Japanese 145a The World of Classical Japanese Literature

Fall 2016 Syllabus

This class will introduce students to some of the most artistically

significant, historically influential, and culturally celebrated works of
Japanese literature from the classical period. We will trace Japans rich
literary tradition from its emergence in the early eighth century up
through the late sixteenth century. We will consider texts from a wide
variety of genres, including mytho-historical chronicles, court fiction,
gazetteers and travelogues, memoirs, poetry, and religious and
philosophical treatises. Moreover, students will also have the
opportunity to read and view dramatic forms that continue to thrive
today, such as No and kyogen theater. All readings are available in
English translation; Japanese knowledge is not required.

Our class meetings will typically begin with an introductory lecture that
will help to put the literary works we read in their historical and cultural
context. The focus of each class meeting, however, will be close
reading and discussion of the texts. Students are therefore expected
to read and reflect upon the assigned materials prior to class and to
participate actively in discussion.

Students will also be asked to produce brief (about 250 well-chosen

words) response essays to the weekly readings at least four times
during the semester. These are to be posted to the online discussion
forum the evening before class discussion. Short quizzes concerning
the readings and lectures will be given occasionally. A short paper (57
pages in length) will be assigned halfway through the term that will ask
students to make some comparison between two or more of the works
we have read. Suggested topics will be provided but students are
encouraged to formulate their own questions in consultation with the
instructor. As a final project, each student will also be required to
submit a final paper (about 810 pages in length) that will provide a
chance to explore a work of the students choice in greater analytical
depth. Both writing assignments will be evaluated for their coherence,
critical argumentation, persuasiveness, and thoroughness of
engagement with the material.
 Grades will be determined as follows:
Attendance and class participation 15%
Quizzes 15%
Web posts 20%
Short paper 20%
Final paper 30%

Instructor:Steven Hanna Class: Tu, F 11:0012:20

Mail: shanna@post.harvard.edu Office: Mandel 115
Phone: (818) 679-6785 Hours: Tu, F 9:3011:00

Disabilities:If you are a student with a documented disability on

record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable
accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.

Extensions: Extensions are not granted except in cases of medical or

family emergency.

Four-credit course: Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on

the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours study
time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion
sections, preparation for exams, etc.).

Academic Integrity:You are expected to be familiar with and to follow

University policies on academic integrity (see
http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/sdc/ai). All suspected instances of
dishonesty will be referred to the Office of Student Development and
Conduct. Instances of academic dishonesty may result in sanctions
including, but not limited to, failing grades being issued, educational
programs, and other consequences.

Texts available for purchase at the Brandeis Bookstore; other readings

available online.
I Shirane, Haruo, ed. Traditional Japanese Literature: An
Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. Abridged ed. Columbia UP, 2012.
[Abbreviated TJL below]
I Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji. Trans. Royall Tyler.
Penguin Classics ed. Abridged. New York: Penguin, 2006.
 [Abbreviated GM below]
I Varley, Paul. Japanese Culture. 4th ed. U of Hawaii P, 2000.
[Abbreviated JC below]
I
I Additional Resources: The following are useful resources on Japans
pre-modern history and pre-modern literature. They are on reserve in
Goldfarb Library.
I Shirane, Haruo, ed. Traditional Japanese Literature: An
Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. Columbia UP, 2007. (This is the full
edition of the abridged text that will be our main textbook)
I Donald Keene. Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from
Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century. New York: Holt, 1993.
I Kato Shuichi. A History of Japanese Literature: Vol. 1 The
First Thousand Years. Trans. David Chibbett. New York: Kodansha,
1979.
I Totman, Conrad. A History of Japan. 2nd ed. Blackwell, 2005.
I Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji. Trans. Royall Tyler. New
York: Viking, 2001.
I
I Required readings are marked ; optional readings are marked .
Students who are interested in reading materials in Japanese (either
selections from the primary readings or secondary scholarship) are
encouraged to consult with the instructor.

/ Week One Overview

Friday August 26: Introduction
I Haruo Shirane, Issues in Canon Formation, in Haruo Shirane
and Tomi Suzuki, eds., Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National
Identity, and Japanese Literature (Stanford UP, 2000), 1-27.
I
/ Week Two The Ancient Period Chronicles and Gazetteers
Tuesday August 30: Chronicles
I JC, pp. 147.
I Selections from Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712): TJL, pp.
1133
Selections from Kojiki and Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720):
Edwin A. Cranston, A Waka Anthology Volume One: The Gem-
 Glistening Cup (Stanford UP, 1993), pp. 1925, 5362; 8896.

Friday September 2: Provincial Gazetteers

I Selections from Fudoki (Records of Wind and Earth, 8C):
Cranston, A Waka Anthology Volume One, pp.13152; and related
selections from Kojiki and Nihon shoki in Cranston, pp. 6366, 96105.

Week Three The Ancient Period Early Japanese and Sinitic

Poetry
Tuesday September 6:
I Selections from Manyoshu (Collection of Myriad Leaves, c.
785): TJL, pp. 3359.
I Selections from Manyoshu: Cranston, A Waka Anthology Vol.
1, pp. 17277; 197203; 22834.

Friday September 9:
I Selections from Manyoshu: TJL, pp. 5965.
I Selections from Manyoshu: Cranston, A Waka Anthology Vol.
1, pp. 34759; 62933.
I Selections from Kaifuso (Poetic Gems Cherishing the Styles of
Old, comp. 751): Judith N. Rabinovitch and Timothy R. Bradstock,
Dance of the Butterflies: Chinese Poetry from the Japanese Court
Tradition (Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Series, 2005), 33-48.

Week Four Japanese and Sinitic Poetry of the Heian Period

Tuesday September 13: Early Heian Sinitic Poetry
I TJL, pp. 6672.
I Selected poems of Sugawara no Michizane: TJL, pp. 8389.
I Selected poems of Sugawara no Michizane: Rabinovitch
and Bradstock, Dance, pp. 12140.

Friday September 16 tentatively there will be no class today (we will

arrange a makeup time to cover this material): Early Heian Poetry in
Japanese
I Selected poems of Ono no Komachi: TJL, pp. 7882.
I Selections from Kokinshu: TJL, pp. 89112.
I JC, pp. 4876.
 Week Five Early Heian Narrative
Tuesday September 20:
I Selections from Nihon ryoiki (Record of Miraculous Events in
Japan, c. 822): TJL, pp. 7277.
I Taketori monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, c. 909):
TJL, pp. 11228.
Selections from Ise monogatari (The Tales of Ise, c. 947) TJL, pp.
12838.
I Schalow, Paul Gordeon, Paradigms of Friendship in the Tales
of Ise, A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan (U of
Hawaii P, 2007): 37-76.

Friday September 23:

I Ki no Tsurayuki, Tosa nikki (The Tosa Diary, c. 935): Helen Craig
McCullough, Classical Japanese Prose: an Anthology (Stanford UP,
1990): pp. 70-102.
I Selections from Sei Shonagon, Makura no soshi (The Pillow
Book, c. 1000): TJL, pp. 138-60.

Weeks Six and Seven The Tale of Genji and Murasaki Shikibu
Tuesday September 27:
I Murasaki Shikibu, Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, c.
1000): GM, pp. 186.

Friday September 30:

I Murasaki Shikibu, Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, c.
1000): GM, pp. 87224.

Tuesday October 4: no class.

Friday October 7:
I Murasaki Shikibu, Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, c.
1000): GM, pp. 225324.
I Selections from Murasaki Shikibu nikki: Richard Bowring,
Murasaki Shikibu, Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs: a Translation and
Study (Princeton UP, 1982).

Week Eight Japanese Prose after Murasaki Shikibu

 Tuesday October 11:
I Daughter of Takasue, Sarashina nikki (Sarashina Diary, c.
1059): TJL: pp. 217-48.
I Edith Sarra, Fictions of Femininity (Stanford UP, 1999), pp. 81-
125.
Sagoromo monogatari (The Tale of Sagoromo, c. 1060): TJL (non-
abridged ed.), pp. 503-519.

Short papers due Tuesday October 11.

I
Friday October 14:
I Charo DEtcheverry, Love After the Tale of Genji: Rewriting the
World of the Shining Prince (Cambridge: Harvard U Asia Center, 2007),
pp. 2357.
I Selections from Imakagami (The Mirror of the Present, c.
1170): TJL, pp. 25660.

Weeks Nine and Ten Anecdotes and Setsuwa

Tuesday October 18:
I JC, pp. 77-89.
I Tsutsumi Chunagon monogatari (The Stories of the Riverside
Middle Counselor, 10-14C): TJL, pp. 25156.

Friday October 21: no class (we will try to arrange a makeup time if
necessary).

Tuesday October 25: no class (Brandeis Day has a Monday schedule

today).

Friday October 28:

I Konjaku monogatarishu (Collection of Tales of Times Now Past,
c. 1120): TJL, pp. JC, pp. 260-77.

Weeks Eleven and Twelve The Kamakura Period Poetry and

Buddhist Literature
Tuesday November 1: no class (we will try to arrange a makeup time).
 Friday November 4: Kamakura Poetry
I TJL, pp. 278284.
I Poems of Saigyo: TJL, pp. 284294.
I JC, pp. 91111.
I
Tuesday November 8:
I Fujiwara no Teika and Shinkokinshu: TJL, pp. 294312.

Friday November 11: Buddhist Literature

I Hosshinshu (Tales of Awakening, c. 1211), Uji shui monogatari
(A Collection of Tales from Uji, early 13c), and other setsuwa
collections: TJL: pp. 324-43.
I
Week Thirteen The Kamakura Period Reclusive and Warrior
Literature
Tuesday November 15: Recluse Literature
I Kamo no Chomei, Hojoki (An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut,
1212): TJL: pp. 312-24.

Friday November 18: Warrior Tales

I Heike monogatari (The Tales of the Heike, mid-13c): TJL: pp.
343-82.
I Butler, Kenneth Dean, Jr. The Heike monogatari and the
Japanese Warrior Ethic. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 29 (1969):
93-108.
I
Week Fourteen The Kamakura Period Memoirs
Tuesday November 22: Diary and Essay
I Towazugatari (The Confessions of Lady Nijo, c. 1306): TJL, pp.
38296.
I Yoshida Kenko, Tsurezuregusa (A Companion in Solitude, 1329-
33): TJL, pp. 396408.

Friday November 25 Happy Thanksgiving!

I Week Fifteen Muromachi Period Poetry and Theatrical

Traditions: No
Tuesday November 29: Renga (Classical linked verse)
I Renga by Sogi and others: TJL, pp. 498-506.
I
Friday December 2: No
I JC, pp. 11139.
I TJL, pp. 41422.
I Video screening: No.
I Matsukaze (Pining Wind): TJL, pp. 44864.
I Aoinoue (Lady Aoi): TJL, pp. 42233.
I Sotoba Komachi (Stupa Komachi): TJL, pp. 43348.
I
I Week Sixteen Muromachi Theatrical Traditions: Kyogen
I Tuesday December 6:
I Atsumori: TJL, pp. 46474.
I Busu (Delicious Poison): TJL, pp. 48697.
I Video screening: Kyogen.
I
I Final papers due Tuesday December 6.