SAMURAI DAUGHTERS: THE

STRANGENESS OF BEAUTY
[EXCERPT]
BY:LYDIA MINATOYA
1. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT JAPANESE SOCIETY?
2. WHAT STEREOTYPES EXIST WHEN WE TALK ABOUT
SAMURAI?
3. WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS WHEN IT COMES
TO SAMURAI WOMEN? WHY DO YOU EXPECT THIS?
VOCABULARY
1. SAMURAI 11. OSTENTATION
2. OBSOLETE 12. RICKSHAW
3. SUPPRESS 13. BOISTEROUS
4. FIGUREHEAD 14. REFINEMENT
5. SHREWD 15. ALLURE
6. BANKRUPT 16. EAVES
7. CALLIGRAPHY 17. INNOCUOUS
8. LITERATI 18. DEFERENCE
9. EGALITARIANISM 19. HAUGHTY
10.PERQUISITE 20. BUMPKINS
 Lydia Minatoya
- was born In Albany, New York in 1950. She received her PhD in
psychology from the University of Maryland in 1981 and is currently a
college professor. She has written about her experiences growing up as
an Asian American and her travels of self-discovery in Asia in Talking to
Monks in High Snow: An Asian-¬American Odyssey (1993). She has also
published a novel, The Strangeness of Beauty (1999), about several
generations of Japanese Americans who return to Japan just before
World War II and view the conflict from the perspective of insiders who
are also outsiders.
THE STRANGENESS OF BEAUTY [excerpt]- The title of this novel refers to a
Japanese word, "myo", meaning the art of creating "strange beauty", namely
of finding beauty in the ordinariness of everyday life.In this novel, which takes
the form of a fictional autobiography, a Japanese woman, Etsuko, emigrates
to Seattle with her husband in 1918, at a time when the Japanese were
considered the "yellow peril" by many Americans. She is soon joined by her
sister and his husband. Soon a widow, Etsuko finds herself raising her niece,
Hanae, after her sister has died in childbirth. Because Hanae grows to
become a withdrawn and solitary child, her father decides to send her to
Japan to her grandmother, believing that she will find a sense of belonging in
the country of her ancestors. Etsuko returns to Japan with Hanae, whom she
considers like her daughter. She anticipates with fear the reunion with her
own estranged mother, Chie, who gave her away to be raised by adoptive
parents soon after she was born.
A chronicle of the Japanese-Americans and the hardships their
encountered in a culture so different from their own, a chronicle
also of a Japan at the same time changing and immutable, The
Strangeness of Beauty reflects the struggles of the narrator to grasp
the meaning of her own life. A stranger in both countries, she has
difficulties finding out who she really is and where she belongs.
Writing is her way to meet her true self and her narration reflects
her path toward self-discovery and self-assurance. The narrator
begins every entry with a reflection on the "I-story" and its purpose,
dealing with such issues as subjectivity, or cultural and historical
status of the I-story. This reflection on the I-story in general leads
her to a meditation upon her own life.
At first the writing is detached, the narration distant, and the
characters seem flat and lifeless; the reader has some
trouble caring for them. But as the story develops, and as the
narrator herself becomes more involved in the narration, the
characters come to life, as if progressively cultural facades
were dissolving to reveal a common human nature, made of
similar emotions and intimate experiences. In particular,
Minatoya, through the three female characters; the
grandmother, the mother and the daughter, focuses on the
tie that binds mothers and children and shows how its core
goes beyond cultural boundaries.
Along the way, Minatoya provides us with a lot of interesting
historical and cultural Japanese background: thus we learn
about traditions among the samurai families, arranged
marriages, meaning of the art of cooking, of the tea
ceremony and importance of "kata" (proper mode of
behavior for each particular situation in life). In some
ways, The Strangeness of Beauty reminds a lot of this
excellent chronicle of a Japanese family set in the same
period: The Makioka Sisters, by Junichiro Tanizaki. Both
novels give the reader a sense of intimacy with the
characters.
SAMURAI DAUGHTERS: THE
STRANGENESS OF BEAUTY
[EXCERPT]
BY:LYDIA MINATOYA
 QUESTIONS:
1. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE CHIE?
2. WHY DO YOU THINK SHE IS THAT WAY?
3. WERE YOU SURPRISED ABOUT ANYTHING WHEN YOU READ THE HISTORY OF THE FUJI FAMILY? WHY
WERE YOU SURPRISED?
4. WHY IS IT VALUABLE TO POINT OUT THAT SAMURAI WOMEN USED TO BE TRAINED FOR BATTLE?
5. HOW DOES THIS CHANGE OR ALTER THE WAY YOU LOOK AT SAMURAI?
6. HOW DOES THIS CHANGE OR ALTER THE WAY YOU LOOK AT WOMEN?
7. WHY IS THE GO-BETWEEN SO UPSET? WHAT DID THEY DO TO UPSET HER?
8. WHAT INSIGHTS ABOUT JAPANESE SOCIETY DID YOU GET FROM THE STORY?
9. WHY WOULD SAMURAI WOMEN BLACKEN THEIR TEETH? WHAT WAS THEIR MESSAGE IN DOING THIS?
10. DO YOU THINK CHIE AND KAN WILL HAVE A HAPPY MARRIAGE? WHY OR WHY NOT?