Book Review As "Portrait" Of Japanese Culture

The 32nd Summer Olympic Games have come to an end in Tokyo. People are not only concerned about sports events, but also interested in the history and culture of Japan. In particular, many people exclaimed that they could not understand the performance at the opening ceremony. In fact, this is normal, because only Japanese can understand the inherent cultural spirit of the tradition of "one country, one country". What is the spirit of Japan? Some people use "chrysanthemum and knife" to summarize. Whether this is accurate or not, by reading the Japanese spirit in treasures, we may be able to understand the enlightenment brought by Japanese scholars' portraits of their own cultural spirit.

Hiroshi Hasegawa, the author of the book the Japanese spirit in treasures, is a famous Japanese philosopher. He is famous for his study of Hegel. In recent years, he has turned to the study of Japanese history and culture. This book is one of the representative works. What is "spirit"? It is the strength and posture of individual and community survival, the essence of culture and the root of action of a nation. Across the fields of fine arts, literature and ideology, Hasegawa has selected about 60 treasures representing the essence of Japanese spirit through several screening and repeated choices among Japanese national treasures, linking up the spiritual history of Japan from the rope culture era to the Edo era in 2000, presenting us with a rich, diversified and complete Japanese civilization.

Tongduo embodies the early Japanese community consciousness; The copied scriptures can be called a masterpiece of calligraphy, which also contains the imitation and spontaneous creation of China; The beautiful Buddha statues repose people's yearning for the paradise in troubled times; There are also the heart of seeking Zen in tea ceremony, elegance in noble literature, humor and cruelty in folk entertainment, etc. Hasegawa Hiro wrote this book with 20 years of conception and 10 years of writing. The cultural spirit of a country and a nation is not only reflected in the thoughts and actions of the people, but also in the works of art, literary books, utensils, architecture, etc. The cultural spirit is not abstract or ethereal, but can be manifested through the carrier.

Just as China cannot avoid a dream of Red Mansions, it is inevitable that the Japanese spirit in treasures also contains Hasegawa's interpretation of the classic tale of Genji in the history of Japanese literature. In his opinion, this work, which is popular in the world, is a work with love as its central theme. It interweaves the depression, worry and regret between men and women who fall in love with each other. The work focuses on the dark side of the world and explores the real image of human beings“ "Sadness" is almost the whole tone of this work, and the characters are extremely complex and difficult to understand.

In fact, it is not only the Japanese masterpiece that has the characteristics of "Sadness", but many later Japanese literature is full of such a keynote, such as Akutagawa Ryunosuke's works, and even his fate is "sad": he committed suicide in grief, anger and despair. For example, the series films of famous Japanese film director Kurosawa are also full of this meaning. In addition, in Japanese music and dance, its tone, rhythm, dance steps and so on also appear gloomy, sometimes full of ghost feeling. However, in Chinese literature and art, there are few similar emotional expressions.

And a country's architecture and gardens, often in silence to highlight its cultural spirit. In landscape architecture, Japan's "dry landscape" is unique. Dry landscape generally refers to a miniature garden landscape composed of fine sand and gravel, plus some stacked stone groups, and occasionally contains moss, lawn or other natural elements. There is no Waterscape in the dry mountains and rivers. The "water" is usually represented by sand and stone, while the "mountain" is usually represented by stones. Sometimes the surface of the sand is painted with lines to show the flow of water. The literal meaning of "dry landscape" or "dry mountain and water" usually appeared in the gardens of Muromachi, Taoshan and Edo periods. Kuoshan is often considered to be a meditation aid for Japanese monks, so flowering plants are rarely used. These static elements are believed to have a calming effect. How did Japan's dry landscape come into being? There are many opinions, but they are generally attributed to two reasons: one is influenced by Chinese ink painting and Zen culture; Secondly, it originated from the ancient times of Japan, and gradually developed and evolved under the influence of politics, Zen, landscape painting of Song Dynasty, bonsai and other factors.

Ukiyo is a surprise to the world art from Japan. Ukiyo painting, also known as Japanese genre painting, is a unique national art in the Edo period, that is, the Tokugawa Shogunate period (1603-1867). It is a typical art of flower streets and alleys. The ukiyo painting is produced in the era of economic and cultural upsurge of citizens. It mainly describes people's daily life, scenery and drama, so it has strong vitality. The authors of ukiyo painting were all born in the folk. However, in the 1920s, due to the prevalence of capitalist management, this art lost its healthy content, pursued pornography and low taste, and gradually declined. Ukiyo painting had a profound impact on European Impressionist painters. Van Gogh especially praised ukiyoe, and his painting style was also deeply affected.

Japanese culture and Japanese spirit can not be explained clearly in one book《 In the Japanese spirit in treasures, Hasegawa also tries to use Japanese "treasures" to explore the complicated Japanese spirit. Some people once summed up the Japanese spirit in four words: he Hun Yang Cai, that is, on the premise of keeping Japan's own philosophy unchanged, absorbing foreign science and technology as much as possible. In the long-term development of a country and nation, it is bound to form its own cultural spirit and national spirit. As long as this spirit can promote the peaceful development and civilization progress of mankind, it should be learned, absorbed and used for reference.

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