Masato Ishida - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Masato Ishida
The life and work of I Fu ū (1876-1947), h ' h Ok ud ,' continue to garner attention in postwar O... more The life and work of I Fu ū (1876-1947), h ' h Ok ud ,' continue to garner attention in postwar Okinawa-Japan discourse. His pioneering works in Ryukyuan linguistics, history, folklore, art, and religion have gained considerable respect over three quarters of a century, but he is also perceived as a multifaceted thinker whose reputation as a public intellectual is not completely settled. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the complex nature of Okinawan-J p d h I Fu ū ugh , which may have broad implications for our future vision about ourselves especially h h ugh J p ' m d z Meiji Restoration. Born in Naha in 1876, I g up m p l c l d cul u l m l. J p ' annexation of the Ryukyus began in 1872, which was brought to completion in 1879 when Okinawa prefecture replaced the Ryukyu Domain. Cultural, political, and educational reform followed to integrate Okinawa into Japan, which ranged from changes in hairstyle and attire to the promotion of standard Japanese and State Shintoism. Ifa himself started to learn standard Japanese at age 11 in primary school. He graduated from Third High School in Kyoto, and subsequently became the first Okinawan to earn a degree from Tokyo Imperial University in 1906 in the area of linguistics. His earliest aspiration was, however, politics, not linguistics. The linguistic background Ifa obtained at Tokyo Imperial University helped him unveil the ancient Ryukyuan world dimly transmitted through Omoro sōshi, a compilation of Ryukyuan poems, songs, and oracles, which he later collated and published in 1925. He not only deciphered a language that had become largely impenetrable by the end of the 19 th century but also made a number of discoveries that linked the Ryukyuan language to the Japanese language. In particular Ifa accumulated evidences that the Ryukyuan language contains a wealth of features that belong most distinctively to classical Japanese. He concluded that the Ryukyuan and Japanese languages branched off a common stem well before Asuka Period, a view endorsed broadly by historical linguists today.
Religions, Jun 12, 2018
This paper focuses on the crucial role played by Ifa Fuyū, the "father of Okinawan studies," in a... more This paper focuses on the crucial role played by Ifa Fuyū, the "father of Okinawan studies," in articulating ideas related to Okinawan-Japanese identity. Starting with a brief overview of Ifa's life and work, especially his pioneering work in Ryukyuan linguistics, the author observes how Ifa's progressive and reformist perspective shapes his discourse on religion, language, and history. The author then moves into analyzing a recently discovered wartime article that Ifa wrote in 1945, when he learned in Tokyo that the battle of Okinawa broke out between Japan and the U.S. Ifa's controversial article shows how a strong sense of nationalistic identity was imposed upon Okinawans, on the one hand, while also revealing Ifa's intention to fight prejudice toward Okinawans, on the other. This leads to the broader context of Japan's emergence as a "nation state." Problematizing the question of identity, the author argues that alternative histories of Japan should be taken into account for its proper understanding. Comparing Ifa's view with historian Amino Yoshihiko's thesis on Japan and modernization, the author envisions how identity can be seen as a growing network of plural identities rather than an abstractly imagined monolithic identity.
Kagaku tetsugaku, 2008
This paper focuses on C. S. Peirce's philosophy of logic and mathematics pertinent to the so-call... more This paper focuses on C. S. Peirce's philosophy of logic and mathematics pertinent to the so-called model-theoretic tradition in formal logic. While it is common to trace the development of model-theoretic logic back to Peirce, closer textual study tends to reveal that there is a gap between
The life and work of I Fu ū (1876-1947), h ' h Ok ud ,' continue to garner attention in postwar O... more The life and work of I Fu ū (1876-1947), h ' h Ok ud ,' continue to garner attention in postwar Okinawa-Japan discourse. His pioneering works in Ryukyuan linguistics, history, folklore, art, and religion have gained considerable respect over three quarters of a century, but he is also perceived as a multifaceted thinker whose reputation as a public intellectual is not completely settled. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the complex nature of Okinawan-J p d h I Fu ū ugh , which may have broad implications for our future vision about ourselves especially h h ugh J p ' m d z Meiji Restoration. Born in Naha in 1876, I g up m p l c l d cul u l m l. J p ' annexation of the Ryukyus began in 1872, which was brought to completion in 1879 when Okinawa prefecture replaced the Ryukyu Domain. Cultural, political, and educational reform followed to integrate Okinawa into Japan, which ranged from changes in hairstyle and attire to the promotion of standard Japanese and State Shintoism. Ifa himself started to learn standard Japanese at age 11 in primary school. He graduated from Third High School in Kyoto, and subsequently became the first Okinawan to earn a degree from Tokyo Imperial University in 1906 in the area of linguistics. His earliest aspiration was, however, politics, not linguistics. The linguistic background Ifa obtained at Tokyo Imperial University helped him unveil the ancient Ryukyuan world dimly transmitted through Omoro sōshi, a compilation of Ryukyuan poems, songs, and oracles, which he later collated and published in 1925. He not only deciphered a language that had become largely impenetrable by the end of the 19 th century but also made a number of discoveries that linked the Ryukyuan language to the Japanese language. In particular Ifa accumulated evidences that the Ryukyuan language contains a wealth of features that belong most distinctively to classical Japanese. He concluded that the Ryukyuan and Japanese languages branched off a common stem well before Asuka Period, a view endorsed broadly by historical linguists today.
Religions, Jun 12, 2018
This paper focuses on the crucial role played by Ifa Fuyū, the "father of Okinawan studies," in a... more This paper focuses on the crucial role played by Ifa Fuyū, the "father of Okinawan studies," in articulating ideas related to Okinawan-Japanese identity. Starting with a brief overview of Ifa's life and work, especially his pioneering work in Ryukyuan linguistics, the author observes how Ifa's progressive and reformist perspective shapes his discourse on religion, language, and history. The author then moves into analyzing a recently discovered wartime article that Ifa wrote in 1945, when he learned in Tokyo that the battle of Okinawa broke out between Japan and the U.S. Ifa's controversial article shows how a strong sense of nationalistic identity was imposed upon Okinawans, on the one hand, while also revealing Ifa's intention to fight prejudice toward Okinawans, on the other. This leads to the broader context of Japan's emergence as a "nation state." Problematizing the question of identity, the author argues that alternative histories of Japan should be taken into account for its proper understanding. Comparing Ifa's view with historian Amino Yoshihiko's thesis on Japan and modernization, the author envisions how identity can be seen as a growing network of plural identities rather than an abstractly imagined monolithic identity.
Kagaku tetsugaku, 2008
This paper focuses on C. S. Peirce's philosophy of logic and mathematics pertinent to the so-call... more This paper focuses on C. S. Peirce's philosophy of logic and mathematics pertinent to the so-called model-theoretic tradition in formal logic. While it is common to trace the development of model-theoretic logic back to Peirce, closer textual study tends to reveal that there is a gap between