Team Research2024

The Transformation of "Bunjin Culture" in Modern Japan

Unit

Developing Research into Popular Culture

This collaborative research project conceptualizes bunjin (literati) in a broad sense as “cultured persons of refined tastes”. The project aims to explore the transformation of “bunjin culture” in modern Japan from a multidisciplinary perspective, encompassing studies of literature history, art history, the history of calligraphy, the cultural history of Sencha tea ceremonies, and architectural history.
From the mid-Edo period onwards, coinciding the introduction of literati painting (bunjinga) from China, individuals who cultivated a love for poetry,literature, painting,and calligraphy established themselves as bunjin. Bunjin culture” developed its own unique traditions and flourished across Japan from the late Edo through the Meiji periods.It extended beyond Chinese poetry and literati painting to influence gatherings of individuals interested in Chinese poetry,paintings,calligraphy, Sencha tea ceremonies, as well as shaping the physical spaces, interior and garden,within which these activities took place. Meanwhile, literati painting as a leisure activity gained popularity throughout society, from Edo and the Kyoto-Osaka areas to regional towns. Beyond questions of artistic value, bunjin culture constituted an important dimension of Japanese culture, constituting a holistic practice centered on “poetry, calligraphy, and painting”.
However, with the influx of Western culture in the Meiji period, this Bunjin culture appears to be rapidly displaced from its central position within national culture. This perception, of course, reflects the fact that histories focus on new phenomena; it did not mean that Bunjin culture had vanished. The expressiveness of brush and ink changed, and contributed to the construction of a new world of artifacts. The distinguished gatherings of devotees of Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and painting functioned as places for an engagement with politics, diplomacy, and culture. Bunjin culture transformed in response to the demands of the new age but continued into the modern period. In this collaborative research project, we will conduct a comprehensive investigation into the modern transformations of Bunjin culture, one sensitive to the continuities which spanned the Tokugawa-Meiji divide and aware of its ongoing connections with a broader East Asian cultural sphere.

センター研究者等	戦　暁梅	国際日本文化研究センター・教授
〃	磯田　道史	国際日本文化研究センター・教授
〃	劉　建輝	国際日本文化研究センター・教授
共同研究員	足立　元	二松学舎大学文学部・准教授
〃	池澤　一郎	早稲田大学文学学術院・教授
〃	稲賀　繁美	京都精華大学・特別任用教授
〃	柏木　知子	兵庫県立美術館・学芸員
〃	菅野　智明	筑波大学芸術系・教授
〃	呉　孟晋	京都大学人文科学研究所・准教授
〃	塩谷　純	東京文化財研究所・上席研究員
〃	島村　幸忠	大阪経済大学・講師
〃	塚本　麿充	東京大学東洋文化研究所・教授
〃	中谷　伸生	関西大学・名誉教授
〃	松村　茂樹	大妻女子大学文学部・教授
〃	村田　隆志	大阪国際大学国際教養学部・教授
〃	矢ケ崎　善太郎	大阪電気通信大学工学部建築学科・教授