Mori Ogai (1862-1922) gave some lectures on psychology during his stay at Kokura in Kyushu. In these lectures he seems to have introduced the theory of Wundt and Külpe. But in the early stage, his lectures were based Lehrbuch der empirischen Psychologie als inductiver Wissenschaft (10. Aufl., Wien, 1891) by Gustav A. Lindner (1828-87), who belonged to the Herbart school.
On inspecting this book of Ogai’s, I could find many underlined sentences and some notations. This indicates that he was especially interested in the idea of “Vorstellung”，or “Schwelle des Bewusstseins,” and also that he introduced the theory of Wundt’s “Psychophysischer Parallelismus.” Furthermore, it appears he became aware of the function of impulsion.
These lectures on psychological theories perhaps reflect Ogai’s literary and academic ideas which led him to produce a new type of literary work.
In the relationship between Ogai and psychological theories of the West, we can trace another example that Western learning influenced Japanese literature and opened a new area in understanding human nature.
