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★★★★★ 欧米向けで理論的に説明されている。ミニマリズムであり自然を愛する精神と言うのは日本人の芸術や生活に染み込んでいて、日本的であるとはつまり禅であると。しかしそれは現代の日本人を表す際に未だに正しいのか考えてしまう。

★★★★★ A classic book on Japan and Zen. Zen is so ubiquitous in Japan that being Japanese means Zen. It was written for the Western audience so it's explained logically. A real starting point to study Japanese culture.
Jump to English review below ↓

🔽 ログ 🔽
禅と日本文化
鈴木大拙
北川桃雄 訳 1940
196 pages
2024年4月 読了

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

鈴木大拙のZen and Japanese culture。
1938年に外国人向けに英語で講演された英語の本を1940年に和訳したもの。
当時、欧米に日本を紹介する本として一世を風靡、現在に至るまで禅そして日本文化を知るための重要な一冊。つまり私なんかはもっと前から読むべき本でした。

文章は古いのでその点は努力のいる本だけど、元々が日本人に向けていなかったので理論的に説明されていると言う点できちんと理解しやすい。

いわゆる入門書でもないし、簡単という意味でもない、でもネットとかで調べようと思ったんだけどどうも禅と言うものが分からないと言う人向け。
日本人向けだとどうも雰囲気で分からせようとする感じがあるけど、それは通用しない人たち向けなので、こっちの方が分かりやすい日本人も多いと思う。

直感的であり、言葉よりも墨画や俳句、茶の湯を通じて表すことのできる禅。
ミニマリズムであり自然を愛する精神と言うのは日本人の芸術や生活に染み込んでいて、日本的であるとはつまり禅であると。

でもこれが書かれて80年以上たった今、ふと思うのはそのステートメントは現代の日本人を表す際に未だに正しいといえるのか。

逆にそれは日本マニアの外国人が抱くイメージ上の憧れの日本、想像上の日本でしかないのかも知れない。
けど、高度成長期からもうすでに一周回って、また禅が日常に近付いたかもしれない。もしくは、年を取れば日本人は禅に近付くのかも知れない。
そうするとやっぱり禅は日本人の根っこ、いや、無意識の中にある。

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

  ●●●●●楽天●●●●●
禅と日本文化 （岩波新書） [ 鈴木　大拙 ]
価格：990円（税込、送料無料) (2025/10/2時点)

  
●●●●●アマゾン●●●●●

禅と日本文化 (岩波新書 赤版 75)

🔽 日本語情報 (「BOOKS」「楽天ブックス」「アマゾン」より引用) 🔽 
著：鈴木　大拙
訳：北川　桃雄
ISBN：9784004000204
出版社：岩波書店
判型：新書

— English —

★★★★★ A classic book on Japan and Zen. Zen is so ubiquitous in Japan that being Japanese means Zen. It was written for the Western audience so it’s explained logically. A real starting point to study Japanese culture.

🔽 log 🔽
Zen and Japanese culture
Daisetsu Suzuki
Daisetz T. Suzuki
Read 2024.4


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
It was a collection of lectures on zen by Daisetsu Suzuki in 1938, first published in English and in 1940 it was translated to Japanese.
This book remains as a very important source for anyone who’s interested in Japan and zen – in a serious way.
Today, “I love Japan” is something I hear so much that it basically has no meaning – unless they can name a few real Japanese things.

Anyway, it might be difficult to read in a sense that it’s old, but because it was for the Western audience explanations are logical so in that sense it’s easier to understand, even for Japanese today.

It’s not an introduction to zen as such, but if you are truly interested in zen and Google search won’t help you much, then this is the book to turn to.
When a book on zen is for Japanese audience (and if it’s translated to other languages) it tries to make you “read the room” to grasp the idea of zen.
On a separate note. Interestingly, there’s an argument (elsewhere, not this book) that because in Japan, zen or Buddhism is indeed in the air, you cannot shut it off so that is why Japanese people don’t need to feel strongly about being Buddhist or religious or spiritual it’s part of their lives anyway, many Japanese will declare that they are not religious.
However, in places like US, Christianity is not in the air, you must go to the church to feel it, so they feel strongly about being Christian or religious, or not.

Zen is intuitive, it is not something you explain through theories, but with ink painting or haiku, even tea ceremony or garden.
Minimalism and the love of the nature, that spirit is naturally in Japanese arts and lifestyles, therefore being Japanese is being zen.

It’s true, I do feel that it’s true, I want to it to be forever true, but I am not sure if it continues to be true.

It is the Japan that hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists fantasise, but isn’t it the Japan that only exists in our naïve imaginations?
The rapid economical growth of the 90s is in the past, and the people of that generation worked hard to aim for better lives, more luxury, better education for their kids – admittingly something that is far from zen.
Today, young people in Japan do not believe that their lives would get better when they grow up.
Frankly they are not interested. They don’t want more stuff, and they don’t need more.
So, are we going back to zen?
Does that mean, after all, we come back to the statement that, yes, being Japanese means being zen?

🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Zen and Japanese Culture (Princeton Classics)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Zen and Japanese Culture (Princeton Classics)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●

Lo Zen e la cultura giapponese (Italiano)