Menu
close
Anonymous.
Rob_Hugo@PortNWThanks to the lecture from Raymond Mosser the lecture given last week by Lynne Miyake made sense. When Miyake talked about Tale of Genji I was able to understand what this 54 chapter book entailed. Lynne took it a step further and talked about the things that make a female an attractive wife. Things such as knowledge of dying of cloth, literary arts & poetry. Miyake discussed the importance of art in the culture. The ability to write poetry and good writing were required by the aristocracy as good marriage material for males and females. Females would not be able to see any males over 12 years of age, therefore, when they got married most of the communication happened through writing, this is why the ability to have good penmenship and writing skills for poetry were essential. The better you were the more valuable you were.
Miyake also discussed Manga which are comics that some of my students read. Now I think that I am able to appreciate a Manga comic for its artistic value because all the art work is performed by hand.
Lastly she talked about Muromachi Period (1400-1600) During this period Kamakasi frame of thought was born. Also as a way of ensuring the infrastructure of the kingdom was working roads were built to ease the communication between village and Ninjas were hired as a form of spies.
AnonymousI just wanted to ask the question about the kamikaze frame of thought.
As much as I know, the kamikaze were only thought to be the winds that the gods sent to destroy the invading Mongol armies as they crossed over from Korea.
The kamikaze frame of thought evolved when Japan resorted to suicide pilots at the end of World War II and likened their purpose and proposed effect to that of the storms that destroyed the Mongols some 400 years later.
Am I wrong on this? I'd like to know.
AnonymousI too really enjoyed this talk and felt that it helped me to understand the talk before and helped me to put a lot to gether in my head about the culture of the region for those times.
Especially, I enjoyed the discussion of the themes and multiplicity of the poetry.
I am an English Teacher and I teach a unit on Haiku, Tanka, Choka, (some other Asian poems as well) and I always struggle with how to teach the multiplicity of the poetry and trying to teach the students that what they learned about those poetry forms before is not all true.
They see it as a sylable counting thing that doesn't have the duplicity and art that it trully was. Listening to Lynne Miyake helped me to put it into some specifics and thinking that teaching in metaphors would work really well. Although the poems are about nature, they are also metaphors for the human condition (emotion and life). Some how the belief that Nature is a Metaphor for life would help me get my point across.
Lisa
AnonymousI agree that Lynne's presentation made a lot more sense after already getting Japanese history from the last class.
I loved that she brought in ancient AND modern examples of Japanese literature. I too have noticed my students reading Manga books, and now I have a better understanding and appreciation of it.
What would be wonderful is if there were Manga versions of some books from the liteary canon, such as a Manga Huck Finn or Of Mice and Men. Especially with difficult texts that many students struggle with, a Manga version would be a more diverting and easier way to reach our students and aide them in comprehending the text.
When I switched rooms I happened to adopt a class set of comic books based on classics, such as The Time Machine and Frankenstein. Students who HATED reading loved these books, and began to avidly read all of them. I know we aren't supposed to encourage our students to read books with pictures, but hey, if it gets them to read, is it really that bad?
AnonymousI also enjoyed Lynne's presentation.; especially the fact that she personally came around to each teacher and introduced herself. Also, it was great that she invited discussion and open ended questions from us. I felt relaxed and easy to participate.[Edit by="skiwasz on Apr 17, 4:41:03 PM"][/Edit]
Anonymousthe talk by lynne miyake was a great balance to the talk on the history and geography of japan. together they really helped me to understand the place and the literature and culture. these two talks have been the best in terms of finding material suitable for my classes. the poetry and the comic books are definitely possibilities for my lessons for next year
AnonymousProfessor Miyake's discussion on Genjii introduced me to another area of Japanese culture I never took the time to take interest in. It was interesting to see the different interpretations and characterizations of Genjii. Helps me to also understand this current generations obsession with Anime. The graphics along with the story lines, as well as Japanese humor makes Japanese animation quit interesting and unique. Consequently, as referred to Professor Miyake, the "soft porn". Makes me wonder if this is a reflection of the Japanese culture's view of women and geishas, wives being submissive to their husbands and husbands having their affairs. What are these underlining messages sending to our youths who are so intrigued with anime? Is this a follow through of the European culture?
Her humble and genuine personality is appreciated especially from one of academia: so familiar of the true Japanese culture of her generation raised in Hawaii. Her taking the initiative to introduce and meet each of us personally, says much of her character. Additionally, Professor Miyake's allowing open dialog encouraged interest in her topic.
Unfortunately, like all sessions, there is such a wealth of information to process in such a limited time; it only stimulates interest in the topics to continue studying.