A Concrete Holistic Approach to the Study of Japanese Culture : An Example of Civilization Studies

KREINERvisited Japan in the latter half of the Edo period (1603-1868) as an employee of the Dutch East Indian company, taken over at that time by the Dutch government.In any case, the nature of this study as well as its substance changed with von Siebold.. It is often erroneously assumed that there existed no substantial knowledge nor any clear image of Japan in Europe befbre Engelbert Kaempfer's History qf .lapanwas published in 17l7, and that it did not reach the German speaking countries before 1770, when its first fu11-length edition in the German language was published by Dohm in Lemgo.Both these assumptions are wrong.Japan and those European countries with which the Japanese were first in contact had similar, feudalistic social structures when these contacts began.i)Therefore the language of European feudal culture was quite appropriate fbr describing Japan and its culture.This led even to neglect of the existing differences between both cultures: Japan was seen as a part of Europe and was included in the criticism of Europe by Europeans just beginning.It was used as the most suitable model in focusing on European contradictions and weaknesses.Jesuit-drama of the counter-refbrmation in Middle Europe used Japanese themes, as did novels and fiction in the Baroque period.Only with the beginning of the era of enlightenment, was China depicted as a model of reason, and Japan seen in a more negative way.