As the eminent literary critic Donald Keene noted, the love of travel «runs through Japanese literature from its beginnings to our own day. » Indeed, the very idea of 'travel' permeates a vast amount of literature produced in Japan across a multitude of textual genres. However, modalities of travel as well as of textual production evolved over time in connection to social, political, and economic factors; their intersections therefore generated, and were informed by, different meanings at different historical junctures. While Japanese scholarship has been traditionally characterized by a descriptive and taxonomic approach to the study of travel-related literature, during the last three decades a growing number of Western scholars started to investigate the socio-political aspects of travel in connection with literary production. Continuing well into the present day, this trend makes studies on travel and literature a significant part of the academic discourse about Japan.
This project seeks therefore to investigate the relationship between travel, texts, and socio-political determinants in Japanese literary culture through a number of carefully selected case studies that are historically significant and hitherto largely unexplored. It brings together scholars from Sapienza and from other Italian universities with the support of a Japanese specialist in the sociology of literature. By framing individual investigations of single case studies within a common methodology (i.e. a reading of primary texts grounded in a sound philological, literary, and socio-historical analysis) the aim of the research team is thus to enrich and complement ongoing international discussions about literature and travel in Japan with the unique contribution of Italian scholars.
At present, research on travel and movement from historical, literary, technological and sociological perspectives is one of the major trends in the field Japanese studies. Despite the fact that major academic contributions have appeared to date, the subject is vast enough that a number of unexplored territories still challenge our knowledge in this field. The choice of engaging with partially or almost ignored case studies will undoubtedly produce original results. However, one fundamental goal of the present project is to investigate aspects of Japanese literary history that can complement, and interact with, ongoing international research by adopting a methodology that is validated by the academic community. In addition, a crucial feature of the present research will be the dissemination of results. Aiming to interact with the international academic community, English will be the chosen language for the volume where the final individual contributions will be collected so as to maximize their circulation.