Rajōmon
Rajōmon (羅城門),[1] also called Rashōmon (羅生門), was the gate built at the southern end of the monumental Suzaku Avenue in the ancient Japanese cities of Heijō-kyō (Nara) and Heian-kyō (Kyoto), in accordance with the Chinese grid-patterned city layout. At the other far north-end of Suzaku Avenue, one would reach the Suzakumon Gate, the main entrance to the palace zone. As of 2007, the southern end of Suzaku Avenue and the possible remainder of the equivalent gate in Fujiwara-kyō (Kashihara) are yet to be discovered.
Name[edit]
The gate's name in modern Japanese is Rajōmon. Rajō (羅城) refers to city walls and mon (門) means "gate," so Rajōmon signifies the main city gate. Originally, this gate was known as Raseimon or Raiseimon, using alternate readings for the kanji in the name.[2] The name Rashōmon, using the kanji 羅生門 (which can also be read Raseimon), was popularized by a noh play Rashōmon (c.1420) written by Kanze Nobumitsu (1435–1516).[2][3]
The modern name, Rajōmon, uses the original kanji (羅城門 rather than 羅生門) and employs the more common reading for the second character (jō instead of sei).
Rashōmon in Kyoto (Heian-kyō)[edit]
The Rashōmon in Kyoto was the grander of the two city gates built during the Heian period (794–1185). Built in 789, it was 106 feet (32 m) wide by 26 feet (7.9 m) high, with a 75-foot (23 m) stone wall and topped by a ridge-pole.
By the 12th century it had fallen into disrepair and had become an unsavory place, with a reputation as a hideout for thieves and other disreputable characters. People would abandon corpses and unwanted babies at the gate.
The ruined gate is the central setting — and provides the title — for Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's short story "Rashōmon" and hence for Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film. Akutagawa's use of the gate was deliberately symbolic, with the gate's ruined state representing the moral and physical decay of Japanese civilization and culture. According to one legend, it was even inhabited by the demon Ibaraki Dōji.[4]
Today, not even a foundation stone of the gate remains. A stone pillar marks the place where it once stood, just northeast of the intersection of Kujō street and Senbon Street or Senbon Avenue (千本通, Senbon Dōri) (formerly Suzaku street), a short walk west from the Heian-period temple Tō-ji. This stretch of Kujō is designated Route 171, and is just west of Route 1. A wooden sign written in Japanese and English explains the history and significance of the gate. The site is behind a nondescript shop on Kujō street, and sits directly next to a small playground. Though a nearby bus stop is named Rajōmon, those unfamiliar with the area are likely to miss the Rashōmon site. It can be partially seen peeking out from behind a slide on Google street view.
Rajōmon in Nara (Heijo-kyō)[edit]
The Rajōmon in Nara stood about 4 km south of the Suzakumon of Heijō Palace. Their foundation stones were found in the excavations conducted between 1969 and 1972. From the remaining foundations, the width of the gate is estimated to have been 41.5 m.
Some of the foundation stones were reused in the 16th century by Toyotomi Hidenaga, who was expanding his castle in Kōriyama.[5]
See also[edit]
- Suzakumon, the southern gate on ancient palace grounds
References[edit]
- ^ Moriya Katsuhisa 森谷尅久: 京都を楽しむ地名・歴史事典 (Enjoy Kyoto Place name and History Dictionary) 2011 index Page 388 "羅城門(らじょうもん) 36, 111"
- ^ a b "羅城門 (Rajōmon)" (PDF). Kyoto City (in Japanese). 2002-04-10. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
- ^ Akira Kurosawa, Rashomon: Akira Kurosawa, Director, pp. 114–15. Rutgers University Press, 1987.
- ^ Ibaraki
- ^ "奈良歴史漫歩 No.025 平城京羅城門と来世墓の鳥居 (Heijo-kyo Rajomon etc.)". ブックハウス (bukku hausu) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-04-10.
Rashōmon (short story)
| Author | Ryūnosuke Akutagawa |
|---|---|
| Original title | 羅生門 |
| Translator | Ivan Morris |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Short story |
| Publisher | Teikoku Bungaku |
Publication date | 1915 |
| Media type |
Rashōmon (羅生門) is a short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa based on tales from the Konjaku Monogatarishū.
The story was first published in 1915 in Teikoku Bungaku. Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon (1950) is in fact based primarily on another of Akutagawa's short stories, "In a Grove"; only the film's title and some of the material for the frame scenes, such as the theft of a kimono and the discussion of the moral ambiguity of thieving to survive, are borrowed from "Rashōmon".
Plot summary[edit]
The story recounts the encounter between a servant and an old woman in the dilapidated Rashōmon, the southern gate of the then-ruined city of Kyoto, where unclaimed corpses were sometimes dumped. The current name of the gate in the story, but not the plot, comes from the Noh play Rashōmon (c. 1420).
The man, a lowly servant recently fired, is contemplating whether to starve to death or to become a thief to survive in the barren times. He goes upstairs, after noticing some firelight there, and encounters a woman who is stealing hair from the dead bodies on the second floor. He is disgusted, and decides then that he would rather take the path of righteousness even if it meant starvation. He is furious with the woman.
But the old woman tells him that she steals hair to make wigs, so she can survive. In addition, the woman who she is currently robbing cheated people in her life by selling snake meat and claiming it was fish. The old woman says that this was not wrong because it allowed the woman to survive — and so in turn this entitles her to steal from the dead person, because if she doesn't, she too will starve. The man responds: "You won't blame me, then, for taking your clothes. That's what I have to do to keep from starving to death". He then brutally robs the woman of her robe and disappears into the night.
Popular culture[edit]
The book itself also plays a part in the 1999 movie Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, directed by Jim Jarmusch.
The book is the inspiration for an instrumental rock tune of the same name composed by Japanese instrumental guitarist Takeshi Terauchi and originally played by Japanese instrumental rock group Takeshi Terauchi & Blue Jeans on their 1972 album, Rashomon.[1]
The manga Bungo Stray Dogs features a character named after Akutagawa with heavy references to Rashōmon.
The book is assigned for Modern Japanese high school coursework and quoted in the anime After the Rain (manga).
The graphic novel Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case by Victor Santos (2017) is also inspired from the short stories of Akutagawa and the eponymous movie of Kurosawa as well as by the forty-seven rōnin episode, rendered in the eponymous book by Jirō Osaragi.
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- Murray, Giles (2003). Breaking into Japanese literature. Kodansha. ISBN 4-7700-2899-7. A bilingual book containing both "In a Grove" and "Rashōmon."
External links[edit]
 | Japanese Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- A translation of "Rashōmon" into English by René Malenfant (archived)
- Rashōmon at Project Gutenberg (in Japanese)
- Text of "Rashōmon" at Aozora Bunko (in Japanese)
- MP3s of the story, read by a Japanese actress (in Japanese)
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