Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan: The Invisible Empire - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350200549 ISBN 13: 9781350200548

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020

Synopsis

This book draws attention to a striking aspect of contemporary Japanese culture: the prevalence of discussions and representations of “spirits” (tama or tamashii). Ancestor cults have played a central role in Japanese culture and religion for many centuries; in recent decades, however, other phenomena have expanded and diversified the realm of Japanese animism. For example, many manga, anime, TV shows, literature, and art works deal with spirits, ghosts, or with an invisible dimension of reality. International contributors ask to what extent these are cultural forms created by the media for consumption, rather than manifestations of “traditional” ancestral spirituality in their adaptations to contemporary society. Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan considers the modes of representations and the possible cultural meanings of spirits, as well as the metaphysical implications of contemporary Japanese ideas about spirits. The chapters offer analyses of specific cases of “animistic attitudes” in which the presence of spirits and spiritual forces is alleged, and attempt to trace cultural genealogies of those attitudes. In particular, they present various modes of representation of spirits (in contemporary art, architecture, visual culture, cinema, literature, diffuse spirituality) while at the same time addressing their underlying intellectual and religious assumptions.

About this title

About the Author

Fabio Rambelli is Professor of Japanese Religions and International Shinto Foundation Endowed Chair in Shinto Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He is series editor of Bloomsbury Shinto Studies, and his publications include The Sea and the Sacred in Japan (Bloomsbury, 2018) and A Buddhist Theory of Semiotics (2013).

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350200549
• ISBN 13: 9781350200548
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 242
• Editor: Rambelli Fabio