D. T. Suzuki, Japanese Spirituality

 

■ D. T. Suzuki, Japanese Spirituality

Written during wartime, this book redefines “Japanese spirituality” not as national ideology but as inner religious awakening found in Zen and Pure Land thought.

---

■ Motoori Norinaga

An Edo-period scholar of National Learning. Through classical commentaries, he argued for an original Japanese sensibility rooted in sincerity and mono no aware.

---

■ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure

A local ethical text of the Saga domain. It promotes radical loyalty and readiness for death, later reinterpreted as a symbol of Japanese bushido.

---

■ Inazo Nitobe

Author of Bushido: The Soul of Japan. He recast samurai ethics in English, presenting bushido as a moral system compatible with modern global values.

---

■ Kitaro Nishida

Founder of modern Japanese philosophy. Through concepts like pure experience and absolute nothingness, he linked Japanese thought with world philosophy.

---

■ Tetsuro Watsuji

In works such as Fudo and Ethics, he defined humans as relational beings, analyzing Japanese culture through climate, history, and social structure.

---

■ Shinobu Origuchi

A folklorist and poet who explored spirituality in myth, ritual, sexuality, and death. He reshaped National Learning into a bodily, ritual-centered vision.

---

■ Yukio Mishima

A novelist who staged Japanese ideals through body, beauty, and death. Drawing on Hagakure, he compressed history and ideology into personal action.