They tell me that before he left, my younger brother for some reason went into the old storehouse and neatly divided up all the books I used to read when I was young from his own. When I heard that, I suddenly longed for those books, each one having known the touch of my grandmother’s hands, then the touch of my father’s hands, then the touch of my own. I hope to bring them back with me to Tokyo, together with the copies of the Weir Magazine and other magazines that my younger sister and I used to mark up in red ink. If my mother lets me, I will wrap up them up in a thick quilt, together with the big mirror in which my father always looked at himself, and send them by freight train.
Mother is becoming more and more of a literature fanatic, and last night we had another long talk about poetry. She called your poem about the Shimogamo River bridge on a holiday “boring,” but she liked your “Ōi River / The bright vermilion sashes / of many people, / to whose drumbeats / the boat leaves shore” (Ōigawa / koki hi no obi no / ikutari no/tsutsumibyōshi ni / fune wa hanarenu) very much because she likes the scenery there, and she recited it aloud many times.
She also asked whether the contributor who writes under the name of Yama no Hito, or Mountain Man, is the one whose real name is Matsuda and said that he must be quite exceptional. His lively, clear, and straightforward style makes her think he might have been born in Edo. I told her that he is friends with Ryokū and you and that he is a mathematical genius, as well as an old acquaintance of Tsunoda, the Asahi newspaper correspondent here. I added that these days one finds truly exceptional people among those, like him, whose specialty is not literature but a different field. She nodded and replied with a very knowing air, “It has always been so.”
If the garden cosmos have bloomed, please leave them without picking too many until I get home. And even if the withered morning glories under the eaves are unsightly, please let them be and don’t cut them down until I get back.
Mother has gone to bed, saying that if the weather is nice tomorrow I should show Hikaru the beach at Sakai.
* * *
1. The gate in Kanda, one of thirty-six surrounding the shōgun’s castle, was to the northeast. The gates originally were sentry posts.
2. Shirokiya was one of the first of the old, established dry-goods stores to feature Western clothing, and it opened its Western clothing department in the fall of 1886.
3. This shop was famous for having introduced a line of fashionable foreign-style wigs and hairpieces and other accessories needed for Western-style hairdos.
4. It appears that Magobei was adopted into the Sonoda family, hence the difference in their names. He is described as Bunzō’s father’s real brother.
5. A style of singing to the accompaniment of a shamisen, a banjo-like instrument, dating from the early nineteenth century. Both the voice and the instrument are tuned to a relatively high pitch, resulting in a rather sweet tone. It is often used to accompany love scenes in a kabuki play.
1. Ranzan (also Arashiyama), literally, “Stormy Mountain,” in Kyoto, has been celebrated in Japanese literature for centuries.
2. Shimabara and Gion were the pleasure quarters of Kyoto, in (respectively) the western and eastern parts of town.
3. Benten, also Benzaiten (Sk. Sarasvati), is one of the seven Sino-Japanese deities of good fortune and the only female, a patron of literature, music, and geisha.
4. Kimnara (J. Kinnara-jin) are Buddhist demigods of song and dance.
5. Visvakarman (J. Bishukatsuma), architect of the universe and guardian deity of sculptors, originally was an Indian sculptor and ardent Buddhist believer, later deified as a buddha.
6. Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism, arrived in China in 520. beginnings 107
7. Capital (miyako) here means not Tokyo but Kyoto, the seat of sequestered imperial authority during the Tokugawa period (1600–1867) and the last real capital in the Heian period (794–1185).
8. Kotatsu table traditionally is a quilt-covered table with a sunken brazier underneath.
9. In Suhara, flowers (e.g., cherry, peach, and plum in spring; mint in summer; chrysanthemum in autumn) were first preserved with mashed plum (white or red, to match or enhance the color of the petals), and then packed in salt. When water was later poured over one of these flowers, the infusion would release the aroma of the blossoms. Liquor and soup (in addition to hot or cold floral infusions) also were scented in this way. In addition, preserved blossoms were used in culinary decorations.
10. Shinano, the central mountainous region of Japan’s main island of Honshū, is where the post town of Suhara was located.
11. Hakama was a divided, pleated skirt or culotte worn by men and women. The Yoshitsune style, fitted with strings to gather the leggings for easier movement in fighting, is named after Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune (1159–1189), the famous medieval samurai hero.
12. Otokoyama means, literally, “Men’s Mountain”; Hachiman is the Shintō god of war. This shrine is one of the oldest and most venerable in Japan.
13. Sacred Epistles refers to the O-fumi-sama, or letters of Rennyo (1414–1499), who revived the fortunes of the Jōdo Shin sect of Japanese Buddhism.
14. “Chan,” a diminutive suffix, indicates that Gen (a male name) is a child, not an adult.
15. Namu Amida-Butsu is a nenbutsu, a Buddhist invocation of the name of Amitabha Buddha. Its repetition is stressed especially by the Pure Land (Jōdo and Jōdo Shin) sects of Japanese Buddhism.
16. Eta, Japan’s untouchable caste, referred to now as burakumin, was ranked in pre-Meiji Japan even lower than the lowest of the standard four classes.
17. Mallika (J. Mari fujin), literally “Wife Malli,” the daughter of a Brahman steward of the Sakya Mahanaman in northern India (present-day Nepal), was personally acquainted with the Buddha. Queen to King Prasenajit (Pali: Pasenadi), later a protective goddess, and renowned for both her beauty and her wisdom, she was associated with fragrant flowers, rays of light, mirages, and wreaths.
18. “Grandchild’s hand” (mago-no-te) is a bamboo backscratcher whose tip is shaped like a small, curled, stylized hand with incised fingers.
19. Kalavinka (J. Karyō binga), a fabled songbird of popular legend, is celebrated in the sutras.
20. Divine Twin Pillars refers to Izanagi and Izanami, the two Shintō deities whose legendary roles in the creation of Japan are chronicled in the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712) and the Nihon shoki (Chronicle of Japan, 720).
21. Gichū Temple, a Tendai Buddhist temple in Shiga Prefecture, is the site of the tombs of the Heian-era warrior Kiso Yoshinaka and the Tokugawa-period haiku poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). Rohan admired Bashō throughout his life and in his last years wrote an extensive commentary on Bashō’s works.
22. Sixth Avenue in Kyoto provided access to both East Hongan-ji and West Hongan-ji, the chief temples of the Jōdo Shin sect of Japanese Buddhism.
23. The Buddha is said to have had white, light-emitting hair growing between his eyebrows.
24. Jivaka (J. Kiba) refers to Jivaka Komarabhacca, the famed physician of ancient India who was Buddha’s doctor. Compare “throwing in the towel.”
25. Saigyō (1118–1190), a poet-priest of the late Heian to early Kamakura periods, was respected highly by both Rohan and Bashō. At one time, Minamoto-no-Yoritomo gave him a silver brazier in the form of a cat. It was a cold winter’s day, but rather than keep it for his own use, Saigyō gave it to some poor children he met when departing the next morning.
26. Jizō, a bodhisattva, is in Japan a protector of travelers and guardian of children.
27. Hahakigi is a mirage-tree said to appear in the Shinano region. It is the title of chapter 2 of The Tale of Genji (comp. mid-Heian period), labeled in English translation “The Broom Tree.”
28. In early Meiji, strong sentiment emerged to forge a new, more generally accessible written language for the new nation, by introducing colloquial language into the existing literary language, which was heavily larded with classical Chinese.
29. Ashura (Sk. Asura), warlike demons imported into Buddhism from Brahmanism and Hinduism, sometimes are identified as among the eight classes of beings devoted to the protection of Buddhism.
30. Incantations of the Ryōgon Sutra, a reference to the Ryōgon-jumon, 427 chants from the Ryōgon Sutra, whose recital, it is believed, can ward off ogres, evils, maladies, and the like.
31. Tapir is a Southeast Asian (and tropical American) animal resembling a boar or rhinoceros; in Japanese folklore, it is an eater of dreams.
32. Tōkei was another name for Tokyo.
33. The Parable of the Phantom City. The Lotus Sutra tells of a mirage-like city created temporarily by a wise man as a place for a group of travelers to rest and refresh themselves on their way to a real “jeweled” city elsewhere.
34. To the new generation of Meiji Japan, the Tenpō era (1830–1844) during the late Tokugawa period was a byword for all that was outmoded.
35. In Twenty-four Deeds of Filial Piety in Japan (Honchō nijūshi kō), a puppet play by Chikamatsu Hanji and others, 808 foxes serve the tutelary deity of the Suwa Shrine and guard the sacred war helmet of the Takeda clan, enshrined there.
36. In the puppet play mentioned in the preceding note, Takeda Shingen explains that the helmet was bestowed on him in a dream by the Suwa deity, who now invests the helmet with his divine presence and power, ensuring the wearer victory in battle.
37. Katsuyori-sama refers to Takeda Katsuyori (1546–1582), third son of Takeda Shingen. A famous warrior of the Sengoku (1467–1568) and Azuchi-Momoyama (1568–1600) periods, he figures in the puppet play alluded to earlier, eventually heading the Takeda clan. The play includes a romantic scene between Katsuyori and Princess Yaegaki.
38. Nam’-ki-myō-chō-rai is from a nenbutsu proclaiming prostration before the Buddha and devotion to his worship.
39. “Mountain-Water” goblins refers to cartoonish sketches of tengu (long-nosed goblins) incorporating the written characters for “mountain” and “water” distorted into facial features and the like.
40. The six (sometimes ten) paramita (J. haramitsu) are practices that assist the crossing over into nirvana; one of the six is virya (energy, devotion).
41. Avaivartika (also avivartika; J. futai [ten]), never-retreating spirit, is the crucial attainment of nonretrogression on every buddha’s path to enlightenment.
42. In a parable in the Lotus Sutra, the triple world of sensuous desire, form, and formless spirit is likened to a house on fire.
43. New Authors Anthology (Shincho hyakushu) was a contemporary literary journal focusing on new fiction. Rohan’s The Icon of Liberty (Fūryū-butsu) itself was first published in volume 5 of this journal (September 1889).
44. Marquess Narihira refers to Ariwara-no-Narihira (825–880), an early-Heian-period nobleman, poet, and legendary lover whose amorous exploits were chronicled (and embellished) in the mid-Heian-period Tales of Ise.
45. During the Tokugawa period, Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples issued amulets featuring an “ox king” seal, used for a variety of purposes. A bride and groom would sometimes write, or at least seal, vows on the back of these amulets with their own blood, invoking divine sanction (“May I vomit blood and die if . . .,” etc.), before exchanging the amulets.
46. Kumano is the site of a highly revered cluster of three Shintō shrines famous for (among other things) issuing ox king amulets.
1. Dōshisha was founded in 1885 in Kyoto by Niijima Jō (1843–1890), also known as Joseph Neesima. An alumnus of Amherst College and the Andover-Newton Seminary, Niijima was an influential educator and a Christian. Dōshisha was founded on the principles of Christianity and was given university status in 1912.
2. A well-known passage from the Analects (Lunyu), one of the four Confucian treatises.
1. Shirakawa Rakuo is better known as Matsudaira Sadanobu (1758–1829). The Kansei period was from 1789 to 1801.
2. Gosekku refers to the five feasts of January 1, March 3, May 5, July 7, and September 9.
3. A special day for children three, five, and seven years old.
1. Satsuma biwauta are songs from Satsuma accompanied by the biwa, the Japanese lute.
1. The model for Ogen is Tōson’s sister Takase Sono (1856–1920), her father’s favorite child, Tōson’s eldest sister, and the relative to whom he felt closest. Her husband was Takase Kaoru (1856–1914), and her damaged daughter was Tazu (1878–1933).
2. The clinic is the Shimizu Hospital, named after its founder and manager, Shimizu Hanjirō. It was originally located in the village of Ōkuwamura on the south bank of the Kiso River across from Midono. The nearest railway station on that side of the river was at Suwara. The building has been preserved and moved to Meiji mura, the museum of Meiji life and architecture near Nagoya. As the illustration on page 26 of the booklet Meiji mura (1985) makes clear, it is a compact, white stucco building with arched windows and doorways in the Westernized style of the 1890s that does not have the wooden rain shutters that go with traditional Japanese architecture. It also is smaller than this story might lead the reader to expect. Tōson was never a literal reporter.
3. The nephew—here given the name Sankichi, which Tōson usually reserved for his own fictional alter egos—is modeled after Shimazaki Ōsuke, Tōson’s youngest son, who had gone to live with Sono in Fukushima following his mother’s death in 1910. The character corresponding to Tōson in this story is called Kumakichi.
4. A distinct echo of her father’s illness, as is the eccentric headdress a little further on. See Shimazaki Tōson, Before the Dawn (Yoake mae), trans. William E. Naff (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987), 735–36.
5. The life story of Shimazaki Masaki, Sono’s father, as well as of Sono’s early years, is the unifying thread of Tōson’s masterpiece, the novel Before the Dawn, written between 1929 and 1935. The close resemblance between Masaki and Sono is explored here in a way that often foreshadows that work.
6. In January 1913 Tōson brought home an ailing and destitute Takase Kaoru to die in Fukushima.
7. In June 1910 the son of Kaoru and Sono, Takase Chikao (1875–1910), died in Nagoya of tuberculosis, aggravated by failure and dissipation.
8. Kumakichi is, of course, modeled after Tōson himself.
9. The “fire tongs” used to handle live coals in a brazier consisted of a pair of long metal chopsticks joined together at the top end with a ring large enough to permit free use.
10. The model for Naotsugu was Hirosuke, the second Shimazaki brother, who had been adopted at an early age into the Tsumago branch of the Shimazaki family. A daughter was later born to his foster parents, and in an arrangement that was then quite commonplace, the foster siblings were married when they came of age. In fact, this was the only way in which local custom would have been able to accept fully the boy’s succession as the head of the household. Komako was conspicuous by her absence from this story, even though she was living in the same house as her father, Hirosuke. Tōson’s long, drawn-out affair with her had led to his flight to France, from which he had just returned in 1916. By the time of Sono’s death, Hirosuke had formally broken off all relations with Tōson over the publication of the novel New Life (Shinsei), which describes that affair. This alienation had led to Tōson’s not being notified in time to attend the wake of the relative to whom he had been closest and who had given him the moral support that had made it possible for him to get through the grim early years of his writing career.
11. Tarō and Jirō are modeled after Tōson’s two elder sons, Kusuo and Keiji.
12. Osada actually addresses her as “Oyama no Nii-san,” or “Oyama Elder Sister,” a respectful precision that sounds altogether implausible in an English context.
13. There is a similar description of Hanzō’s final madness in Tōson’s Before the Dawn, 728.
14. A reference to Kyokutei Bakin’s Biography of Eight Dogs (Nansō satomi hakkenden, 1814–1841), a vast, wildly popular morality tale that eventually amount
ed to 106 fascicles. Fusehime’s father promised her hand to whoever brought him his enemy’s head. When Yatsufusa (a dog) did this, Fusehime insisted on holding her horrified father to his word. She later gave birth to the eight heroes, each of whom grew up to personify a samurai virtue. This extremely influential work is discussed in Donald Keene’s World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-modern Era, 1600–1867 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976), 426–28.
15. Shōta corresponds to Shimazaki Hideo (1858–1924), who, after losing the last of the family’s resources in ill-advised business ventures, had recently returned from many years of employment in a refrigeration plant in Taiwan. Tama is Hideo’s daughter Isa.
16. See Tōson, Before the Dawn, 746–47.
17. Kumakichi (Tōson) was by this time alienated from Hirosuke (Naotsugu) by the publication in the previous year of the novel New Life. In consequence, he did not get word of the death in time to attend the wake of the relative to whom he had felt closest and who had felt closest to him.
18. The wording here is almost identical to that of the ending of The Family (Ie, 1910–1911).
1. The Tenpō era was from 1830 to 1844.
2. Ōshio refers to Ōshio Heihachirō (1793–1837), a samurai scholar of the Neo-Confucian Wang Yangming school who, unable to bear the suffering of peasants in Osaka, led an armed insurrection. After being surrounded by government forces,Ōshio committed suicide.
3. Ideology refers to socialism.
1. “V narod!” means “To the people!”
1. The traditional poetry in this anthology was selected by Amy Vladeck Heinrich, and we are grateful for her taste, knowledge, and enthusiasm.
The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945: vol. 1 (Modern Asian Literature Series) Page 52
