Hayao Kawai Outstanding Japanese psychologist and psychiatrist Date of Birth: 23.06.1928 Country: Japan

Hayao Kawai: A Biography

Hayao Kawai was a prominent Japanese psychologist and psychiatrist, widely regarded as the leading Japanese authority in the field of analytical psychology and the founder of Japanese Jungian psychology. He was also the first in Japan to apply the concept of sandplay therapy proposed by Swiss psychoanalyst Dora Kalff. With over a hundred books to his name, Kawai's works often focused on Japanese Buddhism, Japanese language, and the psychology of artistic creativity.

After completing his degree in mathematics at Kyoto University in 1952, Kawai pursued his master's degree while teaching mathematics at a high school. It was during his time in graduate school that he began studying psychology. He gained recognition by conducting the Rorschach test, surveying about a thousand respondents. While studying the foundational monograph on the Rorschach test by Bruno Klopfer, Kawai reached out to Klopfer himself after having doubts about the conclusions presented in the monograph. This correspondence marked the beginning of their acquaintance.

In 1959, Kawai received a Fulbright scholarship and went to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he worked under the guidance of Klopfer and Spiegelman. The experience of Japan's defeat in World War II, which Kawai personally experienced, stimulated his interest in Western rational thinking. However, his direct acquaintance with American society and its way of thinking made him, as a Japanese, seriously contemplate his own identity.

Thanks to the close relationship between Kawai and Klopfer during their research on the Rorschach test, and with Klopfer's full support, Kawai managed to extend his stay in the United States. As a result, he and his research mentor conducted joint work using the Rorschach test to study the psychology of Native Americans. With Klopfer's patronage, who had close ties to European academic circles, Kawai decided to continue his research where the Rorschach method was originally developed and traveled to Zurich in 1962.

After working at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich under the supervision of Carl Alfred Meier until 1965, Hayao Kawai became the first Japanese person to be introduced to Jungian psychoanalysis. Upon returning to Japan, he taught at the Faculty of Education at Kyoto University from 1972 to 1992. After his dismissal from the university, he also worked at Princeton University, where he was invited to give lecture courses, and he headed the "International Research Center for Japanese Culture" in Kyoto.

Realizing that Western approaches could not be adequately applied in Japan, Kawai began to search for a therapeutic approach that took into account the specificity of Japanese culture. Based on the material he developed in his search for a resolution to this question, Kawai wrote the monograph "Complexes" on the recommendation of Nobukazu Otsuki, a colleague and later president of the "Iwanami" publishing house, who did a lot to promote his ideas. This was followed by a series of works that creatively and unconventionally explored specific Japanese themes and the profound psychology of Japanese people.

Kawai also introduced the concept of sandplay therapy (Sandspiel Therapie) into Japanese clinical practice, which subsequently gained wide popularity in Japan. According to Kawai, sandplay therapy became an adequate means of treatment for Japanese individuals who attached special importance to nonverbal self-expression. In 1985, he initiated the establishment of the Japanese Society for Sandplay Therapy.