Jean-Jacques Origas Explained

Jean-Jacques Origas (1937–2003) was a French academic with expertise in Japanese literature and art. He was a Japanologist, best known more for giving his knowledge to his students rather than for publishing books.^[1]

Academic career

Origas studied Japanese the Sorbonne. He furthered his education at Waseda University in Tokyo; and he taught at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.^[2]

Origas was a Professor of Japanese at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales or INALCO) in Paris.^[2] He became a visiting professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, where he lectured on Haiku in contemporary French poetry (1992).^[3] His work on Meiji literature was the subject of a Nichibunken Mokuyo Seminar (1996).^[4]

Origas was famed for his expertise in the pedagogy of Japanese language education. He influenced the way Japanese as a foreign language is taught in France. As a teacher, his intention was to impart not only the ability to write grammatically correct Japanese, but also to use the language in a way which is stylistically pleasing.^[1]

He was also president of the Centre d'Etudes Japonaises d'Alsace (CEJA).^[5] and member of composers of Matsuyama Declaration.

Selected work

• Origas, Jean-Jacques. (2000). Dictionnaire de littérature japonaise. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. (paper)
• ____________. "Japanese-Language Education in France:Present and Future." Current report on Japanese-language education around the globe, Japan Foundation. Vol. 1, pp. 173–176.
• Didier, Béatrice. (1994). Dictionnaire universel des littératures ("Notices sur la revue Hototogisu, les écrivains Nagatsuka Takashi [1879-1915] et Takahama Kyoshi [1874-1959]" -- section littérature japonaise sous la direction de Jean-Jacques Origas). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
• de Touchet, Elizabeth. (2003). Quand les Français armaient le Japon: la création de l'arsenal de Yokosuka, 1865-1882 (Préface de Jean-Jacques Origas). Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes.
• Jean-Jacques Origas, (2008). La Lampe d'Akutagawa. Essais sur la littérature japonaise moderne, (présenté par Emmanuel Lozerand et Christophe Marquet), Paris, Les Belles Lettres, coll. "Japon" octobre 2008,, 35 €

Honors

• Order of the Sacred Treasure with Gold Rays, 1998 .^[6]
• Japan Foundation: Special Prize, 1988.^[7]

References

• Keene, Donald. (2008). Chronicles of my Life: an American in the Heart of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press.

See also

• Matsuyama Declaration
• Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Awards

Notes and References

1. Keene, Donald. (2008). Chronicles of my Life, p. 20.
2. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20030129b1.html "Obituary: Jean-Jaques Origas,"
3. http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/research/r_archives/lecture_e.html Lecture 1992.3.9.
4. http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/research/r_archives/mokuyou_e.html Seminar 1996.`0.17.
5. http://japondestras.free.fr/AGC%20ceja%20presse.htm CEJA
6. http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=article&no=8245 L'Harmattan web site (in French)
7. http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/jfic/award/kikin.html Japan Foundation Special Prize, 1988