AH371-Japanese Art and Visual Culture

AH371-Japanese Art and Visual Culture

Winter 2010

Sapin

Japanese Historical Novella (25% or 100 points):

Imagine a story set inaspecific time period of Japanese visual culture. Your story may revolve around a real or imagined character (or characters), but it must be set within a definable period of Japanese visual history.In other words, you have a lot of room for play here; the only aspects I want to be “true” are the visual and historical “sets” you will be building to frame your story. While the characters may be imaginary, the setting is intended to be believable, occurring within a certain Japanese time and place, with believable visual surroundings. Your study of Japanese visual culture will provide a foundation for this context. Research will allow you to develop specific aspects of the setting that we may not study in class. You will work with a small cohort of your classmates to tighten your storyline and enliven the narrative details.

FORMAT:

*8-10 pages double-spaced, plus a bibliography as well as a chronicle of those sources;

12-point font—and please paginate your stories!

*Three submissions, graded as they are submitted: (date to responders/date to me)

1—Jan. 29/Feb. 4—Introduction: context, plot and characters.-approx 2 pp15 points

2—Feb. 19/Feb 25-The stuff of the story--what happens?!?-approx 5 pp35 points

3—Mar 5/Mar 11-The denouement--how does it all end up?-approx 3 pp25 points

Reader Responses-6 responses total-4 points each + 1 point!25 points

100 points

*Each section will be submitted with a chronicle of sources; that is, let your fellow students and me know which sources were used for that particular section.Submit your previous work with subsequent work so I can remind myself of your story as we go (there are many of you!)

*Sources:Use 3 sources outside of textbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias to help you build the context and the characters to make your settings and characters believable.

*Chronicle your use of these sources in a separate section appended to your story (see Milton or Dalby for examples—Milton is better). For this genre of writing you do not need to cite your sources in the text.Be especially clear about the sources of quotations, if you use any.

*Feedback: Each student is responsible for reading at least two other stories and asking questions or making comments, after the author identifies initial concerns. This will be done for 2 of your classmates for each submission (a total of 6 responses).

*Submissions:You will initiallye-mail them to the classmates in your group. Those firstsubmissions will not be graded, but do “cc” me on your responses (which are graded).

Responders: Please read your classmates’ submissions and respond by Saturday, 5pm, to give them time for rewrites.

*Grading: You will be graded on the integrity of the historical setting (approx 30%), the sumptuousness of the visual environment you create (approx 30%), the accuracy of your chronicle of sources (approx 20%), and the quality of the writing (your use of grammar, punctuation and syntax) to heighten the suspense, humor, or other forms of interest the story offers (approx 20%).

Excert from one student’s novella (Winter 2008):

“Murasame.”

Murasame flinched at the sound of her name. It was her grandmother. The evidence of Murasame’s trespasses were scattered about her. The coffer lid was wide open. The black box and lid sat before her. The katana-bukuro was crumpled in a heap by her knees. A deft hand snatched the blade from Murasame’s hands and returned it to its scabbard. Her grandmother’s small frame appeared above her.

“I’m sorry to have been looking at your katana, grandmother.”

“Katana?” Murasame’s grandmother snorted. “Child, you are the offspring of samurai. You should know this is not a katana. It is a tanto. Does it look like a katana? No, it is far too small.”

Murasame could only nod her head feebly. She waited for her grandmother to speak, but was met with silence. And more silence. Murasame could hardly contain herself; she needed to be punished or absolved. Anything but her grandmother’s silent gaze washing down on Murasame’s bowed head.

“Why do you have a tanto?” A brazen question sounded better than silence.

Her grandmother replied slowly, cautiously. “I know nothing of you, Murasame. And I suppose you know nothing of me.” Murasame’s grandmother knelt, carefully folding the inner part of her kimono back. “Have you heard of Tomoe?”

Murasame lifted her head, but kept her eyes averted. “The woman samurai? The wife of Yoshinaka? Yes. I know of her, grandmother.”

“Well,” there was an emotion in her grandmother’s voice that Murasame hadn’t heard before. “I am Yamabuki. I am Tomoe’s younger sister. I carried this tanto to battle. It has killed many men. I too am a samurai fighter.” The old woman sighed. “It is time, Murasame, that you heard my story.”

Notes and Sources

Several sources have been indispensable to the introduction of my novella. The Tale of the Heike, translated by Hiroshi Kitagawa and Bruce T. Tsuchida and published by the University of Tokyo Press in 1977 introduced me to Tomoe, Yamabuki, and Yoshinaka. Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook have compiled a great deal of vital information in their book Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan. This book, published by Tuttle Publishing in 1973, provides an extensive account on the evolution of the samurai warrior, how they lived, educated, trained, and fought. Ratti and Westbrook provide interesting clues into the everyday lives of samurai, including the information that samurai tuck their arms inside their kimono when at rest. They also provide some detail on samurai women, their training and weapons, and their role in the development of samurai culture.

To create an authentic scene for my novella, I turned to Traditional Japanese Furniture by Kazuko Koizumi, translated by Alfred Birnbaum. Published by Kodansha International in 1986, this book is a wonderful guide to the various furniture, indoor spaces, lighting mechanisms, and architectural fashions found throughout Japan’s history. The Japanese Sword: A Comprehensive Guide by Kanzan Satō, translated by Joe Earle, was published by Kodansha International in 1971. This book is a fantastic source for the various types of Japanese swords, where and how they were made, their various components, and common decorations. Introduction to Japanese Swords by W.M. Hawley is a brief guide that discusses different types of swords and their histories, as well as the blade’s various steel components. This book also introduces the term kurikara to describe the decorations seen on blades. Hawley published this pamphlet in Hollywood, California in 1973. Japanese Swordsmanship: Technique and Practice, was written by Gordon Warner and Donn F. Draeger. Published by Weatherhill in 1990, this book provided information on the proper storage techniques of swords, including extensive information on the katana kake and the katana-bukuro.

Alan Stein was another invaluable source. In a personal interview conducted on February 11, 2008, he introduced the culture of the samurai and their techniques in battle to the author. He also provided an interesting glimpse into the nuances of samurai etiquette, including the information that samurai fold the inside flap of their kimono behind them when they kneel.