On the morning of March 17, 2024, the renowned Japanese poet and writer, Ito Hiromi, delivered a captivating lecture titled “Japanese Poetry and Women’s Literature in the Eyes of Ito Hiromi” to the faculty and students of Nankai University in the Lecture Hall of the College of Foreign Languages. This lecture is the 5th lecture of the “East Asian Culture Experts Auditorium,” organized by the East Asian Cultural Studies Centre at the College of Foreign Languages, Nankai University, the Virtual Teaching and Research Office of Japanese History, Social and Cultural Courses of the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Japanese. The event is co-organized by the Beijing Cultural Centre of the Japan Foundation for International Exchange and chaired by Prof. Liu Yuzhen, Director of the East Asian Culture Research Centre. Professor Han Lihong, Head of the Department of Japanese Language, delivered a welcoming speech, expressing his gratitude to Ito Hiromi, her Chinese translators, Reich and Dong Shuhan, and the delegation from the Beijing Cultural Centre of the Japan Foundation for International Exchanges for visiting Nankai. In his speech, Mr. Koji Nozaki, Deputy Director of the Japan Foundation Beijing Cultural Centre, explained the commemorative lecture tour held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Japanese Cultural Centre in Beijing. Professor Liu Yubing, Director of the Institute of Japanese Studies, Professor Wang Xinxin, Deputy Director of the Department of Japanese, Associate Professor Zheng Lin, Associate Professor Yu Jun, Dr. Mu Dan, and over 30 students from the Department of Japanese attended the lecture.
Ito Hiromi is a renowned contemporary Japanese poet, novelist, essayist, and translator. She has held positions as a visiting professor at Kumamoto Gakuen University and as a professor at Waseda University’s Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. She made her debut in literary circles in 1978 with “Sky of Plants” (草木の空, Sōmoku no sora) and won the Akutagawa Prize for the novella “Ranīnya” (ラニーニャ, La Niña) in 1999, the Takami Jun Prize for the book “Wild Grass on a Riverbank” (河原荒草, Kawara arekusa) in 2006, the Hagiwara Sakutarō Prize for the novel “The Thorn-Puller: New Tales of the Sugamo Jizō” (とげ抜き新巣鴨地蔵縁起, Toge-nuki: Shin Sugamo Jizō engi) in 2007, and the Murasaki Shikibu Prize in 2008. Ito Hiromi’s collection of essays, “The Record of Amenorrhea” (閉経記, Kesukage), translated by Reich, was ranked fourth in Douban’s Foreign Literature (Non-Fiction) 2022.
At the beginning of the lecture, Ito Hiromi and translator Dong Shuhan read their poems “Killing Kanoko” (カノコ殺し, Kanoko-goroshi) and “I am Anshou Himeko” (わたしはあんじゅひめ子である, Watashi wa Anjuhimeko de aru) alternately in Chinese and Japanese. The audience was deeply attracted by the unique style of reading combined with a dramatic performance. Ito Hiromi delivered a lecture on the history of Japanese women’s literature from the Heian period to modern times. She incorporated her personal experiences of reading, translating, and writing, and shared how she drew inspiration from the traditional Japanese oral literature festival to create “I am Yasushou Himeko.” During the question and answer session, our teachers and students actively asked questions and interacted with Ito. In the concluding remarks, Professor Liu Yubing highly praised the historical perspective presented in the lecture, while Professor Wang Xinxin briefly summarized the unique perspective on women and the multi-dimensional transgressive literary characteristics of Ito’s works.
Finally, Professor Liu Yuzhen the “The Oral History of 100-year Foreign Language Disciplines in Nankai” and a canvas bag designed by Que Mengping, an undergraduate student of the Department of Japanese, as the souvenir to Ito Hiromi and the Beijing Cultural Centre of the Japan Foundation for Exchanges. In return, Ito presented the Chinese version of “The Record Amenorrhea” to the teachers and students Nankai, signing it as a souvenir for the students.
The lecture lasted more than two hours and was a great success due to its innovative format and warm atmosphere.
