2016 Volume 95 Pages 65-80
In his essay ‘Amerika’ ni kansuru oboegaki (“Notes on my poem ‘America'”), published in the magazine Junsuishi (Pure Poetry) in July, 1947, Ayukawa Nobuo put forward the concept of “one center.” Like the poem “America” itself, which seems to be compiled from phrases the poet heard various people say, the essay fails to present a defining image of “one center.” Perhaps this is why an adequate analysis of what, exactly, Ayukawa meant by “one center” has yet to appear. In this paper, I reexamine Ayukawa's “one center” in the light of the concept of “self-identity in contradictories,” formulated during the war by the philosopher Nishida Kitaro who, like Ayukawa and many others, was influenced by the historical consciousness of T.S. Eliot. My analysis shows that, by intentionally avoiding logic, Ayukawa fashioned “one center” into a philosophical space that can hold all human paradoxes, just as they are.
