Yaeko Nogami’s Travelogue about the Basque Country: Implications for a Transnational Perspective for Basque Studies

Basque Studies, with reference to its transnationality, have so far faced a certain unintended limit of range: on one hand, Basque Studies outside the Basque homeland are primarily conducted in the Basque diaspora communities, and on the other hand, even if they are not, a majority of those engaged in Basque Studies at some point in time until now share a cultural or religious background of Christianity. To stretch this limit of range, the author illustrates the perception of “Basque” as an idea in modern Japan and its use as a vehicle of a travelogue by the Japanese novelist Yaeko Nogami (1885–1985) in her journey to the Basque Country in the days leading up to World War II. Then, the author argues that Nogami’s non-orientalist, realistic description and level-headed insight into the Basque Country at that epoch can undoubtedly be considered an eclectic, pluralistic contribution to transnational perspectives in the early days of Basque Studies.