Mujo in Ozu

[自発展開型]
萩原 宏司（経済学部3年）
指導教員：マイケル・エインジ
2009年1月19日

要旨

The object of this paper is to find what I call the Japanese-ness. Japanese-ness is something that constitutes the Japanese nationality. Some films of Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) are going to be analyzed to see if his films convey the Japanese-ness. Ozu was chosen in part because many scholars treat him as the most “Japanese like” director, and he himself said that he was trying to express something unique to Japan in his films.

Ozu used mujo to express the Japanese-ness. And he used many kinds of repetitions in order to express the concept. The repetitions always have slight differences. Surprisingly, the repetitions with differences fit the definition of mujo.

To prove that his mujo was part of the Japanese nationality, analyses on non-Japanese directors were also done.

Non-Japanese directors seem not to be able to express mujo. Therefore, it could be said that mujo plays an important role in the Japanese nationality.