Years ago, when I was teaching we used a technique called I- Search. Applied to a unit in literature, students were allowed to choose a book or story which they liked and do a sort of free-form investigation on topics or subject matter related to the book. The idea was really to get them into self-directed learning and investigation. One of the course’s I’m designing now talks about the I-Search method. I have often used a similar way of learning through inquiry to learn on my own. I believe that most people who learn on the Internet use this not-so stream-of-consciousness method to search out and find information. I’m going to include a rough I-search here in this post.
Beginnings….
I became entranced with the story of the Heike the first time I saw the rendition from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos when I was a child.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiNKt6gcEM8]
Years later I fell in love with it again through the story “Hoichi the Earless” from the Japanese classic Kwaidan. I’m not sure why I was fascinated with the tale as a child, maybe because it’s a typical tragedy that one becomes obsessed with because we understand that life has sadness in it. Sometimes when we marvel at the major loss of others told in myths and epics… our own troubles seem pitiful in comparison. We go on with our lives, we appreciate how life does go on.
Artwork….
I found some beautiful artwork in a search on the Heike:
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Music
Shamisen – A japanese three-stringed instrument. I love Japanese music. It’s interesting to see how the traditional artform has evolved and is being merged with contemporary music forms.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5rs7pfZuPs]
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RERXiliJfdI]
Reference
- The Heike monogatari: http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/heike/heike-1.html
- Notes for Tale of the Heike: http://www.sonic.net/~tabine/Heike/Heikechpt01.html
- Tale of the Heike and the Yoshitune Exhibition (At the first KYO-TEN exhibition, several pictures which are related to the Tale of Heike and Yoshitsune will be presented and introduced with some explanation.): http://www.nippon-shinyaku.co.jp/english/kyo-ten/backnumber/v0001/index.html
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