Early Modern Japanese Literature
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS
Translations from the Asian Classics
EDITORIAL BOARD
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chairman
Paul Anderer
Irene Bloom
Donald Keene
George A. Saliba
Haruo Shirane
David D. W. Wang
Burton Watson
Early Modern Japanese Literature
AN ANTHOLOGY, 1600–1900
Edited with Introductions and Commentary by Haruo Shirane
TRANSLATORS
James Brandon, Michael Brownstein, Patrick Caddeau, Caryl Ann Callahan, Steven Carter, Anthony Chambers, Cheryl Crowley, Chris Drake, Peter Flueckiger, Charles Fox, C. Andrew Gerstle, Thomas Harper, Robert Huey, Donald Keene, Richard Lane, Lawrence Marceau, Andrew Markus, Herschel Miller, Maryellen Toman Mori, Jamie Newhard, Mark Oshima, Edward Putzar, Peipei Qiu, Satoru Saito, Tomoko Sakomura, G. W. Sargent, Thomas Satchell, Paul Schalow, Haruo Shirane, Jack Stoneman, Makoto Ueda, Burton Watson
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation
for assistance given by the Japan Foundation toward the cost of publishing this book.
Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Pushkin Fund toward the cost of publishing this book.
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
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Copyright © 2002 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-50743-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Early modern Japanese literature : an anthology, 1600–1900 / [edited with introduction by Haruo Shirane].
p. cm.—(Translations from the Asian classics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-231-10990-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
I. Shirane, Haruo, 1951–II. Series.
PL782.E1 E23 2002
895.6’08003—dc21
2001053725
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].
CONTENTS
Preface
Historical Periods, Measurements, and Other Matters
1. Early Modern Japan
The Shōgunate and the Domains
The Social Hierarchy
The Economy and the Three Cities
The Licensed Quarters
The Courtesans and Female Entertainers
Literacy, Scholarship, and Printing
Women, Readership, and Literature
Warrior and Urban Commoner Attitudes
Popular and Elite Literatures
Periodization
2. Kana Booklets and the Emergence of a Print Culture
Parodies
The Dog Pillow Book (Inu makura)
Fake Tales (Nise monogatari)
Edict Against Christianity
Humorous Stories
Today’s Tales of Yesterday (Kinō wa kyō no monogatari)
Dangerous Things in the World
The Woman Who Cut Off Her Nose
Asai Ryōi
Tales of the Floating World (Ukiyo monogatari)
Preface
Regarding Advice Against Wenching
Hand Puppets (Otogi bōko)
The Peony Lantern
Military Stories
O-An’s Stories (Oan monogatari)
3. Ihara Saikaku and the Books of the Floating World
Ihara Saikaku
Life of a Sensuous Man (Kōshoku ichidai otoko)
Putting Out the Light, Love Begins
Afterward “Honored” Is Added to Their Names
Aids to Lovemaking: Sailing to the Island of Women
Saikaku’s Tales from Various Provinces (Saikaku shokokubanashi)
The Umbrella Oracle
Five Sensuous Women (Kōshoku gonin onna)
The Calendar Maker’s Wife
Life of a Sensuous Woman (Kōshoku ichidai onna)
An Old Woman’s Hermitage
Mistress of a Domain Lord
A Monk’s Wife in a Worldly Temple
A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manners
A Stylish Woman Who Brought Disaster
Ink Painting in a Sensual Robe
Luxurious Dream of a Man
Streetwalker with a False Voice
Five Hundred Disciples of the Buddha—I’d Known Them All
Great Mirror of Male Love (Nanshoku ōkagami)
Though Bearing an Umbrella
Tales of Samurai Duty (Bukegiri monogatari)
In Death They Share the Same Wave Pillow
Japan’s Eternal Storehouse (Nippon eitaigura)
In the Past, on Credit, Now Cash Down
The Foremost Lodger in the Land
A Feather in Daikoku’s Cap
All the Goodness Gone from Tea
Worldly Mental Calculations (Seken munezan’yō)
In Our Impermanent World, Even Doorposts Are Borrowed
His Dream Form Is Gold Coins
Holy Man Heitarō
Ejima Kiseki and the Hachimonjiya
Characters of Old Men in the Floating World (Ukiyo oyaji katagi)
A Money-Loving, Loan-Sharking Old Man
4. Early Haikai Poetry and Poetics
Matsunaga Teitoku and the Teimon School
Kitamura Kigin
The Mountain Well (Yama no i)
Fireflies
Nishiyama Sōin and Danrin Haikai
Okanishi Ichū
Haikai Primer (Haikai mōgyū)
5. The Poetry and Prose of Matsuo Bashō
Bashō and the Art of Haikai
Hokku
Composing Haiku
Combining
Intermediaries
Single-Object Poetry
Greetings
Overtones
The Art of Linked Verse
Reverberation Link
Status Link
Withering Gusts (Kogarashi)
Plum Blossom Scent (Ume ga ka)
The Poetics of Haiku
Awakening to the High, Returning to the Low
Following the Creative
Object and Self as One
Unchanging and Ever-Changing
Haibun
The Hut of the Phantom Dwelling (Genjūan no ki)
Narrow Road to the Deep North (Oku no hosomichi)
6. Chikamatsu Monzaemon and the Puppet Theater
Early Jōruri and Kabuki
Chikamatsu Monzaemon
The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (Sonezaki shinjū)
The Drum of the Waves of Horikawa (Horikawa nami no tsutsumi)
The Battles of Coxinga (Kokusenya kassen)
The Heike and the Island of Women (Heike nyogo no shima)
The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjū ten no Amijima)
Hozumi Ikan
Souvenirs of Naniwa (Naniwa miyage)
7. Confucian Studies and Literary Perspectives
Song Confucianism
Nakae Tōju
Dialogue with the Elder (Okina mondō)
On the Virtue of Filial Piety
Confucian Views of Literature
Yamazaki Ansai
Japanese Lesser Learning (Yamato shōgaku)
Ando Tameakira
Seven Essays on
Murasaki Shikibu (Shika shichiron)
The Intentions of the Author
Chinese Studies and Literary Perspectives
Itō Jinsai
The Meaning of Words in the Analects and the Mencius (Gomō jigi)
Postscript to The Collected Works of Bo Juyi (Hakushimonjū)
Questions from Children (Dōjimon)
Itō Tōgai
Essentials for Reading the Book of Songs (Dokushi yōryō)
Ogyū Sorai
Master Sorai’s Teachings (Sorai sensei tōmonsho)
On the Study of Poetry and Prose
8. Confucianism in Action: An Autobiography of a Bakufu Official
The Kyōhō Era (1716–1736)
Arai Hakuseki
Record of Breaking and Burning Brushwood (Oritaku shiba no ki)
Early Education
Confucian Precedent and Justice for a Woman
9. Chinese Poetry and the Literatus Ideal
Hattori Nankaku
“Traveling Down the Sumida River at Night” (Yoru Bokusui o kudaru)
Jottings of Master Nankaku Under the Lamplight (Nankaku sensei tōka no sho)
“Responding to the Lord of Goose Lake” (Gako-kō ni kotau)
Gion Nankai
“The Fisherman” (Gyofu)
Encountering the Origins of Poetry (Shigaku hōgen)
On Elegance and Vulgarity
10. The Golden Age of Puppet Theater
Takeda Izumo, Namiki Sōsuke, and Miyoshi Shōraku
Chūshingura: The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers (Kanadehon Chūshingura)
Act 6, Kanpei’s Suicide
Namiki Sōsuke
Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani (Ichinotani futaba gunki)
Act 3, Kumagai’s Battle Camp
Suga Sensuke
Gappō at the Crossroads (Sesshū Gappō ga tsuji)
Act 2, Climactic Scene
11. Dangibon and the Birth of Edo Popular Literature
Jōkanbō Kōa
Modern-Style Lousy Sermons (Imayō heta dangi)
The Spirit of Kudō Suketsune Criticizes the Theater
Hiraga Gennai
Rootless Weeds (Nenashigusa)
In Hell
Ryōgoku Bridge
The Lover Reveals His True Form
The Modern Life of Shidōken (Fūryū Shidōken den)
Asanoshin Meets the Sage
Land of the Giants
Land of the Chest Holes
Island of Women
“A Theory of Farting” (Hōhi-ron)
12. Comic and Satiric Poetry
Senryū
Karai Senryū
Kyōka
Yomono Akara
Akera Kankō
Hezutsu Tōsaku
Yadoya no Meshimori
Ki no Sadamaru
Kyōshi
Dōmyaku Sensei, Master Artery
13. Literati Meditations
Yosa Buson
Hokku
Buson’s Poetics
Preface to Shoha’s Haiku Collection (Shundei kushū)
Japanese-Chinese Poetry
“Mourning the Old Sage Hokuju” (Hokuju rōsen o itamu)
“Spring Breeze on the Kema Embankment” (Shunpū batei kyoku)
Haibun
New Flower Gathering (Shinhanatsumi)
The Badger
Takebe Ayatari
Tales from This Time and That (Oriorigusa)
Walking the Neighborhoods of Negishi in Search of a Woman
14. Early Yomihon: History, Romance, and the Supernatural
Ueda Akinari
Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari)
The Chrysanthemum Vow
The Reed-Choked House
A Serpent’s Lust
15. Eighteenth-Century Waka and Nativist Study
Debate on the Eight Points of Japanese Poetry
Kada no Arimaro
Eight Points of Japanese Poetry (Kokka hachiron)
On Poetry as Amusement
Tayasu Munetake
My Views on the Eight Points of Japanese Poetry (Kokka hachiron yogen)
Kamo no Mabuchi
Another Reply to Tayasu Munetake (Futatabi kingo no kimi ni kotaematsuru no sho)
Kamo no Mabuchi
Thoughts on Poetry (Ka’i kō)
Motoori Norinaga
“A Small Boat Punting Through the Reeds” (Ashiwake obune)
My Personal View of Poetry (Isonokami no sasamegoto)
The Essence of The Tale of Genji (Shibun yōryō)
The Tale of Genji, a Small Jeweled Comb (Genji monogatari tama no ogushi)
The Intentions of the Monogatari
The Spirit of the Gods (Naobi no mitama)
First Steps in the Mountains (Uiyamabumi)
16. Sharebon: Books of Wit and Fashion
The Playboy Dialect (Yūshi hōgen)
Preface
Live for Pleasure Alone!
Santō Kyōden
Forty-Eight Techniques for Success with Courtesans (Keiseikai shijū hatte)
The Tender-Loving Technique
The True-Feeling Technique
17. Kibyōshi: Satiric and Didactic Picture Books
Koikawa Harumachi
Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold’s Dream of Splendor (Kinkin sensei eiga no yume)
Santō Kyōden
Grilled and Basted Edo-Born Playboy (Edo umare uwaki no kabayaki)
Fast-Dyeing Mind Study (Shingaku hayasomegusa)
18. Kokkeibon: Comic Fiction for Commoners
Jippensha Ikku
Travels on the Eastern Seaboard (Tōkaidōchū hizakurige)
Journey’s Start
Changed into a Fox
The False Ikku
Shikitei Sanba
Floating-World Bathhouse (Ukiyoburo)
The Larger Meaning
Women’s Bath
19. Ninjōbon: Sentimental Fiction
Tamenaga Shunsui
Spring-Color Plum Calendar (Shunshoku umegoyomi)
Book 1
Book 2
20. Gōkan: Extended Picture Books
Ryūtei Tanehiko
A Country Genji by a Commoner Murasaki (Nise Murasaki inaka Genji)
Book 4 (concluding part)
Book 5
21. Ghosts and Nineteenth-Century Kabuki
Tsuruya Nanboku
Ghost Stories at Yotsuya (Yotsuya kaidan)
Act 2, Tamiya Iemon’s House
Act 3, Deadman’s Ditch
22. Late Yomihon: History and the Supernatural Revisited
Kyokutei Bakin
The Eight Dog Chronicles (Nansō Satomi hakkenden)
Fusehime at Toyama Cave
Fusehime’s Decision
Shino in Ōtsuka Village
Hamaji and Shino
23. Nativizing Poetry and Prose in Chinese
Yamamoto Hokuzan
Thoughts on Composing Poetry (Sakushi shikō)
On Spirit and Freshness
The Conclusion
Kan Chazan
Kanshi
Rai Sanyō
The Unofficial History of Japan (Nihon gaishi)
Kusunoki
Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen
Kanshi
Ryōkan
Kanshi
24. The Miscellany
Matsudaira Sadanobu
Blossoms and the Moon (Kagetsu sōshi)
On Blossoms
Leaving It to Heaven
Study
On Skies Clearing and Rain Falling
Rain
Comments Made by Bystanders
On the Ainu
Fox Stupidity
Bugs in a Hawk
25. Early-Nineteenth-Century Haiku
Kobayashi Issa
Journal of My Father’s Last Days (Chichi no shūen nikki)
Fourth Month, Twenty-third Day
Fourth Month, Twenty-ninth Day
Fifth Month, Second Day
Fifth Month, Sixth Day
Fifth Month, Thirteenth Day
Fifth Month, Twentieth Day
Hokku
My Spring (Ora ga haru)
Orphan
Giving the Breast
A World of Dew
Come What May
26. Waka in the Late Edo Period
Ozawa Roan
Waka
The Ancient Middle Road Through Furu (Furu no nakamichi)
Dust and Dirt
Reed Sprouts
Responses to Questions
Ryōkan
Waka
Kagawa Kageki
Waka
Objections to New Learning (Niimanabi iken)
Tachibana Akemi
Waka
Ōkuma Kotomichi
Waka
Words to Myself (Hitorigochi)
27. Rakugo
Sanyūtei Enchō
Peony Lantern Ghost Story (Kaidan botan dōrō)
Volume 5, part 12
English-Language Bibliography
Index
PREFACE
This anthology, one of two planned volumes of Japanese literature from the ancient period through the nineteenth century, brings to the reader carefully chosen examples of literature from the Edo period (1600–1867). Except for such late-seventeenth-century writers as Saikaku, Bashō, and Chikamatsu, the three centuries of early modern Japanese literature have often been neglected by Western readers, and most of the texts here have been translated for the first time. It is my hope that this volume will stimulate interest in one of the most exciting periods in world literature.
This book pays particular attention to gesaku (playful writing), the popular literature of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which includes dangibon, kyōka, senryū, kibyūshi, sharebon, yomihon, kokkeibon, gōkan, and ninjōbon. Also integral to early modern culture were the poetry and prose written in Chinese or classical Japanese by those in the literati (bunjin), Chinese studies (kangaku), and nativist studies (kokugaku) movements that came to the fore in the eighteenth century and are well represented here. The anthology’s focus on these “high” genres, especially poetics and literary treatises, reveals their close connection to the popular literature and culture.
Nine selections from jōruri (puppet theater) and kabuki by major playwrights are an important part of this book as well. Today in Japan, jōruri and kabuki plays are rarely viewed in their entirety. Instead, favorite scenes or acts are performed, often as a medley. This book takes the same approach, thereby allowing the reader to sample a wide variety of plays. The jōruri and kabuki selections also were chosen to demonstrate their close connection to the fiction of this period.
Early modern Japanese fiction was accompanied by pictures that existed in a dialogic relationship to the printed text. In this anthology, I have tried to create the same relationship and provide commentary on the images. The drama selections likewise include both photographs from modern performances and Edo-period ukiyo-e and print illustrations.
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