Excess and Restraint: Repetitive Non-Mimetic Japanese and Greek Aesthetic Rituals

This chapter argues that, despite fundamental metaphysical differences, traditional Japanese and ancient Greek aesthetic rituals share productive similarities. Both involve repetitive non-mimetic practices aimed at transforming the self, one’s volitional structure, and one’s relations to others. In particular, the chapter focuses on rituals seeking “de-becoming,” or the negation of the self. In Japanese traditions, this aligns with Zen Buddhist notions of no-self; for the Greeks, it entails surrendering one’s will to an ecstatic unity with a greater force. Strikingly, these traditions pursue de-becoming through opposite means—one through restraint, the other through excess. Japanese rituals like the tea ceremony embody disciplined austerity, while Greek Bacchic rites explode into ecstatic abandon. The chapter concludes with reflections on comparative methodology, proposing an analogical approach: placing traditions side by side so that each illuminates the other in an unresolvable but productive play of identity and difference.