[Open Lecture] November Lecture "Japanese Spirit, Western Learning" was held

The main theme of the second half of the 2025 Open Lecture Series will be "Culture, Literature, and History of the Hanshin Region. The third lecture was held on Saturday, November 8 under the theme of "Japanese Spirit and Western Sense" with the tea ceremony Mushanokoji Senke 14th Iemoto FUTETSUSAI Otemae University guest Professor Mr. Somori Sen Lecturer. More than 130 people gathered under pleasant autumn skies. Lecturer Dr. Sen Soshu has been a Otemae University guest Professor since April 2004, and received an honorary doctorate from the University Otemae University in 2006.
His lecture centered on Hanshin modernism as seen from the perspective of chanoyu (tea ceremony). At the beginning of the lecture, he explained that, in contrast to Kyoto's "kitsudare" and Osaka's "kuidaore," Kobe (Hanshin area), with its international flavor and active human interaction, could be called "shakai kudare," or "social downfall. The tea ceremony is not only for drinking tea, but also for providing an important "place for communication," as in the limited space of a tea room in the Warring States period when people held secret political discussions. In particular, he explained that while businessmen who made their fortunes in Osaka during the Meiji and Taisho periods built Western-style mansions in the Hanshin area, many of them also built Japanese-style tea rooms on their premises, a testimony to this. In other words, "modernism" in Hanshin modernism is based on the premise that traditional culture is rooted in the area, and when considered through the tea ceremony, it is not a case of abandoning old Japan and adopting Western culture, but rather a "Japanese spirit with Western sensibilities" that embraced foreign things while understanding Japanese things. The fact that there were many such people living in the Hanshin area led to the cultural development of the area.

The next lecture will be given by Associate Professor Tsujimura Naoko Faculty of Intercultural Japanese Studies Otemae University on Saturday, December 6th.

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Public Lectures

(Source: Regional and Social Cooperation Office)