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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Confucian Creatures, Sarah Cutler
Confucian Creatures, Sarah Cutler
BYU Asian Studies Journal
From the tortoise shells used in ancient divination to the colorful camels of Tang tombs and from companionable oxen of the rice fields to singing birds in their cages, animals have been a significant part of Chinese culture. Perhaps most intriguing to the Western mind are the fanciful mythological animals of China adorning temple roofs, tomb walls, and traditional stories. Study of these creatures reveals a deep insight into Chinese culture for not only do the traditions about them indicate the ideas humans have about the animal world, but also the animals themselves are symbolic of various ideas maintained by …
Valmiki And Hesse: Maya Through The Ages, Kevin Blankinship
Valmiki And Hesse: Maya Through The Ages, Kevin Blankinship
BYU Asian Studies Journal
The Vedic poet Valmiki could hardly have imagined that, with his discovery of shloka, or poetic meter, and the subsequent advent of literature as a separate aesthetic genre, Hindu notions of reality would lend expression of outrage to war-weary Germans thousands of years later. Or perhaps he did: Brahma’s benediction provided that, “so long as the mountains and rivers . . . stay on the face of the earth / So long will the story of Rama endure / So long will your fame remain.”1
Saikaku's Tales From Various Provinces, Josh Dalton
Saikaku's Tales From Various Provinces, Josh Dalton
BYU Asian Studies Journal
n 1685, Ihara Saikaku published his Tales from Various Provinces, a five-volume collection consisting of thirty-five short stories. Saikaku explained: “I went throughout the provinces in search of subject matter for my writings.” The result was a compilation of humorous and bizarre local legends. “Reflecting on the experience,” Saikaku wrote, “I can only conclude that people are all spooks.” By interweaving his own wit and imagination into the tales he gathered, Saikaku closed the gap separating fantasy from reality. As a result, he simultaneously emphasized both the unique nature of the human experience and the universal aspects that everyone can …
Kim Chi-Ha's Poetry Of Yesterday And Today, Gerrit Van Dyk
Kim Chi-Ha's Poetry Of Yesterday And Today, Gerrit Van Dyk
BYU Asian Studies Journal
I n the 1970s, the Korean poet Kim Chi-ha was perhaps the most internationally well known Korean artist. During this time, Kim wrote many poems speaking out against the Park Chung Hee regime which began with Park’s coup in 1961. One of Kim’s most famous works, “The Five Bandits” (The Golden-Crowned Jesus and Other Writings) was so politically charged that it began a series of incarcerations of the poet on allegations of communist sympathies. Many international organizations and dignitaries defended Kim and called on Park to release the poet from prison. After Park’s death, Kim was released, and …
Exploration Of Japanese Gothicism In Izumi Kyoka's World, Emily Mitarai
Exploration Of Japanese Gothicism In Izumi Kyoka's World, Emily Mitarai
BYU Asian Studies Journal
Kyoka draws upon his inspiration of the past and seeks, in his own words, “not to portray reality as reality, but to seek beyond reality for some more powerful truth” (Carpenter 154). Izumi Kyoka (1873–1939) was a prolific writer in the Meiji Era of Japan who depicted the literature of his past from the kusazoshi (illustrated fiction of the Edo Era), the ghostliness of Ueda Akinari, and the supernatural of the No Theater (Carpenter 154). Although a prolific writer, few of Kyoka’s works have been translated into English. His works are rich with imagery, yet the scenes are not in …
Liu Na'ou And The May Fourth Tradition, Katie Stirling
Liu Na'ou And The May Fourth Tradition, Katie Stirling
BYU Asian Studies Journal
According to Leo Ou-fan Lee, the city was, for Liu Na’ou, “the only world of [his] existence and the key source of [his] creative imagination” (191). Liu Na’ou stands among Shi Zhecun and Mu Shiying as writers preoccupied with the fast-paced life and materiality of the city of Shanghai in the 1930s. Considered to be one of the leaders of the Japanese-inspired neo-sensationist school in China, Liu pioneered the use of descriptions of sensory experiences and experimentations with time in narrative in order to create his cityscapes and develop the tension between fascination and repulsion with the city that characterizes …
Writing Over Silence: The Asian-American In-Between Identity, Amy Scott
Writing Over Silence: The Asian-American In-Between Identity, Amy Scott
BYU Asian Studies Journal
My daily routine is pure ritual and thus pure theatre. A routinely perfect production of a comfortable unwritten script: stage dark, save for a dim morning light; spot on tousseled black hair, white pillow, and a blanket nest. Wake up, pad into the bathroom; mise-en-scène a student’s sanctuary. In the bathroom, suit up: costume, makeup/mask, deliberately casual—as if any day could become a beach day. Flip on Elvis and dance while pouring milk onto cold cereal. The door opens, and the play begins en force.