November 18 - Yamashita - Classical and Warrior Japan

[Anonymous]

I was also fascinated by the origins of Japanese language. I had no idea that is was akin to Turkish!
Susan Dubin

[Anonymous]

The Pillow Book is more like a stream of conscience memoir than a story. It is a wonderful look at this woman's view of her world. I found her writing about men really entertaining. Definitely an early feminist!
Susan Dubin

[Anonymous]

One of the books that my Japanese students gave me was Musashi. It is the tale of a Samurai and his quest for honor. Where does that fit in to Japanese literture?
Susan Dubin

[Anonymous]

I did a little research, and I found this site: http://www.musashiusa.org/ . If I was teaching this, I would slip it into a myth and legend unit.

[Anonymous]

As I have been digging around in my notes to create my lesson plan, I keep coming back to notes from Prof Yamashita's talk. Not to be negative about any other guests, but I have some of the funniest comments with her notes.
It was a pleasure to get insight into this period with humor and insight.
This issue will be distilling into a curriculum that is already strapped for time.

[Anonymous]

As others have metioned, the Pillow Book seems accessible and potentially fascinating for teenagers. It can be introduced to students by having them create lists of their own that are similar to Sonagon's. STudents can attempt to imitate her spontaneous and lighthearted tone and use wordplay or sarcasm. Teenagers love when they can write about their own opinions uninhibitedly. This can be a great warm-up activity as well! This class was full of so much classroom potential! After reading the pillowbook, I'm sure students would enjoy discussing whether or not they would like Lady S. as a friend (this can make a rather interesting essay prompt that would require close reading and inference).

[Anonymous]

Dr. Yamashita's use of figuring out "Puzzles" is such a great idea! It promotes class discussion that can be focused. I also loved his discussion on Japanese castles. This has developed into a topic for a research paper I will be using next semester in which students will compare and contrast castles European and Japanese castles. This will be a great precursor to studying Arthurian legends and other medieval literature from Europe and comparing and contrasting them to medieval Japanese literature. It would be interesting to see how castle-construction reflects literary movements, etc...

Dr. Yamashita's visit certainly inspired quite a bit of lesson planning.

[Anonymous]

I found the "Pillow Book" interesting, also. Like when you find someone's shopping list, to-do list or library book list and from those glimpses of information you get a sideways view of what someone is like...and often form an opinion of them. Together the lists and commentaries give life to a person who lived centuries ago and I found that very interesting.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you. Because of what I have read and heard about the pure Japanese race and culture, I never even thought of how Japan got settled, nor by whom. Yet many peoples seemed to have settled there to make the culture.

I also found it very interesting that the oldest cultures, that survive in the far north and far south, are sort of the least thought of, not the most held in regard.

[Anonymous]

I think this was my favorite class. It reminded me that students are much more engaged when you tell stories and personal insights while you feed them the information. I appreciated Prof. Yamashita's personality coming through while he taught us important facts. I never would have understood the sacred nature of the tombs if he hadn't told us his stories about trying to sneek on the grounds to get pictures. I really enjoyed this session.

[Anonymous]

Prof. Yamashita inspired me to change the way I write study guides. Instead of answering questions as they read the material, I'm going to start with a "puzzle" that asks an overall, comprehensive question. I also think that simply calling it a puzzle rather than a study guide is more approachable for my low-level students.

[Anonymous]

The sources of Japanese Traditions-I read through the exerpts and will have to agree this is the most authoritative text on Japanese traditons. I like the introductuctionary essay and commentary to assist the reader in the historical perspectives. I also like the information on [post-war] , education and moderinization and women's issues. Yamashita and this text, very strong authoritatives.
M. Herrera

[Anonymous]

I found some great texts on Ryu-Ha based on the Classical and Warrior Traditions of Japan. They are authentic Japanese warrior traditions. The text are based of the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai (Society for the Promotion of the Japanese Classical Martial Arts) or the Nihon Kobudo Kyoki (Japanese Classical Martial Arts Association) the two most respected and well established organizations devoted to Koryuon Japan.
Check them out if you have a liking to samarai-
Vol.1 Koryu Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan
Vol. 2 Sword and Spirit
Vol. 3 Keiko Shokou
M. Herrera

[Anonymous]

I agree about this being a great class. I always find a lecture much more interesting when there is a personal touch to a lecture. Especially about something that could be very confusing. Professor Yamashita really covered the topic well and made it easy to transfer a lot of the information into our own classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Fantastic tips.
What I love about this forum is everyone is so helpful.
I think we have a great team, and I too loved this lecture. There is something about the Japanese traditions that I love and my family loves too.
Kyle

[Author]

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