JAPAN
NotesNotes over the country of Japan are located through the button below.
Click on the button below to access the notes for the Rashomon and Other Stories.
Clothing worn for rites of passage is often treasured and saved. This kimono was worn by Naoki Nomura's grandmother, one of four generations of female textile artisans in Kyoto, during her thirteenth year, in about 1876. The occasion was her jusan mairi (literally, thirteenth temple visit), her final visit as a child to Arashiyama Horinji, a temple in Saga, Kyoto. The jusan mairi, which involves the blessing of young people as they enter adolescence, is sometimes practiced today, and Horinji, located in the scenic Arashiyama district west of the city of Kyoto, still welcomes more than 20,000 participants every year.
The vivacious and youthful pattern and the high quality of the textile workmanship distinguish this kimono. A pond with carp and water lilies decorates the lower part, and morning glories bloom at the shoulders. The early summer scene is set on a blue and white background of silk gauze subtly patterned in the weave with fantailed goldfish in water. Haiku ExamplesAs the wind does blow
Across the trees, I see the Buds blooming in May I walk across sand And find myself blistering In the hot, hot heat It’s cold—and I wait
For someone to shelter me And take me from here. The Secrets of JapanIf you would like to take a look at the mesmerizing history of Japan, and the era of the Tokugawa Era please feel free to watch these clips from Japan - Memoirs of a Secret Empire that was created by PBS. It is about the unique history of a period that would shapes Japan forever.
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TextsYam Gruel Complete by 5/1/14
Rashomon started on 5/1/14 complete by 05/02/14 Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, actually composed of 118 splendid woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-nineteenth-century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. In order to protect these very special prints, the Museum can only physically display them periodically, but they are presented here in this ongoing online exhibition. The series, reproduced online in its entirety, contains many of Hiroshige's best loved and most extraordinary prints. It is a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the shogunate.
HaikuThe Haiku Section - Being 05/02/14
What defines a haiku?
A Haiku consists of 3 lines and 17 syllables. Each line has a set number of syllables see below: Line 1 – 5 syllables Line 2 – 7 syllables Line 3 – 5 syllables The haiku follows several conventions:
(1) The traditional Japanese haiku consists of three lines. The first line contains five syllables, the second line contains seven, and the last line five. In Japanese, the syllables are further restricted in that each syllable must have three sound units (sound-components formed of a consonant, a vowel, and another consonant). The three unit-rule is usually ignored in Englishhaiku, since English syllables vary in size much more than in Japanese. Furthermore, in English translation, this 5/7/5 syllable count is occasionally modified to three lines containing 6/7/6 syllables respectively, since English is not as "compact" as Japanese. (2) The traditional subject-matter is a Zen description of a location, natural phenomona, wildlife, or a common everyday occurrence. Insects and seasonal activities are particularly popular topics. If the subject-matter is something besides a scene from nature, or if it employs puns, elaborate symbols, or other forms of "cleverness," the poem is technically a senryu rather than a haiku. The point was that the imagery presents a "Zen snapshot" of the universe, setting aside logic and thought for a flash of intuitive insight. The haiku seeks to capture the qualities of experiencing the natural world uncluttered by "ideas." Often editors will talk about "the haiku moment"--that split second when we first experience something but before we begin to think about it. (In many ways, this idea might be contrasted usefully with the lyric moment in the English tradition of poetry; see lyric). (3) The haiku is always set during a particular season or month as indicated by a kigo, or traditional season-word. This brief (and often subtle) reference to a season or an object or activity associated with that time of year establishes the predominant mood of the poem. (4) It is striking a feature of the haiku that direct discussion of the poem's implications is forbidden, and symbolism or wordplay discouraged in a manner alien to Western poetry. The poet describes her subject in an unusual manner without making explicit commentary or explicit moral judgment. To convey such ideas, the genre often relies upon allusions to earlier haiku or implies a comparison between the natural setting and something else. Simplicity is more valued than "cleverness." Again, if the poet is being clever, using puns or symbols, the poem again is technically a senryu rather than ahaiku. (5) The poet often presents the material under a nom de plume rather than using her own name--especially in older haiku. (6) Additionally, the haiku traditionally employ "the technique of cutting"--i.e., a division in thought between the earlier and later portions of the poem. (It is comparable to the volta of a sonnet). These two divisions must be able to stand independently from the other section, but each one must also enrich the reader's understanding of the other section. In English translation, this division is often indicated through punctuation marks such as a dash, colon, semicolon, or ellipsis. Part 9
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