Shirakaba Esotericism

This article considers the impact of modern esotericism on the theorization of self and art in the Shirakaba journal from 1910 to 1913. In works published in the journal during this period, Yanagi Muneyoshi develops an esoteric theory of art by drawing on three disparate movements in Western thought: liberal theology, occultism, and vitalism. Yanagi interprets each movement to mean that there is a single, universal truth at the heart of religion, science, and art that can only be intuited by extraordinary individuals. Only the genius, exemplified by Jesus in the past and Post-Impressionist painters in the present, can achieve suprarational knowledge of this truth and express it. I argue that Yanagi’s views are a form of modern esotericism, defined as the rejection of both institutional religion and mainstream science in favor of individual, intuitive knowledge of hidden truth. Yanagi claims to be able to perceive the manifestation of this esoteric knowledge in art, which gives him an unassailable high ground of aesthetic judgment. Fellow Shirakaba member Mushanokōji Saneatsu adopts these same premises, using them to justify the value of his own subjectivity and his writing. Although their rhetorical styles differ dramatically, both Yanagi and Mushanokōji rely centrally on religious terms and metaphors to give significance to their arguments, even as they distance themselves from religious institutions and dogmas. This allows them to theorize a non-religious but esoteric value of art that is beyond empirical understanding.