This essay will introduce the biography and works of Tsumura Kimiko (1902-1975), one of the first female professional Noh actors, who threw herself into the male-dominated world and fought against the biased conventions of traditional Noh theater. Not only has she successfully opened the gates to many other female Noh actors, but more importantly, she has reevaluated the artistic value of Noh through her original Noh plays. Precisely, she highlighted the role of natural environment created by the dance accompanied with (...) simple and familiar poetic phrases on the Noh sage. In addition, she redefined the categories of Woman Play (Kazura Mono) and of Warrior Play (Shura Mono) with the main characters in the modern context. Her biography will help us learn how Noh has come to earn its current status of a traditional art form, and explorations of her plays will broaden the canon of Noh plays. (shrink)

Dieses Buch prüft die allgemeine Forschungsmeinung, dass Kant ein Vertreter des absoluten Lügenverbots sei. Dabei verteidigt der Königsberger Philosoph aber ebenso den Standpunkt, dass die Moralität einer Handlung von der Maxime des Willens abhängt. Wenn Kant nun gleichzeitig behaupten würde, dass bestimmte Handlungen in jedem Fall verboten sind, würde er sich widersprechen. Indem das Buch die begriffliche Unterscheidung von 'Lügen' als pflichtwidrige Falschaussagen und "Unwahrheiten" als nicht pflichtwidrige Falschaussagen trifft, bietet es für dieses Paradox der Kant-Forschung als erste Monografie zum (...) Lügenproblem einen Lösungsansatz. So wird man mit Kant sogar sagen können: 'Manchmal musst du die Unwahrheit sagen.'. (shrink)

The Nyāyamukha by Dignāga, considered the founder of the Buddhist epistemological school, is known to have been studied intensively by East Asian Buddhists and scholars through Xuanzang’s Chinese translation. However, Jinendrabuddhi’s commentary on Dignāga’s Pramāṇasamuccaya offers a clue that helps to better understand the religio-philosophical and historical position of the Nyāyamukha in South and East Asia. The eighth-century commentator describes the Nyāyamukha as a work for highly intelligent persons and contrasts it to Dignāga’s Pramāṇasamuccaya. He also preserves fragments of the (...) Nyāyamukha’s final verse, which served as the basis for a Sanskrit reconstruction of the verse, published in 2005. The present paper first examines the historical implications of Jinendrabuddhi’s interest in the Nyāyamukha and then discusses the hitherto accepted and yet problematic interpretation of its final verse. An analysis of relevant materials will include East Asian Buddhist sources in Chinese to seek evidence related to Jinendrabuddhi’s text. A detailed examination of hermeneutic aspects will lead us to reinterpreting the poison simile, “intellect-poison”, as well as a discussion of how this term was used by Vasubandhu. This will show that it is possible that the Sanskrit reconstruction should be modified slightly. (shrink)

Both W9 and OP3‐4 were known to bind the receptor activator of NF‐κB ligand (RANKL), inhibiting osteoclastogenesis. Recently, both peptides were shown to stimulate osteoblast differentiation; however, the mechanism underlying the activity of these peptides remains to be clarified. A primary osteoblast culture showed that rapamycin, an mTORC1 inhibitor, which was recently demonstrated to be an important serine/threonine kinase for bone formation, inhibited the peptide‐induced alkaline phosphatase activity. Furthermore, both peptides promoted the phosphorylation of Akt and S6K1, an upstream molecule (...) of mTORC1 and the effector molecule of mTORC1, respectively. In the in vivo calvarial defect model, W9 and OP3‐4 accelerated BMP‐2‐induced bone formation to a similar extent, which was confirmed by histomorphometric analyses using fluorescence images of undecalcified sections. Our data suggest that these RANKL‐binding peptides could stimulate the mTORC1 activity, which might play a role in the acceleration of BMP‐2‐induced bone regeneration by the RANKL‐binding peptides. (shrink)

Although the emotional and motivational characteristics of dreaming have figured prominently in folk and psychoanalytic conceptions of dream production, emotions have rarely been systematically studied, and motivation, never. Because emotions during sleep lack the somatic components of waking emotions, and they change as the sleeper awakens, their properties are difficult to assess. Recent evidence of limbic system activation during REM sleep suggests a basis in brain architecture for the interaction of motivational and cognitive properties in dreaming. Motivational and emotional content (...) in REM and NREM laboratory mentation reports from 25 participants were compared. Motivational and emotional content was significantly greater in REM than NREM sleep, even after controlling for the greater word count of REM reports. (shrink)

The role of research ethics consultants in biomedical research has increased to the point that they have an advisory capacity at all research institutes. For such professionals, we have established an educational system, which includes teaching materials, training methods, and nationwide educational workshops. These workshops have served to examine the developed system’s usefulness and to provide realistic training for consultant candidates. In addition, we have used the current workshop to encourage clinical research investigators to participate. Subsequently, we examined its usefulness (...) as an opportunity to provide exposure to research ethics. In October 2019, we held a 1-day pilot workshop in Tokushima, Japan, which included a basic lecture in research ethics. During the lecture, two sets of materials were used for case discussion: case 1, covering issues related to a clinical trial, and case 2, covering issues related to human biological specimens. At the end of the workshop, a 30-item self-reporting anonymous questionnaire was provided. Of the 13 total participants, 9 were clinical research investigators and related personnel, while 6 had no direct intention to act as consultants. Respondents indicated that case 2 was more difficult than case 1. However, both cases were generally accepted as educational materials; thus, satisfaction was expressed in relation to both. As the evaluations of the cases were generally positive, we will further examine the usefulness of participation in the workshop in the cultivation of research ethics in the investigator community. (shrink)