In this thesis I will discuss the politics behind Japanese anime and manga. In particular, I will try to elucidate the motivations behind the use of Nazi-inspired characters and Nazi symbolism in...Show moreIn this thesis I will discuss the politics behind Japanese anime and manga. In particular, I will try to elucidate the motivations behind the use of Nazi-inspired characters and Nazi symbolism in popular fiction. My research will be loosely structured around Hiroki Azuma’s infamous “Otaku; Japan’s Database Animals”, in which he discusses the effects of postmodernity on the way in which fiction is produced and consumed. Starting with Hiroki Azuma’s theory on the decline of a “grand narrative” and the increased importance of “moé” in fiction, it is my goal to see if Azuma’s theory holds up against the large variety of Nazi representations in contemporary Japanese popular culture.Show less
This essay analyses Oiwa, the female vengeful ghost protagonist of the kabuki play Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan, written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV in 1825. Due to its popularity, Oiwa has been a widely...Show moreThis essay analyses Oiwa, the female vengeful ghost protagonist of the kabuki play Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan, written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV in 1825. Due to its popularity, Oiwa has been a widely discussed topic by experts of the field, but there is a fundamental issue to reconsider if we are to achieve a better understanding of this character: why did she turn into a vengeful spirit? By applying the theoretical concept of intertextuality, i.e. by considering the relations between Yotsuya kaidan and other texts such as its sources and other plays from Nanboku’s repertoire, this thesis challenges the consolidated opinion that Oiwa turned into this frightful creature out of jealousy towards her unfaithful husband. Although jealousy is impossible to exclude, it argues that key to unravelling the motivations behind Oiwa’s revenge is the status of Yotsuya kaidan as the parody of the famous dramatization of the forty-seven ronin’s tale Kanadehon Chūshingura (1748). As propaedeutic to the making of this point, this work also looks at a less discussed side of Oiwa’s character, that as a daughter, wife and mother of a samurai household at the end of the Edo period.Show less
The intent of this thesis is to use a case study for possible new approaches to shinshūkyō 新宗教 (“new religions”) in Japan. In particular, this thesis aims at investigating the nature of kamigakari...Show moreThe intent of this thesis is to use a case study for possible new approaches to shinshūkyō 新宗教 (“new religions”) in Japan. In particular, this thesis aims at investigating the nature of kamigakari 神懸り, loosely translatable as “divine possession”, for Deguchi Nao 出口なお (1837-1918), foundress of the ritual organization in Japan called Ōmotokyō大本教. A close-up on the origins of kamigakari is given in order to understand better the personal circumstances around Deguchi Nao’s experience and how it functioned for her. Kamigakari was the experience through which Deguchi Nao wrote down the Ofudesaki お筆先, a book inspired by the deity she claimed to be inside her, Ushitora no Konjin 丑寅の金神. In the book she called for radical spiritual change for people as well as for kami 神 (deities). The second chapter is dedicated to the book and its worldview. While the third chapter investigates the connections between shamanism and shinshūkyō, the last chapter analyzes the particular features of Deguchi Nao’s kamigakari, which, including the co-founder of Ōmotokyō, Deguchi Onisaburō 出口王仁三郎 (1871-1948), worked through the dual principle based on the notions of “male with a transformed nature” (henjōnanshi 変性男子), which refers to Deguchi Nao, and “female with a transformed nature” (henjōnyoshi変性女子), used to describe Onisaburō’s role.Show less
