Session 9 - Classical and Warrior Japan

[Betsy Ures]

I do too! It is one of the reasons I love in-person lectures and classes. I've had a hard time adjusting to Zoom classes as a teacher and a student.

I wonder too if the reason that Japanese history isn't documented much is because of the lack of written language until the time of Chinese influence? It reminds me of how a lot of Native American tribes have large amounts of undocumented history due to the high value of oral traditions.

[Alma Ochoa]

I found reading Chinese Thought Institutions in Early Japan very interesting especially the ‘Postface’ on page 88 saying, “It is not that knowing is difficult, only that putting it into practice is not easy. Putting it into practice can be achieved with hard effort, but it is only bringing it to a conclusion that is truly difficult.”  This to me is very powerful and I would love to discuss with students what it means do them after reading it as well as what it could me if applied to school.  I would like to actually start the school year off with this to help them set goals for the year which is an activity that I start off with and then have them do a self-evaluation every 5 weeks to coincide with the grading period. In it they reflect on whether they did most of their homework, did they participate in class, etc and did their efforts now reflect their grade for the current grading period.  

 

I also found the section “Regulation for Fitness Reports” to be one that we as a society should currently be using, LOL!  It talks about evaluations how “fitness reports” should state only the facts with no interpolations of either favorable or unfavorable material.  Going on to say the reporter is responsible for the report and any false or occulted information will result in a demotion of the reporting officer, the imperial officer and the officer.  I find it fascinating to see something like this written down and to learn that it was something that was valued and practiced because more often than not it’s all about who you know and not about merit or even about whether one is capable of doing a particular job.      

[Alma Ochoa]

I love your thoughts on the Great Mirror and your perspective has me wanting to learn more as well.  It is something I can incorporate with the “Postface” from the Chinese Thought Institutions in Early Japan which I plan to do at the beginning of the year when I introduce self-evaluations to my students which I have them do at the end of every 5 week grading period along with having them make their yearly goals for my class.   I think I could fit it in nicely in the beginning because I use mirrors a lot at the start of the year when students are discovering that all regular polygons are created from reflected triangles and that no matter how many sides a regular polygon has the central angle formed from the reflected triangles that meet in the center of the regular polygon always has a sum of 360^o        

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