ANGELO PONTECORBOLI EDITORE

A cura di Stefano U. Baldassarri

Firenze è la città al mondo con la più alta concentrazione di studenti statunitensi lontani dagli U.S.A. L’International Studies Institute (meglio noto come ISI Florence), consorzio universitario con sede nel rinascimentale Palazzo Rucellai in Via della Vigna Nuova, è uno fra gli “study abroad programs” che li accoglie per un periodo di studio. Al tempo stesso, ISI Florence collabora con università australiane e di diverse altre nazionalità, come il suo stesso nome completo suggerisce (International Studies Institute, appunto). Firenze è, infatti, una città che da secoli attrae studenti e studiosi da tutto il mondo; fra essi figurano anche i giapponesi. Diversi motivi spiegano questo reciproco interesse fra Italia e Giappone. I saggi raccolti nel presente volume ne illustrano e discutono i più importanti, ponendosi da una serie di prospettive diverse eppure sempre – doverosamente – interdisciplinari: l’architettura, il design, la filosofia, il giornalismo, la letteratura, la musica, il pensiero politico, la pittura, la psicologia e ovviamente, la storia, con le sue vicende fatte di conflitti, drammi, influenze culturali, relazioni diplomatiche, scambi commerciali, trattati internazionali.
Scritti in italiano e in inglese, i contributi qui raccolti ricostruiscono e documentano tutti questi aspetti, spaziando fra le epoche (dal medioevo a oggi) non meno che fra le discipline. Nei loro articoli, Raoul Bruni, Silvia Catitti, Edoardo Gerlini, Morihisa Ishiguro, Haruyuki Kojima, Michele Monserrati, Francesco Morena, Shunsuke Shirahata, Kin’ya Sugiyama, Manila Vannucci e Francesco Vossilla offrono suggestivi e validi strumenti per comprendere differenze, somiglianze e comuni interessi che da lungo tempo ormai caratterizzano i rapporti fra Italia e Giappone.

Sommario

7 Prefazione di Stefano U. Baldassarri

11 Gli autori dei saggi

17 Raoul Bruni
Parise: il viaggio in Giappone come esperienza estetica

33 Silvia Catitti
The Japanese Roots of Carlo Scarpa’s Poetic Architecture

77 Edoardo Gerlini
Literature as a Tool of Power at the Heian Court in Japan
and Frederick II’s Court in Sicily

99 Morihisa Ishiguro
Kitaro Nishida lettore di Machiavelli: Riflessioni sull’idea
di ‘Ragion di Stato’ nel Giappone moderno (1868-1945)

113 Haruyuki Kojima
Cross-Cultural Studies of Cognitive Processes:
Differences in Culture, Psychology, and Arts between Italy and Japan

129 Michele Monserrati
Cosmopolitan Possibilities in Translation:
Luigi Barzini’s Views from the Russo-Japanese War

151 Francesco Morena
Arte giapponese e Liberty italiano

183 Shunsuke Shirahata
A Comparative Study of Italian and Japanese Military
Architecture in the Sixteenth Century

205 Kin’ya Sugiyama
L’iconografia del “martirio di San Sebastiano” e Yukio Mishima

223 Manila Vannucci
Experiencing the Beautiful and the Sublime:
Cultural and Neurobiological Factors

237 Francesco Vossilla
Some Examples of Artistic Exchange between East and West,
particularly from the Japan-China-Italy Perspective
 

Gli autori dei saggi

 Stefano U. Baldassarri is presently Director of the International Studies Institute in Florence (ISI Florence), where he was Professor of Italian Literature from 2003 to 2013. After his graduation in Humanistic Philology at the “Università degli Studi di Firenze” in 1993, he received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1999. His research interests include medieval and Renaissance literature, translation studies, and philology. Prof. Baldassarri has published essays in scholarly journals such as Archivio Storico Italiano, Interpres, Rinascimento, and Modern Language Notes. He has edited critical editions of various humanistic works (sometimes with a facing translation in either Italian or English), including Latin texts by Bruni, Loschi, Manetti, and Salutati. His latest monograph is entitled La vipera e il giglio. Lo scontro tra Milano e Firenze nelle invettive di Antonio Loschi e Coluccio Salutati (Rome: Aracne, 2012).

Raoul Bruni is an Italian literature specialist, literary critic, and Senior Research Associate at “Università di Padova”. He has also been visiting professor at “Università di Firenze” and the Warsaw University of Social Sciences and Humanities as well as research associate at the Pedagogical University of Cracow. He is the author of many essays on Italian literature from the 19th and the 20th centuries and of the following monographs: Il divino entusiasmo dei poeti. Storia di un topos (Turin: Aragno, 2010) and Da un luogo alto. Su Leopardi e il leopardismo (Florence: Le Lettere, 2014). Also, Professor Bruni has edited many miscellaneous volumes, including Emil Cioran’s Mon cher ami. Lettere a Mario Andrea Rigoni (Padua: Il notes magico, 2007) and two of Giovanni Papini’s books, Opera prima and Cento pagine di poesia (Genoa: San Marco dei Giustiniani, 2008 and Macerata: Quodlibet, 2013, respectively). He is the editor of the feature Dal secondo Novecento ai giorni nostri in La Rassegna della Letteratura Italiana and a regular contributor to literary magazines and journals (both in print and online) such as Alias and L’Indice.     

Silvia Catitti is a freelance architect and holds a Ph.D. in history of architecture and architectural restoration from “Università di Roma La Sapienza”. Her research and publications focus on Italian Renaissance architecture, residential typologies, landscape and garden design, installation design, and museum spaces. Her approach, which combines her practical experience in architectural design and architectural scholarship, is enriched by an interest in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogue.
Professor Catitti has worked as a translator and copy editor of English volumes in her fields of expertise. Since 2006, she has been teaching art history and architecture courses at ISI Florence and other U.S. study abroad programs.

Edoardo Gerlini is Visiting Fellow (Japanese Literature) at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Kyoto) and Lecturer in Japanese Language at both “Università Ca’ Foscari” (Venice) and “Università di Firenze”. He has published articles on Japanese court poetry and world literature. Also, he has translated into Italian a selection of Sino-Japanese poems by the ninth-century court official Sugawara no Michizane. Recently, Professor Gerlini authored Heian Court Poetry as World Literature – from the point of view of early Italian poetry (Florence: Firenze University Press, 2014); this book was published thanks to a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Morihisa Ishiguro is Professor of Modern European History at the College of Human and Social Sciences (Kanazawa University). After graduating in Western History at the College of Humanities and Culture of Tsukuba University in 1986, he received his Ph.D. from Kanazawa University in 2009. His research interests include Renaissance and early modern political thought. Professor Ishiguro has published essays in scholarly journals such as Shakai Bunka Shigaku, En Marge de l’Histoire, The Journal of World History Research, Studi di cultura italo-giapponese, Mediterraneus, and The Journal of Strategic Studies. Moreover, he has translated into Japanese several classics of Italian political thought, including Machiavelli’s L’Arte della Guerra and Botero’s La Ragion di Stato. His latest essay (From Machiavelli to Botero: Botero’s La Ragion di Stato and the Principal Characteristics of Italian Political Philosophy in the Late 16th Century) has just appeared in the Japanese journal Shakai Bunka Shigaku (60, 2017), pp. 1-14.

Haruyuki Kojima is Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences at Kanazawa University, where he has been a faculty member since 2000. He also teaches at their Research Center for Child Mental Development. From 2018 onwards, he will teach courses for the Graduate School of Frontier Science Initiative. After receiving his Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in 1996, he did post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt University, New York University, University of California (Berkeley), and Ritsumeikan University. His research interests include visual perception and cognition, cognitive/psychological processes of human behavior, and their neural mechanisms. Professor Kojima’s most recent work comprises brain imaging research using techniques such as NIRS, EEG/ERP, and fMRI. His studies have appeared in scholarly journals such as Perception, Vision Research, and Neuropsychologia.

Michele Monserrati is Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Languages at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. With published articles on travel literature, Cold War literature, and ekphrasis in poetry, his current research draws on the field of Transnational Studies to examine the experience of Japan in works by Italian writers who visited the so-called “Land of the Rising Sun” beginning in the Meiji restoration period (1868-1912) and then during the subsequent opening of Japan’s relations with the West. Previously, Professor Monserrati is the author of the book Le “cognizioni inutili”, saggio su “Lo Spettatore fiorentino” di Giacomo Leopardi [“Useless Cognitions”. Essay on the Journal “Lo Spettatore Fiorentino” by Giacomo Leopardi] (Florence: University Press, 2005) and the editor of a volume of correspondence, Benedetto Croce – Guido Mazzoni (Florence: SEF, 2007).

Francesco Morena is an independent scholar specializing in East Asian art and culture. After graduating from the “Istituto Orientale di Napoli” in 1998, he earned a Ph.D. in Art History at the “Università degli Studi di Firenze” in 2004. His research interests include the history of collecting East Asian artworks in Europe and the influence of Asian culture on the development of European art and culture. Dr. Morena has published essays in scholarly journals such as The Burlington Magazine, Orientations, Andon, Faenza and Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society. He has also authored the complete catalogue of the Japanese and Chinese art collection at Palazzo Pitti in Florence (Florence: Giunti, 2005) and Chinoiserie (Florence: CentroDi, 2009). The latter is the first complete research on the influence of Far East culture on Italian art. As a member of scientific committees, he has participated in many exhibitions all over the world, giving lectures in London, Paris, Tokyo, and China. Over the years, Dr. Morena has curated many exhibitions both in Italy and abroad, including museums such as Poldi Pezzoli in Milan (2008), Palazzo Pitti in Florence (2012) and Miramare Castle in Trieste (2017). 

Shunsuke Shirahata has been Research Fellow at Kwansei Gakuin University since 2011. After graduating in Western History from Doshisha University in 2001, he received his doctoral degree in Human and Environmental Studies from Kyoto University in 2010. His major research interests focus on Renaissance military history, military technology, and urban history. Professor Shirahata has published essays in scholarly journals both in Japan and elsewhere. His articles on military history include L’influenza di Francesco di Giorgio Martini sulla realizzazione di ‘trace italienne’ (fortificazione alla moderna), in Studi Italici 59 (2009); Military Tactics and Strategies of the Italian ‘Condottieri’ in the 15th Century, in Medieval European Studies, 2 (2010), and Military and Industrial Strategies of the Este Family at the Ideal City: The Artillery Industry in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara, in The Journal of Strategic Studies, 34 (2014). The latter publication was made possible by an award from the Strategic Research Society. Finally, Professor Shirahata is the author of the book titled The Military Architects of Renaissance Italy: Fortifications, Artillery, Ideal Cities (Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 2012).

Kin’ya Sugiyama has been Professor of Modern Japanese Literature at Kanazawa University since 2009. After graduating from Kanazawa University in 1992, he received his second Master’s Degree from Tsukuba University in 2000. His main research interests focus on Yukio Mishima, “Nikki Bungaku”, and the reception of Japanese literature in Brazil. Professor Sugiyama is the author of the book Mishima Yukio no Tanjo (The Birth of Yukio Mishima, Tokyo: Kanrin shobo, 2008); also, he has published numerous essays in Showa Bungaku Kenkyu and many other journals. His latest monograph (Nihonbungaku no kisuiiki yori, that is, The Brackish Water Area of Japanese Literature) has just appeared in the Kanazawa University series “Studies in Cross-border and Transformational Language Culture”.

Manila Vannucci has been Assistant Professor of General Psychology at the “Università di Firenze” since 2004 and Senior Researcher (Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health) since 2007. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Cognitive Science from the same university in 2003; her dissertation title was Neural bases of visual object processing: the contribution of the medial temporal lobe. In 2014 she qualified for Associate Professorship in General Psychology. She has received several research scholarships from such universities as Bonn, Hull, Leiden, Kanazawa and The Swiss Epilepsy Center. Professor Vannucci’s research focuses on cognitive psychology and neuropsychology; more specifically, she has carried out extensive projects on visual object processing (e.g., object identification and aesthetic perception) and memory (e.g., voluntary and involuntary memory, memory distortions, and memory impairments in neuropsychological patients). On these and other scientific topics, she has contributed book chapters and published articles in several journals.

Francesco Vossilla (Ph.D.) is an Italian art historian and museum studies scholar. In addition to his numerous publications (either as author or editor) he has often served as exhibition curator. Most recently (Oct. 31st 2015- Jan. 31st 2016), he curated the exhibition entitled Nella lingua dell’altro. Giuseppe Castiglione - Lang Shining gesuita e pittore in Cina (1715-1766), collaborating with the National Palace Museum of Taipei in the “Basilica di Santa Croce” (Florence). Currently he teaches classes on Philosophy of Art, Museum Studies, Art History and Design for three American universities in Florence: Gonzaga, Middlebury, and ISI Florence. Vossilla is Honorary Professor at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei. He also teaches Ph.D. courses for the Creative Industries Program at Shih Chien University in Taipei. He is President of the “Società di Studi Giuseppe Castiglione S.J.-Lang Shining”; named after the great Jesuit artist, this institution is primarily devoted to intercultural studies. Professor Vossilla’s main publications concern Renaissance culture, from philosophy to the visual arts and the history of Italian museums. His most recent texts focus on Michelangelo and Giuseppe Castiglione. In particular, they assess these artists’ contribution to the birth of modern aesthetics. Among such recent studies are “Non fu mai soldato che vincessi nessuno”. Impressioni e dubbi sulla Vittoria di Michelangelo, in Bollettino della Società di Studi Fiorentini, 23 (2014) pp. 10-20; La Pietà di Michelangelo (Milan: Bompiani, 2015 in collaboration with S. Risaliti) and The Jesuit painter and his Emperor. Some comments regarding Giuseppe Castiglione and the Qianlong Emperor, in The National Palace Museum Bulletin, 49 (December 2016), pp. 69-88.