English Abstract
Japan's 'New Spirituality'
The present book examines a remarkablephenomenon in contemporary Japanese society
an one of its significant characteristics: thesearch for the 'spiritual mentality' that in no small
measure determine a Japanese intellectual milieu
which, since the 1970s, has sought to formulate
an 'other modernity' for Japan.
In the last decades, many representatives ofJapanese culture discourse have undergone anideological shift, disassociating themselves frommaterialistic values and an 'logocentred' world
view and devoting themselves to regaining an'inner dimension'. Implicit in this transition is a
critical re-evaluation aof 'Western' modernity,
together with 'self-orientalistic' refolections on
Japanese identity as understood within theconcept of 'primeval Asia' (actally a conceptfrom Western orientalism.) Likewise linked tothe endeavour is the seach for 'alternative models
for life and thought,' the basis of such often beinga return to 'indigenously Japanese spirituality'.
This current, which through the media influences
the self-image of the Japanese an likewise affects
the landscape of Japanese academic reseearch, isunderstood here as a folkloistic attitude and is
described in terms of 'ethno-romanticism' and'ethno-esoterism'.

The general public, both Japanese and foreign, came to focus its attention on the 'problem' ofreligion as the result of the poison gas attack carried out in central Tokyo in March 1995, bythe neo-religious cult Aum Shinrikyô, under the leadership of Asahara Shôkô. In the years
since, designated as the post-Aum Era, signs of a new religious orientation among Japanese
intellectuals an artists, as well as the 'occult boom' as a contemporary Japanese social
phenomenon, have come unser a cloud; the debate about religion and the religious sensibility
has taken on a sinister dimension.
Thus, a closely related topic of discussion is the role of those characterised by Shimazono
Susumu (University of Tôkyô) as 'spiritual itellectuals'. Includes is the question of how therenowned representatives of the 'spiritual discourse' - designated here as 'the spiritual old boys'- are to be assessed in light of their function in the media and of the changing position of 'theintellectual'. In contempoary Japan there is less talk of the chishikijin ('intellectual' in the'classical' sense) and more of the bunkajin (spokesperson for public opinion, lit. 'culturalperson') or the shisôka (prominent thinker). Forming a network through various intellectual andacademic circles and institutions, the 'spiritual discourse' is closely related to 'Japanese postmodernity', its implicit nostalgic nativism/nationalism and its identiy industry. An
understanding of the phenomenon provides insights not only specifically into Japan's 'spiritualscene', with its links to New Age thought, but also into the cultural life of pre-Bubble an postBubble Japan as a whole. The newly gained indormations on the 'spiritual network' will enable
us to recognize argumentations of certain Japanese thinkers, acting in a global setting, as partof a strategy of 'spiritual self-defense' inherent in recent nihonjinron.
Though the ‘search for spiritual bearings’ will in all probability continue in the new millennium
as one aspect of contemporary Japanese society, there has been little research into this complex
phenomenon, in either Japan or the West. This study, which initially examines talk about
religion and ‘spirituality’ as a manifestation within the Japanese cultural milieu, has its main
focus on their literary expression. By probing current texts, it asks what models are being
formed by those Japanese authors engaged in the themes of religion, new religions, and‘spirituality’: it discusses how the claims inherent in the works of renowned writers, includingÔe Kenzaburô, recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1994, are to be evaluated within thecontext of a ‘new spirituality’. Finally, it is further concerned with the testimony that the authors
as participants in the life of the mind bring to the ‘spiritual discourse’ and to the debate aboutthe ‘spiritual search for the self’ (keyword: jibun sagashi) as a means for ‘healing’ (iyashi) and‘salvation’ (sukui).
The present documentation of contemporary Japan’s `spiritual´ state of mind began with aresearch interest that was around 1993 focused on a spectacular renaissance of the `spirits, i. e.
a new popularity of the old foxes and badgers, of the Japanese ghosts and the supernatural(keyword: ikai), and then further developed into a more comprehensive inquiry into themeaning of `alternative realities´ in present-day cultural discussion in Japan. It reports on thesense of uneasiness with modernity that is generally said to be a characteristic feature of highly
technological societies. It proceeds from the premise that nowhere there are flights frommodernity that cannot be pursued and understood from a intellectual and sensible perspective.
Lisette Gebhardt, 2004