EALL 271 1 30 17 - Ise Monogatari Reading Discussion PDF

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Ise Monogatari Reading Discussion...

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Monday, January 30, 2017

EALL 271 Announcements

- For those who have Paper #1 due: • The due date has now been pushed back to Wednesday • Paper is supposed to be analytical and will show professor your thinking process and thoughts

• Prefers submission by email • Can email notes/first draft to help you before you submit - If have questions, email or talk to the Professor Homework

- Poem HW that was given last Friday will be due this Friday: • Pick a poem that we didn’t do from the “Kokinshu: First Few Poems” or the “Kokinshu (Keene Anthology) Reading” (pg. 77) and analyze it

Today— Student Presentation:

- Ise Monogatari: • It is an Uta Monogatari (poem tale) • Current version has about 125 tales • Characterized by emphasis of waka poetry • Many similarities between Ise Monogatari and Genji Monogatari • Sort of a biography of Ariwara no Narihira: covers some of the events that happened in his life

• Ki no Tsurayuki criticizes a lot of Narihira’s poetry, but the student said she likes some of them and read his last one (?) aloud

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Ise Monogatari Reading/Handout:

- It is a poem/prose story (poem is the core, but prose follows) - “Monogatari” is a very general term for “story/tales/narrative” - The current/most popular version contains 125 tales - One of the most famous/recognized works besides Genji Monogatari. • It’s very similar to Genji, but has a different structure, where the poems are the main focus. In Genji, the prose/storyline is the main focus instead.

- Sort of a handbook on how to write poems for aristocrats in certain occasions: • Ex: Relationship/courtship/love situations - Book on how to behave like the most ideal aristocratic man and describes what things made women beautiful/the culture of the Heian era

• Ex: Women always had to wear layered kimonos and and have very long hair - Had to wear the 4-12 layers throughout the day depending on the occasion; moved very slowly as the layers were quite heavy; would wear 1-2 layers at night for undergarments

- Rarely washed their hair/themselves and instead covered themselves with various fragrances to seem more elegant

- If they cut their hair, that means that they were going to/thinking about becoming Buddhist nuns

• Women also shaved their eyebrows and painted their own (dot-like ones) on, and blackened their teeth with some sort of ink

- Considered very beautiful to have black teeth, showed that you were high class, and also helped prevent tooth decay

- *Ise Monogatari is an example of Uta Monogatari and Genji Monogatari is an example of Tsukuri Monogatari, and will cover Gunki Monogatari later

Reading Ise Monogatari:

- Episode 1 (“2 sisters of disturbing beauty”)

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Monday, January 30, 2017

- What happens? • Narihira is traveling somewhere in the country side and catches a glimpse of two sisters through their fence/enclosure, one of which is picking up a flower

• He finds them beautiful/elegant enough (through that one glimpse) to write them a poem and sends them flowers

- Kamani: Japanese word that expresses the action “peeking through the fence” - Men and women don’t really see each other: Kamani = short glimpse, then men come to visit women during the nighttime and talk to them from behind a screen

• Genji Monogatari has many instances where the women didn’t know who they were sleeping with because it’s always in the dark/at night

• Although relationships were weird for women, their lives weren’t that bad because they could still own/inherit land, were not dependent on their husbands, could live independently (though would have to have been born into the right family to own anything)

• “Dyed his cloak” line: meaning “they’ve impressed him/they’re so beautiful/he’s interested in them/he’s sexually attracted to them”

- Episode 4 (poem we know) • What happens? - It’s the beginning of the Spring, and a man stands where he and a woman used to meet under the moon, but now she’s not here/didn’t come

- Everything has changed except for him (the Spring is not the same) and his feelings/only his body is left the same

- Episode 6 • What is it about? - Narihira became fascinated by a girl’s beauty, kidnaps her (not knowing she’s the future empress), and keeps her at his house because it’s pouring rain

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- Narihira takes her on horseback, and she sees something sparkling on the grass and asks him what it is. She asks if they’re dewdrops? (he finds this elegant)

• Dewdrops: possibly symbolizes her disappearing, tears because it’s an unhappy moment, rain, or could symbolize what’s about to happen (sex/ relationship)

- Heian men were ideal if they stayed with a woman after they got together • If he is interested in a woman, he cannot abandon her, must visit her sometimes or he’ll not be considered an ideal man

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