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nouritaqa 's review for:
Understanding Japan: A Cultural History
by Mark J. Ravina
When trying to understand the history of one’s home country, it is not so easy to maintain a neutral attitude. You may seek something you can be proud of. On the contrary, you may become overly bitter to the country. Self-praise or self-denial. This may be due to our tendency to project ourselves into the larger groups we belong to. Or it’s just a desperate self-affirmative effort. Nonetheless, the culture you grew up in undeniably shapes how you think and what you value. So I picked up this book (audiobook lecture) to understand the cultural history of my home country and be a better cultural guide for my friends who are visiting Japan very soon.
Instead of focusing on myriad facts and events, Mark J. Ravina succeeded in mapping the key cultural patterns and possible critical junctures where the patterns arise in chronological order. The patterns I found interesting are a cycle of isolation and globalization, consensus-based decision-making (group thinking), and the evolution of Buddhism philosophies and values, which are deeply embedded in many aspects of Japanese culture such as gardens, movies, and so forth. He also demystifies one of the most frequently misunderstood concepts: Samurai and Bushido.
The Japanese aesthetic sense and mindset are heavily influenced by Buddhism. Sense of impermanence and recognition of the limit of understanding of the world. Perhaps, this view is most evocative in the famous opening line of Hojoki by Kamo no Chomei:
”The flow of rushing river is ceaseless, and yet the water is never the same. The froth that floats on stagnant pools, now vanishing, now forming, never lasts for long. So, too it is with the people and dwellings of the world.”
During his time, Kyoto, the capital of that time, was struck by several natural disasters. The imperial palace was burned several times amidst the fighting in the 12th century. The aristocracy including Kamo lost power and money and was never again at the apex of wealth and power. Kamo was trying to find meaning in loss, and trying to find how less could be more. Kamo’s view reflects the quintessential aesthetic that we now consider Japanese art forms and culture. Although I should have already studied these facts in junior high school, it was a revelation to me how much my way of thinking is still following that of Kamo’s.
This development and evolution of Japanese Buddhism aesthetics can be observed in the gardens. So if you are visiting Kyoto, reading this book will surely make your garden visits more enjoyable.
Most modern Japanese, including Japan’s first prime-minister Hirobumi Ito, think Japan has been isolated until Meiji Restoration (later 1880’s). However, it’s far from the truth. According to the author, Japan’s globalization can be broken into three phases, interrupted by two eras of isolation. So it’s more like a cycle of globalization and isolation, which might make Japan exotic and yet familiar to many Westerners.
The author describes how Japan irrationally went to war against the US. Unlike Hitler in Nazi Germany, there was no single person who was responsible for the war in Japan. The country collectively went into a cruel, self-destructive and irrational war that nobody wanted to do. This tendency toward group thinking, often expressed as “Kuki wo yomu (空気を読む）, literally translated to read the atmosphere”, is still prevalent in Japan, and observed in Kojiki, which dates back to 700 AC.
Overall, the book is an excellent introduction to the history of Japanese culture for both foreigners and Japanese. For Japanese readers, the book will give you an insight into how and where your thoughts come from.
Instead of focusing on myriad facts and events, Mark J. Ravina succeeded in mapping the key cultural patterns and possible critical junctures where the patterns arise in chronological order. The patterns I found interesting are a cycle of isolation and globalization, consensus-based decision-making (group thinking), and the evolution of Buddhism philosophies and values, which are deeply embedded in many aspects of Japanese culture such as gardens, movies, and so forth. He also demystifies one of the most frequently misunderstood concepts: Samurai and Bushido.
The Japanese aesthetic sense and mindset are heavily influenced by Buddhism. Sense of impermanence and recognition of the limit of understanding of the world. Perhaps, this view is most evocative in the famous opening line of Hojoki by Kamo no Chomei:
”The flow of rushing river is ceaseless, and yet the water is never the same. The froth that floats on stagnant pools, now vanishing, now forming, never lasts for long. So, too it is with the people and dwellings of the world.”
During his time, Kyoto, the capital of that time, was struck by several natural disasters. The imperial palace was burned several times amidst the fighting in the 12th century. The aristocracy including Kamo lost power and money and was never again at the apex of wealth and power. Kamo was trying to find meaning in loss, and trying to find how less could be more. Kamo’s view reflects the quintessential aesthetic that we now consider Japanese art forms and culture. Although I should have already studied these facts in junior high school, it was a revelation to me how much my way of thinking is still following that of Kamo’s.
This development and evolution of Japanese Buddhism aesthetics can be observed in the gardens. So if you are visiting Kyoto, reading this book will surely make your garden visits more enjoyable.
Most modern Japanese, including Japan’s first prime-minister Hirobumi Ito, think Japan has been isolated until Meiji Restoration (later 1880’s). However, it’s far from the truth. According to the author, Japan’s globalization can be broken into three phases, interrupted by two eras of isolation. So it’s more like a cycle of globalization and isolation, which might make Japan exotic and yet familiar to many Westerners.
The author describes how Japan irrationally went to war against the US. Unlike Hitler in Nazi Germany, there was no single person who was responsible for the war in Japan. The country collectively went into a cruel, self-destructive and irrational war that nobody wanted to do. This tendency toward group thinking, often expressed as “Kuki wo yomu (空気を読む）, literally translated to read the atmosphere”, is still prevalent in Japan, and observed in Kojiki, which dates back to 700 AC.
Overall, the book is an excellent introduction to the history of Japanese culture for both foreigners and Japanese. For Japanese readers, the book will give you an insight into how and where your thoughts come from.