Sunday, November 29, 2015
Update? More like upgrade!
I'm not even sure if anyone is still reading this because it was just a high school English project I did during my sophomore year. It's also has been about five years since the last time I even thought about continuing this. I know, right? FIVE YEARS! I did make a personal blog shortly after this project, which I only had about two posts until I gave up and never blogged again. However, I think I've reached a point in my life where I think it's important to record my thoughts down. I've yet to begin publishing my thoughts though, but it'll happen. Here it is: https://simplydoree.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day Thirty
For this blog, it was really helpful for me to write a story. If I ever need to blog again for any story that I'l write in the future, then I probably will start writing again on this blog. I guess you can say that this blog is more of an academic blog for me, whereas my new one will be more of a personal blog.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Day Twenty Nine
The next person I would like to dedicate it to is my brother, Yia Yang for helping with my illustrations. I know I have a not of illustrations to do, and I can't tell how much I appreciate him helping me out with my project. That's what big brothers are for.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Day Twenty Eight
- The Blue Heron, I thought of this title because it's the most simplest plus it's based off of the original title, "The Blue Bird."
- The Princess and the Blue Heron, this title is probably the most traditional. There are plenty of titles out there that have something to do with two things. However, this title doesn't really appeal to me.
- The Japanese Heron, I thought of this title because the story is basically about a bird, and it's in the Japanese heritage.
- The Japanese Princess and the Blue Heron, I think this title will fit it very well. I might just use this title, because it tells about a princess, a blue heron, and it even tells about the culture that it's in, the Japanese culture.
- Samurai Nobuo: The Japanese Blue Heron, I'd say that the idea of the story revolves around the samurai turning into a bird, so this title was dedicated to Samurai Nobuo in my story.
Looking at my titles, I would have to say that the last two would be the titles that I would mostly use for my titles. I like something original, but it's kind of hard making up an original title especially since it's just a short story. So, I'll just stick to something pretty simple. For children's books I like for a title to tell me about the story just by reading the title. Whereas if I was to transform this into a novel, I like titles that will probably make you want to know more about why the certain title was picked.
Another reason why this assignment was a little challengin is becuase I guess I can't beat the titles of original Japanese folktales. In Blog Day Eighteen, it was the blog that we had to find three other folktales in the culture that we picked, and I found three well-known Japanese tales. I thought that these tales had very interesting titles that tells about the story right when I read them. For example the title of the story of the old man actually translates into English, "the old man who made withered trees to flowers." Then when I read the story, there was a whole story behind as to why the title was chosen. Same goes for the story, "The Crane that Returned the Favor," because this story tells of why a crane returned a favor to good people. I probably can't think of something as creative as that, so until then, I'll just stick to a simple title.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Day Twenty-Seven
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Day Twenty-Six
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.)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Day Twenty-Five
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.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
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.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Day Twenty-Three
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.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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.
- When the samurai first meets the princess, and all he could think of was the princess.
- Even when the step-mother locked her away, he was still persistent and wanting to be with her.
- When the samurai is turned into a bird, he still visits the princess every night and not let her grow lonely.
- Even if the samurai didn't look human, the princess learned to love the samurai in a form of a bird.
- It was the princess's love for the samurai that led her to find him and tell him of the misunderstanding.
- 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.
- This all leads to the end, when the samurai and the princess gets to live happily ever after together.
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.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Day Twenty-One
"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.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Day Twenty
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.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Day Nineteen
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.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Day Eighteen
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.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Day Seventeen
"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.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Day Sixteen
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?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Day Fifteen
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.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Day Fourteen
- Emperor marries a new concubine and then the Emperess dies. This will happen within about a month.
- 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.
- 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.)
- During this night, the Emperess locks Princess Katsumi in another room.
- That night the samurai goes to talk to the Princess, but it turned out he confessed his love to the step-sister.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Within 5 months of consideration, the samurai then agrees to marry the step-sister.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Day Thirteen
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Day Twelve
Friday, January 15, 2010
Day Eleven
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.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Day Ten
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.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Day Nine
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.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Day Eight
Monday, January 11, 2010
Day Seven
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.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Day Six
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
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Day Five
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”
Friday, January 8, 2010
Day Four
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.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Day Three
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.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Day Two
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.