Session 5B: Japanese Literature 8-1-08

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Please reply here with your thoughts and comments on Professor Lynne Miyake's presentation on "Japanese Literature."

[Anonymous]

This is also posted under the "Seminar Readings and Materials" thread:

* * * * *

Professor Lynne Miyake shares with you the following web resources for teaching about Japanese literature and culture:

1. 1987 animated version of "Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji)"

- Available in seven segments on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwJaO88mm4

- Or as a single file at this website:
http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-291798/Murasaki-Shikibu-Genji-Monogatari-Movie-Complete.html

2. Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) page on "cool Japan entertainment"
http://www.jetro.org/trends/entertainment.php

3. E-mail newsletter "Highlighting Japan," published by the government of Japan
http://www.gov-online.go.jp/eng/publicity/book/hlj/mmagazine_index.html

[Anonymous]

Gosh, I wish I could teach a comparative literature class that combines Asian and Anglo (British and American) texts. There are SO many similarities between the Japanese literature we read last night and discussed today. The sonnet sequences written during the Renaissance served much the same purpose and followed the same themes of abstract, perfect love as the poetry written by the Heinan courtiers, and the nature-based poetry of the Kokinshu parallels the lyrical poetry of Romantics such as Wordsworth.

What especially struck me, though, was the desire to suspend passion just before consummation as the Kokinshu express in the motif of Mono no aware – just like Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Even the Japanese poets’ use of autumnal images create a sense of resignation, without regret, catches the main themes of these Anglo writers.

Even the modern American comic books, capturing as they do the concept of idealized, but flawed heroism, parallel the modern Japanese comic books.

The hardest part of the assignment to create a lesson plan will be to pare it down far enough to logically fit into my required curriculum.

[Anonymous]

This was a wonderful lecture today. I just loved the humor asscociated with some of the writing. The Pillow Book and the Genji story were wonderful pieces of literature to be presented. I was laughing so hard during some of the lecture because I was really relating to the Pillow Book and thinking about some of my own likes and dislikes. I was really inspired to write about some of the funny situations I have been in. I am sure my students will love writing about their likes and dislikes. I will be going to Barnes and Noble straight away to look ove the Genji books and start my own collection. [Edit by="lgates on Aug 3, 10:16:20 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Out of all the sessions so far, this has been the one that captivated my attention the most, I am not saying that the previous sessions have not been interesting and informative, but this one in particular was my favorite. I really enjoyed Professor Lynne Miyake's thorough explanation of Japanese literature. I also found it amazing to learn that a Japanese woman was responsible for writing one of the very first novels. The story of Ganji along with Pillow Talk will most definetely be a part of my book collection. I am gleaning so many ideas for my lesson plans and they include most of what I learned today.

Maria 😛

[Anonymous]

Wow. Prof. Miyake is a fascinating woman and an excellent teacher, not only did I gain knowledge about Classical Japanese literature, but I also learned a lot about teaching and presenting a lecture.
The Classical Japanese literature provides today’s reader with an excellent window to Classical Japan. Through the poetry, prose, and diaries, one can learn about the social and political climate of the time, as well as see that the Japanese people are an educationally minded people that accept only the very best from its citizens. Their writings were completely different than anything that had been written before, from the form to the rhythm to the authors themselves. To write required a person to not only be literate, but to be clever, concise, worldly, witty, and up to date on societal mores and political happenings. Imagine if everyone in America were required to be aware of their surroundings and prove it through composition of poetry and prose, and passed a journal outlining proper decorum to their children. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? How different things would be…

[Anonymous]

I loved this lecture on literature, because as an English teacher it gave me the most fodder for the classroom. It was great hearing about a beloved text, The Pillow Book, something I have not heard lecture on in several years. I am definitely going to use it this school year, and I will write one of my lesson plans on this text. I hope some others use this too -- I think students will really enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

5B Fri afternoon
It is amazing to me that no matter when or what society I study it is not different, Art and Literature are alive. They both reflect what is happening during the time and about the people, that does not mean it is accurate or that any of what you are reading or viewing is true. But never the less it is still part of the history of that time. I always think of Van Gogh who never sold a single painting because his subjects are about the poor and everyday life. So really I do not know why I am surprised to learn that only the upper class could write about their world, or that they had no idea what was going on outside their world; on top of that there where only 300-400 of the upper class…wow.
I was thinking about the 24 layers of clothes,
I spin and weave so when I got to thinking of the upper class creating all these garments, out of silk that really had to have taken a some time, actually a lot of their time. I am sure they created many more then just one of these garments; I started to think of how much time it must have taken to create just one layer. Silk is not easy to work with and think of how small each thread must be that is woven into the fabric. I gave up on silk embroidery, it is really madding, it knots up and is very hard to control. I guess what I am saying is that this process must have taken a great deal of time.

[Anonymous]

Professor Miyake's lecture on classical Japanese literature was excellent. I knew we were in for another special person when she came up to me at lunch and asked if I was the K-8 Matt or the 7th grade Matt. Then she asked Alex if he had done all the reading! Anyway, I was impressed with her style of teaching and her ability to involve all of us in her lecture. I will be looking into some of the literature she recommended in her lecture and bring it into my classroom, especially for my younger students (k-3rd grade). I appreciate her bringing literature for my elementary side of life. That was very thoughtful.

[Anonymous]

Phew! I JUST finished all the reading, and all told, I think it took me about 10 hours. I have to thank my husband and my 3 year old for sitting near by and not disturbing me as I was immersed in my studies.

I have to say that as an English teacher who teaches a small unit on Asian poetry, I was so excited for this lesson. I was able to ask the professor about a line from a Basho haiku that has plagued my students and I (with no Internet site clarifying) since I took over the class in 2003

I'm also wondering why I don't teach Genji or Pillow Book, since they seem to be the quintessential pieces in Asian literature. I'll have to change that. Move over Sophocles and Dante, I need to make room for the LADIES!

I was most interested in the literature from the military period as our mantra in learning about Asian poetry is "love and nature" "love and nature" so I was fascinated by Tale of the Heike, and I have to say that Atsumori will go down as one of my new beloved literary heroes. I love the fact that he was riding by on his horse, and Kumagai shamed him into turning around to fight. What a great scene for a movie! And "Cut off my head and show my people, and they'll tell you who I am!" What indignance! I love it.

I am now obsessed with Noh theater and have been putting on mini-Noh plays with my 3 year old-- a non-verbal (diagnosed) autistic, so we are slowly raising our arms and chanting loudly and slowly, "Nooooooooooooh!" I know, inauthentic and a mite disrespectful, but great fun.

Finally, two quickie lesson plans occurred to me:

1. Mad Libs poetry: taking tanka studied in class, then removing the important words, then having them plug in their own words: teaching them the importance of diction, parts of speech review (which is always needed) and fun!

2. Renga poetry: my students complain that they don't get enough chances for creative writing, so I think devoting a day to creating our own linked poems would be a blast. I teach honors, so I'm deciding if I should set guidelines: following the number of syllables in traditional verse, limiting the allusions & subject matter as the original poets did, or maybe just a fun free for all.

Thanks to Prof Miyake! I'm ashamed to say I was looking at our Asian poetry unit as the weak link among my strong/nerdy units of Gilgamesh, Oedipus, Dante & Shakespeare but now I'm happy to beef up the material to represent its powerful & inspired tradition.[Edit by="kwilliamskorbel on Aug 3, 12:23:26 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="kwilliamskorbel on Aug 3, 12:24:40 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

My thoughts once again run along the mainstream of this thread. Not a lot can be added that is not redundant. Some other items that stood apart for me were the Tanka in poetry and the Tea rituals.

I am not a literature major but I do teach poetry and I have worked with the Tanka form with my students. I was happy to know that the syllables per line could (if needed) be adjusted and not ruin the Tanka. For me that was a way to relax. We have had Tanka poems that I would not allow or adjusted because of what I believed was a rigid rule.

The tea ceremonies in the handout taught me many things. One was that there was a Tea Master - who would have thought. I believed it was just a drink one drank and chatted over with laid-back and polite conversation. I despertly want to see a "real" tea house. I also get why museums have so many vessels. Well, I got it - but not as it related...

Of course The Pilllow Book of Sei Shonagon, made all of us laugh. To many classroom uses for all grade levels. Some uses: simple plot, thought for the day, write your own, story starters, choral readings, paired reading and the list goes on.
Then there's Genji in its many renditions. I believe - I heard like 22 or something different titles. I also had not heard the term monga - which if I'm not wrong is simply comic style??? I will purchase a copy of it and take Prof. Miyake's advice and have my students do monga. My how I adore saying MONGA< M-O-N-G-A and Monga was its name. You think my students would like writing to that? Yep I do. (hope I got the spelling)

[Anonymous]

I too enjoyed the Monga and Prof. Miyake descriptions of how to use these subjects in the classroom. I have been enjoying the history to date, but I hadn't thought a lot about how I could use it in my classroom. We have been getting so much information my creative mind is a little overwhelmed. I thought the idea of making lists after introducing the "Pillow Talk" would really appeal to 6th graders and sending poetry to someone to see if they are interested is a nice way to save face and I think 6th graders will relate to that also. Then I am thinking about getting 24 yards of cloth and having students try moving around in it during the Heian studies. Even though I am not a literature teacher and felt this was geared more toward Language arts I did get a lot of ideas from her.

[Anonymous]

I went to the Website and watched Genji Monogatari 1, but without a little more information I really didn't understand what was going on. I woud like to know who the woman was. Now I really want to get a book to understand why she died. It seemed like a punishment, but how did it come about and how did she die? I am totally fancinated with Genji now.

[Anonymous]

I have had The Tale of Genji in my personal library for over a year now. After reading some in the anthology I now think it will be my next choice of books to read when I get home. It does not seem that in the episode of Yugao that Genji has as much distaste for the lower classes than he realizes; in contrast Shonagon seems to despise them. I have to read more but it strikes me that Shikibu has more of an understanding of the lower classes than of that of Shonagon. With the right selection from each, a nice compare and contrast in regards to how the lowers classes are presented could be used for discussion. I look forward to also delving into the poetry as a means to present what the people were thinking and feeling in that time period.

[Anonymous]

Just a note:

Japanese comic books are called manga, but yes, they are pronounced "monga." Japanese animation is called anime.

If you look at the handout the prof. gave us that looks like the table of contents to a magazine, the editors list the top 10 manga & anime for 2007 & 2008. If you want to know what some of your kids like, the most popular ones are Naruto, Bleach, & Fullmetal Alchemist. I swear, if you check out an episode or two and namedrop some of the characters, you will make friends for LIFE with some of your kids. You might be able to catch them on Cartoon Network...

Holla to the 80's anime generation: G-FORCE & AKIRA! 8)

Manga.com

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