Okinawa, which had an entirely different historical and living culture to Japan, was forced to conform under “assimilation” when its administrative rights were reverted to Japan in May 1972 (Showa 47), and this prompted a sense of crisis expressed through the “anti-reversion theory”. Advocates of the theory, such as Shinichi Kawamitsu and Akira Arakawa, laid the foundations for “anti-reversion” thinking by resurrecting the history and living culture of Okinawan people. The impetus for their attempt was Takaaki Yoshimoto’s Theory of Co-fantasy and “The Logic of a Foreign Tribe.” Hence, this paper aims to examine how Yoshimoto and Okinawan intellectuals such as Kawamitsu and others, who were devoted to Ryukyu/Okinawan history and culture, became aware of this issue and also discusses how this shaped their perceptions of coexistence. While Yoshimoto focused on the religious rituals of the Ryukyu Kingdom era and mythologies/tales passed down through Ryukyu history in order to relativize the legitimacy of the establishment of an ancient emperor state in Japan, Okinawan intellectuals such as Kawamitsu appealed for the independence of the Okinawan spirit by highlighting the “foreignness” of Okinawan culture relative to that of Japan. These intellectuals monitored Okinawan people's awareness of community by examining the lives of those living in village communities within present-day history and culture in order to criticize the supporters of a continuous reversion movement that had further propelled modern Okinawa toward assimilation with Japan. This allows us to identify the disparity between the attitudes of these two schools of thought that saw Ryukyu/Okinawan history and culture in very different lights. In brief, due to their different purposes in focusing on Ryukyu/Okinawan history and culture, as well as their interests in different times and events, Yoshimoto and Kawamitsu and others did not always share congruent views on the issue of Ryukyu/Okinawa. However, as Kawamitsu himself has described, by restoring Okinawan history and culture through either pursuing or referring to the perspectives and methodologies that Yoshimoto employed, we are able to see the ways in which Okinawan intellectuals derived their own thinking from an awareness of community found in such processes. This also helps to reveal Yoshimoto’s influence on Okinawan intellectuals.
동국대학교 일본학연구소 [The Institute for Japanese Studies Dongguk University]
설립연도
1979
분야
인문학>일본어와문학
소개
동국대학교 부설 일본학연구소는 일본의 역사, 문화, 사회를 연구하여 한일간의 상호이해증진과 문화교류에 이바지하고자 다음과 같은 사업을 실시한다. 첫째, 한일관계의 연구발표 및 강연회를 개최한다. 둘째, 정기 간행물과 연구도서 발간 및 자료를 수집한다. 셋째, 한일관련 연구비를 보조한다. 넷째, 내외 저명인사의 초빙과 임직원의 해외파견을 실시한다. 다섯째, 부속도서실을 운영한다. 여섯째, 기타 목적달성에 필요한 사업을 실시한다. 이상과 같은 사업을 통하여 한일관계의 이해의 폭을 넓힘으로써 지금까지 가깝고도 먼 양국관계에서 가까운 양국관계를 구축해 가는데 일조하고자 한다.