Like Roland Barthes well-known book, LEmpire des signes, from which the title of the present collection is taken, this volume contains essays dealing with certain aspects of Japanese culture.
1. Introduction: Semiotics and Culture (by Ikegami, Yoshihiko), p1; 2. The Notion of the Sign in Japanese Tradition (by Toyama, Tomonori), p25; 3. Creative Interpretation of the Text and the Japanese Mentality (by Arima, Michiko), p33; 4. Characters that Represent, Reflect, and Translate Culture in the Context of the Revolution in Modern Art (by Mukai, Shutaro), p57; 5. The Images of Japanese Landscapes: A Typological Approach (by Higuchi, Tadahiko), p85; 6. Semiosis in Architecture: A Systemic Analysis of the Traditional Towntextures in Japan (by Monnai, Teruyuki), p101; 7. Intertextuality in Japanese Traditional Music (by Tokumaru, Yoshihiko), p139; 8. The Forbidden Chamber" Motif in a Japanese Fairy Tale (by Kawai, Hayao), p157; 9. Aspects of Japanese Nonverbal Behavior in Relation to Traditional Culture (by Tohyama, Yasuko), p181; 10. Cosmological Dimension of the Japanese Theater (by Yamaguchi, Masao), p219; 11. Literary Semiotics of Suburban Houses (by Kawasaki, Toshihiko), p241; 12. The Ghost Trio: Beckett, Yeats, and Noh (by Takahashi, Yasunari), p257; 13. A Semiotic Approach to the Role of Paritta in the Buddhist Ritual (by Aoki, Tamotsu), p269; 14. "Do-language and Become-language": Two Contrasting Types of Linguistic Representation (by Ikegami, Yoshihiko), p285; 15. Index, p327