Aesthetics and Art Studies in Modern Japan

本研究的目的是通过对日本明治时代美学与艺术研究所处情境的反思，来思考当下与未来的美学理想形象。具体而言，本研究的时间跨度限定在19世纪70年代（美学传入之初）至1900年（大冢出任东京大学美学教授）这一时期，以便有效地考察至今仍具有强大控制力的日本美学制度框架诞生的背景。正如报告中所显示的那样，报告收集了六份文件，可以说，最初的目标几乎已经充分实现。本文先后分析了西、费诺罗萨、大冢等人的美学文本及其社会语境，并将日本的情况与德国等欧洲先进国家的情况进行了比较。本研究运用“知识社会学”的方法，试图将当时受到一种新古典主义艺术观启发并为世界各地许多知识分子所广泛认同的“美学”相对化。“当然，可能有很多不足和不准确之处。可以比较的艺术类型和国家减少了。令人遗憾的是，这些描写往往集中于东京大学周围的学术主流美学。克服这些不足将是我未来的任务。

The aimof this research is to think over the ideal image of aesthetics at present and in future byreflecting on the situations in which aesthetics and art studies in the Meiji era Japan were placed. Concretely, the time span this exploration covers is limited within the period from 1870's (beginning of importation of aesthetics) to 1900 (Otsuka's inauguration into the chair of aesthetics at University of Tokyo), so that the background of the birth of institutional framework of aesthetics in Japan, which keeps the strong controlling power even now, might be investigated efficiently.As is shown in the Report, where six papers are collected, it can be said that the initial aim has been almost adequately attained. Aesthetical texts by Nishi, Fenollosa, Otsuka etc. and their social contexts are analysed here successively, and the situations in Japan are compared with those in the advanced European countries^like Germany. By using the method of sociology of knowledge", this research tries to relativize the then "aesthetics" which was inspired with a kind of neoclassic view of art and was shared widely with many intellectuals everywhere in the world. "Of course, there may be lots of insufficiencies and inaccuracies. Art genres and countries to compare with have been reduced. And it is also regrettable that the descriptions tend to be concentrated to the academic mainstream aesthetics around University of Tokyo. Overcoming these inadequacies will be my future task.