Famed Japanese Heikyoku artist Tsutomu Arao will perform the 800-year-old epic tale, accompanied by biwa. The Tale of the Heike is the greatest of all Japanese warrior tales and one of the seminal works that has shaped Japanese literature, theatre, art and film down to the present day. Heikyoku is one of the oldest Japanese traditional musical styles, similar to the troubadour music of medieval Europe. The story is about the battle between the Heike and another powerful clan, the Genji, and it ends with the total defeat of the Heike in the tragic sea battle at Dan-no- ura. Wandering troubadours, blind musicians, chanted the tale, and later poets and playwrights took inspiration from it. Arao is one of few performers who can recite the whole story in the original style from the 13th century and works to preserve the style. He has performed Heikyoku more than 900 times.

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

This presentation discusses the establishment of literary history (bunga- kushi) as an academic discipline in late nineteenth-century Japan, with special attention to the role of traditional Chinese fiction in defining the contours and content of Japanese “national literature” (kokubungaku). In an academic environment obsessed with the location and description of various racial, cultural, and psychological essences, Japanese histo- ries of Chinese literature were united by the claim that the authentic or “real” China could only be understood through previously marginalized genres such as fiction and drama. By positioning these genres in a bina- ry tension with an autocratic “Confucian ideology”, and by arguing that they could only flourish at moments of foreign invasion and contact, Jap- anese literary historians presented works like The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan) and Romance of the Western Wing (Xixiang ji) as privileged points of access into the voices and experiences of a putative national people effaced in more elite disciplines like philosophy, ethics, and history.

William C. Hedberg is an assistant professor of Japanese at Arizona State Universi- ty, who specializes in the literature and culture of early modern Japan. His current project centers on the reception of late imperial Chinese fiction during the Edo and Meiji periods (17th-20th c.), with special emphasis on the novel, The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan).

Live, Work and Discover Japan!

The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program offers young professionals the opportunity to work in Japan as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) or Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs).

Since 1987, more than 68,000 JET Program participants from over 70 countries have lived and worked in cities, towns, and villages throughout Japan. Join JET and become part of this exclusive network of like-minded international enthusiasts!

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Practice Mandarin on Wednesdays, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm.

This is a free event near the University of Arizona, sponsored by Duolingo and not associated with the East Asian Studies Department. However, it's a wonderful opportunity for our students to practice their Mandarin.