Japanese Books - Page 3

Japanese Philosophy

H. Gene Blocker, Christopher L. Starling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Important New Work 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This review is written from the perspective of someone who knows next-to-nothing about Japanese Philosophy, and indeed had not really considered the two words in combination before.

In short, it is a masterly introduction to this intriguing and little-known topic. The authors show tremendous erudition and ambition in covering the whole sweep of Japanese philosophy from the seventh century to the present day, and making the comparisons where appropriate with Chinese, Indian and Western philosophy. Buddhism, Tokugawa Confucianism, Modernity: it is all here. Get your copy now !

Ian Ruxton, editor of Sir Ernest Satow's Private Letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins: The Correspondence of a Pioneer Japanologist from 1870 to 1918 (Paperback), also available on amazon.

Outstanding pathbreaking book 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As an expat who lives in Tokyo, I have done a tremendous amount of reading on Japan. That said, I found this slim but dense volume to be, in a word, OUTSTANDING - it is by far the best introduction to Japan's rich philosophical tradition.

The first question Blocker and Starling address is simple: is there philosophy in Japan? Even the great Meiji Era intellectual Nakae Chomin once lamented that "...from anitiquity to the present day, there has never been any philosophy in Japan." The authors set out to demonstrate why this statement is fallacious.

The task facing Blocker and Starling, then, is twofold: first, to extricate elements of Chinese thought from indigenous traditions; and second, to show how borrowings from foreign cultures have in fact influenced the development of Japanese philosophy. And, for my money, they succeed in both projects without being dry or boring.

Logistically, this book is divided to chapters on Buddhism, Confucianism, modernity, and beyond modernity. While each chapter could stand on its own, what I like most about this book is its clarity and concise way of articulating each philosophical impulse. I honestly think EVERYONE will find something of value here, from those just beginning their study of Japan as well as those with copious knowledge on the subject - it is THAT GOOD!

But, for me, the best chapter is "Beyond Moderinity." Here, the authors really shine - they KNOW their subject and, though easy to understand, it is a high level discussion without being didactic. They introduce such postmodern thinkers as Yoshimoto Takaaki (yes, Banana's father!) and Karatani Kojin. Their descriptions were so inspirational that I have since read everything Karatani has written.

This is considered a general introduction, but I think it goes much, much deeper than most primers. It is a pathbreaking work in the sense that it is bringing into general discourse the idea that, yes, there is a unique and original philosophy in Japan completely its own, and not just borrowed from other cultures.

A delightful read!

Editorial Review:

An overview of Japanese philosophy from the 7th century to the present.

A Dream Within a Dream: Studies in Japanese Thought (Asian Thought and Culture : Vol 5)

Steven Heine

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Ito Jinsai's Gomo Jigi and the Philosophical Definition of Early Modern Japan (Brill's Japanese Studies Library)

Jinsai Ito, John Allen Tucker

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Customer Reviews:
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Perspicacity 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book was long time in coming ! Nothing like it exists in the West, nor indeed Japan. The author (Gino Piovesana) an Italian Jesuit spent most of his studies in Japan. The book covers an important period of transitions in Japanese philosophical thought touching upon the influence of Western philosophy (including Marxism) upon the ideas which changed Japanese perceptions of thier modus vivendi.

It encapsulates all the key players and gives a synospis of their philosophies and the authors qualified opinion.... based upon the prevailing currents.

This is an updated rendition to bring the reader into modern thought and recent thinking.

16th.july 2000

Nishida Kitaro (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture, 15)

Keiji Nishitani

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Editorial Review:

In recent years several books by major figures in Japan's modern philosophical tradition have appeared in English, exciting readers by their explorations of the borderlands between philosophy and religion. What has been wanting, however, is a book in a Western language to elucidate the life and thought of Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), Japan's first philosopher of world stature and the originator of what has come to be called the Kyoto School. No one is more qualified to write such a book than Nishitani Keiji, whose lifetime coincides with the rise and flowering of the Kyoto School and whose own critical contribution to Japanese thought has been so important. Nishida Kitaro is a translation of essays Nishitani wrote about his teacher from 1936 to 1968 and published as a book in 1985. This series of meditations by one master on another provides a remarkable, living portrait of Nishida the person and conveys the enthusiasm he aroused in his students. Examining Nishida's most important work, An Inquiry into the Good, Nishitani penetrates to the core of his thought and presents it in language that is a marvel of clarity.

Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan

J. Victor Koschmann

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Editorial Review:

After World War II, Japanese intellectuals believed that world history
was moving inexorably toward bourgeois democracy and then socialism. But
who would be the agents—the active "subjects"—of that revolution in
Japan? Intensely debated at the time, this question of active
subjectivity influenced popular ideas about nationalism and social
change that still affect Japanese political culture today.

In a major contribution to modern Japanese intellectual history, J.
Victor Koschmann analyzes the debate over subjectivity. He traces the
arguments of intellectuals from various disciplines and political
viewpoints, and finds that despite their stress on individual autonomy,
they all came to define subjectivity in terms of deterministic
historical structures, thus ultimately deferring the possibility of
radical change in Japan.

Establishing a basis for historical dialogue about democratic
revolution, this book will interest anyone concerned with issues of
nationalism, postcolonialism, and the formation of identities.

Attunement Through the Body (Suny Series on the Body in Culture, History, and Religion)

Shigenori Nagatomo

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Aikido: Living by Design

Mitsugi Saotome

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Editorial Review:

One of America's foremost martial artists, Mitsugi Saotome, shares his work and thoughts on the arts, including sculpture, textile art, calligraphy, gardening, and cooking. An over-sized, full-color book, Aikido Living by Design combines photos of Saotome's own artwork with his philosophical reflections on values in art and life. Included, among other media in this beautifully-photographed compendium, are many photos of Saotome's

* hand-sewn, wearable art clothing combining traditional Japanese kasuri fabric with denim and leather

* works combining wood with stone and other materials,

* works of Shodo, Japanese calligraphy

Throughout, he offers his views on how Aikido's philosophy, which he learned as a disciple of the art's founder, applies to the basic questions of life.

The Social Self in Zen and American Pragmatism (S U N Y Series in Constructive Postmodern Thought)

Steve Odin

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The thesis of this work is that in both modern Japanese philosophy and American pragmatism there has been a paradigm shift from a monological concept of self as an isolated "I" to a dialogical concept of the social self as an "I-Thou relation," including a communication model of self as an individual-society interaction. It is also shown that for both traditions all aesthetic, moral, and religious values are a function of the social self arising through communicative interaction between the individual and society. However, at the same time this work critically examines major ideological conflicts arising between the social self theories of modern Japanese philosophy and American pragmatism with respect to such problems as individualism versus collectivism, freedom versus determinism, liberalism versus communitarianism, and relativism versus objectivism.

The Japanese Cult of Tranquillity

Karlfried Durckheim

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A highly desirable volume for health .... 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The first half of this book is worth the price of the whole thing. In fact, it is more than worth it.

This is not about any cult, cults, or cultism. It is also not just a book for orientalists or sinophiles. A more accurate title might have been 'The Japanese CULTURE of Tranquillity.' Of course, we know Japan today to be a hotbed of business-orientated activity. But it is the classical spirit of Japanese propriety to which the author speaks, and from which westerners may derive alot of benefit, in order to put our hasty lifestyles into a healthier perspective. Durckheim augments our understanding of Japanese orientation to the everyday hustle-bustle, in a way westerners can find very useful.

This book will not be leaving my collection too quickly. However, many will find Thomas Cleary's recent 'Taoist Meditation' volume of selections also very useful. Perhaps even moreso than Durckheim's essay. Cleary's volume includes some immensely useful perspectives, from classical Taoist texts, that should prove of great value to those seeking deeply into health and relaxation issues.

Many will find the perspectives offered in Michael Saso's 'The Gold Pavilion' also very useful, in spite of its price. I won't be getting rid of my copy of that gem of a book either, for quite some time! It is too valuable for health issues, and contributes, like the two previous mentioned volumes, greatly to an understanding of attitudes, health, and the value of relaxation. This is entirely apart from its usefulness as an assist to meditation.

The latter half of Durckheim's book appears to concern martial arts. I have not assessed it completely: but no matter. As I said, the first half of 'The Japanese Cult of Tranquility' is more than worth the trouble of procuring it for the reader interested in their personal health.

... for additional info, please see my recent reviews, from August/September 2003, on the Taoist books of Eva Wong, and my review for Cleary's 'Taoist Meditation.'

Remember, you don't have to be a major Taoist or meditator, to benefit from the perspectives offered up in these books.

Editorial Review:

Teaches us that the Japanese culture owes its admirable ability to preserve inner tranquility in the in the midst of the clamor of life to spiritual training. Durckheim outlines the nature of Japanese exercise, and shares basic techniques which enable us to train ourselves in the preservation of an inner tranquility that can become a part of our daily living.

Master Sorai's Responsals: An Annotated Translation of Sorai Sensei Tomonsho (Monographs of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University)

Samuel Hideo Yamashita

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The Best Book Ever 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I haven't read it yet, but he was my professor for a course in comparitive asian history, and was amazing. Give it a read, I will.