Kojiki: Song 25 of Yamato-takeru

Moving along now on our short trip through Kojiki. In the previous post we saw really a mean-spirited little song from Yamato-takeru. A little smug of him. The story preceding the following song is very brief, essentially Yamato-takeru is travelling. Continue reading for the full analysis:

Okinawan boys bring WWII bomb to school

Here’s an interesting story today from the Times of India. It seems that every once in a while the shadow of WWII again reminds us of how much Japan–yes, even today’s futuristic Japan–grew out of the war experience.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Japan_boys_bring_WWII_bomb_to_school/articleshow/4046874.cms

Kojiki: Song 23 of Yamato-takeru

As promised in the earlier “Agenda” post, I will be working on classical Japanese poetry this semester. So, I’m kicking it off with a song from the Kojiki. This song is attributed to Yamato-takeru. Continue reading for the full analysis.

Christians in Japan (16-17th C.)

I have recently read two article pertaining the Christian experience in 16-17 c. Japan. Both are from Nanzan University’s Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2007, 34/1. The first is Peter Nosco’s “The Experiences of Christians During the Underground Years and Thereafter” [85–97] and Tomoko Kitagawa’s “The Conversion of Hideyoshi’s Daughter Gō” [9–25]. Both of these should be accessible as PDFs in the links provided.

Read the full post for analysis.

The Agenda

So it would seem that most of the posts in the near future will involve classical Japanese literature in one way or another. Probably dealing more directly with poetry. The reason being: I am faced with a seminar on classical Japanese poetry this semester. Looks like its going to be pretty brutal. But I might as well make something of it. Look forward to more classical Japanese poetry in the coming weeks.

Welcome

Welcome to the Japonesque blog. Your one stop shop for…ok, I’m not a strong believer in strong introductions.  Read the About page if you’re really curious. So ようこそ。。。終。

Cool band.

So I ran across this band on YouTube. I think they’re from Osaka. Haven’t made it big by the looks of it either. They call themselves 3 Bearded Monkeys. Check out the video below. That bassist is nuts!