아쿠타가와 류노스케(芥川竜之介)의 과

Abstract

“Going to Japan to learn western cuisines.” It sounds ridiculous and does not make sense to people when they hear this sentence at first. To learn western cuisines, it is obviously a right choice to go to one of western countries not Japan. However, If some people are well aware of Japan, they might be agree with people going to Japan. It kept me thinking that what exactly the state of Japan is and how Japan could accept western countries and make people recognize Japan as a country that is able to learn other countries cuisines. I attempt to find out the answer, the power of Japan, which japanizes everything from other countries, from a short story 『The Smiles of the Gods』 by Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Karatani Kojin thoroughly studied 『The Smiles of the Gods』 to analyze "Modern Japanese Language and Japanese Sprit" for 『Nihonseishin Bukseki(Psychanalysis of Japan or Analysis of Japanese Spirit)』. 『The Smiles of the Gods』 focused on presenting Japanese society in the sixteenth century when Christianity began spreading from the aspect of a Jesuit missionary, Organtino. Karatani Kojin researched on both Japanese characters, Japanese kanji and kana, according to the novel and analyzed how the concept of modernity in western meaning became completely japanized. This study deals with thoughts, the japanese sensibility and the japanese logic of Akutagawa Ryunosuke about Christianity which represents the western civilization. Additionally, it aims to define the specific and special meaning in the way Akutagawa Ryunosuke describes and presents the topics such as the japanese view of life and the clash of Christianity in 『The Smiles of the Gods』. Moreover, this study is possible to review a deep and subtle meaning in terms of symbols and metaphors intimately connected to the scene of the work. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to consider western countries and Japan from Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s point of view in 『The Smiles of the Gods』.