Presentation: Kathryn, Vien, Ha and Wendy

Hey, Shoji...This is the link to our presentation. It was posted by Ha yesterday before class, but she put it as a comment under one of the the other posts. I guess it was just missed. Anyway...here it is:

http://download.yousendit.com/6FEB09CE3823B7F8

Thanks for the fun class this semester. Have a good trip to Japan and don't stress out too much next semester. Bye!

Kathryn

Here is the martial arts presentation I did. I am not sure if it will load...if it doesn't, just send me your e-mail address if you want it and I will forward it to you. Thanks for the great semester!

Martial Arts

Martial Arts

            The first written record of martial arts in Japan starts in the Muromachi/Sengoku period.  Samurai were professional soldiers, and martial arts were their job skills.  The syles and schools were less structured and more direct than in the Edo period.  Samurai strove to learn all they could as their skill in combat brought honor to their clan.  At this point, there were no traditions in martial arts – good martial artists who had survived combat passed on their experiences and techniques.  Combat effectiveness was crucial at this time, so the arts stayed true to their original goals.

 

            In the Edo period, eace reigned and the Tokugawa shogunate formed a Japanese autocracy.  The samurai who rose in this era were warriors in name only – for over 250 years, Japan never knew war.  These samurai were essentially white-collar workers who wore swords to signify their rank or status.

            Still, samurai had to learn martial arts – they simply weren’t considered important, because there were no battles.  Schools became systematic and inflexible, and the authorities tried to stop this.  Bushido was eventually formalized to encourage men to become true warriors.  Around this time, the split between “-do” and “-jutsu” schools formed.  Some schools focused on dueling techniques rather than battlefield tactics, as that was the closest most samurai would ever come to battle.  Some samurai were still professional soldiers, however, such as police and castle guards.

 

            The samurai class was abolished (with all the others) in the Meiji period.  Firearms were slowly making bujutsu obsolete.  Dojo died as the clan structure collapsed.  Other schools blended together and formed new schools.  A few were able to retain their heritage, and trained as they had in the Edo period.  Sometimes, it was up to a single family to keep a school or style alive.  When Japan militarized, they used bujutsu and bushido to instill nationalism.  Often, this led to atrocities and warcrimes.  Many martial artists were distressed at this; some even left the country.

 

            After WWII, martial arts began to suffer in Japan.  Many artists had died in the bombings.  Some were disgusted with war and sought lives of peace.  Some were shamed that the Great Japanese Empire had been defeated.  Whatever their reasons, the American occupying force banned martial arts during the demilitarization of Japan.  The few teachers left began to train together in secret.  Eventually, some martial artists began to present their arts as “sport.”  Some of these changes stuck – some did not.  The government eventually encouraged this as it helped further separate modern culture and samurai culture.  This has also led to the modern day, where bushido is restricted to the octagon of the UFC and the rings of Pride and K-1 fights.

             

Final Presentation: Weird Trends in Japan!!!

by Christy Burgin, Susan Hang, Sonny Nguyen, and Airicks Vang

Final Presentation: Religion in Japan

sorry, i didn't know how to embed the PowerPoint
------------------------------------------------------------

My Final Presentation

Hey Guys

My final presentation can be downloaded from here...it will only be available for the next 7 days..or 100 downloads..whichever comes first. :-)

-Tavleen

http://download.yousendit.com/7B4949BA2FE49791

Fugaku Taiko Concert

The fantastic Taiko performance will be coming to Davidson College!!

January 25th
8:00pm
Tickets $15 non-Davidson college students, $8, Davidson college students.
Davidson College will be selling ticket at Davidson College Box Office starting from December 3rd, 10:00am. Phone number is :704-894-2135. Ticket sale website is:
http://www.davidson.edu/tickets

This incredible taiko drumming ensemble has traveled all the way from the Mt. Fuji area of Japan. Fugaku Taiko, founded in 1977, presents more than 100 performances a year in Japan and around the world. They were also the first taiko group to discover the benefits of taiko therapy for mentally handicapped individuals, and their touring ensemble now features several handicapped players.

Fugaku Taiko's performance is sponsored by the Davidson College Union Board, the Japanese Teachers' Association of Charlotte & Gastonia, and Triangle Taiko.

The performance is made possible in part by the generous support of the Nippon Taiko Foundation. Fugaku Taiko is the first group from the Foundation to visit the Southeastern United States. Don't miss this great opportunity to enjoy the energy and artistry of professional Japanese taiko in your own backyard!

Please spread the word about this fantastic performance!

Please visit this website for more information about Fugaku Taiko.
http://www3.davidson.edu/cms/x29125.xml

Thank you very much

Thank you very much everyone for taking this class.
This semester is finally ending soon.
This semester was a very hard one for me.
My life was soooo scheduled and always busy. I made a lot of disorganization and confusion in the classes, then many things didn't work well. So many things made me crazy, and I was always worried about something. I sometimes didn't want to go to class and didn't want to stand and speak in front of the students.
But anyway I hope everything will be fine in 10 days or so.
I'll go back to Japan for about two weeks and hope it's refreshing my mind.
Anyway, thank you again, and see you at the final presentation.
Final presentation is:
December 13th Thursday at 5pm
If you have any question about the presentation, please don't hesitate to call me (704-975-3191). Please don't make some confusion at the last minute on the presentation day. Please call me as soon as possible if you got any problem.

Pictures for Meiji-Heisei Periods

Meiji Emperor
























Kido, Takayoshi (or Katsura, Kogoro)


























Saigo, Takamori


























Okubo, Toshimichi


























Okuma, Shigenobu


























Itagaki, Taisuke


























The 1st Prime Minister Ito, Hirobumi (on 1000yen bill)













U.S.President Theodore Roosevelt


























Taisho Emperor


























Prime Minister Okuma, Shigenobu


























Prime Minister Hara, Takashi


























Showa Emperor


























Showa Emperor with Douglas MacArthur


















Prime Minister Yoshida, Shigeru


























Prime Minister Sato, Eisaku with Richard Nixon



























Prime Minister Ikeda, Hayato



















Prime Minister Tanaka, Kakuei with Richard Nixon

Ikebana Project by Kathryn & Ha

This is our extra credit flower arrangement assignment. Everything we used with the exception of the ornamental flowers came from the UNCC campus. Everything is real ... and free!

This is Kathryn's moribana style.

"I ran into a thorn bush for this!"

This is mine.

Yatta!

Spring and Autumn themes.

This project was really fun! ikebana wo sugoi desu yo! It was fun looking for the plants and then putting them together. We bought 2 ornamental flowers from Harris Teeter, and rummaged and pilfered through UNCC's bushes for the rest... don't report us, onegai!

We did think about using fake flowers but those cost money and the free ones are easy to get. Free is a price we're willing to pay.

We'll return the kenzen to you next class, Shoji sensei.

cold

i got cold. i need to get better coz im going for a ski trip next week.
i remember a few years ago i went for a ski trip although i was having a cold.
it was the worst ski trip. on the first day, it was raining, so we couldn't ski. second day, i didnt ski much coz i was so sick. additionally i got a speeding ticket on the way there. it was the third ticket within almost jsut a month. the cop pulled over me for only 10 miles over, damm it, cops are everywhere. (sorry if any of you are cops.) i had to go to driving class, and i had to cancel a japanese class for that.
i think canceling class is more often in japanese colleges than here in america.
also, some book said professors are avaragely coming to the class 14 min late and finish the class 14 min early. isn't that nice?
anyway i have to get better from this cold. i'm going buy some medicine. i wanna enjoy sking/snowboarding in the thanksgiving break. then after the thanksgiiving, the semester is almost over. that's great. i'm going back to japan this winter.
i'm spending new years day in japan after 6 or 7 years. i'm looking forward to it.

Kurosawa

i guess many people didn't like the movie "throne of blood" from last week, then i saw a review saying, "I was somewhat creeped out by the old man spirit and Isuzu Yamada's black teeth." haha.
the married women were supposed to paint their teeth black since very old time period. the teeth of some Haniwa (sculptures to protect the spirit of the dead kings in Kofun Period) were black. this custom remained until the Meiji Period.
anyway this movie and its director, Kurosawa are highly rated in the movie fans in the world.
but actually many young japanese people have no interest in kurosawa movies. sometimes it's funny that the people who are famous worldwide are not too famous in their native countries. a friend of mine traveled to England and tried to talk about an English mystery novelist, Agatha Christie. The British people she met didn't know very much about Christie. Also, I saw one of the greatest athletes in the Olympics, Carlton Lewis saying on TV that he is treated as a hero in Japan, but few people recognize who he is in America.
i wonder why?

Throne of Blood Review from David Quigley

I am a fan of Shakespeare, so I was curious to see how this film did with adapting the story of Macbeth to Japan. I should have known that Kurosawa would come through, as he always has. The movie was beautifully made, with Kurosawa giving a nod to the Noh theater that obviously influenced his direction. It is a tragedy that ends with the death of a character who was a victim of his weakness and surroundings. He was lured into a false sense of security by the ghost telling him that he would come to power, only to be deceived by his wife and her tricky ways. We get to witness a good character go bad and eventually somewhat insane. I actually liked Mifune's character, even though he did some terrible things. In the end, though, when his own archers turn against him, Mifune's character is brought down dramatically (which would be expected in Noh theater). His bad acts, in a karmic sense, caught up with him and all of his lust for power was all for nothing as he died as a result of it. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I think Mifune is a fantastic actor and Kurosawa is always at his best. The story was tragic and haunting, but perfectly adapted from Shakespeare to Japan.

Movie Review

The Throne of Blood was an interesting film, but maybe not something I'd watch and quote from every day. Using noh theatre to act out Macbeth was pretty cool and I respect it. I was somewhat creeped out by the old man spirit and Isuzu Yamada's black teeth, but I thought they acted well for the part they were portraying. It's interesting how different cultures find different things to be beautiful, like in Japan, once they thought that Isuzu Yamada's teeth as attractive while some in American culture think ice in your grill is hot, but whatever floats your boat, it's all good to me. Honestly, I just don't have alot to say about this film, only that it was fantastic.

Throne of Blood Review

I enjoyed Throne of Blood immensely, personally. Once I found out it was based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, I was worried, but I was very surprised with what Kurosawa-san managed to do with the story. I loved how Washizu fell further and further into his own hubris, which came to be his own undoing.

Speaking as a student of war (I am a cadet in the Army ROTC program and commission into the Army in less than a year), I can't really understand why Washizu chose to reveal that his knowledge of battle came from a ghost. It seems a little crazy to me to tell your soldiers "don't worry, the spirits are on our side," but then I never really was one for the supernatural or religious. Relying on the spirit's prediction is what cost Washizu his life; had he taken the time to prepare a proper defense, he would have been much better able to launch a counter-attack that would have disposed of Miki's son and his followers. Nevertheless, Washizu over-informed his soldiers, and doomed himself to defeat. It is true that it's good to keep one's soldiers informed -- an informed soldier knows what his commander wants to accomplish, and can work with his commander's intent in mind -- but they don't need to know the "why" on such a large scale. Tell them to set up guard towers, and the answer to "why" should be "to keep the enemy from assaulting our flank," not "because a mystical ghost in the woods told me it was a good idea."

Overall, it was a good movie, however. I have to agree with whoever said it was similar to Oedipus; Oedipus was also cursed by his own overwhelming pride and arrogance.

Throne of Blood

Throne of Blood started out as an interesting movie and kept me engaged most of the movie. I got confused at one point right after the first Great Lord was killed. I couldn't tell whether the people knew that the guy killed him or not, but I later figured out that most people knew what was going on. This movie reminded me of Oedipus from how the two main characters learned of a prophecy and didn't believe it, but in the end it all turns out to be true.

There was only a couple of things that I didn't like. That women was very frustrating. She was screwing that guy's life up and he kept listening to her crazy butt. I guess she learned her lesson when the blood wouldn't wash off. The other was that it seemed to get drown out longer than it needed to be. If this movie had condensed some parts it would have felt more fulfilling. I recommend more samurai and crazy ghost movies for the Japanese Film Festival.

David Rockwell

Throne of Blood review

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Kurosawa-san's genius has long been accepted, but this movie makes me feel that Mifune-san doesn't get enough credit for his acting. His portrayal of Washizu is perfectly done, changing from happy, good man in the beginning, to paranoid, self-serving tyrant in the end. While this movie is an adaptation of MacBeth, it is different enough to stand on it's own merits. I feel that the movie could have done with a little more time developing the relationship between Washizu and Miki, so that a much greater impact is felt when Washizu kills his lifelong friend, and perhaps a little less time showing the two riding on horses in the heavy fog. Aside from small storyline complaints I think everything was perfectly done, with a powerful climax that so few modern movies are able to accomplish.

-Mike Garvey

Throne of Blood

Hello everyone! Minasan konnichiwa!

I would like to review our viewing of the awsome Japanese Film, Throne of Blood! It was great. I am partial to black and white movies. I was impressed by how the actors seemed so overcome with emotion and how stoic their characters had to be. I love the part where Asagi,the lady of Spider's Web takes charge in a very passive way to assist her husband in gaining glory and power. She was by far the most intelligent and ruthless character, acting behind the scenes, using her husband's weakness for power to meet her own ends. The scene where she was sitting in the room splattered with blood was bone chilling. She tries twice to look at the wall and then the third time she overcomes her fear, tears into the corner and makes herself see it. Then later she becomes obcessed with her hands being covered in blood. It is almost like a modern movie in it's content. I almost felt sorry for Wasiju at the end, being tricked by the evil spirit into thinking he was invincible in battle. How clever the invading army was to coincidentally pull up tree branches as cover to approach the castle... I wish we could view more movies during the semester. Television and film are invaluable in conveying the general means of culture.

Throne of Blood Ryan Perry

I thought that this movie was much better than the first one we watched. The beginning was my favorite part because it had less of the crazy wife, and more spirit and warrior interactions. The movie started getting annoying when the the crazy wife started making the main character do whatever she wanted, which in turn made him eventually get killed by his own men. I understand that this is based off of a Macbeth but it doesn't change the fact that the wife lady made me want to slap her the whole movie.

The final 30 minutes of the movie i thought were drawn out a just a little too long. I could have told you everything that was going to happen from the time that the he saw the spirits the second time, until the end. I thought that it made the movie somewhat more anticlimactic, due to the slow unfolding of events after it was clear that the guy was getting ready to get killed. Just kill him and end the movie and it would have been better to me.

All in all it was a good movie based on a famous story; it was just a little too long for me. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Throne of Blood Review by Shane Burke

Akira Kurosawa's film is based on Shakespeare's Macbeth and recreates a story of betrayal, death, and prophecy. I found these aspects most interesting in the story as the main character is a noble hero who is influenced by spirits, his wife, and those around him to do wrong. He is the tragic hero who's downfall is greed and power, initiated through the paranoia of what he has been told. One can sense the good in his character, however in order for him to survive he must eliminate anyone that threatens his existence. His death however, reflects the karma in his wrong doing. Kurosawa chooses this character in which he gradually deteriorates and people either pity him for being plagued with these devils or reject him altogether for his actions. I believe he is a redeemable character who has been led in the wrong direction. Kurosawa creates the complexity of this warrior to show the good and bad in everyone. Through his tragic death, Kurosawa presents to the audience that people are influenced into doing wrong and not necessarily innate in that behavior.

Shane Burke

Movie review

Travis Long
November 8, 2007
Shoji-Sensei
Movie Review
Throne of Blood
This movie is based on one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare, Macbeth, so that was pretty exciting. This movie, however, was definitely old but it felt to be pretty long. Though it had none of the lines from Macbeth it was still very representational of the story and was interesting just having its own character with differences that make is more compatible to Japanese culture and folklore.
I think that even though this movie was done during the fifties is still had some very realistic and beautiful visual effects with the scenes with the evil spirit and all the scenes with the fogs. I think that the worst part of the movie was that there were many moments of unnecessary long uncomfortable silences. The characters spent a lot of time just looking at each other and sitting around, staring, then saying something, and staring some more. I think that like thirty minutes of unnecessary silence could have been cut out. There were some silences that were really great for setting the mood and adding suspense but after awhile it felt a little over done and I could not take it. I wanted to sleep through parts.
I also think that compared to American movies at the time, this movie showed a lot more violence with in the scenes instead of hinting at something happening. A lot of the fight scenes and the especially last part of the movie where the main characters was shot with hundreds of arrows were particularly violent. Over all it was a very poetic and beautiful movie that, like any movie, had its pros and cons.

Movie Review

I think that this movie was good. It reminded me of the story Macbeth. I thought it was just a Japanese version of Macbeth. I liked the movie though. The begenning of the movie was very mysterious and gave me a few chills. Throughout the movie it was suspensful and kept me wanting to know what would happen next. I thought that the wife was keen and went mad at the end. She was the one who put bad thoughts into her husbands head.

Some of the negative things that I thought were in the movie, were when the scnenes would take forever to keep going. The scene where they were galloping around and it seemed like they were going in circles. Also when the trees were moving at the end.

Overall the movie was good. It was a movie that is like the book Macbeth that many have read.

-Palak Lakhani

Movie Review "Throne of Blood"

Like those who've posted before me, it's a rendition of Macbeth but the stark difference is this one is bearable to sit through. It was actually an interesting concept and let's face it, samurai's make any story more interesting. Even though this movie shows its age with rubber arrows and shrill music cues it still maintains the psychological thriller technique not found in todays world. With strong character acting coupled with moments of utter silence the dichotomy created opens the doors for a world of Alfred Hitchcock thinkers. I thoroughly enjoyed this Man vs. Self concept of a villain/hero. On a final note, I overheard mention that this movie has been remade at least one other time in past years since its release and I have to say that I believe something is lost when a story like this is colorized. When you gut fantasy of its inner workings you're left with just the story and a camera, and really, that's all you need to make a good film.

Movie Review: Throne of Blood

The movie Throne of Blood was closely based on the play "Macbeth." It stayed very ture to the orginal story and it was well presented. However, Throne of Blood was a more interesting watch than the actual Macbeth I saw. The scene where the two horsemen were riding through the field was a bit annoying though. Anyways, the choice of music, as well as when it was used helped intensify most of the scenes and the best parts to me were the death scenes, because they were really dramatic, pretty much comical.

Movie Review: "Throne of Blood"

The movie "Throne of Blood" brought similarities to the Shakespeare play "Macbeth". The two stories showed similarities of the territories defending their land and the old man who was suppose to be the evil wizard or something but was suppose to show the resemblance of the three witches in Macbeth. He also has his friend help him fight those that go against him, but later on he comes to find out that his friend betrays him. He seeks help from his wife, and his wife desires that he only do whats right for him. The King takes no more and decides to take immediate action by attacking everyone that comes in his way. In the end all of his men betray him and kill him. The way the King acts shows similar actions between him and Macbeth the way they both control power and crave for more are exactly alike. His wife and Lady Macbeth show similarities on how they act towards their husbands.
All in all it was pretty good movie, It was kind of slow at first but then got interesting as it was progressing. I couldn't understand what the wife was really trying to do, for some reason I thought she was the bad guy in this movie because of the way she portrayed herself. They did a pretty good job of making exactly like Macbeth except in their own version. But it was good.

Movie Review: Throne of Blood

I thought the film was very interesting in its choice of music and general way of filming. As soon as the film began, I knew it was following Macbeth's storyline. The actors and actresses were very strong with their facial expressions and given that, the acting was pretty intense. One scene that I especially found enjoyable was when the woman told her husband she was pregnant and the music came to an extremely high pitched screetch as the man reacted. Overall, I thought Throne of Blood was a crucial, well dialogued mere image of Macbeth and I will most likely never watch the film again.

Movie Review: Throne of Blood (1957)

This movie was just like Shakespeare's Macbeth. From the minute the movie started, I knew exactly what I was going to watch and what was going to happen. I thought the movie was interesting in the way that they used the same story line and related it to samurais, but overall, I was not interested in the movie. I thought it was kind of boring--maybe it would be great for a Japanese English Literature class.

next week

for the next class, you need to do 3 things below:
1. write the movie review as the comment of the post below.
2. write the 2nd comparison paper
3. study for the test on edo period, flower arragement and traditional performing arts (noh, kabuki, and bunraku).
see you in a week.

Movie Review 2

If you notice this post, can you post your moview review as the "comment" under this post?
Thank you.



Throne of Blood (1957)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

November 1st (Thursday)
5:00-6:50pm at McEniry

One of the most celebrated screen adaptations of Shakespeare into film, Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood re-imagines Macbeth in feudal Japan. Starring Kurosawa’s longtime collaborator Toshiro Mifune and the legendary Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife, the film tells of a valiant warrior’s savage rise to power and his ignominious fall. With Throne of Blood, Kurosawa fuses one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies with the formal elements of Japanese Noh theater to make a Macbeth that is all his own classic tale of ambition and duplicity set against a ghostly landscape of fog and inescapable doom.

pictures from 10/25 class

Tokugawa, Ieyasu
























Amakusa, Shiro

























Tokugawa, Tsunayoshi












Mito, Mitsukuni



























Matthew Perry

























Tokugawa, Yoshinobu (before Perry)

























Tokugawa, Yoshinobu (after Perry)
























Sakamoto, Ryoma

























Saigo, Takamori