Ninjo
Encyclopedia
in Japanese
, is human feeling that complements and opposes the value of giri, or social obligation, within the Japanese worldview. Broadly speaking, ninjo is said to be the human feeling that inescapably springs up in conflict with social obligation. As ninjo is a culture-specific term, the validity and/or importance of this concept is subject to a wide range of viewpoints, inextricably tied in to one's perspective on nihonjinron
as a whole.
The classic example of ninjo is that of a samurai
who falls in love with an unacceptable partner (perhaps somebody of low social class or somebody of an enemy clan). As a loyal member of his clan, he then becomes torn between the obligation to his feudal lord and to his personal feelings, with the only possible resolution being shinjū
or double love-suicide. The correspondence to William Shakespeare
's play Romeo and Juliet
or the Aeneid
would be made by Japanese and non-Japanese alike. The question of whether modern Japanese still feel a greater sense of giri than their Western counterparts, and thus remain in some ineffable way psychologically closer to this sort of giri-ninjo conflict is precisely where nihonjinron divides into the Japan-centric and Japan-skeptic camps.
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...
, is human feeling that complements and opposes the value of giri, or social obligation, within the Japanese worldview. Broadly speaking, ninjo is said to be the human feeling that inescapably springs up in conflict with social obligation. As ninjo is a culture-specific term, the validity and/or importance of this concept is subject to a wide range of viewpoints, inextricably tied in to one's perspective on nihonjinron
Nihonjinron
The 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...
as a whole.
The classic example of ninjo is that of a samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
who falls in love with an unacceptable partner (perhaps somebody of low social class or somebody of an enemy clan). As a loyal member of his clan, he then becomes torn between the obligation to his feudal lord and to his personal feelings, with the only possible resolution being shinjū
Shinju
Shinju can mean the following things:*Shinjū, Double suicide in Japanese theatre*Shinju , a form of breast bondage*Shinjū , a 1994 fiction book by Laura Joh Rowland...
or double love-suicide. The correspondence to William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's play Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
or the Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
would be made by Japanese and non-Japanese alike. The question of whether modern Japanese still feel a greater sense of giri than their Western counterparts, and thus remain in some ineffable way psychologically closer to this sort of giri-ninjo conflict is precisely where nihonjinron divides into the Japan-centric and Japan-skeptic camps.