SURVEY OF TRADITIONAL JAPANESE LITERATURE
FINAL EXAM -- FALL '98
Part I: Matching
Match the appropriate title with the author by drawing a line between the two.
(20 pts)
Tosa Journal Chikamatsu Monzaemon
Gossamer Journal Kamo no Chomei
The Pillow Book Ki no Tsurayuki
Journal of the Sixteenth Night Moon Matsuo Basho
An Account of My Hut Yoshida Kenko
Essays in Idleness Sei Shonagon
Eternal Storehouse of Japan Abutsu
Love Suicides at Sonezaki Ihara Saikaku
Narrow Road to the Deep North Michitsuna's mother
Birds of Sorrow Zeami (Seami)
In the following pairs, circle the work which was written first (20 pts.)
1. The Clear Mirror 6. Love Suicides at Sonezaki
Kojiki The Gossamer Journal
2. The Tales of Ise 7. Journal of the Sixteenth Night Moon
Essays in Idleness The Pillow Book
3. Narrow Road to the Deep North 8. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Tosa Journal Tales of Times Now Past
4. The Riverside Counselor's Stories 9. Busu (Kyogen)
The Great Peace Tales of Uji
5. A Tale of Flowering Fortunes 10. Companion Booklets
Nihon Shoki The Confessions of Lady Nijo
Part II: Essays
Choose two of the following essay questions and answer them in the blue book
provided. (30 pts. each) Think before you write! For each answer, give concrete
examples from the text(s). You need not copy passages; mentioning a scene and
perhaps giving a page number or chapter number will suffice. Of course, quoting
is acceptable also if you feel it illustrates your point, but do not use
quotations as the body of your essay (in other words, I am grading on the basis
of your ideas, not on the number of words you copy out of the text).
1. How did social stratification affect the aesthetics of Heian period
literature?
2. How did religious influences affect medieval literature?
3. What thematic changes do we see in Tokugawa period literature? What caused
them?
4. Who is the typical Japanese hero? What virtues does he/she have? Does this
change over time, or is there an enduring characteristic(s) he/she has?