<em>Meiji Asian Studies</em>

School of Arts and Letters Vol.1:ISSN 2435-0273
Vol.2~:ISSN 2758-0636

Meiji University

  1. Home
  2. Meiji Asian Studies Vol. 1, 2019

Meiji Asian Studies Vol. 1, 2019

Modernity Seen in the Drama Translation of Ogai: A Stylistic and Comparative Study

Author : Soichiro ITODA

Abstract

Drama translation and writing make up the core of Ogai’s literary activity. In this paper, I divide Ogai’s activities in the field of drama into three phases–first phase, transition phase, and second phase–and identify the specific features of his linguistic expression during each period. The first phase is 1888 to 1892, the period after Ogai’s return from his studies abroad in Germany. His translations from this period were joint collaborations with his younger brother, Takeji Miki, who was well versed in the theatrical expressions of kabuki, such as the seven- and five-syllable meter, and these translations were written in a style keenly attuned to theater aficionados of the era, who would have been fondly accustomed to Edo period kabuki. The second phase begins in 1907, the year in which standard language was enacted and disseminated, and it represents Ogai’s most active period of translating and writing. This paper looks at Ogai’s translation of Schnitzler’s “Die Frau mit dem Dolche” (The Lady with the Dagger), analyzing the linguistic techniques that the original work uses to visualize the sexual urges present in the subconscious of the protagonist, as well as analyzing the modality by which Ogai reproduces the linguistic techniques of the original work while intermixing contemporary language with the expressions of Edo period kyogen, which originally emerged during the Muromachi period. Finally, I identify Ogai’s strong interest in the fixed-verse literary style, occurring during the transition phase interposed between the two other periods, by analyzing theatrical expression in both Ogai’s play “Tamakushige futari Urashima” (The Jeweled Comb Box and the Two Urashima Taros) and his partial translation of Ibsen’s “Brand.” Ogai’s drama translations and original writing represent constant experimental attempts made in the course of searching for contemporary language expression.

Taisho Era Theater as Seen in Shinengei (New Theatrical Entertainment) Magazine

Author : Akira KAMIYAMA

Abstract

A trend toward the popularization of discussions of urban culture in a variety of artistic fields, including literature, art, film, and architecture, occurred beginning in the late 1860s and early 1870s (early Meiji period) through the mid-1950s and 1960s (Showa 30s), but few such efforts were made in respect to the field of drama. Modern Japanese theater was spoken about as if it were something independent of urban culture in each era’s own theories about drama, literary criticism, or acting, and usually such discussions focused on the conflict between kabuki and Shingeki (New Drama). However, the 10-year period beginning when the magazine Shinengei was first published in 1916 (Taisho 5) until it ceased publication in 1925 (Taisho 14), was a fascinating period in the history of urban culture from the perspective of drama. The Taisho era has been described in forward-thinking terms leading to the Showa era, embracing concepts such as “democracy” and “kyoyoshugi” (cultivation), but at the same time, it was a period some fifty to sixty years after the Meiji Restoration, during which much of the remaining Edo culture and memory was wiped away by the Great Kanto Earthquake. This was an era in which a number of major figures reached the end of their lifespans and faded away from the cultural memory, including venerable figures such as Tomioka Tessai and Okuma Shigenobu, who were born in the Tempo period and seized the reins of the Meiji era, as well as people like Natsume Soseki and Mori Ogai, who were born in the late-Edo period. The Shinengei, which both marked the Taisho era and faded away with it, is a magazine that allows one to sense the pulse and breath of the times. In this paper, I examine the diverse culture of the era through the “joint review” specialty articles serialized in the Shinengei, which benefitted from the participation of many men of letters, theater critics, actors, and staff. In particular, more than things that flourished during the era, I would like to emphasize those things that were forgotten or that disappeared.

The People Surrounding Tsūzoku minken hyakkaden : A Fragment of the Early Freedom and People’s Rights Movement

Author : Katsushi UCHIMURA

Abstract

The three volumes of Tsūzoku minken hyakkaden (Popular People’s Rights Biographies; 1878–1881) were respectively translated by Shimada Saburō (1852–1923), Honda Shōzō (dates unknown), and Koizuka Ryū (1848–1920). Hagiwara Otohiko (1826– 1886) was involved in the first two volumes as a rewriter. The first three individuals were leaders of a new era, involved in the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement (jiyū minken undō) and enlightenment publications. Otohiko, on the other hand, had been active as an author of popular stories since the Edo period (1603–1868). In other words, this three-volume publication was a topos where intellectual currents of a new era and an author of an old era crossed paths. In terms of literary history, the difference between these translators and Otohiko shows us the process of the transformation of the traditional literary concepts of tsūzoku and engi. Originally, tsūzoku had primarily meant “translation.” The sense of “popularization” was later added to it. Engi, on the other hand, referred to the turning of historical works into stories: dramatization. While Otohiko held this traditional understanding, these translators understood tsūzoku and engi as the enlightening of the people and tools for doing so. In this interpretive difference lies the historical characteristics of this work. After pointing out bibliographical issues surrounding this publication, this paper will then analyze the positions of each of these translators and this writer, and then elucidate part of the early Meiji period (1868–1912) Freedom and People’s Rights Movement with an eye to the individuals surrounding this work, such as the publisher Santō Naoto (1840–1904).

Governmental Office Compound in the Former Imperial Palace Area in Kyoto during the Muromachi Period of Late Medieval Japan: Consideration of the Offices of Grand Council of Religion and Grand Council of Administration, as well as the Shingon-in Esoteric Buddhist Seminary and Shinsen-en Garden

Author : Toshikazu HISAMIZU

Abstract

This paper considers the functions of the governmental office compound located in the area formerly used as the Imperial Domicile as well as the Grand Council of Religion (Jingikan神祇官) and Grand Council of State Administration (Daiōkan太 政官), and how these governmental offices were perceived by the aristocrats, influential military leaders and the Tō-ji東寺Esoteric Buddhist Temple. It also considers the government-related functions of the Shinsen-en神泉苑Garden and the Shingon-in真言院Esoteric Buddhist Seminary. By the late medieval period, the area formerly functioned as the Imperial Domicile was turned into a wide, empty land, referred to as uchino内野[literally, internal, private field]. The offices related to the Grand Council of Religion, Grand Council of State Administration, Shinsen-en Garden and the Shingon-in Esoteric Buddhist Seminary remained functional until the beginning of the sixteenth century and ca. 1586 respectively. The Emperor and his family and supporting staff moved out of the Imperial Domicile located within the Heian Palace to a temporary imperial domicile located outside the Heian Palace. In the vicinity of the temporary imperial domicile were virtual palace compound, referred to as jinchu陣中. At the same time, the uchino also remained to be viewed as the original, sacred imperial palace compound, and indeed functioned as government office compound until the late sixteenth century. First, the offices related to the GrandCouncil of Religion remained to play the national role in the Shinto affairs because the Grand Council of Religion was the source of a sanctuary where the emperor worshipped the eight guardian deities, called hasshin八神. Second, the offices related to the Grand Council of State Administration remained to be sacred because important state ceremonies, especially the imperial succession ceremonies, which used to take place in the State Halls Compound and Burakuin in the Heian Palace took place in these offices. These ceremonies were supported by the head of the Ashikaga Shogunate Family. The government office compound was maintained by the national financial organization, jointly operated by the Imperial Court and Shogunate. TheTō-ji Esoteric Buddhist Temple maintained both the Shingon-in and Shinsen-en. Esoteric Buddhist rituals in prayer for the state stability and national welfare took place in the theShingon-in Seminary, and a spring from which Kyoto was believed to have been originated was located in the Shinsen-en Garden, which was the source of a sanctuary. The esoteric Buddhist rituals were conducted in the former and the Shinsen-en Garden was kept clean, which contributed to the maintenance of the imperial authority. The accounts of both Shingon-in and Shinsen-en were settled by the Tō-ji financial organization. Although the Ashikaga Shogunate gave monetary assistance, these two were officially supported by Tō-ji.
After the Ōnin-Bunmei Civil War (1467-1477), the financial situation deteriorated, and it became difficult to maintain these offices and seminary. The Grand Council of Religion was absorbed by the Yoshida Shinto Shrine, and the Grand Council of State Administration and Shingon-in Seminary were absorbed by a temporary imperial domicile. The uchino the site for the construction of the Jurakudai Mansion by ToyotomiHideyoshi in 1587 and the Nijō Castle by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603. The disappearance of the uchino marked the beginning of the early modern Kyoto.

The Gurkha’s Offerings of Elephants and the Qing Court’s Responses in 1792 and 1795

Author : Yuri KOMATSUBARA

Abstract

After the second Tibet-Gurkha war, in Qianlong (乾隆) 57 (1792), the Gurkha kingdom offered a tribute of elephants to Qing. Recent studies state that this is the only time that Gurkha gifted elephants to Qing. Nevertheless, I found that in Qianlong 60 (1795), they offered elephants again. In this paper, I point out that Gurkha made tributes both in Qianlong 57 and 60, emphasizing the latter that had gone unnoticed until now, and I analyze the manner and meaning of offering elephants. In this study, I put forth the following three opinions. First, Gurkha’s elephant tributes in Qianlong 57 and 60 had special meanings. In China, the elephant has been regarded as a lucky animal since ancient times. In the Qing period, elephants were not only common gifts but also birthdays or coronations to emperors from Southeast Asian countries. These elephants were kept at a tame elephant facility (馴象所) in Beijing and took an active part in imperial processions. At the end of the Qianlong period, Qing refused gifts of elephants from Southeast Asian countries because the tame elephant facility was overpopulated at that time. However, Qing received gifts of elephants from Gurkha because these offerings had a special meaning; in Qianlong 57, Gurkha surrendered to Qing in the second Tibet-Gurkha war, and the tribute of elephants was a symbol of Qing’s victory. On the other hand, the elephants that Gurkha gifted in Qianlong 60 were congratulatory gifts for the coronation of Emperor Jiaqing (嘉慶帝). These elephants were bound for Peking via Tibet and were even shared with the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. Second, Qing did not accept elephants from Gurkha in Daoguang (道光) 2 (1822), even though they kept only a few at the tame elephant facility at that time. After Qianlong 60, Qing informed Gurkha that they no longer needed to offer elephants regularly. Nevertheless, Gurkha gifted them in celebration of the coronation of Emperor Daoguang. It seems that Qing did not accept them because they were worried about the high cost incurred by sending elephants went to Peking via Bhutan and Tibet. Third, Gurkha’s court tributes always went through Tibet, and were carried out under the oversight of the Tibetan imperial residents (駐蔵大臣). The way of offering tributes has changed throughout regions or over eras, making it difficult to schematize.

The relationship among internet-use behavior, internet addiction, and psychological well-being among high school students

Author : Takahiro OKAYASU

Abstract

The present study investigated Internet usage among high school students and examined the relationship among Internet-use behavior, Internet addiction, and psychological well-being. The participants were 1,151 high school students who completed a questionnaire on Internet-use behavior, an Internet addiction test, a stress response scale, and the Inventory of School Adjustment for High School Students. The results showed that more than 80% of students used smartphone to access the Internet and spent an average of three hours a day online. Furthermore, approximately 10% did so more than five hours a day, and over 60% used e-mail and SNS as an interpersonal communication tool. Path analysis indicated that the frequency of internet-use behavior had no direct negative effects, but did have indirect effects mediated by Internet addiction on psychological well-being. On the other hand, Internet-use behavior was positively related to peer relationship, which suggested that the students used e-mail and SNS to enhance their interpersonal adjustment.

Environmental Risk Perception in the Aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake/Nuclear Disaster and Its Socioeconomic Status Background From the Perspective of “Environmental Risk Democracy”

Author : Ryoichi TERADA

Abstract

Significant transformations to the value system in Japan in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake/Nuclear Disaster include a distrust in the evaluation of environmental risks by scientists and experts, with an increasing tendency towards “environmental risk democracy,” in which citizens participate in the related decision processes. Environmental risks were divided into three types—known “probabilistic risk,” unexplained “uncertain risk,” and unknown “catastrophic/irreversible risk”—in order to analyze participatory democratic trends in the construction of environmental risk discourse, including differences in cognition and avoidance behaviors, in access to informational/economic resources necessary for evasive behavior, in “post-materialism” environmentally friendly behavior, and in awareness of “environmental justice” problematization which are attributable to social strata. The upper stratum is active in behaviors such as radioactive contamination avoidance, but shows relatively strong confidence in science and experts. The lower stratum perceives environmental risks as more serious, but lacks actionable resources. Due to the ambivalent situation of both, it is difficult to derive citizen participation orientation (“environmental risk democracy” orientation) towards risk assessment and decision-making processes from social stratification, suggesting the necessity of the introduction of mediating variables such as social distrust and dissatisfaction.

Editorial Board

Toru YAMADA
(Editor in chief: 2019-Present), Liberal Arts Section
Fuminari NIIMOTO
Department of Literature
Hideki AOTANI
(Editor in chief: 2018-19), Department of History and Geography

Contact Us

School of Arts and Letters,
Meiji University
1-1 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 101-8301
Tel: +81-3-3296-4180

E-mail: bungaku@mics.meiji.ac.jp