Faculty of Arts and Humanities | University of Macau

FAH Centre for Japanese Studies ~ Guest Lecture
2018-09-14 10:00 - 11:30 (Asia/Macau)
Book Road and Japanese Missions to Sui and Tang Dynasties
書籍之路與遣隋唐使
Prof. WANG Yong
Abstract
More than twenty years ago, I proposed the concept of ‘Book Road’, intending to make a breakthrough based on the conventional concept of ‘Silk Road’ and establish a fresh pattern of cultural exchange in East Asia.
The concept of ‘Silk Road’ was invented by Prussian scholar Ferdinand von Richthofen, defining a trade channel among China, Mesopotamia in Central Asia and India during Han dynasty. By the middle of 20th century, people attempted to add their own perspectives to this term, and artificially broadened the historical coverage of ‘Silk Road’.
As long as the world civilizations inherently differ from place to place, the formation of cultural exchange will not be identical. While westerners firmly believed that silk came from ‘Woollen Tree’, the ancient residents in Japanese archipelago had already produced silk themselves by breeding silkworm and planting mulberry.
Dating back to Sino-Japanese ancient history, there was no trace of silk trade with constantly manner and large quantity. Its impact was not even able to compare with ceramics business. However, the essential fact that fundamentally contributed to the progress of Japanese civilization was neither silk nor ceramics but books. This point has not been given sufficient attention by western scholars.
大約在二十年前，筆者立足於東亞文化交流的歷史事實，針對長期以來研究文化交流史的主流觀點“絲綢之路”，提出“書籍之路”的新概念，以建構東亞獨特的文化交流模式。
眾所周知，“絲綢之路”的首倡者是普魯士地理學者李希德霍芬博士，據他在《中國》一書中的界定，僅指中國與中亞及印度之間的貿易通道；然而進入二十世紀，這個概念被不斷敷衍泛化，直至當今儼然成為文化交流的代名詞。
既然世界各地風土不同、歷史各異，形成別具一格的文明樣式，那麼各個區域間的文化交流模式必不會千篇一律。當西方人津津樂道“羊毛樹”的天方夜譚之時，日本列島的先民已然開始植桑養蠶、製作絲綢了。
考察中日文化交流歷史，尤其在中日交流最為密切的隋唐時代，日本向中國持續派遣使節團，主要目的是為了攝取文化而非從事貿易。《舊唐書》記載遣唐使“所得錫賚，盡市文籍”，說明他們通過購求書籍輸入中國文化，由此開拓出一條“書籍之路”。

FAH Centre for Japanese Studies ~ Guest Lectures
2018-08-29 09:30 | E21A-G035, FAH Building
万葉集の魅力 The charm of Man’yōshū
Prof. Nobuyuki Sakamoto
Abstract
Man’yōshū (Collection of Myriad Leaves, 785) is Japan’s oldest extant anthology of poetry. It was compiled between the mid-seventh to the mid-eighth century. It consists of twenty volumes containing more than 4,500 poems (uta). From emperors to peasants, it is unique that the poets in Man’yōshū are from various hierarchical classes. Furthermore, the place names appear in the poems cover many regions in Japan, from north-east to Kyūshū that is in the west.
The three poetic categories of the Man’yōshū are sōmon, banka, and zōka. Sōmon (literally means “exchanges”) includes poems about love. Banka (literally means “coffin-pulling songs”) are poems lamenting people’s death, and Zōka (“miscellaneous poems”) comprises public poems and poems composed on trips. Various aspects of human life are chanted in those poems, and the anthology is truly a representative work of Japanese literature.
The lecture is about the charm of Man’yōshū.

天上界から降ってくる神 The God descending from the celestial world
Prof. Masamori Mouri
Abstract
Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712) was the oldest book survived from the ancient times in Japan. It was compiled in 712, more than 1300 years ago, and comprises three volumes. In Book 1, starting with the creation of Japan, it describes the myths in the age of the gods until the birth of Kamu-yamato Iware-biko no mikoto, the first emperor Jinmu. Book 2 covers the period from Emperor Jinmu to Emperor Oujin, and Book 3 covers the reigns from Emperor Nintoku to Empress Suiko.
As the ancestral god of the imperial family, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, who is related to Emperor Jinmu, is the most venerated god in Book 1. But how does the god of the celestial world connect with the emperor on earth? It turns out that, it is Amaterasu’s grandson, the god Ninigi, who descends from heaven to earth and becomes the ancestor of the Yamato emperors.
Differing from Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720), according to Kojiki, Amaterasu resides in heaven while illuminating the earth where people live at the same time. The “Mirror,” Amaterasu’s sacred soul, descended to the Ise Shine and was worshipped there. The lecture will introduce the legendary stories of this mythical world in an interesting and straightforward manner.

FAH-CJS 川柳コンテスト Senryu Contest
2018-02-26 - 2018-03-09
Dear Students,
This is an opportunity for you to discover more about Japanese language and explore into Japanese poets. For those of you who had study Japanese for a year, you can try to write a senryu poem and submit it to us. Unlike Haiku, Senryu is easy to write, it is a 3-line unrhymed Japanese poem with 17 syllables. If you are interested and would like to know more about Senryu, you are welcome to approach our teachers at the Centre for Japanese Studies.

2017華南地域国際日本語教育シンポジウム 2017 International Symposium on Japanese Language Education in South China Region
2017-11-18 09:00 - 2017-11-19 17:40 | E21-G014, G015, G016

FAH-CJS Japanese Movie Series – “耳をすませば Whisper of the Heart” – (1995)
2017-04-18 17:30 | Blackbox Theatre (E21-G036)
“Whisper of the Heart”
Mimi wo Sumaseba (original title)
One summer evening in 1994, Shizuku Tsukishima, a junior high school girl living in Tama New Town, a Tokyo suburb, looks through the checkout cards in her library books and notices a pattern: Each book had previously been checked out by someone named “Seiji Amasawa”. The next day at school, Shizuku shows her friend Yuko a draft of the song she has been writing for graduation. On the way home, Shizuku realizes she left her book at the school. She rushes back, only to find a boy her age reading it. He hands it back to her and comments on her lyrics, calling them “corny” — which leaves her feeling irritable for the rest of the evening …
Whisper of the Heart, literally “if you listen closely” is a 1995 Japanese anime film directed by Yoshifumi Kondo. The film is based on the manga of the same name by Aoi Hiragi. The screenplay was written by Hayao Miyazaki. This is the first theatrical Studio Ghibli feature to be directed by someone other than Miyazaki Hayao.
Reference: http://studio-ghibli.wikia.com/wiki/Whisper_of_the_Heart

FAH-CJS 川柳コンテスト Senryu Contest
2017-03-20 - 2017-03-31
Dear Students,
Senryu is a 3-line unrhymed Japanese poem with 17 syllables and structurally similar to haiku. To those of you who have been studying Japanese for more than a year, try to write a senryu poem and join our senryu contest. This is an opportunity for your to discover more about Japanese language and explore into Japanese poets. You are welcome to approach our teachers at the Centre for Japanese Studies for more information.

Systematic Kanji Tree and Teaching Kanji for University Students
2016-09-27 | Blackbox Theatre (E21-G036)

2016 Workshop on Japanese Education in South China Region
2016-06-25 - 2016-06-26 | E21-G014, G015, G016
The workshop aims to provide an occasion for researchers and educators from China, Japan and other countries to present their research achievements in the area of Japanese language and culture studies, and to exchange academic research information. Further development and cooperation in the field of Japanese studies will be promoted through this workshop. In order to further improve the research level and contribute to Japanese education (as well as foreign language education) in UM and South China region, it is very necessary for us to hold this workshop.

Why and How I make Documentary Films: Conversation with Kazuhiro Soda
2016-03-22 13:00 - 15:00 | Blackbox Theatre (E21-G036)
Film director Mr. Kazuhiro Soda will come to Macau on 22 March to talk about his work on “observational filmmaking.”
