The Japanese and Europe

Images and Perceptions

Bert Edstrom

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136638954
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Estudios étnicos

Not another 'misunderstandings and misconceptions' volume, but a wide-ranging review of intellectual traditions, mutual and alternative images, and case studies of people and events that mirror the focus of this book.

SECTION 1

The Japanese and Europe: Historical and Contemporary Perceptions

1

Unseen Paradise: The Image of Holland in the Writings of Andō Shōeki

KARINE MARANDJIAN

Andō Shōeki (1703-62) is nowadays known as an original thinker whose ideas broke loose from the mainstream of Japanese thought of mid-Tokugawa. He rejected both Confucian and Buddhist traditions whose spread in Japan he described as resulting in the degradation of a society of ancient times once harmonious and pristine. In spite of his humble social position and life in a distant province Shōeki boldly challenged the acknowledged authorities and ways of thinking. Dissatisfied with the political and social situation of contemporary Japan he strove for what he perceived as a ‘better reality’. He dreamt of travelling abroad and despite the fact that his attempts to leave the country never materialized, he used every opportunity to learn more about foreign countries.

A summary of what Shōeki knew about the outside world can be found in his treatises Tōdō shinden [The true explanation of the All-pervading Way] (1752) and Shizen shin’eidō [The true laws of nature] (1755). The ‘Bankoku kikōron maki’ [‘Reflections on the cultural conditions of different countries’] (7 chapters) of the Shizen shin’eidō has been lost. ‘Bankoku maki’ [‘On the countries of the world’] of the Tōdō shinden has a separate chapter entitled ‘Bankoku no sambutsu, hitogara, gengo no ron’ [‘Reflections on products, peoples and languages of different countries’] which contains information about eleven countries.¹ Two sections deal with European countries, Oranda [Holland] and Namban [The Southern Barbarians]. In the section on the Southern Barbarians Shōeki specifies the geographical position and the abundance and productivity of land and gives the name of only four countries belonging to the Southern Barbarians (according to him there were altogether 45 countries); two countries can be recognized as Portugal and Spain. In Shōeki’s words, all knowledge on the Southern Barbarians was acquired from the Dutch. Information is scarce and fragmentary.

The section on Holland is much longer and more informative. It begins with a description of exact geographical co-ordinates for Holland. In Shōeki’s words, Holland and Japan are situated opposite each other: Japan lies ‘16 degrees north’, Holland ‘16 degrees south’. (It seems like a mirror reflection but the geographical terms used by Shōeki are rather obscure and contradictory, so it is difficult to reconstruct his geographical conception.)

Apart from the spatial location, Holland’s place within the frame of the traditional five-elements scheme is specified: in Shōeki’s opinion Holland correlates with ‘metal’ (=west/autumn/white colour/purity/tranquillity/etc.). Inserted in the five-element scheme Holland achieves the status of an integral part of the world. In other words, it becomes included in the ‘outer world view’ that traditionally embraced only China, India, Japan, Korea and countries dependent upon them.

Any reader of Shōeki’s account on Oranda will be struck by the ‘accuracy’ of his narration. Many facts are presented some of which, as we know them now, are valid. When he writes, for example, that Oranda consists of seven provinces (although the provinces enlisted by Shōeki are not correctly named by him), it is true that the sixteenth century saw the establishment of a republic of united provinces that incorporated seven provinces. He gives a truthful description of how the Dutch appeared, depicts accurately their clothes and accessories and writes about their food and drinking preferences. He reports on several concrete technical devices such as binoculars. The factual content of the section on Oranda seems ‘objective’ – there is no place for obvious fantasy or fiction. Even dealing with the ‘wonderful skills’ [kijutsu] that the Dutch were renowned for, Shōeki tries to offer a ‘rational’ explanation. Some of his comments seem bizarre. One such case is when he claims that the black sailors – living on the island near Holland according to him – are black because in frames of the five-element scheme they are connected with the element ‘water’ that correlates with the colour black. Most of his other explanations are quite reasonable and acceptable.

Shōeki got the major part of his information on Holland indirectly from the Dutch. He writes in the Tōdō shinden that one of his students was a subordinate of the marine official in Nagasaki and acquired information about foreign lands talking with the Dutch through the interpreters (Andō, 1752 [1966]: 674). It seems that besides Shōeki’s personal ‘curiosity’ his desire to learn more about foreign countries was quite natural in an epoch when ‘interest in things Dutch was also very much present’: Arai Hakuseki (1657-1725), Aoki Kon’yō (1698-1769) and Noro Genjō (1693-1761), acknowledged forerunners of rangaku [Dutch studies], were contemporaries of Shōeki. They were the first to seriously study Dutch science and wrote treatises on various subjects related to Holland. Several years later in the Tanuma era (1767-86) taste for luxurious exotica brought about the emergence of a number of ‘Hollandophiles’ [rampeki] (Numata, 1992, 50-5).

Certainly, due to his low social position, Shōeki did not have access to official sources of information, but there is a ‘strong possibility’ that he had read some works on Oranda: according to E. H. Norman, he might have known, for example, Nagasaki yawa so [Twilight tales of Nagasaki] (1720) by Nishikawa Joken (1648-1724) (Norman, 1949: 287).

The rapid spread of rangaku and appearance of numerous translations and original treatises on Holland promoted the implanting of the idea of the reality of Holland’s existence in the minds of the Japanese (at least those belonging to the upper classes of society) for whom this country became no less real than China, India or Japan. Shōeki’s account on Holland is an illustrious manifestation of this process.

What is more significant – Shōeki compared Holland with the traditional ‘centres of the world’ – China/Japan (in Confucianism) and India (in Buddhism) – and such a comparison was not in favour of the latter. He makes the remarks that ‘Holland is truly a finest country that surpasses all countries in the world’ (Andō, 1752 [1966]: 676) and that practical knowledge of the Dutch is ‘higher than the wisdom of the Sages and Buddha’ (Andō, 1752 [1966]: 677). What makes Holland superior to the other countries? Shōeki presents a number of points in evidence:

• Holland is a peaceful country. From ancient times it has not experienced war or internal strife. It never attacked any country.

• The country consists of seven parts (provinces?), but there is no division to the upper or lower, to the kings and lords.

• The Dutch have numerous ‘wonderful skills’: they construct the best ships in the world, grow various cereals, cultivate their land, and have travelled all over the world.

• The Dutch are fair by nature. One tenth of the profit they get from trade is handed over to the king. They are not greedy and thus never fight with each other.

• The Dutch are endowed by nature with sense of shame and duty.

• The Dutch are morally perfect. They practise monogamy and never deceive their wives. In case they commit adultery they are sentenced to death.

In Shōeki’s words, the Dutch ridicule China, India and Japan since they are permanently engaged in internal conflicts and struggle. Those at the top are fighting with those at the bottom, which he finds a behaviour resembling a childish foolish game. Living in Japan makes Shōeki feel ashamed because of the Dutch (Andō, 1752 [1966]: 677-8).

In his brilliant work on Shōeki Norman portrays him as an ‘bigoted chauvinist’ but one who ‘yet had such pride in his country that it was not easy for him to condemn its products whether material or intellectual’ (Norman, 1949: 162).

The philosopher often criticized Japan saying that due to the selfish interests of the Sages and Buddha ‘the Way of Nature was stolen’ and ‘disorder and lawlessness prevailed’ (like in China and India). But to critizize one’s country is not the same as feeling ashamed of it, especially when Japan was compared with Holland which many of Shōeki’s contemporaries considered a ‘barbarian country’. To openly admit admiration for Holland took real courage.

What was behind Shōeki’s attitude? What made him recognize Holland as a model of justice, peacefulness and moral perfection that Japan must follow? As mentioned above concrete information on Dutch customs and institutions available to Shōeki was rather limited – his main informant evidently had no profound knowledge since his position as a petty official of the marine magistrate could not have given him free access to the Dutch. Thus Shōeki had to use various sources of information which explains the appearance of some commonplaces in his account – for example, the widespread beliefs that the Dutch were short-lived² and practised monogamy. Besides information obtained from his pupil, from various works on the subject and from rumours, Shōeki resorted to his imagination, combining his scarce factual data with imaginary evaluations. He did not ‘invent’ facts but added interpretations of ‘how it should be’ which resulted in the creation of an image of Holland as an ‘ideal’ society. Shōeki rejected the political realities of his time and was striving for an Utopian society where the people in freedom and equal simplicity cultivated their land and lived in conformity with the true Way of Nature.³ For Shōeki antiquity (the age of gods in Japan, ancient Korea or uncivilized Ezo) was an embodiment of the true Way of Nature. This kind of Utopia can be characterized as ‘retrospective’, which typologically corresponds to the concept of a ‘golden age’. From the beginning of its history utopian thought has embodied two visions of a better reality: ‘the golden age’ and ‘the distant lands’. Both concepts were inherent in Chinese culture: the former was an integral part of the Confucian tradition, the latter (although present in Confucian texts) was more accentuated in Taoist thought.

Norman claims that Shōeki’s critique of the Chinese Golden Age indicates that he was ‘repudiating traditional Oriental Utopia and creating one conforming to his own analysis of society which was without classes and where agriculture was the chief occupation’ (Norman, 1949: 225). It is difficult to agree with this assertion – rejecting the Confucian model of the Golden Age (the Utopia of ‘ideal governing’ where the prosperity of society was directly connected with the activity of the Confucian scholar or later the perfection of the sacral monarch) Shōeki did not reject the general pattern of the ‘retrospective’ Utopia as such: his ‘ideal society’ resembled the primitive society of the past.

At the same time Shōeki’s vision of Utopia is in many respects close to the Taoist tradition with its egalitarianess and distinct ‘nature-culture’ antinomy – suffice it to recall his negative attitude to the learning and letters ‘invented by Confucius and Buddha for selfish motives’. Shōeki’s view of Holland as an ‘ideal society’ corresponds to the pattern of ‘distant land’ Utopia.

Shōeki’s attempts to provide a rational interpretation of Dutch customs and institutions and his emphasis that Holland was an integral part of the world were aimed at creating a ‘plausible’ image of the country. He wanted to convince his readers that the ideal world existed ‘here and now’. This pattern of Utopia can be designated as a synchronous Utopia of the ‘escape’ type.⁵

Shōeki combined two patterns of Utopia: retrospective/golden age and synchronous/distant lands. The main modus of his philosophy is purely Utopian since its main pathos was not so much his critique of the feudal society of his time as his search for a ‘better reality’. The inner laws of the Utopian mode of thinking predetermined the operation by which the image of Holland came into being. Utopian fantasy with exact geographical address was not a novelty in the history of Utopian thought. Shōeki can be seen as a traditional Eastern Utopian thinker whose philosophy developed within the context of Chinese (and Japanese) culture which included Utopianism as one of its immanent elements. Not belonging to any particular school of thinking he elaborated an original Utopian teaching shaped under the influence of the great traditions of Confucianism and Taoism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andō Shōeki. 1752 (1966). Tōdō shinden [The true explanation of the All-pervading Way]. In Kinsei shisōka bunshū edited by Bitō Masahide. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, 97. Tokyo: lwanami shoten, 567-666.

——. 1752 (1966-67). Tōdō shinden [The true explanation of the All-pervading Way], edited by Naramoto Tatsuya. 2 vols. Tokyo: lwanami shoten.

Martynov, A. S. 1987. ‘Konfutsianskaya utopiya v drevnosti i v srednevekovje’ [Ancient and medieval Confucian utopia]. In ‘Kitajskie sotsialnye utopii’ [Chinese social utopia], ed. Delyusin L.P., Borokh L.N., Moscow: Nauka. Mumford, Lewis. 1962. The Story of Utopias. New York: Viking Press.

Norman, E. Herbert. 1949. ‘Andō Shōeki and the Anatomy of Japanese Feudalism’. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. 3rd series, 2. Tokyo.

Numata Jirō. 1992. Western learning. A short history of the study of Western science in Early Modern Japan. Tokyo: The Japan-Netherlands Institute.

NOTES

1. I have used two editions of the text: the abridged text of Tōdō shinden edited by Bitō Masahide in Nihon koten bungaku taikei, 97, Tokyo: lwanami shoten, 1966, 567-666 (Andō, 1752 [1966]); and the complete text of Tōdo shinden in two vols, edited by Naramoto Tatsuya, Tokyo: lwanami shoten, 1966-67 (Andō, 1752 [1966-67]).

2. The same assertion can be seen in Arai Hakuseki’s writings (see Norman, 1949: 285).

3. For a detailed analysis of Shōeki’s Utopian thought, see Norman, 1949: 219-48.

4. On the classicication of Confucian Utopia, see Martynov, 1987.

5. On escape-type Utopia, see Mumford, 1962; and Martynov, 1987. A vivid example of this type is the famous ‘Peach spring’ by Tao Yuanming. For ‘Peach spring’ as a Confucian-Taoist synthesis, see Martynov, 1987: 36-9.

2

Debates on Naichi Zakkyo in Japan (1879-99): The Influence of Spencerian Social Evolutionism on the Japanese Perception of the West

NORIKO BERLINGUEZ-KONO

It is not yet known when the term naichi zakkyo was used for the first time but it appears in a memorandum written by Iwakura Tomomi in September 1871 (Inō, 1992: 4), perceived by the conservative forces as synonymous with the imminent foreign pressure.¹ On the other hand, the commoners do not seem to have reacted in the same way as the leaders did: the masses gave the expression a meaning with a positive connotation, that is, something civilized, Western, refined, certainly synonyms of bummei, ‘civilization’, and kaika, ‘enlightenment’. For instance, a Western restaurant in a busy area of Asakusa was called Zakkyoya.

The expression naichi zakkyo can be defined as cohabitation of Japanese and foreigners on Japanese territory, by abolishing foreign settlements and extraterritoriality enjoyed by foreigners. Some Japanese could not tolerate foreigners travelling freely outside the limits of the settlements (Imai, 1975: 1-22). Shortly before and after the Meiji Restoration (1868), a certain xenophobic climate gave rise to various incidents resulting in the death of some foreigners. Nevertheless, we will not study this aspect of naichi zakkyo, that is, common Japanese reactions to foreigners travelling in Japan. Instead, focus will be on the controversy over the acceptance of foreigners, which will help us understand the Japanese perception of Westerners.

As Inō Tentarō has put it remarkably well, the debate on naichi zakkyo involved antithetical pairs such as ‘approval/disapproval’, ‘hope/anxiety’, ‘interest/loss’, ‘likes/dislikes’, in the discussion of the coexistence of Japanese and foreigners in Japan, a coexistence which in reality meant the ultimate end of the foreign settlements (Inō, 1992: 3). In order to revise the unequal treaties concluded with Western countries, the Meiji government had to deal with the controversial issue of naichi zakkyo and to convince the Japanese to use ‘cohabitation’ with foreigners to their advantage. Strangely enough, public opinion was much more attracted by the discussion of this issue than the question of equal treatment of Japan by Western powers, such as the right to determine Japanese tariffs independently and the abolition of the system of extraterrito...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Contributors
• Preface
• Section 1: The Japanese and Europe: Historical and Contemporary Perceptions
• Section 2: Japan and Eastern Europe
• Section 3: Japan, Europe and Cold War Issues
• Index