Jungian Psychology in the East and West

Cross Cultural Perspectives from Japan

Konoyu Nakamura, Stefano Carta, Konoyu Nakamura, Stefano Carta

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000416411
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Jungianische Psychologie

It is well known that Jung's investigation of Eastern religions and cultures supplied him with an abundance of cross-cultural comparative material, useful to support his hypotheses of the existence of archetypes, the collective unconscious and other manifestations of psychic reality. However, the specific literature dealing with this aspect has previously been quite scarce. This unique edited collection brings together contributors writing on a range of topics that represent an introduction to the differences between Eastern and Western approaches to Jungian psychology.

Readers will discover that one interesting feature of this book is the realization of how much Western Jungians are implicitly or explicitly inspired by Eastern traditions– including Japanese– and, at the same time, how Jungian psychology– the product of a Western author– has been widely accepted and developed by Japanese scholars and clinicians.

Scholars and students of Jungian studies will find many new ideas, theories and practices gravitating around Jungian psychology, generated by the encounter between East and West. Another feature that will be appealing to many readers is that this book may represent an introduction to Japanese philosophy and clinical techniques related to Jungian psychology.

Part 1
East and West

1
How can we survive in this Globalized Age?

Exploring ego consciousness in the Western and the Japanese psyche

Megumi Yama

Introduction

To my great honor, I was given the opportunity to give a keynote speech at the IAJS Regional Conference held in Japan in November 2019. I was especially pleased with the offer because the theme of this conference was “East and West: encountering difference,” a topic which has been especially important to me since childhood. For many years, I have been interested in ego consciousness and the differences in the ways in which the subject is established in the Japanese and Western psyches. These interests come from two areas of personal experience: living in both the East and the West, and my practice of psychotherapy. I have been exploring this theme with an interdisciplinary approach using my knowledge of literature, art, linguistics, and clinical materials. Especially for the last decade, I have been dedicated to presenting papers at the international conferences and writing papers in international journals and chapters in English to convey my idea from Japan.

In this chapter, I would like to introduce some of my previous studies. First, I will present the essential differences between ego consciousness in the Western and the Japanese psyches. Second, I will refer to what Jung experienced during his inner journey from the West to the East. Here, I would like to add that my intention is not to exaggerate cultural differences but to show that living between two psyches that are fundamentally different in their structure may be, while a harsh experience, a path to an “individuation process.” In this rapidly globalizing age, it may be more appropriate to use the terms Type-A Psyche and Type-B Psyche instead of referring to the psyches as Western and Japanese/Eastern. I will come back to this point later.

Globalization and COVID-19

Before going any further, I would like to refer to two enormous social phenomena with worldwide influence: globalization and COVID-19. The latter, a devastating coronavirus has threatened the lives and livelihoods of people all over the world since the end of 2019. Despite continued advances in medicine humanity finds itself in the midst of a pandemic and, under the fear of infection, has no choice but to self-isolate under the slogan “Stay Home.” I am writing these words in April 2020, as chapter. Who would have imagined that the whole world would fall into such a sudden predicament several months after last year’s conference? When I was asked to submit a title for my speech, I intuitively decided upon “How can we survive in this Globalized Age?” as I believed that “globalization” was the most defining feature of our contemporary society. I added the subtitle of “Exploring ego consciousness in the Western and the Japanese Psyche” to make my orientation clear. Whenever this pandemic recedes, it is certain that our world will be reconstructed in a various meaning. Perhaps it will be necessary for us to reconsider the meaning of globalization.

In this age of rapid globalization, especially since the end of the Cold War, an increasing number of people from diverse background have had opportunities to encounter different cultures and languages, sometimes out of interest and sometimes out of necessity. Owing to the spread of the Internet, though there is an inevitable difference in the language used online, we do not need to be as conscious of the existence of borders between countries as we were in the past. We can all share the same information, both visually and aurally, from all over the world, almost simultaneously. Especially, living in the Far East, I have enjoyed great benefits from such convenience. However, on the other hand, I have also considered it problematic that we are able to step into other cultures too easily, without being conscious of what is happening deep in our psyche. It is also true that globalization has brought with it a raft of serious social and economic problems. The novel coronavirus crossed national borders quickly and secretly, aided by the human movement of globalization. When communicating with people living in different parts of the world via zoom, skype, etc., you can see that people everywhere are simultaneously experiencing the fear of infection and the stress of self-isolation. Such experiences, mediated by the latest technology, make us feel that we are indeed all living on one planet. On the other hand, the destructive power of COVID-19 ironically prohibits or limits the movement of people between countries and also requires that we all stay separated from each other. This might represent the ultimate expression of “anti-globalization” – staying in one’s own country. I would argue that we are now forced to experience the “shadow” of globalization, which has suddenly invaded our daily lives in a way none of us expected. It might even be possible to say that the COVID-19 could be regarded as a message from the unconscious, an alert warning us to stay within ourselves.

It is almost redundant to say that globalization has brought about a great many economic efficiencies and brought us many advantages. However, I am afraid that at the same time, humanity has been ignoring a certain kind of “pain” which is supposed to occur within our psyche. Perhaps it would be relatively easy to understand on a practical level that living in between different cultures entails “pain”; however, if one looks deeper and deeper into one’s psyche, we may notice some more serious psychological risk occurring there. But I would like to argue that we should not necessarily regard it as something negative as it may have the possibility to lead us to the individuation process. In a previous paper (Yama, 2020), exploring the status of one destined to live between different cultures, I argued that the indeterminate state between the determinate culture and another is chaotic and uncertain, a space which may possibly lead to the world of death. I will refer to it later while referring to Jung’s life. In fact, many of us are now forced to face “death,” as we daily deal with the threat of a destructive disease, not only symbolically but on a very real plane.

The West and the East

Now, I would like to turn to my main topic, that is, the West and the East. In this era of rapid globalization, it is sometimes heard that it may be doubtful that the concepts of “the West” and “the East” are as applicable as they were in the past. However, I would like to posit that however borderless our globe seems to be at a superficial level, if we go down deep to the roots, we can see a fundamental difference in the structure of each culture’s psyche. This is perhaps because they were established on a basis of their own unique psychological histories and backgrounds that should not be ignored.

I would like to start by referring to Jung’s definition of the ego in Aion, which reads, “It (the ego) forms,… the center of the field of consciousness; and, in so far as this comprises the empirical personality, the ego is the subject of all personal acts of consciousness” (Jung, 1951, p. 1). However, as the first Japanese Jungian analyst Hayao Kawai (1976) points out, this does not necessarily apply to the Japanese psyche. Figure 1.1 is an illuminating model proposed by Kawai (1976), which illustrates the difference between the structures of the Japanese and Western psyches. It shows that in the Japanese psyche, the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness is much vaguer than in that of Westerners. Kawai (1976) adds that in the Japanese psyche, the structure of the consciousness is formed with the Self as the center, which is in the unconscious. It is even doubtful whether it really has a center. As it was long before the current age of globalization when Kawai proposed this model, criticism may arise as to whether it still applies today. My intention here is not to regard either of them as superior or inferior but to understand them as two models that show fundamental difference in the structure of the psyche. As I have mentioned earlier, someday a time may come when it is appropriate to talk about “Type-A Psyche and Type-B Psyche” instead; however, I will refer to them as the Western Psyche and Japanese Psyche as the standard nomenclature in this chapter.

Figure 1.1 Two models of Japanese consciousness and Westerner’s consciousness according to Hayao Kawai

Non-fixed multiple perspectives in the Japanese psyche

1 Hints from the traditional Japanese arts

Next, I would like to present some characteristics of the Japanese psyche, through mainly introducing some of my previous studies (Yama, 2013, 2018). First, I would like to explore some characteristics of the traditional Japanese arts in a broader sense, and second, I will give a rereading of the oldest Japanese myth to explore the ways in which the ego emerges in the Japanese psyche.

In general, it is considered that the worldview of the creator of any art or design is reflected in their work. My first attempt is to explore the Japanese psyche’s expression in traditional Japanese arts, through analysis of the creator’s vision and how they experience the world.¹

Here I would like to give some examples from several traditional Japanese artworks.² The first is Rakuchu Rakugai-zu (Views in and around the City of Kyoto), a series of genre screen paintings dating from the 16th through 19th centuries. These works depict streetscapes of inner and suburban Kyoto from an overhead viewpoint, painted on folding screens with several panels. These artworks were very popular at the time, and about hundred remain today. As the focus of the painting zooms onto smaller objects, such as the buildings and the people, we come to realize that scenes of everyday life in the city are clearly illustrated in vivid detail. It is remarkable but true that some of these examples contain as many as two thousand five hundred delicately drawn individuals.

The Japanese art historian Shuji Takashina (2011) mentions, “the painter does not stay at one point in the air but appears to be looking down while moving freely over Kyoto” (p. 11). A similar point is made by the art critic Teiji Yoshimura (1967), where he describes the painter as flying low over the city, changing their perspective one after another as necessary. In this way, the artist seems to have been able to both depict architectural detail quite accurately and at the same time show Kyotoites as they go about their busy lives. Thus, these paintings might be said not to have one specific center but multiple perspectives. To the reference above as to the movement of perspectives, the Japanese scholar of comparative culture Nobukazu Niigata (2007) adds that traditional Japanese-style painters never paint shadow because if they do the perspective of the painter would be fixed at one specific position. The question might be asked, then, from where does this rejection of fixed perspective come? In answer to this question, Niigata (2007) states that appreciating landscape paintings does not mean only looking at the painting from the outside but to enter it and experience the space. As the viewer is drawn into each section of the painting in a kind of zoom effect, it feels as if they are involved in the scene and walking around the city along with the people depicted in the painting. In this space, we can experience the passing of time and almost feel the atmosphere on our skin. In fact, as the French cultural geographer Augustin Berque (1990) has noted, this characteristic applies to Japanese arts in a broader sense, such as gardens. The theory behind this is also that the Japanese ego develops differently from the way it does in the West, although Japanese individuals have certainly been affected by the modern Western ego.

2 Hints from the Japanese traditional garden

For my second example, I would like to compare an emblematic one of Japan with a typical Western garden, both completed in the 17th century. The latter example is the Garden of the Palace of Versailles, which is designed in such a way that the garden’s entire panorama is visible from a single fixed point outside of the garden. As the former example, I would like to describe the garden of the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto, which is regarded as one of the most important large-scale cultural treasures in Japan. The garden in the villa is specifically designed so that the viewers can enjoy constantly changing views as they make their way through the various distinct areas in the garden.

The history of the garden in Japan is so long that we can find descriptions of it even in the Kojiki (lit. Records of Ancient Matters) and Nihon-shoki (lit. The Chronicle of Japan) in the 8th century. Originally, the design of Japanese gardens was based on those of China, but by the Edo era (1603–1868), as Japan was adopting a policy of national isolation, gradually Japanese gardens begin to take on a unique style.

The garden in Katsura Imperial Villa features another interesting device which clearly embodies a characteristic of Japanese culture. Soon after passing through the garden entrance, visitors can see a small man-made peninsula extending into the garden’s main pond. On the end of this bank, a pine tree has been planted to deliberately block the panoramic view of the garden. It is positioned here not to hide the entire view but to hint at the existence of the beautiful landscape behind, by making it only partially visible through the branches of the pine. Taking in the entire panorama of the garden from a single fixed point does not seem to be a good way to enjoy the garden. It seems that they value the visitor’s hands-on experience of entering into the garden and enjoying the constantly changing views by moving themselves around the space in the garden. As we have seen,³ due to the multiplicity...