Introduction to Classic Japanese Cinema - Japan Center

JCMU: Japanese Cinema, 2014 1

Introduction to Classic Japanese Cinema

(eleven four-hour class meetings)

Readings prior to first class meeting:
• Bordwell: “Classical Hollywood Cinema”; Rayns “The Word Made Flesh”;
Rickman: “Japanese Cinema to 1960”

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Class #1, Tuesday, January 14, 2014 (1-5 pm): Course introduction (syllabus,

goals, assignments, evaluation, plagiarism, etc.)
film: Tokyo-Ga. Dir. Wim Wenders. 1985, 92 min.;

• Patriotism [Yukoku]. Dir. Yukio Mishima. Perf. Yukio Mishima and
Yoshiko Tsuruoka. 1966. 29 min.
homework readings for next class: Richie Japanese Film pp 54-9;
Bordwell: Yasujiro Ozu HO.

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Class #2, Tuesday, January 21, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: Tokyo Chorus [Tokyo no korasu]. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu. Perf. Tokihiko
Okada, Emiko Yaguma, Takeshi Sakamoto, Hideko Takamine, and Choko
Iida. 1931. Silent. 90 min.

assignment due: Response Paper #1 (Tokyo-Ga or Patriotism).
homework readings for next class: Richie “Stories of the Floating Weeds”

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Class #3, Tuesday, January 28, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: A Story of the Floating Weeds [Ukigusa Monogatari]. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu.
Perf. Takeshi Sakamoto, Emiko Yaguma, and Choko Iida. 1934. Silent.
86 min.

assignment due: Response Paper #2 (Tokyo Chorus);
announce titles for preces.

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Class #4, Monday, February 3, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: No Regrets for Our Youth [Waga seishun ni kuinashi]. Dir. Akira
Kurosawa. Perf. Setsuko Hara, Susumu Fujita, and Haruko Sugimura.

1946. 110 min.
assignment due: Response Paper #3 (A Story of the Floating Weeds).
trailer: Late Spring [Banshun]

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Class #5, Monday, February 10, 2013 (1-5 pm):

film: Late Spring [Banshun]. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu. Perf. Setsuko Hara and
Chishu Ryu. 1949. 108 min.

assignments due: Response Paper #4 (No Regrets for Our Youth);
precis #1 (essay).

trailer: Tokyo Story [Tokyo Monogatari]
homework readings for next class: “Tokyo story” pp 396-401; David

Bordwell essay

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JCMU: Japanese Cinema, 2014 2

Class #6, Tuesday, February 18, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: Tokyo Story [Tokyo Monogatari]. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu. Perf. Chishu Ryu,

Chieko Higashiyama, and Setsuko Hara. 1953. 136 min.

assignment due: Response Paper #5 (Late Spring [Banshun]).

trailer: Rashomon
homework readings for next class: “Akira Kurosawa on Rashomon”;

Akutagawa: “Rashomon” and “In the Grove”; Prince essay

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Class #7, Monday, February 24, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: Rashomon. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Cinematography: Kazuo

Miyagawa. Perf. Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura,

Chiaki Minoru, and Machiko Kyo. 1950. 88 min.

• video introduction to Rashomon by Robert Altman (10 min.);

• The World of Miyagawa Kenzou (12 min)

assignment due: Response Paper #6 (Tokyo Story).

trailer: Ugetsu

homework readings for next class: Lapote: “From the Other Shore”;

Ueda: “The House in the Thicket” and “Serpent’s Lust”; de Maupassant:

“How He Got the Legion of Honor”; Kenji Mizoguchi HO

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Class #8, Tuesday, March 4, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: Ugetsu. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa.

Screenplay: Yoshikata Yoda. Perf. Machiko Kyo and Masayuki Mori.

1953. 97 min.; Interview with Kazuo Miyagawa. 1992. 10 min.

assignments due: Response Paper #7 (Rashomon); precis #2 (essay).

trailer: Crazed Fruit [Kurutta Kajitsu]

homework readings for next class: Stephens: “Heat Stroke!”; Raine:

“Imagining a New Japan”; “The Modernization of Japanese

Film” (714-721)

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Class #9, Tuesday, March 11, 2014 (1-5 pm):

film: Crazed Fruit [Kurutta Kajitsu]. Dir. Ko Nakahira. Perf. Yujiro Ishihara,

Masahiko Tsugawa, and Mie Okada. 1956. 86 min.

assignments due: Response Paper #8 (Ugetsu); precis #3 (outside film

review) due.

trailer: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
homework readings for next class: Lopate: “They Endure”; Russell: “Diary

of Ginza Bar Hostess”; Bock: “Essential Naruse”; Takamine “About Mikio
Naruse”; Richie: “Ozu and Naruse” (Japanese Film pp. 119-129)

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Class #10, Tuesday, March 18, 2014 (1-5 pm):
film: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs [Onna ga Kaidan o Agarutoki]. Dir.

JCMU: Japanese Cinema, 2014 3

Mikio Naruse. Perf. Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, and Tatsuya
Nakadai. 1960. 111 min.
assignment: Response Paper #9 (Crazed Fruit)
trailer: Woman in the Dunes [Suna no Onna]
homework readings for next class: Gilli: “The Spectral Lanscape of
Teshigahara, Abe, and Takemitsu”; Bock: “Shifting Sands”

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Class #11, Tuesday, March 25, 2013 (1-5 pm):

film: Woman in the Dunes [Suna no Onna]. Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara. Perf.
Eiji Okada and Kyoko Kishida. 1964. 123 min.

assignment: Response Paper #10 (When a Woman Ascends the Stairs)

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* Response Paper #10 (Woman in the Dunes [Suna no Onna]) due to the

JCMU office by April 1, 2014.