This collection comprises fifteen essays and three translations in subject areas that converge and overlap: Japanese literature, language study, philosophy, and Japan's relations with the West. The confluence of philosophy and religion broadens the discourse on tariki in Shinran's teachings, its connection with Christianity and the philosophy of Tanabe Hajime. Also discussed are Nishida Kitarō and Watsuji Tetsurō. The confluence of literature and philosophy is explored in two novels by Natsume Sōseki and in a short story by Nakajima Atsushi. Emergence of modernity is examined in Higuchi Ichiyō's narrative, Hagiwara Sakutarō's poetry, and Edo-period pronoun use. Also examined are Kawabata's aesthetics and Ōe's career. Japan's relations with the West are pondered in its banking system, William Faulkner's visit, and Japanese loanwords in Brazil. Three translations presented are a Sōseki novella, an otogizōshi medieval tale, and a lecture by philosopher Nishitani Keiji. The synthesis of literature and philosophy in Viglielmo's writings rounds up the collection.
Contributors: Setsuko Aihara, Nobuko Pugarelli Aoshima, Alfred Bloom, David A. Dilworth, Robert Epp, Kyle Ikeda, Frederick Kavanagh, Edgar C. Knowlton, Johannes Laube, Gladys Nakahara, Nakayama Etsuko, Nobuko Ochner, Steve Odin, Graham Parkes, Katsue Akiba Reynolds, William Ridgeway, Edward Seidensticker, Harue Summersgill, Travis Summersgill.
