Time in Medieval Japan

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - TIMEJ (Time in Medieval Japan)

Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-09-01 do 2022-02-28

Our project explores time in medieval Japan. It analyses symbolic representations and social regulations of time in a civilisation that is often juxtaposed to contemporary, globalized modernity. We investigate into medieval Japan as a dynamic and internally differentiated society. We focus on its plural ways of registering, measuring, articulating, and regulating time. In a closely coordinated set of case studies, we examine representative spheres connected to various cultural domains and socio-cultural agendas: the Zen monastery, the female court, and the market. An intersectional case study explores the understanding of the female body, especially the menstrual cycle. It connects the aforementioned domains and brings together aspects of the physical, ritual and symbolic regulation of human body time. Each case study explores the symbolic forms prevalent in the respective settings, and the aspects of time that are deemed relevant and selected for symbolic articulation. We analyse temporal encoding (chronography), structure and application in the regulation of affairs (chronopolicy), the competence to account and regulate these processes, and the influence on feelings of dismay in the face of the socio-cultural realities of time. Results from these investigations are then compared to explicit/elaborate notions of time (chrononoetics). Special attention is paid to the conflicts that arise when established regimes of temporal regulation and expression clash with each other and with individual experience. The results will be compared to the history of time in the Western world, and integrated into a theory of the symbolic forms of time.
Through our analysis, we want to achieve a more comprehensive and detailed account of human strategies in dealing with time, a fundamental factor in human life. In spite of its importance and the intuitive grasp that competent adults have of time, the notion itself is notoriously difficult to comprehend. In modern societies, the dominant view of time sees it as a quantifiable resource ("time is money"). In this "chronometric" paradigm, other aspects of time are seen as subordinate. "Quality time" may be important to individuals, but does not impact on the generic identification of time with (homogeneous, empty) clock-time. Recourse to a place and period in human history where the "chronometric" paradigm was not yet dominant may serve as a useful point of comparison to reflect on the notion of time and the conflicts it entails. It will certainly enhance the cognitive repertoire in our negotiation of problems with time.
Time in medieval Japan is an under-researched subject. In this situation, one of our chief objectives is to produce an edited volume that systematically covers the issues of understanding, organising, and living time in the major sociocultural domains of medieval Japan, eg. villages, aristocratic courts, Buddhist monasteries, markets, military exploits, and so forth. The findings of this volume will serve as a basis for the script of a documentary film illustrating how time was lived and understood by various groups in medieval Japan. In addition, we conduct specialized investigations into the four areas of aristocratic literature, Zen Buddhist theory and practice, medieval economy and trade, and religious, literary, and medical concepts of the female body and its temporal cycles. Finally, we use our results to reflect back on pertinent theories about the "history of time", and, more generally the theory of culture/symbolic forms.

The project started on September 1, 2017 with the full research group in place. In the first month, we established a system of regular meetings and team discussions. In keeping with our planned methodology, we decided to focus, in these meetings and our research, on the search for and discussion of primary sources for the 1 st six months, then chronography from March to August 2018, chronopolicy from September 2018 to April 2019, and chrononoetics from May to December 2019. This proved an effective method to monitor progress in each research area, and to enhance group coherence and a shared understanding of methodological and theoretical issues. In terms of research results, chronographical analysis of our sources has shown the importance of an analytical matrix that accounts for typological and modal information; it has also highlighted the importance of symbolical and media formats that are used laterally across cultural domains / symbolic forms. These results informed a methodological paper on chronography that was already published in the peer reviewed journal KronoScope, and a conference presentation on the theory of symbolic forms, presented at the American Philosophical Association in Feb. 2019. An elaborate version of this paper, which uses a medieval Zen Buddhist poem as a touchstone, has meanwhile been accepted for publication by the Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie.
As planned, we organized and held an international conference “Time in Medieval Japan” at Yamaguchi University in August 2018, where the group presented its results on chronography (7 papers). This conference also put us in touch with Japanese peers and served as a fist stepping stone to implement the planned edited volume on “Time in Medieval Japan”. The group presented its results at the International Society for the Study of Time's conference "Time in Variance" in Los Angeles in June 2019. Select members of the group also presented their results at the Deutschsprachige Japanologentag in Berlin in September 2018 and at the European Association of Japanese Studies in August 2021.
Current emphasis is on the preparation of publications – research monographs in each research area and the edited volume "Time in Medieval Japan". For the latter, we have solicited scholars from Japan, Europe and North America to collaborate on book chapters and bring in expertise on pertinent subjects (eg. time in village life, military strategy, and the like) not covered by our research group.
In addition, the Wiki on Time in Medieval Japan (Chronopedia) and the Zotero Database of Literature (~4200 entries to date) were set up in late 2017 and continue to be filled. Our Literature database does not only contain bibliographical information, but also excerpts and partial translations of passages in primary sources and the research literature pertinent to our subject.

Our systematic, bottom-up investigation into the expressions of time (chronographies), time regimes, economies and policies of time (chronopolicies), and theories/concepts of time (chrononoetics) has revealed the plurality of temporal notions and paradigms not only between different domains, but often within strongly related texts and single authors. We have demonstrated the existence of quantitative, linear notions of time and their importance to technical documents or chronopolicies, but also as elements in documentation eg. of religious qualification. By the end of the project, we expect to have a better understanding of gender and status differentiations in the negotiation of time among various strata of the medieval aristocracy, of doctrinal developments within Zen Buddhist theories of time, of changes in the economic handling of time due to increased monetization of the medieval Japanese economy (and its limits), and of temporal morphologies at work in medieval conceptions of the human body.

TIMEJ_Representation of main research areas (C) Alexandra Ciorciaro

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - TIMEJ (Time in Medieval Japan)

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