Shop by Areas »
Shop by Category »
Additional information:
20401/12/2023 (Hardcover)
01/12/2023 (Paperback)
5.5 x 8.5 (Hardcover)
5.5 x 8.5 (Paperback)
9781920850159
The Stripper Goddess of Japan
Many In Stock
The Stripper Goddess of Japan: The Life and Afterlives of Ame no Uzume is the first complete English translation of Ame no Uzume den (1991) by one of Japan's most influential post-war intellectuals, Tsurumi Shunsuke (1922-2015). Tsurumi regarded this book as the most important of his vast and varied corpus; in a sense, it is his tour de force, liberally drawing from his profound knowledge and thinking in multiple fields, ranging from classic and contemporary literature to philosophy, sociology, history, anthropology, politics, popular culture and 'marginal' (genkai) art.
Tsurumi's subject, Ame no Uzume, is a minor goddess in Japanese mythology who appears in the ancient texts Kojiki and Nihon shoki. She is famous for her comic-shamanistic dance performance enticing the Sun Goddess Amaterasu out of the Heavenly Cave where she has retreated as a result of her brother's violence. Uzume's half-naked performance is so entertaining to the other deities that Amaterasu ventures outside, thus restoring light to the world. In another episode, Uzume faces a formidable stranger giant, Sarutahiko, at the crossroads of Heaven and Earth, and manages to ease tensions and avoid confrontation. In both instances she reveals her abilities as an open-minded and border-crossing goddess with a democratic, pacifist and mirthful approach to dealing with discomfort and adversity.
Tsurumi identifies Uzume's eight quintessential characteristics and demonstrates how some of these are found in people across a wide range of genres, fields and cultures through time and space. Many of his examples are women, including the founder of kabuki, Izumo no O-Kuni; the legendary post-war striptease performer, Ichijo Sayuri; the founder of the 'dancing religion', Kitamura Sayo; the provocative writer-nun, Setouchi Harumi/Jakucho; and the famously humorous novelist-essayist, Tanabe Seiko. Tsurumi's method, structure and style perfectly match his subject, opening the way for deep consideration into ways in which the many serious global issues facing humankind such as climate change, human rights, and escalating warfare may be resolved or at least diminished.
About Editors and Authors
TSURUMI Shunsuke (1922-2015), the author, was a Japanese-leading philosopher, cultural and intellectual historian, sociologist, critic, editor and social activist.
AOYAMA Tomoko, the translator, is an Honorary Associate Professor of Japanese at The University of Queensland, Australia.
BAILEY Penny, the translator, is a researcher in Japanese studies and art history at The University of Queensland. Her research focuses on Japanese and Korean art history and design, particularly in the modern period.
Table of contents
Preface: Voice of the Voiceless by Yoshio Sugimoto (Emeritus professor of La Trobe University)
Translators’ Introduction by Tomoko Aoyama and Penny Bailey (Queenzland University)
Glossary of Deities
1. The Power to Open a Closed Cave
2. A Genealogy of Likening
3. A Light in the Dark Night
4. Laughter and Politics
5. The Naked Body as Metaphor
6. Burlesque and Striptease
7. Various Forms of Appeasing Violence
8. The Day Japan Became Naked
9. Painting the Body in Two Colours
10. Ame no Uzume in the Home
11. Japan and Abroad
12. Past and Present
Related Books
-
$34.95Susumu Shimazono, one of Japan's foremost socio...Susumu Shimazono, one of Japan's foremost sociologists of religion, deals with the development of popular religious and spiritual movements in Japan in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. A...
-
$32.11In developed countries, non-regular employment ...In developed countries, non-regular employment in the labor market is increasing and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Gender inequality in employment is also often an issue. Japan is no e...
-
$79.95In the late Edo period, when society was maturi...In the late Edo period, when society was maturing and Japan was moving to open its doors to the outside world, landscapes were undergoing major changes. Many world-famous ukiyo-e painters were acti...
-
$49.95Pachinko parlors offer a form of gambling uniqu...Pachinko parlors offer a form of gambling unique to Japan located near train stations, in the suburbs and in other everyday living spaces. Before World War II, pachinko was born as a game for both ...
-
$300.00
$398.00Order all four-books together for "A Social His...Order all four-books together for "A Social History of Science and Technology in Contemporary Japan" which documents the miraculous growth of Japanese science and technology from post-war devastati... -
$35.95After World War II, Japanese popular culture wa...After World War II, Japanese popular culture was "banned" in Korea. However, despite the official ban, Japanese popular culture was introduced and circulated through hidden or unofficial channels. ...
-
$59.95How was baseball used to promote U.S. values in...How was baseball used to promote U.S. values in occupied Japan? The first post-war Japanese professional baseball game was held on November 23, 1945, just 100 days after the end of World War II. D...
-
$84.85Japan's national identity associates the 'Japan...Japan's national identity associates the 'Japanese people' with the Japanese land, making the farmer the backbone of the nation. Others in Japanese Agriculture challenges this mythology, revealing ...
-
$54.95The dynamics of inclusion and exclusion have op...The dynamics of inclusion and exclusion have operated for centuries in the island chain that constitutes Japan's southernmost prefecture, Okinawa - otherwise known as the Ryukyu Islands. Are the pe...
-
$34.95Manga, anime, J-pop, and other forms of Japan's...Manga, anime, J-pop, and other forms of Japan's mass culture are increasingly popular around the world, a situation which requires structural, demographic, and communicative research from sociologi...
-
$34.95This is a study of Japan's home-grown concept o...This is a study of Japan's home-grown concept of seikatsusha that resembles 'citizen,' 'people,' 'consumer,' 'common man,' and 'the public,' though not exactly identical with any of them. The idea ...
-
$84.95In Pursuit of Composite Beauty is a study of th...In Pursuit of Composite Beauty is a study of the life and thought of Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961), known primarily as the founder of Japan's mingei (folk crafts) movement. Mr. Yanagi was a thinker who...
-
$89.95A chance discovery of sixty-odd works of art in...A chance discovery of sixty-odd works of art in a filing cabinet in Kyoto University's Department of Geography in 2014 triggered an investigation which soon morphed into a multi-disciplinary resear...
-
$34.95Hiroyuki Watanabe investigates how the numerous...Hiroyuki Watanabe investigates how the numerous relationships between people and whales in Japan become reduced to the single relationship of killing whales for their meat. He argues that from the ...
-
$109.95This study is the fourth and final volume of a ...This study is the fourth and final volume of a comprehensive survey that documents the miraculous growth of Japanese science and technology from post-war devastation to its rise as a global leader....
-
$99.95This is the third volume of a comprehensive, fo...This is the third volume of a comprehensive, four-volume survey that documents the miraculous growth of Japanese science and technology from post-war devastation to its rise as a global leader. A t...
-
$34.95When the Japanese economy was on the rise, as i...When the Japanese economy was on the rise, as it was in the 1980s, it was often suggested that the Japanese way of doing things was culturally unique and inherently superior. The apparent success o...
-
$99.95This title is the second volume of a comprehens...This title is the second volume of a comprehensive, four-volume survey which documents the miraculous growth of Japanese science and technology from postwar devastation to its attaining a leading g...
-
$49.95Japan's post-World War II "economic miracle" is...Japan's post-World War II "economic miracle" is well-known and much discussed, as is the collapse of the "bubble economy" and the almost decade long economic stagnation of the 1990s. In this collec...
-
$29.95The main theme of the book is the complex relat...The main theme of the book is the complex relationship between the patterns of Japanese modernity and the civilizational legacy on which they continue to grow. The author discusses the East Asian r...
-
$99.95This title is the first volume of a comprehensi...This title is the first volume of a comprehensive, four-volume survey which documents the miraculous growth of Japanese science and technology from post-war devastation to its attaining a leading g...
-
$29.95Much of the misunderstanding by foreigners abou...Much of the misunderstanding by foreigners about Japan arises out of their acceptance of certain stereotypes about the Japanese. Harumi Befu spearheaded the critique of the stereotypical and the es...
-
$29.95This book explores Japan's relationship with As...This book explores Japan's relationship with Asia and the world, examines contemporary Japanese thinking about Japan's "others" and how this impacts on local discourses about uniqueness, modernity,...
-
$49.95How do second-generation immigrant Muslims, bor...How do second-generation immigrant Muslims, born and raised in the UK, perceive themselves and present their identities in the post-9/11 social environment, where Islamophobia is pervasive? Muslim ...
-
$34.95Why is Bali the only Hindu island in Muslim Ind...Why is Bali the only Hindu island in Muslim Indonesia? Although Indonesia is overwhelmingly Muslim, the population in Bali is 90 percent Hindu. In Bali and Hinduism in Indonesia, a comprehensive st...
-
$41.95Since the Fukushima nuclear accident in the wak...Since the Fukushima nuclear accident in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011, Japan has seen a significant revival in its social activism. Large-scale social movements spran...
-
$42.95For more than 140 years, Japan's koseki registr...For more than 140 years, Japan's koseki registration system has functioned as the official means by which an individual qualifies as "Japanese". Information concerning each family is entered into o...
-
$89.95The challenges we face today are growing conspi...The challenges we face today are growing conspicuously broad in scale and complex in nature. Human Survivability Studies is a new transdisciplinary field born from the growing awareness of the urge...
-
$84.95Multiple discourses circulate Japanese society ...Multiple discourses circulate Japanese society surrounding the relationship between Japanese people and the English language. For example, 'Japanese people are the worst English speakers in Asia,' ...
-
$34.95Just within a few decades, the global dream of ...Just within a few decades, the global dream of building a 'middle class society' has vanished almost everywhere, giving way to an emerging global nightmare: 'social exclusion.' France and Japan hav...
-
$29.95The author, Hashimoto, has been a solitary voic...The author, Hashimoto, has been a solitary voice in the social stratification analysis of Japanese society for the last two decades presenting its class structure in Marxian terms. His models and f...
-
$34.95This award-winning book brings together Chizuko...This award-winning book brings together Chizuko Ueno's groundbreaking essays on the rise and fall of the modern family in Japan. Combining historical, sociological, anthropological, and journalisti...
-
$34.95Exploring the myriad ways that status and strat...Exploring the myriad ways that status and stratification manifest in different cultural contexts, this collection presents in-depth studies of a variety of cultural forms in Asia. The first of the ...
-
$39.95In 2003, a number of sociology and social work ...In 2003, a number of sociology and social work faculty members at Kwansei Gakuin University (Japan) commenced an ambitious program in pursuit of social research that might serve to enhance human we...
-
$34.95Employing a diverse range of quantitative and q...Employing a diverse range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this book offers a complex examination of the changing nature of social stratification and its subsequent impact on inequali...
-
$34.95This title is the second volume of the Advanced...This title is the second volume of the Advanced Social Research series which Trans Pacific Press publishes in collaboration with Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan. In this collection, thirteen ess...
-
$34.95Why do some efforts to implement social change ...Why do some efforts to implement social change succeed while others fail? Yoshimichi Sato observes in this book that existing theories focus on social action at either the micro- or the macro-level...
-
$34.95Written by the sociologists at Kwansei Gakuin U...Written by the sociologists at Kwansei Gakuin University who are engaged in 'Social Research for the Enhancement of Human Well-being', this study explores issues of happiness from a wide variety of...