Yasuo Yuasa

was a Japanese philosopher of religion. Yuasa is known for his works on the theory of the body in Western and Asian philosophy and for his teaching. He has been referred to as "one of the most provocative and far-reaching" among Japan's contemporary philosophers.

Early life and education Yasuo Yuasa studied ethics under Watsuji Tetsuro at Tokyo University. He later also studied yoga with Motoyama Hiroshi, and these studies influenced his philosophical views.

Career In his early years Yuasa took up a position as assistant in the Ethics Department at the University of Tokyo. His places of employment include Yamanashi University, Osaka University, the University of Tsukuba and Obirin University. he also took into consideration Eastern meditation practices such as zen meditation and yoga, the Eastern notion of the meridians of the body, as well as Western depth psychology, in particular the Jungian approach.

Yuasa looks at Descartes' dualism, and the contrasting philosophies of idealism with focus on the mind (spirit) and materialism with focus on the body (matter), and re-evaluates them in the light of Eastern non-dualistic thinking. He points out the crucial role of self-cultivation for achieving such 'oneness of body–mind'. ), kinaesthetic awareness (kinesthesis), emotion-instinct (governing the autonomic nervous system) and an unconscious 'quasi-body' (exemplified in the ki-energy flow through the body's meridians).

Yuasa has written numerous books on Western philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, Asian philosophy and on the cultural history of Japan.

He has authored more than 50 books and over 300 articles.

Writings

English translations Yasuo Yuasa: Overcoming Modernity: Synchronicity and Image-Thinking (translated by Shigenori Nagatomo and John W.M. Krummel, with an introduction by Shigenori Nagatomo), State University of New York Press, 2008, Yasuo Yuasa: The Body, Self-Cultivation, and Ki-Energy (translated by Shigenori Nagatomo and Monte S. Hull), 1993, State University of New York Press, David Edward Shaner, Shigenori Nagatomo, Yasuo Yuasa: Science and Comparative Philosophy: Introducing Yuasa Yasuo, Brill Academic, 1989, Yasuo Yuasa: The Body: Toward an Eastern Mind-Body Theory (translated by Shigenori Nagatomo and Thomas P. Kasulis), State University of New York Press, 1987,