Osaka in Modern Japanese Literature

Andrew MURAKAMI-SMITH (Graduate School of Language and Culture)

Course Objective
   Tokyo is the "center" of Japan in ways that capital cities like Washington D.C. or Canberra are not. The literary world was also, until recently, centered in Tokyo. What does it mean for a writer to be from Osaka or to set a novel there? In this course, we will investigate the possibility of an "Osaka Tradition" of modern literature (perhaps an alternative to the Tokyo-centered literary mainstream) by reading:

• Pre-modern writers Ihara Saikaku and the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, whose characters and themes are now regarded as typically Osakan.
• "Native sons" of Osaka Kamizukasa Shoken ("The Skin of the Pike Conger Eel" / "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.
• Poets Yosano Akiko, Ono Tozaburo, and Tomioka Taeko.
• Manga authors like Aoki Yuji and Morishita Hiromi.

Course Content
   Students will be expected to read the assigned stories and discuss them in small groups in class. Students will turn in four Discussion Reports during the semester (two during the first half and two during the second half of the semester), reporting on their group's discussion in class.
   Beginning in the middle part of the semester, groups of students will make Group Presentations analyzing the stories and leading a class discussion. Students who do not take part in a Group Presentation will take an Essay Examination at the end of the semester.
   Every student will submit a Paper at least five pages in length (double-spaced). Guidance on writing academic papers in English will be provided.

Class Plan

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)
   Kamizukasa Shoken, "The Skin of the Pike Conger Eel" (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. Cultural Criticism: Essays on Osaka
   Koide Narashige, "Drowsing in Spring" (1930), "On Low Things" (1930), and "Too-Upbeat Osaka" (1936)
   Oda Sakunosuke, "Osaka, Osaka" (1941), "Osaka Rises" (1945) and "Eternal Rookies" (1945)
7. Poetry
   Yosano Akiko, poems
   Ono Tozaburo, poems
   Tomioka Taeko, poems
8. A Proletarian Writer of Osaka
   Takeda Rintaro, "Kamagasaki" (1933) and "The First Day of the Fair" (1935)
9. A Tokyo Native's Osaka
   Tanizaki Junichiro, "Arrowroot" (1930) or "A Portrait of Shunkin" (1933)
10. Osaka's Greatest Native Son
    Oda Sakunosuke, "Hurray for Marriage, or Sweet Beans for Two" (1940), "City of Trees" (1944), and "Nerves" (1946)
11. Postwar Writers
    Shono Junzo, "Still Life" (1960)
    Miyamoto Teru, "Muddy River" (1977)
12. Postwar Women Writers
    Tomioka Taeko, "Facing the Hills They Stand" (1971) or "Straw Dogs" (1980)
    KonoTaeko, "Bone Meat" (1971) or "Going Against the Tide" (2011)
13. Is Murakami Haruki Really from the Kansai?
    Murakami, "The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema" (1983)
    Murakami, "Firefly" (1983)
    Murakami, "Afternoon in the Islets of Langerhans" (1986)
14. Entertainment or Literature?
    Nakaba Riichi, excerpt from Kaoru-chan of Kishiwada (2002)
    Aoki Yuji, "Yodogawa Embankment" (1996)
    Koda Mamora, "A Can of Coffee" (2003)
    Morishita Hiromi, "Cattleya Morning" (2005)
15. Essay Exam (for students who did not do Group Presentation).

Textbooks
   No textbook is assigned for this course. All course materials will be uploaded to the on-line CLE (Collaboration and Learning Environment) system, which students can access from computers on and off campus using their Osaka University Individual ID and password.

Grading Policy
   Your grade in this class will be equally based on all of the following:
   (1) Class participation, including four Discussion Reports: (1/3)
   (2) Group Presentation - OR - Final Essay Exam: (1/3)
   (3) Term Paper: (1/3)