Botany for Poets

We talked quite a bit about various kinds of flowers in Thursday's class. Here are some links to sites that have nice pictures of flowers that turn up frequently in classical Japanese literature and art.

"Flower Room"
This is a good place to start a search for flower pictures. The trouble with it for our purposes is that you need to be able to read Japanese.

So, for more specific flower sites, here are some good ones from the "Flower Room":

Plum Blossoms

At the Mito Plum Blossom Festival, in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Cherry Blossoms

At Kôrakuen Garden in Tôkyô.
At Rikugien Garden in Tôkyô
At Heian Jingû Shrine in Kyôto.
In Gion, in Kyôto. (Atmospheric night pictures.)
At Ôsaka Castle in Ôsaka. (Rather imposing, this one.)

Irises

This is the index page of Flower Room's Irises section.

The kakitsubata of Tales of Ise, Episode 9.

Paulownia

Pictures of paulownia trees in bloom. The kiri of Kiritsubo in Tale of Genji. Scroll down for pictures of the trees.

Wisteria

At Ushijima. Spectacular! The fuji of Fujitsubo in Tale of Genji.

Moonflower

Also called gourdflower. Yûgao, in Japanese. These bloom at night with a wonderful fragrance. A summer flower.

Bush Clover

An autumn flower, bush clover is called hagi in Japanese.

Wow! Some flashy pictures of bush clover here.

Seeing / Poetry / Ise monogatari

Nara period and earlier

Kojiki (Record of ancient matters)
Manyôshû (Anthology of ten thousand leaves)

Heian (classical) period

Kokin shû (Anthology of ancient and modern poetry)
Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise)

1. The Power of Seeing/Naming in Kojiki (Record of ancient matters)

a. Creation myth
i. Japan = divine space
ii. place names

b. Visit to the world of the dead
i. death = pollution
ii. seeing = power

2. The Power of Seeing in Manyôshû (Anthology of ten thousand leaves)

Waka Poetry and kunimi 国見 (land-gazing)

3. The power of poetry in the kanajo 仮名序 (Japanese preface) to Kokin shû (Anthology of ancient and modern poetry)

i. poetry is an inevitable, natural expression of human emotion

ii. it can influence/regulate the world (the gods, angry warriors, etc.)

iii. it is the way that men and women communicate with one another

4. Seeing in Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise)

• Ise monogatari is an uta monogatari - poems and tales made up to contextualize poems

• The poems and stories are unrelated, but linked together in a roughly biographical order

• There are 125 episodes

• Many of the poems are attributedto Ariwara no Narihira (825-880), a courtier, poet, and famous lover, and so sometimes Ise monogatari is thought to be semi-biographical (except it isn't). Some say he's the model for Hikaru Genji, the hero of the Tale of Genji, mostly because of episode 69.

i. Episode 1

a. miyabi (elegance) 雅--here, a lover's impulsive beautiful gesture
b. kaimaimi ("peering through a gap") 垣間

ii. Iconography of the Ise monogatari

Ise monogatari has inspired artists for centuries. Most notable are the woodblock print versions of 1608 by the studio of Hon'ami Kôetsu.(see Stanley-Baker, pp. 161-3). We also saw the Rimpa (Ôgata Kôrin) versions of the "Yatsuhashi irises" episode (i.e. Episode 9).

Famous illustrated episodes:

6 Akutagawa River
9 Yatsuhashi, Mount Suruga
12 Musashi Plain
23 Well-curb
69 Ise priestess

Ise monogatari also figures in visual culture through drama. We will read the medieval Noh play version of Episode 23, the Well-curb.

Classical Japanese Poetry: The Basics

The history of Japanese poetry predates writing; it was composed and transmitted orally. With the introduction of the Chinese writing system, it developed into some standard forms.

1. Waka vs. Kanshi
和歌 vs. 漢詩

waka = poetry in Japanese
kanshi = poetry in Chinese

Men and women wrote waka. Men wrote kanshi. Poetry was important for social advancement and for courtship.

2. Kinds of waka

The basic structure of Japanese poetry is alternating lines of 5 and 7 syllables each. Rhyme is not used--it's too easy to rhyme in Japanese. However, many other devices for creating pattern in language were used.

長歌 chôka - long poem 5-7-5-7......7-7
短歌 tanka - short poem 5-7-5-7-7 (31 syllables)

People stopped composing chôka by the late Nara period. The 31-syllable tanka became the conventional form. This is why, for most purposes:

tanka = waka

3. Anthologies and other sources of poetry

Anthologies of poetry, particularly those collected by the imperial court, were very important. Anthologies were the major way of "publishing" (i.e., making public, not printing) poetry during this period.

Very early; i.e. Nara Period:

Kojiki (record of ancient matters): history with poems included, 712
Manyôshû (anthology of ten thousand leaves): anthology of poetry, including very ancient poems that were formally oral literature; lots of chôka; late 8th c

Heian:

Kokinshû or Kokin waka shû (collection of ancient and modern waka): edited by Ki no Tsurayuki, contains the famous "Kanajo" or Japanese preface, 920
Ise monogatari (tales of Ise): an uta monogatari or collection of poems + tales about the poems

Midterm

A. Short answers (two points each). Define each term as thoroughly as you
can, and if applicable, the work(s) with which it is associated.

1. haniwa

2. Byôdô-in

3. Hiragana, kanji

4. bodhisattva/bosatsu

5. ut pictura poesis (as is painting, so is poetry)

6. Nara

7. Fujiwara

8. Minamoto Yoritomo

9. Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji)

10. Azuchi-Momoyama



B. Essay Questions (Two questions, forty points each)

All answers should have:

1. A clear thesis statement. What is the essence of your answer? Where
are you going with your essay?

2. A strong argument that is clearly structured and matches the thesis
statement.

3. Answers should be at least three paragraphs long. Five paragraphs
would be even better, depending on how you write.

4. You should show evidence of careful thought, familiarity with all
the texts and images (don't keep going back to the same one), and clear
organization of your ideas.

__________________________________________________

1. We discussed several different views on the meaning of "visual" and "visual culture," some of which included "nature" as an important element. It is often argued that Japanese culture has a particular affinity for nature, that a special awareness of the beauty of things in their natural form is basic to Japanese art, or as our textbook argues, "Here generosity of spirit, love of simplicity, and perception of beauty in all natural things is made manifest." (p. 11.) Do you agree? Choose two or three of the works of Japanese art we have looked at as examples, and show how they can help us better understand the relationship of nature and visual culture in Japan. (Think about: How has this relationship manifested itself differently in different historical periods?)

2. As in most world areas, religion has had a strong impact on the development of Japanese visual culture. Choose two or three of the works of Japanese art as examples, and show how they can help us better understand the relationship of religion and visual culture in Japan. (Things to think about: How does this relationship manifested itself differently in different historical periods? What effect have political and social changes had on this relationship?)