology, modernity, and the nation state in Japan. After an introductory chapter, the main body of the argument is divided into six separate and chronologically ordered chapters—each dealing with aspects of sound and technology in Japan—and a short “coda” to finish. I discuss each chapter in turn belo

“Fu” and “Zhou”—A preliminary study on “language worship” and its symbolization

The article aims to, based on the study of “Spells” (or “Fuzhou”, 符咒, including the magic figures and incantations), find out the relationship of “Fu” (符, talisman1), “Zhou” (咒, incantations)” and “language worship” (including written language and oral language). There is an in-depth probe into “language worship”, and the clarification of the term “Fu” and “Fushu” (the use of Fu), “Zhou” and “Zhoushu” (the use of Zhou), no matter in a narrow sense or a broad one. In addition, the differentiation of language, “language worship” and “Spells” has been achieved via symbols and their symbolization. The final conclusion of such study shows that language worship is the process of language symbolization, and spells, in essence, is the symbol of language