宣教師空間としての軽井沢と純愛文化

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  • センキョウシ クウカン ト シテ ノ カルイザワ ト ジュンアイ ブンカ
  • Karuizawa as a Missionary Space and the Creation of a Romantic Love Culture in Japan

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During the hottest and most humid periods of the year, nineteenth- and twentiethcentury Protestant missionaries stationed in Asia often took refuge in cooler spots in highland regions. This article first traces the origins of Karuizawa, which was one of these missionary resorts in Asia and is a major summer resort in Japan. Then it illustrates the character of Karuizawa as a North American missionary and Christian space. It explains how and why Protestant missionaries began to visit Karuizawa and build summerhouses there, how they tried to create a community based on openness, equality and autonomy, and how they introduced “innocent” entertainment and leisure practices such as tennis, music concerts, and visiting each others’ homes to take the place of traditional Japanese equivalents such as bathing in hot springs, drinking parties, and consorting with geisha. The article also observes that women were in the majority and that the general atmosphere encouraged American-style courtship practices among young single residents.The article then explores how wealthy Japanese began to build summerhouses for themselves in the area around the missionary community. It argues that missionary practices influenced the Japanese. North American customs of courtship and marriage had a particularly significant impact. Japanese literary works portray Karuizawa as as pace for “romantic love,” and it was on a Karuizawa tennis court that the then-Crown Prince Akihito first met the then-Ms. Michiko Shoda, his future bride, in 1957. More recently, Karuizawa has become the site of commercial wedding chapels run by business entities such as Hoshino Resorts, Inc.

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