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初心を思い出させてくれたエッセー
日本に来て以来研究を重ねてきた生け花。いつしかマンネリを感じ始めていたときに、哲学者・西谷啓治のエッセーに出会い、
初めてこの芸術に接したころのことを思い出した。
Seeing with new eyes
I was at a dead end in my work. I had been studying and writing about ikebana for almost as long as I had been in Japan, and I had been teaching it for a while. But doing the art form I used to enjoy so much had become a stale routine.
In the past, when I found myself in the doldrums, I had gone to a concert or an exhibition, or taken a trip. I usually came back to my everyday life renewed and refreshed. Whatever it was, there had always been something to wake me up to the beauty around me.
Fortunately, while doing research for a book, I came across a short essay entitled "On Ikebana" (1953) by Keiji Nishitani (1900-90), one of Japan's few well-known philosophers. Nishitani was a member of the Kyoto school, and a follower of Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945). They were deeply influenced by Buddhist thought, and that tradition became the basis for their uniquely Japanese response to Western philosophy. They typically use concepts such as Nothingness (mu) and Emptiness (ku) that are very difficult to grasp, but his discussion of ikebana is straightforward.
Nishitani wrote his essay shortly after he returned from Europe where he had spent a number of years studying philosophy and art, and traveling as much as possible. He had been deeply impressed by the power and beauty of European art and architecture. However, when he returned to Japan, he experienced a kind of reverse culture shock. He saw many aspects of his native country as if for the first time, and one of them was ikebana.
It struck him that the most important difference between Japanese art and European art was a different attitude toward time. This was probably the result of different religious backgrounds. European art, Nishitani writes, is made with the intention of resisting the passage of time. The materials used are relatively permanent, like marble and oil paint on canvas. Even though they know that nothing will last forever, Europeans speak of "immortal" artists and "timeless" paintings and statues.
According to Nishitani, Japanese arts like ikebana and the attitude of Japanese artists are entirely different from the European approach. Instead of trying to stop time, ikebana embraces the passage of time. It shows us a kind of timeless beauty in the process of change itself.
Nishitani reminds us that in nature plants grow, wither and die. In ikebana, plants are cut, and removed from nature. They are arranged in containers according to formal rules, and enter the world of human art and culture. Despite being made from natural, ephemeral materials, beautiful works of ikebana seem to be beyond nature and time. According to Nishitani, this timeless quality gives us a brief glimpse of eternity.
There are many other insights in his essay and sometimes his explanations are very abstract and difficult to follow. But one result of reading Nishitani was to help me recall why I had started studying ikebana in the first place. Originally, it had had a very strong effect on me, and as I read Nishitani, I relived those first mysterious encounters. In a sense, he helped me to do what he himself had done. He helped me see a part of my familiar world with new eyes.
Shukan ST: Oct. 31, 2003
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- at a dead end in my work
- 仕事で行き詰まって
- art form
- 芸術形式(生け花のこと)
- stale
- 気の抜けた
- routine
- ありきたりのこと
- doldrums
- スランプ
- exhibition
- 展示会
- Whatever it was
- それが何であっても
- "On Ikebana"
- 「随想1 風のこころ(西谷啓治著作集20)」 (創文社刊)参照
- Keiji Nishitani
- 西谷啓治。石川県生まれ。京都帝国大学文学部哲学科卒業。昭和7年より同大学で教べんをとる。禅をはじめとする東洋思想や修行法を手がかりに「ニヒリズムを通してのニヒリズムの超克」という課題に取り組んだ
- philosophers
- 哲学者
- Kyoto school
- 京都学派。西田幾多郎に始まる哲学の一派
- Kitaro Nishida
- 西田幾多郎(1870-1945)。代表的な著作に「善の研究」がある
- Buddhist thought
- 仏教思想
- response
- 意見
- grasp
- 理解する
- straightforward
- 単純明快な
- architecture
- 建築
- reverse culture shock
- 逆カルチャーショック
- It struck him that 〜
- 〜だということに彼は気付いた
- religious backgrounds
- 宗教的な背景
- resisting the passage of time
- 時間の経過に抵抗すること
- materials
- 素材
- marble
- 大理石
- oil paint on canvas
- キャンバスに塗った油絵の具
- immortal
- 不滅の
- timeless
- 永遠の
- statues
- 彫像
- approach
- 手法
- embraces
- 受け入れる
- in the process of change itself
- そのもの自体が変化する過程の中で
- in nature
- 自然の中では
- wither
- しおれる
- containers
- 花器
- formal rules
- きっちり決められた規則
- world of human art and culture
- 人間の手によって作られた芸術や文化の世界
- gives us a brief glimpse of eternity
- 永遠というものを垣間見せてくれる
- insights
- 洞察
- relived 〜
- 〜をまざまざと思い出した
- mysterious encounters
- (生け花との) 不思議な出会い