WASHINGTON, D.C. Jan. 31--Edwin O. Reischauer, University Professor, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that the bombing of North Vietnam is a "psychological blunder" and called for prudent de escalation."

The former Ambassador to Japan said that he supported the administration's objectives in Vietnam--"to bring the war to as speedy an end as possible without resorting to either of the dangerous alternatives of withdrawal or major escalation."

But the "fundamental direction" which he urged in U.S. Asian policy contradicted many of the premises of the Government's position on Vietnam.

In the future, he said, the U.S. should minimize military involvement and alignment, and play the role of a "friendly outside supporter of individual or collective Asian initiative," instead of a "leader. . . rallying allies to our policies."

The force of nationalism, he said, is far more effective in "defeating communism" than U.S. intervention.

Although halting the bombing might bring "more hope for negotiations," Reischauer said, there is little prospect of such a settlement "simply because the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese are so far apart and so distrust each other."

Simmer Down

"I think in the long run," he added, "we have more chance of seeing the war simmer down" than end though negotiations.