Session 9 - Classical and Warrior Japan

[Billie Johnson]

I found these lectures most intriguing and detailed in honing in on Classical Japan and onward. I was captivated by Professor Yamashita's lecturing style and his wealth of knowledge. It is truly a shame that we were not able to experience this in person. It's difficult to pick one thing to focus on that I would be able to incorporate into my classroom.  I do think it is possible to cover a vast topic like we see in these lectures, but it would take lots of preparation and know-how in where to find the most accurate information. It was enlightening to hear about the origin of Japan and that the Japanese were on the mainland dating back in history. How the language and writing was influenced by many different other languages is compelling as was the composition of fingerprints of the North and South. I like the incorporation of primary sources, The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book, in the active lesson to just drive discussion. Also, I like how he asks leading questions which can make people uncomfortable but forces you to think. Analyzing structures and what they signify is a great point of discussion for students.  Looking at artifacts and what they say about a civilizations and what it says about how societies were organized is an important point of discussion as well. I too enjoyed the segment on mythology because we discuss origin stories and how mythology is used to represent something sacred about a society in 6th grade. This year, students wrote myths based on a theme that represented America, which was kind of confusing for them at first and I think extending that lesson would be much more interesting if we incorporated themes outside of the US and lift the red tape. Asking students to write an ambiguous vertical or horitzonal cosmology story would be really cool. I'm always amazed with what my students come up with. I do like the discussion about the Samurai in more depth and brevity outside of just focusing on the warrior. It is important to understand the inner workings of this class and how they were organized. After listening to the brief history of Christianity, I don't think we would do a deep dive on that topic. 

[Billie Johnson]

Such a great idea!  I am curious what my students would come up with if I asked them to write their own version of their births. Leave it open to mythology, culture, religion, and they could decide on their own definition of 'birth'.  I am tempted to assign this as a writing activity during the first 25 days as a narrative/mythology combo. I think this creative writing opportunity will be enjoyable and get the creative juices flowing...perhaps share an origin story and then launch this.  Anyhow, thank you for getting my creative juices flowing.  

[Esther Dupree]

This is a great topic to explore.  I think it could even be taken into a larger scope to compare how different cultures 'value' revenge.  Many Arabic tribes have historically had blood feuds that spanned centuries.  The legacy of Scottish Highlanders' descendents in the Ozarks has led to a violent culture of honor and revenge.  I would want to ask Professor Yamashita, "How does the history of Japanese revenge/vendettas affect the culture today?"  There seems to be high value on respect, but low incidents of violence in Japan.  How does a culture so focused on respect and honor manage offenses without using violence?    If I were using this in a classroom, I would like to compare different approaches to honor, respect and offense and revenge in a way where we study how different groups of people approach each of these things.  We would then apply what we learn in society today--how do people in American society manage all these things, honor, revenge, respect or offense?  What are positive ways of managing this and what are unhealthy ways of dealing with this?  What can we learn that are good/bad examples from Japanese history?

[Esther Dupree]

In the last reading, it goes into Japanese historical belief that 5 of the body's main organs have relationships with direction, season, element, color, spirits and sensory organs.  I think this would be an excellent art project for my students.  We could discuss what types of images they would want to use to create a piece of art assosicated with a specific organ.  I would also ask that they write a poem about their chosen organ and its assigned aspects according to this particular Japanese theory.  

I would also want to discuss with student how they think this medical approach to health affected how Japanese people who valued this correlation, lived their lives.  What did it affect?  Art? Architechture? Food? Relationships?

The mediums for art I would have students use would be a digitally created image, a painting, a diorama or 3D object craft.  We could talk about what the different aspects of the 5 organs mean to them and what they think they could be represented by in artform.

I think all civilizations have had inaccurate medical methods of assigning reasons to illness or success in life.  It is insteresting to see how this was a part of the cultural values and interacted with art, architecture and life in Japan.

[Brigid Schmidt]

As an English teacher, I found myself very interested in Professor Yamashita's descriptions of the Chinese Writing Culture that started around the Sui dynasty in the 600s. This writing culture emanates in China and is written in classical Chinese. What is interesting about it is that is focuses on writing history to justify or legitimize states. The three kingdoms in Korea and Japan also accept it. They first wrote the Kojiki (710) but the unique thing about it is that is was written phonetically as opposed to the Nihonshoki (724) which was written in classical Chinese. From a young age, our students are taught to sound words out and they write many stories phonetically, so it would be a good comparison to talk about how an earlier Chinese writing was done this way as well. I think my students could benefit from learning about early Chinese writing cultures and relating it to early English and other languages. They all have to write for history, so in a way, they are studying like the early Chinese Writing Culture. 

 

[Billie Johnson]

I really liked how you would tie this in.  It is a good way to find a linkage across continents and similarities instead of differences.  I like sharing images as well and video so they can experience lessons in different ways.  Something like this would be a great learning opportunity for History and English for sure.

[Cynthia Stults]

I really loved how Professor Yamashita utilizes the examination of artifacts to teach about Japanese history and culture. We often want students to practice making observations about "visual text" and see what conclusions we can draw based on those observations. In discussing the history, material, and uses of the objects or achitecture, so much information is able to be taught, but in an engaging way. Many elementary teachers (haven't heard about many middle or high school educators) are implementing cognitively guided instruction in Math (CGI), in which teachers base lessons on what ideas students come up with to solve problems. As I watched Professor Yamashita use this teaching method, it very much reminded me of CGI, where students make observations or offer solutions, and then we teach concepts based on their current level of understandings. 

[Jessica Ng]

I agree, Cynthia: Professor Yamashita had a great way of eliciting thinking through careful questioning about the artifacts he presented. Students of all ages learn about form and function in different subjects, like biology and engineering. Even my little ones learn about parts of a plant and how they fulfill their functions. I definitely haven't completely mastered using CGI principles in my math teaching, but would love to work on it and apply it to my students' hands-on activities, like building on the rug or exploring living things in our garden.

[Cynthia Stults]

Meghann, yet again you inspire ideas for teaching. In so many of the East Asian origin stories we have heard (and now one from your Filippino heritage), the deities are animals, or forces of nature. This is in direct contrast to Greek and Roman mythology, in which the deities are all human-like, and humans were created in their likeness. We study Greek mythology in 4th grade, and I think it would be incredibly interesting for the students to examine several of these stories, do some research, and then hypothesize about why different geographical areas had their specific idea of where humans came from and the deities that controlled the earth. 

[Cynthia Stults]

Hearing Professor Yamashita talk about The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon gave me an idea for a lesson. I think that, especially now, students have found journaling, either on paper or electronically, to be helpful in dealing with the stress that the quarantine has brought on. In doing a bit of research, The Pillow Book was basically Shonagon's journal of court happenings, and was likely written without her intending on publishing. For this exercise, I would have students keep two journals about the goings on at school and in their social lives- one that they would have to share with the class, and one that they could keep private. After students have about 2 weeks of entries, I would share some of the appropriate excerpts from The Pillow Book and ask students to describe the author based on the journal entries. After students create their hypothetical dossier, we can discuss Shonagon and her life, and then compare her with the gossip blogs and reality television personalities of today. For and English Literature class, you could even compare her with the fiction of Jane Austen adn some of her heroines (Emma in particular) who similarly opine on their surroundings and social lives. I think when students can make connections between themselves and figures from long ago, they typically care more and when they care more, they learn more! I could adapt this for younger students, but I'm hoping/praying most of them aren't aware of the gossip blogs or reality tv that I think older students are.....

[Samantha Auerbach]

Hi Elizabeth, I also find the unknowns of Japanese history instriguing. It made me think of what factors may have contributed to the lack of primary sources from Japanese history. Was it because they were a closed society? Were they scared of other religions, ideologies, or missionaries coming to their land and changing the way the early inhabitants lived and believed? Or like you mentioned, Japanese geography. Or did the early Japanese people want to keep their stories, traditions, and culture for themselves. Fearful that others would impose their thoughts, or take from their culture to interject with their own beliefs. I would definitely want to learn more about this. As you can see, I have a lot of questions!

[Samantha Auerbach]

I love this idea! It's so important, especially for kids, to understand the importance of taking care of their body and what their body is capable of doing. I love the idea to connect it to an art project. Maybe the kids can even pick their "favorite part of me". That way the poem and art piece could also relate to the importance of that organ to their body. For example, the heart. Not only is the heart vital for survival, but the symbolism behind the heart could also come into play here. It's a great idea to find the correlation between how health is viewed and affects the Japanese people. How those ideals play into the different aspects of their culture and daily lives. 

[Betsy Ures]

I also loved the way he used visuals to guide his teaching. It is a useful approach that could also be effective in working with English Learners. In elementary we are using constructive conversations to help students make observations and claims based on visuals. This would be helpful for studying artifacts in order to make inferences about Japanes culture.

I love your idea of incorporating history into CGI. We are always looking to increase connections from math to other subjects at my school.

[Brigid Schmidt]

I like this lesson idea, Cynthia! Because I am newer to teaching middle school, it is always nice to get other teacher's ideas for lessons. During remote learning, I have encouraged all of my students to start journaling. My 8th graders read the Diary of a Anne Frank in March (the beginning of the quarantine) and we would discuss Anne's journaling and how her situation of being confined to one place gave her time to think and write. They compared this to their situations of not being abl to attend school, events, see friends, go to the movies, or even to church/synogues/temples/weddings/funerals. However, your idea is a great way to have the students journal about other topics as well. Anne wrote about crushes and many teen things, not realizing other people would publish it-similar to Sei Shonagon. Bringing comparisons from today's culture helps my students find those connections with history and understand it more. Thanks for sharing!

[Mario Ruiz]

This is a cool idea. Growing up, I really did not like history. I was more of a numbers kid growing up so learning facts and dates was something I always struggled with, even to this day. However, I like the idea of helping the students connect with individual historical people. I probably had no inclination to want to learn more about history because I never really made any sort of personal connection with any historical figure, so this would be a great activity to do just that! 

[Author]

Posts