AUTHOR
-beginning of European
Mori Ogai
• Rintaro Mori (Great Japanese Meiji
Restoration writer)
Feb. 17, 1862 – born in Shimane
Prefecture
Eldest son of a physician
to the local daimyo (feudal
lord)
1872 – His father took him to Tokyo to
learn German at a private school
1874 – Recorded his age as 14 years old to
enter the preparatory course of Tokyo
Medical College
1881- Became the youngest student ever
to graduate at 19 yrs. Old from the
University of Tokyo
1884-1888 – studied medicine in Germany
1888 – Return to Japan and modernize
both Japanese medicine and literature
1890 – He published Maihime (Dancing
Girl)
1894 – Serves as an army surgeon in
Suno-Japanese War
1904-1905 – Russo-Japanese War
1907 – Promoted to the rank of surgeon
general of the Japanese army
July 8, 1922 – he died
He wrote numerous works:
Autobiographical
• 1909 – Vita Sexualis
• 1911 – Wild Geese
Historical Novels
• 1913 – The Abe Family
• 1915 – Sasho Daya
• 1916 – The Takase Boat
Shibue Chusai
• He translated the works of several
European authors (Henry Ibsen,
Goethe, Anderson etc).
• Helped create a new literature for
the Japanese people through
expand
MEIJI PERIOD
 Opening of Japan to the West
 Industrialization
 Radical reforms
-Educational System
(Compulsory education)
-Military System (from the
traditional samurai to the
compulsory military
service)
 Literature
influences to literature
-new techniques and
approaches
- Naturalism and Realism
enters Japanese Literature
PLOT
The story is told in the first person by
a narrator who also takes some parts
in the action.
• 1880, 13th reign of Emperor Meiji
• The narrator lodged in Kamijo
• He had a lodge mate who
happened to be his friend due to
their common interest- reading,
his name is Okada
• September, when Okada met the
“woman on the window” and gets
attracted to her
The narrator turned back the story
before Okada’s account happened.
(The story of the “woman on the
window”)
• In a dormitory in Shitaya, there
were servants whom students
could use for errands and one of
them is Suezo
• Aside from being a servant, he is
also said to be a money lender
• When he began working in the
university, he is already 30 years
old and had a wife and a child to
support
• He made a good fortune through
money lending, thus they moved to
a new house but he began to
dissatisfied with his wife
• He look for a mistress and her
name is Otama
• After what he had heard about the
separation of Otama to his
American policeman husband, he
started to court the lady
• He placed the lady at a house in
Muenzaka and they also agreed
that Otama’s father will be placed
in a house near to her at Ike- no-
hata
• Otsune, Suezo’s wife heard gossips
about the lady in Muenzaka, she
confronted him but Suezo denied it
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It is at this point that we return to the
moment of her first meeting with
Okada, from here on, the story
proceeds to its ending.
• Time passed, Otama became bored
and began to dream that one of the
students who passes by in her
house would save her from her
predicament
• September, she met Okada
• Suezo bought two linnets (birds) for
Otama which attacked by a snake
but Okada came to the rescue and
killed the snake.
• Otama is longing for Okada
• Otama arranged that both Suezo
and her maid will be away one
evening and plans to meet and talk
to Okada.
• Okada told his friend, the narrator,
that he will be going to Germany to
study medicine the very next day
and this is why he refused to react
to Otama’s presence
• The story ends as the narrator
explained how he came to learn
both sides of the affair
CHARACTERS
Narrator
 A friend to Okada
Okada
 A quiet, good student who
fell in love with Otama
 A man who torn between
two hitch but chose to fulfill
his duty than his desire
Otama
 A virtuous daughter
 The mistress of Suezo
 A kept woman who strives
to escape from the only
man who can help her to
fulfill her desire to give her
father a trouble free old
age.
Suezo
 A servant who turned
moneylender
 A persevere and discipline
man who struggle for
creating a good fortune in
life
 A manipulative man
 A discontented man,
looking for another interest
in life by means of Otama
Otama’s Father
 A loving and giving father
Otsune
 The ugly and quarrelsome
wife of Suezo
 A neurotic wife seeking for
attention and affection
from Suezo
THEMES
 Tradition against the
changing society.
 A woman’s struggle for
escape
 Societal Restraint vs.
Emotional Relations
 Desire vs. Duty
SYMBOLS
 Caged linnets (birds)
represents Otama’s cry for
escape
 Wild geese- traditional
and recurring symbol in
Japanese Literature;
represents departure and
sadness. In the story the
flight of the geese
represents the departure of
Okada.
PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS
ANTHROPOCENTRISM
 Is reflected in the novel, especially
in the character of Otama
POWER OF THE MOMENT
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  When Otsune wants to go back to Pg. 1 “All the
her past; with her parents and borders in the
family, but she cannot because she Kamijo were
is already a wife of Suezo. Medical
 Okada and Otama let the moment, students…”
were they can talked, passed. Pg. 22” When the
medical school moved
BELIEF IN SHAME from Shitaya to Hongo

 Otama did not feel guilty as  Use of Western Words

regards to her being a mistress; and Mathematics
instead she felt shame when she
found out that she was an usurer’s Pg. 117 “Silentium”
mistress. exclaimed Ishihara

GOODNESS AND BADNESS IS RELATIVE “Calculating the

volume of a cone”
 Suezo cannot complain about what “pi equals
Otsune is reacting towards him as 3.1416”
well as with their family because he Reference:
knows that he is the main factor
why she is in that state. Mori Ogai and The Modernization of
Japanese Culture by James Browing (1972)
WESTERN INFLUENCE

 The mention of Western The Family

objects by
Pa Chin
Pg. 23 “ …noticed a
pair of western Pa Chin
shoes in the  1904
doorway”  Li Pei Chan
Pg. 107”….A  May Forth Movement of 1919
European book of  led by youth, students...
Children’s stories”  rejects old tradition
 Anarchist
 Accounts that mentions  1st novel- Mi Wang 'The
that Westerners lived in Destruction'
Japan
The Family
Pg. 23”…the loss of  Autobiographical novel of Pa Chin
Otama to a (as seen in the character of Chui
policeman with Hui)
terrifying looks was  introduced by describing a place
like having her
carried off by a WINTER (cold)
monster with a  incident at the theater
long nose and a red
 rally outside the governor's errors
face
home
Pg. 30”…Some
westerners were  Chui Hui's imprisonment at home
beheaded at  New Youth Magazine ( writer)
Namayagi”  New Year celebration
Pg. 41”…A  Dragon Dance
Foreigner ! What a  Ming Feng: forced to be concubine
hat she got on!  Death

 The presence of SUMMER (Climax)

University/ Medical  66th b-day of Master Kao
School; dormitory  mutual understanding of Chu-Min-
Chin

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  Arrange Marriage
 Grandniece of Feng-Chi- Min
 Mei's Death
 Chue-Min: left the house with a
demand
 Ket-Ing secret revealed
 Master Kao's change of heart
 Death of Master Kao
 Ju- Chue left the city
 Death
AUTUMN (New Born)
 Chu Min and Chin to marry
 Chue Hui's departure
Chinese Theater
I. What is Theater?
Theater (theatron or
“seeing place”) may be
defined as not only as a
structure in which dramatic
performance are given, but
as the sum of all the arts
required for production, of
a dramatic or imitative
action.
II. History of Chinese Theater
 date is unknown; developed by
civic and national ceremony
 said to be established by an
emperor in 700 B.C, where the
writers developed a “poetic drama”
 Developed by assimilation; by the
patronage of the succeeding
emperors and the corresponding
conversion of the Chinese people.
• 5400 B.C. – music existed in
China
• 2205- 1766 B.C- the second
dynasty or “Golden Age”,
religious worship was
accompanied by music and
dances which present
occupation of people (plowing,
harvesting, war and peace);
dances illustrate feeling of
working, joy, fatigue and
content.
• The earliest historical record of
theatrical activity is from
Spring to Autumn period (722-
481 B.C.)
• During the Zhou Dynasty,
III.
Emperor Yang had 300
performers working on his
court at New Year’s
celebrations.
• The Emperor Hsuang Tsung of
the Tang dynasty (618-905 AD)
commanded that a large
professional troupe to be
trained at the Li Hsuan (Pear
Garden) In the Imperial Palace.
Since then, actors and
actresses in China have come
to be known as “Children of the
Pear Garden”.
• He built a school in the garden
palace to teach men and
women the art of dancing and
music and probably chose
court entertainers from this
group.
• The Chinese Shadow Show
became popular
• Many plays were written during
the Sung Dynasty (960- 1273
A.D). Some 2890 titles of
various dramas have been
preserved to this day.
• Many of their popular plays
involve acrobatics and music.
• The drama of the Yuan Dynasty
(1280- 1368 A.D) ranks with
Tang and Sung poetry as some
of the best examples of
Chinese literature. The plays of
Yuan drama are very tightly
structures into four acts, with
only one performer allowed to
sing in each act.
• The acrobatics and music of
Sung Dynasty were developed
into a more sophisticated form
with a four or five act structure.
• During the Ming Dynasty
(1368- 1644 A.D), Kun Opera
was established, which
originated in the city of
Kunshan in Southern China.
• The Manchu/Qing Dynasty
(1644- 1911 A.D) saw the
beginnings of the popular
Peking Opera style of
performance. In the time of the
Emperor Tong Zhu, there were
13 performers who were
particularly instrumental in
developing this form. They
were called the “Best Thirteen
of Tong Zhu”.
Traditional Chinese Theater
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 • An actor does not just laugh:
he laughs in twenty different
ways: hilariously, happily, etc.
• There is no scenery, just chairs
and tables
• Props are props for the
audience’s imagination
• Costumes and make-up define
their roles
IV. Types of Chinese Theater
• Kun Drama
= Singing in style, a
new mixture of both
northern and southern
elements, there developed
what came to eventually to
be China’s most highbrow
and classical theater and
music, Kunju ( Kun drama),
often called the Kun Songs
• Jing ju (Peking Opera)
= Peking Opera most
commonly enacts short
episodes or vignettes from
well-known larger dramas
or cycles of stories.
= there is brevity; the
extenuated and often
falsetto mode of singing;
the unique combination of
dialect pronunciations; the
fantastically showy
costuming for major male
roles; the highly elaborate
painted face patterns; the
symbolic and stylized
movements and acrobatics
and the absence of realistic
scenery
V. Types of Chinese Opera
Roles
• Shan – Male roles
• Dan – Female roles
• Jin - Painted- face Roles (male
roles with very strong
personalities)
• Chou - Clown Roles
Play
- Divided in acts and scenes.
A change of scene is
indicated by pantomime or
by a rapid walk of all the
characters in piece
Three Types of Plays
2. Yun Pan Shin
- Subjects are about
Patriotism and Filial
devotion
- The music and action are
united
3. Jin Pan Shi
- shows cibvil and military
conditions; the difference
with Yun Pan Shi is in the
manner of singing certain
roles and in the tradition of
acting.
4. Yun Min Shi
- considered as the “ Modern
play”
- colloquial dialects are
allowed instead of
Mandarin (official
language; which is the
acceptable speech of the
stage and nation)
Other Types
1. Cheng- Pan (historical plays)
2. Chu- tou (civil pieces)
3. Ku- Wie (farces)
- An a civil military play
must be included on each
day’s program;
a popular subject that may
appear in six or eight plays
during an evening
A. Civil Plays
- deals with the
entanglement of everyday
life.
B. Military Plays
- concerned with the
historical episodes and
heroic or filial acts.
Usual Subject Matter
1. history of country (Long Plays)
2. filial piety
3. exaltation of learning
4. native vices and peculiarities of
official corruption
5. vices common to mankind
6. legal anomalies
7. absurdities of religious practices
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Subject of Five Blessings
1. to have son ( from the desire to
provide for old age)
2. riches (harvests well protected)
3. long life (immunity from cholera)
4. recovery from sickness
5. office
- Puppet shows are
attributed to the beginning
of Chinese Drama.
Themes
1. Confucianism
- learning and filial devotion
2. Buddhism
- source of most of Buffonery
and Force
Woman Playwrights
1. Tchao- Ming- King
2. Tchang- Koue- Pin
3. Hong-Tseu-Lieul
4. Hoa-Li-Lang
- “The Romance of the Western Pavilion” is
the first play translated into a European
Language in the 13th century.
VI. Influenced by Confucianism,
Buddhistic/ Hinduistic,
Taoistic Philosophies
• Confucianism- stresses discipline,
moral behavior, and respect for
authority, love for scholarship,
family unity, filial piety, peace and
order; the concept of PAO ( when
one receives gift, s/he should pay
it back with a better gift to show
one’s gratitude)
• Buddhism/ Hinduism – emphasize
the need to eliminate desires
Spring Snow
By: Yukio Mishima
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Yukio Mishima
• Born Hiraoka Kimitake in Tokyo on
1925 as the son of a government
official.
• A prolific writer and considered by
many to be the most important
- suggest comic relief from
religious hysteria (not all
Chinese believe in Buddha
but Chinese know his
omnipotence)
5. Satire
- Development of old
civilization and in that
ageless country of stability
and decay is a style which
is profoundly worked on.
Famous Playwrights
Yuan Dynasty has 500 plays of
unknown authors
Men Playwrights
1. Kouan-Han-King (wrote
60 plays)
2. Kao-Wen-Sieou (30)
3. Tching- Te- Hoeu (18)
4. Pe-Jin-Fon (14)
through self- discipline and
meditation; reincarnation
-Superstitions are inherited
from Buddhistic principle;
to denote mortality and
playwright’s inspiration for
extravaganza
• Taoism- stresses freedom from
desires, simplicity and mystical
contemplation of nature that will
enable people to discover the Way
or tao; man’s reverence (awe) of
nature; holistic essence of Taoism
( if morality is committed in the
governance or individual affairs of
men, or personal relationship,
nature is disturbed): occurrence of
natural calamities, e.g. snow in
mid-summer
Japanese novelist of the 20th
century.
• His works includes 20 novels,
poetry, essays and modern Kabuki
and Noh drama.
• He was nominated thrice for the
Nobel Prize for Literature
• As a writer, Mishima drew
inspiration from pre-modern
literature, both Japanese and
Western.
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 • His first major work The
Confessions of A Mask (1949), dealt
with his discovery of his own
homosexuality.
• All his life Mishima was deeply
attracted to the austere patriotism
of Imperial Japan, and samurai
spirit of Japan’s past.
• He committed seppuku (ritual
disembowelment) on the day he
wrote the final pages of The Sea of
Fertility tetralogy.
SETTING:
• The novel is set in Tokyo in 1912, in
the closed circles of the imperial
court and nobility.
• The wane of the Russo-Japanese
War, and the onset of the Taisho
era
CHARACTERS:
Kiyoaki Matsugae
• A young aristocrat on his first
manhood. Oftentimes
restrained, indifferent and
prone to melancholy.
Satoko Ayakura
• The Count and Countess’
exquisite daughter. At first
treated by Kiyoaki as much as
an enemy as anything else.
Shigekuni Honda
• Son of the Court Justice Honda,
and is Kiyoaki’s bestfriend.
Composed, quiet and has
rational temperament.
Tadeshina
• Satoko’s old servant.
Prince Pattanadid
• Addressed more respectfully as
Chao P., younger brother of
King Rahma VI of Siam.
Prince Kridsada
• Chao P.’s cousin, a grandson of
King Rahma VI.
Iinuma
• Kiyoaki’s retainer and
immediate attendant.
Miné
• One of the Matsugae’s maids.
She has a secret affair with
Iinuma.
Abbess of Gesshu
• Satoko’s
The Ayakuras
• An elegant family with a
waning aristocracy. The head of
the family was appointed
chamberlain of the Imperial
Court when it established
residence in Tokyo at the time
of the Meiji Restoration.
The Matsugaes
• An old samurai family. The
Marquis though, embarrassed
by the humble position his
forebears had occupied at the
end of shogunate fifty years
ago, tried to imposed Western
culture among the proximity of
his residence.
The Toinnomiyas
• The High Imperial Family- a
family of magnanimous and
sturdy nature
PLOT OVERVIEW:
• The Abbess and Satoko’s visit
• Kiyoaki and Marquis
Matsugae’s stroll
• Arrival of the Siamese princes
• Kiyoaki’s letter to Satoko
• The Kabuki play at the Imperial
Theater
• The rickshaw ride
• The Cherry Blossom Festival
• Satoko’s engagement to Prince
Harunori
• Kiyoaki and Satoko’s intimate
encounter
• Kiyoaki’s confession to Honda
• The vacation at Chung-nan villa
• Satoko’s pregnancy
• Exposure of Kiyoaki and
Satoko’s secret
• Satoko’s visit in Gesshu
• Kiyoaki’s death
THEMES
Adherence to Western Culture
One of the major themes of
the novel is the conflict in Japanese Society
caused by westernization in the early 20th
century. The influence of western culture
experienced during the Meiji Period
continues in the Taisho era. Japanese not
only adapts the western clothes, foods and
arts but also adapts their culture.
Friendship
Friendship between Kiyoaki
and Honda.
Loyalty
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 Loyalty of a friend to his
friend
Loyalty of a servant to his
master.

Love, Passion and Sacrifice

The story revolves on the
love story of Kiyoaki and Satoko.

SYMBOLS
Photograph in Sepia Ink
Represents of new kind of
war-the war of emotions

The house of Matsugae and Honda

• House of Honda-
lead the Japanese
lifestyle but the
atmosphere is
western
• House of Matsugae-
seems to lead a
westernize life but
the atmosphere
strikingly and
traditionally
Japanese.
Represents Yukio
Mishima’s beliefs in
western technology
and Japanese idea.

The Waterfall
Symbolizes tranquility,
purity, and fluidity of life. Symbolizes
relentless passage of time.

The Dreams
Represents Kiyoaki’s
emotions
Serves as a foreshadow

Kemari
Represents the Law of
Karma. The higher the players keep the
ball on air, the greater the impact of its fall.

The Seasons
Highlights the emotions of
the characters