The life of Okakura Tenshin(1862-1913) overlaps approximately with the Meiji Era. In many ways Tenshin was an embodiment of the period itself, with its magnitude and all its contradictions. As an art critic, philosopher, and interpreter of the East to the Western world, he traveled widely, and was actively involved in research, education, art administration, lectures, and writing. We can see in him, a vast knowledge of the West, a vigorous curiosity for and absorption of Western things and values, along with a strong sense of confrontation with the West which resulted in his defence of Japanese ideals and beauty. In his representative works, The Ideals of the East(1903), The Awakening of Japan(1904) and The Book of Tea(1906) we can see how he attempted to defence Japan and introduce Japanese culture. As his writings indicate all too well, it was Western readers he was effectively addressing. This in a sense determined the nature of his writings for it is not difficult to imagine that the more he was conscious of the "outside", the greater the necessity to assert his own identity and culture. In this paper I would like to focus on The White Fox(1913), a fairy drama in three acts written for music. Here, Tenshin adapts the Japanese legend in which a fox queen takes the form of a maiden and marries the man who had once saved her life. This paper is an attempt to examine how Tenshin tried to introduce this unique Japanese legend to the Western readers and where his special concern was, through an analysis of The White Fox, his last major literary work.
본 한국일본학회는 일본관련 학회로는 1973년에 한국 최초로 성립되어 2015년 3월 현재 가입회원수 기준 1000여명에 달하는 방대한 학회로 발전하였다. 본 학회는 일본어학 및 일본학은 물론,일본의교육,사상,역사,민속 등 일본학 전반에 걸친 연구와 한일간의 일본학 전반에 걸친 비교 연구를 대상으로 하는 학회로서 회원들의 연구기회 제공과 정보의 교류를 주된 목표로 하고 있다. 분회 발표를 포함하여 매년 20회 가까운 학술발표회와 국제학술대회를 개최 함으로서 발표 기회의 제공과 함께 회원 상호간의 친목 도모의 장으로도 활용하며 건전한 학회발전을 지향하고 있다.