Blog de Lucía Rivera Couto

Conference “Japanese rice and Spanish rice”

Marina — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:35:41 +0000

On Thursday 25 May, the conference “Japanese Rice and Spanish Rice”, given by Dr. Makoto Oguma, Rector of the University of Kanagawa (Japan), was held in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Philology. Oguma spoke about the history of rice cultivation, from its origins thousands of years ago to the present day, explaining how it has evolved over time and how vital rice has been throughout the development of Japanese civilisation.

The conference was organised by the Spanish-Japanese Cultural Centre, collaborating with the Faculty of Philology. The director of the Centre, José Abel Flores Villarejo, attended the lecture and even participated in the Q&A session. The talk was interpreted by Daniel Ruiz Martínez, who teaches at the Faculty of Translation and Documentation.

3rd Jugend Überstzt Translation Award

Marina — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:29:33 +0000

The award ceremony for the 3rd Jugend Überstzt tTranslation Prize was held last Friday, April 5th in the auditorium of the Faculty of Translation and Documentation. Translator and lecturer Claudia Toda Castán gave a very interesting talk on the challenges (but also the joys) of translating children’s literature. Afterwards, Professor María Ángeles Recio Ariza gave a speech in German on the occasion of the third edition of the prize and the prizes were awarded to the winners, who spoke about their experience in the competition and their views on what it means to translate. The whole event was provided with interpreting services by the 4th year students of the interpreting pathway (Jessica Álvarez, Marina Cordero, Beatriz Taboada), with the collaboration of their teacher Andrea Fernández Vivanco.

Ukiyo-e

Marina — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:23:00 +0000

Ukiyo-e, also known as “Japanese printmaking”, is a woodblock printmaking technique that developed in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868) and is one of the best-known manifestations of Japanese art. The term is written with the kanji for “world” (浮), ” to float” (世) and “drawing” (絵) and translates as “paintings of the floating world”. In this post, we will discuss some of the works of its most famous exponent, Katsushika Hokusai.

The Great Wave of Kanagawa

Undoubtedly Hokusai’s best-known work is “The Great Wave of Kanagawa”, which is part of the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”, the true protagonist of the work. These prints depict the mountain from a variety of perspectives. The image takes place at dawn, which Hokusai subtly reflects through the darkness that still envelops the snow-capped volcano.

Eijiri, Suruga Prefecture

The setting for the engraving is the Tokaido Road in present-day Shizuoka Prefecture, which connected the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto. This pass was known for its lush pine forests.

Enoshima, in Sagami Prefecture

The setting for this picture is Enoshima, a Pacific island about 56km south of Tokyo, in the former Sagami Prefecture. In the background you can see the Ryuko-ji pagoda, a place popular with Buddhists during the Edo period.