Izutsu or The Well-Cradle in English title refers to the railing round the mouth of a well. In this story, the well is right outside of the young boy and the young girl’s houses. They often measured their height against the well-cradle. The well bonds two of them together since their early childhood. They had their most precious times around the well where they played, talked, and shared their feelings there. When they grew up into a young man and a young woman, they found out their love is deeply rooted towards each other and so get married. The tranquil water in the well gives readers an image of a mirror that reflects the figures of the young couple as well as symbolizes their pure love.
Izutsu is written by Zeami—the master of Nō playwright. “Zeami wrote The Well-Cradle in his sixties. Many people believe it is his greatest play, and one authority (Kosai Tsutomu) called it frankly ‘a masterpiece among the masterpiece’. It is admired as a model of the yūgen (depth and grace) that was Zeami’s own ideal and that the modern schools of nō proudly upheld. (R. Tayler, 2004, p120)” I agreed with the statement that Izutsu is a masterpiece among the masterpiece. Perhaps it was because the simplicity and straightness of expressions in the play, the touching storyline, and most importantly three of the very heart-moving poems that triggered me to pay close attention to this play; my fondness for Izutsu is above all the other plays in the book. Yūgen is the aesthetical concept in traditional Japanese literature. While the definition and components of yūgen had been changing overtime in the history of Japan, “in the 13th and 14th centuries yūgen came to imply a more elegant, ethereal beauty. The Nō playwright Zeami (1363－1443) was an ard...
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...a of Forgetfulness, they forget everything happened in the previous life. The well-cradle lady might have skipped the tea because she loved Narihira so much that she does not want to forget him. That explains why she can still remember Narihira after she reborn into her new life. She has been waiting for him like a
pine. She thinks it worth it no matter how many years or lives she has to bear the loneliness and sadness because Narihira has promised her to return. So she believes it and waits for him.
Works Cited
Introducing the world of Noh: Noh Dance. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from www. the-noh.com.
Japan knowledge. Ariwara no Narihira. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.jkn21.com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/body/display/
Japan knowledge. Yūgen. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.jkn21.com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/body/display/
Written by Zeami, Hanjo, or “Lady Han,” is a play which “resembles an old love ballad with a haunting tune” (108). Tyler's version is dated 1543, almost a century after Zeami died, which also means the text represented here may be different from Zeami's original. There is also a great amount of honzetsu and honkadori, or borrowing phrases from other prose texts and poems (respectively), not only from the older classics such as Kokinshū or Genji Monogatari, but there are also Chinese references in this particular play as well. I think this play is quite different from most of the other nō plays we have read so far.
Inspiration comes from many forms; it comes from friends, family, music, television, and even strangers. Inspiration can come at one subtlety or it can hit you like a bus. Professional, amateur, or even a novice can be inspired to make something. No matter what, an artist needs inspiration in order to create something out of nothing or in order to help finish an already existing art work. Here the inspiration from Mariko Mori will be conveyed, to know what helps give her inspiration that motivates her to do the art work that she does. Whether she herself is doing the performance or it is just a sculpture in a gallery, her works are unique, just like a finger print. What gave her the inspiration on two of her works;
Niska is rebellious, wild, strong, a character easy to love. She is born as the daughter of a Windigo killer and has seen much before she has grown. When a priest notices a young wild girl still wander Moose Factory, he comes to take Niska, she runs wild and even bites the priest. “I fought like a lynx then...” (Boyden, 92). Niska is resilient and gutsy throughout her time at the Residential School. When her hair is being cut, the nun cuts hers shorter than the other girls for a simple fact of disliking the young free child. Niska sneaks in the night and cuts the rest of her hair off and is thrown into a sort of solitary confinement for weeks and is fed only once a day. Niska states she never regrets her actions and when her mother comes to break her out is it clear that she has learned from a family of brave and courageous people. They take off into the forest and Niska is once again at ease,“Slowly becoming wild like the animals around us” (Boyden,
When the poem is read aloud, the explicit rhyme and rhythm of the lines becomes extremely obvious. In fact, the bouncy rhythm is so uplifting, it occasionally makes the audiences feel like it is too predictable and straight-forward. An example would be “bright with chrysolite”, the word “chrysolite” feels like it is forcefully implemented for the sake of the rhyme. This is somewhat similar to a children’s tale. Most children’s tale as we know it, conveys messages straightforwardly and are easily understood by children, it also has an amiable tone and a merry mood that engages the children 's attention. Similarly, the rhyme and rhythm of this poem is very obvious and explicit, creating a delightful, casual mood that appeals to a young audience. Even though the legend dealt with deep insights about parenting that are intricate and puzzling, the father delivered it in such a gratifying, simple manner that made even the most dark and dreadful matters: like the description of precarious beasts and vicious monsters to sound like a blissful adventure of friendly animals. The sole purpose of this contradiction between the tone and message is to make this seemingly strong and serious topic more tolerable and captivating to the son of the father. Unsensible, impulsive youth is very similar to restless children, a long insipid lecture about deep insights is very difficult for them to buy into. In the same time, a harsh, threatening warning will only make them obey unwillingly, and creating a doubtful relationship will make them uncomfortable to communicate or appeal to their parents. Clearly, the percipient father recognized the ineffectiveness of these unsuitable parenting methods. Instead, he conveyed the message in a uncomplicated, friendly way that made his son to accept his teachings more comfortably. A
... are fleeting nothings compared to nature’s love and offerings for her. Nature’s love for her and sticking to her values will remain her reality, not the hunter. All of that is not worth losing over a romantic fantasy.
Matthew Gerber. “The Importance of Poetry in Japanese Heian-era Romantic Relationships”. 2007 May. 2011 June 3.
place for her to determine that she was in fact a border dweller. This awakening is crucial to her
The Child’s Bath is one of Cassatt’s masterworks. This work uses many different devices such as bold patterns and outlines, and a perspective that is leveled. The bold patterns play off one another and center on the nakedness of the child, whose white legs are as straight as the lines of the woman’s striped dress. The high point allows the viewer to observe, but not be involved in, this affectionate scene. This masterwork again focuses on Cassatt’s main subject, the tender love of a woman with a child (The Child’s Bath, para
In the same way Japanese poetry often alludes to or derives from the canon of poetry that precedes it, noh plays are often based off of classical Japanese literary sources that form the framework for the play’s themes and moral message. Many of these plays reference poems from revered anthologies, such as the Shinkokinshū, within the play’s dialogue, but it is the monogatari or tales that provide the foundation for certain noh plotlines because of their vast array of character references and plotlines. These tales are the primary sources of information for two plays in particular written by the famous Japanese playwright Zeami: Atsumori and Matsukaze. The warrior-play Atsumori draws from the famous war epic The Tale of Heike to further an anti-war message grounded in the original text, as well as to further explore Buddhist themes of attachment and karmic ties. Matsukaze draws its origins and background from Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji and Ariwara no Narihira’s The Tales of Ise for location, tone, and themes of longing in order to juxtapose the Buddhist duality of attachment and detachment from this world.
Japan is known for its unique gardening style, their diverse plants, their food, and their beautifully woven tapestries. Yet, most do not know about the history of their drama. Japanese Noh theatre is one of the most precise and prestigious art forms. It has been this way since the fourteenth century when Zeami first created Noh theatre. Zeami’s most famous plays, such as Kinuta, are still performed today. Japanese drama has not changed much since the fourteenth century because it has made a lasting effect on the culture. Noh theatre had a major influence on fourteenth century Japan and has affected modern day drama.
The story revolves around the two children, boys, who were interested, more than the childhood and into the adult world. This is illuminated by the spying of homes when their uncle reaches home from the work and particular focuses on the Mangan’s sister while she was dressing up and when she moves from here and there swinging the soft hair rope from each side of the body.
The Man’yōshū (Collection of a Myriad) is an anthology of poetry with some 4,500 poems. The Man’yōshū is one the first anthologies of Japanese poetry but by some scholars it is considered one of the finest. In his book Japanese Culture author Paul Varley describes the poems of the Man’yōshū as follows, “Some of the Man’yōshū poems are spuriously attributed to emperors and other lofty individuals of the fourth and fifth centuries, an age shrouded in myth, and a great many more are anonymous” (43). Many poem anthologies have come and gone over the rich history of Japan but there are some key features of the Man’yōshū that keeps it apart from the many other anthologies. One of the key features is that it can be said that the poems found therein were not just written by the nobility but the hand of many classes of society contributed to the works of poetry within the anthology. From the peasants to the frontiers guards men to even the paupers of Japans societies contributed to this great anthology. Though some modern scholars believe tha...
In the poem “A Story”, Li-Young Lee shows the complicated relationship between the father and the son by using point of view and structure. Italicized lines distinguish who is talking to draw on point of view to indicate the complex relationship. The poem’s structure also identifies the complex relationship by increasing the lines in each stanza by one-until the sixth stanza which goes down to four lines, and then in the seventh stanza which goes back to five lines.
Each spring she hoped that her people would return and take her to the far off land which they had left for.
The Heian period(794-1185), the so-called golden age of Japanese culture, produced some of the finest works of Japanese literature.1 The most well known work from this period, the Genji Monogatari, is considered to be the “oldest novel still recognized today as a major masterpiece. ”2 It can also be said that the Genji Monogatari is proof of the ingenuity of the Japanese in assimilating Chinese culture and politics. As a monogatari, a style of narrative with poems interspersed within it, the characters and settings frequently allude to Chinese poems and stories.