Osaka in Modern Japanese Literature

MURAKAMI-SMITH,Andrew

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�c) 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? Is it possible to imagine an "Osaka Tradition" of modern literature as an alternative to the Tokyo-centered literary mainstream? To investigate these questions, we will read a variety of 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.
• Manga authors like Aoki Yuji and Morishita Hiromi.

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

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)
3. The Beginning of the "Osaka Tradition" in Modern Literature
      Chikamatsu Monzaemon, "The Love Suicides at Amijima"(1720)
      Kamitsukasa Shoken, "The Skin of the Pike Conger" (1914)
4. "I-Novelists" of Osaka
      Kajii Motojiro, "Lemon" (1924) and "A Winter Fly" (1928)
5. "I-Novelists" of Osaka
      Uno Koji, "Ten-House Alley" (1925) and "Landscape with Withered Tree" (1933)
6. A Proletarian Writer of Osaka
      Takeda Rintaro, "Kamagasaki" (1933) and "The First Day of the Fair" (1935)
      Cultural Criticism: Essays on Osaka
      Koide Narashige, "Drowsing in Spring" (1930) and "Too-Upbeat Osaka" (1936)
      Tanizaki Junichiro, "My Views on Osaka and Osakans" (1932)
      Oda Sakunosuke, "Osaka Rises" (1945) and "The Eternal Rookie" (1945)
7. Modernist Poetry
      Ono Tozaburo, "Tennoji Park" and "A Scene in the South of Osaka" (1934); "The Shore at North Port," "Bonfires," "Country of Reeds," and "Scenery" (1939) (poems)
8. A Tokyo Native's Osaka
      Tanizaki Junichiro, "A Portrait of Shunkin" (1933) and excerpt from The Makioka Sisters (1948)
9. Osaka's Greatest Native Son
      Oda Sakunosuke, "Hurray for Marriage, or Sweet Beans for Two" (1940), "City of Trees" (1944), and "Nerves" (1946)
10. Postwar Osaka Writers
       Shono Junzo, "Still Life" (1960)
       Kono Taeko, "Bone Meat" (1971)
11. Postwar Osaka Woman Poet and Novelist
       Tomioka Taeko, "between" (1957) and "Still Life" (1957) (poems)
       Tomioka Taeko, "Facing the Hills They Stand" (1971) and "Funeral of a Giraffe" (1976)
12. 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)
       "The Second Bakery Attack" (1985)
13. New Osaka Writers
       Excerpt from Nakaba Riichi, Kaoru-chan of Kishiwada (2002)
       Kawakami Mieko, "You People's Love is on its Deathbed" (2008)
14. Osaka in Manga
       Aoki Yuji, "Yodogawa Embankment" (1996)
       Koda Mamora, "A Can of Coffee" (2003)
       Morishita Hiromi, "Cattleya Morning" (2005)

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

Grading
   Your grade in this class will be based on Attendance, preparation, and participation (1/3); your Presentation (1/3); and the Paper (1/3).