On March 5, the fifth meeting of JPN was held in Sunshinso. Located in Inamuragasaki of Kamakura city, the traditional two storey Japanese house is currently managed by Gakushuin University. The first presentation was made by Mr. Okano Hiroshi, who introduced the history and the layout of the house.  Nishida was once a professor of German language at the Gakushuin, and later developed his career at Kyoto Imperial University. After his retirement, Nishida moved to Kamakura and spent the rest of his life in a house (Sunshinso) with the support from Konoe Fumimaro and Iwanami Shigeo. The second presentation was made by Ms. Okano Ritsuko, who is an expert of the philosophy of Plotinus. While Nishida shows his sympathy towards Plotinus’ idea of the one, Nishida believes that for Plotinus the unity of I and things is still in a static way, and Plotinus’ philosophy lacks the dimension of history and body. After the presentations, we walked to a park nearby to see a monument of Nishida’s famous tanka:
七里浜 Shichiri-hama
夕日漂ふ sunset floating
波の上 on the waves
伊豆の山々 knowing nothing about
果てし知らずも the mountains of Izu

Reported by Ching-yuen Cheung (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
Photographed by Hanako Takayama (EAA Project Assistant Professor)