{"id":4820,"date":"2025-04-30T15:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T06:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/?p=4820"},"modified":"2025-06-16T09:42:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T00:42:48","slug":"event-report%ef%bc%9a-nankai-university-professor-liu-yuzhen-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/news-en\/4820","title":{"rendered":"Event Report\uff1a Nankai University Professor Liu Yuzhen Lecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Professor LIU Yuzhen of Nankai University is renowned for his contributions to the study of Japanese classical literature centered on the Nara period and for his research on literary and cultural exchange in East Asia, especially brushtalk (Bitan, hitsudan)\u00a0documents. On this occasion, Professor Liu was invited to give a lecture titled \u201cAspects of the Reception and Transformation of Bai Juyi\u2019s Poetry in Japan and China: On \u2018The Snow on Xianglu Peak.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Professor Liu opened his lecture with the famous scene from Sei Sh\u014dnagon\u2019s Pillow Book<\/em> about snow on Xianglu Peak (K\u014dro Peak in Japanese), pointing out that the poem by Bai Juyi on which this episode is based is more widely known in Japan than in China. Liu also raised the difficulty of interpreting the characters \u7c3e (sudare<\/em> or reed blinds) and \u64a5 (kaka[gete] <\/em>or to lift or flick up) that appear in Bai\u2019s poem: \u201cI lift up the reed blinds to gaze at the snow-covered peak of Xianglu.\u201d According to Liu, this poem came to be widely celebrated in Japan\u2014particularly the lines \u201cAs I prop myself up on my pillow and listen to the Yiai Temple bells \/ I lift up the reed blinds to gaze at the snow-covered peak of Xianglu\u201d\u2014through its excerpted inclusion in the Wakan r\u014dei sh\u016b <\/em>anthology. Meanwhile, in China, this poem and the collection to which it belonged were understood as expressions of Bai\u2019s deep longing for the distant capital. Professor Liu contrasted these differing modes of poetic appreciation\u2014a tendency to enjoy excerpted lines and phrases in Japan and an attention to broader poetic context in China. Liu then continued to explore Bai\u2019s legacy in the poetry of Sugawara no Michizane and later Chinese literature, including the ci<\/em> poetry of Su Shi in the Song dynasty, tracing the reaches (and limitations) of Bai\u2019s literary influence over time. Liu also introduced medieval and early modern Japanese texts, as well as later materials such as Meiji-era written exchanges between Miyajima Seichir\u014d and Huang Zunxian, a diplomat of the late Qing dynasty, in which the \u201csnow on Xianglu Peak\u201d scene from the Pillow Book <\/em>appears, each time undergoing interpretive transformations.<\/p>\n

Beginning with the case of Bai Juyi, this lecture demonstrated that while Japanese and Chinese literature and culture have long shared deep connections, we must attend not only to their similarities but also to their differences, for it is in these points of divergence that we may uncover profound insights and urgent questions.<\/p>\n

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Following the lecture, Professor YOSHIHARA Hiroto of Waseda University\u2019s Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences offered comments that led into a lively Q&A session. Despite the limitations of time, the event concluded on a high note with a rich and vigorous discussion.<\/p>\n

\uff08Written by KONO Kimiko in Japanese ver.\uff09<\/p>\n

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Event Overview<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Date and time\uff1aMarch, 27\u00a0 15:00\u301c17:00 \uff08JST\uff09<\/li>\n
  • Format\uff1aFace to face<\/li>\n
  • Venue\uff1a Rm. 432, Bldg. 33, Toyama Campus<\/li>\n
  • Speaker\uff1aLIU Yuzhen (Professor at Nankai University)<\/li>\n
  • Subject Title\uff1a\u201cAspects of the Reception and Transformation of Bai Juyi\u2019s Poetry in Japan and China: On \u2018The Snow on Xianglu Peak.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n
  • Organized by\uff1aRyusaku Tsunoda Center of Japanese Culture, Waseda University\u00a0 \/ Research Institute of Japanese Classical Books at Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Professor LIU Yuzhen of Nankai University is renowned for his contributions to the study of Japanese classical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[113],"class_list":["post-4820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-event_report-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4993,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions\/4993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/flas\/gjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}