Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen, and the West
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In the years after World War II, Westerners and Japanese alike elevated Zen to the quintessence of spirituality in Japan. Pursuing the sources of Zen as a Japanese ideal, Shoji Yamada uncovers the surprising role of two cultural touchstones: Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery and the Ryoanji dry-landscape rock garden. Yamada shows how both became facile conduits for exporting and importing Japanese culture.First published in German in 1948 and translated into Japanese in 1956, Herrigel’s book popularized ideas of Zen both in the West and in Japan. Yamada traces the prewar history of Japanese archery, reveals how Herrigel mistakenly came to understand it as a traditional practice, and explains why the Japanese themselves embraced his interpretation as spiritual discipline. Turning to Ryoanji, Yamada argues that this epitome of Zen in fact bears little relation to Buddhism and is best understood in relation to Chinese myth. For much of its modern history, Ryoanji was a weedy, neglected plot; only after its allegorical role in a 1949 Ozu film was it popularly linked to Zen. Westerners have had a part in redefining Ryoanji, but as in the case of archery, Yamada’s interest is primarily in how the Japanese themselves have invested this cultural site with new value through a spurious association with Zen. Buddhadharma "A very enjoyable meditation on the curious thing called ''Zen'' —not the Japanese religious tradition but rather the Western cliché of Zen that is embraced in advertising, self-help books, and much more. . . . Yamada, who is both a scholar of Buddhism and a student of archery, offers refreshing insight into Western stereotypes of Japan and Japanese culture, and how these are received in Japan."—Alexander Gardner, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner''s Quarterly— Alexander Gardner
Preface to the American EditionIntroduction1. Between the Real and the Fake The Kitschy World of “Zen in/and the Art of . . .” The Rock Garden in New York The Moving Borderline2. The Mystery of Zen in the Art of Archery The Beginning of the Story Spiritual Archery and Herrigel’s Meeting with Its Teacher Becoming a Disciple Breathing The Release Purposefulness and Purposelessness The Target in the Dark The Riddle of “It”3. Dissecting the Myth The Spread of Zen in the Art of Archery The Moment the Myth Was Born What is Japanese Archery? TheGreat Doctrine of the Way of Shooting What Herrigel Studied4. The Erased History The Blank Slate Herrigel’s Early Years The Japanese in Heidelberg Homecoming and the Nazis From the End of the War to Retirement5. Are Rock Gardens Really Pretty? From the “Tiger Cubs Crossing the River” to the “Higher Self” The Neglected Rock Garden The Rock Garden in Textbooks Unsightly Stones and a Weeping Cherry Tree Shiga Naoya and Muro Saisei Are Rock Gardens Pretty? Popularization and the Expression of Zen Proof of Beauty6. Looking at the Mirror’s Reflection Another Japan Experience Bruno Taut and Ryoanji The People Who Introduced Zen and Ryoanji to the West Isamu Noguchi How Zen in the Art of Archery and Ryoanji Were Received Does Zen Stink? Kyudo, Zen, and the Olympics I Knew It! It’s Zen!PostscriptTranslator’s AfterwordAppendix: Herrigel’s “Defense”Kanji for Personal NamesKanji for Japanese TermsBibliographyIndex
