2023年度の活動報告

Odori Tomoji (Research Group Representative)

In fiscal year 2023, three regular meetings and one lecture were held as follows. At the fourth regular meeting on Friday, June 23, 2023, titled "Common Theme: Christianity and East Asia—Conflict and Fusion of Japanese and European Faith [Religion] and Culture," Professor Tomoji Odori (ICU) gave a presentation titled "Japanese Perceptions of Protestantism in the Edo Period: Dutch Interpreters and Dutch Studies Scholars." Drawing on various historical documents written about the Protestant perceptions of 17th- and 18th-century Dutch interpreters, Dutch studies scholars, magistrates, senior councilors, and shoguns, Professor Odori examined whether Japanese people were able to distinguish between Catholicism and Protestantism before the opening of the country to the world in the Meiji era, and if so, to what extent. Commentator Genji Yasuhira (Lecturer at Kyoto University) praised Odori's report and the paper on which it was based as excellent research on the history of early modern religion, the history of Japan-Europe relations, and global history. He then introduced the religious diversity in the early modern Dutch Republic and contrasted the situation in Japan with that in Europe.
 

On Wednesday, November 22, 2023, a guest lecture from overseas was held, co-sponsored by Waseda University's Institute for Advanced Research and the Waseda University Center for Advanced Biomedical Sciences. The lecturer was Nie Feilin, deputy director of the Committee for the Transmission of the Qunshu Zhiyao (Pictures of the Books) of the Chinese Association for the Promotion of Traditional Culture. The lecture was titled "Western Modern Science and Traditional Chinese Thought: Pharmacology, Philosophy, and Ethics." Li Tianshu, full-time lecturer at Musashi University, moderated the event. Opening remarks were given by Musashi University President Noriyuki Takahashi and Waseda University Center for Advanced Biomedical Sciences Director Shinji Takeoka, and closing remarks were given by Musashi University Comprehensive Research Organization and the Director Tomoji Odori. The event was held at the Waseda University Center for Advanced Biomedical Sciences (also online). The lecture was in both Chinese and English, with interpretation provided by Musashi University Lecturer Junichiro Ando. Lecturer Nie raised the question of whether drug treatment guarantees human health, and compared the philosophical concepts behind Chinese and Western science while discussing the understanding and practice of health, medicine, and illness in traditional Chinese thought. He stated that when it comes to pharmaceutical research, Western philosophical thinking is "dualistic," while traditional Chinese philosophical thinking is "unistic," emphasizing that while "dualistic" is antagonistic, the "unistic" approach of traditional Chinese medicine aims to lead to symptom relief.
 

At the 5th regular meeting on Friday, November 24, 2023, "Common Theme: Modernity and Post-Modernity in East Asia," Nie Fei Lin gave a presentation titled "The Treasure of Governance, the Qunshu Zhiyao: From China to Japan, and from Japan to China." Nie explained that the Qunshu Zhiyao is a book that condenses the traditional culture of China, and was introduced to Japan by Japanese envoys during the Nara period, where it had a profound influence on the way the state was governed. Nie emphasized that the Qunshu Zhiyao was lost in China at an early stage, but was brought back from Japan to China after the Edo period and had a great influence on the academic world of China (Qing) at that time. After this report, Professor Takashi Minagawa (Yamanashi University) and Professor Takayuki Ito (International Research Center for Japanese Studies) made comments from the perspective of European constitutional history and Chinese intellectual history. Professor Minagawa gave Plato's "Republic" and Aristotle's "Politics" as examples. He said that these books spread from Europe to Western Asia and Northwestern Eurasia, but after being lost in Europe, they were re-imported from the Iberian Peninsula and the Eastern Roman Empire, and were accepted as Christian "guidebooks for rulers." Based on Minagawa's comments, Ito outlined the contents of the Gunsho Chiyo, and said that it was lost because the subjectivity of the ruler changed in Chinese history. He then discussed why the Gunsho Chiyo, which had been lost in China, remained in Japan, and tentatively concluded that it was because the Japanese samurai society at that time had political practices similar to those of the Tang Dynasty, when the Gunsho Chiyo was used, and that the political system was different from that of China from the Song Dynasty onwards, which placed emphasis on more concrete policy and economic theory, such as moral admonitions and rules of conduct. The lecture was in both Chinese and English, and was translated into Japanese by Junichiro Ando (lecturer Musashi University) as needed. The research presentations and comments from this meeting will be supplemented and published in the Musashi University Research Institute Bulletin No. 33 (2024) as a small special feature entitled "East and West Theories of Good Governance and Guides to Princes."
 

At the 6th regular meeting on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, "Common Theme: Christianity and East Asia - Conflict and Fusion of Faith [Religion] and Culture in Japan and Europe," Motokazu Matsutani (Professor at Tohoku Gakuin University) gave a presentation on "Colonial Korea and Christian Intellectuals in Tohoku." Matsutani focused on "Tohoku" from the Meiji period onwards, focusing on the relationship between colonial Koreans (especially foreign students) and Oshikawa Masayoshi, Yoshino Sakuzo, and Suzuki Yoshio, who were staunch Christians, and their influence in Japan and Korea and their notable activities related to education, politics, and the judiciary. Commentator Yoshiyuki Okayasu (Academic Researcher at the Archives of the Tohoku University Academic Resources Research Center) introduced historical materials on Korean students studying at Tohoku Imperial University at the time and gave a detailed explanation of the types of people who actually came. After the presentation, there was an active Q&A and discussion on the differences in interest in and faith in Christianity in Japan and Korea, as well as the perspective of viewing "Tohoku" and "Pyongyang" as similar "frontiers." For example, there were many people in the so-called "periphery" who accepted new ideas and religions from developed countries and tried to use them as a stepping stone to establish themselves.
 

In addition, as a research trip, members of this study group visited the workshop (Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture) of the ninth generation Shobei Tamaya, a puppet maker who was the lecturer of last year's Musashi University Open Lecture (75th) organized by this study group, on November 30, 2023, and conducted a detailed interview survey (conversation) about the culture of "moving human figures" including Japanese Karakuri dolls, European automata, and even modern robots. The record of the interview will be published in Musashi University Research Institute Bulletin No. 33 (2024). In addition, in 2023, an information page for this study group was set up on the Musashi University University website. It describes the purpose of the group's establishment and posts the rules and activity reports (information about regular meetings and related lectures is uploaded as new news each time).

 

 

Planning and manuscript writing for "Moving Dolls, Thinking Robots" (working title) by Matsubara Hitoshi, Koyama Bridget, and Tomoji Odori (co-authors) (scheduled for publication by Kyoiku Hyoronsha, expected to be completed in 2026).

 

In connection with the "common theme: artificial humans in the East and West," we will visit the workshops of puppeteers and automata artists (in Japan and Europe) and conduct interviews. In connection with the "common theme: Christianity and East Asia," we will conduct field research in Korea. From 2022 onwards, we will publish small feature articles in the Bulletin of the Institute for Comprehensive Research on possible content of regular meetings. We will also make plans for publication.