Watsuji was born in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture to a physician. During his youth he enjoyed poetry and had a passion for Western literature. For a short time he was the coeditor of a literary magazine and was involved in writing poems and plays. His interests in philosophy came to light while he was a student at First Higher School in Tokyo, although his interest in literature would always remain strong throughout his life.
In his early writings (between 1913 and 1915) he introduced the work of Søren Kierkegaard to Japan, as well as working on Friedrich Nietzsche, but in 1918 he turned against this earlier position, criticizing Western philosophical individualism, and attacking its influence on Japanese thought and life. This led to a study of the roots of Japanese culture, including Japanese Buddhist art, and notably the work of the medieval Zen BuddhistDōgen. Watsuji was also interested in the famous Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki, whose books were influential during Watsuji's early years.
In March 1925, Watsuji became a lecturer at Kyoto Imperial University, joining the other leading philosophers of the time, Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime and Nishitani Keiji. These three philosophers were members of the Kyoto School. While Watsuji joined their department, he is not typically considered a member of the School due to the intellectual independence in his work.[4] In July, he was promoted to associate professor of ethics.
In January 1927, it was decided that he would go to Germany for 3 years for his research on the history of moral thought. He departed on 17th February and finally arrived in Berlin in early April. In the beginning of summer, he read Heidegger’s Being and Time which had just come out.[5] He then went to Paris. He left Paris in early December and arrived in Genoa on the 12th of that month.
From January to March 1928, he travelled to Rome, Naples, Sicily, Florence, Bologna, Ravenna, Padua and Venice. He then cut his trip short, returning to Japan in early July. So his stay in Europe only lasted for roughly a year.
In March 1931, he was promoted to full professor at Kyoto Imperial University.
He then moved to the Tokyo Imperial University in July 1934 and held the chair in ethics until his retirement in March 1949.[6]
During World War II his theories (which claimed the superiority of Japanese approaches to and understanding of human nature and ethics, and argued for the negation of self) provided support for Japanese nationalism, a fact which, after the war, he said that he regretted.
Watsuji's three main works were his two-volume 1954 History of Japanese Ethical Thought, his three-volume Ethics, first published in 1937, 1942, and 1949, and his 1935 Climate. The last of these develops his most distinctive thought. In it, Watsuji argues for an essential relationship between climate and other environmental factors and the nature of human cultures, and he distinguished three types of culture: pastoral, desert, and monsoon.[7]
Watsuji wrote that Kendo involves raising a struggle to a life-transcending level by freeing oneself from an attachment to life.[8]
Pilgrimages to the Ancient Temples [古寺巡礼] (Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1919), reprinted in CW2:1-192.
Katsura Imperial Villa: Investigating the Background Behind Its Style [桂離宮——様式の背後を探る] (Chûô Kôronsha [中央公論社], 1958), reprinted in CW2:192-386.
Originally published as Katsura Imperial Villa: Reflections on Its Construction Process [桂離宮——製作過程の考察] (Chûô Kôronsha [中央公論社], 1955), it was significantly rewritten after receiving criticism from the architectural historian Ôta Hirotarô.
‘Eyes of the Haniwa Statue’ [人物埴輪の眼] (Sekai [世界], January 1956), reprinted in CW2:387-392.
‘What the Maijishan Grottoes Tell Us’ [麦積山塑像の示唆するもの] (Preface to Natori Yōnosuke, Bakusekizan Sekkutsu [麦積山石窟], Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1957), reprinted in CW2:392-400.
CW3
Ancient Japanese Culture [日本古代文化] (Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1920), reprinted in CW3:1-305.
The Hidden Japan [埋もれた日本] (Shinchôsha [新潮社], 1951), reprinted in CW3:307-507.
CW4
Studies on Japanese Intellectual History, Vol. 1 [日本精神史研究] (Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1926), reprinted in CW4:1-271.
Studies on Japanese Intellectual History, Vol. 2 [続日本精神史研究] (Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1935), reprinted in CW4:273-551.
CW5
The Practical Philosophy of Early Buddhism [原始仏教の実践哲学] (Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1927), reprinted in CW5:1-293.
The Beginnings of Buddhist Philosophy [仏教哲学の最初の展開] (Kokoro [心], June 1955-May 1958), reprinted in CW5:295-568.
‘Reply to Kimura Taiken’s Criticisms’ [木村泰賢氏の批評に答う] (Shisō [思想], April 1927), reprinted in CW5:569-580.
CW6
Professor Koeber [ケーベル先生] (Kôbundô [弘文堂], 1948), reprinted in CW6:1-39.
Critique of Homer [ホメーロス批判] (Kaname Shobô [要書房], 1946), reprinted in CW6:41-255.
A History of Japanese Ethical Thought, Vol. 1 [日本倫理思想史(上)] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1952), reprinted in CW12:1-514.
CW13
A History of Japanese Ethical Thought, Vol. 2 [日本倫理思想史(下)] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1952), reprinted in CW13:1-496.
CW14
Royalist Thought and Its Tradition [尊皇思想とその伝統] (Iwanami Shoten [岩波書店], 1943), reprinted in CW14:1-294.
The Way of the Imperial Subject in Japan [日本の臣道] (Chikuma Shobô [筑摩書房], 1944), reprinted in CW14:295-312.
Published together with The National Character of the United States [アメリカの国民性]. The book was ordered banned from sale by SCAP during the US Occupation.[9]
The Symbol of National Unification [国民統合の象徴] (Keisô Shobô [勁草書房], 1948), reprinted in CW14:313-396.
1961: Climate and Culture: A Philosophical Study trans. from Fūdo (風土) by Geoffrey Bownas (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press)
1969: Japanese Ethical Thought in the Noh Plays of the Muromachi Period trans. from chapter 4 of Nihon Rinri Shisōshi (日本倫理思想史) by David A. Dilworth (Monumenta Nipponica 24:4, 467-498) [1]
1971: The Significance of Ethics As the Study of Man trans. from the introduction to Rinrigaku (倫理学) vol. 1 by David A. Dilworth (Monumenta Nipponica 26:3/4, 395-413) [2]
1996: Watsuji Tetsurō's Rinrigaku: Ethics in Japan trans. from the first half of Rinrigaku (倫理学) vol. 1 by Seisaku Yamamoto & Robert Carter (Albany: State University of New York Press)
1998: Various essays in Sourcebook for Modern Japanese Philosophy by David Dilworth and Valdo Viglielmo with Agustin Jacinto Zavala.
2009: Mask and Persona trans. from Men to Perusona (面とペルソナ) by Carl M. Johnson [3]
2009: The Psychology of Idol Worship trans. from Gūzō Sūhai no Shinri (偶像崇拝の心理) by Carl M. Johnson [4]
2011: Purifying Zen: Watsuji Tetsurō's Shamon Dōgen trans. from Shamon Dōgen (沙門道元) by Steve Bein (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press) [5][permanent dead link]
2011: Pilgrimages to the Ancient Temples in Nara trans. from Koji Junrei (古寺巡礼) by Hiroshi Nara (Portland, ME: MerwinAsia) (2012)[6][permanent dead link]
2021: “Professor Koeber” trans. K.M.J. Shuttleworth and Sayaka Shuttleworth. Journal of East Asian Philosophy 1: 75–99 (2021).[7]
2021: “Middle School” from Attempt at an Autobiography trans. K.M.J. Shuttleworth and Sayaka Shuttleworth. European Journal of Japanese Philosophy 6: 267–322 (2021).[8]
2021: “America’s National Character” trans. K.M.J. Shuttleworth and Sayaka Shuttleworth. Philosophy East and West 71 (4):1005-1028 (2021)[9]
2023: "A Consideration of National Character' trans. K.M.J. Shuttleworth. Journal East Asian Philosophy (2023).[10]
^David A. Dilworth, et al., Sourcebook for Modern Japanese Philosophy: Selected Documents (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press); cited in Robert Carter, "Watsuji Tetsurô", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004.
^Davis, Bret W. (2022), "The Kyoto School", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2022 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2023-03-14
Mayeda, Graham. Japanese Philosophers on Society and Culture: Nishida Kitarō, Watsuji Tetsurō, and Kuki Shūzō. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020. ISBN978-1-4985-7208-8
———. (2006). Time, Space and Ethics in the Philosophy of Watsuji Tetsurō, Kuki Shūzō, and Martin Heidegger. New York: Routledge. ISBN0-415-97673-1 (alk. paper).
Hans Peter Liederbach (2001): Martin Heidegger im Denken Watsuji Tetsuros, München: Iudicium, ISBN3-89129-363-1
