Miwa in Kyoto

Hello. I am going to introduce to you a book I like. I read and wrote an essay when I was studying Social Anthropology in London. It is a good book to understand Japanese culture. I will write 3 posts using the essay. Here, the first one starts.

WRAPPING CULTURE
POLITENESS, PRESENTATION AND POWER IN JAPAN AND OTHER SOCIETIES
By Joy Hendry Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 1993

Wrapping Culture, by Joy Hendry, has two primary goals. The first, as the title suggests, introduces various aspects of contemporary Japanese culture using the notion of “wrapping” as a clue or tool of discovery. It scope includes a wide range of cultural issues, from Japanese ways of thinking, rituals, architecture and space. The second goal is to provide a new view which would smooth out frictions in intercultural encounters. Hendry suggests a way to eliminate ‘limitations in Western analysis of other peoples’ (p.5) in the process of understanding Japanese culture. She expounds on Japanese culture with many illustrations and anecdotes based on her field work as a social anthropologist in Japan. The explanation itself would not be anything new to Japanese readers but they would be astonished to see the points she sheds lights on because they are unique and relevant. In addition, it’s remarkable that this book doesn’t contain sections that would offend Japanese sensibilities, as many books in this field are guilty of offending in this respect. The author sees Japanese culture as a “wrapping culture”. The concept of ‘wrapping’ in this book does not only mean the wrapping　of　materials. Japan has an elaborate custom of wrapping gifts but it also includes the wrapping of the human body, the wrapping of language and the wrapping of Japan itself. One such example is the KIMONO, where the body is covered up with more than three layers of garments and tied all over with a long, wide sash called an OBI. The Japanese language, on the other hand, has three levels of politeness: SONKEI-GO as ‘respect language’, KENJYOUGO as ‘humble language’ and TEINEIGO as ‘polite language. Hendry expresses those forms of the language as ‘language wrapping’ and explains the function of the layers of language using the function of gift wrapping metaphorically. In just the same way as wrapped gifts manifest the occasion or the level of intimacy between the donor and the recipient outwardly, similarly, the level of formality of the language used in a conversation works as an indirect message to show and to confirm the relationship between two people. In addition, Japanese speakers can manipulate the use of levels to express exclusive attitudes indirectly. It is very difficult for a non-speaker to get a clear idea of this function, but the metaphor she uses enables any reader to comprehend it with relative ease.

Posted on February 7th, 2008 by admin
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