Le 「ma」 est, depuis quelques décennies, un concept dont il est assez souvent question dans les textes portant sur le Japon. Tel le kanji qui le représente, soit un pictogramme qui montre le soleil qui perce entre les deux battants d’une porte, le 「ma」 exprime un entre-deux dynamique et porteur de sens.
Après un premier chapitre qui explore les liens entre langue et culture au Japon, quatre chapitres sont consacrés au 「ma」, un premier qui présente un état des lieux, un second qui explore ses précurseurs ainsi que ses formes disciplinaires, sauf en musique et en architecture, traités au chapitre suivant, alors que le dernier chapitre tente de cerner et de définir le 「ma」, et qu’une annexe survole ce qu’il en est en Occident.
Le sixième chapitre de la thèse présente la dichotomie 「内・外 uchi-soto」, marqueur premier de l’appartenance à tout groupe au Japon, incluant la nation. Suit un chapitre portant sur la frontière entre le uchi et le soto de la nation japonaise, puis un autre qui explore les formes que prend l’identité nationale japonaise. Le dernier chapitre offre une synthèse. Il en ressort que :
- le 「ma」 est un concept associé à un terme importé au début de l’âge classique, mais ce n’est qu’à la transition entre le 戦国 sengoku (mi 15e à fin 16e) et l’ère 江戸時代 Edo (1600-1868) que les conditions seront réunies pour permettre la naissance du concept. Celui-ci restera toutefois presque purement disciplinaire jusqu’à 昭和 Shōwa (1926-1989), après quoi il prendra des formes qu’on peut qualifier d’identitaires, d’abord en opposition à l’Occident au début Shōwa, puis comme ambassadeur d’une identité japonaise consolidée à partir des années 1960. / The concept of 「ma」 has, for the last several decades, been mentioned quite
often in texts on Japan. Like the kanji that represents it, a pictogram
showing the sun piercing between the two leaves of a door, 「ma」 expresses a
dynamic and meaningful in-between.
After a first chapter exploring the links between language and culture in
Japan, four chapters are devoted to 「ma 」, a first one which presents a
portrait of 「ma 」, a second which explores its precursors as well as its
disciplinary forms, except in music and in architecture, treated in the next
chapter, while the last chapter attempts to identify and define 「ma」, and an
appendix covers what has happened in the West.
The sixth chapter of the thesis presents the 「内・外 uchi-soto」 dichotomy, the
primary marker of belonging for any group in Japan, including the nation.
Follows a chapter on the border between the uchi and the soto of the
Japanese nation, then another one that explores the forms that Japanese
national identity takes. The last chapter provides a synthesis. It is concluded
that :
- 「ma」 is a concept associated with a term imported at the beginning of the
classical age, but it is only at the transition between the 戦国 sengoku (mid
15th to late 16th) and the 江戸時代 Edo era (1600-1868) that the conditions for
the birth of the concept were met. However, it remained almost purely
disciplinary until 昭和 Shōwa (1926-1989), after which it took forms that can
be qualified as identity carriers, first in opposition to the West at the
beginning of Shōwa, then as the ambassador of a consolidated Japanese
identity from the 1960s. - 「ma 」 is now clearly linked to Japanese national identity, but it never
became a star of national identity. It has certain qualities that would perhaps
allow it to become one one day, including its links to several artistic
disciplines, most of which, moreover, are traditional, but it also has
characteristics that could be a problem, notably the difficulties in
rationalizing it.
- 「ma」 seems to have developed only in Japan, yet it represents a universal
reality. The existence of the concept, however, has certainly helped to frame
the apprehension of this reality better than without it, thus facilitating its
reappropriation in a variety of artistic fields.
- 「ma」 represents relatively well the buffer dynamics that one finds at the
border between the uchi and the soto of the nation, but the reality is way
more complex than what a model resulting from a simple concept would allow.
- 「ma」 is not a fundamental and timeless element of Japanese nature, but
clearly arose in a specific context, with favourable conditions which might
just as well never have happened.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:umontreal.ca/oai:papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca:1866/26402 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Lewis, David Lionel |
| Contributors | Bernier, Bernard |
| Source Sets | Université de Montréal |
| Language | fra |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, thèse |
| Format | application/pdf |
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