Day Twenty-Seven

For today's blog, I guess I can write about my overall experience with this whole project. I think this was a differenct experience than what I usually have to do. Everyday I had to blog and think about my paper and my story. However, if Iwas to just write it on paper, I proabably wouldn't have gotten all the thoughts out of my head into writing. So I really liked this whole blogging experience, but of course there were also times when it really annoyed me. It annoyed me, because on busy nights when I didn't feel like doing anything when I got home, I knew I still had to write a blog.

I do feel lucky that I got to do this experience. One of my sophomore classmate says that they don't get to do this with their teacher. When they wrote their historical fiction, they had to write it out on paper, and they didn't blog. So, I was really greatful that I didn't have to sit in the library doing boring, boring research for my paper. Also, I would have to say that a chunk of my information came from wikipedia. If it were other teachers, they would not allow wiki at all. Wikipedia may be a place of free-editing, but there are many things that are accurate. Also wikipeida is also cited at the bottom, so we all know that its taken from sources and not just some random information.

If I was to write a research paper again, or write another story for class, I think I would prefer to this than to do that whole searching for books at the library. When you have access to the internet, things are so much easier to find. Whereas to in libraries, you must find the book then locate it, then find the information. Sometimes you don't even get as much information as you need. Internet really does make a research paper easier to write.

Day Twenty-Six

Creating all of this was pretty fun overall. However, there were days when I had so much to do that I just didn't feel like blogging. There's a lot of stuff that I got out of this project. I would have to say that one of my strongest point was researching. I actually enjoyed researching and just finding out more about the history of Japan, but I know that there are still a lot that I do not know about that certain time period that I've choosen.

Probably one of my weakest spot in doing this project would be starting the story and making illustrations for it. I basically have the ideas of my story down, it's just transferring them into a little tale. Also, I'm not much of an artist, so I think it'll be hard for me to make the illustrations on my own. I think I'll just give up and have my brother do it.

If I'm not too lazy to rewrite this story. I think I'll actually make a whole novel out of this book. I think I'm capable of doing it. I just know that I might not really be devoted to doing it. But I think it'll be one of goals that I might to accomplish once before I graduate from high school. I used to like to write stories, but I guess I've just became more and more busy to where writing just didn't really interest me as much anymore.

I learned a lot while doing this project. I really didn't know I had it in me to take apart a story and write a pastiche based off of that story. I guess nothing really is impossible.

(By the way, if you're reading this, and you follow my blog, tell me of the weaknesses and strengths that I probably won't be able to see through my own perspective.)

Day Twenty-Five

Phew! I just got the internet to work now!

However, what I have so far, I think it's okay, but I'm not quite sure yet. I say this because I'm not sure if I should show the culture more through my story or through my pictures. I think it'll be easier through the illustrations. So far, I have some written, however I feel like my beginning is a little weak. As I read what I have done so far aloud, it sounded sort of choppy like the little kids book. I think I'm going to edit it so that the sentences could be a little longer just so that it'll flow together more.

At first, I was thinking of making the story mostly like a dialouge, however looking back at my story, I think it's going to need a lot of narration. When I am done, and if it doesn't flow together, I'll make it flow together. I think my story is a little complicated, so I'm going to have to make it flow just so that the young readers will understand the point that I'm trying to get across.

Day Twenty-Four

I was thinking about about what the climax of my story was. And from the climaxes that were given, I would have to say that number six and seven best fits the climax of my story. Number six on the list talks about relationships being mended or finally being discarded. Whereas number seven is when the loyal gets rewarded or punish.

For number six, it best fits at the very end when the step-sister starts to consider the princess because of the princess's kindness to her. However, I wasn't so sure about this being a climate, I thought that it was more of a resolution.

Number seven also fits into the story, and I think it has a better fitting. First of all the samurai is the one who gets turned into a blue heron. Then the Empress finds out about it and traps him. I believe that this would be the climax. Now, that that blue heron is trapped, then what will happen next? So, this is when the downfall starts for the samurai. He's injured as the bird, and this friend told him to consider about marrying the step-sister so that he could be human again. His happiness is loss, because he thought it was the princess who helped set the trap. All this downfall happens after the climax.

These are just my thoughts as for the climax of my story. After writing down these thoughts I think that number seven would really be like the climax of my story.

Day Twenty-Three

In my story, the social responsibility of the characters are basically pretty obvious in the way that they act and speak. There's always the good, the bad, and the ones in between.

First is Princess Katsumi, her social responsibility is like the yang of the yin. She's bright and her actions in the story is never wrong. She's the one that everyone feels sorry for, because her step-mother dislikes her. She's always honest and trustworthy to her people. She can also kind of have the role of the hero in the story, since it was her that went to go find her love at the end of the story.

Samurai Nobuo's social responsibility is to be a loyal lover. Every action that he takes is only for the love of his true princess. Never will he purposely love the step-sister, because he has a kind and loving heart that truly loves only one person. He may seem like he is supposed to the be prince charming, and the hero, however I think he's a little of both, but not really the hero part. The reason I think so is because he's a hero in his own way, but he isn't the one to save the day, the princess was. He just played a role to help the princess find him.

Empress Neikan is the step-mother, so her social responsibility is to make sure that Princess Katsumi lives a miserable and lonely life, and spoil her own daughter. Her role is the main antagonist, and since this is so then most of her actions will never be beneficial to the protagonist. Instead it'll always cause some kind of harm to the princess.

Princess Donyoku is the step-sister, I think her social role is one of the ones that are in between-ish. The reason I say this is because her actions may be kind of rude, but it is never to hurt the ones around her. Her actions are just for her own selfishness and enjoyment, she just doesn't see the pain that she casts upon the others around her, especially Princess Katsumi.

Samurai Tadashi is the good friend of Samurai Nobuo, his social responsibility is to help Samurai Nobuo through his trials. I think he's another character that has social responsibility in between. He's there to help and he's also like the loyal friend of the prince, or in other words, Samurai Nobuo. Although he's like a minor character, the bird would not have survived if it were not for Samurai Tadashi.

Kurai Mahou is the sorcerer that casts the spell on the samurai. I think that her social responsibility is to help out the empress. Although she's not really the antagonist, she's the one that helps out the empress win.

Yoi Mahou is the good sorcerer that helps Princess Katsumi by giving her magic seashells. Her social responsibility is to be like the guidance and an aide to the Princess when she was trying to find the samurai.

Lastly, the Emperor has the social responsibility of the careless ruler. I say this because, he doesn't like to deal witht he drama of his new wife and step-daughter, so he lets the empress do whatever she wants. That can even include locking up the princess.

These are the social responsibilities in my characters of my story. One can assume the social responsibility of each character just by knowing which role they play and knowing the plot of the story.

Day Twenty-Two

I think I want my theme to be like "True love conquers all." I really want my theme to have something to do with love. The moral is kinda like good things come to those who wait, so I was thinking about love. Love isn't something that can be forced, it only comes in time. You can learn to love someone, but that takes time. So, in my pastiche the prince princess learns to love the prince even if he was a bird.

The events that I think can help my theme are as followed.

1. When the samurai first meets the princess, and all he could think of was the princess.
   
   
2. Even when the step-mother locked her away, he was still persistent and wanting to be with her.
   
   
3. When the samurai is turned into a bird, he still visits the princess every night and not let her grow lonely.
   
   
4. Even if the samurai didn't look human, the princess learned to love the samurai in a form of a bird.
   
   
5. It was the princess's love for the samurai that led her to find him and tell him of the misunderstanding.
   
   
6. From the very beginning the step-sister never really liked the princess because of her beauty, but because of love, the princess loves her step-sister as if she was a real sister. So this was how the step-sister learned to love the princess back.
   
   
7. This all leads to the end, when the samurai and the princess gets to live happily ever after together.
   

These are mainly the highlight events or scenes that support the theme of the story, that true love really can conquer all. That true love to me isn't just in a form of romance, but I believe that true love comes in all form of love. The three forms of love: Eros love, which is most commonly known as the romance between man and woman, the Philos love, which is mostly between friends. Lastly Agape love, which is the most unconditional love there is. At the end of the story, the princess shows agape love to her sister.

Also, these events lead to the point that the princess was the one to eventually get the reward at the end. After all these years of having to follow in the shadow of the spoiled step-sister, she was patient and waited. She waited, and so her reward at the end was the love of another, which is worth more than any object on earth.

Day Twenty-One

Even if the beginning sentence is only a sentence, it was one hard sentence to start off with. I had to think about my audience and what can catch their attention. I'm not really creative when it comes to writing, but the sentence that I do have picked out seems to be a complex sentence than the little children books. So, I decided to write my pastiche more like an advance children book, probably for late second graders and early third graders.

"The story of the Blue Heron starts off in ancient Japan, when the Emperor had lost his first wife, and his second wife became the new Empress."

I would have started with the simple, "Once upon a time..." but I think its too common and too repetitive. So, I just started off telling of the how the story started and where.

As for the illustration, I can't decide between two illustrations. The first illustration is of the palace, to show where the story first takes place. I imagine a great scenery, with flowers and a courtyard. In the back would be the clear sky, and in the court would be people in traditional Japanese clothing. The other illustration I thought of was, the Emperor and his the young princess were at the bedside of his first wife, and the second wife and her daughter on the other side standing by the bed. The second wife, would have some sort of serious face, with no sign of grieving whatsoever. These are just my starting thoughts.

Day Twenty

This weekend, I just felt like I didn't have enough time to think about my project because I was so busy, but I think I can manage. Actually as far as the illustrations, I'm not so sure exactly what I want to do. I'll just probably draw my own pictures even though I'm not really an creative person when it comes to drawing. However I'm not really sure how I would edit my pictures, probably paint because I'm used to the program more than any other program. I think this would probably be one of the most difficult steps for me, because I do like to bother other people to draw for me. So, I just plan to draw simple pictures.

As for using 15 pictures, I still do not know which scenes that I should take from the story to draw out a pictures. I know for sure that I'll do the main scenes like when the samurai talks to the step-sister on accident in the princess's room, the scene when he turns into a bird, when the princess finds him, when he gets trapped, when the princess receives the seashells, and when she finally finds him. I think I am incooperate more scenes into it, but these are just the scenes I'm thinking of now.

Day Nineteen

I think there are a lot of missing pieces to the culture of my story. If I was just writing a short story for children's book, then I think that the story is already long enough for a short story. However, if I was to write a whole book. I think that there can be much more than can be added in. For example, the geisha and their way of life. Also I believe that the Japanese life back then was much more complex than it actually is in my fairytale.

I think that if I were to write a whole novel, I would add in the part of the geisha. They are artists that practice a lot of skills. In fact the word itself tells of what they do. In the Japanes kanji writing, "gei" means art, and "sha" means "doer." Their job is to entertain their costumers. For them, a white face and red lips is a sign of beauty. Back in the days, the Japanese actually used to bleach their teeth black for a symbol of beauty. Originally geishas were actresses and they could also be prostitutes, since it was common for men to find romantic attachment from them. Since I love to watch Korean drama soap drama so much, then I could probably write a whole love drama novel based off of my original folktale using the information from the Japanese culture.

Well, anyways back to my pastiche, I think there are still plenty of information that I can put into the reading, however I think that it might be too much for children to maintain all that information. So I thought that illustrations would be a great way to show kids a vision of how the culture really is like. I don't just want any pictures, I want pictures that can connect and tell the story just what is being shown.

I don't think that I have anything relating to religion in my story. Although I know that there were religions that were practiced at that time, I don't remember putting that piece of information in my writing. I could probably have the princess to gods that they worshiped back then. So, religion is a is probably something that I can add that isn't already there.

Day Eighteen

My chosen culture was the Japanese culture. The Japanese culture actually has a lot of folktales. In Japanese folktales, it reveal information about Japanese history, life, and customs. The three stories that I've chosen are "Kaguya Hime," "Hanasaka Jiisan," and "Tsuru No Ongaeshi." There are many versions of these folktales, since they've been passed down from generation to generations, so I couldn't find the original authors to these stories. However, I believe Hanasaka Jiisan was also collected by Andrew Lang in his Violet Fairy Book.

Kaguya Hime is a fairy tale, although I'm not sure who it was originally written by. The title translates into, "The Tale of Princess Kaguya." This story starts of with an old childless bamboo cutter saw a shining stalk of bamboo. He decided to cut it, and in it was a small beautiful little girl. So, he decided to take it home to his wife and raise her. Amazingly she grew fast into a beautiful woman, and men from far and near wanted to marry her. There were five pursuers that had not given up. So, she requested items from each one of them that was impossible to find on Earth. Soon, each one of them gave up since they knew that the items she asks for was impossible to get. Each day she grew even more beautiful when an Emperor heard of her and wanted to marry her. However, she too rejects his offer and tells him that she was not of that country. Around two years passed, then every time there was a full-moon she would cry because she would have to leave Earth soon. So, she soon reveals to her earth parents that she is actually from the moon, and that it was her time to go back to Tsuki-no-Miyako, or the Capital of the Moon. So, that night that the moon people were to come back, the Emperor had guards surrounding her house to keep the moon people away. However when they came they left a great light of blindness on the guards. Then Kaguya left her earth parents a note and her robe. Then as she left a robe of feathers was put on her, and she soon forgot the sadness and compassion for her earth family and friends. Then the Emperor writes a letter to Kaguya and sends it to the highest mountain to burn it so that the distant princess may receive it. There he also ordered his men to burn the elixir of immortality. Mount Fuji was said to be named after this, because fuji means "immortality," and the Kanji characters for Mount Fuji actually means, "Mountain Abounding with Warriors" in which the Emperor's men went up.

Hanasaka Jiisan is another fairy tale. For this fairy tale it is about a childless couple who owns a dog named Shiro because he was white. Shiro was a very loyal dog to this couple because they were good people to him. One day Shiro had told the old man to dig in his garden for the had found treasure there. As the old man found gold coins, his greedy neighbor saw this and asked to borrow the dog. The old man found this odd because the greedy neighbor never treated the dog with respect and he was always tormenting the dog. However being such a good person he couldn't say no. So as the greedy neighbor took the dog out to the fields he forced the dog to sniff out if there was any treasures. The dog sniffed it out and the greedy neighbor only dug out trash. This had angered the greedy neighber, so he kills the dog without anyone knowing and buries him there next to the tree. So, as time went by the old man wanted his dog back and went to this neighbor's house. His neighbor confessed that he had killed his dog. So then the old man requested that he have the tree where the dog was buried. Then with the tree the old man made a mortar out of it. The old man and his wife decided to make mochi cake in remembrance of Shiro. To their amazement the wife made the mochi cakes then it started increasing in amount. This was their award from Shiro. After hearing this story, the greedy neighbor asked to borrow the mortar, but his cakes turns to dirt. Then, the neighbor became angered an threw it in the fire. The old man soon again wanted his mortar back, so he went to his neighbor's house, and the neighbor told him that he had burned it. So the old man took the ashes. With these ashes Shiro, asked him to spread it on dead trees since it was the middle of autumn. To his amazement, the tree bloomed into a beautiful cherry tree. Then one day a Daimyo heard of this story and asked him to come treat his dead tree. The neighbor hearing of this wanted to take the glory again. Then as he tried to make the trees blossom some of the ashes fell into the Daimyo face and nose, nearly choking him. Due to this the greedy neighbor was sent to jail. The title of this story means "the old man who made withered trees to flowers."

The last story is called "Tsuru No Ongaeshi." I read different versions of this story. The story is frequently told of a old couple, and another version is about a young man. Anyways, the story is bascially the same setting, but I think I'm going to tell of the story of the young man. The crane just wanted to return its favor by becomine the daughter of the couple in one version and the wife of the young man in the other verison. The story starts off with the young man walking home in the snow when he came across a crane stuck in a trap meant for ducks. The young man decides to help the crane free. Then at night when he got home, there was a knock on the door which turns out to be a beautiful woman. The woman requestes to sleep there for the night. Then in the morning she asks him if she could stay, and they become husband and wife. Then the wife asks her husband if she could weave, but her only request was to not watch her weave. Then when she was finished she gave the cloth to him and told him to go sell it in the market, and buy more yarn. When he was selling the cloth, it raised many eyes because the cloth looked like a real crance. As told so, he sold it and bought more yarn. Later the wife began to start weaving again, but then in the afternoon the loom was silent, so he decided to check on his wife. Then there he finds a crane with its breast and sides nearly plucked bare. The wife tells him that since he knows her true identity, then it was time for her to leave. Then she flies away, but in a moment later she drops him a comb to remind him of her long black hair. There are actually two different English titles for this story. One is called "The Crane Wife" and the other is called "The Crane that Returned the Favor."

I think that the Japanese folktales really do share a lot of it's cultural style into it. Also there are a lot of Japanese folktales that tells of its history. For example in the story of Kaguya Hime, it tells of the how Mount Fuji got its name. If you look deep enough into the story, then there is always some moral that lies within. In the story Hanasaka Jiisan, there was a big moral in it, and it tells that the good will be rewarded in the end. The folktales are really a big part in the Japanese culture. It tells of how things start, and it tells about the legends and myths.

Day Seventeen

Well, today I had to choose another story by the same author as the story that I'm writing my pastiche on. The stories that Andrew Lang collected are not really written by him, but he was the one to translate and collect them. It was kind of hard for me to choose a story, because he had so much, but in the end I just randomly chose one. The story that I chose was called "The Half-Chick."

"The Half-Chick" starts off with a black Spanish hen with hen who has many beautiful chicks, except for the youngest one. The youngest chick looked like he was split into two, because he only had one leg, one wing, one eye, half a beak, and half a head. Due to his appearance then his mother never thought that he would leave her, and he was also called Medio Pollito which means "half-chick." Even as they grew up, he was not like his siblings. He was disobedient and rude to his brothers and sister, and especially to his mother. So one day he was tired of living on the farm, that he told his mother that he wanted to visit the king in Madrid. As he left he took a shortcut and came across a stream which was covered in weed, and it asked for assistance, but due to his stubbornness the chick refused to help. Then he also came upon a fire that was dying out. That fire, too, asked for his assistance, and again he refused. Then in the morning he came across the wind which was stuck in the branches of the chestnut tree and asked for help. The chick, once again, refused to help. Now he was coming near the castle of the king in Madrid. He was planning to wait outside until the king came out, but just as he as hopping pass a back window, the cook saw him and made the king's dinner. The chick was wet from the water, but the water would not help him for he did not help the water in the stream. When the chick was being burned in fire, the fire did not help him because it was his punishment for not helping. Then, the cook realized that the chick was overcooked so he tossed him out the window. The wind then carried him harshly, for this was the wind's punishment to him. In the end the wind carried him to the top of the highest church in Madrid. It is said that he is still there to this day.

I think that this story is similar to "The Blue Bird" because both stories have a character that is a bird. However, as in the plot I don't think that I can really find a lot of similarities. Both of the stories also originally took place in an European country. In both the stories, both of the main characters also learn their own lesson in the end.

Even if they did learn their lesson at the end, the two characters learn it differently. The Princess learns that good things will come to those who wait, where as the chick learns that what goes around comes around. The Princess learns from her faith of the King, and the chick learns from his stubbornness. Also there was not a lot of similarity, but there was sure a lot of differences. For example, the princess was a patient, polite girl, whereas the chick was a character of pride, rudeness, and was unwilling to help. Then there also comes the classification of the story. "The Blue Bird" was a fairytale, whereas "The Half-Chick" was a beast folktale and a pourquoi folktale. "The Blue Bird" used fairies and magical objects, whereas in "The Half-Chick" it was mainly about a bird, and it explained about a bird that may still exist as a statue at the highest church of Madrid.

I think the message of this story is mostly, what goes around comes around. The chick had not wanted to help anyone, so in the end no one wanted to help him. It tells us that we should take the opportunity to help others. It's also very fortunate, because for me, if someone was to ask me for my help then it makes me feel like they trust me. So, this story tells us the moral that when there is a chance to help someone in need, take it. Do unto others what you want done unto you.

Day Sixteen

Voice in a character can be imagined by which role that person plays in the story. However, if the voice is given, then it can also describe which role that that person will play. For example, if an antagonist was to have a sweet voice, then one can assume that the antagonist is not a bad person, but someone who just seems to be the obstacle in the story. These are my ideas of the voices of my characters.

Princess Katsumi is a princess that everyone adores. She is a princess with grace so her voice is very sweet and elegant. It really describes her personality, because she is very calm. Her voice can calm the people around her.

Samurai Nobuo is a character of a heroic figure. He holds power in the community, so his voice is like a low, dreamy voice. He is also the lover of the princess, so I think that the voice that best fits him is like a strong voice, yet a gentle one.

Princess Donyoku is the step-sister of the crown princess. Her character is not a very bright one, and she can have a very greedy personality. I imagine that her voice would like an annoying, nasal voice. Her nasal voice can also have sort of a high-pitched sound to it, which I think will enchance that fact that she's already annoying and greedy.

Empress Neikan, the step-mother, is a very wicked lady. She is only a woman of wealth and everything she does is only for her own benefit. The voice that suits her best is a husky female voice that isn't so low yet not so high. The husky tone to her voice gives her power and a fierce-like character.

Emperor Osamu doesn't really speak a lot in the story, however his character is the ruler of the kingdom. So, his voice is a low, powerful, loud voice. With his voice, he can get the attention of his subjects. He has the voice of the ideal ruler with great power.

Samurai Tadashi, is the great friend of Samurai Nobuo. His character in the story is a helping friend. His voice isn't as strong as Samurai Nobuo, but he still has the gentle voice of a good friend. He has a brother-like voice that can comfort anyone in any situation.

Yoi Mahou is the good sorcerer, she is the one that helps the Empress Katsumi find her samurai when she goes to look for him. "Yoi" actually means good, so she also has the helper character. Her voice is like the voice of a loving mother that can comfort a crying baby.

"Kurai" means dark, so then Kurai Mahou is the dark sorcerer. She is very powerful and very and only like to do bad deeds. Her voice is like a witch voice. She has a very powerful, harsh voice that can scare off people.

This is an example of a dialouge that can happen between the two princesses:

Katsumi: Today is a dark day, however it is still another beautiful day, is it not?

Donyoku: Eh, I like today. There was no sun to damage my skin.

Katsumi: True, but the plants also needs sunlight to grow.

Donyoku: I think it's better when it rains, because it prevents me to go outside.

Katsumi: One must need sunlight in their life, for it will bring them strength and energy like in the plants and animals.

Donyoku: *scoffs* Who needs energy when you can just have servants to serve you?

Katsumi: *sighs* Well then, all I can say is that everyone needs rain and sunlight.

Donyoku: Yeah, yeah. Whatever!

I believe that voice in a character is what gives them their character and their personality. If the two princesses were to switch their voice, then their personalities probably would have changed too. So every character has their unique voice for their unique role in the story.

Day Fifteen

Today, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 I've finally presented my Pecha Kucha presentation. Even if I did get full credit on this assignment, I felt like I could have done better. Knowing the way I felt when I was presenting, I probably said to many words like "um" or "like." When it comes to giving a presentation, it's not hard, especially if I know what I'm talking about, but I just start to get cold and nervous sometimes. Then when that happens, I start to twist some of my words around. I was prepared to go last week, but I never did. So, I was shocked when I was chosen to start it off today. I guess I can say that I wasn't as prepared as I was originally last week, but I think that I did a decent job because I knew already what I was going to talk about.

The way I presented it was I started off by telling of the story and its origin. Then I went into giving it a summary so that the class would know what the story is actually about. After that, I told about the culture that I was going to rewrite it in. I gave a little example about how the ancient Japanese culture was different from the modern culture. There used be emperors who were in charge and samurais at the top of the social class. That was basically how I ended the presentation.

I think that things that benefitted me was that I actually knew what I was talking about. This gave me an understanding that I did actually learn something from all of my research. Also, from this experience I now know how to present myself next time I do a presentation, and that I must always be prepared to give my presentation. I seemed like an eternity when I was giving the speech, but after I was done, I realized that I still had a lot that I might have wanted to share. So, either way I still finished with a good amount of information.

Day Fourteen

The original story itself is pretty long, so my pastiche will probably a longer story for more advanced children books. However here are brief points that happens in the story.

1. Emperor marries a new concubine and then the Emperess dies. This will happen within about a month.
   


2. Princess Katsumi and Princess Donyoku grows up in the palace. This area won't be so much in detail because it takes place throughout about 15 years.
   


3. A royal party is held to find a husband for Princess Donyoku. (Starting from here to when the Samurai confesses his love to the wrong person takes place all in one day.)
   


4. During this night, the Emperess locks Princess Katsumi in another room.
   


5. That night the samurai goes to talk to the Princess, but it turned out he confessed his love to the step-sister.
   


6. In the morning, when he found out it was truly the step-sister, he refuses the marriage. Then the Queen goes and finds a sorcerer to put a spell on him.
   


7. After about a week after the spell, the blue bird finds the Princess singing near a pond at night. The prince visits her every night for about 5 years.
   


8. Then one night step-sister then finds out about the meeting of the bird and the Princess and tells the Emperess. Then the Emperess sets a trap in to hurt the bird.
   


9. The samurai thought that it was the Princess that set him up, so he decides to let himself suffer. Then the samurai's good friend finds him after 5 years of searching.
   


10. Soon about a month later, the Emperor dies, then the Emperess flees out of the country. The step-sister, too, did not know what to do, so she fled to find the sorcerer to stay with her. So, there was a demand to have a ruler, so they crowned the Princess to be a temporary Emperess and she must find a spouse within 2 years.
    


11. About a year later, after seeing the samurai suffering from being a bird, the samurai's good friend finds the sorcerer to convince her to undo the spell if the samurai agrees to marry the step-sister.
    


12. Within 5 months of consideration, the samurai then agrees to marry the step-sister.
    


13. Meanwhile, within the 5 months that the prince was back as a human, the new Emperess goes out on a search as a peasant to find the bluebird. She approaches a lake, when a good sorcerer tells her of the news and gives her five magical seashells that helps her on the way.
    


14. When the new Emperess finds the village that the Samurai lives in, then she finds the Samurai's house and asks to sleep in the guest room. By this time, Donyoku is already living in another guest room already acting like the wife, although she isn't yet.
    


15. Emperess Katsumi asks a servant of the Samurai, the third night, to not give him his sleeping potion, or the "worry-free powder," so that she can speak with him after trying the first two nights and failed. Then they are reunited.
    


16. Donyoku was against it and wanted to interfere, however, the Emperess's kindness and happiness made Donyoku have a change of heart. So she ended up finding a husband within the palace of Emperess Katsumi.

I think the storyline is pretty self-explanatory. However, there are a lot of details that were left out, just to shorten the list. This whole story happens within a great amount of time. The beginning isn't that long, but it's just more of an introduction to how it all got started. Each one of these events is connected to the previous one, and it will influence the upcoming events.

Events 1 and 2 tells is the introduction to the characters. From events 2 to 3 are when the girls are grown and prepared to find husbands for themselves. Events 3 to 5 all happen during that one certain day, when they have the royal party. Event 6 is when the samurai finds out the truth that it was not the Princess, but the step-sister, that he confessed to. This causes him to refuse the marriage, which angers the Emperess to find someone to cast a spell on him. In event 7 was in one week after trying to somehow meet the princess in his bird form, he finds her at night singing next to a lake. Everynight for five years he continues to see her everynight. Then from 7 to 8 and 9 is when the step-sister finds out that the Princess knows about the spell and tells her mother. The mother sets a trap that sends a misunderstood message to the samurai, and he starts to doubt the Princess's faith in their relationship. Around events 9, 10, and 11 the events may seem kind of out of place, because it did to me when I was writing it, but it is to set up the next events that will be happening. I cut out some things from the original story, so I also sort of reordered the events around that part. This was when the samurai was still a bird, but the Emperor passed away, so then the Emperess and the step-sister fled.The samurai's good friend wanted him to consider the step-sister's proposal, after a year, so that he can be human again. Then events 12 and 13 are happening at the same time. To where it come to events 14 to 16. This happens within Empress Katsumi's three nights of stay at the Samurai's place. Finally event 16 also tells of the ending of the story.

Day Thirteen

I think that message of this folktale is to follow your heart. In my cultural pastiche, I want to portray the same message, however, usually in Asian cultures, it's like a dishonor to go against family, or elders. Following your heart can be like a minor message for my pastiche, so I want to make a different major message to impact the readers.

Being a royalty, everything seems to come right when you want it to. It's just the demand of being in a high position. In my version of the pastiche, the Princess learns to wait for everything, since her step-sister is the one who gets spoiled, then the Princess is the one who has to wait for seconds. The Princess is patient and appreciative with whatever she gets, because she knows that she can get worse. Since the step-sister always got everything first, the Princess actually ends up with the leftovers. However, in the end she's the one who gets the love of the samurai, while the step-sister gets the leftover happiness that the Princess will let her have. My moral of the story will be, "Good things come to those who wait."

Day Twelve

My folktale is a fairy tale, because magical characters and objects are used in the story. However, from the given discriptions, then it doesn't fit in any of the other categories of a type of folktale. The main characters do get to have a happy ending, while the antagonists do get a punishment at the end. My pastiche will also be a fairy tale. It's going to be almost a replica of it. However, I'll switch up a couple of things. Not all the antogonists gets to be punished at the end. The step-sister will eventually learn from her mistake. So this part could be like a noodlehead folktale, it just won't be with the main character.

Classifying folktales are important because it can deal with different messages that want to be sent out. For example, if it is a Pourquoi Folktale then it'll be a story about how a certain thing came to be. Another example would be like in a Trickster Folktale, these stories send out the message that even if you're small you can make a difference. My version of the pastiche will be like a fairy tale, this message is very similiar to other fairy tales like Cinderella, to follow your heart.

Day Eleven

Numbers! The three most common numbers that show up in the "The Blue Bird" are the numbers four, six, and seven. Honestly, I'm not quite sure why these specific numbers were used though. However, I did do some research on them.

The number four appears in the folktale when there are four masked figures that takes the princess to her room. Then there is another time when she was given four eggs to help her find her prince. The last time that the number was mention was when she reached a mirror that could let you see yourself of how you want to appear like. And people from all the four corners of the world comes to see it. There are many beliefs that come with this number. In the Christian bible, there are four books of the gospels. Which also is said to link to the four classical elements; fire, air, earth, and water.There are also four corners of the world; North, South, East, and West. However, in the Chinese culture, four is a homonym for death, so that's why some hospitals do not have a fourth floor.

The number six shows up in the story when she broke two of the four eggs. One of them contained six mice who could dance and do tricks. The other egg had six birds that could sing, talk, answer questions and tell fortunes. Six is a number that represents tact, beauty, and harmony. This was probably why they caught the attention of the step-sister.

Seven is another number to occur in the story quite often. This was the amount of years that the Prince was supposed to remain as a blue bird. The number seven can be known to be sacred or can be a spiritual number. In Christianity, it took God seven days to make everything, six day to create it, and he rested on the seventh day. Also, the ancient solar system even consisted of seven luminaries. However, I do not recall the Prince actually being under the spell for seven years.

In my pastiche I think I'll stick to only two numbers, five and seven. I'll make the Princess have five seashells, instead of four eggs. I chose five because in the East Asian cultures, there are actually five elements not four; water, fire, earth, wood, and metal. From these elements, the Japanese have based their days of the week on. When the Princess opened the eggs and six things came out of two the them, I've decided to add one more and make it seven. As for the years that the prince remains a bird, I think I'll just keep it seven. Seven is a like a lucky number in Japanese folklore. In Japanese mythology there are seven gods that are known as the Seven Gods of Fortune, or also known as the Seven Lucky Gods, and each god has its own traditional attribute.

So, as of now, these are just my choices in the numbers that I've chosen. I really couldn't find much about numbers in the Japanese culture. However I did find a couple of facts.

Day Ten

I have been keeping a blog about the a pastiche that I'm going to write. My pastiche will be a Japanese version of the the folk tale "The Blue Bird." I've done more research than I have probably done in the past. However, I really did enjoy all that research, there was so much that was just waiting to be known. From my research that I did, I've been putting my pieces of the puzzle together so that I can write my story. Although I've done a lot of research, I still feel like I can learn more about the Heian Period in Japan. As of now, I've just started to think about the details of my story.

This is actually the first time that I've kept a daily blog. I think that it's actually enjoyable. I get to write down all my thoughts, so that I can begin to organize it instead of just having a huge stack of paper of notes. The comments that are left really encourages me to do a good job on this project. Without the comments then I wouldn't know whether to continue my work, or start a different method.

I think that blogging is way more effective than researching and writing a paper. When I write a blog daily, it makes me think about the project daily, even during the weekends. So, sometimes in the day when a new idea just pops in my head it's less likely for me to forget it. Also, blogging helps me to break down what to focus on, instead of just doing one long research and not really getting anything out of it. I've actually learned a lot from this research, unlike other research papers that I've done. I can't usually remember what I researched after the lesson. Then, another reason is that for writing out the research paper there will be time until a deadline, so as an average high schooler, I'll tend to procrastinate. However, if I blog, then my deadline will be daily, so it causes me to research everyday, and brainstorm daily.

I really like this experience, because now I know that I really can rewrite a story. I used to think that I would never be able to write a story because if I have ideas, then they're too jumbled up in my mind. So, I never really had the time to organize the ideas and write it down, because I knew it wouldn't be something that I was devoted enough to, to spend time everyday. Blogging helps me to lay everything out and analyze the smallest detail. I never knew that it could be so much fun. Also, after all the ideas and research it makes me eager to write the story. When I have a specific topic to focus on that day, it lets me to brainstorm more on that specific topic. Then I write it down in my blog so I won't forget it later. I think this can really help me with my English skills, since I think that English is probably one of my weakest subject, when it comes to comprehending the material. Blogging daily has helped me to break things down to smaller pieces so that I can concentrate on that specific thing, and then put it all together in a big picture.

Day Nine

In the story of the "The Blue Bird" there are a couple of fantasy creatures and objects. First there is, of course, the blue bird. The blue bird is the main fantasy creature in the story. In the original story he was transformed by the Fairy Mazilla for the refusal of marrying the step-sister. Fairies and the Enchanter are also fantasy characters in the original story. However in my pastiche the fairies will replaces as sorcerers, since there's only two fairies, the fairy godmother, and the good fairy at the end. My version of the enchanter will just be a good friend of the samurai, instead of a someone with magical powers. Other fantasy creatures were the chariot frogs, however, I have decided not to use their existence, just so that the story wouldn't be so complicated. Also, I can't seem to think of mythical creature to replace them with, so unless I can find mythical creatures, then a version of the frogs won't be needed. Plus, I do not think that it'll make that much of a difference if they're in it or not, they're basically just like horses for the chariot that the Enchanter rides in. The last fantasy object that I can recall are four eggs at the end when the good fairy gives to the Princess, and they helped her through her journey of finding the prince.

Although in the folk tale, the species of the blue bird was never mentioned, I've decided to use a blue heron for the creature that the Prince turns into. At first I thought about using a fish, but then I found out that the heron was actually a religious significance during the Heian Period, as I had mentions in my Day Four blog.

In replacement of the fairies I chose sorcerers because they're probably the closet thing that I can think of that can relate to the Japanese. I did think about shamans however, but shamans don't really use magic, they're just more of a communicator with the supernatural world. A part of the definition of the word shaman actually says that they use magic to cure illness, however, I believe it's more a religion and a practice in which they just talk to spirits of the world and they believe its the spirits can help them to cure illnesses. Where as to a sorcerer is mainly uses magic, but then my desicion is not completely final yet. So, this is a small matter that I can just do more research upon.

The enchanter is a good friend of the Prince, but in my version I am making him the samurai's friend. In my Day Five blog, I talked about the Shudo way in the samurai society. So, I was thinking about it and thought that this was a terrific opportunity to use Samurai Nobuo's novice samurai as the friend who comes and saves him. Since the Enchanter in the story doesn't use magic, then in my story he's just a normal person.

In the original folk tale, four eggs were given to Princess Fiordelisa, and each one contained something that would help her with her journey when she was finding the prince. Since Japan is a island country, I was thinking of using magic seashells. I guess I just did't really like the idea of eggs, so I thought I would use something prettier. Besides, the eggs were given to the Princess when she was sitting beside a brook, so I think seashells would be a great replacement. Also, the way my princess uses them may be a little different.

These are just my thoughts about my fantasy objects. I haven't really given it a long enough thought into it, so this will just be a start of connecting my objects into my version of the story.

Day Eight

When I was searching for my pictures today, there were two pictures that stood out to me in particular. I really couldn't decide which one to share, since both of them seem to tell sort of the same story to me, but I'll just share the one that I think tells the story of the Princess more clearly. What I see in the picture is a story waiting to be written. The image gives an emotion to the Princess's story when her beloved samurai has had a spell cast upon him.

This picture tells of a lonely Princess who waits for her prince to come and stay with her. When I saw this picture, scenes of the story were just flashing across my head. From the scene where she's royal yet lonely, to when her step-mother sent her off to stay in her room, to when she waits for the return of the bird. Everyday after finding out how her love has been transformed, she constantly waits for night so that he may return to be by her side. This is also a perfect example of how my princess would look like. She'll have long hair, with a lovely face, yet a very lonely one. This picture inspired me to think about her delicacy, and how she waits for her prince, but he never shows up in the end. Instead she has to go find him.

The most inspiration that I had from his picture is just the fact that it sends out such a sad and mournful mood. It makes me want to be in her place just to feel her pain of having to see her step-mother give away her love to her step-sister. It's almost like a forbidden love for the samurai and the Princess. This image also gives me a sense that she waits very eagerly year after year, season after season, just for her knight in shining armor. Then suddenly one day he doesn't show up, and the day after that, and so on and so forth.

In the end I feel that the picture still speaks to me in many different ways, however I can't seem to grasp onto the words to express what it's trying to tell me.

Day Seven

In the making of my story, I knew the kind of characters that I had wanted. However, I had never really thought of the details of my characters. So, today I sat down and thought for a very long time of exactly how I want to create my characters. It is obvious that when there is a story, the Princess, or the heroine is usually an ideal girl, however no one is that perfect. My princess is probably a good girl, but she's not really a happy one. The princess's love is usually a loyal guy, but I want to make him doubt his love somehow. It's just obivous that the step-family will be cruel, however in my version, it's mostly the mother. The daughter will have flaws to her features however she's not completely diabolical, she was just brought up that way.

When I met Princess Katsumi in my mind, she was like a professional princess. She knew exactly how to act and respond to what I had to say. As for her physical appearance, she had a beautiful set of long, ebony black hair that reached near to the ground. Her face structure was narrow, and everything was proportional to it, including her eyes, nose, and lips. She had bright red lips, which represents beauty. She was about five foot and five inches and wore an exquisite juni-hitoe, filled with bright red and white colors to represent her divine nature. Since, she was the one who was supposed to be the crown princess, she portrayed the perfect image of a princess, however deep inside, she was very lonely. Throughout her whole life, she grew up perfecting the arts of being a princess. Her manners were flawless, and she grew to be a caring princess. A part of her knows that she has a duty to her people, however she feels that one day she wants to find true love. Being a princess though, she is unsure that that dream will ever become true until one day when she meets Samurai Nobuo. Princess Katsumi's character was always a happy character, she was like the color purple and pink. Purple in the Japanese culture could resemble royalty and pink was a symbol of purity.

Samurai Nobuo was warrior who wore a samurai armor, or a kikou, a kabuto which was a helmet, and he always carried a long samurai sword called a katana. He was the image of the perfect Japanese prince that every Japanese princess would dream of. He's about five feet and nine inches tall. He had practiced the bushido way of a samurai and he was very loyal to his people. He was trained to battle in the battlefield yet be gentle to others. Samurai Nobuo was also very tender at heart, he too had always longed for a loved one. He grew up doing only what he should that he's never really done anything that he's wanted to. He was a single guy who was devoted to serving his people when the Emperor invited him to the palace for matchmaking. There was never anything that he would turn down, especially if it was a chance to bring honor to his people, however he feared that his arranged marriage might bring dishonor. He had loved one girl but others wanted him to marry her step-sister. This was the time when he truly became brave and followed his heart to love his princess. Samurai Nobuo was like the color blue, loyal and peaceful.

The step-sister of Princess Katsumi was Princess Donyoku. Her mother was the first concubine of the Emperor and wife after Princess Katsumi's mother had passed away. She too, grew up in the palace learning the ways of a princess, however she wasn't originally royalty like Princess Katsumi, since her mom had already had her before her mom wed the emperor. She was very young when she first moved to the palace, however since she was not the crown princess, she never took the princess training seriously. She was a tad shorter than Princess Katsumi, and she had more flaws than her step-sister. Her face was more round and her eyes were a little smaller than Katsumi's. She was pretty but not considered beautiful for a princess. She was taught manners, however having her mom as a role model, she was somewhat ill-mannered at times. Her mom had taught her that it was all about the wealth, so she grew up greedy and unappreciative. She had always gotten the better stuff, since her mother was in power and thier father had not wanted to deal with it, for example her juni-hitoe dresses were always prettier, but Princess Katsumi was never concerned about it. Princess Donyoku resembles the color orange, she was very flamboyant and always demanded attention. However, deep down she was not that person at fault, she is only the way she is because she was brought up this way. However at the end of the story, her character starts to change.

The step-mother, Empress Neikan, was a very wicked lady indeed. In her youth was a very beautiful lady, and that was the reason why she became a concubine of the Emperor. After having Donyoku, her husband died and left her with nothing, so she went in search for a rich guy and found the Emperor. It was also a coincidence that shortly after they moved into the palace, the Empress was ill and passed away. Neikan was known to be a lovely, pure lady in her young days, however she was actually a wicked lady who only wanted wealth. When she became the empress she spoiled her daughter to the fullest. Neikan was five feet and six inches and she had a very fierce face. Her juni-hitoes were beyond beautiful. She even had beautiful hair, however Princess Kastumi was the fairest of the three. She always wanted everything for her daughter because she knew that Princess Kastumi was better, so she always had a habit of spoiling her own daughter. However in public, she was well-respected since she also portrayed the image of an ideal empress physically. The color red is probably the best color to suit her since she was aggresive verbally and very dangerous to the love of the Princess and the Samurai.

These were probably the main points of the main characters in my story. The religion of this time was both the Shinto and the Buddhism religion, so it is only logical to assume that both of these religions were practiced together. So far, these are the main ideas that I've come up with for each character, if anything else comes up later then I'll post it up as a second part.

Day Six

The Japanese language, in writing, has been influenced over the years. For a while the Japanese writing was depended on kanji, these are Chinese characters that were used in the Japanese language. However, the kana way of writing soon began to add on to the writing system. There are two ways to write in Japanese script. One way is katakana, which means "fragmentary kana" and it was taken to make a simpler version of the complex kanji. Another way of writing Japanese is the hiragana way. Hiragana is like the cursive version of Japanese writing, and it is also used for words without a kanji character. However, for my story I will use the common modern written language that is commonly used, and this is the romanization Japanese. The romanization is written using letters instead of characters, and it is fairly easy to read since you basically pronounce every syllable with a vowel in it.

Here is a list of common greeting and saying that I might incorporate into my writing:
Good morning - Ohayou
Good afternoon - Konnichiwa
Good evening - Konbanwa
Goodbye - Sayonara
Good Night - Oyasuminasai
What happened? - Dou shita no
Absolutely not - Zettai dame desu
Who did it? - Dare ga shita no
Where are you? - Doko ni iru no
What is your name? - Namae wa nan desu ka
Thanks - Arigatou (Arigato gozaimasu is more polite.)
I love you - Ashiteru (aishiteru wa is usually said by a female)
I like you - Daisuki

Day Five

I think finding name for my characters was probably one of the hardest thing to do. One reason is because Japanese names are not translated. Also, I had to do some thinking so that I may find a name that fits that character's personality, or what they do. As for the the original names in "The Blue Bird," I could not find why those specific names where chosen, because the folktale is not a very common one to where the names were given for that specific character. However, just by seeing the name, one could assume as to why that name was given. I don't recall the King and the step-mother having a name, however I will give them names in my story. There were only probably only four people that had had actual names and they were the Princess, the Prince, the step-sister, and the fairy godmother. The prince's friend was an important minor character but he was just known as the Enchanter, he didn't have an real name.

In my Japanese pastiche I've given each character a name according to the role that they play or their personality in my version of the story. The name of the princess will probably be Katsumi, which means "victorious beauty." I like this name, because it was her beauty that had caught the attention of the young samurai warrior. Her fated lover, the samurai, has the the name Nobuo, and it means "faithful man," because throughout the story he remains faithful to his love Katsumi. The emperor, Princess Katsumi's father, is named Osamu, which means "ruler." The step-mother and step-sister have more of a dark feeling to their name since they play the antagonist roles. The step-mother's name is Neikan, which means "treachous or wicked," while the step-sister's name Donyoku means "greed." The sorcerer in which the step-mother goes to find to cast a spell on the prince is called Mahou, which it translates to "magic." Back in the samurai society it was important to practice Shudo, which is like a love bond between a proper samurai and a novice samuari. This bond was also known as bido or "beautiful way," but this was an extremely strong devotion that the two had with each other. Samurai Nobuo's novice samurai would be named Tadashi, and it means "loyal" or "true." He is a loyal friend that will find Nobuo when the Emperess had cast him off as a blue heron.

So just to summarize everything and give myself a mental note of the names that I've chosen:
Princess – KATSUMI “victorious beauty”
Samurai – NOBUO “faithful man”
Step-sister – DONYOKU “greed”
Step-mother – NEIKAN “treacherous, wicked”
Emperor – OSAMU “ruler”
Shudo – TADASHI “loyal” or “true”
Sorcerer – MAHOU “magic”

Day Four

I really thought that the research today was going to be a little easier that yesterday's, however I found even more stuff to know about the Heian Period. I am even considering about adding a pinch of the Chinese culture into it. Around the Heian Period was also the time that the Tang Dynasty was declining. Also there was regular contact with the Asian mainland and Japan, so I decided to have like a sleeping, herbal medicine from China. During the Tang dynasty it was called "worry-free powder."

In "The Blue Bird," the setting starts off in a palace in France.
Princess Fiordelisa's room is where she was cast away to when the Prince started liking her at the party.
There was also a dark place that the step-sister, Turritella, had met with the Prince, and this place was where he thought she was the Princess and gave her his ring.
The wedding ceremony was when the Prince realized that it was actually Turritella that he gave his ring to and refused to marry her. This was also when the Fairy had turned him into a blue bird since he refused to marry her.
The tower was where the Princess was locked up for years, and the Blue Bird came to to visit her. The Blue Bird also brings jewels from his castle.
Turritella, fled to her fairy godmother, Fairy Mazilla's, place, and here was where the Prince's friend, the Enchanter came to persuade the fairy to take back the spell of the being a bird.
After Fiordelisa became queen she went on a search for her Prince, the Blue Bird, and then she meets an old lady at a lake, who turns out to be a fairy and tells her that the Prince is no longer a Blue Bird.
Finally the Chamber of Echoes is a place that anything that is said in there can be heard in the King's room. So knowing that fact, Queen Fiordelisa bribed the wife-to-be of the the King, Turritella, with some jewels so sleep in the Chamber of Echoes.

The story takes place over a stretch of years. It starts off with the party of finding a husband for Fiordelisa and Turritella.
The Prince meets up with Turritella, expecting her to be Fiordelisa at night time, in a dark place.
The time that the Princess is cast off in the tower and when the Blue Bird comes to visit her takes place during the night when no one is really aware.
The time of the wedding is most likely to be during the day time, same goes to when the Enchanter speaks with Fairy Mazilla.
It is night time when Queen Fiordelisa bribes Turritella to let her sleep in the Chamber of Echoes for a couple of nights.

In my version of the story, it will take place in the Heian Palace located in the north central Heian-kyo, or modern Kyoto.
Her room will be where her step-mom casts her off too.
Her step-sister will also pretend to be her and wait in the heroine's room when the lover comes to talk to her at night about marriage.
My heroine's lover will be a samauri, but after he refuses to marry her step-sister, the step-mother goes to find a sorcerer to cast a spell on the him. So, in my version the step-mother will have already known about the spell.
However instead of being forced to stay in a tower, she'll just be at the pond and that is when she sees a blue heron and he later tells her of what happened to him. Later the step-sister finds out and tells the step-mother of it.
This then leads to when a trap is set for the bird, and then his samurai friend finds him and seeks out the sorcerer.
Finally this will lead to the samurai's house where the heroine will finally find him.

The time of this story will be around the Japanese Heian Period and the Chinese Tang dynasty, so it would be around the year of 905. The reason I also added the Chinese dynasty is because the Samurai will actually have herbal powder, a version of the sleeping potion, to help him sleep.
Most of the story will actually take place around evening time, not too early and not too late.


Even thougth this doesn't really have to do with the topic of the blog, but it's more of a note reminder for me. I was planning to make the hero of the story to be a fish or something, but I discovered from my research today that the heron were actually a religious significance during the Heian Period, that there is even a court dance called the White Heron Dance, and it still exist up to today. And I've actually chosen to make it so that the spell was the Step-mother's idea, instead of her finding out from a spy like in the orignial story.

Day Three

I spent most of today researching when was the best time and place to write my story in. I've finally come to a conclusion to use the Heian period.

Here are some important cultural aspects of the Hiean period that I want to share in my story:

1) The Heian period was the last period of the classical Japanese history. This period began and was named after the capital when it was moved to Heian-kyo, which is modern day Kyoto. This period was also the rise of the military class, the samuari. The Heian period was also known to be the crux of Japan's culture, and this was the also the highest point of the imperial court. It lasted from around 794 through 1185.

2) Plain, boiled rice was commonly the staple of the meal, which was usually called either gohan or meshi. However, in mountainous areas where rice did not grow as much, it would be mixed with millet. In nobility life, the common food would consist of rice, fish, wild fowl, and vegetables. The food were usually grilled, steamed, simmered, or made into soups. Chopsticks were one of the many influences from China, however at first it was only the nobles that would use chopsticks.Then it was during the decline of the Tang dynasty that Japan started to individualize its culture along with food, this was when spoons were used less and chopsticks were used more.

3) Four periods before the Heian period, during the Jomon Period was when the Shinto religion first became known. Two periods before the Heian period, during the Kofun Period or the Yamato Period was when the Japanese had regular connections with the Chinese and the Koreans, and this was when the Buddhism religion was introduced. During the Nara Period, which is one period before the Hiean Period, was when Buddhism was officially declared the official religion. However, during the Hiean Period, both of the Shinto religion and the Buddhism religion have been coexisting together harmouniously in Japan. There were even people who practiced both religions. However, during this period there were two sects of the Buddhism religion. Dengyo Daishi was a monk who had found the Tendai sect of the Japanese Buddhism, in which he emphasized in his reinterpretation that everyone could achieve to have enlightenment. Kobo Daishi, was another Japanese monk who found the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. The Shingon's tradition is closer to the Indian culture than it is the Chinese, however Shingon has a distinction between Buddha's exoteric and esoteric teachings.

4) During this time, one of the most popular style of music was the gagaku. It was commonly performed at the Imperial court. Its genre can be classified as a type of Japanese classical music. The instruments that were vital to the gagaku were wind instruments, string, and percussion. One very well known string instrument is the gakuso, or also known as the koto, which is thirteen-string zither.

5) "Sokutai" were robes that had a long trail would be worn by the court nobles. Then male aristocrats wore official garbs of the the court nobles called the noshi. The ladies of the court would occasionally wear kimonos that were called "juni-hitoe" which means "twelve layers," however each kimono can go up to as much as twenty layers. The combination of colors on the kimonos could represent many things, from the seasons and the mood of the seasons. Samurai wore armors that would protect the whole body. There was the helmet to protect the head and the neck, the chestplate was to protect the chest, there were even armor for the arms and legs. The Samurai were also the only people who could carry a sword around besides the emperor.

6) The Imperial court was moved during this period to Heian, which is modern day Kyoto, in 794. The climate there has four seasons in which it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. A celebration that was celebrated is Jugoya, this is usually during the mid-autumn full moon in September or August. This celebration was to celebrate the clear sky and beautiful full moon, to where elegant Haikus were even written.

These were the components in the Japanese culture that I wanted to share.

Day Two

The Significant Motifs that I've found in "The Blue Bird," are the step-mother's hindering ways of the Prince and the Princess's love, instead she persistently wants her own daughter to wed the prince. Other motifs have to do with marriage, a window, and the Chamber of Echoes, which is the place where everything is resolved. The symbols found in this story are the jewels and a ring, which symbolizes the prince's love and faithfulness to the princess. Other symbols include a window, four eggs, and the color blue, which is a color that resembles loyalty. There are numerous archetypical characters in this story. There is a princess, a prince who is under a spell, a step-mother, and a step-sister, along with assistants on both good and evil sides.

These components are important in the folktale that I had chosen, because some of the motifs that happens in the story also foreshadows what is going to happen next, while the others give more of an emphasis of both perspectives. The symbols in the story gives me the ideas of how much one person is willing to do for love. Then, the archetypical characters are the people that I that I already know who I am going to like and who I am going to dislike.

There are a handful of things that I would like to retain and dismiss in my pastiche. I would like to retain the beginning part of the story, and the queen's lies and deceiving methods on the prince. Also the part when the prince, as a bluebird, gives the princess his token of love by bringing her jewels, but later thinks that the princess had betrayed him since the queen had found out about his being under a spell. There is also a part that I want to keep and it is right after the death of the king; it's the part where Turritella, the step-sister, flees to her fairy godmother after her mom is killed by the falling of the doors of the palace by the raging people of the kingdom. I am also going to retain the part where the prince's friend, the enchanter, talks with the step-sister's godmother about taking away the spell, but the only way was to marry the step-sister. The sleeping potion and another version of the four eggs will also be retained in my pastiche of the story.

However, I will also be dimissing a couple of things from the story. Instead of having the princess be sent to her room and then locked in a tower, in my version she'll just prabably be locked up in some sort of cell. There is also a scene where Turritella tricks the prince that she is the princess, and then they proceed with a wedding, I'm going to gid rid of the wedding part. I'm also taking out the part where the queen sends the prince gifts to marry her daughter. When the princess is locked up, and the queen sends a spy, since she believes that the princess is having some sort of aid, I'm going to take out the spy and just have the step-sister find out. I'm also letting the queen live in my story, after the rage of the people of the kingdom, she's so stress out that she'll just leave her daughter and the kingdom. Finally, in the original story the step-sister ends up being an owl, but I was planning to make her have another ending.

Day One

Today, I have finally chosen to write about the "The Blue Bird" by Andrew Lang. It did take me quite a while, only because I wasn't sure exactly what to write about. However, this story was the most appealing to me. Also it's a fairly long story, so I think that because of the length it will actually be easier to base my story off of. This story also has an enchanting side to it, that is why I had chosen the Japanese culture, since the culture also fascinates me. There's not much that I know about the Japanese culture, but in this project I'll be able to not only explore more of the culture, but I get to produce a story into the culture as well.

The storyline deals about a princess who her stepmother and her stepsister are attempting to prevent her from marry the prince that she loves and who love her. There are many challenges that this princess faces along with the fact that her love has been turned into a blue bird. In my story, I'll probably make him into a fish, or maybe even have it twisted around and make her the one that gets magically transformed. Just by this story, I've gotten many ideas on how to set up my storyline. Of course, I'll probably add some ideas and take away some, but I am just not sure how the story it going to end yet. I want it to have a somewhat unexpecting ending, but then again, it'll depend on how my story will go.