‘선문화・선예술’ 구축에 있어서 스즈키 다이세쓰[鈴木大拙] 전사(前史)(2) - 오카쿠라 덴신[岡倉天心]을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The seemingly self-evident concept of Zen culture and art is a modern product devised in the social situations faced by modern Japan. The Zen culture and art have developed as cultural nationalism in the magnetic field of modern Japanese Buddhist nationalism rather than a universal concept as the traditional Oriental heritage. In an effort to clearly trace the process of the Zen art theory being established, this study examined the history before Daisetsu about the Japanese history to figure out how the Muromachi culture was understood before Suzuki and others established the concept of Zen culture and art. There was a foundation of understanding being formed in Zen's close relations to art or Japanese culture, despite Zen culture and Zen art was not in use then. It happened mainly in the field of Japanese art and was led by Okakura Tenshin. Relations between Zen and art began in his conception of "history of Japanese art". He had views on ink-and-wash paintings with a focus on paintings as high art according to the Western criteria. He introduced Zen that was considered to be in line with modern Western philosophy to explain them. As a result, he was able to claim for the superiority of ink paintings or Japanese art as a form even more loyal to Hegel's esthetics by emphasizing his views for sketching from nature. However, his claim was close to imagination without substance. He later contradicted himself the relations between Zen and art, but nobody paid attention to his personal view. The understanding of the arts of the Muromachi Era in relation to Zen was spread in the field of art relatively early in the middle 1900s.