EXPRESSION IN JAPANESE CULTURE: AN INQUIRY INTO THE PHENOMENON OF IMAGE-LADEN LOCI OBSERVED IN LANGUAGE, MUSIC AND POETRY

Chief assistant Stella Zhivkova (PhD) graduated from the Master‘s Degree Program in Philosophy at Sofia University (1997) and from the PhD program at Osaka University, Japan (2006). Senior Assistant Professor (=chief assistant) of Modern Japanese Language and Culture at the Department of Japanese Studies, Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Works in the field of teaching onomatopoeia in Japanese; solfege mnemonic system kuchishoga for koto; Bunraku theatre; contemporary Japanese culture; political and educational strategies of contemporary Japan; Cool Japan, etc. Teaches at bachelor and master levels. Head and participant in a number of research projects of the Department of Japanese Studies funded according to the Regulation 9, by the Japan Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Embassy of Japan in Bulgaria, etc.

Contents

Acknowledgements / 7

Abstract / 9

Notes on the Text / 10

Introduction

Foci of Imagistic intensity in Japanese Culture – Their Role for Communication

and Reconstruction of Meaning

Foreword / 11

How Does my Topic Fit into a Broader Theoretical Framework? / 12

Indications How the Work Will Be Progressed and Chapter Overviews / 16

PART ONE

Examples of Image-aptness found in Japanese language and Art

Chapter 1

Mimetic and onomatopoeic words as snapshots of situations and gestures / 19

Onomatopoeia as a Linguistic Phenomenon / 19

The Sound-Symbolism of Japanese Onomatopoeia / 23

Cognitive Psychology of Japanese Onomatopoeia / 28

Chapter 2

Kuchishōga phenomenon of compressed auditory, motor and dynamic meanings / 33

Kuchishōga / 33

Previous research on kuchishōga / 35

Kuchishōga and language ideophones / 35

Chapter 3

Haiku and waka poetic forms as accommodations of image-inducing verbal loci / 42

Haiku as an Unfolding Scroll and Haiku as a Hyperlink / 42

A Case Study: A Productive Synergy between Western music and Japanese

Imagery: the Case of Joseph Laska / 47

Kakekotoba in Waka Poetry as a Multilayered Vision / 51

Chapter 4

Bunraku shamisen meliyasu and portraying playing techniques in koto music / 57

Bunraku Shamisen Meliayasu and their Role for the Threefold Suggestiveness of

Bunraku Theater / 57

Melody Illustration in Koto Music / 60

PART TWO

Examples of Processes of Metaphor Creation

Chapter 5

Metaphorical transfers in kōdō / 67

Kō wo Kiku: Listening to the Story of the Incense / 68

Chapter 6

Sawari on the shamisen and tone color of the nō-kan as aural metaphor / 72

What is made Audible by Sawari? / 72

Nō-kan and Nō Expression / 75

Chapter 7

Concluding remarks / 77

Summary in Japanese / 80

Summary in Bulgarian / 82

Reference Glossary / 91

Bibliography / 94