Focusing on the best-seller on the “body” in recent years, we can see not only many books on diet, but also some books paying attention to specific body region such as legs, body trunk and calves, and thinking to solve any problems by caring the region. How was such an imagination on the body arisen? And, among these best-seller, a book on body trunk were written by Yuto Nagatomo, football player, who mixed up body training and self-development. Should we think such an imagination as his creativity? In this paper, I will investigate these questions.
About the attention to specific body region, I analyzed the body image on the lifestyle magazine an-an. In 1980’s, they focused the goods for beauty. In 1990’s, they focused the way of thinking for beauty. In the mid 2000’s, they focused on the physical disorder or “pollution,” and they began to seek its restoration or “purification.” After that, in 2010’s, they focused specific body region to restore or purify the physical disorder. Thus, the best-seller in recent years can be positioned on the genealogy of the imagination of the body image.
About sports and self-development articulation, I analyzed the books by athlete and sports manager. As a result, I could trace the genealogy of the articulation, not thinking simply it as the creativity of the writer or editor. The imagination on the body I analyzed in this article, can be included in the discussion of contemporary self-government which encourages to care and adjust their bodies by themselves. However, it is important for us to analyze the concrete development and variance of government in this society, rather than comprehensive government theory.
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