Subject/Code: LIT 11

Schedule/Time: MWF 11:30 – 1:30 PM

Group 2
Bulado, Pretchie Gold
[authors and story]
Godofredo, Angelyka
[poetry and authors]
Santiago, Jexille Lyka
[introduction of the report]
 CONTENTS

Facts about Japan Japanese Styles Japanese Activity

Literature
Facts about Japan
 Nippon - “Land of the Rising Sun”

• The Japanese flag is made up of a red circle, symbolizing the sun, against a
white background.
• It is known as the “Hinomaru” [Circle of the Sun].
• White with a red disc - reresenting the sun without rays in the center.
• White - peace and honesty
• Red - hardiness, bravery, strength and valour
• Japan is an island nation
• Tokyo is the most populated city in the world
• There are more pets than human
Japan known now as a developed country, which is famous because of its inventions.
Japanese Styles
 Japanese Styles

Clothing
• Japanese people used their traditional
clothing in the past, now they wear it just
in special occasions.
• Yukata “for men”
• Kimono “for women”
• Zori “sandals”
 Japanese Styles

Buildings and Gardens:

• In Japan there are many different buildings and gardens that are a big part of its culture.
Japanese Literature
 Japanese Literature

• Japanese Literature one of the major bodies of Oriental Literature. It is less voluminous than
Chinese Literature but comparable to Arabic, Persian and Indian Literature.
• Poems and odes to the Gods were composed in the early Japanese Language before the art of
writing was known in Japan. Only fragments of this Literature have survived, but these are
thought to have been extensive. During the first centuries of writing in Japan, the spoken
language and written language were identical.
• Kabuki
• Noh
• Haiku
 Japanese Literature

Noh
• is a drama in which dance and music play an important role. The story is told not just through
dialogue but also through utai (singing), hayashi (musical accompaniment), and dance.
• Oldest (1400’s)
• Stories are spiritual in nature
• Masks are worn
• Audience is aristocratic
• Elegant and refined
• Stage has three sides
• Simple sets, little or no props
Japanese Literature
 Japanese Literature

Kabuki
• traditional Japanese popular drama with singing and dancing performed in a highly stylized
manner.
• Developed around 1600’s
• Stories based on folklore, history
• Appeals to middle class audience
• Bountiful and exaggerated
• Extensive use of props
• Stage has one side
• Accompanied by music
• Omnagata: males performing as females
Japanese Literature
 Contemporary Influence of Kabuki & Noh

• Japanese anime and manga

 Japanese Literature

Haiku
• The haiku is a Japanese poetic form that consists
of three lines, with five syllables in the first
line, seven in the second, and five in the third
[5-7-5 syllabic structure]. The haiku developed
from the hokku, the opening three lines of a longer
poem known as a tanka. The haiku became a separate
form of poetry in the 17th century.
• Theme: Nature or Seasons
• Attemps to be deep or compare two unlike things
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Junji Ito
• Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist, best known for his characters
“Tomie”, “Uzumaki”, and “Gyo”. His characters are inspired by his
childhood experiences. For instance, Tomie, the immortal girl, was
inspired by his classmate who had tragically died, while 'Gyo' was
inspired by the war stories his parents had told him. Ito's career began
when a popular magazine picked up 'Tomie' as a feature series.
Subsequently, the character was adapted into a series of films. The role
also earned Ito the first award of his career. Some of his other notable
works are 'Itou Junji Kyoufu Manga Collection,' a series of stories titled
'Souichi's Journal of Delights,' and a satire on his real life, 'Junji
Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu.' His horror stories are known for their
detailing and dramatic sound effects that make them scarier to read.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Kenji Miyazawa
• Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's
literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa
periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a
vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social activist.
• Some of his major works include Night on the Galactic Railroad, Kaze no
Matasaburō, Gauche the Cellist, and The Night of Taneyamagahara.
• Born on: August 27, 1896 Hanamaki, Iwate, Japan
• Died: September 21, 1933 (aged 37)Hanamaki, Iwate, Japan
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Minamoto no Shitagō
• Minamoto no Shitagō (911-983) was the son of Assistant Director of the
Bureau of Horses, Left Division (sama no suke), Minamoto no Kozoru . He
known to have remained a student at the imperial university until passing
his exams at the age of 43 and beginning his court career, which accounts
for the fact that many of his exant poems lament his lack of rank and
official posts. Subsequently he progressed through the positions of
Secretary of the Office of Investigators of the Records of Outgoing
Officials (kageyu no jō), Chamberlain in the Crown Prince’s Office (tōgū
kurōdo), Secretary in the Ministry of Popular Affairs (minbu no jō),
Provisional Governor of Shimōsa (shimōsa gon-kami), Governor of Izumi
(izumi no kami) and finally Governor of Noto (noto no kami) at the rank of
Junior Fifth, Upper Grade.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Minamoto no Shitagō
• His lengthy academic career, however, made him known for his erudition
in both Chinese and Japanese, and in his mid-twenties he compiled
the Wamyō Ruijū Shō, a combination dictionary and encyclopedia and the
first such work in Japan.Along with Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu, Kiyowara
no Motosuke, Ki no Tokibumi 紀時文 and Sakanoe no Mochiki, he was one
of the ‘Five Men of the Pear-JarRoom’(nashitsubo no gonin) and with
his colleagues a pioneering scholar of the Man’yōshūand a compiler of
the Gosenshū. His own poems first appear in the Shūishū and with 27
poems included he is accounted one of its principal poets. Today his
poems are remembered for their flamboyant wordplay and he is judged to
be one of the ‘36 Poetic Sages’(sanjū rokkasen) of his time.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Miyamoto Musashi
• Miyamoto Musashi, original name Miyamoto Masana, artistic name Niten, (born
1584, Mimasaka or Harima, Japan—died June 13, 1645, Higo), famous Japanese
soldier-artist of the early Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867). Musashi
began his career as a fighter early in life when, at age 13, he killed a
man in single combat. In 1600 he was on the losing side of the Battle of
Sekigahara (which paved the way for establishing the Tokugawa shogunate),
becoming one of the rōnin (masterless samurai). In time he set out on a
personal quest to develop perfect sword technique. He invented the nitō
ichi-ryū, the style of fencing with two swords, and is often referred to
today as kensai (‘‘sword saint’’). Musashi claimed to have fought in
more than 60 individual sword fights, many of which were to the death and
all of which he won.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Miyamoto Musashi
• Musashi’s most famous encounter took place in 1612, against his arch
rival Sasaki Kojirō, a swordsman whose skill was reported to be equal to his own.
The contest took place on a small island off the coast of Japan. While being
rowed out to the dueling site, Musashi fashioned a wooden sword out of an oar.
When the two enemies finally met on the beach, Musashi quickly dispatched Kojirō
with a well-placed blow to the head using his wooden sword. After that, feeling
that he had reached his peak as a swordsman, Musashi retired from the dueling
life, though he trained some students and helped to suppress the Shimabara
Rebellion in 1637. According to legend, Musashi wrote his famous work on
strategy—Gorin no sho(The Book of Five Rings), which dealt with the martial
experience both individually and militarily—on his deathbed. Following its
first English translation in 1974, the book was seriously studied by executives
in the West in order to better understand Japanese management techniques and
strategies.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Haruki Murakami
• In 1978 Murakami was in the bleachers of Jingu Stadium watching a baseball
game between the Yakult Swallows and the Hiroshima Carp when Dave Hilton, an
American, came to bat. According to an oft-repeated story, in the instant
that he hit a double, Murakami suddenly realized that he could write a novel.
He went home and began writing that night.
• Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1949. He grew up in Kobe and
then moved to Tokyo, where he attended Waseda University. After college,
Murakami opened a small jazz bar, which he and his wife ran for seven
years.His first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won the Gunzou Literature Prize
for budding writers in 1979. He followed this success with two sequels,
Pinball, 1973 and A Wild Sheep Chase, which all together form “The Trilogy
of the Rat.”
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Haruki Murakami
• Murakami is also the author of the novels Hard-Boiled Wonderland and
the End of the World; Norwegian Wood; Dance Dance Dance; South of the
Border, West of the Sun; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Sputnik
Sweetheart; Kafka on the Shore; After Dark; 1Q84; and Colorless Tsukuru
Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. He has written three short story
collections: The Elephant Vanishes; After the Quake; and Blind Willow,
Sleeping Woman; and an illustrated novella, The Strange Library.
• Additionally, Murakami has written several works of nonfiction. After
the Hanshin earthquake and the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack in 1995,
he interviewed surviving victims, as well as members of the religious
cult responsible.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Haruki Murakami
• From these interviews, he published two nonfiction books in Japan,
which were selectively combined to form Underground. He also wrote a
series of personal essays on running, entitled What I Talk About When I
Talk About Running.

• The most recent of his many international literary honors is the

Jerusalem Prize, whose previous recipients include J. M. Coetzee, Milan
Kundera, and V. S. Naipaul. Murakami’s work has been translated into
more than fifty languages.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Banana Yoshimoto
• Banana Yoshimoto, née Yoshimoto Mahoko, is one of Japan’s most famous
contemporary novelists, second only to Haruki Murakami. She changed her
name to “Banana” because she loved banana flowers and thought the name
was “cute” and “purposefully androgynous.”
• Yoshimoto was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964, to a family well-versed in the
arts. Her father Takaaki Yoshimoto was a critic and poet, her mother Kazuko
was a haiku poet, and her sister Yoiko Haruno is a manga artist. Yoshimoto
also liked drawing but knew her sister was better, so she turned to writing
and decided to become a novelist. She said of her time in school, “I didn't
do much sports, just stayed up until late, writing novels. As a result I was
dozing in class every day.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Banana Yoshimoto
• In addition to that, booze came into my life at university [College of Art
at Nihon University, Tokyo]. It's almost like I went to university to learn
how to drink. Still I have no regrets about those days...though I wish I
had studied a bit harder then.” Her first work, the novella Moonlight
Shadow, was published in 1986 and won a prestigious literary prize from the
university.The following year, while she was working as a waitress, she
published what is perhaps her best-known work and the one that catapulted
her to fame: Kitchen. Besides later novels like Amrita (1994) and
Hardboiled & Hard Luck (1999), Yoshimoto has also published collections of
short stories and essays.Yoshimoto has won the Scanno Prize, the Fendissime
Prize, the Maschera d’argento Prize, and the Capri Award. She is so
popular in Japan that there have been shrines dedicated to her.
Japanese Literature
Authors:
Banana Yoshimoto
• She told an interviewer that this fame can be somewhat problematic:
“Everybody seems to be interested in the number of books I sold and how
much money I earned, rather than the content of my work. This makes me
rather unhappy.”She has said that her favorite writers are Truman Capote,
Isaac Bashevis Singer, and William Burroughs. She is married with a
daughter.
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
Hachiko was an Akita Inu who was born in 1923 in Akita prefecture,
Japan. A year later he became a gift for the daughter of a professor of
agronomic engineering at Tokyo University. When the professor, Eisaburo Ueno,
saw him for the first time, he realized that his legs were slightly crooked.
They resembled the kanji that represents the number 8 ( 八 , which in Japanese
is pronounced hachi), so he decided to name him Hachiko (ハチ公).When Ueno's
daughter grew up, she married and went to live with her husband, leaving the
dog behind. The teacher had grown very fond of him, so he decided to keep
Hachi instead of giving him away.Ueno went to work by train every day and
Hachiko became his faithful companion. Every morning he accompanied him to the
Shibuya train station and in the afternoon he went back to meet him when he
returned. This example of true loyalty is what inspired the people of Tokyo at
the time and the rest of the world since.
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
The death of his master
One day, while teaching at the university, Ueno suffered a sudden
cerebral hemorrhage which ended his life. However, Hachiko continued to
wait for him at the Shibuya station.
Day after day Hachiko went to the station and waited for hours for his
owner, looking for his face among the thousands of strangers passing by.
These days turned into months and months and eventually into years.
Hachiko waited tirelessly for his owner for nine long years. Through rain,
snow or sunshine. He would appear at the exact time his master's train
awas due in the station.The inhabitants of Shibuya knew Hachiko and has
regular seen him with professor Ueno.
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
Due to the busyness of the station, many found it annoying to have
the dog getting in the way. However, when they realized what had happened,
they took charge of feeding and taking care of him while he waited in the door
of the station. They soon realized the reason he was there was supreme loyalty.
This loyalty for his owner earned him the nickname “the faithful dog”.
People have shown much affection and admiration for Hachiko and his
loyalty. So much so, a statue of him was revealed in 1934 in front of the
same train station where he waited for his owner every day.
Death of Hachiko
On March 9, 1935, Hachiko was found dead at the foot of the
statue. He was 11 and it appears he died because of old age.
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
It adds poetic resonance to the Hachiko story that he died in
the same place where he had waited for his owner's return for nine years.
The remains of the faithful dog were buried next to those of his owner in
the cemetery of Aoyama in Tokyo.
During World War II all Japanese statues made from bronze were recast to
manufacture armaments, including that of Hachiko. Nevertheless, a few
years later, a society was created to produce a new dog statue and to put
it in the same place. Takeshi Ando, the son of the original sculptor, was
hired to rework the statue. This goes to show that the story of Hachiko
had endured long after his death. Perhaps such inspiring stories were
even more necessary after a war.
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
Today the statue of Hachiko continues to stand in the same place,
in front of the station of Shibuya. Every April 8th a special day is
celebrated which commemorates his fidelity.
After all these years the story of Hachiko, the faithful dog is still
alive because his love, loyalty and unconditional affection shook the
heart of a population. And still continues to do so today. His legacy
lives on.
The story of Hachiko and its legacy
The story of the dog Hachi has continued in the hearts of those who heard
it. This legacy is one which is kept alive thanks to the story's
retelling. Many people in Japan have told this story to from older
generations to younger..
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
However, it is also important to remember that the faithful
dog's story was not only popular posthumously. Hirokichi Saito was one of
professor Ueno's students and he grew a strong interest in the Japanese
Akita dog breed. He even developed Nippo (Nipponinu Hozonkai - Japanese
Dog Preservation Society) and is more than partly responsible for this
dog's regained popularity. In fact, through his research, we learned that
Hachiko was only one of around 30 purebred Akita Inu dogs still
alive.Saito's love for Akitas and Hachiko in particular led to him
writing various articles which helped to publicize his story.
 Japanese Literature
Famous Story:
The True Story of Hachiko - The Faithful Dog
These stories spread so wide that in 1987 the first movie about
Hachiko was released. The Japanese language Hachikō Monogatari (‘The
Tale of Hachiko’) was the number one movie in Japan at the time of its
release. Hachiko's story received the Hollywood treatment in 2009 with
the release of Hachi: A Dog's Tale staring Richard Gere as an anglicized
version of the real life professor Ueno.
 Japanese Literature
Poetry:
Old Pond by Matsuo Basho Translation:

Furuike The old pond-

ya kawazu a frog jumps in,
tobikomu mizu
no oto  sound of water.
Thank You for
Listening!