1. Ryunosuke
Akutagawa
Hailed as the Father of the Japanese short story. Wrote with the notion that literature
should be universal, to unite the East and the West. Heavily influenced by Kabuki and
by Western philosophy.
Akutagawa was greatly interested in the power of perspective in storytelling. He was
also writing in an era of Japanese fiction when most authors would be writing “I-
novels” or confessionals, in which they wrote about their surroundings and about the
unsavory aspects of their own lives or personalities, exposing their own vulnerability
and flaws to their readers. He wrote stories that revisited 12th
and 13th
century folklore
with these aspects in mind, creating stories that weave between confession and tall tale.
His portrayals of women were all informed by the women who raised him, who he
believed to be somewhat manipulative, which is exemplified by his version of Kesa and
Morito, in which Kesa attempts to control the actions of her husband and her lover.
“‘You will never quite know,’ he [Akutagawa]
seems to be warning us, ‘how much of this is true
and how much is fiction.’”
- Haruki Murakami

2. Kabuki
East vs. West Points of Interest:
Full body characterization, rather than limited to "portrait characterization". The character
development begins from the feet up to the head rather than from the face to the shoulders.
Less realism, more stylized movement
History:
Developed by women in Kyoto in 1603, seeking a way to perform dance drama for commoners,
in response to the Noh drama of the high-class elite. Used makeup and facial expressions
instead of the high-quality masks of Noh, but used the same art of posturing and body
movement to characterize the people. Storyline is no longer folklore, but about normal people
caught in dramatic situations. Became a place for social classes to blend and to see-and-be-seen.
Also set the stage for commentary on society in the Edo period.
In 1629, the strict Tokugawa Shogunate placed a ban on the women’s troupes of Kabuki due to
the eroticism of the dancing and potentially for cases of prostitutionism occurring in the cast of
actresses. Thus, Kabuki became a men's art, which immediately raised the production costs as
men had to be able to accurately portray women, and the exquisite beauty and intricacy of the
form was established.
If a photo were to be taken every three seconds
during a Kabuki performance, all of them would
turn out beautifully, with little to no motion blur,
and with obvious storytelling arc expressed
through the bodies of the characters on stage.

3. “Tonight I kiss
my lover for the
last time.”
Kesa & Morito
Originally a gossipy account turned folktale, then adopted by Akutagawa into a two-monologue
short story, and then into the 1953 movie “Gate of Hell” directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa.
Akutagawa’s version creates dissonance between the lovers and their inner monologues:
Morito: “If I don’t kill her husband, she will kill me one way or another. I must kill him else she
will kill me,” I thought desperately, looking into her tearless but crying eyes.
Kesa: If my husband sees my body, he will… no. I won’t think of him. My husband loves me.
But I have no strength to return his love. I can love only one man. And that very man is coming
to kill me tonight.
… Soon the faint sound of the opening of a shutter is heard, and pale moonlight floods in.
Two lovers find themselves at the climax of
their relationship: one of them must die to
redeem the honor of the other.

4. In a Grove
Originally a folktale teaching about the dangers of trusting a stranger, then adapted by
Akutagawa to illustrate the power of the speaker’s perspective compared to others in a
confusing series of events, and then most famously adapted for the screen when it was
combined with another Akutagawa story, “Rashomon”, in Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film of the
same name. Has been so influential that lawyers can call a case a “Rashomon case” when the
testimonies conflict too much to get a clear idea of the truth and what really happened.
“Once your virtue is stained, you won’t get along well with your husband, so won’t you be my
wife instead? It’s my love for you that made me be violent toward you.”
While the criminal talked, my wife raised her face as if in a trance. She had never looked so
beautiful as at that moment. What did my beautiful wife say in answer to him while I was sitting
bound there? I am lost in space, but I have never thought of her answer without burning with
anger and jealousy. Truly she said… “Then take me away with you wherever you go.”
(The Dead Husband’s Testimony, as told through a Medium)
Conflicting testimonies create a blurry
account of the events that transpire in a rape-
murder case in a grove of trees.
“I see what I
wanna see,
I know what I
wanna know.”

5. The Dragon
Originally a farcical story told as a joke with a pun as the punchline, then adapted by
Akutagawa to tell a story about personal truth and public deception becoming personal faith,
and what faith really means for religion and for the believers themselves. The sight of a Dragon
in Japanese folklore represents renewal and awe, and is regarded as a miracle.
In that instant, between the spray and the clouds, his eyes caught the faint image of a hundred-
foot-long black dragon rising straight up into the sky, its golden talons flashing. That lasted but
a split-second, and then, I’m told, all you could see was the storm whipping cherry blossoms
from the trees around the pond up into the pitch-dark sky. Had his eyes been playing tricks on
him when he saw the image of the dragon? The thought made him feel – especially since he had
been the one to put up the signboard – that the ascent of the dragon could not have happened.
Still, he’d seen what he’d seen.
A priest makes up a prophecy about a dragon
ascending from a pond on a certain day. As
more people start to believe in the prophecy,
he starts to question what faith really is.
This is what it’s
like to be God!