Sunday, April 24, 2011
SHINTO
I watched the “Peach Orchard” section of Kurosawa’s film “Dreams” and I actually thought it was pretty entertaining. Although the actual acting was pretty bad in my opinion (as expected) I thought that the one point that really sold it to me was when the child said to the spirits of the peach trees “Peaches can be bought… But where can you buy a whole orchard in bloom?”
There were a few areas that in which I thought that the video lines up with the lecture in class. The first one was that “Everything is spiritual and therefore there is a continuity between humanity, nature, and the spirits/gods” and this is depicted in the video because the video is about the spirit of the peach trees that were cut down in the orchard and how the spirits and the boy were unhappy about it.
Another area that I saw relation to the lecture and the section in the film was when professor stated: “This is not pantheism (not all of nature is kami), instead this recognizes what is powerful or amazing in nature and that is kami.” I got this idea from when the boy replied to the peach tree spirits by saying “Peaches can be bought… But where can you buy a whole orchard in bloom?” because he recognizes that the beauty of a blooming orchard of peach trees cannot be amounted to money or any other material possession in this world.
Because the orchard of peach trees had spirits I would consider the orchard a sacred object which leads me to the last relation between the lecture on Shinto and this particular section of the film. In the notes Professor Rasnick stated that “Gravest sins are sins against sacred objects or places” which is why in this film the spirits of the chopped orchard trees were so distraught. To simplify my reasoning: the trees had spiritsàspirits are sacredàand because those spirits are sacred the trees should not have been cut down.
Overall I think that this section of the film actually helped explain Shinto in relation to nature very well but I did not really get a big picture of Shinto.
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I watch the peach orchard section as well, but I didn't pick up on the fact that the orchard was sacred. I do understand your logic though, so it is an interesting point. I guess I just thought that the spirits were angry because his family chopped down the trees without a good reason.
ReplyDeleteI watched the tunnel section, so it is nice to see another review of a different clip. I feel as if they all can coincide together because it deals with distraught spirits. In the tunnel the soldiers who were dead did not really know and were not ready because their time came unexpectedly. The same can be said about the trees
ReplyDeleteI also watched the Peach Orchard and I really enjoyed when the boy talked back to the kamis' because they completely misunderstood how important the trees were to him. The sacredness of the orchard is a great example of how important Shintos believe nature is.
ReplyDeleteI also watched "The Peach Orchard" for this assignment. I really like how you pointed out the quote the boy said, "Peaches can be bought...But where can you buy a whole orchard in bloom?" I felt this was the most important line of the dream sequence, establishing that the boy has total respect for the blooms, and therefore kami. Like you I felt it connect to the Shinto lecture through the concept of everything being spiritual. Also, how only what is perceived to be powerful is kami.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the sacredness of the orchard illustrates how sacred nature is to Shinto and the significance of sinning against sacred objects. I also thought that the beginning scene when the little boy gives food to his sister and her friends showed the Shinto belief that children must respect their elders.
ReplyDeleteI also watched this section of the film and it really gave a great example of what not to do in the Shinto belied. Like you said in your blog, “Gravest sins are sins against sacred objects or places”. This is way the spirits were upset and why they left.
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