The Monkey as Mirror : : Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual / / Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• VerfasserIn: Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©1987
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

This tripartite study of the monkey metaphor, the monkey performance, and the 'special status' people traces changes in Japanese culture from the eighth century to the present. During early periods of Japanese history the monkey's nearness to the human-animal boundary made it a revered mediator or an animal deity closest to humans. Later it became a scapegoat mocked for its vain efforts to behave in a human fashion. Modern Japanese have begun to see a new meaning in the monkey--a clown who turns itself into an object of laughter while challenging the basic assumptions of Japanese culture and society.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- A Note to the Reader -- PART ONE: INTRODUCTION -- 1. Theoretical Setting -- 2. The Monkey as Metaphor for the Japanese -- PART TWO MEANINGS THROUGH HISTORY -- 3. The Monkey in Japanese Culture: Historical Transformations of Its Meaning -- 4. The Special Status People in Japanese Society: Historical Transformations of Their Meaning -- 5. The Monkey Performance: Historical Transformations of Its Meaning -- 6. The Monkey and the Special Status People in the Reflexive Structure of the Japanese -- PART THREE BASIC STRUCTURE, PROCESSUAL-CONTEXTUAL STRUCTURE, AND MULTIPLE STRUCTURES OF MEANING -- 7. The Monkey Performance of the Late Medieval Period -- 8. The Monkey Performance in Contemporary Japan -- PART FOUR FROM THE MEDIATING MONKEY TO THE REFLEXIVE MONKEY: HISTORICAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND RITUAL STRUCTURE -- 9. Structures of Meaning in History, Myth, and Ritual -- References -- Index