Shots in the Dark
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€32.50
A01=Shoji Yamada
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Age Group_Uncategorized
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archery
Author_Shoji Yamada
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B06=Earl Hartman
beauty
breathing
buddhism
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HREZ
Category=JBCC
Category=QRFB23
COP=United States
cultural appropriation
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eastern
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eq_isMigrated=2
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eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
eugen herrigel
focus
folk belief
history
japan
Language_English
martial arts
meditation
muro saisei
myth
nonfiction
olympics
PA=Available
philosophy
popular culture
Price_€20 to €50
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purposefulness
purposelessness
reflection
release
religion
rock garden
ryoanji
self-help
shiga naoya
shooting
softlaunch
spiritual discipline
spirituality
tradition
war
western
yoga
zen
Product details
- ISBN 9780226947655
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 29 Nov 2011
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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In the years after Wrold War II, Westerners and Japanese alike elevated Zen to the quintessence of spirituality in Japan. Pursuing the sources of Zen as a Japanese ideal, Shoji Yamada uncovers the surprising role of two cultural touchstones: Eugen Herrigel's "Zen in the Art of Archery" and the Ryoanji dry-landscape rock garden. Yamada shows how both became facile conduits for exporting and importing Japanese culture. First published in German in 1948 and translated into Japanese in 1956, Herrigel's book popularized ideas of Zen both in the West and in Japan. Yamada traces the prewar history of Japanese archery, reveals how Herrigel mistakenly came to understand it as a traditional practice, and explains why the Japanese themselves embraced his interpretation as spiritual discipline. Turning to Ryoanji, Yamada argues that this epitome of Zen in fact bears little relation to Buddhism and is best understood in relation to Chinese myth. For much of its modern history, Ryoanji was a weedy, neglected plot; only after its allegorical role in a 1949 Ozu film was it popularly linked to Zen.
Westerners have had a part in redefining Ryoanji, but as in the case of archery, Yamada's interest is primarily in how the Japanese themselves have invested this cultural site with new value through a spurious association with Zen.
Shoji Yamada is associate professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto. Earl Hartman is a translator and technical writer based in California.
