Japanese Ghosts Winter 2014 Take-home Final Exam

General Points: remember that the course is, for the most part, CHRONOLOGICAL. One of the main things I'm interested in is how the same basic story changes over time in response to changing historical contexts. To understand this, you need to make sure you know approximately WHEN each piece of literature was written!! See timeline.

An excellent answer: will closely analyze the texts themselves, using appropriate quotations to support your argument, and will be informed by readings and the general class lecture/discussion about the author, audience, goal, etc. For a more detailed evaluation rubric, scroll down to Evaluation Rubric under Exams.

DUE DATE: The final exam should be submitted in by drop box Thursday March 20th at 5:00 (feel free to submit it earlier if you wish!).

FORMAT:

1. Your answers should be double-spaced, with the question numbers clearly labeled. Page numbers please!

2. Put your name(s) and ID number(s) on a cover sheet (please don't put them on the test pages).

3. Make sure that you CITE any information you use both from outside sources (including the internet!!!!) and from the class readings. If you have any questions about what constitutes a proper citation, scroll down to "citation forms" under Exams.

4. The page limits are a general guideline. I would advise against writing less than the lower limit, but you can write a bit more than the upper limit if you need to.

OFFICE HOURS: Susan will have office hours Wednesday 11:00-1:00 HIB 479, and by appointment, if you have any last minute questions.

I. ANGRY GHOSTS

Choose ONE of the following two questions (50 points, 3-5 pages)

1) Michizane as vengeful ghost and deity. In your midterm paper you considered the question of how the meaning of ghosts was politicized in Heian Japan. Discuss the further development in the Muromachi and Edo period of the religious and political uses of angry male ghosts by various factions. In answering you should consider the following questions: Compare the Noh version and the Bunraku/Kabuki version of the story of Michizane with the original Heian period version(s). How has the story of Michizane's transformation into the Thunder God been changed in the Noh and Bunraku/Kabuki? Why does he become the thunder deity? Why and how is he pacified/deified? Is he associated with subversion and peasant rebellion in any way? How might these changes reflect changes in the audience/patronage, genre, and in the political and religious context in which these plays were produced? ["The God of Fire and Thunder" (Japanese Tales 144-48); Borgen, "Michizane as Tenjin"; The Taiheiki, trans. Helen McCullough "The Matter of the Shrine of Sugawara no Michizane" (350-363); translation of the Noh play Raiden; Introduction to Raiden "The Michizane Legend as Seen in the Noh Drama Raiden"; excerpts from Bunraku play Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy, "Mt. Tenpai" and "Tumult at the Palace" (Trad J Thtr)]

2) Changing representation of female ghosts. Compare female ghosts in the Heian, Muromachi, and Edo periods. You should begin by comparing the representation of Rokujô in Tale of Genji with her representation in the Noh play we read (Aoi no Ue). Then consider how the representation of female ghosts changes in the Edo period by analyzing the female ghosts in Kabuki and woodblock prints of the 19th century. (Okiku, Oiwa from Yotsuya Ghost Story etc.). You may bring in other plays/stories if you like. Points of comparison you should consider: the ghosts' visual characteristics, their motivations (i.e. what keeps them haunting this world), their level of psychological complexity, their level of power, and how they are pacified and/or exorcised. How might the changed representation of women reflect changes in politics/class structure/gender (i.e. consider issues of audience/patronage, dominant ideals for women [onna-rashisa] etc.)? How might the changes reflect changes in the dominant religious framework from Heian to Edo period? [Tale of Genji; Noh plays Aoi no Ue (and possibly Kurozuka/Adachigahara); Yotsuya Ghost Story (Act 2 in Traditional Japanese Theater and Acts 3 and 4 on-line) and other Edo ghost stories; Brenda Jorden "Yûrei: Tales of Female Ghosts" etc.]

II. KYOGEN: Answer the following question (25 points, 1-2 pages):

1) For this question you will compare and analyze two new plays, the Kyôgen Bird Catcher in Hell and the Noh Cormorant Fishing (Ukai) (see here for an alternate translation by Arthur Waley, 1921). How does the Kyôgen vision of hell compare with that depicted in the Noh and in the medieval hell scrolls? How does this Kyôgen play subvert and parody the more serious medieval views of hell? What factors (genre, patronage, goals etc.) might explain Kyôgen's attitude?

Make sure you support your argument with specific, concrete, examples from the plays. Note that Cormorant Fishing is a pre-Zeami play and therefore the patronage would be a temple or shrine, rather than elite samurai and aristocracy. It is also a hybrid form -- it starts out like a dream vision Noh with an ordinary villager who turns out to be a ghost, but then in the second part King Yama (= King Enma/Emma, King of Hell) appears to discuss the salvation of the comorant fisher. Its view of hell is also hybrid, not purely personal/metaphorical/psychological as in the dream vision Noh Yashima. This may be related to patronage.

The kyogen play Bird Catcher in Hell is much clearer (and it's also a better translation); it is definitely making fun of Cormorant Fishing  and how it does this should be the main focus of your answer.

To supplement your argument feel free to compare this play to other Kyogen plays we read in class, such as Asaina or The Cicada (Traditional Japanese Theater, 284-94).

III. FOXES: Answer the following question (25 points, 1-2 pages):

1) Analyze tale #47 (pp. 63-66) from Royall Tyler's Japanese Tales. Identify any elements of fox belief in the story (you should be able to recognize these from class discussion and readings). How does this story compare to other stories we read about foxes in Japanese Tales? Compare the use of the Dagini (AKA Dakini or Daten) ritual and the story of possession to the modern stories of fox possession that Carmen Blacker discusses in her chapters on "Witch Animals" and "Exorcism." (Click here for supplemental information on the esoteric deity Dakini). How are they similar? How are they different? How might some of the differences reflect changes in attitude towards fox ownership and fox possession between the medieval period and 19th-20th century Japan? [fox stories in Japanese Tales (see syllabus week 7); Janet Goff "Foxes in Japanese Culture"; Carmen Blacker Catalpa Bow "Witch Animals" and "Exorcism"; Tsurigitsune (The Fox and the Trapper); The Death Stone]