OSAKA IN MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE

Andrew Murakami-Smith (Graduate School of Language and Culture)

Objective
   Tokyo is the "center" of Japan in ways that other capital cities (Washington D.C., Ottawa, Canberra, etc.) are not. Most major companies (finance, manufacturing, book publishing) are headquartered there, and people all over Japan hide their local dialects and speak a "standard" Japanese based on Tokyo speech. The literary world, too, was, until recently, centered in Tokyo, and many writers from Osaka and other areas went to Tokyo to pursue writing careers.
   In this environment, what does it mean for a writer to be from the Kansai, or to set a novel in Osaka? What of the writers who turned their backs on Tokyo and stayed in Osaka to write? In this course, we will investigate the possibility that there may be an "Osaka Tradition" of modern literature (perhaps an alternative to the Tokyo-centered literary mainstream) by reading a variety of post-1868 authors, including:
     Pre-modern writers Ihara Saikaku and the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, whose characters and themes are now regarded as typically Osakan.
     "Native sons" of Osaka Kamitsukasa Shoken ("Pike Conger Skin"/"Hamo no kawa") and Oda Sakunosuke ("Hurray for Marriage!"/"Meoto zenzai").
     Tokyo native Tanizaki Junichiro, who relocated to the Kansai after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, and, fascinated by Kansai culture, speech and women, never returned to Tokyo again.
     Manga authors like Aoki Yuji and Morishita Hiromi.
  
   In addition to reading the assigned stories, students will be expected to try to answer discussion questions about each story, and to be prepared to discuss the stories in class. Beginning in the middle part of the semester, students will make presentations analyzing the stories, providing their own answers to the discussion questions, and stimulating class discussion.
   A paper, which may be based on the presentation, will be due two weeks after your presentation. Guidance on writing academic papers in English will be provided.

Field Trip
   A field trip is planned to attend Bunraku, the traditional puppet theater with origins in Osaka.

Textbook
   No textbook will be assigned for this course. Copies of all necessary materials will be provided to students in class.

Evaluation
   Your grade in this class will be based on the following.
   Attendance, preparation, and participation: 1/3
   Presentation: 1/3
   Final Paper: 1/3

Course Schedule
   1. Introduction
   Brief explanation of historical and geographical background of Tokyo and the Kansai, the literary world in modern Japan, and the canon of modern Japanese literature.
  
   2. Osaka and the Classical Tradition
   Ihara Saikaku, excerpts from Five Women Who Loved Love (1686) and This Scheming World (1692)
   Chikamatsu Monzaemon, "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki" (1703)
  
   3. The Beginning of the "Osaka Tradition" in Modern Literature
   Kamitsukasa Shoken, "The Skin of the Pike Conger" (1914)
   Satomi Ton, "Blowfish" (1913)
  
   4. "I-Novelists" of Osaka
   Kajii Motojiro, "Lemon" (1924) and "A Winter Fly" (1928)
   Uno Koji, "Ten-House Alley" (1925)
  
   5. A Proletarian Writer of Osaka: Takeda Rintaro
   "Kamagasaki" (1933)
   "The First Day of the Fair" (1935)
   Essay: Koide Narashige, "Drowsing in Spring" (1930)
  
   6. A Tokyo Native's Osaka: Tanizaki Junichiro
   Essay: "My Views on Osaka and Osakans" (1932)
   "A Portrait of Shunkin" (1933)
   Excerpt from The Makioka Sisters (1948)
  
   7. Osaka's Greatest Native Son: Oda Sakunosuke
   "Hurray for Marriage, or Sweet Beans for Two" (1940)
   "City of Trees" (1944)
  
   8. Oda Sakunosuke as one of the "Decadents"
   "Nerves" (1946)
   Essay: "Osaka Rises" (1945)
   Essay: "The Eternal Rookie" (1945)
  
   9. Shono Junzo and the "Third Wave" of Postwar Writers
   "Evenings by the Pool" (1954)
   "Still Life" (1960)
  
   10. Kaiko Takeshi
   "The Duel" (1968)
   "The Crushed Pellet" (1978)
  
   11. Postwar Osaka Woman Poet and Novelist: Tomioka Taeko
   Poems: "between?" (1957) and "Still Life" (1957)
   "Facing the Hills They Stand" (1971)
   "Funeral of a Giraffe" (1976)
  
   12. Postwar Osaka Woman Novelist: Kono Taeko
   "Bone Meat" (1971)
   "Iron Fish" (1976)
  
   13. Is Murakami Haruki really from the Kansai?
   "The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema" (1983)
   "Afternoon in the Islets of Langerhans" (1986)
   "The Elephant Vanishes" (1987)
  
   14. New Osaka Writers
   Excerpt from Nakaba Riichi, Kaoru-chan of Kishiwada (2002)
   Kawakami Mieko, "Your Love is on its Deathbed" (2008)
  
   15. Osaka in Manga
   Aoki Yuji, "Yodogawa Embankment" (1996)
   Koda Mamora, "A Can of Coffee" (2003)
   Excerpt from Morishita Hiromi, Osaka Hamlet (2005)