Japanese Culture: Identity and Tradition

好色
好色本
好色
一代の男 The life of an amorous man.
He elevated writing about this thing to it's own kind of genre.

Koushoku became a form of writing (trashy romance?) in Tokugawa Japan. About the physical side of love. Initiated by Saikaku, a writer who became popular for writing about sex. The tale of genji has the same theme, but it isn't expressed in the same way. He presents it as physical desire. The pleasure quarters were a legitimate way for merchants to spend time and money.

Saikaku's writing is probably the most accessible of all the literature we cover in this class for English readers. They're surprisingly engaging even if not so deep as modern writing.

Homosexuality was not perceived as being out of the ordinary, it was ordinary. You only get homosexuality as being deviant after contact with the west. It was not unusual in Tokugawa Japan. So writers wrote about it freely.

[] what about constructing a timeline of Japanese Art History . Wiki style so that people can add to them? Advertise it for the subject so people can add to it. Blog style?


What about a vertical timeline that goes down a page where you can edit text in boxes. put images etc.