Japanology
Encyclopedia
Japanese Studies is a term generally used in Europe
to describe the historical and cultural study of Japan
; in North America
, the academic field is usually referred to as Japanese studies, which includes contemporary social sciences as well as classical humanistic fields.
European Japanology is the study of language
, culture, history, literature
, art
, music
, Manga
, Anime
, science
, etc. Its roots may be traced back to the Dutch at Dejima
, Nagasaki in the Edo period
. The foundation of the Asiatic Society of Japan
at Yokohama
in 1872 by men such as Ernest Satow and Frederick Victor Dickins
was an important boost to this fledgling academic discipline which has since grown into an internationally respected field.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to describe the historical and cultural study of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
; in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the academic field is usually referred to as Japanese studies, which includes contemporary social sciences as well as classical humanistic fields.
European Japanology is the study of language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, culture, history, literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
, art
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
, music
Music of Japan
The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 , combining the kanji 音 with the kanji 楽...
, Manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, Anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, science
Science and technology in Japan
Presently, science and technology in Japan is mostly focused and prominent in consumer electronics, robotics and the automotive industry.- Electronics :...
, etc. Its roots may be traced back to the Dutch at Dejima
Dejima
was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...
, Nagasaki in the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. The foundation of the Asiatic Society of Japan
Asiatic Society of Japan
The is a society of Japanese studies . Founded in 1872, the ASJ is Japan's oldest learned society.-Overview:The Asiatic Society of Japan was founded in 1872, five years after the Meiji restoration, at Yokohama by British and American residents - in particular missionaries, diplomats, businessmen...
at Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
in 1872 by men such as Ernest Satow and Frederick Victor Dickins
Frederick Victor Dickins
Frederick Victor Dickins was a British surgeon, barrister, orientalist and university administrator. He is now remembered as a translator of Japanese literature.-Life:...
was an important boost to this fledgling academic discipline which has since grown into an internationally respected field.
Notable Japanologists
- Edwin O. ReischauerEdwin O. ReischauerEdwin Oldfather Reischauer was the leading U.S. educator and noted scholar of the history and culture of Japan, and of East Asia. From 1961–1966, he was the U.S. ambassador to Japan.-Education and academic life:...
- Edward SeidenstickerEdward SeidenstickerEdward George Seidensticker was a noted scholar and translator of Japanese literature. He was particularly known for his English version of The Tale of Genji , which is counted among the preferred modern translations...
- Ruth BenedictRuth BenedictRuth Benedict was an American anthropologist, cultural relativist, and folklorist....
- Donald KeeneDonald KeeneDonald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
- Francis XavierFrancis XavierFrancis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...
- Ernest Mason SatowErnest Mason SatowSir Ernest Mason Satow PC, GCMG, , known in Japan as "" , known in China as "薩道義" or "萨道义", was a British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist....
Notable foreign centers of Japanese studies
- University of Virginia Japanese Text InitiativeUniversity of Virginia Japanese Text InitiativeThe University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative is a project intended to provide a comprehensive online database of Japanese literary texts. Sponsored by the University of Virginia, the online collection contains somewhere over 300 texts from Japan's pre-modern and modern periods...
- Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
- Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies - University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
- Center for Japanese Studies - Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
- The Center for Japanese Legal Studies - Oxford University - Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies
- School of Oriental and African StudiesSchool of Oriental and African StudiesThe School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
- The Japan Research Centre and Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures - School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences – Centre de Recherches sur le Japon
- Leiden UniversityLeiden UniversityLeiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
- Japanese Languages and Cultures - Universitas Indonesia - Japanese Area Studies Programme
- University of the Philippines, ManilaUniversity of the Philippines, ManilaThe University of the Philippines Manila , founded in 1908, is a coeducational and public research university in the Philippines. It is located in Manila, the country's capital. It is the oldest of the seven constituent universities of the University of the Philippines System...
-Centre for Japanese studies
Associations for Japan Studies overseas
- European Association for Japanese StudiesEuropean Association for Japanese StudiesThe European Association for Japanese Studies was established in 1973 by European scholars in order to facilitate academic exchange in the field of Japanese studies within Europe....
- British Association for Japanese studiesBritish Association for Japanese studiesThe British Association for Japanese Studies, BAJS, is an association at Essex University in the United Kingdom, whose aim is to promote studies in the Japan...
- The Society for Japanese Studies (United States)
Notable Academic Journals
- Journal of Japanese StudiesJournal of Japanese StudiesThe Journal of Japanese Studies is the most influential journal dealing with research on Japan in the United States. It is a multidisciplinary forum for communicating new information, new interpretations, and recent research results concerning Japan to the English-reading world...
(The Society for Japanese Studies) - Monumenta NipponicaMonumenta NipponicaMonumenta Nipponica is a biannual academic journals of Japanese studies. It is affiliated with Sophia University .- Contents :Each issue contains three to four main research articles, and ten to fifteen reviews of recent books in Japanese studies, dealing with Japanese society, culture, history,...
(Sophia UniversitySophia UniversityThere are several rankings below related to Sophia University.-General Rankings:The university was ranked 61st in 2010 in the ranking Truly Strong Universities by Toyo Keizai...
) - Social Science Japan JournalSocial Science Japan JournalSocial Science Japan Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal covering Japan in social scientific perspective, semiannually published by Oxford University Press...
(Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
)
Notable Books about Japan
- The Chrysanthemum and the SwordThe Chrysanthemum and the SwordThe Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture is an influential 1946 study of Japan by American anthropologist Ruth Benedict written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II by reference...
- The Anatomy of DependenceThe Anatomy of Dependenceis a non-fiction book written by Japanese psychoanalyst Takeo Doi. It was originally published in Japanese in 1971, and an English translation by John Bester was later published in 1973....
- Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming RobotopiaInside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming RobotopiaInside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming Robotopia is a 1988 book about robotics in Japan by Frederik L. Schodt. In 2011, it was also issued as an e-book for the Kindle, Nook,and iBookstore platforms, with a new cover designed by Raymond Larrett, added color photographs, and...
- The Lone SamuraiThe Lone SamuraiThe Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi is a biography of the Japanese samurai and swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. It is written by William Scott Wilson, published by Kodansha International, and was first printed in 2004...
- Bushido: The Soul of JapanBushido: The Soul of JapanBushido: The Soul of Japan written by Inazo Nitobe is, along with the classic text Hagakure by Tsunetomo Yamamoto , a study of the way of the samurai. A best-seller in its day, it was read by many influential foreigners, among them President Theodore Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy and Robert...
- Warriors of LegendWarriors of LegendWarriors of Legend is a series of books that are to be published by Genvid L.L.C. The first book in the series, Warriors of Legend: Reflections of Japan in Sailor Moon is the only book published so far.-Reflections of Japan:...
See also
- NihonjinronNihonjinronThe term literally means theories/discussions about the Japanese. The term refers to a genre of texts that focuses on issues of Japanese national and cultural identity. The literature is vast, ranging over such varied fields as sociology, psychology, history, linguistics, philosophy, and even...
- JaponismJaponismJaponism, or Japonisme, the original French term, was first used in 1872 by Jules Claretie in his book L'Art Francais en 1872 and by Philippe Burty in Japanisme III. La Renaissance Literaire et Artistique in the same year...
- BushidoBushido, meaning "Way of the Warrior-Knight", is a Japanese word which is used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and...
- Wa (Japan)Wa (Japan)Japanese is the oldest recorded name of Japan. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scribes regularly wrote Wa or Yamato "Japan" with the Chinese character 倭 until the 8th century, when the Japanese found fault with it, replacing it with 和 "harmony, peace, balance".- Historical references :The earliest...
- Japanese aestheticsJapanese aestheticsThe modern study of a Japanese aesthetics in the Western sense only started a little over two hundred years ago. But, by the term Japanese aesthetic, we tend to mean not this modern study, but a set of ancient ideals that include wabi , sabi , and yûgen...
- KokugakuKokugakuKokugaku was a National revival, or, school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period...
- YamatoYamatoYamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan. Later the term was used as the name of the province and also as an ancient name of Japan...
- Oriental studiesOriental studiesOriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
- OrientalismOrientalismOrientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
- International Research Center for Japanese StudiesInternational Research Center for Japanese StudiesThe , or Nichibunken , is an inter-university research institute in Kyoto. Along with the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the National Museum of Japanese History, and the National Museum of Ethnology, it is one of the National Institutes for the Humanities...
- The Japan AcademyThe Japan Academyis an honorary organization founded in 1879 to bring together leading Japanese scholars with distinguished records of scientific achievements. The Academy is currently organization attached to the Ministry of Education; and the organization's headquarters located in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan...