Inexorable Modernity

Beginning in late Edo, the Japanese faced a rapidly and irreversibly changing world in which industrialization, westernization, and internationalization was exerting pressure upon an entrenched traditional culture. The Japanese themselves felt threatened by Western powers, with their sense of superiority and military might. Yet, the Japanese were more prepared to meet this challenge than was thought at the time, and they used a variety of strategies to address the tension between modernity and tradition. Inexorable Modernity illuminates our understanding of how Japan has dealt with modernity and of what mechanisms, universal and local, we can attribute to the mode of negotiation between tradition and modernity in three major forms of art-theater, the visual arts, and literature. Dr. Hiroshi Nara brings together a thoughtful collection of essays that demonstrate that traditional and modern approaches to life feed off of one other, and tradition, whether real or created, was sought out in order to find a way to live with the burden of modernity. Inexorable Modernity is a valuable and enlightening read for those interested in Asian studies and history.

Part 1 Inexorable Modernity Part 2 Art and Aesthetics Chapter 3 Potentially Disruptive: Censorship and the Painter Kawanabe Kyosai Chapter 4 "Modernité in Art": Kojima Kikuo's Critique of Contemporary Japanese Painting, 1931-1940 Chapter 5 The Ascent of Yoga in Modern Japan and the Pacific War Chapter 6 Art and Ethics in Watsuji Tetsuro's Philosophy Part 7 Theatre Chapter 9 Contesting Authority through Comic Disruption: Mixed Marriages as Metaphor in Postwar Kyogen Experiments Chapter 10 An Aesthetic of Destruction: Mishima Yukio's My Friend Hitler Chapter 11 Remembered Idylls, Forgotten Truths: Nostalgia and Geography in the Drama of Shimizu Kunio Chapter 12 Healing the (Metaphysically) Sick (Theatre): A Buddhist Ibsen in Christian Japan Part 13 Literature Chapter 14 The Wild Geese Revisited: Mori Ogai's Mix of Old and New Chapter 15 Public Space and the Nature of Modern Fiction: Izumi Kyoka's Noble Blood, Heroic Blood Chapter 16 Yokomitsu Riichi's Two Machines