The strict ritter Japanese
ethnopsychology (character) is discussed in
Therivel's GAM/DP Theory of Personality and Creativity.
Japanese Ethnopsychology
The Strict Ritter Personality
of the Japanese
The above is the title of chapter 9 of volume 3 of
William A. Therivel's The GAM/DP Theory of Personality
and Creativity (G stands for genetic
endowment, A for assistances of youth, M
for misfortunes of youth, DP for division of
power, UP for unity of power). For an introduction
to the GAM part of the theory click "Introduction
to GAM"; for an introduction to the DP
part click on "Introduction
to DP".
In this website, the reader is also offered a shortcut:
The GAM/DP Synopsis
and an expanded version, The GAM/DP
Summary of volumes 1 through 4.
This is a companion chapter to the one on the German
ethnopsychology, However, the partial unity of power
of the Japanese lord is much stronger than that of the
German lord, and the education of his subordinates,
the samurai in particular, much stricter.
Hereafter, I report the table of contents and a few
pages from this long chapter.
This chapter is divided into the following sections:
1. Introduction
2. No, Endo: Japan is not a swamp, but the land of the
strict Ritter
3. The land of the strict Ritter
- Patrick Smith's recent
comments
- Avoiding eye contact
- Squeezing the farmer
to the utmost, and brutally punishing every protest
- Loathsome ferocity even
at the top of the pyramid of power
- Entrusting the lord
with matters of good and evil
4. The making of the strict Ritter personality
- The early making of
the German Ritter
- The early making of
the Japanese strict Ritter
- Do not look intelligent!
- Further training of
adulthood
- Contemporary training:
Again many sticks and few carrots
5. Similarities between the Japanese strict Ritter
and the German Ritter
6. Kabuki constricted and constricting
7. Flexible immutability
- Koestler's and Patrick
Smith's comments
- Know-how, but not assimilated
knowledge
8. What if Japan had not been united, but had evolved
into a confederation?
9. A critique of Arima Tatsuo's The Failure of Freedom:
A portrait of modern Japanese
Intellectuals
- Arima's main thoughts
- Critique of Arima's
thoughts on Japan
- Critique of Arima's
thoughts on the West
- Ikegami's correct thoughts
on Japan versus the West
- Nishida Kitaro
- Uchimura Kanzo
10. "Japan as swamp" revisited
11. Behind the smiling mask
12. Conclusion and recommendation
13. From strict-Ritter to insular and
skeptic?
- Okami; in particular
that of the educational system
- Those cute Japanese
women
14. More on the recommendation
Appendix I A non-Ritter,
but strict-Ritter passion for apologies
- The profuse apologies
- The system is at fault,
not the individuals
Appendix II Cui bono
the Japanese virtues of dependence and self-effacement?
Appendix III Endo GAM miner-leadsman-radiologist
1. Introduction
When writing chapter
25, vol. 1 "The Ritter (Knight/) Personality of
the Germans," I knew that I had to have an equivalent
chapter on the Japanese strict Ritter. I also
knew that I should begin my additional studies on Japan
with Endo Shusaku's understanding of Japan as swamp
in his historical novel Silence: "Father,
you were not defeated by me, you were defeated by this
swamp of Japan." However, Ritter do not
live in swamps. Therefore, this chapter starts with
my critique of Endo, and continues with a new understanding
of many key aspects of the Japanese ethnopsychology
derived from a wide range of important texts, and personal
experiences.
Strictly speaking, I should
have spoken of the Samurai personality, and not
of the strict Ritter personality of the Japanese,
but in so doing I would have lost the immediacy of many
parallels with the German Ritter for both causes
and results.
Even more than my other
ethnopsychological chapters this one is addressed first
to the Japanese people themselves, then to those who
have already a good knowledge and love for Japan. Others
too can read this chapter, but they need to integrate
it with other readings, for instance Maraini's Meeting
with Japan.
I would ask the reader
to follow me through this chapter as if on a journey
of discovery, each section being a stage of the trip,
up to the last one of conclusion and recommendation.
2. No, Endo, Japan is not a swamp but the land
of the strict Ritter
"Father [Rodrigues], you were not defeated by
me, you were defeated by this swamp of Japan."
With these words from Inoue Lord of Chikugo to Father
Rodrigues, Endo Shusaku summarized, at the end of Silence
of 1976, his views on Japan in relation to the West.
