Osaka in Modern Japanese Literature

MURAKAMI-SMITH, Andrew (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 the following.

• 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 ("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.
• Poetry by Yosano Akiko, Ono Tozaburo, and Tomioka Taeko.
• Manga works by Aoki Yuji, Koda Mamora, and Morishita Hiromi.

Course Content
   In this class, students will:

• Read the assigned stories.
• Think about discussion questions.
• Discuss the stories in small groups class.
• Turn in four Discussion Reports reporting on the contents of their group discussions.
• Make Group Presentations on the authors and works.
• Take an Essay Examination (only for students who do not take part in a Group Presentation).
• Write a Term Paper at least five pages in length, in English or Japanese, on the topic of their Group Presentation, or any other topic relating to modern Japanese literature. 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)
   Kamitsukasa Shoken, "The Skin of the Pike Conger Eel" (1914)
   
4. "I-Novelists" of Osaka
   Kajii Motojiro, "Lemon" (1924) or "A Winter Fly" (1928)
5. "I-Novelists" of Osaka
   Uno Koji, "Ten-House Alley" (1925) or "Landscape with Withered Tree" (1933)
6. Cultural Criticism: Essays on Osaka
   Koide Narashige, "On Low Things" (1930), "Drowsing in Spring" (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) or "Japan's Threepenny Opera" (1932)
9. A Tokyo Native's Osaka
   Tanizaki Junichiro, "A Portrait of Shunkin" (1933) and excerpt from The Makioka Sisters (1948)
10. Osaka's Greatest Native Son
    Oda Sakunosuke, "Hurray for Marriage, or Sweet Beans for Two" (1940), "City of Trees" (1944), or "Nerves" (1946)
11. The "Third Wave" of Postwar Writers
    Shono Junzo, " Still Life" (1960)
12. Postwar Writer Miyamoto Teru
    Miyamoto, "Muddy River" (1977)
13. Postwar Women Writers
    Tomioka Taeko, "Facing the Hills They Stand" (1971) or "Straw Dogs" (1980)
    Kono Taeko, "Bone Meat" (1971) or "Going Against the Tide" (2011)
14. "Entertainment" or Literature?
    Nakaba Riichi, excerpt from Kaoru-chan of Kishiwada (2002)
    Shinazaki Tomoka, "Sparks" (2009)
15. Osaka in Manga
    Aoki Yuji, "Yodogawa Embankment" (1996)
    Koda Mamora, "A Can of Coffee" (2003)
    Morishita Hiromi, "Cattleya Morning" (2005)

Textbooks
   There will be no textbook assigned for this course. The stories to be read, and all other course materials, will be uploaded to the on-line CLE system, which students can access from computers on and off campus. (Students unable to access CLE will be provided with hard copies of course materials.)

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)