Learning in Global Studies Program Seminar

There are many old tales around the world that contain similar motifs. Stories that include a human and a non-human marrying are called "Irui Konin tan," and this is one such example. For example, the Japanese story "The Crane's Return of Favor" is about a poor man who becomes husband and wife with a crane that appears in human form, while the French story "Beauty and the Beast" is about two humans who are tricked by beasts and are attracted to each other.
However, in Western tales of interspecies marriage, humans turn into animals or other creatures through a curse or magic, and the curse is broken to allow the couple to marry. In other words, turning a human into an animal is an abominable curse, and animals are depicted as beings lower than humans, so there is no fear in it. In Christian countries, humans and animals are equal as God's creations, so although there is some aversion to it, it is thought that there is no true fear.
On the other hand, in many Japanese folk tales, animals appear in the human world without any curse or other reason. They come for their own reasons, such as wanting to repay a favor, but when it becomes known that they are not human, the relationship falls apart and there is no happy ending. The previously ambiguous boundary between humans and animals is redrawn, as they cannot coexist in the same world, and the protagonist feels a sense of fear. This is thought to stem from Japanese animism (the idea that everything has a soul), which worships and reveres nature. In this way, even in the same tale of interspecies marriage, it is possible to read into the cultural differences and religious views of the West and Japan.

In the seminar I teach, in the first year, we aim to improve the skills of close reading, presentation, debate, and essay writing while examining and comparing European and Japanese folk tales. From the second year onwards, students will be exposed to more difficult literary works, gain background knowledge, and advance to more advanced research. For example, we have a group of works that use folk tales as a motif, such as the Akutagawa Prize-winning work "Inu Musumeiri." We try to select works that students can delve deeply into and that can be interpreted in various ways. Even students who have little experience with literature will be able to enjoy the works as they understand their meaning over the course of a year, and their reading and writing skills will improve dramatically.
Why do we study Japanese culture and literature at School of Liberal Arts and Sciences? It is because we believe that in order to play an active role globally, it is necessary to know about the world as well as our own country. Furthermore, literature is filled with human activities. Reading such works will heal and enrich our hearts.