[Thomas Pineda]

This course has been an insightful and in-depth exploration for so many of the references and cultural symbols I was familiar with, but helped explain them with a greater context. It also introduced me to other facets of Japanese society and culture that I was unfamiliar with, or had misconceptions about. And ultimately, it provided me with another lens of observing and understanding cultures through their objects and rituals, both outside and at home. 

From the pop culture symbols I’ve seen, travels I’ve done to Japan and other small coursework I’ve taken about Japanese history, I was really glad to have learned so much more during Dr. Pitelka’s lectures. The resources that were presented, such as online visuals from the Met Museum and LACMA, will be great to share with students in class as a way to engage and explore objects like textiles, swords, armor and pottery. The course was also introduction to the BBC podcast series “A History of the World in 100 Objects”, which I will continue to peruse and include in my classes when appropriate. Many of my students are at an age where anime is very popular and they are curious about Japanese culture and symbology, so this course has provided me with some great multimedia materials I can share with them. 

I am also looking forward to sharing hands-on objects or showing them some of the rituals either through Youtube or locally in our neighborhoods or Japantown in San Francisco that they might be familiar with. There is a lot of cultural heritage around our region and connecting these local attractions or bringing in objects to class will be much more fruitful having taken part in these lectures. One of these rituals I learned about that would be a fun activity would be the incense smelling contests. This would be an interesting game, but also could incite some research into particular recipes that were used to make certain scents. From the readings, there are specific recipes that can be used in ratio and proportion lessons for math, where students could recreate the scents in different amounts or play with creating their own recipes.

It has been a great lecture to be a part of and it has encouraged me to learn more about some of these specific locations in Japan and hopefully visit them and experience them myself. This course has also influenced me to look at objects or rituals more closely and as ways to deepen understanding of other cultures. I’m looking forward to sharing some of them in my class with my students this upcoming year. It was a really enjoyable series and I’m thankful for all the work that was done to present it to us!

 

[Thomas Pineda]

I am glad you do that in your classroom and it’s one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this lecture series so much. The commodification of outside cultures is always a touchy subject and one that can cause people to get defensive. In our classes, it’s always nice to bring back souvenirs from travels and have them as regalia or as things to pique interest in our students about the wide world we live in. It also presents the challenge to find time to properly share about the history of these things and how rich the cultural meaning of them can be. I definitely take these opportunities to learn about my students and their understanding of these outside or home cultures, and try to find ways make these discussions approachable for all my students. I think when educators like you all in this forum take the time to learn about new things that interest them outside of their classroom/content area, it usually shows up in ways inside their classes and helps encourage their students to do the same- to find out more about the origin and meanings of things that interest them and not rely solely on generalizations or commercialization.

[Thomas Pineda]

I agree as well! It is such a fascinating concept to preserve certain skills and rituals, labeling them as intangible cultural heritage. When comparing other cultures and societies to America, it seems that they sometimes have many more centuries of history and rituals compared to our country and more opportunities for these skills to be lost or forgotten. It does become a somewhat difficult procedure to decide which things should be designated national treasures when politics gets involved. However, I agree that it would be a fun exercise for students to have that discussion about what parts of American culture should be chosen as part of the intangible cultural heritage or national living treasures.

[Thomas Pineda]

I can relate to the experience of walking around Kyoto and having my eyes perk up every time I saw someone in a kimono. 99% of the time it was a tourist renting it. Of course, along with other tourists, we went walking around Gion looking to catch a glimpse of the local celebrities, geisha and maiko. In the few instances I took a picture, there was a maiko walking determinedly with at least a few onlookers or someone turning their head in the background.

 The kimono as an object of national identity is probably a symbol most of our students would recognize. However, the article was very insightful and provided a much needed background in the use of kimonos in modern Japan. This would be great to share with students, comparing and contrasting their various experiences or ideas about kimonos with some of the realities and current uses of them. The same could probably be done for other symbolic pieces of garb around various cultures.

[Thomas Pineda]

This is a place to revere and honor the deceased Japanese from war. However, some of the deceased are considered war criminals based on their participation and acts in the invasion of Korea & China during the Pacific War. I think the controversy of the shrine visits by the prime minister have a similarity to the Civil War monuments and statues here in America. As of recently, more renaming of certain places based on the reverence of Confederate leaders has occurred due to the fact that they had fought for slavery. This Japanese shrine and these American Southern locations can bring up an interesting discussion about how do countries move forward from historical events and war, particularly after they end up on the losing side or wrong side of history.

[Thomas Pineda]

These are very interesting relics, that from one glance seem to be xenophobic and intolerant of other religions- demanding people to trample on images and perform blasphemy to prove thet were not converts of Christianity. They also fall in line with the notion that Japan was isolative and closed-off during this period to outside influence (“Closed Country Edicts”). But, it’s been a revelation to learn some of the background history that explain these objects and edicts and how they were used help solidify political control of their own country by not allowing these influential groups to gain power. And that also Japan may have seemed self-isolative, but was still constantly trading goods with neighbors and keeping up with the political news and events around the world, adapting their foreign policies through the years.

[Thomas Pineda]

I definitely agree that these acts of pageantry are reminiscent of current displays of military arsenals and parading that so many nations do now. Airshows or parades that we have now that celebrate the country’s events, history, defense budget or give more opportunities to practice in times of relative peace. I can see the samurai using these as opportunities to wear their customized, extravagant armor and exalt their warrior status around the country- it must have been a sight to see.

[Thomas Pineda]

The articles describing the role and style of Noh theater were enlightening, particularly with the heavy emphasis on emotional themes or the embodiment of these emotions by ghosts and with masks. The actors almost take on a form of method acting, ruminating on the mask and the emotion they plan to portray, until they feel like they truly embody it. It was surprising to learn how supported these arts were by the samurai class as well, in terms of providing them with entertainment and nostalgia of their glory days or past battles. I think the writing prompts suggested in the article could be interesting if students were given choices of contemporary or other historical events and got to create a plot for a Noh play.

[Thomas Pineda]

I definitely agree with you, the biography about Tokugawa Ieyasu was interesting and very informative for me, particularly having very little background knowledge about him. I thought the approach of explaining his life using one object, the posthumous painting, was a great exercise in how to deep dive into a historical art piece and explain each of the elements and their relationship to the subject. 

I also think Morgan mentioned another fun researching and writing activity for students, of choosing a historical artifact and telling its biography. It reminds me a of similar activity where I’ve had students write an autobiography, except in science with a rock going through the rock cycle. This object rich culture has a lot of options to choose from, it makes me wish I taught history instead of Math & Science. 

[Thomas Pineda]

That's a great question, I hope Morgan mentions something about it today, or we can ask. But I did find that an interesting contrast he mentioned in the first video lecture- that samurai broke from the collectivist stereotype often applied to East Asian cultures. I wonder if it had anything to do with distinguishing yourself from other samurai in order to achieve higher status? Also, I wonder in what other realms individualism was prominent in this time, I guess having your own incense or scent in court could be an example?

[Thomas Pineda]

I share your excitement about introducing these artifacts to students as art pieces. The ‘coolness’ factor of swords and samurai is an easy way to get them engaged, but looking at the armor resources from the MET and LACMA provides so much more detail and personal taste that ends up involved in the designs. I never really noticed the symbolism and the thoughtfulness that went into them, on top of the construction and materials. In a sense, it reminds of sport jerseys, and how colors, symbols and patterns can carry specific meaning. I’ve gotten to design jerseys with some of the teams I’ve played on and deliberated what  colors and symbols to include. Noticing the psychological effect that wearing a particular garment has for just sports, I’m sure that effect was amplified when it came to samurai choosing their armor and swords for battle.

[Thomas Pineda]

I agree, I've enjoyed reading these excerpts from "Genji", but they are definitely more enjoyable with the curated background knowledge. It does seem like the "Meandering Stream" poems, where the annotations and supplemental text might be longer than the actual text, but that info would help you fully appreciate the tale. As Morgan mentioned in the discussion, there is the Seidensticker(?) version, but I wonder how lost I would be with any of the translations. 

[Thomas Pineda]

Hi Claudia, I also work with 6th grade core classes but with Math & Science, so I’m somewhat familiar with the topics covered in 6th Ancient History. I like the connection you’ve made to Mayan cultures and some of the topics discussed in this lecture as a way to bridge the gap and perhaps include Japanese history into that mix. If you happen to make any other connections to ancient civilizations, please keep posting them! I’d like to find more ways to incorporate this material in interesting ways for 6th graders.

[Thomas Pineda]

Learning about the importance of incense in imperial court was a revelation. I didn’t realize the multitude of purposes it served as well as the complexity that when into its ingredients, recipes and use. I appreciate a nice smelling soap as much as the next person, but I feel better prepared now for picking out the right scent for the bathroom to change with each season. Like the vodka tasting reference from the lecture, the smelling contests also reminded me of coffee cuppings. Actually, from a math teacher perspective, I appreciated the deep dive about the recipes from the “A Wisp of Smoke” article and the explanations of the different units of measurements. I think I could make some sort of proportions & fractions activity based on these historical incense recipes.

[Thomas Pineda]

In the podcast, it was an interesting way to tie together that ritual of throwing coins into fountains with the discovery of this Japanese mirror. It’s fascinating that the practice of throwing objects of value away as offerings or ways to communicate to a spiritual world has been so universal and permeates to this day. It makes me think of finding other rituals, traditions or superstitions and finding their origins or relations to other cultures.

[Author]

Posts