Discussion Week 4: Ghosts Become Visible Reading [J Tales]: Bring Japanese Tales and "The Suicide of the Protector of Etchu" to discussion sections! Useful information about the sources of the tales: What are SETSUWA? Short didactic fictional tales (often claiming to be non-fiction) that were disseminated in edited collections during the medieval period. Two important collections of setsuwa that appear in Japanese Tales Konjaku Monogatari shû (Tales of Times Now Past), early 12th c., circa 1120. Uji Shûi Monogatari (A Collection of Uji Tales), early 13th c. Useful information about tales you will be analyzing. You do not have to write out answers to these questions, but you should consider them in your answers to the discussion questons below. (For additional useful information see the reading questions.)
#97 "A Model Demon" from A Collection of Uji Tales
#216 "Hell in Broad Day" from Tales of Times Now Past
[OL] "The Suicide of the Protector of Etchû" from the Taiheiki. Wikipedia on the Taiheiki: "The Taiheiki is a Japanese historical epic (gunki monogatari), written in the late 14th century. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chô [1336-1392], the period of war between the Northern Court of Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto, and the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino." This episode, however, concerns a fisherman who runs into the ghosts of three samurai warriors (the governor of Tôtômi, his brother, and nephew) and their wives, who had died many years previously in the Genpei wars (1180-85). During the war, when the men found themselves surrounded and outnumbered, they sent their wives out in a boat to commit suicide by drowning, and then committed ritual suicide and burned their castle. The first part of the story gives the historical tragedy; the second part, a ghost story related to that tragedy.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Answer the following questions for: "Very Kind of Him, No Doubt" (#28), "A Model Demon" (#97), "Hell in Broad Day" (#216), and McCullough, trans. Taiheiki, "The Suicide of the Protector of Etchû." (For more information about setsuwa, see the reading questions. Also read the introduction to Japanese Tales) a. Who do you think is behind the story -- that is, who might be the author/patron? A priest from a Buddhist temple? Shinto/Taoist priest? Aristocrat? b. Who do you think was the likely audience? Aristocrats? Commoners? Both? c. What is the goal of the story? Entertainment? To teach a lesson? If the latter, what is the lesson being taught? d. Who might benefit from this story? For example, will it bring more believers into a temple or shrine? a. What do they look like? How do they fit into the models of ghosts so far (angry ghosts, ekijin/raijin, hungry ghosts, demons)? 2) What is new/different? 3. In each story, who can see the ghosts? 4. Given the analysis above, and what you've learned in class, what order would place these stories in chronologically? Why? General Question to consider: 1. Why do you suppose ghosts become visible to ordinary people during this period? Can you see any hints in the stories themselves?
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