Anotace:
Critical engagement with and intersections of Japanese and African literatures areburgeoning. In pre-colonial African society, a lawful action was that action that tookinto consideration the common good expressed in the spirit of Ubuntu. Interestingly,Japanese literature and African literature share this universal character in common.Ubuntu intersects with the Japanese philosophy of Nagomi which emphasises harmonyand balance thereby creating a nexus of transcultural hybridity. is paper examinesUbuntu and Nagomi as transcultural motifs in stories by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, NagaiKafu, and Uno Koji in Akutagawa and Others: ree Japanese Short Stories tohighlight ideological and law-oriented similarities. Carl Jung’s Persona-Archetype isprivileged in this study because it accounts for the recurring images of Ubuntu andNagomi in the public life of the characters. ese cultural images help them to mitigatedefiant conducts which violate the fundamental human rights and life purpose ofother characters. In Nagai Kafu’s “Behind the Prison”, the motif of physical andpsychological imprisonment is eye-catching as the narrator writes His Excellencyexpressing his frustration at the awful state of things in his Japanese society. Uno Koji’s“Closet LLB” interrogates the imperatives of choice and identity while AkutagawaRyunosuke’s “General Kim” is a story based on the history of Japan and its neighbour,Korea. In the stories, the protagonists and other characters act heroically in ways thatevince the tenets of Ubuntu and Nagomi. eir heroic actions allay the fears of theirvulnerable compatriots and protect their fundamental human rights.