Honors Projects for East Asian Languages and Literature
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Item The Oil Peddler and the Courtesan: A Translation of a Traditional Chinese Story(1975) Lieu, Lorraine Sun Ying"Mai-yu-lang tu-chan Hua-k'uei" ( The Oil Peddler and the Courtesan) is the third story in the traditional Chinese short story collection Rsing-shih ttung-yen edited by Feng Menglung in the late Ming Dynasty. Rising-shih ttung-yen is itself one of the three collections compiled and edited by Feng Meng-lung, collectively known as the San-yen. San-yen is important in the history of Chinese literature in that the stories included exemplifies the hua-pen genre. It includes stories of Sung, Yuan, Ming origin as well as Meng's own creations. There are four available translations of Mai-yu-lang tu-chan Huak'uei, namely two in English, one in French and one in German: Yang, Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. "The Oil Vendor and the Courtesan. The Courtesan's Jewel Box. Foreign Language Press, Peking, 1957. Wang, Chi-chen. The Oil Peddler and the Queen of Flowers. Traditional Chinese trales. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968. Schlegel, G.. "Le Vendeur d'huile qui seul possede la reine-de-beaute ou Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes chinoises. Paris, 1877. Grisebach, E.. German translation of above. Chinesische Novellen. Unfortunately, neither of the English translations aimed to achieve completeness, often with large segments left out at the translators' discretion. Therefore it is the hope of this translator to provide a rendition as complete and faithful as possible without sacrificing good English and good taste.Item Onna Daigaku and Selected Works of Monzaemon Chikamatsu and Ihara Saikaku(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Sugiyama, Denice; East Asian Languages and LiteratureOnna Daigaku or The Greater Learning for Women, written in 1716, is attributed to Ikken Kaibara. Kaibara, a scholar of Japanese literature, had a great knowledge of Chinese literature and was known as a famous moralist. Onna Daigaku is attributed to Kaibara because it closely resembles the content of the chapter entitled "Women's Education" in his treatise on education, Wazoku Dojikun (1710). Wakako Hironaka writes in the Kodansha Encyclopedia. Onna Daigaku is considered the most important because of the influences it had in defining the position of women and their role in the narrow confines of Japan's family system.1 In Ken Hoshino's translation of Onna Daigaku he breaks the work into six chapters. These sections are: 1) Girl's Instructions 2) Demarcation Between the Sexes 3) Seven Reasons for Divorce 4) The Wife's Miscellaneous Duties 5) The Treatment of Servants 6) The Infirmities of Women. Let me summarize the major points of Onna Daigaku. The qualities a woman should have are "gentle obedience, chastity, mercy and quietness,"2 while the five undesirable traits are "indocility, discontent, slander, jealousy, and silliness. "3 The worst of these five is silliness. A woman should endure without anger and suffer with patience and humility. A woman should always be alert and watch her own conduct. A woman should never overindulge in prayer or neglect the household. A woman should not selfishly think of her own parents first, but rather her husband's parents.Item Exploring Gender Construction and Performance In Japanese Comics(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Shinsato, Stacie; East Asian Languages and LiteratureIn looking at Japanese comics, otherwise known as manga, a reader may find the idea of a boy turning into a girl when inadvertently splashed with comical, if not incredible. The storyline of this manga becomes an illustration of the complex ideas of gender creation established by Judith Butler in Gender Trouble. The theories that are set forth by Butler can be difficult to understand; with the aid of this manga entitled Ranma ½, by Rumiko Takahashi, the intricate theory becomes easier to comprehend. Through the examination of three integral relationships within the comic, involving the character and self, character and others and the characters and the reader, this thesis shows how gender is created and perpetuated within both the microcosm of the comic world and within our own lives.Item An American Girl Explores The Mysterious Japanese Woman Through Moralogy(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Sakai, Sharon; Hirai, Bernice; East Asian Languages and LiteratureThere is a new consciousness about the role of women in societies throughout the world. Today's woman is more career-oriented and gaining new freedom and legal protection. In contrast to this trend, the mythical Japanese woman who is supposed to be the perfect mother and wife was in my opinion an almost impossible phenomenon. In fact, much of what I had heard or read in Japanese society studies struck me as unbelievable. How could a society produce women who were so soft, yet enduring and dependable? I went to Japan to put to test all that I was taught about the Japanese society and language. If Japan really did produce such ideal women, I wanted to adopt the spirit of the Japanese woman. To my disbelief, the Japanese women were almost as accommodating and soft as they are touted to be. Unfortunately for them, however, their men are not as gentlemanly or accommodating as one would expect them to be for being treated so well. This compounded the mystery for me. How could these millions of women cope with such a society that expects so much of them, yet seemed to reward them with so little? The social ills of Japan such as student radicals, "education mammas," high suicide rates, even among children came to my mind; an oppressive society would create such problems.Item A Study of Factors Influencing 1st and 2nd Person Pronoun Usage in the Japanese Language as Observed Through a Select Group of Japanese Tourists(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Okuda, Charlene; East Asian Languages and LiteratureThe Japanese language possesses an array of personal pronouns in comparison to other languages. For example, in the case of second person pronouns or You-words, versus the French "tu" and "vous," the Spanish "tu" and "Usted," the German "du" and "sie," and the English "you" as discussed by Brown and Gilman (1960), Japanese has "anata," "kimi," “omae," and the more vulgar "kisama" and "temee" (not to mention variations of the above such as "anatasama" and "omaesan").Item Comparative Study of the Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Differences on Child-Rearing Practices in Japan and America(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Nekoba, Maxine; East Asian Languages and LiteratureAmerican occupation in Japan began shortly after the surrender by the Japanese towards the end of World War II. At about this same time there was a renewed influx of western thoughts and ideas into Japan. However, despite these influences from the West, the Japanese people have still been able to retain at least some of the main characteristics of their traditional Japanese society which can be contrasted to the values and characteristics of American society. Therefore, in comparing the Japanese and American societies, I would like to examine the following questions in this paper. What are these characteristics of Japanese society that make it distinctive? How are these characteristics perpetuated through the child-rearing practices used? Then finally, how is this reflected in the respective languages? First of all, one of the characteristics of Japanese personality is the sense of group as of a central importance to the Japanese person. That is to say, the Japanese individual exists only in terms of the groups to which he belongs and has little identity apart from these chosen groups.1 one example of this Japanese group identification is that when asked about their jobs, the Japanese person has the tendency of naming the company he works for rather than naming his specific job title or occupation. In other words, “rather than saying ‘I am a typesetter’ or ‘I am a filing clerk,’ he is likely to say, ‘I am from B Publishing Group’ or ‘I belong to S company’”.2Item Japanese and American Perceptions of Each Other and Themselves: An analysis of Japanese fiction occurring during World War Two and the postwar period(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Nakamoto, James; Cohn, Joel; East Asian Languages and LiteratureCertain beliefs, preconceptions, and stereotypes of Japanese and Americans influence their views of each other and themselves. However, these preconceptions are not fixed. A particular catalyst, such as a first meeting, can either dispel long-held beliefs or modify them. A brief encounter might also lead to the creation of stereotypes where none had existed before. One of the more pronounced changes in Japanese and American views of each other occurred between World War Two and the postwar era. During this time, Japan's role in the world changed from that of an Asian military power to an occupied nation. This political change along with a greater American presence in Japan provided two important catalysts that shaped and reshaped the thought of Japanese and Americans. The creation, modification and even reinforcement of Japanese and American perceptions of each other and themselves are found in a wide range of Japanese stories that take place during World War Two and the American military occupation. In his essays on Ireland, Oscar Wilde "questioned the assumption that just because the English are one thing, the Irish must be the opposite" (Wilde and the English Question, Kiberd, p. 13). This notion that people of different societies share very little in common is widely employed in Japanese literature. Rather than comparing similarities, Japanese and foreign characters often focus heavily on the differences between themselves.Item The Burden of Enlightening The Masses: The Chinese Experiment Through Literature(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Morgan, Caroline; Yue, Ming-Bao; East Asian Languages and LiteratureIn this paper, I should like to take a look at careers of Zhao Shuli and Gao Xiaosheng, two authors who wrote Chinese Fiction in the 1950's, and 1970's and 80's respectively. They are celebrated by the Communist government as "model peasant writers," and come from different social classes: Zhao Shuli is supposedly to have been of pristine peasant origin (an issue that is discussed in detail in Chapter three) and Gao Xiaosheng of "intellectual" origin. Both of their careers raise questions concerning the credibility, authenticity, and authorship of their oeuvre. I shall employ arguments relating to these questions to ascertain what lessons might be learned by those who would engage in "Hawaiian literature" as defined below. A great deal of empty discussion has taken place in the last generation concerning what "Hawaiian literature" might include. There seems to be no end to the unprincipled use to which some people will put the word "Hawaiian" when it serves their own ends. Hawaiian literature is defined by a native Hawaiian, Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask as literature written by Native Hawaiians, wherever they may live. The present writer concurs with this definition. The word "Chinese" in my reading possesses a similarly hollow ring which has not dissuaded millions of people from identifying with it. Certainly, the corpus of the surviving Chinese traditions is grander, richer and extensive than any other. The analogy will by no means be an equal one not only since the presented writer, although a Hawaiian in blood and at heart, has been educated in the Euroamerican manner with only a smattering of Chinese and Japanese ameliorated by only a rudimentary command of the Hawaiian language and only a fair acquaintance with Hawaiian culture.Item Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea: A Nietzchean Study(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Miyataki, Linn; Viglielmo, Valdo; East Asian Languages and LiteratureLike Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Yukio Mishima's novel The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea seemed to test a new system of values. What are good and evil? Is a man judged by his pursuit of the former and his efforts to eliminate the latter? Or can a man be judged by the strength of his will; is it a superior man who strives for something beyond good and evil? The power of The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea lies in the "chill factor," in the actions and psyches of the characters who believe that a superior man must reach beyond the conventional morals of an "empty world," to strive for something beyond emotional sentimentality. Achieving detachment exhibits the strength of the will as an isolated factor; "absolute dispassion" is the goal. The ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche on the will to power, the Superman (Ubermensch), the Master Morality versus the Slave Morality, and his reevaluation of morals beyond good and evil exist in Mishima's work to an extraordinary degree. The purpose of this paper is to provide a connection for the reader between Mishima's novel and Nietzsche's ideas.Item The Japanese Woman in a Changing Society(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014-01-15) Lee, Marilyn; East Asian Languages and LiteratureEach and every human being in this world is unique, an individual in a world of other "individuals". And yet, we as individuals exhibit certain qualities, certain patterns of behavior that set us apart in groups, the groups formed by the boundaries of the cultures we are born into. As individuals we are taught the rules of our society, of our own particular culture, through an unconscious learning process—a process so subtle as to make us think that we thought up the rules ourselves. Since the end of Japanese isolationism, when the world was awakened to Japan and its unique society, people have been writing about Japanese women. However, almost without exception, the foreigners who have been writing about them have portrayed the Japanese woman as a ''victim" of her society, her culture, her environment. In this thesis I intend to show her in a different light, not as a "victim" but as a product of her changing society—the Japanese woman of today, in 1975.