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Lecture Report - "Representation of Christianity in Miyazawa Kenji's Literary Works" May 16 2011 (Mon)

The above lecture by Professor Pullattu Abraham GEORGE, (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) was jointly hosted by the Comparative Japanese Culture Division and International Cooperation Division on May 16 2011 (Medium Conference Room, Administration offices). Facilitated by Shoji Shibata, Toshio Nakano, (TUFS professors) as discussants, it was a lively lecture attended by more than 70 people.

Professor George is currently a visiting research scholar at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies and is a leading Miyazawa Kenji researcher.

Carefully choosing Christianity-related words, motifs and ideas found in Miyazawa's works, Professor George questioned why Miyazawa, who was a Nichiren Buddhist, chose to include elements of another religion in his works. He went on to review the major turning points in Miyazawa's life, such as the presence of Christians around him, and his sister, Toshiko's encounters with Christianity at the Japan Women's University and her death, and explained how he was inspired by the Book of Revelation to deepen the concepts of universalism and salvation in his works.

In response, Prof. Shibata pointed out the contrastive influences of Christianity from the viewpoint of Nichiren Buddhism, and the meaning of the "real God" in his works, with examples from his writing. Calling Prof. George's lecture thought-provoking, Prof. Nakano pointed out the importance of Kokuchukai, one of the ideological premises for the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere to Miyazawa. Referring to both the Great Kanto Earthquake and the recent Higashi Nihon Great Earthquake and Tsunami, he also raised the necessity to understand the contemporary thoughts on "from disaster to war" as seen in the changes in Miyazawa's works before and after the first earthquake.

The problems of where to look for Miyazawa's identity, and whether to focus on the religious universalism he aspired to or the contemporary situations he was committed to will always be issues to tackle in research on Miyazawa. Nevertheless, Prof. George's lecture was interesting in that he not only showed his superb understanding of current research on Miyazawa, but also originality of ideas by discussing religious universalism in Miyazawa's works from the representation of Christianity. In doing so, he brought out the necessity of a broader international perspective for Miyazawa research and helped us reconfirm the significance of Japanese studies in an international context.

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