Week 8: Mongols, Muromachi, and Aesthetics

Check you have completed your end of week 7 assignments by the start of Tuesday’s class!

DUE DATE: REWRITE OF PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS 1: SUNDAY MARCH 8 (11.59pm)

PASSWORD ACCESS TO PDFs: Username and password can be found on the Canvas Homepage

Pad for sharing thoughts, ideas, and questions anonymously + to alert me to issues

TASK: Rewrite primary source analysis 1: Share a google doc with me. Include a brief paragraph describing how you responded to the feedback you received: how and what did you rewrite?

Tue. March 10: Mongol invasions and aftermath
  • Textbook: Varley, Chapter 5: pp. 105-119
  • Primary sources:
    • “The Mongol Scrolls”. In Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, compiled by Wm. Th. de Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley, 282-83. Second edition. Introduction to Asian Civilizations. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2001. (PDF)
            • Read the translation with the accompanying pictures on the emaki Mongol invasion scroll website or video of mongol invasion scroll (use the pause button to focus on individual sections of the scroll)
            • Takezaki Suenaga made sure that his heroic deeds against the Mongols were widely known. How does this account of warfare and military valour connect to, or differ from the material in the Tale of Heike? Do you see similar concerns about warrior ethos?
  • Optional extras:
    • Yoshida Kenkō. “Essays in Idleness.” In Anthology of Japanese Literature: Earliest Era to Mid-nineteenth Century, compiled and edited by Donald Keene, 231-241. Unesco Collection of Representative Works. New York: Grove Press, 1955. (PDF)
              • “Essays in Idleness” has been named a “bible of traditional aesthetics” (Varley, p. 111). What in this selection connects with that idea of aesthetics, and in particular what we have already learned so far about what the Japanese people considered to be beautiful, or aesthetically pleasing? How does this text compare with “An Account of My Hut”?
    • Conlan, Thomas. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan. Cornell East Asia Series, 113. Ithaca, N.Y.: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2001.
              • Chapter 3, provided here in PDF, makes the case that the stories about the Mongol invasions of Japan are more legend than history; Conlan uses contemporary sources to provide a more accurate estimate of numbers and a more rational explanation of the events than is commonly found in most histories. (PDF)
    • Slides (Gdrive link)
Thu. March 12: Finetuning our emergency plan, and some Nō theatre
  • Configuring your preferred ways to engage in remote learning.
  • Primary source: Seami Motokiyo. “The Art of Nō”. In Anthology of Japanese Literature: Earliest Era to Mid-nineteenth Century, compiled and edited by Donald Keene, 259-262. Unesco Collection of Representative Works. New York: Grove Press, 1955. (PDF)
          • Seami (or Zeami) was a major figure in the development of Nō (or Noh) theater. What are the key concepts for Nō, in his view? Do you see connections with earlier discussions of Japanese aesthetics? You can also cross-check with this week’s optional extra “Essays in Idleness” by Yoshida Kenkō.
  • Primary source: “Atsumori” (attributed to Seami). In Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology. Beginnings to 1600. Edited by Haruo Shirane, 980-991. Columbia Univ. Press, 2007. (PDF)
          • The story of Atsumori, first recorded in the Tale of Heike, was retold in different new forms. This is the Nō version. How do the characteristics of a Nō play fit the content of this story? Does this interpretation of Kumagai Naozane/Renshō’s life after the battle fit with the Tale of Heike?
  • Optional, but undoubtedly useful, background for Nō theater:
    • “Acting Techniques of the Noh Theatre of Japan.” Directed by Larry McMullen, Akira Matsui, and Michigan State University. Department of Theatre. Michigan State University, 1980. Online Video.
    • “Noh: The Classical Theatre of Japan.” Directed by Larry McMullen, Akira Matsui, and Michigan State University. Department of Theatre. Performed by Akira Matsui. Michigan State University, 1980. Online Video.
To be looked at next week (hopefully):
Aesthetics: Tea and Theatre
  • Textbook: Varley, pp. 119-125 (stop before “During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries tea drinking spread…”)
  • Primary Sources:
    • “Busu”. In Anthology of Japanese Literature: Earliest Era to Mid-nineteenth Century, compiled and edited by Donald Keene, 305-311. Unesco Collection of Representative Works. New York: Grove Press, 1955. (PDF)
            • This is an example of a kyōgen play with a witty servant. Tarō is a well-known character in the genre.
            • How does this play compare with earlier works we have seen in which writers are said to make fun of higher social classes? (e.g. “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, “The Lady Who Preferred Insects”).
            • Useful optional extra: “This Is Kyogen”. Directed by Takao Toshioka and Akira Shigeyama International Projects. Jonah Salz, 1992. (online video)
                • This 20 min. video shows some kyōgen in action. Although the differences with nō are obvious, there are also similarities.
    • Eisai. “A Record of Drinking Tea and Nourishing Life” (Kissa Yōjōki or Book on Improving Health by Drinking Tea). In Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History, by James Benn, 157-71. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2015. (PDF)
            • Eisai’s book predates Chanoyu or the “tea ceremony”, but he was a significant figure for the spread of tea to Japan- or rather, the re-introduction after it fell out of use during the mid-Heian period.
            • How and why does he “market” tea? What are the connections to Buddhism for Eisai? How does tea fit with other ideas about health? Why do the Japanese people need tea? And how does he establish his authority as a tea expert in this text?
    • Optional extra: Sōgi. An Old Man’s Diversion. In Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology. Beginnings to 1600. Edited by Haruo Shirane, 1081-1087. Columbia Univ. Press, 2007. (PDF)
            • Sōgi was one of the most famous renga (linked verse) poets. In this selection he explains as a teacher of renga with examples how to analyze the qualities of these poems.
            • How does renga poetry compare to earlier poems we have seen? Are the familiar elements of Japanese aesthetics present? Do you see new developments?
  • Slides (Gdrive) to come