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95 Capturing the Shudders and Palpitations Kuki’s Quest for a Philosophy of Life hiroshi nara The Structure of Iki is an intriguing book. Its subject might lead one to expect the worst—a treatise couched in the densely complex language of many a weighty philosophical tome. But Kuki Shūzō engages his reader directly, informally , conversationally. He makes use of everyday language and refers to aspects of Japanese culture and tradition familiar even to many Westerners today. The reader he had in mind is clearly the average educated Japanese of his time. Casual readers then and now catch the drift quite easily.1 Yet a reader inclined to linger will find Kuki’s take on iki intriguing in another sense as well. His easy conversational style involves such a reader in the writer’s quest for certainty on several levels, each quite challenging in its own way. As Thomas Rimer shows in his essay here, The Structure of Iki can be construed as a work of literature to be read in the spirit of philosophers Kuki admired, notably Alain (1869–1951) and Bergson (1859–1941). At the same time, on another level, Kuki is addressing what he had felt was desperately needed in the Japan of his time: a revitalized cultural identity. In this he appears to have been following the lead of works by his contemporaries , philosophers such as Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945) and Watsuji Tetsurō (1889–1960). A reader versed in philosophy will detect Western influences like Kant (1724–1804), Husserl (1859–1938), Bergson, and Heidegger (1889– 1976) on what amounts to a hermeneutic analysis of the phenomenon of iki. Some readers will recognize Kuki’s debt to Heidegger’s analysis of authenticity .That connection gives The Structure of Iki pride of place as the first use of Western analytical methods to open up discussion of a quintessential aspect of Japanese aesthetics—one stubbornly resistant to straightforward analysis. For all its promise of studious complexity and subtle coloration of cultural 96 Hiroshi Nara references, however, The Structure of Iki remains remarkably readable, a welcome change even for readers accustomed to the arcane writing in this field. This ease of access owes something to Kuki’s smooth shifts between concrete details and abstract thought. He may offer an inside view of the exquisite life lead by courtesans in the Edo pleasure quarters in one sentence, and in the next discuss some aspect of Platonic realism or a twist Heidegger brought to the meaning of a word. The result is a mix that refreshes and delights the mind and senses all at once—in a book that warrants rereading. Needless to say, the author of such a book piques our curiosity. We want to place him as a writer, know him as a man. Scanning his chronology at the back of this book, we yearn to get past its dry list of facts and dates. To flesh out this man, in the absence of a reliable biography, the best we can do is to sketch his life in this book, exploring such matters as formative influences , professional development, and the broader context of Japanese life at the time. Doing that will allow us to place the subject of his book in Kuki’s life and time. Since Kuki was born in 1888, he grew to maturity during a period of radical change in Japan. Pride from having become Asia’s most powerful nation fed an upswelling of nationalist feeling. Kuki’s youth was spent near the epicenter of these moments of transformation. His father, Kuki Ryūichi, was a high-level official in the Education Ministry’s division in charge of the preservation of Japanese traditional art, and the man’s devotion to Japanese culture was a powerful influence on his son. Another early influence was also an official in the ministry, Okakura Tenshin (1862–1913).This highly intellectual man was more than a colleague; hewas also Kuki’s mentorand family friend.2 As a young man Kuki was in many respects typical of the fin de siècle aesthete in the West. He was an accomplished amateur, a budding man of letters attracted to romantic, self-consciously decadent poetry and to study of the exquisitely demanding Edo sensibilities typified by iki.3 He immersed himself in the works of Nagai Kafū (1879–1959). Books like Kanraku (Pleasure), Reishō (Smile of contempt) and Sumidagawa (Sumida river) appear to have sparked Kuki...

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