The British Academy: Four questions with Professor #Koji Mizoguchi

Professor Koji Mizoguchi FBA

Professor Koji Mizoguchi FBA, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University

1. What have you been reading, watching, and listening to over the last month?

I have been re-reading a novel about the rise and fall of Florence from the perspective of a friend of the great artist Sandro Botticelli, who was a favourite artist of the Medici clan and idolised by the circle of philosophers and humanist scholars close to Marsilio Ficino. The novel was written by the Japanese novelist Kunio Tsuji. Only a few of his works have been translated into foreign languages such as Journey to the East, The Chronicle of Azuchi, Le Dit de Saigyo. He often focuses on someone who was close to individuals who played pivotal roles at critical junctures in history but themselves remained backstage, their aspirations and dreams often unfulfilled, despite directly witnessing societies and cultures dramatically transforming before their eyes. I find myself reading Tsuji’s novels while identifying with those characters.

2. What book do you always return to?

Unwittingly, I might be feeling that being a historian in the broadest sense of the term is exactly like that; we get ever closer to what took place but never touch or influence it. That might also be related to the fact that what we are doing will never directly influence the way our world works. Knowing these things makes me feel very close to the characters Tsuji depicts so masterfully. That is one of the reasons why I always come back to Tsuji’s books whenever I feel frustrated with my own work and the way things unfold both near and far.

3. What’s your guilty pleasure to read, watch, or listen to?

Listening to Oasis and Anton Bruckner back to back at night.

4. What’s one piece of interesting advice you can give us that you’ve learned from your subjects?

There are always other ways to achieve something besides what you think is best, and the realisation of this only comes through interactions with people and things that give you a sense of unease. When you examine where that feeling comes from, it often stems from yourself—your accustomed ways of feeling, thinking, and doing things. In other words, the way you are has been shaped by the experiences you’ve had, and those experiences are inevitably limited because human existence itself is limited. I think knowing this is one of the best ways to cultivate tolerance toward others. Doing archaeology teaches you that there are patterns in what people leave behind, but there are always differences, even under similar circumstances. Why you are the way you are is contingent, and that’s true for every one of us.