Hayao Kawai

This book examines the haunting, sad, and lively depths of the Japanese soul by interpreting some of major themes in fairy tales. A Japanese Jungian psychologist credited with founding Japanese analytical and clinical psychology and a senior professor at Kyoto University, Hayao Kawai (1928-2007) addresses here such questions as why so many Japanese fairy tales end in a "Happily ever after" marriage, and why the female figure best expresses the culture's ego and the country's possible future. Throughout the book, Kawai delicately presents the multiple layers of the Japanese psyche. The American poet and essayist Gary Snyder, who lived for years in Japan, gaining familiarity with the soul of its culture and thought, introduces Kawai's book to the reader.

Two of Japan's foremost contemporary cultural spokespersons met for an informal conversation with remarkable results. While their extended talk took place at a particular location at a particular moment in history, much of the content is timeless and universal. After popular acclaim in Japan, the transcript now makes its first appearance in English. Topics from the Contents: The Meaning of Commitment Words or Images? Making Stories Answering Logically versus Answering Compassionately Self-Healing and Novels Marriage and 'Well-digging' Curing and Living Stories and the Body The Relationship between a Work and its Author Individuality and Universality Violence and Expression Where are We Headed?

In this intriguing work, Hayao Kawai, Japan's first Jungian psychoanalyst, examines his own personal experience of how the Buddhism that was part of his culture gradually reacted to his becoming a Jungian. Kawai reviews his method of psychotherapy and looks at I in the context of Buddhism. His analysis provides a new understanding of the human psyche from the perspective of someone rooted in the East. Kawai begins by contemplating his personal koan: ""Am I a Buddhist and/or a Jungian?"" His honest reflections parallel Jung's early skepticism about Buddhism and later his positive regard for Buddha's teachings. He then relates how the individuation process is symbolically and meaningfully revealed in two philosophical and artistic picture series, one Eastern and one Western. After exploring the Buddhist conception of the ego and the self, which is the opposite of the Western view, Kawai expands psychotherapy to include sitting in silence and holding contradictions. He concludes that true integration of East and West is both possible and impossible, but his work should help readers deepen their understanding of this area of psychology and of Eastern philosophy.

Japanese culture insightfully, exploring the depths of the psyche from both Eastern and Western perspectives, an endeavour the author is uniquely suited to undertake. This volume is based upon five lectures originally delivered at the prestigious round-table Eranos Conferences in Ascona, Switzerland. Readers interested in Japanese myth and religion, comparative cultural studies, depth psychology or clinical psychology will all find Professor Kawais offerings to be remarkably insightful while at the same time practical for their own daily work.