Course outline
Module 1
Module 1: The World of The Tale of Genji
The World of The Tale of Genji
Knowledge check
Q1. Who is traditionally credited as the author of The Tale of Genji?
- A. Sei Shonagon
- B. Murasaki Shikibu ✓
- C. Ki no Tsurayuki
- D. Izumi Shikibu
Why: Murasaki Shikibu, a noblewoman at the Heian court in the early 11th century, is traditionally credited with writing The Tale of Genji, which is often considered the world's first novel.
Q2. In which period of Japanese history was The Tale of Genji written?
- A. Nara period
- B. Heian period ✓
- C. Kamakura period
- D. Edo period
Why: The Tale of Genji was composed during the Heian period (794-1185), a time when the imperial court in Kyoto flourished in arts and literature.
Q3. Who is the central protagonist of The Tale of Genji?
- A. Kaoru
- B. Yugiri
- C. Hikaru Genji ✓
- D. Ukifune
Why: Hikaru Genji, the 'Shining Prince,' is the son of the emperor and a commoner consort, and he is the central figure whose romances and political fortunes drive the narrative.
Q4. What form of writing was predominantly used by Heian court women like Murasaki Shikibu?
- A. Classical Chinese prose
- B. Hiragana ✓
- C. Katakana
- D. Sanskrit script
Why: Heian women largely wrote in hiragana, a phonetic script regarded as suitable for personal and literary expression, while men typically used classical Chinese for official documents.
Q5. What is the typical poetic form frequently exchanged between characters in The Tale of Genji?
- A. Haiku
- B. Sonnet
- C. Tanka ✓
- D. Ghazal
Why: Tanka, a five-line poem with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern, is woven throughout The Tale of Genji and was used by characters to express emotion, courtship, and reflection.
Module 2
Module 2: Poetry and Courtly Life in the Heian Era
Poetry and Courtly Life in the Heian Era
Knowledge check
Q1. During the Heian period, what was the primary form of poetry that courtiers composed and exchanged?
- A. Haiku
- B. Waka ✓
- C. Kanshi
- D. Senryu
Why: Waka, the 31-syllable form (5-7-5-7-7), was the principal poetic form of the Heian court. Courtiers used it for correspondence, social exchange, and expressing emotion. Haiku developed later, while kanshi were Chinese-style poems written in classical Chinese.
Q2. Which anthology, compiled in 905 by order of Emperor Daigo, marked the first imperially commissioned collection of waka?
- A. Man'yoshu
- B. Kokinshu ✓
- C. Shin Kokinshu
- D. Hyakunin Isshu
Why: The Kokinshu (Kokin Wakashu, 'Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems') was commissioned in 905 and compiled by Ki no Tsurayuki and others. It established the courtly waka style that dominated the Heian era. The Man'yoshu is earlier, from the Nara period, and the Hyakunin Isshu is a later anthology of one hundred poems by one hundred poets.
Q3. What was the typical way a Heian courtier would reveal the depth of their feelings to a romantic interest?
- A. By speaking openly at court gatherings
- B. By sending a poem, often matched to the season and paper, to the recipient ✓
- C. By visiting in person during daylight hours
- D. By sending a formal written letter in prose only
Why: Courtship in the Heian era was conducted largely through poetry exchanged in letters. A suitor's poem was judged on its wit, calligraphy, choice of paper, and seasonal appropriateness, and the recipient's reply revealed their interest. Direct contact was often limited, making the poem central.
Q4. Which literary figure, a lady-in-waiting at court, is known for the 'Tale of Genji' and is often read alongside the poetry of her era?
- A. Sei Shonagon
- B. Murasaki Shikibu ✓
- C. Izumi Shikibu
- D. Ono no Komachi
Why: Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji in the early eleventh century while serving at court. Her work is a masterpiece of Heian prose and includes many waka exchanged by its characters. Sei Shonagon wrote The Pillow Book, Izumi Shikibu was a celebrated poet, and Ono no Komachi was a famous waka poet of the earlier Heian period.
Q5. What aesthetic sensibility, central to Heian court poetry, values the transience of beauty and the pathos of impermanence?
- A. Wabi
- B. Sabi
- C. Mono no aware ✓
- D. Yugen
Why: Mono no aware, roughly 'the pathos of things,' is a sensitivity to the fleeting nature of beauty and life, prominent in Heian literature and poetry. Wabi and sabi emerged more strongly in later medieval aesthetics, and yugen is associated with Noh theater and profound mystery.
Module 3
Module 3: Samurai Narratives and the Medieval Imagination
Samurai Narratives and the Medieval Imagination
Knowledge check
Q1. Which work is the most famous medieval war chronicle depicting the Genpei War (1180–1185) and is often performed by biwa-playing storytellers?
- A. The Tale of Genji
- B. The Tale of the Heike ✓
- C. The Pillow Book
- D. The Tales of Ise
Why: The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) narrates the rise and fall of the Taira clan during the Genpei War. Its episodes were traditionally chanted to the accompaniment of the biwa lute by blind itinerant performers.
Q2. What is the opening line's central image of impermanence in The Tale of the Heike, often compared to the sound of a temple bell?
- A. The waves of the sea
- B. The falling of cherry blossoms
- C. The ringing of the Gion Shōja (Gion Temple) bell ✓
- D. The autumn moon over Kyoto
Why: The famous opening passage states that the sound of the Gion Shōja bell echoes the impermanence of all things, a Buddhist theme that runs throughout the work.
Q3. Which term refers to a mounted warrior of the medieval Japanese aristocratic class whose code of conduct later became known as bushidō?
- A. Ronin
- B. Bushi ✓
- C. Daimyo
- D. Ashigaru
Why: Bushi (warrior) is the general term for the medieval military class. Bushidō, the 'way of the warrior,' was a codified ethic formalized largely in the Edo period, though it drew on earlier medieval warrior values.
Q4. Which Edo-period work, often considered a samurai ethics text, was compiled by the warrior Yamamoto Tsunetomo and famously declares that the way of the samurai is found in death?
- A. The Book of Five Rings
- B. Hagakure ✓
- C. The Tale of Heiji
- D. Kojiki
Why: Hagakure ('Hidden Leaves'), recorded by Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the early 18th century, contains the well-known statement that the way of the samurai is found in death, emphasizing resolute readiness to die.
Q5. Which medieval war tale centers on the tragic rivalry between the Minamoto (Genji) and Taira (Heike) clans and includes the famous figure of the warrior monk Benkei?
- A. The Tale of Heiji
- B. The Tale of Yoshitsune (Gikeiki) ✓
- C. The Man'yōshū
- D. The Hōjōki
Why: The Gikeiki (Chronicle of Yoshitsune) tells the story of the Minamoto general Yoshitsune, his campaigns against the Taira, and his companionship with the loyal warrior monk Benkei, a figure central to later Noh and Kabuki adaptations.
Module 4
Module 4: Haiku and the Art of Brevity: Bashō and Issa
Haiku and the Art of Brevity: Bashō and Issa
Knowledge check
Q1. Which poet is traditionally regarded as the greatest master of the haiku form, known for elevating it into a serious art?
- A. Ihara Saikaku
- B. Matsuo Bashō ✓
- C. Motoori Norinaga
- D. Ueda Akinari
Why: Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) transformed the haikai verse tradition into a refined art form, and his work, such as the travel journal Oku no Hosomichi, established the haiku as a vehicle for deep observation and spiritual insight.
Q2. What is the traditional seasonal element in haiku called, which signals the time of year through a word or image?
- A. Kireji
- B. Kigo ✓
- C. Engo
- D. Makurakotoba
Why: A kigo is a seasonal reference word that anchors a haiku in a particular time of year. Kireji, by contrast, is a cutting word used for emphasis or pause, and engo refers to associated words within linked verse.
Q3. Which of the following is the famous frog haiku often associated with Bashō?
- A. The moon at dawn / lingers over the snowy peaks
- B. An old silent pond / a frog jumps into the pond / splash! silence again ✓
- C. Autumn evening / the crow settles on a bare branch
- D. Cherry blossoms fall / a thousand birds sing in the hills
Why: Bashō's pond haiku is one of the most celebrated poems in Japanese literature. It captures a sudden sound breaking a moment of stillness, illustrating the haiku ideal of finding profound meaning in a brief, concrete moment.
Q4. Kobayashi Issa is best known for poems that frequently feature which subject?
- A. Court ceremonies and imperial life
- B. Warrior battles and samurai honor
- C. Small creatures, such as insects, frogs, and sparrows, often with warm humor and compassion ✓
- D. Urban merchants and commercial trade
Why: Issa (1763–1828) is noted for his tender, humorous attention to small living beings and everyday humble life. His compassionate and playful tone contrasts with the more contemplative style often associated with Bashō.
Q5. What does the term 'brevity' in haiku primarily refer to?
- A. Writing only in a single syllable
- B. Using a very short poem, typically of about 17 syllables, that suggests far more than it states ✓
- C. Avoiding all imagery in favor of abstract ideas
- D. Composing poems that are published only in brief newspaper columns
Why: Haiku is traditionally built on roughly 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern. Its power lies in compression, leaving much unsaid so the reader's imagination completes the image and meaning.
Module 5
Module 5: Meiji Modernization and the Birth of the Modern Novel
Meiji Modernization and the Birth of the Modern Novel
Knowledge check
Q1. Which Meiji-era novel is often cited as the first modern Japanese novel written in the vernacular style (genbun itchi)?
- A. The Tale of Genji
- B. Ukigumo (Drifting Clouds) by Futabatei Shimei ✓
- C. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
- D. The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki Junichiro
Why: Futabatei Shimei's Ukigumo (1887-1889) is widely regarded as a landmark of the modern Japanese novel because it used colloquial speech patterns close to spoken language, helping to establish the genbun itchi movement that unified written and spoken Japanese.
Q2. What does the term genbun itchi mean?
- A. Separation of classical and modern poetry
- B. Unification of spoken and written language ✓
- C. Translation of Western novels into Japanese
- D. Reform of the Japanese writing system to katakana only
Why: Genbun itchi means 'unification of the spoken and written language.' It was a Meiji-era movement to write in a style closer to everyday speech, replacing the difficult classical Chinese-influenced literary style.
Q3. Which major historical event marked the beginning of the Meiji era in 1868?
- A. The opening of Japan to Western trade by Commodore Perry
- B. The Restoration that returned power from the shogunate to the emperor ✓
- C. The defeat of Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War
- D. The promulgation of the Meiji Constitution
Why: The Meiji Restoration of 1868 ended the Tokugawa shogunate and restored imperial rule under Emperor Meiji, launching a period of rapid modernization, Westernization of institutions, and industrialization.
Q4. Natsume Soseki was primarily known for which profession alongside his writing career?
- A. Physician
- B. Diplomat
- C. English literature scholar and professor ✓
- D. Newspaper editor only
Why: Natsume Soseki studied English literature, was sent to London for study, and later taught English literature at Tokyo Imperial University. His academic background deeply informed his novels, which explore modern individualism and Western influence.
Q5. Which novel by Natsume Soseki is about a cat narrating the foibles of his teacher-owner?
- A. Botchan
- B. I Am a Cat ✓
- C. Kokoro
- D. Sanshiro
Why: I Am a Cat (Wagahai wa neko de aru, 1905-1906) is narrated by an unnamed cat satirizing the pretensions of the intellectual class in Meiji society. Botchan is a different Soseki novel, narrated by a young teacher, not a cat.
Module 6
Module 6: Postwar Voices: Dazai, Mishima, and Kawabata
Postwar Voices: Dazai, Mishima, and Kawabata
Knowledge check
Q1. Which novelist is known for the 1948 novel 'No Longer Human' (Ningen Shikkaku) and died by suicide in 1948?
- A. Yasunari Kawabata
- B. Osamu Dazai ✓
- C. Yukio Mishima
- D. Natsume Soseki
Why: Osamu Dazai wrote 'No Longer Human,' a semi-autobiographical novel about alienation, and he died by suicide in 1948, shortly after its serialization. Kawabata and Mishima were contemporaries, but the author of this work was Dazai.
Q2. Which Japanese writer won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, becoming the first Japanese author to receive it?
- A. Yukio Mishima
- B. Kenzaburo Oe
- C. Yasunari Kawabata ✓
- D. Haruki Murakami
Why: Yasunari Kawabata received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese writer to be so honored. His works, such as 'Snow Country' and 'The Master of Go,' are noted for their lyrical sensitivity to nature and emotion.
Q3. Which novel by Yukio Mishima follows a young Buddhist acolyte who burns the Golden Pavilion temple in Kyoto?
- A. Snow Country
- B. The Sound of Waves
- C. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion ✓
- D. Thousand Cranes
Why: 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' (Kinkakuji), published in 1956, is based on a real 1950 arson incident. Mishima explores beauty, obsession, and alienation through the disturbed novice protagonist.
Q4. Which Kawabata novel is set in a remote hot spring town and centers on the relationship between Shimamura and the geisha Komako?
- A. Snow Country ✓
- B. The Master of Go
- C. The Sound of the Mountain
- D. Thousand Cranes
Why: 'Snow Country' (Yukiguni) depicts the affair between Shimamura, a wealthy urban dilettante, and Komako, a geisha in a snowbound mountain hot spring town. The novel is celebrated for its atmospheric imagery and restrained prose.
Q5. What term describes the sense of beauty found in transience and impermanence, a theme often present in postwar Japanese writing by Kawabata and Mishima?
- A. Wabi-sabi
- B. Mono no aware ✓
- C. Ikigai
- D. Shibui
Why: Mono no aware, roughly 'the pathos of things,' refers to a deep awareness of the impermanence of life and a melancholic appreciation of beauty. It is a classical aesthetic concept that runs strongly through the work of Kawabata and Mishima.
Module 7
Module 7: Murakami and the Global Japanese Novel
Murakami and the Global Japanese Novel
Knowledge check
Q1. Which Murakami novel, published in 1987 in two volumes, is set in 1984 Tokyo and follows a woman named Aomame and a man named Tengo?
- A. Norwegian Wood
- B. 1Q84 ✓
- C. Kafka on the Shore
- D. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Why: 1Q84 (published 2009-2010 in Japanese, with its title playing on 1984 and the Orwellian year) follows Aomame and Tengo in an alternate version of 1984 Tokyo. Norwegian Wood is set in the 1960s and focuses on Toru Watanabe.
Q2. Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood takes its title from which source?
- A. A Japanese poem by Basho
- B. A Beatles song ✓
- C. A Dostoevsky chapter
- D. A Kawabata short story
Why: The title comes from the Beatles song 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)' from the album Rubber Soul. Music, especially Western pop and jazz, appears frequently in Murakami's fiction.
Q3. Which literary tradition does Murakami's work frequently draw on, reflecting his influence from Western authors?
- A. Classical Noh theater
- B. American hard-boiled detective fiction ✓
- C. Medieval Japanese war tales
- D. Soviet socialist realism
Why: Murakami has acknowledged a strong debt to American writers such as Raymond Chandler, whose hard-boiled style and lonely detective figures echo in Murakami's protagonists. He also translated Chandler into Japanese.
Q4. What is the name of the fantastical underground realm that appears in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, accessed through a well?
- A. The Dreamlands
- B. The Other Side or an unreal dimension tied to the well ✓
- C. The Imperial Palace archive
- D. A Tokyo subway tunnel
Why: In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the protagonist Toru Okada descends into a dry well in his neighborhood, which becomes a passage to a surreal parallel space associated with memory, violence, and historical trauma from Japan's wartime past.
Q5. Which of Murakami's novels won the Franz Kafka Prize and features a teenage runaway and an Oedipal prophecy?
- A. Kafka on the Shore ✓
- B. South of the Border, West of the Sun
- C. Sputnik Sweetheart
- D. After Dark
Why: Kafka on the Shore (2002) won the Franz Kafka Prize. It follows fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home to escape a prophecy that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother and sister.