Authors, historical personages, fictional characters Flashcards
Kan’ami (1333-1384)
famous no writer. father to Zeami. founded school of Noh in Zomato
Zeami
famous no writer. wrote to the working class because they now have money
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
plays important role in elevating no to a high art
he was a warrior and essentially a ruler of japan at this time
Atsumori
famous warrior, no play based on his death
Kumagae
minimoto soldier who killed astsumori
Ono no Komachi
O-no
Character in sotoba komachi
-a beautiful and heartless poetess of ancient Japan. A nobleman who once loved her was supposed to go and meet her, but he dies on the way to her house. His unresolved love and passionate jealousy come to possess Komachi later when she is old
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 -1598) (Hide-yo-country)
nobanunga’s successor. sent invading forces to Korea in 1592 and 1597
ordered suicide of tea master Sen no Tikyu in 1591
Tokugawa Ieyasu
unifies Japan in 1603. imposes control to christian missionaries
Chikamatsu Monzaemon
-WRITER OF LOVE SUICIDES
one of the most famous dramatists of Japan. Chikamatsu started out as a writer of Kabuki scripts, later doing puppet theater. He did historical plays and domestic plays, and love suicide plays. all of his plays explore conflicts between duty and human feelings in Tokugawa society
Ihara Saikaku
Iharaaaaa
born into merchant family, Saikaku was one of the first authors In Japan to earn his living professionally from writing. He started out as a poet of linked verse, his haikaiesque quality influenced his famous “books of the floating world” composed in vernacular prose
- aimed for readership of low level samurai, merchants, and artisans
- When his wife died, he made this wonderful work of literature, shaved his head bald in mourning, and became a lay monk, writing poetry until his death
Matsuo Bashō (1644 -1694)
Bashed the haters
raised the independent Haiku to a level of art. Born into merchant class.
Tsuruya Nanboku (1755 -1829)
writer of Yatsuya Ghost Stories
Yamamoto Tsunetomo (late 17th to early 18th C.)
coined Bushido (code of honor by samurai) in early Tokugawa period. popular among martial arts fans
Motoori Norinaga (1730 -1801)
merchant class, scholar, one of the most famous Japanese intellectuals, huge influence on how we read Japanese literature today.
-under the nativist trend of Japanese learning
Okuni of Izumo
ORIGINATOR OF KABUKI THEATER
Authorities thought she was a potential threat to capital (sought prostitutes and minors to help develop her plays)
Kamo no Mabuchi (1697 -1769)
prominent 18th century poet that revolutionized Waka poetry with Manyoshu style.
- Romanticizes the past and says that the ancient people were simple and their actions were direct
- thought that we could do this by going back to ancient Japanese and reading and writing in this ancient language
Andō Tameakira (1659 -1716)
chinese learning trend
Ogyū Sorai (1666 -1728)
chinese learning trend
Tokubei Kuheiji Ohatsu
character in Love and Suicides. main character. commits suicide with his lover
Hikokurō Otane Gen’emon
Character in The Drum of the Waves of Horikawa
- kills wife for adultery
Yonosuke
character in Saikaku’s life of a sensuous man
- His father is an expert in the ways of love and his mother is a Tayu, sort of a quasi-pleasure woman who can agree to NOT see a man in the pleasure quarters
- Disowned at 19 because of his reckless ways and started to wander
- Inherits a large fortune at 34 when his father dies
- Heads for the island of women
Yonosuke is like Genji in the sense that he is seeking women in all of the land but he’s also parody like because he is aware that he would be “food for hungry demons” because he won’t be reborn in any good realm at all.
lemon
samurai in Yotsuya Ghost Stories
Oiwa
lemon’s wife
Itō Kihei
wealthy retainer of Lord Ko no Moranao, rival and enemy of Lord En’ya (lemon’s deceased master)
Meiji Emperor (1852 -1912)
Dies of a mysterious disease and symbolizes the end of the old ways and the start of the new modern ways at the end of the Meiji Period
General Nogi (1849 -1912)
kills himself several days after Meji dies as a ritual suicide. symbol of selflessness and devotion to nation
Natsume Sōseki (1867 -1916)
author of Kokoro.
Fatabeti
wrote Ukigumo (floating clouds) - Japan's first realistic novel Introduced European realism
Mori Ogai
wrote “The Incident at Saki”
-Dramatizes conflict between traditional ways and modern legal system
Tanizaki Jun’ichirō (1886 -1965)
early life was characterized by a fascination with the West and his second phase was by his rediscovery of Japanese Culture. moved from TOkyo to western Japan, probably explained his shift in writing.
translated the Tale of Genji to modern Japanese
wrote In Praise of Shadows, an exposition and defense of traditional Japanese aesthetics
Sakaguchi Angō (1906 -1955)
Tanizaki’s younger contemporary, is most famously associated with a group of post war writers known as the decadents
-wrote “A personal view of Japanese Culture” reflecting on the relationship between culture, nature and Japanese tradition
Sensei
main character in Kokoro
elderly man who is in a state of solidarity and unhappiness because he is living his life in shame due to the fact that he stole Ojosan from K and inadvertently killed K.
K
character in Kokoro that is killed by Sensei
Ojōsan
sensei’s loverrrr
Bruno Taut (1880 -1938)
wrote “Personal Views on Japanese Culture” that Ango Sakaguchi responds to later
- Discusses where the “origins” of Japanese culture comes from
- Appreciation of traditional Japanese culture: Shinto, architecture, Buddhism, kimonos, etc.
Ezra Pound (1885 -1972)
poet influenced by Haiku
Mishima Yukio (1925 -1970)
directed and created the Patriotism film of Bushido
Ishimure Michiko (1927 - )
Author of Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow
Yoshimoto Banana
author of Kitchen. Father was famous marxist scholar and so she changes her name so that her writing was not associated with that world. she drew on popular culture in her literature such as Bewiched, which has not been done before
Murakami Haruki (1949 - )
At first, he was not considered a serious writer in japan for writing mass literature
- probably most exemplar for writing world literature
Mikage
character in kitchen in search of a family
- Rejecting the typical girl boy relationships
Yunike Tanabe
worked for the Mikage’s grandma
- after grandma died, Yuichi and Eriko let Mikage stay with them
