With the financial support of EAA, I participated in the 25th World Congress Philosophy (WCP) held in Sapienza University of Rome, 1-8 August 2024. During the society session of the International Association for Japanese Philosophy (IAJP), I delivered a presentation titled “Curating Japanese philosophy.” Nowadays, to curate means to be in charge of selecting and caring for objects to be shown in an exhibition. Curate can also mean a priest of the lowest rank, whose job is to help the vicar. In other words, curating is the caring of the soul. To be a good curator, one should have good eyes to see the essence of things. As Tanigawa Tetsuzo notes, Watsuji Tetsuro has powerful eyes that see the essence of things. This seeing is not a natural gift, but is trained by visiting temples and museums. Watsuji is known for his book on Pilgrimages to the Ancient Temples in Nara, but he also did a pilgrimage in Italy during his visit to Europe from 1927 to 1928. On 30 Dec 1927, he arrived at Rome, and immediately noticed the climate in Italy, where the sunlight is strong and the wind is weak. In the Eternal City, Watsuji’s routine is to go to a temple or museum or something before lunch. He understands that in Rome, renaissance was not so much in the foreground, but Roman architecture and Greek sculptures were the main attractions. In particular, Watsuji shows his interest in a series of sculptures of Venus, i.e., The Birth of Venus (Palazzo Altemps – Museo Nazionale Romano), Statue of Capitoline Venus (Musei Capitolini) and Venus of Cyrene (Returned to Libya in 2008). He also visited the Vatican and saw the Sistine Chapel as well as paintings by Michelangelo and Raphael. On 15 February 1928, he left Rome for Napoli, followed by visits to Florence, Bologna, Padua, Venice, Verona. As pointed out by Katsube Mitake, Watsuji’s memoir in Italy is informative as a guidebook, but I argue that Watsuji’s book is a philosophical one: While Nishida Kitaro tried to give a philosophical foundation about seeing the form of the formless and hearing the sound of the soundless, Watsuji tried to show how to understand formless form by seeing things with form (e.g. sculptures). The next WCP will be held in Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo, 2028.

Report and Photo by Ching-yuen Cheung (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)