A Leader's View on Life and Death | Ikuo Kaneko (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)

2009.07.02

My friend Seigo Matsuoka, whom I consider a "master of Japanese culture," has been holding an "amazing" event called "Ren-Juku" several times a year since 2003. I will explain just how "amazing" it is on another occasion, but the guests at the Ren-Juku held a month ago included Moto Hagio, Kenichi Matsumoto, Tadanori Yokoo, Yoshiharu Fukuhara, and Soshitsu Kobori. The talk on revolutionary thought by Kenichi Matsumoto, author of stimulating books such as "Wakaki Kita Ikki," "Mishima Yukio Bōmei Densetsu," and "Shōwa Tennō Densetsu," ranged from Mencius's "ōminron" (theory of the kingly way and the people) to Yangmingism, and concluded with the details of Yukio Mishima's suicide on the balcony of the Self-Defense Forces headquarters in Ichigaya.

According to Matsuoka's "Nihon to iu Hōhō," the Tokugawa shogunate ordered Hayashi Razan and others to "introduce the state-building ideology of Zhu Xi studies" and "borrow the norms and morals of secular society from Confucianism." However, the (Japanese) Yangmingism that entered along with Zhu Xi studies incorporated a Japanese interpretation of "gi" (righteousness), and as a result, it is said to have been "regarded as dangerous since the modern era." This is because it could lead to "actions of defying one's lord being praised as 'gi'" and "choosing death for oneself if not heeded."

It seems that Japanese society is fond of this pattern, as seen in the recent "Hato no Ran" (Hatoyama's Rebellion) that has been making headlines on news shows, where the actions of the younger brother, Kunio, have gained public approval as a somewhat similar case. In this Sunday's NHK drama "Tenchijin" as well, Naoe Kanetsugu, who resolutely refused an invitation from Taikō Hideyoshi, was prepared to die if his refusal was not accepted (of course), a plotline guaranteed to win the audience's sympathy.

Having fled to the United States after graduating from university because I found "Japaneseness" stifling, I too have come to understand and appreciate the good things about Japan as I've gotten older. I resonate with "the beauty of leaving empty space and seeing what is not there, rather than the beauty of filling everything in like an oil painting." The idea of "the strength of weakness," often mentioned in the context of volunteerism and social innovation, also stems from this. However, while I can accept something like the line from Ken Takakura's ninkyō (chivalrous) films, "In a man's world, if you weigh giri (duty) and ninjō (human feeling) on a scale, giri is heavier," I honestly feel quite uncomfortable with the populist treatment of choosing death as "isagiyoshi" (noble/graceful), or rather, the easy portrayal of such a view on life and death as something "beautiful."

(Date of publication: 2009/07/02)