Texts in Japanese and in German translation; with critical matter in German and an introductory essay in English.

In this second volume of his classic history, one of the world's foremost Zen scholars turns his attention to the development of Zen in Japan.

Is Japanese society essentially different from other modern industrialized societies, or not? This survey work with contributions from the leading scholars in this complicated field, presents a full overview of the most important aspects of Japanese society which may lead the reader to find an answer to these two often-asked questions. Japanese society, defined as those institutions shaping the life of individuals and groups, as well as being responsible for the dynamics of social development, is shown to be as modern as any other industrialized society; definitely distinct, though, are the ways in which institutions are defined and organised as a result of different social and historical roots of the process of modernization.

German-speaking Europe is an array of images that have emerged from varied discourses about itself and its neighbors, and “Germany and the Imagined East” revolves around the exchange of views on and in the vast construct called “the East.” The world has been divided conceptually in countless ways, but the works in this volume treat aspects of Germany as both part of and also separate from any perception of an eastern border. From the former German Democratic Republic,“East Germany,” to Österreich—whose name loses its eastern association in the English version, Austria,—the East begins within the very world of the German language. But it is also the expanse off to the right of Germany, within which essays in this collection treat such political and cultural distinctions as former Yugoslavia, Romania and Russia in Eastern Europe, or Turkey and Persia in the Near East, spreading through India to China and Japan in the Far East. With a variety of perspectives on literature, film, philosophy, architecture, music and history, these essays comprise a multidisciplinary collage that invites scholars from all departments to explore the wealth of insights German Studies has to offer on East-West relations.

This book discusses how ancient Japanese mythology was utilized during the colonial period to justify the annexation of Korea to Japan, with special focus on the god Susanoo. Described as an ambivalent figure and wanderer between the worlds, Susanoo served as a foil to set off the sun goddess, who played an important role in the modern construction of a Japanese national identity. Susanoo inhabited a sinister otherworld, which came to be associated with colonial Korea. Imperialist ideologues were able to build on these interpretations of the Susanoo myth to depict Korea as a dreary realm at the margin of the Japanese empire that made the imperial metropole shine all the more brightly. At the same time, Susanoo was identified as the ancestor of the Korean people. Thus, the colonial subjects were ideologically incorporated into the homogeneous Japanese “family state.” The book situates Susanoo in Japan's cultural memory and shows how the deity, while being repeatedly transformed in order to meet the religious and ideological needs of the day, continued to symbolize the margin of Japan.

In an era of rapidly increasing technological advances and international exchange, how did young people come to understand the world beyond their doorsteps? Focusing on Germany through the lens of the history of knowledge, this collection explores various media for children—from textbooks, adventure stories, and other literature to board games, museums, and cultural events—to probe what they aimed to teach young people about different cultures and world regions. These multifaceted contributions from specialists in historical, literary, and cultural studies delve into the ways that children absorbed, combined, and adapted notions of the world.

Der aktuelle Band der Japanstudien beschäftigt sich mit dem Thema Familie. Er besteht aus zehn themenrelevanten Beiträgen und sechs Buchbesprechungen, von denen jeweils die eine Hälfte in deutscher und die andere Hälfte in englischer Sprache verfasst ist. Zusammengenommen möchten die hier versammelten Beiträge einen vielfältigen und detaillierten Einblick in japanisches Familienleben ermöglichen, der dazu anregen soll, das Thema Familie und die ihr derzeit unterstellte Krise differenziert und aus unterschiedlichen Blickwinkeln zu betrachten.

This book elucidates the differing interpretations on Japanese mythology by the German philologist and historian Karl Florenz (1865-1939) and the Japanese kokugakusha Iida Takesato (1828-1900) at the end of the 19th century. Iida in his Nihonshoki-tsushaku and Florenz in his Japanische Mythologie approached a comparable endeavor from very different vantage points. It is shown how their distinct cultural formation, their education and upbringing within unlike academic discourses, and their life within a variety of intellectual, social and political milieus formed their different scholarly outlook and methodology in interpreting and commenting on the Nihongi-myths. Comparing both scholars, their work and their mutual relation, we can find a very interesting interaction of cultural and scholarly traditions. Based on translations of both works, this study juxtaposes Iida's 'emic' inner view on Japanese mythology with the 'etic' outside view of Florenz, and at the same time provides the first portrayal of life and work of these two eminent scholars in English.