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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Calligraphy, what is Kurosawa's feeling about his childhood teacher?
(a) He was the smartest man he ever met.
(b) He was too remote an individual.
(c) He expected too little of his pupils.
(d) His knowledge was inferior.

2. In A Distant Village, what did Akira do when after he got drunk on sake?
(a) He passed out next to a water ox.
(b) He vomited on his cousin.
(c) He fell in a rice paddy.
(d) He kissed a strange woman.

3. What great act of devotion did Uekusa make regarding a girl as a child?
(a) He painted a portrait of her.
(b) He sent her an orchid every day for a year.
(c) He opened every door for her one day.
(d) He waited for her all night with a love letter.

4. What did Kurosawa's father insist he do if he is to take Kendo lessons?
(a) Read Lao Tsu.
(b) Make daily offering at a temple.
(c) Give up art lessons.
(d) Get straight A's at school.

5. In The Gleam of Fireflies, what grade was young Akira graduating from?
(a) First.
(b) Fifth.
(c) Nineth.
(d) Twelfth.

6. In Kendo, what does Kurosawa recall his father doing in the morning during the war years?
(a) Cooking breakfast for the family.
(b) Watching the children walk to school.
(c) Meditating behind the house.
(d) Weeping bitterly in his bedroom.

7. What role did Uekusa Keinosuke later play in Kurosawa's professional life?
(a) Screenwriter.
(b) Director of Photography.
(c) Producer.
(d) Assistant Director.

8. At the end of The Fragrance of Meiji, the Sounds of Taisho, Kurosawa says that is sorry children of today do not have what?
(a) The sounds of his childhood.
(b) The sense of national pride he had.
(c) The quality of food he had.
(d) The fresh air he had.

9. In Keika Middle School, what event did young Akira win at his school?
(a) The sprint.
(b) The high jump.
(c) The shotput.
(d) The mini-marathon.

10. Which of the following is not a daily appointment Kurosawa had to keep in childhood?
(a) Calligraphy lessons.
(b) Kendo lessons.
(c) Visiting Mr. Tachikawa.
(d) Visiting his grandmother.

11. What act by Uekusa in Murasaki and Shonagon surprised and infuriated Kurosawa at the time?
(a) He asked out a girl Kurosawa liked.
(b) He charged a gang of bullies.
(c) He made a picture that Tachikawa liked.
(d) He lost Kurosawa's favorite robe.

12. What new aspect of the curriculum was added to Akira's life in fifth grade?
(a) Shakespeare.
(b) Foreign landguages.
(c) Military training.
(d) Culinary arts.

13. What relation was Togashi to Akira?
(a) His great aunt.
(b) His grandmother.
(c) She was a family friend.
(d) His younger sister.

14. In The Gleam of Fireflies, why was Kurosawa uncomfortable with the speech given him?
(a) It is not of his own creation.
(b) It is distinctly pro-military.
(c) It lauds the teacher he hates.
(d) It is poorly worded.

15. How did his mother replace the item that Kurosawa lost in his duel in Murasaki and Shonagon?
(a) She quietly buys him a new one.
(b) She goes back to the site of the duel that night and collects the lost item.
(c) She gave him another that belonged to his brother.
(d) She does not replace it.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which star's westerns does Kurosawa particularly recall enjoying in Storytellers?

2. Whose help did Akira Kurosawa eventually employ to convince his father to let him quit calligraphy lessons?

3. The mean nickname the children gave Kurosawa at Morimura Gakuen implied that he had tears large as what?

4. What was different about the way Mr. Tachikawa taught art at Kuroda?

5. In My Rebellious Phase, what dangerous material did Akira use on some of his pranks?

(see the answer keys)

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