Il Giappone in Lévi-Strauss: un lavoro di bricolage

Abstract

Claude Lévi-Strauss' relationship with Japan is as in-depth as it is little known. The culture and history of the archipelago were never the direct subjects of his research and studies, except for some fragmentary mentions. These writings on Japan by Lévi-Strauss have been recently collected in a volume. From this work emerges his excellent knowledge about Japan and the crucial role that the country has played since childhood in his education as a man and as a scholar. This paper focuses on the analogy between Lévi-Strauss's approach to Japan and the way we look at the world of the bricoleur through the lesson of The Savage Mind. Guided by a strong empathy, Lévi-Strauss finds many resemblances between Japan and the West, France mainly, also working through binary oppositions. With this background, this paper analyses the work of the ningen kokuhō (living national treasure) in Japan and the Maître d'art in France, and the recognition they both share for their savoir-faire.