Ghost Stories from Japan: Styles Brainstorm

Topic: My Storybook will be about ghost stories from Japan. My goal is to find four different types of ghosts from Japanese folklore. I kind of want to focus on the ones that are the most dramatic because I feel like those are the ones that are the most interesting to write about. I want to try to find stories that have different backgrounds or maybe even different point of views and then kind of "blend" them. There are definitely lots of ghost stories floating around in Japanese cultures, so I don't think there will be much trouble finding one. I think the biggest issue will be choosing one. Two stories that I think I would like to include is The Kakemono Ghost of Aki Province and Ghost Story of the Flute's Tomb.

Bibliography
1. The Kakemono Ghost of Aki Province, from Ancient Tales and Folk-lore of Japan, by Richard Gordon Smith (1918).
2. Ghost Story of the Flute's Tomb, from Ancient Tales and Folk-lore of Japan, by Richard Gordon Smith (1918).

Possible Styles

The Ghosts as storytellers. I think this would be a pretty simple way to telling the story. Most ghost stories are told from the point of view of an observer or from the person who is being haunted. I have yet to read a story where you find out the motives of the ghost. What I could do is write about why they became a ghost and their motivations for not moving on to the next cycle of life.

Reincarnation. This idea really appeals to me because, like I mentioned before, I'm really into the idea of reincarnation. I think something I could work with is gather some stories and find one thing that links them all together that could make reincarnation work. For example, I could have the person who always dies and becomes a ghost reincarnate through various lifetimes. I really like this idea, but I just need to work out some details of how to put them all together.

Therapist. This is a spin off of what I suggested for week 2's project. Except this time, I want to write about a therapist's account of what is happening to his patient. The patient will be the one who is haunted, but the therapist doesn't believe the story, so he just writes off his observations about how crazy he thinks the patient is. Something like the patient is having hallucinations. For example, there could be a part where the patient has scratch marks on his back, but it turns out that he scratches. himself when he is asleep at night.

Observer. I could also write the story from a third person point of view where there is this character who just sees what is happening to the person being haunted, but they don't see the ghost. Only the person who is haunted sees it.

Website. Another really interesting one that just popped into my head is something like a website that is something of an advertisement for people who are looking for exorcists. I could tell the stories using "testimonials" of people who have been haunted.

Painting of "Japanese Yokai Ghost Scrolls" by ColinMartinPWherman.

Source: DeviantArt.

Week 3: Review

Backup? Check.

Check-up? Check. 

Review:

My favorite course announcement this week was from Saturday, September 12: 

(my screenshot)

I was so confused when I first read it, but when I read through the list I finally got it! It's so weird how the English language can make the same sounds with so many different letters. In other languages like Korean or Vietnamese, each letter always has the same sound and there are no possible substitutions. This really shows how complex English is!

Week 3: Famous Last Words

My reading this week: 

This week's reading was interesting. It was a little difficult for my to comprehend it all because the language was different than what I was used to, but I enjoyed deciphering the story. I did have time to do both portions this week as well as do an extra reading! I am happier with my Reading Diary strategy this week because I was recording more of the important part of the story rather than trying to include notes of every little event.

Your best writing for this week: 
This class is the only class that I do writing for at the moment, but I was proud of this week's writing as well! I tried a new style of writing: poetry. It was very different and I enjoyed it. I hope my readers/classmates will find it interesting as well!

Other people's writing:
This week, my favorite storytelling post was written by Justin Robbins. I was looking around for a story to do my feedback practice on and I stumbled on his week 6 retelling. It's an excellent one where Justin wrote the story from a doctor's point of view and the protagonist in the original story was the patient with hallucinations. The way he connected the events of the story to "real life" was great. For my storybook, I had originally planned to do something similar to this! After reading Justin's story, it definitely inspired me to think of more ways to spice up my own stories. 

My other classes:
Things in my other classes are going okay. I have two exams next week on the same day. Eep! They are two of my harder classes as well -- cell biology and introduction to biochemistry. In order to get more study time, I'm going to try to finish week 4 assignments early this upcoming week. 

In celebration of the upcoming midterm week: 

"Just keep studying...studying studying..."

Source: Quickmeme.

Week 3: Curation

This week I found: 

• DeviantArt
• This is such a great site to look at and share artwork. There are so many talented artists on this site that create wonderful and original masterpieces that I can incorporate into my blogposts.
• Reddit: Mythology and Folklore
• I found this while going through Reddit and it's so cool to read about people's opinions about a certain myth or folklore.
• Pinterest: 

"Dragon Drama" posted by 'Diane Taxdahl'. Source: Pinterest.


• My favorite pinterest pic this week. The use of all the colors of the rainbow is gorgeous and it's amazingly detailed!

Week 3: Growth Mindset

For this week, I did the writing challenge! I didn't think about changing my writing style at all until I came across another student's blog while perusing the blog directory and I saw that he/she was using poetry. I thought that it would be impossible for me to do since I'm no poet, but I decided to give it a try! It turned out to be a better experience than I thought it would. It was a little difficult finding words that would rhyme and then piece them into the story all the while making the whole thing make sense, but I definitely feel proud of myself after finishing my story. It's not the best poetry since I feel like it doesn't flow very well, but I feel like I accomplished something just from trying it out. Maybe I can work on making my poetry flow in the future!

"It takes work to built a masterpiece" meme by Laura Gibbs. Source: Growth Mindset Memes Blog.

Extra Reading Diary: Chinese Fairy Tales

This week, I will be reading the first half of the Chinese Fairy Tales Unit.

The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck
I did not like the ending of this story since the Empress, who was faithful to her husband for at least 18 years, died. I thought that was sad since she lived an honest life. The ball of red silk is meaningful to me because in Chinese legend, if two people were meant to be, they would be tied by the "red string of fate." The oddest thing about this story was that the princess could see dragons crawling into the beggar's ears, which is something I have never heard before.

The Cave of the Beasts
The father in this story is very wicked. He should have cared for his children more since they are the ones that will carry on his legacy. I was slightly upset that karma did not get the father back for leaving his two daughters back in the mountains. He even got to share their luck in finding the gold and precious stones.

The Panther
I felt that this story was very similar to the Little Red Riding Hood! The panther was the wolf and the two daughters were essentially Little Red. I felt this story was a little more gruesome because of the part where the writer indicated that the panther tore off a piece of the back of the mother's head and eat it. The little baby getting killed was also sad.

Why Dog and Cat are Enemies
This story put cats into a bad light because the cat betrayed the dog, even though it was originally the dog's idea to help the owners get their fortunes back. This story makes me think of why some Asian households have this "beckoning cat" statue. It is said that this statue brings the owner good fortune.

Yang Oerlang
I felt bad for the second daughter of the Ruler of Heaven because she fell in love with a mortal and was punished for it. Her son grew up to be very filial and tried to save her, but she ultimately died. The way she died was kind of gruesome since she was basically burned by the sunlight. All that was left was her skin and bones. I think this story was to explain why we only have one sun now; it's because Oerlang destroyed all of the other nine suns in rage. It also explains why earthworms die when they are left out in the sun, according to Chinese legends!

Drawing of Oerlang.

"Er Lang Shen" by Gworld, March 2014. Source: DeviantArt.

The Lady of the Moon
This story refuted the previous one since it stated that Hou I was the one who shot the other nine suns out of the sky, leaving one left.

The Girl with the Horse's Head or the Silkworm Goddess
I did not understand where this story was going. First, the horse wanted to marry the girl and so it ran off to find her father. Then when it finally brought him home, they killed the horse and hung his skin on a tree in the yard just so she didn't have to marry it. That's kind of mean, considering she joked about it. Then she went and kicked it and then its skin just killed her. Wow.

The God of War
In the story, it says Guan Yu and his companions sacrificed a white steed. For what purpose did they sacrifice a white horse? In order to show how "true" they were to each other? I have seen the Green Dragon weapon in Chinese dramas before and it looks pretty impressive. What's really impressive about Guan Yu is how red he is. I thought that it was sad that Guan Yu died at the hands of a mere prince. He deserved a better death than to have his head cut off.

The Miserly Farmer
I think this story teaches you that greed ultimately leads to nothing. The farmer was very greedy and would try to make the bonze pay for one pear instead of graciously giving it to him, which made the bonze destroy his entire cart.

The King of the Ants
I was very confused with this story. I wasn't sure what the moral was in this one or if there was supposed to be one at all. The majority of this story as just descriptions.

Week 3 Storytelling: How We Became to Be

If you're curious, sit down and have a look see,

How the world was created and how humans came to be.

It was created in all but seven days,

When everything before was just earth and clays.

Day one was the day he created Heaven and Earth, 

And thus he continued with great mirth.

Day two was the day he created the skies,

A sky so blue, it could bring tears to your eyes

Day three was the day he created dry land, 

Which is why my dear, you can frolic in the sand.

Day four was the day the stars came to be, 

What blessings they are, wouldn't you agree?

Day five was the day he created creatures of the sea, 

But it's already the fifth day, where were we?

Day six was the day he created creatures of land,

Along with them, he also created something much more grand...

With a wave of a hand, he created man,

Yes, that's right, from mere dust and sand.

From head to toe, man was great,

And that is a fact that no one can negate.

He named man Adam,

And to accompany him, he created a madam.

Her name was Eve,

With a kind of beauty more than any mortal can achieve.

He placed them in a garden,

A place he called Eden.

In that garden, life was thriving as far as the eye could see,

Adam and Eve could feast on anything but one particular tree.

For it was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, 

And its mere fruit could cause great upheaval.

So God said, "you must not eat from this tree,

If you do, punished ye shall be."

But in the garden there was a snake, 

Who would make Adam and Eve's whole world shake.

The snake told Eve that she was flawed, 

And if she ate the fruit, she could be like God.

And poor little Eve, to the snake's words she hearkened

So she and Adam ate the fruit and their pure hearts to become darkened.

God realized that they had eaten and gained knowledge, 

Thus his faith in the two became abolished.

He cried, "what have you done,

Now I must punish you, my son."

So God sent Adam and Eve to where they shouldn't have been,

For they could not ever wash away their sin.

They had lost their chance to live in paradise, 

Because they failed to heed his advice.

Away God sent his beloved creations, 

As a display of his condemnation.

In addition to their departure, 

He made their punishment even darker.

For he said, "Adam, for your food you must toil,

Because in Eden everything was but a spoil."

And to Eve, he said, "For all the children you sustain, 

You must endure through much pain."

Adam and Eve wept many tears, 

For the many burdens the two and their seed would endure through all the years.

Drawing of Adam and Eve.

"adam and eve" by Tokashi-Kimiko, 2008. Source: DeviantArt.

Author's Note: For this week, I am retelling the story of the fall of Adam and Eve. In the original story, Adam was created from dust and Eve was created from a bone from Adam’s ribcage. Adam and Eve were married and they both lived in the Garden of Eden, where they were able to eat and live happily. They had complete control over the Earth. They had the opportunity to eat from any tree within the Garden of Eden, with the exception of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. One day, a snake convince Eve to eat the fruit from the that very tree that God had forbidden them to eat from, which caused them to gain knowledge. God found out that they had eaten from that tree and gave them punishments. Because of Adam, he made man work for a living and gave him death, and because of Eve, he gave females the pain of childbirth.

I made no changes to the original plot. I just took out some small details and focused on the main events of that part of the story. I chose this image because I felt like it illustrated Adam and Eve very well. They are both connected from the same like, like how Eve was made from a part of Adam and she is his wife, connecting her to him. My main goal was just to make this story simpler and easier to understand using poetry since I had a hard time reading this because of the language.

Bibliography:
"Adam and Eve" by Louis Ginzberg. Website: UN-Textbook.