Chapter 1
Spotlight on Japan

Performance Objectives
Students will be able to:

• identify the characteristics of a haiku poem
• compose haiku poetry
• evaluate how the emphasis on poetry in Japan provides an insight into their culture

Materials:
Worksheet A: Shiki Masaoka, the Man and the Museum
Worksheet B: What is Haiku

Teacher Background
In the small city of Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku, there is a municipal museum dedicated to Shiki Masaoka, one of the greatest of the nation's haiku poets. Distribute Worksheet A: Shiki Masaoka, the Man and the Museum. Students should be given time to read the selection and respond to the following questions.

• Who was Shiki? Why is he important in Japan?
• Do you think it is unusual to have a museum dedicated to poetry? Why?
• What does the museum tell us about Japanese culture?

Some of you have probably studied haiku poetry in an earlier grade. Let's review the special characteristics of haiku and summarize them on the chalkboard.

Distribute Worksheet B: What is Haiku?

Working in pairs or working alone, ask students to compose their own haiku by filling in the blanks in the model. Ask volunteers to share their haiku with the group. If possible encourage students to write other examples of haiku.

Procedures:
Prior to class, teacher duplicates Student Worksheets with excerpts from The Pillow Book. Cut along dotted lines between excerpts and fold each excerpt individually. On the outside, the teacher writes the title of the selection. Place folded excerpts in a box or basket and allow students to select one.

• On entering the room, each student selects a folded paper which contains one excerpt. Caution them not to open paper until directed to do so.
• Students are asked to respond to the title on the outside of the folded paper. Students should write whatever the title suggests. Allow 8-10 minutes for writing activity.
• When the class has finished writing, call on volunteers to read the title of their selection and their responses.
• After a number of volunteers read their writing, everyone is asked to open the folded papers and read what Sel Shonagon had written on the same topic. The same participants who had read their own work, now read the words from The Pillow Book.
• Ask class:
  • Are there any similarities between your response and the original? Discuss.
  • What differences did you notice?
  • What do these writings reveal about the culture of Japan in the 10th century?
  • To what extent would a contemporary Japanese teenager share some of the same values as this 10th century writer? A contemporary American teenager?
    

Summary

• We have been talking about literature and language. How has this lesson changed our perceptions of the role of poetry in a society?
• If you could have a museum of poetry in the United States what poems would you include? Explain your choices.
• How do your choices reflect our culture?