Session 9 - Japanese Literature, 4/22 morning

[Anonymous]

I will assign students to write their own version of a pillow book detailing their views and perspectives on the social classess of our society.

[Anonymous]

The story of Little One Inch is a very entertaining story that my students will enjoy. I would copy and give each student the story to read independently. Students will discuss in groups why it is important to never give up, keep hope alive and presevere even when you have many obstacles.

[Anonymous]

The Heian period was highly aristocratic in nature, but literature transitions from being markedly Chinese. This becomes the golden age of literature, with envoys to China ending in 1894. Producers, consumers, and the subject matter of literature/poetry were aristocrats, because they were the only ones who were literate. So it was basically insiders talking to insiders, who understood what the writer was referencing. Poetry often referred back to other famous poems. Classical Chinese had the same status that Latin has had; it is the language of governance. This is an idea that I have already discussed with my students. We have read diary entries from a young Japanese girl - "Diary of an Evacuated Schoolgirl." In some of her entries, a teacher responds back to her to give her praise or constructive criticism. One of the things we saw more than once, was her teacher telling her to work on her Chinese characters. I told my students the reason for this was that Chinese was the form of writing employed by Japan before it had it's own written language.

[Anonymous]

The traditional pillow book sounds a lot like modern zines. I will be using this in my classroom next year as my students are able to write from their daily lives and unique perspectives. A pillow book at this time in Japan was only recorded by the upper class or royalty. I would ask my students to examine what other classes might have been worrying about. I will use topics from the original writings to inspire students lists.

[Anonymous]

I very much enjoyed reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. I found it humorous that the Elegant Things poem was 6 lines long, then the Adorable Things was longer at half a page, and then the Hateful Things poem was two and half pages long. It seems that it is always easier to complain about things. What I found interesting were the parallels between then and now. Many things that were listed as either elegant, adorable, or hateful would still fall into the same categories today. Some of the items listed were specific to that time, such as the particular etiquette required when in the presence of Their Majesty and while some of the details might be different, the overall takeaway is the same (such as the mention of a carriage). It is obvious that the author comes from wealth, as there is frequent mention of the palace or of servants. I would have liked to read these lists from the perspectives of people of the different classes. Many posts here have discussed ways that this could be used in the classroom and I think they are great ideas. I could see myself using this at the beginning of either the school year or the semester and having the students make their own mini poems that we share in a community circle. It would be a great way to continue to build classroom community.

[Anonymous]

Professor Miyake's suggestion of "The Illustrated Tale of Genji" by Tsuboi Koh, a renowned manga illustrator series on great figures in Japanese history and world history is a good idea to try with students. Having students illustrate a story book is a great idea and there were some examples from one of Alfred Knopf's chapters (1987).

[Anonymous]

A deadly poison: Busu is one of my favorite readings from this pd. From all my years in middle school, students love short stories and storytelling. What a great way to incorporate language skills along with social studies'. The short story was not difficult to read and easy to follow along and I hope that there will be more.

[cgao]

Please download and read the documents below.

Required readings:

• Evening Faces
• The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
• The Tale of Heike
• Busu

Additional resource: Classical & Warrior Age Terminology Handout
edited by cgao on 4/20/2017

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Anonymous]

This week's readings were very interesting. I personally enjoyed reading "The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon" because of the excerpts written in that text. For example the sections titled "Adorable Things and Hateful Things" grabbed my attention. It was filled with such specific statements (some even made me laugh). Most of the text almost felt poetic. Overall, great read!

[Author]

Posts