Visual Impairment and the World of Beliefs

The Way of the Tactile Person

Abstract

In the imagined community that launched the modern nation-state from print capitalism, the “visually impaired” became an existence positioned on the periphery of the ink-lettered readers. Research on blind monks such as biwa hōshi, who had existed before that time, and research on itako, blind female spirit mediums who had existed in the periphery of Japanese religions, have contributed as research to relativize the imaged representations in modern society.

This paper analyzes the research and practice of Dr. Hirose Kōjirō, a researcher of this “invisible world” who is also a participant in it. His work, from his early Religious Folklore of the Disabled to his recent Walking in the Invisible World, has consistently been concerned with the experience of visual impairment.

This analysis of his writings will force us to reconsider the theories and debates of religious studies to date from various aspects, such as “sense of participation,” “Braille deconstruction,” and “invitation to participation.” Hirose's own response to this analysis will promote understanding of how these aspects are interconnected.