The Influence Of Taoism On Japanese Modern Literature

After the Meiji Restoration,Japan started to learn from the West actively and openup the process of modernization.However,as a traditional Eastern thought,the influence of Taoism on Japanese modern culturewas submerged in the tide of Westernization and neglected by people,Through a comprehensive research of Japanese modern literary circles,literati,and literary theories,as well as a detailed analysis of the literary thoughts of the three influential writers in this period,this paper attempts to clarify the influence of Taoism on modern Japanese literature.A comparative study of philosophy and culture is adopted and a study of the history of philosophy and thought is also combined by the author to make a three-dimensional and comprehensive analysis on the relationship between Taoism and modern Japanese literature.The paper consists of three parts: preface,text and conclusion.The prefacegives views on the research backgrounds,outcomes,ideas,methods,and definition of the concept of "modern".And,the text is divided into four chapters.In chapter one,starting with the sumarization on dissemination status and characteristics of Taoism before the modern times in Japan,especially in the Edo period,the author makes a brief introduction on the modern literary works and literary writers related to Taoist thoughts,and analyzes the evaluation standards of modern literature and the intrinsic connection between literature theory and Lao Zhuang's thought.The Laozi view in the youth time of Natsume Soseki,and the intrinsic connection between the Taoist implication embodied in his Chinese poetry and the thought of "then-day private" and Lao Zhuang's thought put forward in his later years are inspected in the second chapter.The early Laozi view of the meteorite was mainly embodied in his article "Philosophy of Laozi".Due to the influence of evolution,the meteorite's understanding of Laozi's philosophy is critical,butdeepening in process,which can be seen not only from the Taoist philosophies contained in his many Chinese poems but also from the "days to go private",a remarkable manifestation of his profound understanding of Taoist thought,put forward in his later years.That is the Taoist view: to suit nature and be comfortable with nature is regarded as “becoming oneself with the universe” and to remove subjective ego and selfishnessis sumed up as“going private”.In this way,lives could be of greatness and detachment and wouldget free,which is a development on Laozi view of the meteorite and manifests his literary thoughts in his later years.In the third chapter,under the clue of the turn to Taoism,the author cards the history of thoughts by Tanizaki Junichiro before he touched Taoism and inpects the reasons why he turned from Confucianism to Taoism and its proces,as well as analyzes the features of Taoism under his perspectives..Taniaki grew up in the era of Confucianism's revival.He was very passionate about Confucianism in the early days.But before and after 1900,as Nietzsche's thoughts were introduced and prevailed in Japan,individualistic thoughts gradually rose,and young intellectuals began to go against on Confucian moralism and constantly awaken to pursue individual liberation.Taniaki knew about Nietzsche's thought through the famous "beautiful life debate" in the literary world,and further learned about Taoism,especially Zhuangzi's thought,from Nietzsche's thought,and strongly resonated with these two ideas.The change of the thought by Tanizaki to Nietzsche and Taoism is inseparable resulted from his desire to get rid of the suppression of traditional morality and the pursuit of self-liberation.Therefore,many commonalities between Taoism and Nietzsche's thoughts could be traced in his thoughts,which are more considered to be anti-moral anti-traditional and individualistic and visualized in his novel "Kirin",a tangible evidence of Taoism.The specific relationship between Koda Rohan and his works and Taoist Taoism is mainly discussed in the fourth chapter.Firstly,the author unveils the intrinsic relationship between cosmology,outlook on life and death and the concept of destiny and Zhuangzi philosophythrough the works of "About Qi","Taidokuro","Unmei" and so on;Secondly,the authorinspects his literary works and academic research papers related to Taoism,finds out the ideological tendency of consistency of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism,and,investigates the relationship between his study will of Taoism in his later years and the Japanese Chinese studies that emerged at Kyoto University in Japan at that time.On the basis of the previous four chapters,the conclusion part comprehensively discusses the important role and new changes of Taoism in the formation and development of modern Japanese literature,and summarizes the influence of Taoism on modern Japanese literature into four aspects.They are: first,the important theoretical support of Japanese modern literary theory;second,the important theoretical source of the writer's literary view;third,the influence on the writer'soutlook on life;fourth,as a writer against old ethics,old ethics and The theoretical basis for pursuing self.