Japanese Culture Studies

The Japanese Culture Studies Group is concerned mainly with Japanese culture and society. It is devoted to multifaceted consideration of numerous of issues in all areas, from literature, art, religion, thought, and other elements of traditional culture to the problems facing modern society.

The Japanese Culture Studies Group is concerned mainly with Japanese culture and society. It is devoted to multifaceted consideration of numerous of issues in all areas, from literature, art, religion, thought, and other elements of traditional culture to the problems facing modern society.

For students who are foreign nationals, the Group also furnishes opportunities for specialized training needed for discussion of Japanese culture and society in accordance with scholastic procedures rather than by widespread popular theories on the subjects.

The Group's objective is to turn out graduates who can discuss Japan with high levels of specialized skill and scholastic ability.

 

Messages to prospective students

Messages from each instructor are organized as follows:
1. Expectations of students and guiding principles
2. Research keywords
3. Academic societies, social activities, etc.
4. Contact information (E-mail, URL, office, etc.)

 

Kageyama Sumio
1.
From among the profound breadth of Japanese traditional arts, I have deliberately chosen to study the thoughts and modes of expression found in accomplishment of the performing arts, such as the tea ceremony and the Rikka style of ikebana (traditional Japanese flower arrangement). Such forms of art have long been thought to represent Japanese traditional culture, but few researchers have ever attempted to apply a scientific approach to them. In recent years, the research environment has improved, and outstanding academic findings have been published that serve to negate conventional theories. I hope to find students who are eager to pursue their research interests in this burgeoning field. In class, students will also be invited to participate in "practical research" as well.
2.
Japanese tea ceremony, ikebana, the iemoto system, michi (way), shugyo (austere training)
3.
Japanese Society of CHANOYU (Director), Japanese Society for History of the Performing Arts Research, Japan Society for Intercultural Studies, and Kyushu Art Society. Involved in recent years in externally funded research on the Japanese literati from the latter half of the Edo period.
4.
Office: E208
E-mail: kagey[at]kobe-u.ac.jp
URL: http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/group/Nihongaku/teachers/kageyama/kageyama.html

 

Terauchi Naoko
1.
In this course, I explore how culture is formed and altered through research into music and performing arts. My own specialty is the restorative study of ancient forms of gagaku (Japan's ceremonial court music) and how they have been transformed in modern times, but I welcome students who are interested in music and performing arts from any era or geographic region. In contemporary Japan, one cannot discuss Japanese music without mentioning the country's international relationships with Europe and the United Sates, as well as other countries in Asia. In my classes, students will be trained in the analysis and description of forms of music and performing arts. They are also encouraged to study the history and background of such arts (formation, transformation, and exchange), the social statuses of musicians and performers, and the significance of their existence in society, as a part of a broad attempt to study music and performing arts from various perspectives.
2.
Tradition, music, performing arts, gagaku, acculturation
3.
Society for Research in Asiatic Music, Musicological Society of Japan, Institute for Okinawan Studies, International Council for Traditional Music, Society for Ethnomusicology
4.
Office: E-210
E-mail: naokotk[at]kobe-u.ac.jp
URL: http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/staff/gakunone/, http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/group/Nihongaku/teachers/terauchi/terauchi.html

 

Kinoshita Motoichi
1.
My original research specialty is the narrative literature of Japan, but through my fieldwork the scope of my research has since expanded to include traditions and religious entertainments that still exist in many parts of the country. Japanese narrative literature and folklore are influenced by Buddhist texts and Chinese culture, and so the relationships with such foreign cultures are also covered within the scope of my research. Because Kobe University possesses valuable materials on the haiku poet Yamaguchi Seishi, I am also involved in researching haiku poetry. I would like to extend a cordial welcome to any students who are willing to delve into the studies of Japan's folk stories and traditional culture.
2.
Narrative literature, oral tradition, religious entertainments, comparison between Japan and China, traditional culture
3.
Japan Society for Intercultural Studies (Vice Chairman), Japan Society of Folk-Literature and Traditions (Standing Committee member), Narrative Literary Society, Buddhism Literature Society, and Society of Medieval Literature
4.
Office: E201
E-mail: kinosita[at]harbor.kobe-u.ac.jp
URL: http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/staff/KinositaM,
http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/group/Nihongaku/teachers/kinosita/kinosita978.html