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Traditional Japanese Culture Quiz | Performing Arts, Crafts and Annual Events, Set 1

1 / 100.0s

Problem 1

Among the foods eaten on May 5, you want the sweet that expresses the wish for life to carry on from parent to child to grandchild.

Which takes its meaning from a plant whose old leaves do not fall until the new shoots appear?

View explanation

Kashiwamochi, eaten at the Boys' Festival, overlays the wish for a family line to continue on the oak's habit of keeping its old leaves until the new shoots grow. Chitose-ame belongs to a different occasion celebrating children's growth and does not rest on a characteristic of leaves.

Problem 2

A household record notes: "Wishing for the family's health, we prepared fukumame for the seasonal observance."

In the correspondences set out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which observance is this?

View explanation

Fukumame belongs to Setsubun. Zōni is given for New Year, chitose-ame for Shichi-Go-San and toshikoshi soba for New Year's Eve: the same wish may be expressed but the observance differs.

Problem 3

Although the theater is indoors, there is a roof over the stage, and stage and dressing room are joined by a bridge-like passage.

Which performing art typically uses this stage?

View explanation

A roofed stage with a hashigakari bridge is characteristic of the Noh stage, preserving the style of when it was performed outdoors. The hashigakari joins the mirror room to the main stage and is a space used in the acting itself, not just for entrances and exits.

Problem 4

A walkway at the same height as the stage runs through the audience, and the staging has the actor stop partway along it to strike a pose.

Which describes this walkway correctly?

View explanation

The kabuki hanamichi runs through the audience and is used for important acting such as mie poses as well as for entrances and exits. The Noh hashigakari also figures in entrances, but it differs from the hanamichi that cuts through the auditorium, which is particular to kabuki.

Problem 5

For a single puppet, the head and right hand, the left hand, and the feet are handled separately, with several people moving it in concert.

Which performing art has three people to a puppet as a defining characteristic?

View explanation

Ningyō jōruri bunraku is characterized by the intricate technique of three operators to a single puppet. Puppet theater is not necessarily worked by one person; dividing the roles is what allows such finely detailed movement.

Problem 6

A production area is seeking designation as a "traditional craft product" by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry under the relevant act.

Which description of manufacture best fits the requirements for designation?

View explanation

A legally designated traditional craft product must meet requirements including handwork in the main processes, techniques and materials continued for more than 100 years, use in daily life, and a certain scale of production area. Merely looking old-fashioned, or being a one-off, does not satisfy them.

Problem 7

You are investigating the use of a historic house from its spatial layout: a tea room, a mizuya preparation room, a kitchen and a large tea room.

Which description of a building is most closely associated with this layout?

View explanation

A layout with a mizuya, a kitchen and a large tea room in addition to the tea room fits the sukiya residence of a tea master whose life and work center on the tea ceremony. The defensive works of a castle and the halls of a temple serve different purposes.

Problem 8

Rice and pickles are already prepared separately. The main dish of grilled fish, a simmered side dish and a boiled-greens side dish are also ready.

What must be added to make this menu the basic ichiju-sansai (one soup, three dishes)?

View explanation

With grilled fish, a simmered dish and boiled greens there are already three dishes, so what is needed is one soup. Ichiju-sansai sets rice and pickles aside and combines one soup with three dishes; no further dishes are required.

Problem 9

A record describes steamed soybeans mixed with kōji and salt, then fermented and matured for a set period.

Which is the representative seasoning made by this process?

View explanation

Adding kōji and salt to steamed soybeans and fermenting and maturing them is the basic process for miso. Mirin, rice vinegar and katsuobushi differ in their main ingredients and processes, and the combination of soybeans, kōji and salt is what identifies the answer.

Problem 10

Comparing how miso, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar and sake are made, you are identifying a foundation common across Japan's fermentation culture.

Which process is most appropriately described as important to them all?

View explanation

These products widely use kōji, made by culturing kōji mold on rice, wheat, soybeans and so on. The ingredients, later processes and the part played by yeasts and lactic acid bacteria differ from one to another, however, so this does not mean they are all made the same way.