The quest which this present undergraduate thesis embarks on is one of a holistic disambiguation of factors which in their presence underlie and affect the intricate structure of the Japanese phenomenon called iki「いき」, a concept that has attempted to pave its own path and claim a unique position within the world scope of philosophical discourse of the early twentieth century. By following the procedure of an utmost careful application of my own susceptibility, understanding and functional approach to that which makes it so unique to the Japanese academic and historical space, I vow to handle it with the utmost care in pursuing my heartfelt wish to not let it fall to the habitual philosophical dominion and common narrative of misleadingly melting all possible similarities into oneness, whence these in actuality don't hold their ground of origin. For the purpose of iki's involuntary oblivion of the past eight decades, which it, for the bigger part, owes to the web of most unfortunate historical events and loose interpretations, the area of research will in turn seek from the inquirer a wholesome descent into the all-surrounding which shapes the phenomenon, undertaking the mentioned struggle in a dire attempt to sufficiently and properly cater to the specifics of the delicate postulates of Japanese sensibility. I believe that my exposition of particularities that surround iki as it is per se should be able to reawaken from darkness the sighting of the light of day the interest in apprehending the estrangedness of the estranged it represents yet again – firstly from the author in question and secondly from the entirety of the world as we perceive it – and in my doing so draw its understanding closer to our own public. My efforts should therefore be read mostly as a pathway that is the starting point of ouvre of the vast horizon delineating the inapprehensible, which iki in its essence is.
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