[KineJapan] Rashomon question

Tue Mar 30 00:36:50 EDT 2021

 Hello again Lola.I can see that some sources in English indicate that Yaguchi was born in Shanghai but it was actually Hong Kong.Her father was a foreign route purser, possibly with some relation to Japan Post?, in mainland China. Later the family moved to Shanghai where Yaguchi shortly attended school before returning to Japan.Because she had been brought up as an お嬢様 in a wealthy environment, she wasn't very good at cooking when she married Kurosawa which prompted her to take lessons, becoming then such a good cook that she would prepare o-bentos for staff and often had her house full of people coming to eat and drink.Her daughter explained in an interview that her mother often told her that "if the cooking is good, the husband always returns home" (a commonly used phrase in Japan).

María José GonzálezKwansei Gakuin UniversityNishinomiya, Japan

    On Tuesday, 30 March 2021, 02:38:52 AM GMT+9, Dolores Martinez <dm6 at soas.ac.uk> wrote:  

 And of course, we mustn't forget that his wife, the star of Ichiban utsukushiku Yoko Yaguchi, was the woman's union leader and he notes she spent a lot of time arguing with him about his treatment of the actors during the filming.  We really don't know enough about her -- born in Shanghai and obviously a woman of strong character.  
Thank you for the article and photos! Lola
Dr Lola Martinez
Reviews Editor, JRAI
Emeritus Reader, SOAS
Research Affiliate, ISCA, University of Oxford

On Mon, 29 Mar 2021 at 18:31, Maria Jose Gonzalez <tkarsavina at yahoo.com> wrote:

 Of course, one of the great influences on Kurosawa's film were the (postwar) Toho Labour Disputes and their corresponding strikes:http://zip2000.server-shared.com/tohosougi.htm

The very last paragraph in the article states:Those days of tense fighting in the barricades left a strong impression on him (Kurosawa), as it was the only combat experience he had  been to. It is said that this impression was visualised in the famous film "The Seven Samurai".
If you take a look at some of the strikes photos, there is certainly a resemblance with some Seven Samurai scenes (see attachments).

María José GonzálezKwansei Gakuin UniversityNishinomiya, Japan
    On Monday, 29 March 2021, 07:13:50 PM GMT+9, Dolores Martinez <dm6 at soas.ac.uk> wrote:  

 Just to note that Maria’s careful analysis adds another layer of meaning to the film as a postwar commentary: a samurai, perhaps even a law enforcer, was not able to protect his wife from a brigand, what does that say about Japan’s ‘great’ martial tradition? Think of shichinin no samurai and how difficult it is to get someone to protect the farmers and the revelation that the bandits are probably former samurai. Kurosawa never strayed far from his young leftist leanings (or as his great friend Honda put it when asked in a NHK documentary if it was true that Kurosawa had been a communist: Of course! We were all communists then!). The West had to gloss it as humanism, but it was a concern about structural injustice that was more to the left (but probably no longer Marxist) than that. Thank you Maria for your analysis and Lorenzo for asking the question. Lola 

On Monday, 29 March 2021, Maria Jose Gonzalez via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

 Hola Lorenzo.Indeed, I speak Spanish (from Barcelona) and indeed cannot access the link.;-)
María José
    On Monday, 29 March 2021, 03:24:15 AM GMT+9, Lorenzo Javier Torres Hortelano <lorenzojavier.torres. hortelano at urjc.es> wrote:  

Dear Mª José, this and the first email are very interesting, thanks. We have good material to reflect on!

In fact, you touch something I had already noticed, and that I reminded to my colleague: that Kanazawa is not a coward in the fight, no matter how much Tajomaru's violence makes him very cautious, and several times, wields his sword to take down the bandit.

By your name maybe you can speak Spanish, in case you’re interested, here you have the first class session (of two; on 7 April will be the second):https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=gMkFvJbDRU4&t=2771s Its has been banned in some countries as I use video fragments (Youtube…!), in case it is your case, please, tell me and I can give you a link to my Onedrive -or to anyone who is interested and can understand Spanish.

Best,

Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano 

Vicedecano de Extensión Universitaria y Relaciones Internacionales

Vice-Dean of University Extension and International Relations

Profesor Titular/Professor

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación 

Departamento de Ciencias de la Comunicación y Sociología  

Edificio de Gestión - Decanato

Camino del Molino s/n, 28943 Fuenlabrada 

+34 91 488 73 11

lorenzojavier.torres. hortelano at urjc.es

gestion2.urjc.es/pdi/ver/ lorenzojavier.torres.hortelano

researchgate.net/profile/ Lorenzo_Torres

Lorenzo Torres Academia.edu

IP proyecto Europa Creativahttp://theylive.eu/

De: KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman. yale.edu> En nombre de Maria Jose Gonzalez via KineJapan
Enviado el: sábado, 27 de marzo de 2021 17:45
Para: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
CC: Maria Jose Gonzalez <tkarsavina at yahoo.com>
Asunto: Re: [KineJapan] Rashomon question

Shortly after I sent my previous message, I started thinking about Kyoto’s Aoi Matsuri,  which serves as a parade of Heian Fashion,  and realised that Rashomon’s Kanazawa must be a 検非違使 (kebiishi), a武官 position that combined the duties of a judge and a policeman.

After a search for Akutagawa in my library, one book confirmed that Kanazawa’ s job in Akutagawa’s story is indeed that of検非違使

(See attachment)

María José

On Saturday, 27 March 2021, 04:50:04 PM GMT+9, Maria Jose Gonzalez via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote: 

Interesting question.

See my observations on this character, written rather casually but with some visuals, in the attached pdf file.

María José González Muñoz

Kwansei University

Nishinomiya, Japan

On Friday, 26 March 2021, 10:02:54 PM GMT+9, Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote: 

There seems to have been   a problem with this message from Lorenzo, so I’m forwarding it here. 

Markus

From: Lorenzo Javier Torres Hortelano 
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2021 12:29:44 +0000
Subject: Doubt on RASHÔMON

Dear colleagues,

I’m contributing to Japan Foundation Spain, with a colleague, on a course on Rashômon. I just wanted to bring one apparent secondary doubt: the man who is killed, is a public servant or a samurai? Is it both, taking in mind the etymology of the word “samurai”, “saburau” or “server”?

In most of the synopsis you can find he is a samurai, but in Akutagawa’s homonymous tale he is a “public servant”.

--

--- 

Markus Nornes

Professor of Asian Cinema

Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

Department of Film, Television and Media

6348 North Quad

105 S. State Street

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285

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