Japanese Psychoanalysis and the Ajase Complex (Kosawa)

Abstract

In 1932, Kosawa visited Freud at 19 Berggasse, and submitted to him a paper entitled: ‘Two kinds of guilt feelings, the Ajase complex. In his paper, Kosawa expounded his theory of the Ajase complex, rooted in Buddhist thought. He discussed the psychological peculiarity of the Japanese as evidenced by the acceptance of oral dependency toward the mother, the repression of the resentment at the mother and ‘guilt feeling over being forgiven’ and a need to make restitution for harboring this evil intent. This type of guilt feeling is quite different from the guilt feeling as a fear of punishment which Freud embodied in his theory of the Oedipus complex.

Buddhist Psychology, Psychotherapy and the Brain: A Critical Introduction

“…In more recent decades, Falkenstrom (2003) has used Buddhist concepts, such as 'clinging' to images of self that arise in the mind, in order to enrich the traditional psychoanalytic understanding of narcissistic personality traits and behaviour; Cooper (2001) has used the case-study format to explore the relationship between Buddhist meditation and countertransference; and Okonogi (1979) has revisited the relationship between the Japanese Ajase complex and Freud's Oedipus complex, using the transcultural comparison of psychological constructs to explore differences between Japanese and European approaches to guilt and punishment. Despite these rich and ongoing interchanges between Buddhism and psychoanalysis, however, recent years have seen even greater attention paid to the relationships between Buddhist practice and various forms of cognitive and behavioural therapy.…”

Aggression and guilt during mourning by parents who lost an infant

“…Some psychoanalysts have divided guilt into two types, persecutory and penitential, based on Klein's position theory (Grinberg, 1964;Kosawa, Hasui and Kitamura 1932;Okonogi, 1979). They have defined persecutory guilt as the individual perception of threat and punishment arising from a persecutory object.…”

Guilt and Its Multidimensionality: Empirical Approaches Using Klein’s View

“…In Japan, Kosawa (1932) and Okonogi (1979) used the Buddhist legend of Queen Idaike and her son, Prince Ajase, to demonstrate how guilt can be separated into two components Queen Idaike, fearful of losing her husband's attention, longed to have a baby. She consulted a prophet to discover what her future would hold and learned that if she were to wait for three years, an ascetic now living in the woods would pass away and be reborn as her baby.…”

“…Kosawa (1932) and Okonogi (1979) noted that guilt derived from the Oedipus complex manifests as a fear of being punished by the father at whom the child directed his aggression, while guilt derived from the Ajase complex represents spontaneous remorse for aggression directed toward the mother, who unexpectedly and affectionately accepted him.…”