Q 01/05

Which director's 1950 film Rashomon retold Akutagawa's In a Grove under the title of another of his stories?

A) Yasujirō Ozu

B) Kenji Mizoguchi

C) Akira Kurosawa

D) Hayao Miyazaki

Answer · why

C) Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa borrowed only the title and the ruined-gate framing scenes from Akutagawa's Rashōmon. The murder told several contradictory ways comes ...

Q 02/05

The 1950 film Rashomon, built from two Akutagawa stories, won the Golden Lion at which city's film festival?

A) Venice

B) Cannes

C) Berlin

D) Locarno

Answer · why

A) Venice

Venice gave the film its top prize, and the win made it the first Japanese film to find a wide international audience.

Q 03/05

Akutagawa's given name, Ryūnosuke, commemorates his birth in the year of which animal of the East Asian zodiac?

A) Tiger

B) Horse

C) Rooster

D) Dragon

Answer · why

D) Dragon

Dragon is what the first character of Ryūnosuke means, and the name was chosen because 1892, the year he arrived, belonged to that zodiac sign.

Q 04/05

Which manga and anime series features a Port Mafia fighter named after Akutagawa, with powers drawn from Rashōmon?

A) Jujutsu Kaisen

B) Bungo Stray Dogs

C) Tokyo Ghoul

D) Moriarty the Patriot

Answer · why

B) Bungo Stray Dogs

Bungo Stray Dogs names its main characters after real authors and bases each power on that writer's books, which is why its Akutagawa is tied to Rashō...

Q 05/05

The Rashomon effect, a term born from the film of Akutagawa's stories, names the unreliability of which group?

A) Historians

B) Eyewitnesses

C) Translators

D) Newspaper editors

Answer · why

B) Eyewitnesses

Eyewitnesses to one event can honestly describe it in ways that cannot all be true, the trap at the heart of the film. The term is now used in law and...