Worms, Germs, and Technologies of the Self: Religions, Sword Fighting, and Medicine in Early Modern Japan
This article examines the unprecedented effort that was made to articulate the relations between knowledge of medicine, sword fighting, and Zen during the Tokugawa period. Focusing on the writings of Takuan Sōhō (1573-1646), Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769), Kaibara Ekken (1630-17...
| Published in: | Japanese religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Center
2012
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| In: |
Japanese religions
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| Further subjects: | B
Medicine
B Zen B Stagnation B ki B Worms |
| Summary: | This article examines the unprecedented effort that was made to articulate the relations between knowledge of medicine, sword fighting, and Zen during the Tokugawa period. Focusing on the writings of Takuan Sōhō (1573-1646), Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769), Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714), and others, this article attempts to show that intellectuals in early modern Japan began to idealize industrious behavior and self-discipline as a new ethos. To get a better sense of why these men began to espouse this new ethos, this paper will set their writings against the larger historical backdrop of the socio-economic changes that took place during the Tokugawa period with a special emphasis on the new bakufu policies toward military households and also temples and shrines. Th is article hopes to show how these larger historical forces inflected the experiences of the body (e.g. worms and stagnation) and how some men began to constitute themselves as self-disciplining subjects that are solely responsible for their own health and spiritual well-being. |
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| ISSN: | 0448-8954 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Japanese religions
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