Reading contexts and questions for Supernatural Class.
Week 1: Introductions of participants and discussion of what “supernatural” means, and
how different cultures may have different levels of acceptability of events that cannot be
explained by science.
Week 2: To prepare for class in our second week together, please read the excerpts from
two early texts that collect and organize Japanese myths, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki
(these are together in one document in the PDF collections).
Here is some commentary on these texts from Dr. Delmer Brown, Professor Emeritus
of History, University of California Berkeley:
The Nihon Shoki 日本書紀 is Japan's second oldest extant chronicle, and the first of its Six
National Histories 六国史, which contain most of what is known about Japan down before
887 CE. The Nihon Shoki was submitted to the Imperial court in 720 CE, only eight years
after the Kojiki. Both ancient chronicles were written in compliance with commands handed
down by reigning Empresses and were intended, above all, to sanctify and strengthen
Japan's Imperial rule. The first chapters of both were focused on myths about the birth and
descendants of The Great Goddess Amaterasu, the ancestress of Japan's long line of
Emperors and Empresses. The last books of both were limited largely to what was done and
said by human descendants of the Great Goddess. Thus the two chronicles are commonly
bracketed together. But when modern Japanese scholars selected texts for inclusion in
Iwanami's famous compendia, the Kojiki was made Volume 1 in the series entitled Nihon
ShisŁETaikei (日本思想体系) and the Nihon Shoki became Volumes 67 and 68 of the Nihon
Koten Bungaku Taikei (日本古典文学大系). The Kojiki was thereby classified as "Japanese
thought", along with the writings of such distinguished religious figures as Shōtoku Taishi
(574-622), Kūkai (774-835), and Nichiren (1222-82). The Nihon Shoki, on the other hand,
was designated a "Japanese classic" and published in a series that includes nearly all
historical texts inserted in this Japanese Historical Text Initiative. So the first of Japan's two
oldest chronicles has become classified as religious and the second as historical. This
classification should not blind us, however, to the commonality of the two. Both were
compiled by officials at the Imperial court in compliance with commands handed down by
current occupants of the throne. And as deduced from orders issued by Emperor Temmu in
the year 682, and discussed in the Introduction to the Kojiki, the compilers of both
chronicles were required to use the same kinds of sources: Imperial Records (Teiki 帝紀)
and Ancient Myths (Kuji 旧辞)the latter were also referred to as Myths of Origin (Honji 本辞
). The compilers of both chronicles were apparently told that Imperial wish was for
chronicles that would sanctify and strengthen Imperial rule.
The above information is from the website the “Japanese Historical Text Initiative,” which
can be found at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/jhti/Nihon%20shoki.html
Try to notice what these stories in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki try to explain—what do
you think is their purpose? What questions do they try to answer? What details in these
texts seem strange or surprising? How is sexuality portrayed—what does it have to do with
creation? What examples can you find of the characters washing themselves for
purification or doing something that dirties a space that now needs purification? Pay special
attention to the story of the sun goddess hiding in the cave—this is a key Japanese myth.
How does Susanowo transgress? In the story of Hohodemi that starts on the bottom of page
84, why is he rewarded by the Sea God? What mistake or transgression does he make later
that causes him to lose his wife? In the story of Yamato-takeru (O-usu) that starts on page
89, why does the emperor send him on a journey? What might be the significance
historically of the emperor’s son subduing and fighting rebellious people at the edges of
their realm? What kinds of trickery does he use to succeed? What kinds of things does this
story explain? Can you think of any comparisons between this story and other things that
you have read before? Given that these texts were compiled to sanctify and strengthen
Imperial rule, what examples can you find that seem to do just that? How do these stories
relate to our course theme of “the supernatural”?
Here is a cool website which presents some of these stories from ancient myth in manga
form: http://www.sarudama.com/japanese_books/kojiki_in_pictures.shtml
Week 3-4: To prepare for these classes, please read two short stories by Ryūnosuke
Akutagawa, “Rashomon” (1915) and “In a Grove” (1922). When reading “Rashomon,“ think
about how the idea of truth is unstable. How does the story raise questions about what can
be definitively known? How do these questions relate to the definition of the supernatural
that we explored on the first day? In the case of “In a Grove,” I want to focus on how the man
in the story shifts from a supernatural interpretation of the old woman to a harsher, more
realistic one. What makes this happen? How does his change in perception affect his
behavior toward the woman? We will start watching Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film
“Rashomon” and finish it in week 4, discussing how the film makes use of elements from
both of these stories and analyzing how it evokes supernatural themes.
Week 5: To prepare for class in our third week together, first read the selection from
Bowring, to set you up with some context, and then read the excerpts from the famous early
11th century work (completed by 1021) The Tale of Genji. We are reading two excerpts
(from the Seidensticker translation) in which women with whom Genji is involved die from
some kind of mysterious spirit possession. The text suggests that these events are due to the
jealousy of another lover, Lady Rokujo, but we will discuss what kinds of proof there is in
the text to make this claim—pay close attention to that question when you read these
excerpts. We will also discuss how the unusual gender and marriage dynamics of the
classical court world of Japan perhaps intensify emotions that find their outlet in physical
ways.
Week 6: To prepare for class this week, first read the excerpt from The Tale of the Heike.
Here is some information about it from Wikipedia:
“The story of the Heike was compiled from a collection of oral stories recited by traveling
monks who chanted to the accompaniment of the biwa, an instrument reminiscent of the
lute. The most widely read version of the Heike monogatari was compiled by a blind monk
named Kakuichi in 1371. The Heike is considered one of the great classics of medieval
Japanese literature.
The central theme of the story is the Buddhist law of impermanence. The theme of
impermanence (mujō) is captured in the famous opening passage:
“
祇園精舎の鐘の聲、諸行無常の響き有り。 沙羅雙樹の花の色、盛者必衰の理を顯す。
驕れる者も久しからず、唯春の夜の夢の如し。 猛き者も遂には滅びぬ、偏に風の前の塵に同じ。
Gionshōja no kane no koe, Shogyōmujō no hibiki ari. Sarasōju no hana no iro, Jōshahissui no
kotowari wo arawasu. Ogoreru mono mo hisashikarazu, tada haru no yoru no yume no gotoshi.
Takeki mono mo tsuwi ni wa horobin(u), hitoeni kaze no mae no chiri ni onaji.
The sound of the Gion Shōja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the
sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.
The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night;
the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind. -- Chapter 1.1,
Helen Craig McCullough's translation
The second concept evident in the Tale of the Heike is another Buddhist idea, karma. The
concept of karma says that every action has consequences that become apparent later in
life. Thus, karma helps to deal with the problem of both moral and natural evil . Evil acts in
life will bring about an inevitable suffering later in life. This can be seen clearly with the
treatment of Kiyomori in The Tale of the Heike, who is cruel throughout his life, and later
falls into a painful illness that kills him.
The fall of the powerful Taira – the samurai clan who defeated the imperial-backed
Minamoto in 1161–symbolizes the theme of impermanence in the Heike. The Taira warrior
family sowed the seeds of their own destruction with acts of arrogance and pride that led to
their defeat in 1185 at the hands of the revitalized Minamoto.
The story is episodic in nature and designed to be told in a series of nightly installments. It
is primarily a samurai epic focusing on warrior culture – an ideology that ultimately laid the
groundwork for bushido (the way of the warrior). The Heike also includes a number of love
stories, which harkens back to earlier Heian literature. “
We are reading the excerpt that shows the climatic battle at sea. Then read the short story
“The Story of Mimi-nashi Hoichi”—you will see that Hoichi sings this tale of the battle at sea
to the ghosts. We will watch a film version of this story, too, from the film “Kwaidan.” We
will discuss what draws the ghosts so powerfully to this area, and how Hoichi’s blindness
makes him more susceptible to supernatural powers.
Week 7-8: Discussion of assigned reading, the Nō play "The Brocade Tree," and viewing of
the film The Black Cat. The source for this play is 20 Plays of the Nō Theater, edited by
Donald Keene (New York: Columbia UP 1970); the author of this play is Zeami. Kan'ami and
his son Zeami Motokiyo brought Nō to what is essentially its present-day form during the
Muromachi period (1336 to 1573) under the patronage of the powerful Ashikaga clan,
particularly the third shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. What to think about as you read the
play: how do the conventions of a Nō play—the spare set and props, the journey of the main
character to a space where he encounters information and people he does not know-operate to suggest a sense of the supernatural? How does the play explore the idea that our
perception of what is real or not real may sometimes be unstable? What do the priest’s
prayers offer to the lovers? Why do these ghosts haunt this place? When we watch the film
The Black Cat, we will discuss how the play echoes the tradition of Nō theater, but it is a
fascinating film about the supernatural, too. Notice, for example the violence of desire in the
opening scene (juxtaposed with a calm, evocative landscape scene at first), the desire of the
“cats” for vengeance, the spookiness of the locale where they live, and how the man’s
attempt to fight a demon becomes bound up with his own deep desire to restore a lost love.
We will also discuss how the film portrays the interplay between love, death and duty.
Week 9: Review of everything we have done so far; in class work on journals.
Week 10: Journals due; begin watching Spirited Away. How does this anime portray the
passing into a “non-daily” or supernatural space?
Week 11: To prepare for class today, read two folktales: the PDF available in the readings,
“Urashima Taro,” and the story of the tongue-cut sparrow, available at this link:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/sparrow.html
After we finish watching the anime, we will discuss how it reworks various aspects of the
Japanese cultural tradition, including the yama-uba or mountain witch, which I will
introduce with a mini-lecture and images. We will explore how these folktales portray the
crossing of natural and supernatural space (or daily and non-daily), and how and why some
human characters cross such boundaries and the challenges they face.
Week 12: To prepare for class today, read two stories from Parallel Texts: “Mogera Wogura”
by Kawakami Hiromi and “The Silent Traders” by Tsushima Yūko. How do both of these
stories touch upon the crossing of human and animal worlds in mysterious ways? What is
“supernatural” about these stories?
Source for stories: Source for stories: New Penguin Parallel Text: Short Stories in Japanese.
Edited by Michael Emmerich. (New York: Penguin, 2011).
Week 13 and 14: We will watch the anime “Ghost in the Shell” and in week 14, discuss
excerpts from the manga by the same name, both created from the artistry of Shirow
Masamune. Questions to think about: how is the idea of the cyborg supernatural? How is it
beyond or across the boundary of “the natural”–or is it? What do you think this story means
by “ghost”—how has the human mind or soul retained its supernatural-like mysteriousness
even in this imagined future world? Do you think that science will ever eradicate human
belief in the supernatural in some definitive way?
first journal responses due; in class, we will read out loud some short selections from
Kawabata’s novel Snow Country and his very short stories, discuss how this novel evokes
the haiku tradition, and practice writing some haiku.
Some background on Snow Country:
Source for excerpts” Kawabata. Yasunari. Snow Country. Translated by Edward
Seidensticker. (New York: Perigree, 1981). First published in English by Knopf in 1957.
The novel started as a short story published in Reading excerpts from Yasunari Kawabata’s
novel Snow Country.
Kawabata. Yasunari. Snow Country. Translated by Edward Seidensticker. New YorK
Perigree, 1981 (First published in English by Knopf in 1957).
The novel began as a single short story published in a literary journal in January 1935.
Kawabata continued writing about the characters afterward, with parts of the novel
ultimately appearing in five different journals before he published the first version of the
book in 1937. Kawabata restarted working on the novel after a three-year break, again
adding new chapters, and again publishing in two separate journals in 1940 and 1941. He
re-wrote the last two sections, merging them into a single piece. This was published in a
journal in 1946. Another additional piece arrived in 1947. Finally, in 1948, the novel
reached its final form, an integration of nine separately published works.
"Snow country" is a literal translation of the Japanese title "Yukiguni". The name comes
from the place where the story takes place, where Shimamura arrives in a train coming
through a long tunnel under the border mountains between Gunma (Kozuke no kuni) and
Niigata (Echigo no kuni) prefectures. Sitting at the foot of mountains, on the north side, this
region receives a huge amount of snow in winter because of the northern winds coming
across the Sea of Japan. The snow reaches four to five meters in depths, sometimes isolating
the towns and villages in the region from others. The lonely atmosphere suggested by the
title is infused throughout the book.
First selection: pages 3- 43: how does the opening scene on the train evoke the
extraordinary landscape of the snow country and set a kind of evocative, lyrical tone? What
do we learn about Shimamura and Komako’s relationship? How does he seem distant? How
does she seem emotional? Does she seem like she has succumbed to her circumstances, or is
she trying to still carve out meaning despite her profession and isolation?
Pages 90-93, 116-117 and 130-133: how do some of the images on these pages seem haikulike?
Closing of novel: pages 162-175
Shimamura has found out during the novel that Komako was supposedly engaged to the
music teacher’s son, the dying man who Yoko accompanied on the train and is now caring
for. He hears that Komako has become a mountain geisha who sells her body to other men
to pay for the dying man’s medical bills. However, Komako protests that she and the dying
man were only childhood friends, and Yoko insists that the rumor of Komako’s engagement
to the man is nonsense. Throughout the novel, there is a sense that Komako is burdened,
already lost, trapped. Yoko, on the other hand, seems mysterious and pure, like an unearthly
fairy-type creature who sings with a hauntingly beautiful voice. After Yukio dies, she seems
strangely open to whatever comes, even telling Shimamura, who is fascinated by her sense
of beauty and purity, that she would run off to Tokyo with him, although she makes it clear
that she had loved Yukio so intensely that she could never work as a nurse for another
person. The end of the novel is very vague but evocative: why is it Yoko who falls from the
burning cocoon warehouse? Why does Komako cry out so over her fall that the crowd find
Komako insane? What is the significance of all the Milky Way references (you might
compare the myth and festival of Tanabata . . .).
How do Kawabata’s two short “Palm-of-the-Hand stories, “A Sunny Place” and “The
Grasshopper and the Cricket,” evoke a wonderful sense of the relationship between
landscape and desire and memory? How does memory intertwine with the present
moments described?
Source for stories: Kawabata, Yasunari. Palm-of-the-Hand Stories. Translated from the
Japanese by Lane Dunlop and Martin Holman. (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1988).
Week 11-12: Read and discuss some short selections from Kobo Abe’s 1962 novel Woman in
the Dunes and watch the film adaptation. The Woman in the Dunes (砂の女 Suna no onna?,
literally "Sand woman," also translated as The Woman of the Dunes) is a 1964 film directed
by Hiroshi Teshigahara.
Here is an overview of the plot from a review entitled “No Escape” by David Mitchell in The
Guardian (Friday 6, October 20, 2006):
An amateur entomologist arrives in a remote area of sand dunes with hopes of identifying a
type of sand beetle. Night falls and the villagers offer him shelter in a ramshackle house at the
bottom of a funnel-shaped pit of sand. Descent is possible only by means of a rope ladder. The
occupant of the house, a young woman, spends most of the night shovelling sand into buckets,
which are then raised by the villagers: her house is one of a bulwark that prevents the village
being swallowed by the advancing sand dunes. When he awakes, the man finds the rope ladder
is gone. His attempts to climb out of the pit repeatedly fail, and he comes to realise, first with
incredulity, then outrage, then fear, that he is now a conscript in this Sisyphean labour. Nor is
he the first outsider to be press-ganged into the battle against the encroaching dunes: but the
villagers allow inadequate specimens to die, rather than risk detection by the distant
authorities.
In the first selection, pages 30-71, we see these two early in the sand-embedded
relationship. Things to notice: how is the man starting to feel suspicious? Can you see signs
that he is starting to feel desire towards this woman? What images of being trapped or
trying to escape do you notice? How is the man or woman like an insect? What do you think
sand represents? What examples can you find that emphasize how important water is?
In the second selection, pages 220-239 from the novel, we see these two a bit later in their
relationship. Who are the victims in this scenario? Are the villagers and the woman victims
like Nikki is? When the men up top say that they will let him out if he has sex in the open
with the woman so that the men can see, do you think he is right to think that such indignity
is worth some freedom, or is the woman right to try to sustain to her sense of human
dignity? When he finds that water has collected in the trap he set for crows (hoping to use a
crow to get a message out), what does his discovery mean to him? Why does he choose to
stay in the pit at the end even though a rope ladder is left there when the woman is taken to
the hospital?
Week 13-14: Discussion of two contemporary short stories about love: Haruki Murakami’s
“Concerning the Sounds of a Train Whistle in the Night or On the Efficacy of Fiction,” and
Yoshimoto Banana’s story “A little Darkness.” We will compare these stories with the film
Train Man and discuss how these stories portray different insights about how love can both
be a force that free but also a force that trap us. What different kinds of landscapes are
evoked in each story?
Source for stories: New Penguin Parallel Text: Short Stories in Japanese. Edited by Michael
Emmerich. New York: Penguin, 2011.