Gee’s Reviews > Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan (Revised English Translation) > Status Update

Shamanism, as it is well known, was prevalent in the Asiatic conti- nent as a religious superstition which endowed certain individuals with t
he gift of wielding magical power and of communicating with evil spirits. Shamanism also entered into the ancient Japanese religion. Before the introduction of modern ideas and culture from the continent, mediums occupied a central position in the Japanese religious world

the Japanese language manifests its non-logical character all the more clearly. The language lacks the relative pronoun, “which,” standing for t
he antecedent, that helps develop clarity of thought. The absence of such a relational word makes it inconvenient to advance closely knit thinking in Japanese.’ It is difficult to tell what modifies what, when several adjectives or adverbs are juxtaposed

The traditional concept of honesty as loyalty to the clan and Emperor is applicable only to the conduct of man as a member of the particular and limited human nexus to which he belongs; it is not appli- cable to the conduct of man as a member of human society as a whole. This shortcoming of the traditional moral concept suddenly proves to be a
weakness that needs to be overcome at a time of social confusion

Although in the past the Japanese adopted Chinese thought and culture on a large scale, still they have exercised particular care not to injure the distinctive characteristics of the Japanese state. ‘The law codes which formed the basis of administration and justice in ancient Japan w
ere for the most part imitations of Chinese models; however, the traditional Chinese idea of revolution was rejected

But, since the Confucian concept of the state was formulated in accordance with the needs of Chinese society, it naturally contained a
number of points with which the more thorough-going of the Japanese nationalists could not agree. ‘The state conceived by Chinese p
hilosophers was an ideal or model state; on the other hand, the state that the Japanese nationalists had in mind was the actual Japanese state.

“A Japanese individual adjusts in a social structure with strong collectivity orientations which stress ability and security and which can turn into stagnation; an American adjusts in a social environment which emphasizes self-orientation with a focus on individualism and freedom, which in excess can turn to anomie"

Chinese moral code, which has often been said to be founded upon familism, puts great stress upon lineage. In Japan, on the contrary, stress was laid upon the “family” as the unifying force of a tight h
uman nexus rather than upon lineage. Hence, adoption of an heir from a non- related family, often lower in social status, was possible. Confucianism in China, however, placed such great importance upon lineage

Indians regard man as the subjective performer on a metaphysical stage, while peoples of the Western Hemisphere have, from ancient times, inclined to be more empirical; in both cultures, however, men is regarded as possessing potentialities of universal significance. Most Japanese, on the other hand, tend to look upon man as a being subordinated to a specific and limited human nexus

to the stress on social proprieties in Japan another characteristic of its culture appears—the tendency of social relationships to supersede or take precedence over the individual. To lay stress upon human relation- ships is to place heavy stress upon the relations among many individuals rather than upon the individual as an independent entity

social condition gives rise to the tendency to stress harmony among the members of a society rather than dominance based on power. This is not to deny entirely the presence of the power relationship in Japanese society since ancient times. The social restrictions and pressures upon the individual might have been indeed stronger in Japan than in many other countries.