Jean-Jacques Origas

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. ISBN 978-2-13-050441-2 (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. ISBN 2-13-043013-9
• 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. ISBN 2-86847-705-4
• 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, ISBN 978-2-251-72201-6, 35 €

Honors

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

Notes

1. Keene, Donald. (2008). Chronicles of my Life, p. 20.
2. "Obituary: Jean-Jaques Origas," Japan Times Online. January 29, 2003.
3. Lecture 1992.3.9. Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine
4. Seminar 1996.`0.17. Archived 2008-03-02 at the Wayback Machine
5. CEJA
6. L'Harmattan web site (in French)
7. Japan Foundation Special Prize, 1988 Archived 2008-03-11 at the Wayback Machine

References

• Keene, Donald. (2008). Chronicles of my Life: an American in the Heart of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14440-7

See also

• Matsuyama Declaration
• Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Awards