Shimenawa

By Naoko Kumagai

This is a story I was told. It was August 1973. My brother Jiro was four, sitting at dinner. “E tadaki mas,” my
uncle said. Jiro picked up onigiri, a rice ball, with his hands and mashed it into his mouth. Fish and rice on
his plate, untouched. He stuffed another onigiri in his mouth, bits of rice falling.

“Jiro-chan…” A warning from my mother. Jiro opened his mouth wide, splayed his tongue covered in tiny
white beads of rice. Kazuya stood up and roughly pulled Jiro out of his chair. “What are you doing?” My
mother asked, getting up. Kazuya went out the back door, carrying Jiro firmly under his arm. With the other
hand, he picked up a circle of rope hanging on the fence by the shed. In the yard was a large oak tree with
heavy, twisted branches. He wrapped the rope around my brother once, then pushed him to the trunk of the
oak, winding the rope around and around. “He must eat his dinner properly.” My uncle tied a thick knot at
the end. “He needs to learn to be a man.” My mother was shouting at my uncle; Jiro was screaming, the
sound flooding the sky. Kazuya went back into the house, relaxed, and entitled, as if he had just finished a
long day’s work. No one remembers the rest. My mother never forgave my uncle. My father wasn’t there.
Jiro can’t recall any of it. He jokes that the incident is possibly the reason he always, intuitively eats
everything on his plate.

1. Shimenawa is rice straw or hemp. It is festooned in some sacred landmark. The short story is entitled that
way because ___________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

2. Onigiri may be wrapped with seaweed and could be similar to sandwich by the West. Onigiri is a
_____________________________.

3. The main characters in the story were __________________________________.

4. E tadaki mas,” my uncle said. Jiro picked up onigiri, a rice ball, with his hands and mashed it into his mouth.
The one telling the story was _____________________________________________________________________.

5. The setting of the story was in East Asia. Specifically, the setting was in Japan because (prove your answer
by extracting the text to justify your answer)
________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

6. Asia is known for having a close family ties. The family tradition being presented in the story was
_________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

7. The story shared a specific culture in the country. The culture shared was
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

8. In the story, Jiro was not eating properly, so Kazuya stood up and roughly pulled Jiro. Write what Kazuya
did to Jiro. _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

9. Kazuya did something hard to Jiro. Write the reason why Kazuya did that kind of punishment to Jiro.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

10. Years had passed and Jiro could not recall what happened before. Write what positive effect the incident
has brought to Jiro. _________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Activity 1. Direction: Determine whether the following statements talk about critical
reading or not. Write TRUE if it defines critical reading and FALSE if it does not.

__________1. Think critically all throughout the reading process and ask higher order questions whenever possible.
__________2. The reader actively recognizes and analyzes evidence.
__________3. It recognizes what a text says.
__________4. It infers on what the text means.
__________5. Its central idea is the message being imparted.

Activity 2. Direction: Read critically the text and be able to give sound reasoning.

The K to 12 Program was introduced in the Philippines with the aim of providing sufficient time to master concepts
and skills, prepare graduates for higher education, produce lifelong learners, and prepare students for middle level
skills development, entrepreneurship, and employment (Republic of the Philippines Official Gazette). Hence, the
program added two years of Senior High School (SHS). The courses that can be learned from SHS include accounting,
welding, machinist work, agriculture, music, medical technology, and culinary and hospitality work.

Although the intention of adding SHS is commendable, some critics claim that there is still a mismatch between our
schooling system and working system. As regards the implementation of SHS, some people are concerned about the
lack of learning materials provided to the schools. For example, during the school year 2013-2014, learning materials
for one school in Tondo arrived during the last two quarters of the school year. The lack of sufficient facilities, such
as classrooms, chairs, and computer laboratories, is also a problem. Moreover, more students require more
teachers, but there seems to be a lack of teachers as well. Colleges and universities also assert that they will be
losing revenues with the implementation of SHS since there will be no enrollees for the first year in 2016.

Despite these observations, DepEd is optimistic that these shortages and problems will be overcome as they claim
that these are being addressed. Meanwhile, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA)
lauds DepEd’s implementation of the K to 12 Program. According to its chairman, additional two years of education
should not be seen as a burden.

Source: Barrot, J. S. (2016). Academic Reading and Writing for Senior High School. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.

Answer the following questions.

1. What is the central claim of the text? Support your answer.

2. Who do you think is/are the target reader/s of the text? Why do you think so?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

3. What was currently happening when the text was written?

4. Based on your own experience, should SHS continue to be implemented?