Thursday, 8/2, morning session - Bruce Coats, Scripps College

[Courtney Hendrix]

We are both on the same page as I found many many topic ideas from his lecture. I would like to possibly focus my main lesson maybe on the woodblock printing. I would start talking to my students how much time it took to create such intricate images and how at times there were many blocks used to create the different color layers. I have been trying to brainstorm how to recreate that technique with my younger students with success as I can imagine it is hard to align the prints to match. I am going to be watching that website to see if I can score a print or two for my classroom. 

[Jessica Rodarte]

Professor Coats lecture on the changing roles and depictions of women in Japan made me realize that I need to incorporate more visual depictions of women across cultures in my World History class. It was particularly interesting that the women are shown in an abbreviated stylized fashion.  This is very telling of the status of women and it makes me wonder if other cultures also portray women in abbreviated styles when the status of women were not as prominent.  I would love to create a lesson comparing the depiction of women in different cultures.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

In this session we were introduced to the world of Ukoyi-e prints and the art of Japan. The term Ukiyo-e which means "pictures of the floating world" or a life given to the pursuit of transient pleasure, the moment, beauty and fashion has aquired a historical significance as this type or art reflects popular representations of the busy city life of the Edo period of Japan.  This kind of art does not only depict scenes of the popular life but also became part of the formulation of what was popular, trendy and valued in the Japanese culture at the time.  An important aspect of the depiction of life in art at this time was how women were portrayed in these prints.  Women were depicted differently by different artists and time periods, from their physical features to their clothing to the activies they were involved in.  It is interesting to note how the environments in which women were portrayed evolved from nature scenes to amorous encounters to  more personal and intimate portraits of women by themselves doing every day activities.  I would like to include some of these Ukiyo_e prints in my art classes and have students analyze the elements of these prints such as the use of color, texture and emotion and have them articulate what is being depicted in the image and to what effect, specifically at how feminity is used to promote an ideal of beauty and youth and what this reveals of the Japanese culture and life.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Jessica, as I thought about how Japanese women were portrayed in Ukiyo_e art, I had a similar thought about creating a lesson in which students can compare how women were depicted in Japanese art and other Asian art, specifically art from China and what motifs, messages about feminity they portray and what this reveals about the roles of women within that society.  Students can examine the commonalities and differences that exist in comparing these two cultures and what values these representations promote and for what  purpose.  Students could also create their own artistic representation of women that corroborate with the traditional depictions of women or that counter it. 

[Wen Shi]

The lecture of Japanese animate was very interesting and inspiring. As a person who grew up reading a lot of Japanese manga/animate, professor Coats provided me with a new perspective of the famous or the classic animate in Japanese culture. At it's regarding to some content of the animate, it could be traced back to the history of Japanese theatre art. My understanding is that animate is representative of Japanese culture which is rooted from its own aesthetic tradition which isn't confucianism.( it will be helpful if the professor could have clarified what it is ) It will be nice for the professors to talk about different publish houses of Japanese manga as well.

 I grew up reading lots of girls comics and watching animate. For my mandarin class, I train students by assigning them listening practice from semi-authentic/authentic materials. There's a lot of animate available on youtube with Chinese translation with good stories such as people's daily life that students can relate to, e.g.Chibi Maruko Chan. I could show a clip of the enimate and have students listen and guess the meaning or rewrtie the story or even do voice act with the story. That's how I incorporate the animate elements in my language classroom.

[Kim Leng]

I truly enjoyed Professor Coats’ presentations.  In “Tough Guys, Dandies and Dangerous Women: Japanese Theater Prints,” we, his listeners, are transported to Kyoto, a world surrounded by three mountains, and rich in theatre history. The theatre opens at 10am and closes at sunset.  There’s a Shijo Bridge over the Kamo River where the Gion area shops are for anyone to get food and other goods.  In the summer, platforms are built along the river so that people feel cooler.  I would love to visit Kyoto now and see a world that still manages to maintain its tradition in this ever changing fast-paced environment.  Several assignments that come to mind, to incorporate this lesson into the classroom, include a comparison essay, of the Shakespearean theatre world versus the Kabuki theatre, from stage set-up to the role of actors. In both theatres, men played male and female roles.

In “Too Cute: Refining/Redefining Gender in Contemporary Japan,” I found the history of Mangas from One Piece, Girl’s World, Tokyo Puck, Children’s Land, and Astro Boys fascinating. Shonen manga is written for the young male audience.  Shojo manga is written for the young female audience and yuri are lesbian love stories. Ever wonder who was responsible for the big eyes in mangas?  We can thank Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934) for that. I can assign students a genre study where they research a type of genre and present what they learned to the class.

[Jennifer Place]

This was by far the most intriguing lecture to me.  I appreciated the way Professor Coats connected each section of material, creating a timelinethat helped me understand past and present arts of Japan.  His presentation on ukiyo-e gave me a new and much more comprehensive understanding of that art form. 

[Stella Castro]

I definitely enjoyed reading this article, “Women of U-kiyo-e”, by Sampras Biswas. However I was not surprised to read that all if not most of the time the women are depicted for their beauty, mostly their nakedness. This has been and will continue to be a reality, in any artist’s life, whether they are musicians, painters, theatre people, actors, etc. It always seems as an “Artists” life always ends up with women. For instance if one is a musician then they have their followers, the “Groupies”, which they always give the musician what they want and it’s usually sex. The painters paint portraits of nude women, the artists draw the nudies, the sculptures sculpt vivacious women. It was interesting to read that in the city of EDO, Japan, in the district of Yoshiwara lays a city of temptation, where many men unashamedly frequented. The widest part was that city/district was the inspiration for artistic creativity.

What I find most interesting from this article and many more that I have read and have heard from in lectures is the abundance of prostitution that existed then and probably still exists today.  But I am surprised how it is talked about so freely, I would of thought that this would have been sort of  not talked about so openly as I always thought prostitution was taboo, but I guess back in the times that was the/their source of entertainment and whoever wanted to entertain themselves in  this manner, did so. That is why they had those so called “green houses”, and women available. I am just surprised to read how open and accepting they are to the art of prostitution. Even in some painting, the act of prostitution is visible and laid out. But hence the title of this article is, “Women of Ukiyo-e, it makes sense that most of the article talks about the women, or rather, “Courtesans”,

In another section of the article I enjoyed reading the part where the women of the Bengali society were depicted as ridiculing men, as this is a role reversal. Many times it is the men that ridicule the women, but I like the idea that the artists had, that women can be and are strong

[Ann Huynh]

In "Women of Ukiyo-e” by Sampa Biswas, the author mentioned women, but mostly courtesans.  These are high end courtesans.  Although there are numerous representations of naked women, the most useful information for my students would be the different representation of this “floating world.”  In this world everyone is happy, in essence, paradise.  I would carefully select images from different years and have the students think about what is happening.  Is this paradise?  I would also like the students to think about the women’s role during this time in Japan.

[Nira Sun]

I think maybe we can go from gender inequality perspective which, hopefully, is easier for our students to find connection with. What came across my mind now is the foot binding which can also be brought into this discussion. Students can be working together to discuss how women was perceived back in the days as opposed to how they are perceived nowadays. Are there still any unequal theories or concepts imposed on women?

In addition, how does modern society comprehend the phenomenon of men play women roles in musical and other art forms? The reasons behind this must be quite different from back then. Students probably can also discuss how all these changes happened.

[Anthony Pollard]

     Three sessions: Tough Guys, Dandies and Dangerous Women: Japanese Theater Prints; Pleasure and Pain: Depicting Women in Japanese Prints and Paintings; and, Too Cute: Refining/Redefining Gender in Contemporary Japan. From these studies, one particular facet of Japanese Arts I did not know was the "gender neutrality" prevalent through this part of Japanese history. I shared my learning with friends, and was told it is a part of Japanese culture and well known. I lived in Japan, worked in the arts there, and did not realize some of the performers in theatre, may have been men dressed as women, and women dressed as men. However, now after studying these three sessions, it makes more sense. The United States of America has been attempting to embrace gender neutrality for years, and Japan has been sharing it with us for years.

     Japanese cultural arts is fascinating, and the depictions through the arts are amazing. The Shogun had elaborate facilities built for them to enjoy their cultural arts. For example, the Nijo Castle of 1626 was a residence for the Shogun (Professor Coates). This castle is an example of the artistic contemplation applied to this creation of asethetic value. The Shogun community contributed to its construction (Wikipedia). The castle area is still in existence to the present, even though it has gone through several modifications, many as a result of inclement weather damage (Wikipedia). The history of the castle is embodied in the art displayed there.

     Professor Coates spoke about women changing into foxes. These foxes had the ability to destroy a man, so beware. He said there was interest in human realtionships, satire, and social commentary. Notably, this is insight to a part of Japanese culture not readily displayed, to the public of other countries. 

     Professor Coates expounded on the title: Too Cute: Manga, Anime and Pop Culture; Refining/Redefining Gender in Contemporary Japan. He was able to illustrate the careful planning used to portray images of people through Japan potrait art. The particular styles of eyes, facial dimensions, lips, body shapes, all helps one determine whether a picture was a picture of a man or woman. It was interesting to learn the reason men would cut the hair from the middle of their head. According to Professor Coates, manga and anime was a means toward modernizing commentary and providing political humor for young people. Additionally, manga and anime can be entertaining.

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

I also enjoyed the information about "everyday" life. It was such a unique lesson and felt like a story. After reflecting on this portion of the day, I wonder how we can teach in a similar style. Maybe design a history lesson through the lense of everyday life in whatever region we are studying. This might be an interesting way to introduce art, culture, and study a particular society. Creating a gallery walk focused on everyday life might be a way to make it a more interactive lesson. 

[Ann Huynh]

Kabuki Theatre is a really interesting art form in Japan.  It has changed over the years.  The actors are usually men.  The men in the play would portray both female and male roles.  The colors and makeup have a very prominent role In Kabuki that it even has a name, Wagoto.  This will be a great way to talk about symbolism and colors.  Usually in Kabuki, the evil characters will have green and blue makeup.  We can a have a class discussion about why these colors would represent evil.  I would like to have the students watch the website, Kabuki Cool, to have a better understanding of Kabuki.  Maybe they can create their own Kabuki production.    

[Ann Huynh]

Anime is fantastic.  They are cute and super adorable.  Many of my students watched Pokemon and they played Pokemon Go.  I would like to look at the different anime characters and have the students create a script for their anime characters.  This might motivate them to read more since there are cartoon illustrations associated with the story.  This is a great way to get the students interested in learning about Japan because many of the anime characters are still around today.  It is something they can relate to.

[Helen Kang]

Dr. Coats opened my eyes to so many aspects in the Japanese theater, and here are some of the things that especially stuck with me. The AKabuki theater interior, I learned, was a "thrust stage" where the middle of the stagen would protrude out to the audience even more. It reminds me of somewhat a stage of runway models where they would walk closely in to the audience. The Kabuki actors would be heavily made up in colorful make up that would eccentuate their facial expresssions on stage and the parts I found entertaining were that actors will stop in a stop-motion like pose with a karate-chop like yell while crossing their eyes, and the audience would go wild over such actions.

The women were banned on stage to discourage prostitution, and young boys were put in women's roles on stage. These boys ended up becoming prostitute subjects, so then they were replaced by adult men to play the women's roles, and they also ended up becoming prostitute subjects.

I find such ban of women on stage to be interesting for its paralell in other countries though it may not be for the same reasons as for preventing women from becoming sexual objects.

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