Reflections on Japanese Literature (12/4)

[Anonymous]

I was not aware that Tale of Genji was such a foundation of Japanese literature. Prof. Miyake clearly laid out the way this seminal work reappears in different ways throughout Japanese history. In some ways it is similar to the way in which Homer's epics and the Old Testament stories keep reappearing throughout the history of European literature. Tale of Genji is a very secular work however and focuses our attention on the interaction between people in a highly structured social order. To me this is consistent with the uniquely isolated nature of Japanese culture throughout most of its history. Notwithstanding a minimal level of communication with China and Korea, Japan alone among the great cultures of the world developed largely in isolation--much more so than England, a country often compared to Japan. An advanced culture in a limited geographical space must develop clear rules for social interaction. In Japan those rules included the ritualization of violence as well as of intimate relationships and marriage. All of that is reflected in Tale of Genji and remains the foundation of Japanese culture through the centuries.

[Anonymous]

I loved this lecture. As a literature teacher, I was amazed by the content of this lecture. I have never even thought of Asian poetry having the same characteristics as poetry in roman languages. I found very interesting learning about the length of the verses in Japanese poetry. What amazed me the most, was to learned that Japanese lovers used poetry to communicate. A very challenging, but yet, effective way of being noticed!

[Anonymous]

Literature is not one of my favorite topics, however, I found this session interesting because every period in the history of Japan had different literary works produced. One of the most interesting literary periods were during Heian and the Kamakura period. During the Heian Period, one of the novels that caught my attention was "The Tales of Genji," what is believed to be the worlds first novel . During this class we learned about the different forms of poetry that surged during these literary periods. Some of the examples of the poetry discussed during this session was the Tanka which is a 31 syllable, 5-line poem which is poetic in form. The mono-no aware-is considered the central aesthetic idea of the Heian period. It reflected and awareness of the passing of beauty, conjoined with a deep sadness for the passing of natural and human affairs and it focuses on understanding the changes that all thing undergo. Although poetry is not one of my favorite works of literature to read, I found this class interesting specially when the professor would read the poems in Japanese. For some reason having him recite them in Japanese, was a unique experience

[Anonymous]

There are two points that stuck with me after the session. The first was the use of the Chinese language by the early Japanese, especially in government. Considering that the two languages have different placement of sentence parts, it must have been a challenge to be fluent in both languages. The second interesting point was the role of women in ancient Japan and the limits to their freedom. The women during the Haian period, for example, had to wear tons of silk which made it extremely difficult to even walk. They were also expected to comunicate through poems and couldn't even look directly at men who were courting them.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunitly I missed the session on Japanese literature. However, thanks to our notetaker , gvaliulis and our wonderful connection from dchhuo to Youtube so we could view an annimated version of " The Tales of Genji I now see who he is and what he does. Even in knowing that this was written a long time ago I was very uncomfortable about the way Genji tore the clothes off his women and appeared to be sexually assulting them. Yet he was considered a gentleman because of courtly manners. How long did the Japanese believe that rape was just lusty foreplay and that woman really wanted it that way because it took the responsibility away from them. I know that the U.S. has just itself gotten past these ideas . And I'm not so sure when I listen to some of our public officials. That is why I can imagine this video used as a springboard in a sex education class about sexual responsibility. This is a fairly non-stimulating way of seeing a video about rape while also being introduced to the first novel in the world that came from Japan and not incidently was written by a woman. I can just imagine the conversations that would generate.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Dear Colleagues,

Please write your reflections on Professor Miyake's session on Japanese literature below.

Best,
Yingjia

[Author]

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