Class Supplement (TOEFL Essay, One single object that represents your culture, Essay for ideas and expressions -rewritten-)

Writing Topic: There will be an exhibition in which every country in the world is represented by one single object. What would you choose to send in order to represent your country in the exhibition? Why would you choose that object to send to the exhibition?


Essay for ideas and expressions:

I would choose a katana, Japanese sword, as an object that symbolizes my country. I think katana represents well-known characteristics of Japan: craftsmanship, the samurai culture, and the history of battles.

Katana is said to be the sharpest sword in the world and collectors find aesthetic pleasure in it, which indicates our intense devotion to craftsmanship and beauty. Many people find perfectionism and love of details in things we make from traditional handicrafts to cutting-edge industrial products to Mom’s handmade daily lunch whose colorful, delicately-shaped ingredients are neatly arranged in a little lunch box. Our punctual transportation systems and well-disciplined store clerks also seem to owe their origin in this tendency.

While carrying katana was made illegal long ago, the samurai-warrior culture is still dominant in Japan. Samurai dramas are popular. Business magazines often feature famous Japanese warlords and warriors to learn lessons from their deeds or tactics. Also, many katana-related expressions are alive in our language. To describe a sharp person, we use a more direct expression, “kireru,” cuts well. Crisp beer is “kire ga ii,” or cuts in a nice way. Shin-ken, which is usually used to mean being serious, also means real, not wooden, katana. Lay-off is “kubi-kiri,” cutting heads off and taking a drastic measure is “itto-ryodan,” cutting in half with a long sword. These and many other katana-related expressions are used in our everyday life, by both men and women, young and old. It seems that we are always wielding katana, in metaphor of course.

Katana reminds people of our warlike past. Most of our history is warlords' history. Also, it is a historical fact that Japanese invaded other countries, torturing and killing their civilians. Those who brutally killed women and children with military katana along with guns were not abnormal individuals but average Japanese, who later went home and spent the rest of their lives as gentle workers and family lovers. This fact shows that we can become ice-cold like a katana in certain situations. Although we are not the only people that have committed atrocities, it is more significant that we are one of them.

I do not think all the main features of Japan can be represented by a katana, which is a weapon and therefore has few elements to represent virtues of a people. However, I think our world-famous characteristics, “both militaristic and aesthetic” (Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: patterns of Japanese culture), are symbolized by a katana, which is a top-class artwork and relentlessly sharp.