East Asian Aesthetics

This course provides an introduction to East Asian aesthetics from a Western viewpoint, with a particular focus on visual art. The lecture series explores the traditional philosophical foundations underpinning specific visual art practices and experiences that have evolved from China to Japan. It also examines selected aspects of aesthetic theories in modern and postmodern East Asia. The course is designed not only to inform those eager to explore unfamiliar cultural landscapes, but also to engage with the fundamental question of understanding  – a concept that frequently separates cultures, including those of the East and West. Presentations, explanations, and discussions will offer a foundational understanding of East Asian aesthetics, particularly in relation to the historicity and significance of Western interpretations. The principal topics include: Comparative Aesthetics (Chinese/Western); Chinese philosophies and art (Confucianism, Taoism, Chan Buddhism); Contemporary Chinese aesthetics; a Western perspective on Japanese aesthetics; Japanese philosophies and art (Shintoism, Zen Buddhism); modern Japanese philosophy of art (Nishida Kitaro); and postmodern Japanese identity.

Lectures

(1) Western Look at Chinese Aesthetics

Comparative aesthetics: philosophical fundamentals in Chinese aesthetics and Western culture.

Fenollosa, E. (1912) Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Arts: An Outline History of East Asian Design, New York: Frederik A. Strokes.

Kelly, M. ed. (1998) ‘Chinese Aesthetics’ in The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. 1, pp. 363-373. 

Chan, Wing-Tsit (1969) A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Bush, S. and Hsio-yen Shih, eds. (1985) Early Chinese Texts on Painting, Cambridge: Mass..

Solomon, R. C. and Higgins, K. M. (1996) ‘The Wisdom of the East’ (I), (II), & (III), in A Short History of Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 84-99

Lee, K.-S. (1995) ‘Chinese Philosophy’ in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, ed. Honderich, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 130-132 

Dewoskin, K. J. (1995) ‘Chinese and Japanese Aesthetics’ in A Companion to Aesthetics, ed. D. Cooper, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 68-73

Arnheim, R. (April 1997) ‘Ancient Chinese Aesthetics and its Modernity’ in The British Journal of Aesthetic, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 155-157

S. Feagin & P. Maynard eds. (1997) Aesthetics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 56-67 & pp. 206-208

Saussy, H. (1993) ‘Introduction’ in The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetics, Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 1-12   

(2) Confucianism, Society and Art

From public morality and self-cultivation to society and governance.

Tuan, Y-F (1995) ‘The Chinese Aesthetic Moral-State: T’ang Empire’ in Passing Strange and Wonderful, London: Kodansha International, pp. 186-191

Powers, M. (1991) Art and Political Expression in Early China, New Haven.

Ivanhoe, P. J. (2000) Confucian Moral Self Cultivation, Hackett Publishing Co..

Hakwon Sunoo, H. (1985) China of Confucius: A Critical Interpretation, Heritage Research House.

Tu Wei-Ming (1985) Confucian Thought: Selfhood As Creative Transformation, Suny Series in Philosophy, New York: State University of New York Press.

Wright, A. F. ed. (1976) Confucianism and Chinese Civilization, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Tu Weiming, ed. & al. (1992) The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary Discussion of Confucian Humanism in East Asia, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

(3) The Art of Taoism 

On the realisation of the Tao (the Way) in philosophy and art.

Jung. C.G. (1996) ‘China and the Taoist Way’ in Jung on the East, ed. J.J. Clarke, London: Routledge, pp. 69-136.

Chang Chung-yuan (1963) Creativity and Taoism, New York.

Little S. & al. (2000) Taoism and the Arts of China, University of California Press.

Van Briessen, F.  (1999) The Way of the Brush: Painting Techniques of China and Japan,

Tokyo: Charles E Tuttle Co..

Garant, C. G. (1998) The Tao of Design, Humanics Publisher Group.

Ang, T., Ang. Tom (2000) Tao of Photography: Unlock Your Creativity Using the Wisdom of the East, Watson-Guptill Publications.

Creel, H. G. (1982) What is Taoism? And Other essays in Chinese Cultural History, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Graham, A. C. (1989) Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China, La Salle, Ill.: Open Court.

Zhang Longxi, (1992) The Tao and the Logos, Durham: Duke University Press.

(4) Shan Buddhism and Artistic Enlightenment

Shan Buddhism as a philosophical and artistic practice in China. 

Kieschnick, J.  (2003) Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture (Buddhisms), Princeton University Press.

Wright, A. F. (1983) Buddhism in Chinese History, Stanford: Stanford University Press

Eichenbaum Karetzky, P.  (2003) Chinese Buddhist Art (Images of Asia),Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Weidner, M. ed. (2001) Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.  

Smith Weidner, M.  ed. et al (1994) Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism 850-1850, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Van Oort, H. A., The Iconography of Chinese Buddhism in Traditional China, E.J. Brill Academic Publishers.

Rajeshwari Ghose & al (1999) In the Footsteps of the Buddha: An Iconic Journey from India to China, Odyssey Publications.

(5) Contemporary Chinese Philosophy and Art

Introduction to current thoughts and practices in Chinese aesthetics.

G. R. Barme G. R. (2000), In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture, Columbia University Press. 

Kang Liu (2000), Aesthetics and Marxism: Chinese Aesthetic Marxists and Their Western Contemporaries (Post-contemporary Interventions), Duke University Press.

Chow R., Ed. (2001), Modern Chinese Literary and Cultural Studies in the Age of Theory: Reimagining a Field, Duke University Press. 

Ban Wang (1997), The Sublime Figure of History: Aesthetics and Politics in Twentieth-Century China, Stanford: Stanford University Press. 

Xiaobing Tang (2000), Chinese Modern: The Heroic and the Quotidian (Post-contemporary Interventions), Duke University Press.

S.H. Liu (1997), Contemporary Chinese Philosophy, World Scientific Publishing.

Chan, Wing-Tsit (1969) A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

(6) Western Look at Japanese Aesthetics

On the foundations of Japanese aesthetics: Confucianism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism and Shintoism.

Okakura Kakuzo (1903) The Ideals of the East with Special Reference to the Art of Japan, London: John Murray.

Blocker, H. G. & Starling, C. L. (2001) Japanese Philosophy, New York: State University of New York Press.

Marra, M. (2001) A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘I Press.

Carter, R. (1992) Becoming Bamboo: Western and Eastern Explorations of the Meaning of Life, Montreal.

Fenollosa, E. ( 1912) Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Arts: An Outline History of East Asian Design, New York: Frederik A. Strokes.

Kelly, M. ed. (1998) ‘Japanese Aesthetics’ in the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. 2 , pp. 545-555.

Hume, N. G. ed. (1995) Japanese Aesthetics and Culture, Albany: SUNY Press.

Inaga Shigemi (1993)  

Otabe Tanehisa (2002) ‘Representations of “Japaneseness” in Modern Japanese Aesthetics’ in Japanese Hermeneutics, ed. M. Marra, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, pp. 153-162

Onishi Yoshinori (1999) ‘Aware’ in Modern Japanese Aesthetics: A Reader, ed. M. Marra, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, pp. 122-140

Nakamura, H. (1964) Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Pincus, L. (1996) Authentificating Culture in Imperial Japan: Kuki Shuzo and the Rise of National Aesthetics, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Saito, Y. (Spring 1999) ‘Japanese Aesthetics of Packaging’ in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 257-266

(7) Shinto and the Natural Forms of Spirits

Mountains, rivers and the Japanese ‘Way of the Gods’ (Shinto): the impact on culture and philosophy. 

Tsunoda Ryusaku & al. (1964) Sources of Japanese Tradition, New York: Columbia University Press.

Breen, J. ed. (2000) Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Littleton, C. S. (2002) Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nelson, J. K.  (1996) A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine, University of Washington Press.

Mason, J. W. T. & Trafford, P. (2002) The Meaning of Shinto.

Guth, C.  trans. & al. (1973) The Arts of Shinto, Arts of Japan, 4, Weatherhill.

Teeuwen, M. & al. eds. (2003) Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku as a Combinatory Paradigm, Routledge Curzon. 

Nelson, K.  (2000) Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Clarence Holtom, D. (1996) The National Faith of Japan, Kegan Paul Intl..

Hiatt Floyd Ross (1983) Shinto, the Way of Japan, Greenwood Publishing Group.

Teeuwen, M. & al (2003) Shinto: A Short History, Curzon Press.

(8) Zen Buddhism in Aesthetics

The influence of Buddhism in Japanese philosophy and art.

Parkes, G. (2002) ‘The Eloquent Stillness of Stone’ in Japanese Hermeneutics, ed. M. Marra, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘I Press, pp. 153-162

Dumoulin, H. & al. (1989) Zen Buddhism: A History: Japan, Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture, MacMillan Publishing Company.  

Cox, R. (2002) Zen Arts: An Anthropological Study of the Culture of Aesthetic Form in Japan, Routledge Curzon.

Odin, S. (2001) Artistic Detachment in Japan and the West: Psychic Distance in Comparative Aesthetics, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Berthiers, F. (2000) Reading Zen in the Rocks: The Japanese Dry Landscape, trans. Parkes, G., Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rambach, P. & S. (1987) Gardens of Longevity in China and Japan: The Art of the Stone Raisers, trans. A. Marling, New York.

Zoen (1987) ‘Illustrations for Designing Mountain. Water, and Hillside Field Landscapes (Sansui Narabi ni Yagyo no Zu)’ in Secret Teachings in the Art of Japanese Gardens, ed. & trans. D. A. Slawson, Tokyo, pp. 142-175.

Izutsu Toshihiko (1982) Toward a Philosophy of Zen Buddhism, Boulder, Colo.

Hirota, D. (1995) Wind in the Pines: Classic Writings on the Way of Tea as a Buddhist Path, Fremont, Calif.: Asian Humanities Press.

Herrigel, E. (1971) Zen in the Art of Archery, New York.

Herrigel, G. L. (1958) Zen in the Art of Flower Arrangement, London.

(9) Modern Japanese Aesthetics

Introduction to Nishida Kitaro’s Philosophy of art and its influence: Pure Experience, Free Will, Sense of Place, and Visual Perception.

Nishida Kitaro (1990) An Inquiry into the Good, trans. Masao Abe & C. Ives, New Haven: Yale University Press.

Nishida Kitaro (1973) Art and Morality, trans. D. Dilworth & V. H. Viglielmo, Homolulu: Hawai‘i University Press. (Out of Print)

Nishida Kitaro (1958) Intelligibility and the Philosophy of Nothingness: Three Philosophical Essays, trans. R. Schinzinger, Westport: Greenwood Press.

Iwaki Ken’ichi (2001) ‘Nishida Kitarô and Art’ in A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics, ed. M. Marra, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, pp. 259-284.

Iwaki Ken’ichi (2001) ‘Logic of Visual Perception: Ueda Juzo’ in A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics, ed. M. Marra, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, pp. 285-317.

Carter, R. (1997) The Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitarô, St. Paul: Paragon House.

Abe Masao (1988) ‘Nishida’s Philosophy of “Place”’ in International Philosophical Quaterly, 28, 4, pp. 355-371.

Dilworth, D. A. (1973), ‘Nishida Kitarô: Nothingness as the Negative Space of Experiential Immediacy’ in International Philosophical Quaterly13, 4, pp. 463-483.

Odin, S. (1987), ‘An Explanation of Beauty: Nishida Kitarô’s Bi no Setsumei’ in Monumenta Nipponica, 42, 2, pp. 381-387.

Takeuchi Yoshinori (1982) ‘The Philosophy of Nishida’ in The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School, New York: Crossroad.

Steinbock, A. J. ed. (1998) Phenomenology in Japan, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 

(10) Postmodern Japaneseness

Contemporary Japanese culture between tradition and postmodernism.

Miyoshi, M. & Harootunian, H.D. eds. (1989) Postmodernism and Japan, Durham: Duke University Press.

Thornbury, B. A. (1997) The Folk Performing Arts: Traditional Culture in Contemporary Japan, State University of New York Press.

Richie, D. (1992) A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan, Stone Bridge Press.

Denoon, D. & al. eds. (2002) Multicultural Japan : Palaeolithic to Postmodern, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Heine, S.  & Fu, C. W. eds. (1995) Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives, State University of New York Press. 

Blakeley Klein, S.  (1989) Ankoku Buto: The Premodern and Postmodern Influences on the Dance of Utter Darkness, Cornell University East Asia Papers, No 49, Cornell University Press. (Out of Print)

Kisho Kurokawa (1993) New Wave Japanese Architecture, Academy Editions (UK).

Schilling, M. (2000) Contemporary Japanese Film, Weatherhill.

Bernardi, J.  (2001) Writing in Light: The Silent Scenario and the Japanese Pure Film Movement, Contemporary Film and Television Series, Wayne State University Press.

Akihiko Senda, & al. (1997) The Voyage of Contemporary Japanese Theatre, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.