◆ Orientation
◆ Historical overview
This is a very important session: it includes information that definitely will affect your grade in the class and, in terms of course content, frames the approach I will use towards the many details that we will cover. Understanding the course framework will help you separate the main points from those many details, which is good both in terms of grade performance and getting the most out of this class. I expect your attendance. If for some reason you cannot attend, you should contact me with that reason. However, you should make every effort to attend this orientation.
PAPER IDEAS — At nearly every session of this schedule, under thoughts, I have made some comments about possible paper topics. These might be useful to you, but you are of course welcome to go in other directions, definitely.
✓ Attendance and signing of the sheets that I will pass around
✓ Read the syllabus (access it through the sidebar), and bring questions if you have any. There is no time in the next session to field questions on this.
✓ Read my policy on academic honesty (access it through the sidebar under "Policies"), and bring questions if you have any. There is no time in the next session to field questions on this.
✓ Completion of the enrollment card that is distributed at this session and will be given to Jan Johnson
◇ Paleolithic (?50,000 – 10,000 BCE)
◆ Jōmon (10,000 – 300 BCE)
◆ Yayoi (300 BCE – 300 CE) *CE, “Common Era” = AD
In this busy session we blast through three long eras of very early Japan, primarily to clarify Japan's continental connections and identify the early source of what Japan now thinks of as its home culture.
✓ Nothing
◇ Kofun period (300 – 710)
◇ focus within Kofun period: Asuka (645 – 710)
◇ Nara period (710-794)
◇ Conceptual frameworks: general comments
◆ Conceptual frameworks: Shintō
◇ Genre: general comments
◇ Genre: chronicles
◆ Kojiki (712) and Nihon shoki (720)
The "Shintō" values outlined in this session are important when interpreting just about any of the topics covered in this course.
PAPER IDEAS — Perhaps the Kojiki and Nihon shiki are a bit difficult to work with for term papers. However, they have some very intriguing aspects to them. If you like the evocative nature of myths, this might be a good area to kick around in for something. Avoid the Aston and Chamberlain translations, please.
PAPER IDEAS — On the other hand, Shintō values in a particular text might lead to something interesting. Get past the obvious.
✓ Read: Shinto 1009 [bSpace, PPT]
✓ Read: Kojiki 1 Early Myths (a) [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read: Kojiki 2 Early Myths (b) [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read: Kojiki 3 Yamato Takeru [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read: Kojiki 4 Misc. stories [bSpace, PDF]
◇ Erika Bird's animation of Amaterasu concealing herself [offsite link, video stream]
◇ Other translations of Kojiki: look under Kojiki at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. Philippi is the standard complete translation.
◇ Other translations of Chronicles of Japan: look under Nihon shoki at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. Anston is very old but complete.
◇ Other translations of The Ten-Thousand Leaves: look under Man'yōshū at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. Cranston and Levy both have their merits. Levy translates only the first few books.
The first reading of The Tale of Genji is due in about three weeks. You should make your purchase decisions now if you have not done so already. You can review the requirements by starting here: Texts to purchase.
◆ Genre: the poetry forms waka and chōka
◆ Anthology of Ten-thousand Leaves (Man’yōshū, mid-8th c.)
◆ Kakinomoto no Hitomaro & the lyric tradition of waka
◆ Aesthetic terms: general comments
◆ Aesthetic terms: taketakashi, makoto, masurao
The Ten-thousand Leaves is a massive and remarkable collection of poems. Probably this type of diversity is not evident again in Japanese poem anthologies until modern times. The basics about the fundamental poem form, the waka, are also covered in this session. Finally, Hitomaro stands tall at the head of the lyric tradition in Japan, the primary tendency of traditional Japanese poems for many centuries.
PAPER IDEAS — Poetry in general is difficult to do as a term paper because so much leads back to the original language, and in no simple ways. However, if you are a poet at heart, I encourage you to wade in. Japanese poetry has its own sensibilities that are highly refined and probably different from your own ways of writing and appreciating poems. Their study will broaden your techniques and reading powers. All three of the major poem anthologies that we read are rich sources to turn to. The Very Early Middle period Shin-kokinshū, unfortunately, does not have a full English translation but many of its poems are easy to access in English in various sources. A deeper exploration of a particular aesthetic term in one of many possible directions you could consider.
✓ Read: Manyoshu Reader [bSpace, PDF]
◆ Man'yōshū, Kokinshū, Shin-Kokinshū: BASICS [onsite, PDF]
◆ Man'yōshū, Kokinshū, Shin-Kokinshū: COMPARED [onsite, PDF]
◆ Man’yōgana [onsite, PDF]
◆ Aesthetic terms [onsite, HTML] (visit this off-and-on over the term)
◆ books passed around in class on this day: Loves Songs from the Man’yōshū: Selections from a Japanese Classic. Illustrations by Miyata Masayuki. Commentary by Ōoka Makoto. Translations by Ian Hideo Levy. Essay by Donald Keene. (Kodansha International, 2000) • Contemporary Remix "万葉集" Love Songs Side.A Dos Masraos (Mitsumura Suiko Shoin, 1996). Miyata's art can found online in various places. He died in 1997 and his personal Web site shut down, but many of his images have migrated to other sites.
◆ Essay process, Step 00
◇ Heian period (794 – 1183)
◆ Script issues: from man'yōgana to onnade, calligraphy
◆ Aesthetic terms: miyabi
◆ Anthology of Ancient and Current Poems (Kokinshū, ca. 905) *because of the length of the name, its Jse name is the title we use in this class)
◇ Ki no Tsurayuki’s contribution to Japanese literature and culture
Script issues can influence content, so we discuss the huge change in writing practices in Japan from using Chinese characters to represent Japanese sounds to using a phonetic script, newly developed.
The Kokinshū set the boundaries of successful poetry for 300 hundred years. Among its many influences was how to conceptualize the typical course that a romantic affair would follow.
Courtly elegance (miyabi) is absolutely core as an aesthetic and communicative value.
Ki no Tsurayuki is one of those giants of history who made a difference, in his case in literature and poetic sensibility.
PAPER IDEAS — Tsurayuki also wrote the Tosa Diary (Tosa nikki). It is a possible choice as a paper topic, and is in the anthology you purchased. However, there are many other nikki of the Heian period that are probably more appealing: Murasaki's Diary of Lady Murasaki (Murasaki Shikibu nikki), the Daughter of Sugawara Takasue's As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams (Sarashina nikki), the full Kagerō (we read only a portion) and Izumi Shikibu's Diary (Izumi Shikibu nikki) are all strong contenders, particularly the latter two. Sarashina is a long lament by a woman who regrets not to have taken Buddhism more seriously but actually loves her fiction so much she would never abandon it. Izumi is the chronicle of the first 10 months of a scandalous affair between Izumi, known at the time as something of a lover, and a prince who seems a bit clueless. Much later in time but in more or less the same tradition is the excellent Confessions of Lady Nijō (Towazugatari). This is a longer work but exceptionally easy to read and fairly easy to make an emotional connection to. Nijō was forced to be the companion to a retired emperor then forced out of the imperial circle by a jealous lady. She became a nun, traveled around the country, but continued to secretly love her emperor.
✓ Read: Step 00 Instructions (access through "Class Stuff > Essay Process") [onsite, HTML]
✓ Read: Man’yōgana [onsite, PDF]
✓ Read: Kokinshū Reader [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read: onnade_books_paper_miyabi [bSpace, PPT]
◆ Man'yōshū, Kokinshū, Shin-Kokinshū: BASICS [onsite, PDF]
◆ Man'yōshū, Kokinshū, Shin-Kokinshū: COMPARED [onsite, PDF]
Note: These are the same handouts listed for Ten-Thousand Leaves and Kokinshū
◇ Nicely annotated (in Japanese) versions of the Kokin poems can be found at: Milord Club. Click on the 巻別一覧 link, then find the poem by volume:number.
◇ Other translations of Kokinshū: look under Kokin wakashū at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. McCullough, Rodd (both complete), and Cranston all have their merits. Cranston has more notes and comments accompanying the poems, although McCullough has a full companion volume called Brocade by Night.
◇ Other translations of Tales of Ise: look under Ise monogatari at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. McCullough is complete. (It is not the version in our anthology.)
◆ Step 00 test (advisory grade only)
◆ Conceptual frameworks: courtly romance (irogonomi) *because of the strong Western content of the term romance, we use the Jse term for this class
◇ Genre: narratives for poems (uta monogatari)
◇ Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari, mid-10th c.)
◇ Genre: diary-journal-memoir personal narratives (nikki)
◇ Kagerō Diary (Kagerō nikki, ca. 974)
Step 00 is a simple check to see if the student can capture the main points (thesis & conclusion and how the writer got there) of a scholarly article(s). The grade is not part of any true grade calculations but the results help us as mentors guide you through the essay process. Please remember to memorize your mentor's name for today's test! You cannot be graded for the test without you providing key piece of information. There will be no opportunity to ask it during the class session. Use this Web site to access the list.
I use the two texts discussed on this day (Ise and Kagerō) primarily to explore the shape of romance during the Heian period, though both of these texts are delightful for entirely different reasons. In a sense "the Man" in Tale of Ise represents the irogonomi pattern while Kaneie of Kagerō Diary represents, mostly, the antithesis.
Irogonomi is a key concept of the time and the values associated with it remain important across the centuries. Irogonomi situations romantic interplay in a literary context (poem exchange), more broadly in an aesthetic context (miyabi), and frames it as something of a game, though one that can hurt, definitely. Irogonomi exists mostly outside the sphere of Buddhism except perhaps the acceptance of the unreliable, fleeting nature of romantic feeling and that strong emotions invite suffering. Irogonomi and the fascination with it is one example of that high value placed on deep, nuanced, sophisticated emotive response as a type of cultured way of life.
The uta-monogatari (poem-tale) genre reminds us of the primacy of poetry, even within the prose traditions.
PAPER IDEAS — Kagerō Diary in particular is a good text for the term essay. In its full form it is relatively easy to read and is an honest statement by a woman about her unsatisfactory life with a powerful political figure.
PAPER IDEAS — Tales of Yamato (Yamato monogatari) is similar to Ise, and is a possible paper direction I suppose. Perhaps comparing the two. Consider these texts if you really like the vignettes of romance and/or this form of narrative bound tightly to poems.
✓ Read Tales of Ise (in CJP* Please read the short introduction and these episodes: 1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 12, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 40, 49, 50, 60, 62, 69, 83, 88, 90–96, 105, 107, 125)
✓ Read The Gossamer Journal (in CJP Please read the introduction on 71–72, and then all of the translation provided on 102-155) This is the first book of three for the entire Kagerō Diary.*CJP = McCullough's Anthology of Classical Japanese Prose
◇ Kagerō genealogy [onsite, PDF]
◇ Other translations of Kagerō Diary: look under Kagerō nikki at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. Arntzen and Seidensticker are complete. Arntzen is the more recent.
◆ Cultural salons
◆ Genre: brush-follows-thoughts (zuihitsu)
◆ Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, after 1000)
◆ Aesthetic terms: okashi
◇ Court music (gagaku)
◇ Genji as extra credit
The Pillow Book is one of the best-loved classical works of Japan. (This, the Tale of Genji, Tales of the Heike, and Narrow Road to the Deep North are probably the four standout prose works of premodern Japan, if you were to ask the average Japanese citizen.) It has wit, keen observations, and most of the time a breezy sense of delight, though it can be dark.
PAPER IDEAS — Students often select this as their favorite assigned text during the term. We read only a bit of it, however. It can be a hard text to work with for the term paper in that it is a scattered text rather than a single sustained narrative. But there are ways, and it is very pleasant to spend time with.
The women of the cultural salons of the Heian period were the primary, almost sole, producers of the prose that we now value. Both men and women wrote poetry.
We begin reading the Tale of Genji for next time and will spend four sessions on it. It is one of the two monumental premodern prose works in terms of influence on the arts, quality of the work, high respect it has held over time, and shear size. (The other text is Tales of the Heike, which we will also read.) Comments about which Genji text and/or translation to use were made on during Session 01.
It is likely that the Tale of Genji will be available as major extra credit for this class. Details should be announced on this day. Emails regarding this must use the keyword: "genjiextracredit"; otherwise, it is quite possible that, at the end of the term, you will not receive the extra credit you deserve.
PAPER IDEAS — The Tale of Genji is typically not a good choice for the class term paper. It is a very big text, and has a great deal of scholarship attached to it that you will need basic knowledge of. Some students write very good papers on Genji, but make sure that it is focused superbly.
PAPER IDEAS — Besides Pillow Book, we read portions of Essays in Idleness, another excellent text in the same genre. (See Middle Period.) I might consider for general extra credit, minor or major, a composition by you in the zuihitsu style, though it would need to pretend to be from a particular time and place in premodern Japan. Propose something. Use the keyword "extracredit".
✓ Read selections from: The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon (in CJP 156-199)
◇ A pdf that is projected on this day while I describe the sexual politics of the Heian period and the formation of cultural (literary) salons, titled "Sei and Murasaki Salon formation narrative" [bSpace, PDF]
◇ Basic types of gagaku music [bSpace, PDF]
◇ Gagaku musical instruments (pictures and sound clips) [onsite, html]
◇ Description of musical instruments [internet link]
◇ Other translations of Pillow Book : look under Makura no sōshi at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. The two volume hardback edition of Morris is complete and the second volume of notes useful. There is a newer complete translation, a Penguin edition, by Meredith McKinney.
◆ Conceptual frameworks: Buddhism’s karma, pain-causing transience (無常, mujō), and attitude towards romantic desire
◆ Conceptual frameworks: Chinese ancient cosmology's notions of essence (精, ching; 気, chi), yin-yang (陰陽), five elements/movements (五行), law of correspondences, and Daoist sexual alchemy based on these (including the Heian medical manual Ishinpō / Ishimpō
◆ Conceptual frameworks: Confucianism's defintion of social roles (male-female interaction)
◆ Genre: story-telling (monogatari)
◆ Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari, ca. 1010): chpts 1-2, 4-5
◇ Heian aristocratic clothing, architecture
Buddhism has an implicit and explicit presence in nearly everything in the high arts of premodern Japan. Chinese cosmology has a more diffuse, subtle presence, but it is good to know some of the basics of it.
PAPER IDEAS — We skip Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku monogatari) in this class. It has some good Buddhist tales and is an interesting text in many ways, particularly for students who like legends and stories with mythical elements. You might consider reading this for the term paper.
The Tale of Genji, for me and I am not alone, is very nearly the best premodern text, though it depends on what one values. This is a deep, subtle, challenging, and enormous work. Good luck! It is worth the effort though and, put around another way, without effort it will seem nearly worthless.
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
◇ Consider kicking around on the pages of my (this) web site, starting here. There are extensive comment up through chapter 13, and various other things. [onsite, HTML]
◇ Basic genealogy, can be very helpful! [onsite, PDF]
◇ Genji's women [onsite, PDF]
◇ Cite: The essentials of medicine in ancient China and Japan : Yasuyori Tamba's Ishimpō / translated with introduction and annotations by Emil C.H. Hsia, Ilza Veith, Robert H. Geertsma. Leiden, 1986.
◆ Essay process, Step 01
◆ Tale of Genji, continued: chpts 6-10
This session is important for getting the essay started. I describe the basic expectations regarding topics in ways that are not in written instructions and cannot be well conveyed in print. This is the only time during the semester when this is done.
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
◇ Map of Genji's Rokujō Estate [onsite, jpeg]
◇ Model of Genji's Rokujō Estate [onsite, jpeg]
◇ aware [bSpace, PPT]
◆ Tale of Genji, continued: chpts 12-13, 15, 35, 40-42
◇ Tale of Genji Illustrated Scroll (Genji monogatari emaki)
◆ Aesthetic terms: mono no aware
Mono no aware (ah-wah-ray) is one of the most important aesthetic terms we will discuss. It is difficult. This is one of the lectures that you should be sure to attend. The lecture is built around Suetsumuhana (Woman of the Safflower), so you should be read up on her story with Genji (so, in particular chapter 6 & 15).
The Suma and Akashi chapters are considered one of the high points of the expression of mono no aware in premodern literature. Murasaki's death scene is another.
The reading load for the upcoming session is heavy.
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
◇ "Yomigaeru Emaki" — a one page handout that shows the Genji monogatari emaki in its original state and recovered through a combination of computer analysis and hand-painting, as described in the video shown on this day. [onsite, PDF]
◇ Brief comments about Test 01, including a dry run of how the test will be given
◆ Tale of Genji, continued: chpts 49-54
The reading load for Genji for this day is heavy.
There are a few written comments about the test below on the scheduled test day.
Please remember that sections are not to be used to review material for exams. Please do not blame the GSIs for not answering your exam questions! They are asked not to do so. At the end of the term, if you find this unsatisfactory please write so on my evaluations, not theirs.
I project test questions on the screen in the front of the room. I use the same size font that will be on the exam. Bring whatever you typically bring to read screens at the front of the room so you can test your eyesight. You will not have an opportunity on the test day to relocate in the room, so you need to know ahead of time whether you can read the screen sufficiently well.
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
✓ Read the "Thoughts" located at the scheduled day of the exam and be prepared to ask questions about the exam on this day based on that. I may not have time to repeat all of that information on today.
◇ text
Tests take the full session and usually use a seating chart. Students should arrive on time or early. The sooner everyone is seated the more time there will be for the exam.
Tests are generally in two parts. Sometimes these are weighted 50%-50%. Sometimes they are weighted 33%-67% (with Part B the 67). There are usually a few extra credit questions on Part A.
Part A is multiple choice and such, and focuses on the factual details of course content up to this point. It includes all sessions including Session 01 (the historical overview of that session). Anything listed as a topic on this schedule might be tested. Topics marked with ◆ are twice (or more) as likely to find a place in the exam or might have twice as many questions than those marked with a ◇ . It includes any multimedia presentations in class. It draws from both lecture content and assigned readings. Assigned readings include teaching modules for the essay writing process.
Part B is usually one essay question given to you. It is rare that you have a choice among questions. Sometimes I give you a range of questions ahead of time from which the one question will be selected.
In order to avoid coming back to campus in the evening and taking exams in a room where there is an open seat between each student, I do the following to work with the shoulder-to-shoulder nature of the seating typical in my classes:
There is a seating chart. All electronic devices, notes and such will be completely stored away out of sight. It is not possible to leave the room during the exam. If you need to leave, you will submit your test on the way out and that portion will be graded with a zero given for any incomplete answers. A clock of some sort will be projected in the room. Different versions of the test are distributed among students in a way that your neighbors do not have your version of the exam. The GSIs and I proctor the test closely. You should not look at exams next to you. We note this.
✓ This is what you need: Your SID, memorized. A pencil for Part A. Whatever you like to write with for Part B. An eraser of some sort if you typically use one. You will be allowed nothing else on the desk. I will provide the paper.
◇ Transition to the Middle Period
◆ New Anthology of Ancient and Current Poems (Shin-Kokinshū, ca. 1205) *because of the length of the name, its Jse name is the title we use in this class
◇ Aesthetic terms: yōen
There are enormous changes afoot for Japan and these will affect literature and all other cultural arts. These changes include a partial loss of control of governing power, civil strife in the form of war and other things, and major Buddhist reforms that reach broadly into society and the arts. However, the aristocratic tradition retains is sense of identity and is still very important in the production and fashioning of culture. Today's session looks at the literary arts that are still closely associated with the court. In the following sessions we will look beyond the court.
✓ Read: Shin-Kokinshū Reader [bSpace; PDF]
◇ Man'yōshū, Kokinshū, Shin-Kokinshū: BASICS [onsite, PDF]
◇ Man'yōshū, Kokinshū, Shin-Kokinshū: COMPARED [onsite, PDF]
Note: These are the same two handouts listed for Ten-Thousand Leaves and Kokinshū
◇ Additional famous Shin-Kokin poems with commentary [onsite, PDF]
◇ Other translations of Shin-Kokinshū: look under Shin-Kokinshū at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. For such an important collection, we still do not have a complete English translation of this work. Rodd's is in progress [as of 2010]. Carter includes a good number of poems and his translations are very good.
◆ Conceptual frameworks: Buddhist reforms
◆ Genre: Recluse literature
◆ My Days at a Hut Three Meters Square (Hōjōki, 1212) *because of the length of the name, its Jse name is the title we use in this class
◇ Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa, first half, 14th c.)
The Buddhist reforms of the late 12th and early 13th centuries leave a near permanent mark on nearly all artistic expression, and many other aspects of Japanese culture. The texts covered on this day are part of a body of text now called "recluse literature" (inja bungaku), that are particularly deeply involved in this change. Essays in Idleness, however, is usually classified as a zuihitsu, together with the Pillow Book.
PAPER IDEAS — Like Pillow Book, Essays in Idleness is fun to read but a bit difficult to work with for term papers. Comparing these two texts in some specific way seems like a possible path forward, though. There would be other ways, too, of course.
This session focuses on those aspects of the Buddhist reforms that have the greatest impact on the arts, but the basics of the several reformers of this time are also covered. Please place the concepts ahead of the biographical details when organizing your notes from this session.
PAPER IDEAS — Not covered in class are the short stories written in the Middle period. Called otogi-zōshi, some of these are very entertaining. There isn't much high art involved, but they are artful. "Little One Inch" is an example that is in our anthology. There are some good English translations. A few students have really enjoyed working with these.
✓ Read: Introduction and "An Account of My Hermitage" (in CJP 376-392)
✓ Read: Introduction and "Essays in Idleness" (in CJP 393-421)
◇ Eight-fold Path [onsite, PDF]
◇ Kamakura Reformers [onsite, PDF]
◇ Hojoki [bSpace, PPT]
◇ Map of fire [onsite, PDF]
◇ Depiction of Chōmei's retreat residence [onsite, PDF]
◇ The Hōjōki author has strongly in mind a prior journal titled Chiteiki. Here is a cite for its English translation: Yoshishige no Yasutane "Chiteikei" Monumenta Nipponica 26.3/4 (1971) 445-453. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2383656
◇ Other translations of An Account ... : There are many. Look under Hōjōki at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. Watson's translation in Four Huts is very good and that volume includes a translation of Chiteiki, which is the model base text for Hōjōki. Avoid Sadler.
Oct 14 Thurs — Step 01 early submission suggested deadline, due at usual time
◆ Essay Process, Step 02
◇ Middle Period: The Gempei wars
◇ Sword-making
◇ Modern swordsmanship (kendō)
◇ Tales of the Heike as extra credit
The Tales of the Heike is a remarkable text that has had a huge impact on premodern arts. It is, however, complicated in its many characters and scenes. This session, among other things, gives background information that is useful to being less lost when reading Heike, a project that will occupy us for the three sessions following this one.
It is likely that the Tales of the Heike will be available as major extra credit for this class. Details should be announced on this day. Emails regarding this must use the keyword: "heikeextracredit"; otherwise, it is quite possible that at the end of the term you will not receive the extra credit you deserve.
PAPER IDEAS — Bushidō is a very popular paper topic for this class. However, generally speaking the papers that result are of poor quality. Beware the web; it is one of trendy topics that has loads of sites with cheap takes on what it means. Bushidō can be a great topic and I look forward to seeing some great papers on it. There are many topics related to Heike that would be rich sources to tap into for papers.
✓ Read: The introduction in Genji & Heike (245–255) or, if you have purchased the full version, the introduction on pages 1–11.
◇ For section/chapter summaries and such start here: Heike main page [onsite, HTML]
◇ Complete and partial translations of Tale of Heike : look under Heike monogatari at the pmjs pre-1600 bibliography. McCullough's complete translation is excellent and widely available in paperback. Kitagawa's translation is just OK in my opinion. Avoid Sadler. Watson's 2006 translation is an abridged version.
◇ Genre: military tales (gunki monogatari)
◇ Yoshitsune (Gikeiki, early 16th c.)
◆ Conceptual frameworks: Military Arts & Ethics (Bushidō) *because of the length of the term, we will use its Jse term in this class
◆ Tales of the Heike (Heike monogatari, some versions date from the early 13th c., ours is from the first half of the 14th c.)
◆ Individuals in Tales of the Heike: Kiyomori, Giō, Ariō
◇ Military clothing & weapons
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
◇ Here's the passage from Yoshitsune (Gikeiki) that I read in class: Yoshitsune's death scene in Yoshitsune (Gikeiki) [onsite, PDF]
◆ Kiyomori Yoshitsune Yoritomo [bSpace, PPT]
◇ Helmets, armor, weapons [bSpace, PPT]
Oct 21 Thurs — Step 01 regular submission suggested deadline, due at usual time
◆ Tales of the Heike, continued
◆ Individuals in Tales of the Heike: Kiyomori, Emp. Go-Shirakawa, Yoritomo, Yoshitsune & Benkei, Kenreimon’in, Atsumori, warrior monks, Tomoe of Chapter 9, Section 4)
◆ Tales of the Heike in the arts: blind, traveling monk performers (biwa hōshi) *because of the length of the term, we will use its Jse term in this class
Tomoe is not a major character, but she is someone students often like. She would do well in today's video games, and probably is in there, somewhere. We are tracking Kenreimon'in in part because she is the major character of the final, very beautiful chapter, and that chapter loses its impact without knowing the full course of her life. We are tracking Yoshitsune (and his loyal companion Benkei) because he is some important in the Japanese collective knowledge of the Gempei war stories, although he is under-emphasized in our version of that war.
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
◆ Heike: Performing Heike [bSpace; PPT]
◆ Tales of the Heike, continued
◆ Individuals in Tales of the Heike: Yoritomo, Yoshitsune, Emp. Go-Shirakawa, Nasu no Yoichi, Antoku, Kenreimon’in, Rokudai
◇ Tales of the Heike in the arts: screens
Rokudai is used as our shorthand way of thinking about the final fate of all the Taira clan members. Please note him carefully.
✓ The reading assignment is stated on: Genji and Heike Assigned Readings [onsite, PDF].
◆ Heike: Story illustrations [bSpace: PPT]
Oct 28, Thurs — Step 02 early submission suggested deadline, due at usual time
◇ Northern Hills culture, late 14th c.
◆ Nō drama
◆ Aesthetic terms: yūgen
Yūgen is an important, and difficult, aesthetic concept. Please do your best to get some grasp of this one. Nō drama is an exceptionally beautiful art form. It is better as live theater, but please do your best to bore down into it when reading and viewing it.
PAPER IDEAS — There are many English translations of great Nō plays, and the Media Center at the East Asian Library has a great deal of video information on Nō. Nō involves poetry, dance, music, textiles, masks and aesthetic principles in major ways so there are many possible directions.
✓ Read full Nō play 'Atsumori' [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read summary of Nō play 'Adachigahara' [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read full Nō play Sotoba Komachi [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read full Nō play Aoi no Ue [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read read excerpt from philosophical tract by Zeami titled 'Fushikaden' [bSpace, PDF]
◆ The jo-ha-kyū structure associated with the five categories of Nō plays, with some basic comments about the timeline of the development of Nō: Jo-Ha-Kyū [onsite, PDF]
◇ Nō masks [offsite link]
◇ Basics on Nō drama [offsite link]
◇ Other translations of Nō plays can be found at the pmjs Nō translations bibliography page.
◇ External links on microexpression: New Yorker article | Online quiz
◇ Eastern Hills culture, 15th c.
◆ Tea practices ("Water boiled for tea", cha no yu)
◆ Aesthetic terms: Wabi
This is the "tea ceremony" which has become such an icon in representing traditional Japanese culture. We try to see it for what it is rather than the many stereotypes that have been associated with it. Its core concept of sabi is beautiful, and difficult.
PAPER IDEAS — Cha no yu involves social values, architecture, garden design, flower arrangement, and aesthetic principles, among other things. Tea masters stood between artistic and political circles. There are many interesting directions for possible papers.
✓ Read text
◇ Sabi-wabi graphic [bSpace, PDF]
◇ Wabi and cha-no-yu [bSpace, PPT]
◇ Cha no yu basics [bSpace, PPT]
◇ Individuals involved in the transition of the Japanese tea ceremony to the form in which is it known today: Early tea masters [bSpace, PDF]
◇ YouTube clips: Shōwa Tea Ceremony | Tea Ceremony | Tea Ceremony (part 1, part 2)
Nov 4, Thurs — Step 02 regular submission suggested deadline, due at usual time
◆ Essay process, Step 03
◆ Genre: Haiku
◆ Haiku of Bashō, Buson and Issa
◆ Aesthetic terms: sabi
◇ Aesthetic terms: karumi
Haiku have probably been taught to you at some time as simple, short, casual poetic expressions often with a sense of humor. Only the sense of humor portion of this has any real accuracy. Haiku are solid little poems that lack the moving parts of the more flowing waka. They can be tough to interpret, but they are very very good at hitting a poetic point. Haiku did start out as mostly a humorous expression; Bashō took them to a new level.
PAPER IDEAS — Papers on haiku are not that easy because so much is lost in translation. Nevertheless, comparing the treatment of a particular topic between poets seems possible. Surely there are other ways.
I might consider for general extra credit, minor or major, an anthology of haiku composed by you following the proper set of compositional principles. Propose something.
✓ Read Haiku Reader [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Sabi Poems [bSpace, PDF]
◇ text
◆ Genroku period (late 17th c. – early 18th c.)
◆ Winding Road of the Back Country / Narrow Road to the Deep North (Oku no hosomichi, 1694)
Bashō was a somewhat stern, very serious individual with a huge respect for literary traditions and history. Narrow Road is not, as the Beat / Zen generation misunderstood it, the jottings of a poetic free spirit who roamed the country. Bashō is all business and his Narrow Road is a highly polished text (like Hōjōki) that underwent many rewrites. It is never as simple as it looks, though it is deceptively sparse in its use of language (and so much is lost in translation), but this is one of Japan's greatest premodern works, definitely.
✓ Read "Narrow Road of the Interior" (CJP, 510-511, 522-551)
◇ text
Nov 10, Wed — Pre-Step 03 firm deadline if you submit, due at usual time
No class Thursday, Nov 11
Nov 13, Sat — Step 03 due at usual time — this deadline is absolutely firm (we need the other half of the weekend to begin grading)
◆ “Ukiyo” — the floating world (浮世) — as common setting for Genroku literature
◆ Aesthetic term: iki (粋, chic — in an amorous, alluring, knowledgeable, restrained way)
◆ Conceptual frameworks: giri-ninjō (義理人情, obligations and love)
◆ Conceptual frameworks: shinjū (心中, merged hearts, lovers’ joint suicides, suicides in pairs or more, double suicide)
Giri-ninjō is a set of terms that is sometimes taught incorrectly, and beware the web on this one. I will try to show the element of shame involved, and please avoid the tempting ego-id Freudian model. Shinjū is not that difficult a concept, but I would like to connect it with earlier ideas of musubu (bonding), trust, and personal boundaries.
✓ Read Shinjū psychology, an academic essay on shinjū. (Please skim the passages marked with blue font and a sidebar to the left of the text.) [bSpace, PDF]
◇ Iki [bSpace, PDF]
◆ Essay process, Step 04
◇ About Test 02
◇ Puppet theater (文楽 bunraku)
◆ Chikamatsu Monzaemon (近松門左衛門, 1653-1725), playwright
◇ Love Suicides at Sonezaki (曾根崎心中, Sonezaki shinjū, 1703)
◆ Loves Suicides at Amijima (心中天の網島, Shinjū Ten no Amijima, 1720)
Puppet theater and then kabuki theater shouldered Noh drama aside. Noh remains as a connoisseur's art, and we need that as well. Bunraku and kabuki, on the other hand, flourish brilliantly in the new cultural contexts of the Edo period.
Please try to see the element of shame in these plays.
✓ Read Double Suicides at Sonezaki [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read Double Suicides at Amijima [bSpace, PDF]
◇ text
The comments made for the previous test apply to this test as well. It is not cumulative. It covers all sessions since the last exam.
✓ Identical to Test 01, this is what you need: Your SID, memorized. A pencil for Part A. Whatever you like to write with for Part B. An eraser of some sort if you typically use one. You will be allowed nothing else on the desk. I will provide the paper.
No class Thursday, Nov 25
◆ Short stories of love by Ihara Saikaku
◆ Student evaluations
Although after Test 02, Saikaku will be tested on the final.
Saikaku likes the writing space where it is difficult to know if he is being serious or toying with the reader. Many of his other writings are also very good reads, and his work is a rich source for term papers.
PAPER IDEAS — Beyond the cutoff time of our class is the very interesting Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari, 18th c.) which has been a source of ghost stories and such. The author is Ueda Akinari. You might consider this as a paper topic.
✓ Read Implicated by His Diamond Crest [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read Tortured to Death With Snow on His Sleeve [bSpace, PDF]
✓ Read A Terrible Shame He Never Performed in the Capital [bSpace, PDF]
◇ text
◆ open
I like to leave this period unscheduled. Depending on the group, we do different sorts of things on this day, but this session is always casual and informal.
Nothing.
Dec 9, Thurs — If a student's essay was identified during Step 03 as having portions that were academically dishonest, and if that student has been allowed to continue the essay process, his or her Step 04 is due at usual time on this day — this deadline is absolute & required
For everyone else:
Dec 11, Sat — Step 04, if submitting, due at usual time — this deadline is absolute
◆ Date: Tuesday, December 14
◆ Time: 3-6 PM
◆ Location: 160 Kroeber
This is an oral exam. It is cumulative: you will be asked about several of the major topics of the course. These will be randomly selected. You will need to show a command both of factual details and the significance of that particular topic in a larger sense. Both GSIs and I will be asking you questions. Your answers will be audio recorded in case we need to recheck something, but basically you will be graded more or less on the spot. The result, however, will not be told to you until later. You will be given an arrival time somewhere between 3-5:30PM. Expect your presence to be required for about 30 minutes total.
This is the last event for this class. Once you have finished this, there is nothing else expected of you. Have a wonderful winter break!