kyoto school putative fascism / graham parkes

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The Putative Fascism of the Kyoto School and the Political Correctness of the ModernAcademy

Author(s): Graham ParkesSource: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Jul., 1997), pp. 305-336Published by: University of Hawai'i PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1399908 .

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THE PUTATIVE FASCISM OF THE KYOTO SCHOOL GrahamarkesAND THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OF THEMODERN ACADEMY

Inthe contextf theflourishingf Asian nd comparativehilosophyin Europe nd the Americas ver thepastfewdecades,thestudy f

Japanesehilosophyas remainedelativelynderdeveloped.here reseveral easons or hissomehavingo do with hefields fexpertisefthescholarswho learnedJapanese anguage nd culturen connec-tionwith he Second WorldWar),but recent rendwithin he NorthAmericancademyeopardizeshe tudyf hemost ccessible rea of

Japanese hilosophy:wentieth-centuryhought-andhephilosophyfthe o-called Kyoto chool nparticular.nd f cholarshipn his rea

declines,he

studyfearlier

iguresnd schools n thetradition

aybe correspondinglynhibited.amreferringo thecurrentashion,vi-dent n thework f several iguresnJapanesend Buddhisttudies,f

brandinghinkersssociatedwith heKyoto chool,such as NishidaKitar6, uki hozo,and Nishitani eiji, s merefascistr imperialistideologues, ith he mplicationhat heir ork sphilosophicallyuga-tory. he neo-Marxistevisionismhathas been sweepingat leastacorner f)thefield fJapanologyhreatensosuppresspendiscussionof ome mportantdeas-and therebyisksalling, ith ad irony,ntofascismf he eft. 1

Myprojects to consider ritical reatmentsf the

Kyotochool

thinkerst the hands f TetsuoNajita ndH. D. Harootunian,ernardFaure,Karatani Ojin,ndLesliePincus. twill urnutthat he extual

passages hey ite,when hey ocite exts,ail osupportheirriticisms,usually ecausetheygnorehe ontexthistorical,ntratextual,rboth)ofthepassages hey xcerpt.ndeed, he cholarshipehind hese riti-cisms s, ngeneral, oor-and insome cases even rresponsible,ivenhow seriouslyccusations f fascism r ultranationalismeed to betakenn the urrentlobal-politicallimate. nd incemost fthepeo-ple attackingheKyotochool hinkersreprominentntheir ields,ndintherelevant ritingsublished yrespectable niversityresses,heir

criticismsall all themore rgentlyor response.To criticize hecritics, owever,s not to condone thepolitical

writingsf heKyoto chool hinkers.omeof hiswork s indeed rob-lematic nd raises rucial uestionsoncerningherelations etween

philosophicalndpolitical iscourse.2utratherhan reat hese ssueshere,my oncern swithxposinghemisconceptionseneratedypre-maturedeological ritiques.nd lthoughhe ocuswillbe on criticismsof a particularchool ofJapanese hilosophy,hesereflectionsertain

ProfessorfPhilosophyat heUniversityfHawai'i ndVisitingScholar,eischauerInstitutefJapaneseStudiestHarvardUniversity

Philosophyast WestVolume 7,NumberJuly997305-336

? 1997

by JniversityfHawai'i ress

305

This content downloaded from 151.100.101.138 on Fri, 30 May 2014 17:04:16 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions






moregenerallyopoliticallyorrectcholarshipn Asian tudies-andculturaltudiesmore enerally.

ABackgroundketchThe so-called KyotoSchool of philosophy ad itsbeginnings

throughheassociation fthe two foremostapanese hinkersf thiscentury, ishidaKitarOnd TanabeHajime,who met s colleagues t

Kyoto niversityn1918.By he ndof he hirtieseveral ther igureshad become associatedwith hem:notablyMikiKiyoshi, isamatsuShin'ichi, nd Nishitani eiji. WatsujiTetsur6 nd KukiShazO also

taughtt KyotoUniversity,uttheir ssociationwith he School waslooser. erhapsne factorhat onduced o theformationf schoolconcerned omethinghatmost f thesethinkersid notshare, ndwere sharplyriticized y some of their olleagues TosakaJun n

particular)ornotsharing,nd thatwas an enthusiasticevotion o

Marxism.Duringhe hirties,apan's ledglingemocracy as far romhriving.It was a time f militaristxpansion broadand ultranationalismnd

fascist-stylehoughtontrolthome. ut hese evelopments,nsalubrious

thoughheywere,have o be seen n hebroader istoricalontext. artof the motivationorJapan'smodernizationas a feelingf vulnera-

bilityccasionedbycolonial xpansion n thepart fthemajorworld(Western)owers. n one hand he onsiderable ightndbulk ftheUnited tates erepushingnfromhe ast, ventuallyeachingsfarsthePhilippines,hile n the therheEuropean owerswere dvancing

throughndiaand Indo-Chinao Chinaitself,nd the Russianswere

layinglaim o the slandso thenorthfJapan.3As internationalensionsncreased uringhethirties,he national

moodbecamepeculiarlymbivalent.herewas a feelingfresentment

againstWesternmperialismnd at thesame time growingense of

prideunderstandablen the ircumstances)nJapan's bilityodefenditselfnd to establishtselfs the eading ower n newworld rderthatwould xtendhroughoutsia as a counterbalanceo theWestern

powers.nthe ate hirtiesndearly orties,round he ime f heout-break fthe PacificWar, everalmembersf theKyoto chool-most

notablyNishida, anabe,Watsuji,nd Nishitani-began o turn heir

attentiono political hilosophyndpublished number f texts hathad definiteight-wingnd nationalistichemes nd tones to them.

Though hesewritingsnd discussions ere ctually xcoriatedythe

rightistsn themilitarynd thegovernmentt thetime for otbeingrightistnough),heywereust s sharplyriticizedy heMarxistsfterthe war for eingtoo rightist).ishitaniwas even relieved fhis teach-

ingposition or everalyearsbytheoccupationauthorities ecause of his

putative ontributiono wartime ropaganda.hilosophyast West

306







During he fiftiesnd sixties greater umber fJapanesedeas

began o beexportedotheWest,hanksn arge artothework fD. T.Suzuki. t was notuntil heearly ighties, owever, hen more f therelevantexts egan o become vailable nEnglishranslation,hat heideas oftheKyoto choolphilosopherseganto arrive n the United

Statesnrelativeorce.4 utgiven heprevailinglimatenmainstreamAnglo-Americanhilosophyitsgeneral thnocentrismndtendencyofocus n linguisticnalysis),hese deasfound ospitable eceptionessinphilosophyepartmentshan n schools ftheologynddepartmentsofreligioustudies.Thusmostoftheearly nthusiastsftheKyotoSchool cametobe interestedrimarilyn hereligiousndsoteriologicalaspects f hephilosophy,nd not n tspolitical imensionsr mplica-tions.Andwhile nterestnmodern apanesehoughtas remained ighin he ield freligionwherehere asgenerallyeen greaterpennesstocomparativetudies),t sonlymore ecentlyhat thas attractedhe

attentionf fewprofessionalhilosophers.Around he ime hat he deasof theKyoto choolwerebeginningtogaincurrency,onsiderablehangesweretaking lace inJapanesestudiesn heUnited tates. sthewinds f ntellectualashion lusteredandveered, ariouswaves ofneo-Marxist,econstructionist,ndpost-modern evisionismolled cross hefield. nreactiongainstheten-dency o find hings apanesenterestingecausedifferent,ommen-tators ntoxicated ith deasofdiffdrancend alteritdowbegantoaccuse theJapanese fmerelyconstructinghemselvess different,and a veritable econstructionndustryotunderway o show hathey

reallyren't s Other s

they'diketo think. he

goodneo-Marxists

among hese cholars aturallyollowed heJapaneseMarxistsn criti-cizing hephilosophyf theKyoto choolthinkers,heirmoodappar-ently xacerbatedywhat hey erceived s uncriticalnthusiasmnthepartof non-Japanologistcholars n thecontemporarymericanacademy.

The politicalwritingsf theKyoto chool thinkerseserve o betranslatednddiscussed,ince hey ontainmuch f nterestoncerningtherelationsmongphilosophyndpoliticsnd culture-even f heirtone ssometimes ationalistic.ut nstead fdiscussionhere as beena tendencyimplyodenigratehe authors fthese exts ymeansof

vague generalizationnd innuendo. here s heavy ronynthewaysomeof he riticseployFoucault'sdeasaboutknowledgendpoweragainst heir pponents-yet efrainrompplyinghem o their wncases.KnowledgefJapaneseeems oempowerhepromotionf ne'sviews untrammeledyconsiderationsfresponsible cholarship, oten-tialopponentsbeingpresumed mpotent ithrespect othe sources.

Another eature f this yndromes thefrequent ttempto establish

guiltby association,especiallywithrespect o the vexed case of Hei- Grahamarkes

307







degger's elationsithNazism. omecriticsf heKyotochool ct s ifthis ase were rystallear-thatHeidegger'snvolvementithNationalSocialism uringhe thirtiesitiates isphilosophys a whole-suchthatmerelyomentionhename Heidegger nd call attentiono hisinfluencen theKyoto choolthinkerss deemed ufficiento damn

their orks s politicallyernicious.lthoughheHeideggerontroversycontinuesogeneratemoreheat han ight, ith rdent nthusiastsndvehementetractorsritingast ach other thigh olume,here re nfact ome intriguingarallels etweenhiscase and that f theKyotoSchoolthinkers ho were influencedyhim. ftheseparallelswereto be examined hrougheflectiveiscussions f theproblematicextson both ides,we mightearn omehelpfulhingsbouttherelationsbetween hilosophicaldeas ndpoliticalctualities.

Itwouldbe impertinentopassgeneraludgmentn the cholarshipof thecriticsbout o be discussed:my im ssimplyo evaluate heir

criticismsfthepoliticsftheKyoto choolhinkers.n the nterestsf

keepinghis esponseoa reasonableength,heprimaryocuswillbeon Nishitani eiji, or longwithNishidahe seems to takethe mainbruntf he riticism.ut shall lso considerhe ase ofKuki hOzO,n

importanthinkerboutwhom ittle asbeen writtennEnglish,incemost f whathas beenwrittenbouthim tands odiscourage urtherdiscussionfhis deas.

The Fascism f heKyoto actionIn volume6 of TheCambridge istoryfJapan here s a con-

tributionitled JapaneseRevolt gainst he West: Political nd Cul-

turalCriticismn the Twentiethentury, yTetsuoNajita nd H. D.Harootunian.n thecourse f an illuminatingccount ftheprojectf

situatingapan's ulturaldentityis-a-visheWest, he authors howhow a concernwith henature fJapaneseultureended o devolveinto ssertionsf tsuniqueness-a phenomenonhats now themajorindustryfnihonjinron.tthebeginningf a section itled CulturalParticularism,hey dentifyour tudentsf Nishida'swho were sso-ciated with heKyoto chool (Nishitanimong hem) s theKyotofaction nd refero a 1941 symposiumitled The WorldHistoricalPosition ndJapan, heproceedingsfwhichwerepublishedn three

installmentsn heournal hOQkdron,ndthen s a book n 1943.Theircharacterizationf theproceedingseserves o be quotedat some

length.

[The] roup'sentralurpose as o constructhatheyalled philoso-phyfworld istoryhatould oth ccountor apan'surrentositionnddisclose he course f futurection.But closer xaminationfthis phi-losophyfworld istory eveals thinlyisguisedustification,rittenn helanguage fHegelianmetaphysics,orJapanese ggressionndcontinuinghilosophyast West

308







imperialism.nprewar apan,ogroup elped efendhe tatemoreon-sistentlynd nthusiasticallyhan id he hilosophersf heKyotoaction,and nonecame closer han hey idtodefininghephilosophicontoursf

Japaneseascism.emphasisdded]TheKyotohilosopherspecifiedishida'sntologicalonceptf space

tomean he worldtagewhere ll humanndsocialproblemsillberesolvednderapan'seadershipole.History,r heworldtage,onsistedof he nteractionf blood nd soil, conclusionlreadyeachedynumberfNazi pologists....hus espiteheirse f bstracthilosophicallanguage,heKyoto hilosophersnashamedlypoke nbehalffJapaneseimperialxpansionsthe reative omentf vast istoricalovementonewevel fhumanxcellence.5

Any mpressionhat he ermfascismmight ave beenused na mo-

mentaryccess ofhyperbolesdispelled ythe ubsequentlaimthatthemembersf theKyoto actionpenly cknowledgedheir dmira-

tion fEuropean

ascismndits wnstruggle

ith heforcesfmoder-

nity, yfurthereferenceso the fascism f theKyoto action, nd

by characterizationf someofthemembersf heKyoto action s

Japanese-styleascists. 6o ustificationsofferedor he pplicationfthisharshabel,nor nyevidence eyond briefuotationrom sec-ondaryource ating rom 958.

Althoughrief,he account fthesymposiums flawed n several

respects.or nething,here re differencesmong hevoices nd deasofthefour articipants.OsakaMasaaki ndK6yamawaocome acrossas morevehement hanNishitani eijiand SuzukiShigetaka, hoseutterancesend o be moremoderate.7t sunhelpfulotalk f thefas-cismoftheKyoto action r thepolitical erniciousnessf theKyotoSchool ngeneral,nviewofthewidevarietyfpositionseldby heindividualmembers. ndif uch labels are then ppliedwith imilar

disparagementothinkerss differents Nishida, anabe,Watsuji,ndNishitani,ll the nterestingssues ecome bfuscated. hat srequiredinstead reresponsibleeadingsf hewritingsf achparticularhinker,onthebasisofwhich hat hinker'soliticaldeascan be evaluated.

Second,thecriticismf the Kyoto action or heirustificationof Japaneseggressionndcontinuingmperialismssomewhatne-sided, n viewofthe arger istoricalontext.Withoutmeaningo ex-

tenuate heatrocitieserpetratedytheJapanesemilitaryuringhethirties,necan observe hathe ppositionf heKyotochool hinkersto British,utch, nd Americanmperialistxpansion n East-Asiasnot implyroundless. hilenationalismften as disastrousffects,nthe form f resistance gainst imperialistic xpansion it can be quiteunderstandable-unlessone insists n judging he views of academics in

Japanduring heearlyforties ythe standards f American oliticalcor-rectness f the nineties. he point s notto condoneJapanese ggression Graham arkes

309







duringheperiodnquestion, or oabsolve heKyoto choolphilos-opherswhosupportedt,butratheroemphasizehe omplexityfthehistoricalnd political ontext nd thequalified ature f thephilos-ophers' upportf heirovernment.

Anotherhortcomingf he ccountnTheCambridge istorys the

omission fsomerelevantircumstancesurroundinghesymposium.Anessaydetailinghese ircumstancesnd theirmplications,asedona careful eading ftheproceedingsnd relevantecondaryiteratureinJapanese,savailable nEnglish.8t s importanto know hat eitherthe ccountpublishederiallynChiidkronnor he bookTheWorld-HistoricaltandpointndJapans a full raccurate ranscriptf hedis-cussions: heywere bothheavily dited, veiling tatementsntwo orthreeayersfcloth, norder o avoidbeing uppressedy he uthor-ities.9 he main heme f thefirstessionNovember 941)was origi-nally How to avoid war withheUnited tates], ut twaschangedafterhe ttackn PearlHarbor o How to

bringhewar o a

favorableend as soon as possible,n a way rationallycceptable o theArmy. 10Since theJapanese rmywas farmore ellicose ndpowerfulhan henavy,whichhad some linesof communicationo theKyoto choolthinkers,he xtensiveriticismsf he rmynd GeneralT~jOthatwereintheoriginalranscriptsadto be expurgated.his efthemisleadingimpressionf total upportor hewareffortmong heKyotochoolthinkers.

Furthermore,venthe dited ranscriptsf he ymposiumere m-

mediatelyttackedy henationalistss being ootame, seditious ndanti-war. hereactionf he

rmyothe1943

publicationas to order

the uppressionfpublic ctivitiesy he Kyoto action ndforbidnyfurtherrintuns f the book or mention f theirdeasin thepress. 1These circumstances akeNajita's nd Harootunian'slaim that in

prewar apan o grouphelpeddefend he statemore onsistentlyndenthusiasticallyhandid thephilosophersf theKyoto action ookratherubious.More ppropriateandidates or his onorwouldbe thezealous proponentsf the officialImperialWay philosophykodotetsugaku],uch as InoueTetsujir6.) or stheiralk f theKyoto ac-tion's defininghephilosophicontoursfJapaneseascism nybetter

grounded-especially hen ne considershat ascismends, y ts erynature,o lack philosophicontours. 12

The general oint, hen, oncerns he mportancefsituatinghepoliticalutterancesf philosophersn appropriate istoricalontext.Appealto nationalistentimentna countryustifiablypprehensiventheface ofcontinuing esternmperialismeans omethingery if-ferent romfor xample) its ignificancena countryustreleased fromthe domination f a superpowernd eagerfor elf-assertionn thenewestworldorder. f we are to think bout such historical ssues in terms fhilosophyast West

310







theirotentialorlluminatingimilar,ontemporaryroblems-and hisis surelyhemostfruitfulayto thinkbout them-we mustnever-theless ry o understandhe earlier henomenan their ullhistoricalcontext.

What heCambridge istoryrticlemisses nd a readingfthe ext

of hediscussionseveals,s HorioTsutomu asemphasized,sthat hetitle heWorld-HistoricaltandpointndJapanndicatesgenuineffortbytheparticipantso articulateapan's otentiallace among he ead-

ingnations rom world-historicalerspectiveatherhan neofmerenationalismnd imperialism.hile hey o discussGobineau nd histheoryoncerningpurityf blood -which was a major ourceforNaziracism-they pecificallyejectt nfavorfLeopoldRanke's deaof moral nergy. his, s Koyama emarks,as nothingo do withblood but s ratherconcentratedn hepeople f country'kokumin]

culturallyndpolitically. 13

Afterinkinghe Kyoto action o the Nazisbyspuriousalkofblood andsoil, Najita ndHarootunianrieflyonsider he ttemptnthe secondsymposiumo provide moralustificationor hePacificWar. While theproceedingso contain omeflimsyationalizations,there s also a sincere ttempto elaborate philosophyor new

pluralistic orldorder -even ifthe idea is forJapan o occupya

positionf eadershipnthis lurality.orioprovidesnaccount f his

attemptnd showshowfar emovedt s fromthe tandpointfNazismand fascism as fromheviewsof the Nazi apologistswithwhich

Najita nd Harootunianant oassociate t).14 his trong luralistndinternationalisthrustn the world-historical

hinkingf the

KyotoSchool,whichwas initiatedyNishida nd elaborated yNishitani,is somethingheir ritics end o overlook r ignore. he critical er-spective eeds obe broadened-beyond everelydited ranscriptsf

symposia eld on the eve and morningf a horrendous ar-and toinclude exts heKyoto chool thinkersublishedround hat ime nsimilaropics.15

Incase these riticismsftheNajita ndHarootunianontributionseemexcessive, should emarknthe pecialplace itoccupies n theliterature.hechaptern TheCambridge istory illbe consulted or

many ears ocomeby peoplewithouthebackgroundoevaluate he

validityf what hey ind here,nd the eminence ftheauthors illdiscourage eaders romskingwhetherhepicture heygiveofthe

Kyoto choolmaybe distortedhroughdeological ias.

The Youthful rrors f NishitaniKeijiA similarposture s to be found n a workbyBernardFaure,Chan

Insightsnd Oversights, hichotherwise ontainssome interestinge-

visioning faspects of the Buddhist radition.16n the course of a brief Grahamarkes

311







discussionf thepostwar yoto chool at the nd of a chapteritledZen Orientalism, aure eiteratesn earlier laim hat thedevelop-

ment f the nationalistendenciesn Nishida's houghtan be seen inthe work fhisdisciples. 17 e thenquotescommentsy Nishitaniwhichhesays omefromtheJanuary942symposiumTheStandpoint

ofWorldHistoryndJapan' :18

Is itnot hat he oliticalonsciousnessf heGermanssmore dvanced?I believe oo hatnpeopleuch s Hitlerhe onsciousnessf henecessityto restoren interiorrders clearerhan nJapaneseulers.... lthoughtodayhe ariouseoplesf heEast aveno nationalonsciousnessn heEuropeanay, his sperhapschance or he onstructionf he GreaterEastAsia]Coprosperityphere.. because tmeans hat heyrebeing on-stitutedspeople f heCoprosperityphereromJapaneseointfview.[ellipsesn riginal]

Faure's omment n thispassage

s: As far s Iknow,

Nishitani asnevermanifestednyregretor uchyouthfulrrors,orhas this spectof his work verbeendiscussed monghisdisciples. But t s bynomeans learwhat hese youthfulrrors onsistn.Afterll, nJanuaryof 1942Nishitani asforty-oneears ld andJapan ad ust nteredheWaron the ide ofGermany.shis ayinghat he eader fJapan's ri-mary llywas more learlyonscious f heneedto restoren interiororder hanwere the eaders f his owncountry eally omethingorwhichheshouldhave manifestedegret ?

What he other youthfulrrorsmight e is harder o ascertain,especiallyincethewords fterhefirstllipsis re not o be found n

thepagecited nFaure's ootnoteo the uotation-nor ithinherangean ellipsis ormallyonnotes.19hey urn utto be not directuota-tion ut atherfree araphrasefremarksyNishitanihatppear few

pages ater-the orce fwhich an be appreciatednly nthecontextof whatfollows nd precedes hem.Reflectingn the lls of Western

imperialism,ishitanibserves hat nglish,utch, nd Americanolo-nialismn Malaysia, ndonesia, nd thePhilippines ave followed

strategyfguaranteeinghepeoples hey olonize relativelyomfort-ableexistence-whilectually ursuingolicies fexploitationa kindof opiumpolicy, he calls it).20He then mphasizes isconcern hat

Japan ot all nto his ind frole nEastAsia.For xample,ach of thepeopleshatmake p Europe as reached nextremelyighevel. y ontrast,nGreaterast sia he nlyne, enerallyspeaking,o have eachedhe ame evelsJapan,hile he thereopleshave emainedor hemostartt muchowerevel. hismeans,think,thathe ask fgraduallyringinghose eoples o a higherevel,nculcatingnational warenessnthem,nd makinghem e sustainingorcesntheGreaterastAsia phere oluntarilyndautonomouslyill urn ut o bethehilosophyast West

312







uniquemissionfJapann heGreaterast sia phere.n hisespectapan'sattitudeowardhe thereoplesn heGreaterastAsia phereas oberadicallyifferentn piritromhe uropeanttitude.21

WhatNishitanis actuallyaying erehardlyeems o egregiouss to

require ubsequentepentancenpublic. erhaps

hiskind f alk ouldlend tself,s critics avefeared,o appropriationynationalistdeol-

ogies, but he act hat heultranationalistsnpower tthe ime ctuallycensuredNishitaniorhisopinions an diminishuranxietyverthis

point.His attitude aybe elitistndcondescending,ut t shardlyas-cistic;nd thenationalisticone stemperedyhis oncern hat he thernations f EastAsiadevelop senseof nationalelf-awareness,lbeitunder apan's uidance.

Nishitani'sermhigh evel takai uijun) s admittedlyomewhat

vague.Butwhile tmaybe,fromheneo-Marxisterspectivef radical

egalitarianism,n error oclaim hat

apansculturallyuperior

o its

neighborsnEastAsia,to thoseof us who believe hat ome cultureshavereached higherevel han thers ishitani'slaimmaynot ppearobviouslyrroneous. hepoliticallyorrectonceit hat nyclaimof

superiorityrinferioritysper e suspectsexertingn especiallytulti-

fyingffectn several reas nAsian tudies. ne can dismiss he udi-crousexcessesofnihonjinronnd stillplausiblylaim that-with heobvious xception f China-the historyfJapanese ultures richerthan hose f tsEastAsianneighbors.Put esscontentiously:ne could

argue-on thebasisofJapan's ontributionsnthefields fpoetryndthenovel, rama ndtheater, usic nddance,painting,rchitecture,and film-thathecountryasmore o offer ell-informedtudentsfculturentheWest.)

Faurecalls for an ideological ritique f thethoughtf con-

temporaryyoto choolphilosophers-addinghat as in the case of

Heidegger,e cannot elp skingo what xtenthephilosophicalext'is affectedn itscontent ythe deological nd politicalcontext'. 22

Though t is unclearwhetherucha critiquewould be a critique f

ideology r would tself e ideological, ne can concur n the mpor-tanceofconsideringhilosophicalexts ntheir oliticalontexts. ut fFaurewants o regard he edited ranscriptionf Nishitani's emarks

concerning itlers a philosophicalext, he relevantontext ouldsurely e anydiscussionsf Hitler hatNishitani ight avepublishedaround hat ime.One findsustsuch a discussionntheconcludingessay f bookoriginallyublishedn1940,ShakyCobunkaReligionand culture),na brief ection itled HittorAndono seishin Thespiritof the Hitlermovement). 23ince thispiece is the one that Nishitani'sdetractorsmost love to hate, itdeserves a briefdiscussionbefore we

proceed. Grahamarkes

313







If ne reads eyondhe itle f TheSpiritf heHitlerMovement,itbecomes lear hatNishitani'sttitudeowardHitler,s distinctromthespirithat nimatedhemovement,s deeply mbivalent. hat tfirstmpressedim n hisreadingfMeinKampfwas pparentlyhefactthatHitlerppeared o be adoptinga standpointf brutenature'n

order o establish newspirit. 24o appreciate hat sgoing n here,one must ealize he xtent o whichNishitanisrespondingofeaturesof the Hitlermovementhat ppeared imilar o ideas he already d-mired nNietzsche.25n viewofhisenthusiasmorNietzsche rom hetime f hisyouth,t shardlyurprisinghatNishitanihould ind on-

genialHitler's irade gainsthedecadenceof modern urope ndthe

pettinessfutilitarianationalism,s wellas hiscall for reconnectionwith rute ature nd theroots f nstinct.Onemightecall hatNishi-taniwrote his ssaynot ong fter isreturnromurope, here ehadspenttwo yearsstudying ithHeidegger t the time of his fam-

ous lecture-coursesn Nietzsche.) ut o understand ishitanin thisissue, t snecessarynturn o avoidthe ommonmisunderstandingsfNietzsche'sdeas.

Readers utraged yNietzsche'salk f rueltyndviolence, orn-stance, enerallyail o notice hat e sadvocatingrueltynd violencetoward neself,n thepractice f self-discipline,ather han towardothers.26 nd when Nietzsche istinguisheshe nobletype f human

beingfrom he common yits apacity or elf-sacrifice,hich eemsmotivatedypassion ndcontraryoreason,whathe admiress itsdis-

regardor alculatingts wn nterest.ietzsche's litismndhispraisefor n

aristocracyftalentmakehimunsentimentalhen t comes to

supportinghedecadent ndsuccoringheweak-but this nsentimen-talityoes notmakehim he dvocate fbarbarismhat o many riticshavemadehim ut o be.What smissingn Hitlerandthe ntire azi

appropriationf Nietzsche'sdeas),therefore,re two keyelements:Nietzsche'smphasisn thediscipliningf hedrivesndpassions or

renaturalizationfthe humanbeing nd on the reflexiveurn hatmakepossible he elf-knowledgendcontemptor neself hat rethesinequibusnon for he difficultaskofself-overcomingo whichhecalls his serious eaders.Hitler's anatical ationalismnd rabid nti-Semitism-tendenciestterlyespised y hemature ietzsche-further

distancehisenterpriserom he Nietzschean roject hat ppealstoNishitani.

Theaspect ftheHitlermovementhat idnot ppealtoNishitaniwas Hitler's acism nd hisravingsbout he naturaluperiorityfthe

Aryans-especiallyince hey reaccompanied yderogatoryemarksabout theJapanese.27Although hose remarkswere excised, fordiplo-maticreasons,from heJapanesetranslation f Mein Kampf,Nishitaniread the unexpurgatedGermanedition. n the same vein, he and hishilosophyast West

314







colleaguesrejected,n the symposiumiscussed bove, Gobineau'sideas aboutracialpurity.

There s,however,ne point nNishitani'siscussion ftheHitlermovementnwhichhe appears odiverge romheNietzscheanine,andthat swherehetalks avorablyfHitler'sxcoriationsfegoistic

self-preservationndexhortationso ndividualsobe preparedosacri-fice hemselvesor he ake ofthegreaterommunityf henation.28ncondoningheassociation fself-sacrificeith he dea ofthenation,Nishitanixhibits disconcertinglindnesso thedangers ftotalitari-anism. hispart f his ext eservesarefulxamination-optimallyyan inquirer ho firststablishes comprehensivenderstandingftheethicallyisconcertingronouncementsere anunderstandingf hemincontextnd inawareness ftherelevantnfluenceshatmaybe atwork) eforeushingo udgment.t nyrate,nthis ssayNishitanie-frains romevelopinghe heme fgivingne's life or henation, ordoes it

appear o be elaborated n hisotherwritingsrto be part famajor hemenhis hinkings a whole.29 isapproval fHitler ntheglories f theultimateelf-sacrificesperhapsobe ascribed oa tem-poraryccess ofnationalisticeelingnNishitani'sart,n he ontext fan unprecedentednternationalrisis.

Nishitani's ajor oncern nthis ext, owever,s to attain newstandpointhat nables he ndividualo be connected otonly o thenation ut lso towhathecalls worldhumanity. 30nd o,whilehesees Hitler'sttemptocombat he lls fmodern urope y he ttemptto overcomehe modernpirit ndestablish newethos s at leasta

stepnthe

rightirection, e

points pthe limitationsfsuch an

approach ndcriticizestfor eingnarrowlyationalistic.

It sclear hatHitler's]tandpointackshe deals fhumanityndworld-citizenshipsdeveloped.. in he arlierermandea f piritualife, hichwas a transformationf he onceptfuniversalove nChristianity.lti-mately,t acks he eligiousimension.31

What s necessary,orNishitani,s to go beyond hephaseofbrutenaturalismy supersedingt, othatpiritanreappears raw ife. 32Inthisway,reason ndspiritnda cosmopolitanenseofhumanityanbe preserved,nd a totalitarian iewof henation e avoided.

Theessay ndsbyentertaininghepossibilityhat synthesisftheethos fConfucianismwithts mphasisn suchpracticaloncernssethics, olitics,nd economics) nd Zen (which imsto transcendordinaryeason ndspiritndmanifesttselfmmediatelys raw ife )mighthelp to resolve the current risis n Europe-in which case theJapanesespiritwould forthe first imeattain world-historicalignifi-cance. 33 This is a prefigurationf thepositionNishitani dopts in theChadkaron symposia,thoughwhat he is sayinghere,when read in Grahamarkes

315







politicallyorrectircles,maybe drowned utbythesoundof knee-

jerkingnreactionohis alk f theJapanese pirit. incethe urrentculturalituationnEuropend Americawouldbenefit,nmy pinion,fromn injectionf hekinds fConfuciannd Zen ideasNishitaniis-cusses, findwhatever ationalisticlementshere re nthis ssay o be

relativelyolerable.fhis enthusiasmverJapan's mminentntranceonto he tage fworld istoryppears verlydealistic,nemightecallthat ehad ust eturnedromwoyearsnEurope, here e wouldhave

experiencedtfirstand range fEurocentricrejudicesn he ontextofa generallyismal ituation,o whichhisenthusiasmver heJapa-nese piritmayhavebeena reaction.

The point f this xcursion as not been to exonerateNishitanibut rathero emphasize hecomplexityf the nterpretativeituation.Ifmoraludgmentsretobe made, heyneeda firmerasis than hecitationutofcontextf napprovingemarkboutHitler.

Nishitani'sncorrectdeology-RepriseFaure's riticismsfNishitaniould be dismisseds a merelyn-

cidental olemic f t weren't or hefact hathe amplifieshem nabroader reatmentf theKyoto chool thathe contributedo a multi-author olume fJapanesetudies.34n this ater ssay, he ection or-

merlyitled The Postwar yoto chool s called Nishitani eiji ndthePostwar yotochool ndbeginswithn inauspiciouseferenceothe philosophical'ctivityf thepostwar yotochool. 35 Since the

word pparentlyacks n original,hequotationmarks round philo-sophical must e intendeds scare quotes. rofessionalhilosopherswillbe impressedy he nsouciance ithwhich onphilosophersnthefield fJapaneserBuddhisttudies repreparedo claim hat hephi-losophy f theKyoto chool s notreally hilosophy.ne might ave

thoughthatn his omain hedictum It akes neto know ne wouldhold;butFaure-whosereferenceso the enchanted ircle fphiloso-phy nd to Nishitani'sphilosophical'tatementsuggest e saboveit ll-apparently nows etter.36

This ime round,hequotationf Nishitani'semarkn the econd

Cha6dkronymposiums at leastgivensome context-thoughhestatementThese ymposiadvocated otalwar s theunificationfall

dimensionsfhuman ife s a misleadingharacterizationf thepro-ceedings.37aure ontinues:

Admittedly,apanesentellectualsikeNishitaniid not ommitnywarcrimendperhapsheynewittlebout hose ommittedn he ame f heJapanesemperor.ishitani'soliticalosition,ikeNishida's,emainederyabstract,emovedromctualpoliticalvents. ut t spreciselyhis endencytoward bstraction,hichwill characterize is later eligiousnd supra-historical hought-thatould be seenas a withdrawalrom he phere fhilosophyast West

316







concretection, kindftrahisonesclercshat eaves he ieldpen ofascism-iftdoesnot ctivelyndorsend egitimizet. t s the ame en-dencyowardbstractionr dealizationhat ouldmake hemperial ysti-que or heNazimystiqueor eidegger)ook oseductive,nd hatllowedthemoregards incidentalhe iolencehatollowedcf. acoue-Labarthe1987, 1).

Here we havethesamekind fassociation f Nishitani'sdeaswithfascism s we found n themore irect,hough o betterubstantiated,assertionsfNajita ndHarootunian.

Insofars theproblem ppears o be a tendencyoward bstrac-tion, ne has to wonderhowcarefullyaurehasreadthetexts e iscriticizing.nthesymposia,he political ositions xpressedre re-markablyoncreteespeciallyor discussionmong our hilosophers):theparticipantsreassessinghephilosophicalmplicationsfthecur-rent istoricalituationnresponseo actualpoliticalvents hatwere

unfolding,s itwere, efore heir ery yes. Theoutbreakf hePacificWaroccurred hirteenays fterhefirstession.)As Horio emarks,heattempts-howevernsuccessful-byheKyotochool hinkersocometoa rationalnderstandingfthehistoricalrisis nwhichJapan ounditselfttheend of 1941were nthat ontextxceptional.38ndwhatdistinguishesishitani'slater eligiousnd suprahistorical'hought sprecisely isabiding oncernwithproblemsfhistory-especiallysevidenced nthetwomajor exts auregoeson todiscuss.39he con-tentionhatNishitani'stendencyoward bstraction ade the m-perialmystiqueook o seductive sequally roundless.40nview f hefact hatNishitanis

distinguishedrom is

olleagues yhaving irtuallynothingo sayabouttheemperor,nd littlemore boutthe nationalpolity kokutai),nehastosuppose hat aure shere onfusing ishi-taniwithNishida, hodoes talk bout he mperorystem.

WhenFaure inally ets round oposing omepertinentuestions,they urn ut o be merelyhetorical.

Oneof hemanyornsf hehermeneuticalilemmaould eexpressedsfollows:ywhat ightould neputNishitanin trial?ndyet, ow ouldone avoiddoingo? As far s I know, ishitanias nevermanifestednyregretor uch outhfulrrors,or as hisspectfhisworkver een is-cussed

mongis

isciples.41Finally e areback othe arlierext-thoughhe ntecedentf suchis now so far waythat henature ftheseyouthfulrrorss evenmoreobscure. heprosecutionmageryuggestshat here ssomething oregoingon than ntellectualnquiry, utthe resolution fthedilemma s in

any case simple.One would have the right o putNishitani n trial ftherewere good groundsfor upposinghimguilty f a crime whetherjuridicalor intellectual). ince such groundshave notbeen provided, o Grahamarkes

317







avoidputtingim ntrialwill carcely rain ur moral nd intellectualenergies.

Fauregoeson to invoke hilippe acoue-Labarthegain, ndspe-cifically is criticismf Heidegger's ostwar ilenceconcerning is

espousal fNational ocialism,norder oconclude hat

[what e houldindmost]isturbings hat ishitani,ike eidegger,liade,ordeMan,whilessuminghe tatusf maFtrepenser-andnhis aseeven f nenlightenedpiritualaster-foraterenerations,emainedilentabout is ast.42

Asidefromhefact hatwe still aven't een toldwhat hese rimes reaboutwhichNishitanihouldhavespoken ut, heanalogywithHei-

deggersmisleading.eideggeroined heNazipartys a public igure,therebyndorsingtsracism nd anti-Semitism,fwhichhe was wellaware towhateverxtent e personallymaynot have subscribed othem).Whateverrrorsecommitted,ishitaniefusedoalignhimself

publicly ith apanese mperialistsrultranationalists-ande specifi-cally rejectedhe racism ftheEuropean ascistsnorder o promotea world-historicaliewofJapan's otentialole n the nternationalorder.

Faure henproceeds o a newdiscussion,f Nishitani's949 textTheSelf-OvercomingfNihilism.n thistext,he claims: Nishitaniblames hewaron Western ihilismnd its nfluencenJapanesem-

perialists,ndhe advocates returno theJapaneseradition,ithouteverrealizinghat heideology f tradition as itself cause of thewar. 43 his tatementouldunderstandablyeter hepotentialeader

of Nishitani'sookfromvenbotheringopick tup,so bizarrelyaivedoesits uthor'sontentionound.ButFaure's tatementssimplyalse:theres nota singlemention f the war in TheSelf-OvercomingfNihilism,aressa claim hattwasoccasionedby Western ihilism.Nordoes Nishitanidvocate a returnotheJapaneseraditionnanysimple ense; gainfollowing ietzsche,e callsfor creativeeappro-priationf certain lements f the tradition:The point s to recoverthecreativityhatmediateshepast othefuturendthefutureo the

past butnot o restorebygonera). 44Inthe ourse f later arragefquestions,aure gain ouches n

an importantoint:Howdo the deologicalommitmento wartimeffortndthe ack f nylater isavowalffecthe houghtf Nishitani?re heymerelyccidents,temporaryailures,hateave is hilosophyasicallyntact,rdotheyeavean indelibletigma?.. Do they ot fflictr shatterhewhole ystemyrevealingts lindpot?45

These are important uestions,but insteadof tryingo answer themFauresimply sserts:hilosophyast West

318







It s mportanto cknowledgehe ossibilityf continuityetween ishi-tani's artimeritingsndhis ostwarxercisesn napoliticalnd hereby'innocent'hilosophyfreligion.

Now we have care uotes round innocent -althoughhis ime heyturn utto occur na one-sentencennuendo tthe nd ofa one-page

review fa book on Nietzsche nd Asianthought.46his s a strangegesturendeed: o answer series fquestions y citing pronounce-ment y omeonewho doesn't ppear o havecontributedothedebateabouttheKyoto choolorpublished nythingelevanto it.A lookatthe argerontextf he uotationromhereviewbyWilliamHaver)s

revealing:What s most isturbingere s the spirationo overcome hatsper-ceived s a nihilism. ot nlysthe ntirelyncriticaleatificationif otdeification)f he ateNishitanieiji s the vatar f philosophicalnewworldrder xtremelyroblematicnview f he ontinuityetweenishi-

tani's artimeritingsndhis ostwarxercisesn napoliticalnd herebyinnocent hilosophyfreligion;t sthe ronouncedendencynmanyfthesessays.. to hinkf omparativehilosophy'synthesisf East ndWest nthemode f a redemptiveeintegrationn the otality,hich

echoeswartimeapaneseebatesn overcominghemodern, ariousx-positionsf he apanesemperorystemnd heogic f Westerniberalhumanism,hat ltimatelyeaveunthoughthat as notyet een hought,butwhichmperativelyeeds obethought.

I leaveto thereaderhehermeneuticalask fdetermininghefunctionofthesemultipleets fquotemarksofwhich nly hefirstwodenote

quotations rom he book underreview),which ppearto be a hall-mark fwritingriticalftheKyoto chool.Theputativeeatification/deificationfNishitanionsistsn he act hat everal ontributorso the

anthologyitehisworks,nd I myselfharacterizeim s a majorprecursorn the discipline f comparative hilosophy. 47fthis sbeatificationr deification,henparadise nd thepantheonmustbe

burstingt the eamsbynow.The referenceo the continuityetween Nishitani'swartime

writingsnd hispostwarxercisesnan apolitical nd therebyinno-cent'philosophyfreligion eems osuggesthat ll readerswho areau courantwillsimplyknow that hecontinuitys sinisternd the

wartime ritingsufficientlyerniciousovitiate ishitani'subsequentwork.But fHaver s so disturbedytheproblematicffectsf thesewartime ritings,hyhasn't e writtenbout hem o demonstrateusthowawful hey re?Betteret: ranslatehemostheinous nes, o that

they an speak heirniquityor hemselves.he fact hat aure houldhave no qualms nadducingHaver's nsinuationsnsupportfwhatpurportso be a scholarlyiscussionfNishitani'sorks indicativefthe evel twhich riticismf heKyotochool ends o be conducted. Grahamarkes

319







Faure oeson to add nihonjinrondeology tohe ist fNishitani'stransgressions:

Althoughedoesnot ubscribeo simplisticrandfnativism,s sobviousfromhe ollowingassage,eplaysn active olen henihonjinrondeol-ogy: WeJapaneseave allen eir otwo ompletelyifferentultures....This sa greatrivilegehatWesternerso not haren .. but t the ametime his uts heavyesponsibilitynour houlders:o ay he oundationsof houghtor worldn hemaking,or newworldnitedeyondiffer-ences fEastndWest xxviii).48

TheseremarksfNishitani'serepublishedhirtyears go, ong eforemulticulturalismame nto ogue, ndata timewhenhardlynyonentheWestwasdevotingerioushoughtothinkingcross ultures. henNishitani rites hatWesternerso not hare ntheprivilegeffallingheir o two differentultures,e ismakingn importantoint. ertainstrandsf modern

apanese hilosophyre

uniquen their

avingoots

inthe ndian uddhist,hinese aoist, nd Westernhilosophicalradi-tions naddition oindigenous apanese hinking.here re noparallelsintheWesternradition,nsofars Greek, udaic,ndArabic nfluencesconstitutenarrowerange f ources,ouched n anguageshat refarmore losely elatedhan, ay, heSanskritndChinese ndEuropeanlanguageshroughhich he ources eedingmodern apanese hiloso-phy re channeled. o this xtent necan claim hat hemultipleene-alogy f some of theKyoto choolthinkerss withoutarallel-whichis not osaythathis niqueheritage akestnecessarilyuperior.

Faure nds the ection n Nishitani ith n evenstrangeresture,but neeloquent nough ospeak or tself:

Inthe itlef the ranslationfhisbook n Europeanihilism,he elf-OvercomingfNihilism,he old nitialsormnacronymhateads: OON.Isthisubliminalessageppropriaten philosophicalork?he scha-tologicalone f his ook, riginallyritteneveral earsfterhewar,sdisturbinglylose o hat fNishitani'sartimeritings.49

The next ection eveals notherroundor aure's ntipathyntheshapeof herecentlyounded NewKyotochool, which s ndeed hesource fmanydeas nthe hauvinisticihonjinronein.One wonders

whether t isn't n fact he contemporarypokesmenor heuniquemagnificencefJapanese ulture hat re themajor ause of thein-

dignationf thecriticsftheoriginal yoto chool.50 ut f hat s so,then et theirhoughte criticized s distinctromhat ftheKyotoSchoolproper,gainst hich nany asethese pigones end eactivelyto define hemselves.

Faure'sdiscourseculminates n itspenultimate aragraphwith re-markable iece of auto-deconstruction:hilosophyast West

320







Therecentncreasef nterestn he hilosophyf heKyotochool n heWestmakeshis deologicalritique ore rgent.owever,atherhanaccusingrexcusingndividualuthors,e shouldhifthefocusoour-selves,ndrealizehatur ccusingrexcusing,xcludingr ncluding,snevereutral;hatur eadingheseexts,ur eception,s lwaysergingndeception.

Well aid, ndeed.Butwhat sremarkablebout his andid emarkstheway tunwittinglychoes he heme f nessay fNishitani'srom949,which, houghtwas directedt earlier ritics,ppliesperfectlyothecontemporarynes:

Unlesshe ritiqueecognizeshepossibilityffascism ithintselfndpurifiests ermsrom ithin,tonly argetsthersndmissesherealdanger.... o ook tfascismsa matterf he ast,sothereople'sffairs,isto reate conditionortsre]emergence.51

KukiShaOz

ndJapanesemperialismIt sa pityhat neofthefewEnglishommentariesn thephilos-

opherKukiShOzOhould e as biased gainstts ubject s the ssaybyLesliePincus itledIna LabyrinthfWesternesire. 52 ince tbeginsbyadducing discussionyKaratani ojin fKuki's estknownwork,Iki no kd6z Thestructuref iki ) (1930),therelevantection f

Karatani'sssayis a good place to start-even hough pace doesn'tpermitconsiderationfKaratani'sverall iewof Kukiasexemplifiedinother, ntranslatedexts).

Karatanintroducesuki ywayofHeidegger's entionf ki nhisConversationn Languagebetweena Japanese nd an Inquirer

(1954), nd he issurely ightn ayinghatHeideggeremainedintotalignorancef what ki s. 53But he thengoes on to claimthat, venthoughKukiwas differentrom thosewho preached nti-WesternJapanocentrismrthe uperiorityf heJapanesepirit', ewas never-thelessa willing articipantntheovercominghemodern'movementof theprewar ascist eriod. 54 hisobliqueassociation f Kukiwithfascismssomewhatacile. tmaybe true hat ertainarticipantsnthemovemento overcomemodernity erefascists,utto applythislabel o Kuki equiresvidence ndargument.ne cansurelylaim hatmanyfeatures f modernityre insalubrious,nd call forresistance

againsthem, ithoutherebyssociatingneself ithhe ascistsmongUS.

Karatani hensuggestshatthe continuityetweenKuki's arlyanalysis fthecomponentsf ki nd his ater nalogy etween heseand the Three Divine Regalia ofthe imperial hrone howsthat Kukiwas transformingimselfnto typical deologueofnineteenth-centuryimperialism. 55 utthepassage Karatani uotes inthiscontext ppearsquite innocuous and containsnothing hatsupportshis claim-unless Grahamarkes

321







cause the relation etweenHeidegger'salkof spiritnd histalkofthe historical issionfthe German eople s left nspecified-as rethe ccasions orhe esonance arataniears etween eist nd ki. hefinal ransitionothe GreatEastAsianCoprosperityphere ndtheThird eich,which ould be ustifiednly y great eal of udicious

fillingn, sbreathtakinglylib.But here s noattemptt ustification-itis perhaps ssumed hat eaderswill havealready een the ight-andKarataniromptlywitcheshe opic oDescartes.61

Pincus ollowsKarataninbringing eideggernto hediscussion,though ergrasp f his deas seemsno firmerhanherguide's.62headvertso Heidegger'sConversation nconsideringheappropriate-ness of Kuki's se in Iki no k6z6of methods erived romWestern

philosophy,nd then sks: Had Kuki ot nfact lreadyuccumbed othetemptationftheWestwhenhespokeof ki s 'sensuous adiance

through hose lively elightherebreaks he radiance f something

suprasensuous'? 63he question s otiose because Kuki ould neverhavespoken f ki nanythingike hoseHeideggerianerms-nor idTezukaTomio Heidegger'snterlocutorn theoriginal onversation)amendKuki's efinitionf ki nthe traighteideggeresehat incus

cites nhernext ootnote.64f hehad readTezuka's ccount fhistalkwithHeidegger,incuswouldhave earnedhatwhat he atterresentsas a dialogue occasionedbythevisit fProfessorezuka s infactfreelyomposed antasy ith nly few enuous ointsfcontactwiththe ctual onversation.65ndeed, ecent esearchnHeidegger'sCon-versation as shown hatmuch fthecharacterizationf ki hatHei-

degger utsnthemouth fhis

Japanesenterlocutornfact erives

from GermanmonographnNohdrama hatppearedheyear eforeTezuka'svisitandwhichHeideggermentionsnthe Conversation ).66

Pincus hen ppends hefollowingemark,hepsychodynamicllu-sionsofwhich rebaffling:Interestingly,eideggerailed otouch nanotheremptationowhichKuki oubtless ielded-the emptationoinvest isdescriptionf kiwithHeidegger'swn desire orhe neffablebeyond f Westernmetaphysics. he remark ecomes omewhatess

puzzlingn he ightfPincus'next ootnoteno.23), nwhich he refersto Peter ale's unsparingritiquef the]ncounterbetween uki nd

Heidegger] -a treatmenthat ssumesnot ustthatKuki pokefluent

Germannhis onversationsithHeideggerwhichstrue) ut lso thathespokefluent eideggeresewhich sn't). ale's critique sunspar-ingmostlynthe rea ofmetaphor.

Kuki's ook .. subtlylothes spiritf reactionnthe diom f racialuniqueness.We remind urselves f the ntimateonjunctionetweenHei-degger's oldlybscurantisthilosophyndthebrashargon fNazirhetoric.Thecosy ffinityf his erplexinghilosophyith blkischhoughtuggestshints s to the haracterf Kuki's wn brand f esthetic ationalism.67 Grahamarkes

323







These re more llusionso the nsalubriousharacterfKuki's houghtbywayof ssociation ithHeidegger's. otbeing ptothe hallengingtask farticulatinghat sgoing n philosophicallyetweenKuki nd

Heidegger,ale's treatmentftheir encounter ever ises bovethelevel fcircumstantialnecdote ndgeneralizedisparagement.

Kuki'sttempto impressis maftrepenserwithhis own inimitablesophisticationiki), is staunchraspingor hat ebulouslyquivocal

phrasingelovedy hemaster,ucceededngivingxoticonfirmationorHeidegger'swn inguisticysticism.68

Evenon the evelofanecdote his ails.Notonlywas Kuki lder han

Heideggernd every ithisintellectualqual, butas a cosmopolitanaristocrattwouldnever aveoccurredohim otryo impress uchparochial dvocate fBodensta'ndigkeits Heidegger as.69Again, heaccount fthe ncounter ouldhave benefitedromn attempto dis-

tinguishhevoices nd ideasof

Heidegger,uki,nd Tezuka nthe ext

of he Conversation.To returno Pincus: ace her icturefKuki s a philosophicalaint

Anthonyesetbyseductiveemptationsrom ll sides, nyone amiliarwithHeidegger's hought illfind hereferenceo Heidegger'swndesire or he neffableeyond fWesternmetaphysicsbsurd,uchdesirebeingcompletelylien to hisphilosophical roject.Heideggeremphasizeshathe nalysisf Dasein nBeing nd TimepublishedheyearhemetKuki) s utterlythis-worldly,tressinghefinitudef Da-sein ndtheradical istoricalityfBeing. nemay uestion is laim ohave overcome hetraditionfmetaphysics-butot hisunremittingdrive o do so.

Inexplicatinguki'sdeaof ki,Pincuswriteshat ertaindiscur-sive resources ncouraged imto subordinatehatmode ofbeing[designatedy iki']toan absoluteogic fethnicdentitynd culturalclosure. 70hedeclines o explainwhat an absolute ogicof ethnic

identity ighte,butone senses hatKuki ught o haveshunnedt.Pincus laboratesyquotinghe ast ine f Iki nok6z6,whereKuki'sstatementhat full nderstandingf ki an be gained nly fwe take tas the elf-expressionf thebeing four ethnosminzokuonzai] s

supposed o be nationalisticn omenegativeense:71

Ultimately,ukieenlistedhe assionhathe tylef ki ad isavowed,histimenthe ervicefnationalulture.Theresnothingor s, hewrote,butoperseveren urmpassionedros or ur ulturefbushidodealism

andBuddhistejectionf eality.KSZ, 81)

The context f thisquote is important.t s true hatKuki s maintaining,as he maintains hroughouthebook,that kirepresentsn idea that s

peculiartoJapaneseculture.But t s incontrovertiblehat ertain deashilosophyast West

324







arepeculiar othe ulturesnwhich hey eveloped ndthe anguagesinwhich hey reexpressed.WhatKukisarguinggainst,s a readingoftheentireastparagraphf thebookshows, s the universalismfPlatonicmetaphysics-ort east ts ppropriatenessorhe nvestigationof ulture. ewants oresisthedegenerationf ki nto n abstractnd

ideationaloid, wheretbecomesost n nemptyxchange f ready-madegeneric oncepts. 72alling or radical verturningf Platonicepistemology,ewantsotransformhepracticef namnesis(soki)ntoa recollectionfconcrete nd vital eaturesf he radition.atherhanburyingtheir]piritualulturenoblivion, heJapanesere to culti-

vate passionaterosfor their]dealisticnd anti-realisticulture.Ina situation here he mportationfWesterndeaswasthreaten-

ing oeclipseJapan's ultural eritagend severpeople'sconnectionsto their istoricaloots, uki sadvocating-justs Nietzsche nd Hei-

deggerdid,and perhapsunder heir nfluence-a reappropriationf

certain raitsrom he tradition.here s nothingbjectionablenthis,unless ccompanied ythe ssertionhat ne's culturessuperioro allothersndought o dominate heworld.Kukiwas toocosmopolitancharacteroruch hauvinismbeforeublishingIki nok6z6,hespenteight earsnEurope tudyinguropean hilosophiesndliteratures),sevidenced yhisdiscussionfJapaneseulturend world ulturenthe

essay Nihontekieikaku, iscussed arlier.Pincus ollowsKaratani'sead on this ssayand concludes hat t

showsKuki's ultranationalism.ringingeideggerack nto hedis-cussion,he citesKaratanigain,who hasapparentlyeen ableto im-

plicateheGerman

longwithKuki na

peculiarlyodern

onspiracy :Both hilosophers,arataniharges,mposed despoticystem ntheculturalrspiritualispositionhey oped o rescue romheravagesfmodernity.nbothases, hatdespoticystem arboreddeologicaloten-tial ormperialismndnationalisticanaticism.73

One mustgainprotesthis racticefcondemningJapanesehinker,even at secondhand, n the basis of his associationwithHeidegger.Whenevaluating hilosophicaldeasortheintegrityfphilosophers,assigningguilt y ssociation s as questionable tactic s it s intherealworld f aw.

While Pincusdeclines o saywhat he despotic ystem fKara-tani's harge onsistsn,thestatement ithwhich he introduces er

paraphrasef Kuki's iscussionfthekokutaindthe DivineRegalia(aspreviouslyited yKaratani)sunequivocal:By he ate1930s,Kukihad enlisted hetripartitetructuref iki in theservice f an ultra-nationalistmperial tate. 74 n view ofthesingularlynfanatical one ofKuki's discussion, and given his subsequent explicit exhortations o

recognize the uniquenessand strengthsf other cultures nd respect Grahamarkes

325







theiregitimateights,he harge hatKuki swritingin the ervice fan ultranationalistmperialtate s as unsubstantiateds Karatani'shar-acterizationf him s a typical deologue fnineteenth-centurympe-rialism. t s as if he ritics,ypersensitizedy heirdeological genda,scansuspectexts or eywordsike uniqueness, kokutai,and Jap-

anese pirit, hereuponhediscoveryf ny ccurrenceriggersburstofremonstrancen terms f nationalism,nihonjinron,ndso forth.Having roughtnthekokutai,incus hen sks: Whydid Iki no

k6z6 lend tselfo easily o appropriationyan ultranationalistdeol-ogy? 75There s a shift erefrom heclaim thatKuki enlisted hestructuref ki nthe ervice f n ultranationalistmperialtate o themuchweaker ssertionhat isbook lent tself oappropriation.)heproposes hat heculpritnthis ase is a logicoforganicismlacedat thedisposal f thestate, whichKukipurportedlyiscovered hileinEurope. his logic is supposedlyrticulatedintheopening ines

of lki' ok6z6, whichPincus uotes.Kukiwrites hat herelatione-tween people minzoku)ndits anguage ogetherith hemeaningsembodied n t s an organic yOkiteki]ne inwhich hewholedeter-mines heparts. 76nunexceptionabledea, urely, hichKuki nter-tains hroughis atewritings,herehetalks ftheways nwhich hehistoryndgeographyfa culture ecomeembodiedn its anguage.Butbydropping quickseries fpoliticallyroper ames Jean-LucNancy,Philippe acoue-Labarthe,nd WalterBenjamin), incushasKuki mploying logic hatmpliesn aestheticizationf hepoliticalthat s thedistinguishingark ffascism.

Thismisses hepoint.

A number fwriters avedrawn nstructiveattentiono thedangersfconceivingherelationetween he ndivid-ualand the tate n the nalogy f ells nd anorganism.utKuki s notconcernedwith he tate nd isnot alkingbout his elationtall: heusestheorganicmetaphoroemphasize hatwe areonlygoing o beable tounderstandultural racticesfthekind onnoted y ki n thecontext f he elf-awarenessf hepeoplewhosepracticesheyre.

Having onjuredup thespirit ffascism, incus dministershecoupdegra^ce y citing passagefrom n essayKukiwrote n the ate1930s, whenJapanwasdeeplymirednimperialistggressionn theChinesemainland :

Byvanquishinghina, eJapanese ust each hemna decisivemannerthe piritfJapanesehilosophy.t sour ultural-historicalissiono endspiritualuccor otherenewalf theirmother-countryy mprintinguridealistichilosophyntheformf bushidonthe nnermostecesses ftheir odies.77

Finallywe arrive t whatappearsto be a clear expression fnationalistand imperialistentiment n Kuki'spart, ven though he passage hashilosophyast West

326







been spiced up a little or heanglophone eader.WhereKuki alksabout eachingclearly meikakui), incus as in decisivemanner ;and bytranslatingn idiommeaningdeeply mpressingponthem

literallyas imprintingn the nnermostecesses f their odies ), he

giveshis xhortationbizarrelyadistic one hat s not nthe riginal.

This tatementf Kuki'sgainneeds o be understoodn ts ontext.In view ofwhatwas happeningn China t the imehe wrote hefour-

pageessay nwhich hepassage ppearsandhe must avebeenawareofthegeneral ituation,fnotthedetails),ome of the deas in it do

appearethnocentricnd chauvinistic-perhapseprehensiblyo. Butbefore ointinghefingerfmoral lame, ne should ake nto ccountthefact hatKukiwas a great dmirerf Chinese ulturend was dis-tressed,s weremany fhis olleagues,t the ow evel o which thad

degeneratedythe timehe was writing. is avowedconcern s withthe cultural-historicaleaning f thewar in Chinaratherhanwith

mattersfempire. arliern the ssayhewrites hat theJapanese aveto becomemore wareofhow closethey rein bloodto theChineseand urgeshis readers o cooperatewith heChinese o constructnAsian culture n the basisof themany hingstheJapanese] avelearned rom heChinese n thepast. 78He emphasizes he needto

protectheChinese gainstheWest ndto provide realisticoun-dation or utureooperation etweenJapanesend Chinese. 79 nd

immediatelyollowinghepassagequotedbyPincuss the dmonition:We must otbe stingyncontributingo thespiritualesuscitationf

the Chinesepeople. In his conclusionKukiwrites: I cannothelp

hopinghat hetime or

hatingheChinesewill

passandthetime or

lovinghem romhebottomfourhearts ill oon come. 80One can accusehim, hen, fbeingnaive npoliticalmattersnd

somewhathauvinisticat eastbycomparison ith nlightenedmeri-canacademics f henineties),ut his utspokenenturento ommen-

taryncurrentoliticalffairseems limsyroundsor he ccusationf

imperialismnd ultranationalism.

In ConclusionWe have seena series f unsubstantiatedorpoorlyubstantiated)

accusationsfpoliticalncorrectnesseveled t members f theKyotoSchool nseveral ecentontributionsoJapanesend Buddhisttudies.Itwouldnothavebeennecessaryo discuss hisyndromet such engthif twerenotfor hefact hat omeofthe uthorsnquestion remajorfiguresn thefield, olding ositionstprestigiousnstitutionsndpub-lishingwithrespecteduniversity resses.Theythushave considerable

powerto influence tudents, r potential tudents, fJapanesephiloso-phy,and to discouragethemfrom tudyinghe workof certainfigures.By employing he rhetoricheydo, theyare likely-even ifthis s not Grahamarkes

327







their onscious ntention-tohut owndiscussionf mportantssues

prematurely.This snot, or he ast ime, odeny hat omeoftheutterancesf

membersftheKyoto chool rehighlyroblematic.or hatmuch fthewritingn the field fnihonjinrons plainly illy nd potentially

pernicious.Northatcontemporaryapanese oliticiansvidenceanalarmingendencyo forget spects frecent apanese istorys itsuits hem nd-what isworse-toattempto induce kind fnationalamnesia n thatbasis.81 ut hese re areas in which areful istinc-tions reinorder;nd since uch abels s fascist, imperialist,ndultranationalistenote raitshat eserveinmy pinion) o be com-

batedwith he utmost ehemence,t is irresponsibleo applythem

indiscriminately.Whatmakes hefrequentppearance f his yndromell themore

lamentables that t obfuscatesomegenuinelynterestingssues hat

havesignificantearingn contemporaryuestions oncerningation-

alism, eofascism,acism,nd cross-culturalnderstanding.hese ssuesare pressing nough o deserve esponsiblettentiont thehandsof

contemporarycholars-somethingery ifferentromhe deologicallybiased ndself-indulgentreatmentheyo often eceive. ne canonlyhopethathe rends fpoliticallyorrect apanologyillnot ucceed n

closing own a potentiallynlighteningeries fconversationsefore

they ave chance ogetproperlynderway.

NOTES

I am gratefulo YokoArisaka, anVan Bragt, amesHeisig,WilliamLaFleur,nd MichikoYusa forhelpful ommentsn an earlier,essmoderate ersionf this ssay, s well as to theJapan tudies ndow-ment t theUniversityf Hawai'ifor research ranthat upportedsomeof tswriting.1 - Iwant odistinguisherebetweenhework ftheoriginal ropo-

nents-French,mostly-of oststructuralism,econstruction,nd

postmodernism,ndtheir nphilosophicalevotees nd emulatorsinthe United tates. here s much n theformerhat svaluable,insofars itcomes outof a deep understandingftheWestern

philosophicalnd ntellectualraditions.

2 - Someofthese uestions ave at lastbeen broachednEnglish yseveral f thecontributorsoJamesW. Heisig ndJohnMaraldo,eds.,RudeAwakenings:en,theKyotochool, nd theQuestionfNationalismHonolulu:UniversityfHawai'i Press, 995). Thishilosophyast West

328







collectionffifteenssays ycontributorsrom mericandJapanoffers goodvarietyfperspectivesn the ssues, nly fewofwhich re deologicallytrident.

3 - Instructiven this rea are Akira riye, ower nd Culture: heJapanese-Americanar, 941-1945 Cambridge:arvard niver-

sity ress, 981),andJohn ower,Warwithout ercy:RaceandPower n thePacificWar New York:Pantheon, 986), bothofwhich howthe xtent o which hewarwas a warofcultures.fascinatingomparison f thewaysthe Second WorldWar isremembered-and otremembered-inapanndGermanyslanBuruma, heWagesofGuilt:Memories f War nGermanynd

JapanNewYork: arrartraus iroux, 994).

4 - A major actor as been the fine eries ftranslationsnd com-mentariesublisheds theNanzanStudiesnReligionnd Cultureunder hegeneral ditorshipfJames eisig.

5 - TetsuoNajita ndH. D. Harootunian,Japanese evoltgainstheWest:Political nd Cultural riticismntheTwentiethentury,in PeterDuus,ed., TheCambridge istoryfJapanCambridge:Cambridge niversityress, 993),6: 711-774, at pp. 741-742.For chapternsuch a prestigiousork freferencehe ext on-tains ome urprisingnstances fcareless cholarshipnd/ordit-ing.Betweenpages 743 and 749 alone one notesthefollow-ing:Watsuji's graduatehesis p. 743)was onSchopenhauerotNietzsche;Nietzsche id nottry o restoreome of thegreatmonumentsfGreece

p. 744)- monumentalhistorysonlyone ofthreekinds fhistorye distinguishes,nd thathe treats

with onsiderablekepticism; atsuji id notderive he deas ofspiritualommunityr personalism romNietzschep. 745),

since the latter ailed o entertainuch ideas; the date of Hei-degger's eing nd Time s not1926 (p. 746) but1927; humanintentionalityp. 748) is not a Heideggerianoncept perhapsthey'rehinkingf hismentor usserl?)-his mphasis n ex-sistere, rratherxistenz,imspreciselyosubvertalk ntermsofintentionalityrconsciousness;ndmacrons remissingrom

KOyama

nd kdron.

6 - Najitaand Harootunian,JapaneseRevolt, p. 742-743. It istrue hatmanymembersftheKyoto choolwereas ambivalentas many ascistsnEuropewere bout heforces fmodernity,utthat s hardly ufficientroundsfor he assertion hat hey dmiredEuropeanfascism.

7 - For some judicious criticismfNishitani's ontributiono thesym-posium, see JohnMaraldo, QuestioningNationalismNow and Grahamarkes

329







Then, nHeisig ndMaraldo, udeAwakenings,p.333-362,atpp.352-355.

8 - HorioTsutomu,The Cho6k6ron iscussions: heirBackgroundandMeaning, nHeisig ndMaraldo, udeAwakenings,p.289-315.

9 - Horio quoting shimaYasumasa),TheCho6k6roniscussions,p. 290.

10 - Ibid.,pp. 301-302.

11 - Ibid.,pp. 291, 303.

12 - See theopening rgumentf thechapterFascism nd National-ism, nGeorgeH. Sabine,A Historyf Political heory,thed.(Hinsdale: ryden ress, 973),pp.799-849.

13 - KOsakaMasaaki tal., Sekaishitekiachiba o Nihon Theworld-

historicaltandpointndJapan)Tokyo: hoo6kron,943),p. 107;citedbyHorio, TheCh6Ok6roniscussions, . 306.

14- Horio, TheChoo6kroniscussions, p.308-309.For n incisivediscussion ftheviewsof KOsaka nd K6yama s expressednthis ymposium,ee Naoki akai, Modernitynd tsCritique:heProblem f Universalismnd Particularism,n SouthAtlantic

Quarterly7 (3) (1988):475-504,esp. pp.487-496; reprintednMasao MiyoshindH. D. Harootunian,ds.,Postmodernismnd

JapanDurhamnd London: ukeUniversityress, 989),pp.93-122,atpp.105-114.

15 - ApparentlyhecommentariesnJapanese ave notpaidattentionto the ontext fotherexts,nsofars theyend o focus n ideo-

logical ssues t theexpense fphilosophicaldeas, ndthe itu-ationwith especto thecriticismsnEnglish as been no better.See Horio, TheCho6kdroniscussions, . 291, and alsoJohnMaraldo'sdiscussionn Heisig nd Maraldo,RudeAwakenings,pp.351-356.

16 - Bernardaure, han nsightsndOversightsPrinceton:rinceton

Universityress, 993).

17 - Faure, han nsightsndOversights,. 85.18 - ThepassagesFaure ites ctually omefrom he ymposiumeld

in March 942 under he itle Dait6akyeeikeno rinriseio reki-shisei Themoral nd historical ature ftheGreater astAsia

Coprosperityphere). Sekaishitekiachibato Nihon (Theworld-historicaltandpointnd Japan)was the title ivento thefirstym-posium(November 1941) and later o thepublicationof the pro-ceedingsofall three essions.hilosophyast West

330







19 - Faure ites KOsaka,tal. 1942,201 but sapparentlyeferringothe 1943 bookpublication,n p. 201 of which hefirstwosen-tences fhisquotationre to be found.

20 - KOsakatal.,Sekaishitekiachiba oNihon, .204.

21 -Ibid.,p.

205.John

Maraldohas takenNishitani'summationfthese deas and shownhowmarvelouslyimilarhey re to re-centAmerican overnmentolicy Heisigand Maraldo,Rude

Awakenings,p. 354-355). Notthat hatrecommendshem, fcourse.Maraldo's onclusion ums tup well: I suggesthat nthe 1940s [Nishitani]id notsethimselfp as an advocateofstate r ethnicnationalism,utofa globalismhat eriouslymis-took his nation's apacity o negate tselfnd overcome elf-centeredness.

22 - Faure, han nsightsndOversights,. 87.

23 - Nishitani eiji, KinseiYoroppa unmei o Nihon Modern uro-peancivilizationndJapan),nShakyo obunka Tokyo:KokusaiNihonKenky0jo,969),pp.149-190.

24 - Nishitani,Kinsei oroppa unmei, nShakyo obunka, . 183.

25 - It ssignificanthatNishitani'sirstxtendedreatmentfNietzsche,intheessay NiichienoTsuaratsusutoraoMaisutaEkkuharuto(Nietzsche's arathustrand Meister ckhart),ppearsearliern

Shokyo obunka, p.3-38.

26 - For discussionfthis ssue, ee Interlude Art-Worksgainst

Nature, n GrahamParkes,Composing he Soul: Reaches ofNietzsche'sPsychologyChicago:Universityf Chicago Press,1994),pp.157-169.On the ask fdisciplininghenaturalrives,see the ectionnchap.9 titledOrderinghePsyche olytic.

27 - AdolfHitler, einKampf1925) Munich: ranzEherNachfolger,1933), pp. 318-319. The furtheraranoidrantingsgainst he

Japanesepp.720-724) makefascinatingeading. here s a fine

irony,nretrospect,nHitler's ismissalf theJapaneses merebearers f culture ncontrasto the culture-foundingryans.

He saysthatwhile tmay ook as iftheJapanese re adoptingWesternechnology,ll that s really appenings that Europeanscience ndtechnologyrebeing mbellished ithJapanese ea-tures. f heAryannfluencenJapanwere o be cutoff, e con-tinues, apan's ise nscience ndtechnology ouldcease imme-

diately. Within fewyearsthewellspringswould dryup, and

Japanese ulturewould sinkback again into hesomnolencefromwhich it was awakened by the onslaughtofAryanculture evendecades earlier.

F14

=---~f- 75> , 8I

Grahamarkes

331







28 - Nishitani,KinseiYoroppabunmei, p. 184. Hitlerwrites hatthe forces hatgenuinely orm nd preservehestate re theindividual'sapacity nd willto sacrifice imselfor he whole(MeinKampf, . 167). Indiscussing itler'sromotionf hiskindof dealismus,hewillingnessolaydownone's life or he akeof

an ideal,Nishitanilso referso a later assage concerningelf-sacrifice:Thecrowning lory fall sense of sacrificeiesinthegiving fone's own lifefor hesake ofthecommunityMeinKampf,. 327).

29 - Themostmportantext oconsidernthis ontext ould be Se-kaikan o kokkanViewoftheworld nd viewofthenation) rom1941.A severelyriticalccount, he electivityfwhichbetraysan extremedeological ias, sgiven nRuth ambartel,Religionals Hilfsmittelfuirie Rechtfertigunginer otalitairentaatsideo-logie in Nishitani eijisSekaikan o kokkakan, apanstudien

(1989): 71-88. Formorebalancedviews, ee thediscussionsnMoriTetsurO,Nishitani eiji ndtheQuestion fNationalism,in Heisigand Maraldo,RudeAwakenings, p. 316-322, andJohnMaraldo, Questioning ationalism ow andThen, bid.,pp.347-351.

30 - Nishitani,Kinsei oroppa unmei, . 179.

31 - Ibid., . 185.

32 - Ibid., . 186. Nishitanisesshiy3here, he erm sedtotranslateHegel'sAufheben.

33- Ibid., p.187ff.

34 - Bernard aure, The Kyoto chool and Reverse rientalism,nCharlesWei-Hsun uandStevenHeine, ds.,JapannTraditionaland PostmodernerspectivesAlbany:UNYPress, 995),pp.245-281.

35 - Faure,TheKyotochool, p.256.

36 - Ibid.,pp. 258, 263.

37 - Ibid.,p. 257. The term totalwar (zentaisen)s not ntroduced

until he hirdmeetingfthe ymposium,here heprimaryocusis not n totalwar but n what heparticipantserm all-out ar(sOryokusen).orio haracterizeshedistinctions being betweenthe idea of totalwar' (totaleKrieg) entered n military ightalone, nd thewargoing n inEuropend thePacific, hatwasrather n all-out war (Generalmobilisierungskrieg)hat ntailedstate deologyas well as a view of the world ( The Chudk6ronDiscussions, p. 311).hilosophyast West

332







38 - Horio, TheChOOk6roniscussions, . 295.

39 - See Nishitani'siscussionsfhistorynthe irsthapterf The elf-

OvercomingfNihilism,rans. raham arkeswith etsuko ihara(Albany:UNYPress, 990),which ets he onefor herest f hetext,nd thefinal hapterfReligionndNothingness,rans. an

VanBragtBerkeley,982),themain opic fwhich s therelationbetween istoryndemptiness.

40 - Faure's invocation f Lacoue-Labarthe ere (PhilippeLacoue-Labarthe, eidegger, rt nd PoliticsOxford: lackwell, 9901,p. 21) is uninstructives longas he declines o saywhich ofthe latter's riticismsfHeidegger,omeofwhich re incisive,applyto Nishitani,nd in whatsense-since thesituationsf

Heideggern1933 andNishitanin1942 are inmanywaysquitedifferent.

41 - Faure,TheKyotochool, p.260.42 - Ibid.,p. 262.

43 - Ibid.,p. 261.

44 - Nishitani,heSelf-OvercomingfNihilism,. 179.The talicizednot ppearsnNishitani'sriginalext.

45 - Faure,TheKyotochool, p.262.

46 - WilliamHaver, eview fNietzsche nd AsianThought,nJournalofAsian tudies 1 (3) (1992):629-630.

47 - GrahamParkes, The Orientationfthe Nietzschean ext, nGraham arkes, d., Nietzsche ndAsianThoughtChicago:Uni-versityfChicagoPress, 991),p. 13.

48 - Faure, The Kyoto chool, p. 265. The passagein question squotedbyJanVan Bragtnthe ntroductiono histranslationfReligion nd Nothingness,nd is not fromNishitani's ook onNishida,s Faure's eferenceas t.

49 - Faure,TheKyotochool, p.265.Theesotericismere sbaffling,especially ince there re no bold initials n Faure's ext.Butthe insinuationhatNishitani's he

Self-OvercomingfNihilism

(which ontains hilosophicaliscussionsf uchfiguress Hegel,Schopenhauer, ierkegaard,euerbach, ietzsche,ndStirner)snotreally philosophical orkssimplyejune.

50 - Faure criticizes he New Kyoto chool and the nativist hink-ing of UmeharaTakeshi in a sectionof his The KyotoSchool(pp. 265 ff).

51 - Nishitani,Hihan no ninmu o fuashizumuno mondai (The duty Grahamarkes

333







to criticizend theproblemffascism),s paraphrased yJohnMaraldonHeisig ndMaraldo, udeAwakenings,. 357.

52 - LesliePincus, Ina LabyrinthfWestern esire:Kuki huzoandtheDiscoveryfJapanese eing, oundary, vol.18 (3) (1991):142-156;reprintednMasaoMiyoshind H. D. Harootunian,ds.,

Japann the WorldDurhamnd London:DukeUniversityress,1993),pp.222-236. Referencesillbe to thepagenumbersf hislater,more asily ccessible dition.

53 - KarataniK6jin, One Spirit, wo Nineteenthenturies, outhAtlantic uarterly7 (3) (1988):615-628,atp. 621; reprintedn

MiyoshindHarootunian,ostmodernismndJapan, p.259-272(references,gain,to this ater dition). oran illuminatingis-cussion fHeidegger'sConversation, ee chap. 2 of Reinhard

May, Heidegger's iddenSources:East-Asiannfluencesn HisWork,rans. raham arkesLondon: outledge,996).

54 - Karatani,One Spirit, .266. For areful iscussionsf hekindaino ch6kokumovement,ee OhashiRyosuke, ihontekia monotoYoroppatekia mono Onthings apanesendthingsuropean)(Tokyo: hinchOsha,992),pp. 143-163,and Minamoto y6en,The Symposiumn 'OvercomingModernity, 'n Heisigand

Maraldo,RudeAwakenings,p. 197-229.See also thediscussionof neo-Marxistriticismsf the movementnWilliamR. LaFleur,A Half-Dressedmperor:ocietal Self-Deceptionnd Recent

'Japanokritik'nAmerica, n Roger . Amesand WimalDissa-

nayake, ds.,Self nd

Deception:A Cross-Cultural

hilosophicalEnquiryAlbany:UNYPress, 996),pp.263-285.

55 - Karatani,One Spirit, p. 266-267. Karatanis referringo thediscussionnthe ssay Nihontekieikaku Japaneseharacter)nKuki hazdzensht, 287-289.

56 - Karatani,One Spirit, . 267, referringo Kuki, Nihontekiei-kaku, .287.

57 - Kuki,Nihontekieikaku, . 290.

58 - Ibid.,pp. 290-291.

59 - Karatani,One Spirit, . 267. The author ivesno referenceorthecitationsrom eidegger.hepassages re tobe foundn ec-turesrom935, ubsequentlyublisheds EinflhrungndieMeta-

physikTObingen: iemeyer,953),pp.37-38 (whereHeideggerisactually uoting imselfromheRectoral ddressf1933);butthetranslatorfKaratani's ssayhas apparently ot used either he

Englishranslationy RalphManheim, ntroductionoMetaphysics(New Haven: Yale Universityress,1959), pp. 49-50, or the ren-

/ft)M A

H*JVi

hoso h E s - a,\O,o)

PhilosophyastWest334







ditionn what sprobably aratani'source)JacquesDerrida, eI'espritParis: ditionsGalilee,1987).

60 - Themostgregiousrrorsthe ranslationf um Wesen esSeins,to theessence ofBeing, s to theBeing Wesen] fthe ndi-

vidual. Heideggerhen peaksof ourpeopleintheoccidental

middle unseresVolkesderabendla'ndischenitte) atherhantheGerman eople, ituatedt the enter f heWest.

61 - For philosophicallylluminatingreatmentf Kuki's hought,eeSakabeMegumi, uzai no uta Songs f bsence) Tokyo: 990).

62 - One particular isunderstandingeservesmention erebecause tmakesHeideggereemmorenationalisticndchauvinistichanheis, ndtherebyerveshe trategyfframinguki s anaccompliceofJapanese ltranationalism.incuswriteshat Theapparentni-

versality f Dasein ... was belied by Heidegger's insistence hat

theproblematicf Daseinenjoyed n exclusive elation ith heGerman anguage nd its linguistic-philosophicalast ( In a

Labyrinth, . 226). Heidegger ever nsistedn exclusivityith

respecto theproblematicf Dasein : to do so would have viti-atedthe ntire rojectfBeing ndTime,he imsofwhichwerefarmore mbitioushan parochial nalysis fGermanDaseinalone.

63 - Pincus,Ina Labyrinth, .233.

64 - Ibid.,p. 223 n. 22.

65 - See TezukaTomio, Haidegga ono ichijikan, nKotoba itsuiteno taiwa,Haideggi enshOTokyo:RisOsha,968),21 159-166.The Japanese ext s reproducedwith German ranslationnReinhardMay,Ex orienteux:HeideggersWerkunter stasiati-schemEinflussStuttgart:teiner erlag, 989),pp.82-99. AnotherGermanranslation,yElmarWeinmayrromhe riginaldition fTezuka's ssay RisO64 [1955]:54-58), is to be foundnHartmutBuchner, d., Japan und Heidegger Sigmaringen:horbecke

Verlag, 989),pp. 173-180.My Englishranslationsavailable nReinhard ay,Heidegger's idden ources, p.59-64.

66 - See Reinhard ay,Heidegger's idden ources,hap.2. TheworkHeidegger entions,nddraws rom,n he ConversationsOscarBenI,SeamiMotokiyo ndderGeistdes Nd-SchauspielsWies-baden:Akademie erWissenschaftenndderLiteratur,953).

67 - PeterN. Dale, TheMyth fJapaneseUniqueness London:CroomHelm, 1986), p. 72. Much of this book is interestingnd infor-mative, houghthe florid tyleand frequentlyhrill one make itdifficultoread.

,-4 -7 - a>?- W4

Grahamarkes

335







68 - Dale, TheMyth fJapanese niqueness, . 73.

69 - For n interestingrief iscussionftheir elationship,ee OhashiRyOsuke,Heideggerund Graf Kuki:Zu Spracheund KunstinJapan ls Problem erModerne, n H.-H.Gander, d., Von

Heideggerher: Messkircher ortrige 989 (Frankfurt,991),

pp. 93-104. InwritinghatKuki studied nderMartin eideg-ger (p. 68), Dale perpetuateshemythhat heJapanesewhostudiedwithhimduringhetwenties ereon the evelofgradu-atestudentstthefeet fthemaster. n this ssue, ee my ssay,Rising un over Black Forest:Heidegger's apaneseConnec-

tions, nMay,Heidegger's idden ources, 9-117.

70 - Pincus, Ina Labyrinth,.228.

71 - Self-expressions a poor ranslationf ikokaiji. he terms usedto translate eidegger's rschlossenheitnd wouldbest be ren-

dered s self-disclosure.72 - Kuki, Iki nokdz6, nKuki hazdzensho, 1-85,atpp.80-81.

The termranslatedy ideational, eisOteki,efersothePlatoniceidosor dea keis3).

73 - Pincus,Ina Labyrinth,.234.

74 - Ibid.

75 - Ibid.,p. 235.

76 - Kuki, Iki no k6zd,p. 8.

77 - Pincus, Ina Labyrinth,. 236, citing uki,Jikyokuo kans6(Thoughtsn thecurrentituation),nKukiShOazzenshO, :36-39,atp. 38.

78 - Kuki,JikyokuokansO, . 37.

79 - Ibid.,p. 38.

80 - Ibid.,p. 39.

81 - lanBuruma'sreatmentf hisssue nTheWages f Guilt:Memo-riesof War nGermanyndJapanNewYork: arrar,traus,ndGiroux, 994)makes isquietingeading.

EMS~rl-l-

CW13

H4.QjoSmir,1

Philosophyast West

336

kyoto school putative fascism / graham parkes

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