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Akutagawa was a Japanese short story writer, seen as the master of the short stories. The assignments I will be evaluating and making are based on seven short stories we have discussed in class.
Rashomon Scene
The Rashomon Scene is based on the short story in a bamboo grove. This is my self-created Rashomon Scene based on an incident.
The Testimony of an Old Man under questioning by the Magistrate
That is true, Your Honor. I am the one who found the woman. I went out as usual this morning to get some grocery’s. The woman was laying on the ground in parking hall, bleeding. A few kilometers away from the police station. The parking hall a place where a lot of people go shopping, near Pennsylvania.
The woman was lying on her back in this red ribbed jacket with jeans cut open and one of her knee was completely destroyed and bleeding. She had two severe wounds, but it was luckily not on her forehead. The grocery around the body were completely destroyed and smashed on the ground. No, the heavy breathing had stopped.
Did I see a car or anything? No sir, not a thing. Just some tracks from a vehicle. And oh yes, there were car keys laying on the ground. But it was not near the woman’s body. How’s that a human? No, a human could have never gotten the woman so wounded. It must have been a vehicle.
The Testimony of a Warden under questioning by the Magistrate
I am sure I saw the woman leaving the Target, Your Honor. Tuesday at about 3 o’clock, I’d say. Near the parking hall, she needed to go only down the stairs. She was actually walking the other way, I would believe she was not done shopping. She wore some sunglasses and slippers. I could not see her face, just her red jacket. I think it had some wholes with blue fragments. No, Sir, I did not see her carrying a gun. I saw see her running out of the Target, I have never seen someone so scared in my life. No, Sir, I did not ask her why she was running so fast. I heard she was attacked. So sad, what can I say?
The Testimony of a Police Man under questioning by the Magistrate
The woman was hurt, Your Honor. I am certain she is one of those celebrities, I just cannot lay my finger on it. True, when I arrived at the parking hall, a lot of people circled around the woman. Her wounds were quite severe, and she did not stop bleeding after a very long time. The time, Sir? It was last night at the first watch. She was carrying a large shopping bag, the same blue bag I saw her carrying last week. Yes, Sir, last week I ran into her running so fast I asked what was happening. She did tell nothing. I did not see any guards, Your Honor. They should have taken action, the police must cover it these days.
Confession of the driver under questioning by the Magistrate
Sure, I ran the woman over. But I did not do it on purpose. So why did I leave? I was shocked and did not know what to do, so I left. I don’t know any better than you do. You can torture me all you want, but I cannot tell you what I don’t know. And besides, now that you have got me, I am not going to hide anything. I am no coward, no reason not telling the truth.
I met the woman in the Target, she was doing her grocery’s and so was I. I had actually never been in that Target before and asked her where I could find the soda’s. She helped me, she was so kind and pretty. I imagined her as my girlfriend. Soon I found out that she had a boyfriend or husband whatever you call that. A man came with some meat and put it in her cart. After I had done my shopping I went to the parking hall when I saw her leave as well.
Oh come on, stalking someone is not that big of a thing as people like you seem to think. If you find someone attractive of course you want to follow them. When I stalk someone, I would follow the person to their house, which I didn’t.
She saw me following her and started talking again, I did not see her husband or boyfriend. Time sir, I believe 4 o’clock, she had to leave me, because she had to go home. It did trigger me, I did not want her to leave me, so I got in my car and tried to find her again. That’s when it happened, I did not see her coming, so I hit her. And badly. She jumped two feet and landed on the hard ground, her bag ripped blood everywhere. I did not know what to do, so I left, I could not get arrested again. Oh, did I say again, I meant for the first time, my parents would be disappointed.
I left her laying on the ground, soon heard a policeman coming, I had left right on.
Confession of the woman under questioning by the Magistrate
After the man had asked me where he could find the soda’s, my husband and I were arguing. He could not believe I was talking to a strange person, and I thought I was flirting, how ridiculous. I told him that, and that is when it happened. He became so angry, I could not believe why someone would even get angry over such things, however, he did. He ran out the target and left me standing there. I cannot believe my third marriage is not going well either. I just hate myself that I even married him, no one ever trusts me, I cannot take it anymore.
After I had done my grocery’s I went back to the parking hall. The man was following me, I did not know why, so I started running. I had to get to my car. He did bump into me again, I started talking I did not want it to be strange or peculiar. I still had the feeling he was following me after our talk, I told him I had to go home.
And that was when it happened. I got so light-headed and passed out on the ground. The last thing I could remember was hitting my head on a large stone. Why are there even stones in a parking hall.
The Testimony of the Man under questioning by the Magistrate
After the driver had hit my wife, he was nowhere to be found. I had only seen him for a second, because I stopped my wife from talking to him. I could not believe she would do such thing. He was such a creep. She was annoyed by my claim and got irritated and ignored my questions. That is when I left, not because she was irritating me, it was because I saw my friend outside. I had not seen him in a long time and went to say goodbye. When I got back in the supermarket I could not find my beloved wife. I thought she may have gotten angry and left me. So that is when I went to the parking hall to see if our car was still there. It was but my wife was not in there. I went to level 2, our car was in level 1. That is when I saw my wife laying on the ground, bleeding. Someone must have hit her. I could not see who, there was literally no one helping her. Where are the Wardens when you need them. I am certain it was that creep she was talking to before.
Rashomon (1950) Shot List Assignment
This assignment was about ‘In a Bamboo Grove’. We watched the film in class and had to analyze throughout the movie, searching for camera angles etc. We had had a presentation about basic components beforehand, and we should have incorporated those vocabularies in the shot lists.
Intertextuality Assignment
The first story: “A Man Traveling with His Wife to Tamba Province Gets Tied UP by a Young Man at Mt. Ohe.” and the second story describing some statements of characters are in relation to “In a Bamboo Grove” comparable. The first is seeking for a plot which has similarly happened “In a Bamboo Grove”. There is a couple who gets attacked, the man tied up and the “Samurai” as in “In a Bamboo Grove” focuses on the woman only. Furthermore, in both stories the attacker finds the woman appealing.
“She was a little over twenty years old and of humble birth, but very beautiful and appealing.”
Monogatarishu. First story: line 33.
“That’s maybe why she looked so perfect to me and absolute Bodhisattva of a woman.”
Akutagawa. In a Bamboo Grove: line 9 from Tajomaru’s Confession.
In “ In a Bamboo Grove”, the story is not told as one plot, but as several witnesses who may have seen something of the attack. The second story: “The Moonlit Road” has three statements from various characters. Akuwatagawa has done this as well, he has created 7 characters who give their own view on the story, their own Testimony or Confession.
“I, statement of Joel Hetman, Jr.”
Bierce, A (1907). The Moonlit Road: line 1
“Tajomaru’s Confession”
Akutagawa. In a Bamboo Grove: line 1 from Tajomaru’s Confession.
Akutagawa used two aspects of these stories and created one of his own and creates an allusion. These references could be seen as “mosaicist”, however, I believe he may have found inspiration in the theme and used it for his own stories as a variation on the other stories. It could be seen as lacking in originality, however, it could also be seen as using inspiration from other works.
An example for a reason why Akutagawa did borrow these aspects and could be seen as “mosaicist”, are singers. Artists often use other lyrics or melody’s from other artist, Katy Perry once did as well. However she lost the copyright lawsuit and had to pay an enormous fine.
Radio 2, “Katy Perry verliest copyright rechtzaak”, 30 July 2019, https://www.nporadio2.nl/nieuws/25889/katy-perry-verliest-copyright-rechtszaak
If artists have to pay fines for copyright, it is understandable that Akutagawa’s borrowing could be seen as mosaicist as well.
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