Endo Shusaku Research Articles

Theology of Silence

Abstract This article explores Endo Shusaku’s views of God and silence with the aim of sketching what I take to be Endo’s theology of silence. In service of this goal, I will delineate how Japanese culture and events in Endo’s life contributed to shaping his views of God and silence, which ultimately led to Endo’s theology of silence—one fitting his Japanese sensibilities. In Endo’s divine drama of silence, Christ, who is the eternal suffering companion, is the inhabiter of silence, while the Kakure Kirishitans—the oppressed and weary—are the pilgrims of silence. In the space of silence, ultimate beauty is revealed. God does not leave those who suffer alone; they are his to be comforted. Endo’s Christ is ineffectual to deliver from harm, yet he is effectual to comfort those who seemingly cannot be comforted and to love those who are seemingly unlovable.

Endo Šusaku - pisac inkulturacije

Endo Shusaku's oeuvre is a fascinating literary attempt at reconciliation of (Western) Christianity and Japanese culture. As a Christian and a Japanese, Endo was a living embodiment of this religious and cultural struggle, but he was also a writer and thus in a fitting position to express the agonies of identity crisis that he and his Christian compatriots had to endure for centuries. Endo was, in other words, interested in the mission process known as inculturation, which signifies specific ways in which Christianity becomes a natural part of any given culture. The success of this process depends on the identification of the most important causes of conflict between Christianity and culture, while the solutions usually tend to produce something new. In most cases of successful inculturation, new images of Christ were produced in accordance with the religious mentality of the baptized community. Throughout his writings, Endo has managed to offer several such images. His Christ is a Suffering Servant of God, similar to the one described by Isaiah, a companion figure (dohansha), and a merciful God full of motherly love. While based on the Bible, these images are, at the same time, inspired by Japanese religious traditions, specifically Buddhist notions of merciful buddhas and bodhisattvas. Several controversial details in Endo's novels have aroused suspicions among Catholic clergymen, such as the presumed justification of apostasy in Silence and the pluralist tone of Deep River, but Endo was not trying to justify Asian religious mentality to Westerners. On the contrary, he was trying to present Christianity to the Japanese audience using the religious motifs they were familiar with. Thus, one might interpret Endo's images of Christ as an "experimental" inculturation - theologically imperfect but nevertheless valuable for pointing out the most significant issues in the evangelization of Japan.

엔도 슈사쿠(遠藤周作) 문학과 마르키 드 사드 ― 『유학(留学)』의 제3장 ｢너 또한(爾も、また)｣을 중심으로 ―

엔도 슈사쿠(遠藤周作) 문학과 마르키 드 사드 ― 『유학(留学)』의 제3장 ｢너 또한(爾も、また)｣을 중심으로 ―

A Study on the Salvation of Existence and the Metaphorical Incarnation in <i>Deep River</i> by Endo Shusaku

A Study on the Salvation of Existence and the Metaphorical Incarnation in <i>Deep River</i> by Endo Shusaku

엔도 슈사쿠 문학연구-모성기억이 모성적 신상 변용과정에 미친 영향을 중심으로

엔도 슈사쿠 문학연구-모성기억이 모성적 신상 변용과정에 미친 영향을 중심으로

Endo Shusaku Literature and Unconscious World - Focusing on the Early Parts of the Writers -

Endo Shusaku Literature and Unconscious World - Focusing on the Early Parts of the Writers -

The Truth of Martyrdom and God of Silence in KIM Eun-Kook’s The Martyred and Endo Shusaku’s The Silence

The Truth of Martyrdom and God of Silence in KIM Eun-Kook’s The Martyred and Endo Shusaku’s The Silence

A study on the Old Age in Endo Shusaku’s literature

A study on the Old Age in Endo Shusaku’s literature

The theory of the Deep River by Endo Shusaku - The entrusted to Mitsuko in the course of journey -

The theory of the Deep River by Endo Shusaku - The entrusted to Mitsuko in the course of journey -

The Closed Hand: Images of the Japanese in Modern Peruvian Literature by Rebecca Riger Tsurumi (review)

Reviewed by: The Closed Hand: Images of the Japanese in Modern Peruvian Literature by Rebecca Riger Tsurumi César Ferreira Riger Tsurumi, Rebecca. The Closed Hand: Images of the Japanese in Modern Peruvian Literature. West Lafayette: Purdue UP, 2012. Pp. 313. ISBN 978-1-55753-607-5. The theme of The Closed Hand: Images of the Japanese in Modern Peruvian Literature is the role of Japanese culture in contemporary Peruvian letters. Rebecca Riger Tsurumi posits that Peruvian writers present conflicting views about Japanese culture and its place in mainstream society. Japanese characters are seen either negatively or as the object of satire or victims of Peruvian nationalism after WWII. She also examines Nisei (second generation) writers who provide perceptions of immigration and personal experiences. While documenting Japanese emigration to Latin America at the end of the nineteenth century, the author also focuses on initial literary expressions of Japanese culture by contextualizing Japanese immigration that was triggered by the lack of manual labor. Even though Japanese assimilation was difficult throughout the twentieth century, Japanese-Peruvians came to the forefront when Alberto Fujimori, a Nisei son of emigrants from Japan, became president in 1990. The Nisei are the largest group among the approximately 80 000 Peruvians of Japanese descent. The first manifestations of oriental imagery in Latin American literature appeared in modernista prose and poetry by Rubén Darío, José Martí, and others, who first stressed the ideographic nature of Japanese literature and haikus in Spanish. In another chapter, the author examines Fushía, a Japanese-Brazilian adventurer in Mario Vargas Llosa’s La casa verde (1966). His dark past begins in Brazil and ends in the Peruvian Amazon. After becoming a cult figure that plundered Indians and routinely kidnapped women, he is ravaged by disease, persecuted by the authorities, dying, and seeks refuge at a leper colony. Riger Tsurumi questions this portrayal of Fushía, who undermines the traditionally positive image of the Japanese community in Peru. In passing, she also examines two minor female characters in Vargas Llosa’s Travesuras de la niña mala (2006). The author proceeds to examine images of Japanese people in the stories “Matavilela” and “Muerte de Sevilla en Madrid” by Miguel Gutiérrez and Alfredo Bryce Echenique, respectively. Gutiérrez explores social tensions by examining the persecution of Japanese-Peruvians during World War II; seen through the eyes of a child, this story narrates an assault on a store owned by a Japanese family in the 1940s. In contrast to this hard-core realism, Bryce Echenique tells the story of a Japanese tourist who accompanies the protagonist Sevilla in a humorously absurd trip to Spain. According to Riger Tsurumi, the tourist’s caricaturesque portrayal and the protagonist’s tragic journey illustrate the thorny lack of communication between East and West. [End Page 162] In other chapters, the author focuses on Las dos caras del deseo (1994) by Carmen Ollé and Puñales escondidos (1998) by Pilar Dughi. Ollé’s novel examines the role of a young Japanese descendant, who seemingly embodies traditional Japanese values, but her youthful approach to race and sexuality permits the novel’s protagonist to abandon her monotonous lifestyle and deal with her lesbian desires. In Dughi’s novel, Japanese literature also serves as a catalyst for change for the protagonist. This thriller explores her personal transformation through Japanese writers Endo Shusaku, Abe Kobo, Dasai Osamu, and Mishima Yukio, which stimulates her to rethink traditional views about society, religion, and love. In another chapter, the author discusses two short novels by Mario Bellatin, who questions the relationship between reality and fantasy in his works. El jardín de la Señora Murakami (2000) focuses on a young female whose misfortunes typify the contradictions between tradition and modernity in Japanese culture. And irony and satire abound in Shiki Nagaoka: Una nariz de ficción (2001), which tells the story of an aspiring writer whose fascination with text and photography make him a cult figure upon his death. Known for his experimental writing and his explorations of Japanese culture, Bellatin’s fiction always draws attention to the art of storytelling. While several writers discussed in this study depict Japanese culture from an...

On Deep River by Endo Shusaku: In Light of the Redemption of Evil

On Deep River by Endo Shusaku: In Light of the Redemption of Evil

Japan's Orient and Animal Theology in Endo Shusaku's Deep River

This article reads the Japanese Catholic writer Endō Shūsaku's novel Deep River (1993) by focusing on its reenactment of Japan's Asian War (1930–1940) and postwar experiences as crystallized in human–animal relation stories. I retrieve the personal and intellectual ties between Endō and participants at the 1942 “Overcoming Modernity” symposium, namely Kamei Katsuichiro (1907–1966) and Yoshimitsu Yoshihiko (1904–1945). Critiquing the secular modern West, Kamei and Yoshimitsu embraced Buddhism and Catholicism, respectively, to pursue a distinctive cultural identity for Japan. However, Japan's military devastation in other parts of Asia constituted the historical burden Endō had to bear. Wrestling with the controversial heritage of his mentors, Endō conflated stories of Japan's Asian War and those of human–animal relations and proposed a theology of the sacrificial animal and animal salvation. This theology transgresses religious boundaries to critique Western as well as Japanese orientalism, colonialism and imperialism, and graces the fragility of our existence.

A Study of Endo Shusaku's Literature and Christianity

A Study of Endo Shusaku's Literature and Christianity

A study of Endo Shusaku's The Sea and Poison

A study of Endo Shusaku's The Sea and Poison

The Current State of Research on Endo Shusaku and the First Volume of Endo Shusaku Kenkyu

The Current State of Research on Endo Shusaku and the First Volume of <i>Endo Shusaku Kenkyu</i>

Present which intersects and the past - Endo Shusaku's 「Hahanarumono」 theory -

Present which intersects and the past - Endo Shusaku's 「Hahanarumono」 theory -

"The Woman that I dumped" of Endo Shusaku's Works

"The Woman that I dumped" of Endo Shusaku's Works

The Silly Fellow of Endo Shusaku:The Starting-point for the Image of 'My Jesus'

The Silly Fellow of Endo Shusaku:The Starting-point for the Image of 'My Jesus'

Japanese Encounters with Latin America and Iberian Catholicism (1549–1973): Some Thoughts on Language, Imperialism, Identity Formation, and Comparative Research

PROLOGUE Almost one century after Cortes had conquered Nuova Espana in 1519, the Japanese delegation on board the San Juan Baptista docked in Acapulco on January 28, 1614. Consisting of more than 100 Japanese members, this delegation was lead by Hasekura Rokuzaemon Tsunenaga (1571-1622), a vassal of the Lord Date Masamune (1567-1636). The ship had set sail on October 28, 1613 from the port of Tsukinoura and took nearly three months to cross the Pacific Ocean. On board was Luis Sotelo (1574-1624), a Franciscan priest from Seville, who had accompanied the delegation. Upon his return to Europe, Sotelo dictated his experiences to an Italian archivist, Scipione Amati, who compiled the document Historia del Regno de Voxu in 1615. (1) In this history, Luis Sotelo triumphantly reported that seventy-eight Japanese were baptized in Mexico City, although the extant church records, as noted by Van C. Gessel, (2) make no mention of such event. It was also reported that a group of twenty or so Japanese sailed from Veracruz on June 10, 1614. One may presume that they passed Puebla in 1614 on their way to the Gulf of Mexico. They were probably the first Japanese countrymen to make the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. On November 3, 1614 they met Pope Paul V, but this audience produced little in terms of concrete results. The Tokugawa Shogunate, founded by Ieyasu (1543-1616), had expelled the Christians in 1613, the year of Hasekura's departure. So, while the delegation was abroad, its goals had already been abandoned in Japan. On his way home, Hasekura received orders to stay in Manila for several years. It was only in 1620 that the Japanese authorities allowed him to return home. When Hasekura died two years later in 1622, his diary was confiscated and destroyed. The loss of this first-hand document makes it difficult to reconstruct this initial Japanese encounter with the new world. It was also in 1622 that Luis Sotelo disguised himself and made his way back to Japan. The priest was arrested and executed. His martyrdom took place on August 25, 1624. This diplomatic mission fascinated Endo Shusaku (1923-1996), the Japanese Catholic writer, and it became the inspiration for his novel The Samurai (1980; translated into English by Van C. Gessel in 1982). (3) The narrator of the novel, Velasco, is faithfully modeled after Luis Sotelo. In this book, Endo examines his own faith while, at the same time, his psyche while analyzing the mental and spiritual suffering of the Japanese people as a whole. Endo asks: why did all those who were involved in the mission have to suffer for the sake of Christianity? Was their suffering redeemed? Indeed, the writer's life-long concern was with human suffering and, in particular, the passion of Christ. Recent studies in comparative literature have re-examined Endo's novels from the post-colonial perspective. In this paper, I would like to briefly discuss three issues that are relevant to the historical and cross-cultural range of Endo's literary creation and place them within the larger context of our discipline. (4) I Christian encounters with Japan challenged the notion of universality. Firstly, European exposure to the Japanese language raised fundamental questions concerning how to incorporate it into the pre-existing system of knowledge. It is well known that Saint Francois Xavier's (1506-1552) letters from Japan led Guillaume Postel (1510-1581) to believe that Japan was the Kingdom of Prester John. Postel believed that the Japanese language offered the key to solving the Christian mystery. (5) Half a century later, in 1606, the Jesuit Joan Rodriguez (1561?-1639), a famous interpreter who was based in Japan, compiled and published Arte da lingoa de Iapam in Nagasaki. The book was the first grammar of Japanese ever written in a European language. Its description of Japanese grammatical structure was groundbreaking. Rodriguez regarded the particles of the Japanese language (the so-called te-ni-woha) as equivalent to the inflections in European languages. …

The World of “The Girl I Left Behind” by Endo Shusaku - Morita Mitsu, the Deserted Girl -

The World of “The Girl I Left Behind” by Endo Shusaku - Morita Mitsu, the Deserted Girl -