Tales of Moonlight and Rain

by Ueda, Akinari

  NOTES

  1. The moon stands for the natural beauty of autumn, and blossoms for the beauty of spring and, by extension, poetry, painting, and other arts.

  2. In the 1590s, ten ryō would buy from three to six koku (150 to 300 bushels) of rice. By allowing the man to wear a sword, Sanai raised him to the status of samurai.

  3. Foxes and raccoon-dogs (tanuki) were thought to have the power to assume human form and play tricks on people.

  4. “if I do not speak, my belly will be overfull”: apparently a proverb, but its provenance has not been identified.

  5. The “great sage” is Confucius. The spirit is referring to Analects 1:15: “Tsze-kung said, ‘What do you pronounce concerning the poor man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man who is not proud?’ The Master replied, ‘They will do; but they are not equal to him, who though poor, is yet cheerful, and to him, who, though rich, loves the rules of propriety’” (James Legge, trans., The Four Books: Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, and The Works of Mencius [1879, 1923; reprint, New York: Paragon, 1966], pp. 10–11).

  6. “wild dogs … and Wang Yuanbao of Tang”: emblems of greed and cruelty, from book 5 of Xie Zhaozhe, Five Miscellanies. Much in the following section was probably drawn from this source. Shi Chong (d. 300) was a famously rich man during the Jin dynasty (265–419), and Wang Yuanbao of the Tang dynasty (618–906) was said to have constructed walls of his house by piling up gold and silver. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built a teahouse of gold, might be an implied target of the spirit’s criticism.

  7. “heavenly time”: refers to climate, the seasons, day and night, and other cyclical phenomena.

  “benefits of the land”: refers to topography, soil conditions, and other terrestrial phenomena.

  The phrases come from Mencius: “Heavenly time is less important than the benefits of the land, and the benefits of the land are less important than harmony among men” (2.2.1).

  8. Lü Wang refers to Grand Duke Wang Lüshang, the first ruler of Qi in the early Zhou dynasty (eleventh century–770 B.C.E.). This account was derived from the Shiji (Ssu-ma Ch’ien [Sima Qian], Records of the Grand Historian of China, trans. Burton Watson [New York: Columbia University Press, 1961], vol. 2, p. 478).

  9. Guan Zhong was prime minister under Duke Huan (685–643 B.C.E.) of Qi. Akinari apparently misread the Shiji: “assembled … nine times” should be simply “assembled” (Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Records of the Grand Historian, vol. 2, pp. 478–479). According to Confucius, “That Duke Huan was able to convene the rulers of all the States without resorting to the use of his war-chariots was due to Kuan Chung” (The Analects, trans. Arthur Waley [London: George Allen & Unwin, 1938], 14:17, p. 185).

  10. Fan Li, a minister in the state of Chu (Spring and Autumn period, 722–481 B.C.E.), made several fortunes as he traveled from state to state; Zigong was one of the favorite disciples of Confucius; and Bo Gui was a merchant at the time of Marquis Wen of Wei (Zhou dynasty, 424–387 B.C.E.).

  11. “Biographies of the Money-makers” is a section in Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian.

  12. The spirit is quoting from Mencius 1.1.

  13. Both proverbs are from “Biographies of the Money-makers” in Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian.

  “die in the city”: in ancient China, a euphemism for being executed and having one’s corpse displayed in the city.

  14. These aphorisms, too, are from “Biographies of the Money-makers.”

  “follows the natural course of heaven”: that is, is in accordance with the laws of nature.

  15. The spirit is referring to Confucius, Analects 1:15 (see note 5).

  16. “longtime neighbors … borrowed in the past”: examples from a story in Qu You, New Tales After Trimming the Lamp.

  17. “a single woolen garment … drudgery”: a sentence adapted from the same story in New Tales After Trimming the Lamp.

  18. Master Yan was Confucius’s favorite disciple, Yan Hui or Yan Yuan. Sanai is alluding to Confucius, Analects 6:9: “The Master said, ‘Admirable indeed was the virtue of Hui! With a single bamboo dish of rice, a single gourd dish of drink, and living in his mean narrow lane, while others could not have endured the distress, he did not allow his joy to be affected by it. Admirable indeed was the virtue of Hui!’” (Legge, trans., Four Books, p. 69).

  19. In Buddhism, actions in previous lives have consequences in this life, and actions in this life will affect the next. The idea here is that virtue and good behavior in this life will be rewarded in the next.

  “hidden virtues”: good qualities that are unknown to others. It was considered tasteful to keep quiet about one’s virtues and good deeds. See, for example, Confucius, Analects 5:25: “Yan Yuan said, ‘I should like not to boast of my excellence, nor to make a display of my meritorious deeds’” (Legge, trans., Four Books, pp. 61–62).

  20. Underlying this question is the Buddhist principle of cause and effect, or action (karma) and result (phala). The spirit questions the principle by raising the example of a man whose goodness results in wealth and baseness in the next life.

  21. The spirit is quoting from chapter 17 of The Doctrine of the Mean: “How greatly filial was Shun! His virtue was that of a sage; his dignity was the throne; his riches were all within the four seas. His ancestral temple received these; his descendants preserved these. Therefore having such great virtue, it could not but be that he should obtain the throne, that he should obtain those riches, that he should obtain his fame, that he should attain to his long life” (Legge, trans., Four Books, pp. 372–373; italicized sentence, my translation, adapted from Legge). Shun was one of the legendary sage-kings of ancient China. The idea is that Shun’s ancestors and descendants benefited from his virtue: his ancestors, from receiving the filial king’s veneration; and his descendants, from preserving his throne, riches, fame, and longevity.

  22. The spirit is alluding to Confucius, Analects 7:11: “The Master said, ‘If the search for riches is sure to be successful, though I should become a groom with whip in hand to get them, I will do so. As the search may not be successful, I will follow after that which I love’” (Legge, trans., Four Books, p. 83).

  23. An allusion to a poem by Fujiwara Kintō (966–1041), sent to a friend who had taken Buddhist vows and gone to live in Ōmi:

  Ripples in the breeze on Shiga Bay—

  how clean and fresh your heart must be. (Shūishū, no. 1336)

  24. “Nonetheless … particular”: paraphrases from “Biographies of the Money-makers” (Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Records of the Grand Historian, vol. 2 p. 499).

  25. The original sentence, the most obscure in the book, has been variously interpreted. The thrust of the second part could be that (a) the case of an upright man who has accumulated wealth is so different from that of the unrighteous man that it should not be discussed in the same context; (b) there is nothing to discuss, since an upright man does only good; or (c) an upright man should not discuss such things.

  26. It was the Confucian philosopher Mencius who most clearly enunciated the concept that the people have the right to depose a ruler whose corruption has caused him to lose the Mandate of Heaven.

  27. The Toyotomi refers to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his son Hideyori. Hideyoshi completed the unification of Japan in 1590.

  “within the four seas” (a phrase from the Analects) and “five home provinces and seven highways”: that is, all of Japan. The five home provinces were those of the capital and the surrounding region (Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi, and Settsu, corresponding to all or part of the prefectures of Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Hyōgo), and the seven highways linked the capital with the rest of the country.

  28. The cherished desire of the loyal samurai was to reinstate their masters, who had been vanquished by Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.

  29. Takeda Shingen (1521–1573), who controlled the three domains of Kai, Shinano, and Echigo (prefectures of Yamanashi, Nagano, and Niigata), died of illness while la
ying siege to Nobunaga’s forces.

  30. Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578), a warlord based in Echigo (Niigata Prefecture), was a rival of Shigen and Nobunaga.

  31. That is, his hegemony over the country was recognized by the emperor.

  32. The vassal was Akechi Mitsuhide (1528–1582), who turned on Nobunaga and forced him to commit suicide. The mastery of both letters and martial arts was a samurai ideal.

  33. In 1572, Hideyoshi, whose surname had been Kinoshita, took the name Hashiba, which consists of one character each from the surnames of Niwa Nagahide (1535–1585) and Shibata Katsuie (1522–1583). Both Niwa and Shibata were vassals of Nobunaga. Hideyoshi later defeated Shibata in battle and took Niwa as a vassal.

  34. “water snake” (kōshin or mizuchi): a mythical, water-dwelling creature thought to have horns and four legs and to emit poisonous breath.

  35. This is reported in book 9 of Xie Zhaozhe, Five Miscellanies.

  36. The Toyotomi clan came to an end in 1615 with the death of Hideyori.

  37. This echoes the famous lines in the opening of Heike monogatari (The Tale of the Heike, mid-thirteenth century): “The arrogant do not endure; they are like a dream of a night in spring.”

  38. Music of a Thousand Autumns (Senshūraku) is a piece of ancient court music (gagaku) originally intended as a wish for a long reign. Here the idea is that the people would sing it in celebration of their newfound peace and prosperity.

  39. The lines of the poem are in Chinese.

  “ming-grass”: auspicious ming-grass was said to grow during the reign of the legendary sage-king Yao (with Shun, one of the rulers held up as ideals by Confucius). According to legend, ming-grass put out a new leaf each day for the first fifteen days of each month, and then lost one leaf a day for the rest of the month.

  “one hundred families” (hyakusei): that is, all the people, especially the farmers.

  “return” (ki or kaeru): suggests “allegiance” (kifuku).

  “house” (ie): alludes to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

  The verse, then, is both the spirit’s prediction that Ieyasu would prevail when Hideyoshi’s rule ended and, in the context of Akinari’s times, a paean to the Tokugawa regime and an expression of allegiance to it.

  40. “auspicious grasses”: refers to the auspicious ming-grass of the spirit’s verse. the implication is that the tokugawa rulers were as sage and upright as yao of ancient china.

  * * *

  “east of the barrier”: that is, east of the Hakone Barrier, referring to what is now the Tokyo region and the northeast.

  Kunlun Mountains: in western China, noted as a source of precious stones.

  “wields a bow and arrow”: is a samurai.

  Tangxi and Moyang: noted in ancient China for the production of excellent swords.

  “men who study letters and search for rhymes”: scholars and writers.

  Seven Rarities: the Seven Rarities of Buddhist texts are gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, coral, agate, and clamshell.

  “obsessed with poverty and wealth”: in other words, “Why do they spend so much time and effort trying to explain poverty and wealth?”

  “These three provide Ways”: heaven (ten) refers to the Chinese cosmology adapted by Japan, especially as expressed in Confucianism; gods (kami), to Shinto; and the buddhas (hotoke), to Buddhism.

  Ways (dō, michi): teachings, values, and principles marking a path that people should follow through life.

  Mount Tai: in eastern China, used here as a metaphor for a vast amount.

  “sleep on high pillows”: that is, sleeping without any worries. The expression appears in Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian.

  “but has he not forgotten what life was like in the pond”: that is, in his present ascendancy, he has forgotten his humble origins.

  “fifth watch”: the time between sunset and sunrise was divided into five equal watches of about two hours each. The fifth watch corresponded roughly to the period from 4:00 A.M. until daybreak.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  TEXTS AND COMMENTARIES

  Nakamura Yukihiko, ed. Ueda Akinari shū. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 56. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1968.

  Nakamura Yukihiko, Takada Mamoru, and Nakamura Hiroyasu, eds. Hanabusa sōshi, Nishiyama monogatari, Ugetsu monogatari, Harusame monogatari. Nihon koten bungaku zenshū, vol. 48. Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 1973.

  Suzuki Tanjirō. Ugetsu monogatari honbun oyobi sōsakuin. Tokyo: Musashino Shoin, 1990.

  Uzuki Hiroshi. Ugetsu monogatari hyōshaku. Nihon koten hyōshaku zenchūshaku sōsho. Tokyo: Kadokawa, 1969.

  SECONDARY MATERIALS IN JAPANESE

  Bandō Takeo. Ueda Akinari “Ugetsu monogatari” ron. Osaka: Izumi Shoin, 1999.

  Inoue Yasushi. Ugetsu monogatari ron—gensen to shudai. Tokyo: Kasama Shoin, 1999.

  Konoe Noriko, ed. Akinari kenkyū shiryō shūsei. 12 vols. Tokyo: Kuresu Shuppan, 2003.

  Matsuda Osamu. “’Kikka no chigiri’ no ron: Ugetsu monogatari no saihyoka (2).” Bungei to shisō 28 (February 1963).

  Mishima Yukio. “Ugetsu monogatari ni tsuite.” In Mishima Yukio zenshū, vol. 25, pp. 270–274. Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1975.

  Morita Kirō. Ueda Akinari bungei no kenkyū. Osaka: Izumi Shoin, 2003.

  Murasaki Shikibu. Genji monogatari. Edited by Yamagishi Tokuhei. Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vols. 14–18. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1958–1963.

  Nihon Bungaku Kenkyū Shiryō Hankōkai, ed. Akinari. Tokyo: Yūseidō, 1972.

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  Campany, Robert Ford. Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

  Cheung, Dominic. “With You a Part of Me: A Study of New Tales of the Trimmed Lamp, Tales of Moonlight and Rain, New Tales of the Golden Carp, and the ‘Ghost-Wife’ Theme in China, Japan, and Korea.” In Makoto Ueda, ed., Explorations: Essays in Comparative Literature, pp. 148–173. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1986.

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  Fessler, Susanna. “The Nature of the Kami: Ueda Akinari and Tandai Shōshin Roku.” Monumenta Nipponica 51,
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  Kamo no Chōmei. “An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut.” Translated by Anthony Chambers. In Haruo Shirane, ed., Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology: Beginnings to 1600, pp. 623–635. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

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