Things to look for in Japan: part 1

Shukaku (主客) In-Yo (陰陽)

Hospitality topics: ritual, myth/ narrative, and xenophobia/ xenophilia. 

In traditional Japanese aesthetics, fukinsei (不均整), is asymmetry.
Hospitality in Japan: (sadō, 茶道, 'The Way of Tea'), ceramic art, omotenashi (御持て成し), Midnight Diner (深夜食堂, Shinya shokudō), amae (Japanese: 甘え), satoyama (里山), Meoto Iwa

Animist Shintō 神道 cultivates yorishiro 依り代, dwelling places fit for the kami 神, such as mirrors, rock formations, sacred trees, and swords. These devotional objects are recognized as possessing a certain nature that an appropriate kami draws nigh to, thus becoming a shintai 神体 [the name literally means 'body of a kami']. The list of yorishiro includes natural objects and human creations, and we infer that every object permits an indwelling." Wikipedia: "Because of the emphasis on nature in Shinto, yorishiro are often natural objects like trees. Significantly, in ancient Japanese texts the words jinja (神社, "shrine") and 社 were sometimes read as mori ("grove" or "forest"), reflecting the fact that the earliest shrines were simply sacred groves or forests where kami were present. This may have been due to the confusion between similar characters 社 and 杜." (cf. Zak Stein: "If we don't destroy the planet, then we could create sacred architectures where God could live among us.”)

The notion of dependence is illustrated by the 主客 (Shukaku) or "host and guest" archetypal relationship. We can show this using the Yin (host) and Yang (guest) of the Japanese In-Yo (陰陽) representation of the Chinese Yin-Yang concept of a harmonious world. To show how the In-Yo symbol can illustrate hospitality, it may be helpful to create a table with a few contrasting pairs, such as the Confucian five cardinal relationships, or more familiar ones such as doctor and patient, parent and child, child and pet, Buddha and Māra, “foxes have dens and birds have nests,” whole and part, cell and mitochondria, host and parasite, native and foreigner.

McGilchrist wrote: “The Japanese equivalent of the taijitu symbol, the inyo symbol (where in =yin and yo=yang) captures more clearly than the taijitu the idea of asymmetry combined with symmetry, and at the same time the way in which the energy of yo (yang) sits within the receptive space of in (yin). Again the two elements are asymmetrical, as is their positioning in relation to one another.” The ethical relationship of hospitality, of two "modes of attention" (host and guest), is a deeper level understanding of yin and yang. Brook Ziporyn noted: "There are three intertwined themes at the heart of Zhuangzi's project: transformation, dependence, and perspective. Comparatively, Levinas emphasized inequality, non-reciprocity, and asymmetry. 

Ceramic art is often displayed with flower arrangements, though could equally be displayed with the matcha (抹茶) used in sadō, or of course food (whether in storage or prepared for a meal). And in his class lectures, Benesch noted that traditional Chinese landscape paintings often included human figures or structures somewhere within the scene. In part, this reflects the Daoist and Confucian belief that nature isn't complete without humans. We are not only connected to our environment, we are an inseparable part of nature. This too is an expression of hospitality. 

[Excerpted from here.]