英文摘要 |
The term “Tung-yang” (Touyou) holds different meanings in the English-, Japanese-, and Chinese-speaking worlds. In both Western and Chinese society, the center of the world was constructed, both geographically and conceptually, in terms of “we”,“us”; and “ours”, while terms such as “Tung-yang” were understood as “distant, barbarian places.” The Japanese, who prided themselves as the real descendant of Confucian culture, did not follow the Chinese interpretation of “Tung-yang” but chose to be included in the Tung-yang region, and use the term to indicate the Asian culture that they belonged to. According to Tsuda Soukichi (1873-1961), the interpretations of “Tung-yang” underwent a change in the hands of intellectuals in the early eras of modern Japan. Eliminating the idea that Confucianism is the cultural origin of Japan, they promoted the concept that Japanese philosophy was the genuine successor of Asian traditions. Furthermore, they wanted to give Japanese philosophy an universal value that would complete the dominant Western culture. Accompanying the rise of nationalism in Japan in the 1880s, Confucianism was taken as the most effective tool for justifying political issues. It was reborn into a brand new “Asian discourse” which took form in such key phrases as “Tung-yang philosophy,” “Tung-yang thought” and “Tung-yang history,” to emphasize a discourse oriented towards “Tung-yang” as opposed to “Hsi-yang” (Western). The present article explores the formation and development of the term “Tung-yang” in the context of Chinese culture, as well as its definitions in modern Japan, based on the discussion of Inoue Tetsujiro (1855-1944), Okakura Tenshin(l862-1932), Nishi Shinichiro(l873-1943), Tsuda Soukichi, Tachibana Shiraki(l881-1945) and Takeuchi Yoshimi (1910-1977). A special attention is given to modern Japanese intellectuals’ self-identification and self-interpretation, their returning to, and transcending of their own culture, as well as to their efforts to uncover the Japanese unconsciousness as a rival of, and an opposition to, Western and Chinese cultures. |