International workshop: "Philosophy and Translation II. Japanese Female Philosophers: Culture, Gender and Identity"

Nishida Kitarō (1875-1945) is among Japan's most renowned philosophers. He is often regarded as one of the 20 ^th century's leading philosophers, the father of modern philosophy in Japan and a key figure for anyone interested in intercultural philosophy. A lesser-known fact is that the first translations into German of his works (1934 and 1939) were carried out by his niece, Takahashi Fumi (1901-1945), the first woman from the region of Ishikawa to graduate in Philosophy (her second bachelor's degree) from the University of Tokyo (then called Tokyo Imperial University), to which end she wrote a thesis on Plato's Phaedo (1929). In 1938, she received a grant and went to Freiburg to study with Martin Heidegger. A few years later, her promising career was cut short by tuberculosis, which she contracted in Germany. Nonetheless, she earned recognition for her teaching work and writings, and soon became a model for young Japanese women.

The Japanese culture has produced some of world literature's great female figures, such as Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon as long ago as the 10 ^th-11 ^th centuries. It is thus a source of constant surprise that it was not until the so-called Meiji Restoration (1868) that education became more accessible to women. Even then, the view that women were part of men's household belongings and ill-equipped for intellectual activities continued to prevail for a long time. As Michiko Yusa writes, the many women who fought against the evidently inferior conditions they faced if they wanted to become influential intellectuals did so in the belief that only by studying and perfecting their ability to think rationally and write coherently would they improve their circumstances ("Women Philosophers". In: James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis and John C. Maraldo [eds.]. Japanese Philosophy. A Sourcebook. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2011, p. 1115).

The proposed activity is geared to critical reflection on gender, culture and identity in Japanese thought, on the basis of the contributions of philosophers such as Yosano Akiko, Hiratsuka Raichō and Yamakawa Kikue, as well as of authors who have tackled the issues of Japanese culture and identity, Fukansai Habian, Mori Arimasa, Yagi Seiichi, Takeuchi Yoshimi, Karatani Kōjin and Yuasa Yasuo. The activity is part of a research project (MINECO FFI2012-36210) on the fundamental subject matter and texts of Japanese philosophy, the aims of which are to disseminate the results of studying this area of Japan's intellectual history and to raise the profile of little-known female figures.

The activity's participants will be

Michiko Yusa, holder of a PhD in Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1983), for which she wrote a thesis entitled "Persona Originalis: 'Jinkaku' and 'Personne' according to the Philosophies of Nishida Kitarō and Jacques Maritain" under the supervision of Raimon Panikkar. At present, she is professor of Japanese and East Asian Studies at Western Washington University.

Her published works include Zen and Philosophy: An Intellectual Biography of Nishida Kitarō (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002); Denki Nishida Kitarō 『伝記  西田幾多郎』 [A Biography of Nishida Kitarō]; Nishida Tetsugaku Senshū 『西田哲学選集別巻一』 [Selected Philosophical Works of Nishida, Supplementary Vol. 1] (Kyoto: Tōeisha 燈影舎, 1998); and Japanese Religious Traditions (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002; British edition: Japanese Religions. London: Routledge, 2002; Portuguese translation: Religiões do Japão. Lisbon: Edições 70, 2002; Spanish translation: Religiones de Japón. Madrid: Ediciones Akal, S.A., 2005; German translation: Japanische Religionen, Spannung zwischen Tradition und Moderne. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 2007).

She coordinated the "Women Philosophers" section of the aforementioned publication Japanese Philosophy. A Sourcebook, edited by James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis and John C. Maraldo (pp. 1113-1164).

Carla Tronu, holder of a bachelor's degree in Humanities from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (1999), and of a PhD in Japanese History from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (2012), for which she wrote a thesis entitled "Sacred Space and Ritual in Early Modern Japan: the Christian Community of Nagasaki (1569-1643)". At present, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Tenri University in Nara (Japan).

She is coordinating the "Culture and Identity" section of a volume currently being prepared as part of the aforementioned project on Japanese philosophical texts.

Moe Kuwano, holder of bachelor's degrees in Theology from Sophia University in Tokyo (2004) and in Dogmatic Theology from the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome (2007), as well as a PhD in Philosophy from Ramon Llull University (2012), for which she wrote a thesis entitled "El 気 (=ki) en la filosofía de Yasuo Yuasa. La unidad corpóreo espiritual como clave antropológica de la apertura personal a la trascendencia". At present, she is a postdoctoral researcher in Kyoto.

She has translated the writings of Minamoto Ryōen, Yuasa Yasuo, Mori Ariamasa and Yagi Seiichi for the volume currently being prepared as part of the project on Japanese philosophical texts.

Montserrat Crespín, holder of bachelor's degrees in Law from Pompeu Fabra University (1998) and in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona (2003), as well as a PhD from the latter institution (2012), for which she wrote a thesis entitled "Experiencia, autoconciencia y voluntad. La conceptualización de la subjetividad en el primer periodo (1911-1923) de la filosofía de Nishida Kitarō". At present, she is an adjunct lecturer on the Autonomous University of Barcelona's East Asian Studies bachelor's degree programme.

She is coordinating the "Women Philosophers" section of the volume currently being prepared as part of the project on Japanese philosophical texts.

Programme

Date: Thursday 12 June, 2014

Venue: auditorium, Mercè Rodoreda building, Pompeu Fabra University

Morning session

9.30-10.00

Presentation by Raquel Bouso (Pompeu Fabra University)

"Dones i identitat al  Myō tei Mondō de Habian Fukan (1605)": talk by Carla Tronu (Tenri University, Nara, Japan)

"Camino para salir del dualismo: unidad del ser humano en la filosofía de Yasuo Yuasa": talk by Moe Kuwano (Ramon Llull University)

11.30-12.00

Coffee break

12.00-12.45

"El agua o la piedra. Mujeres, inclusión condicionada y categorización filosófica en/y de Japón": talk by Montserrat Crespín (Autonomous University of Barcelona)

12.45-13.30

Round table with the three speakers

Afternoon session

15.00-17.00

"Hiratsuka Raichō, her Zen Experience and the Life of Social Activism": seminar by Michiko Yusa (Western Washington University, USA)