Traditional Japanese Literature
ABRIDGED EDITION
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS
Translations from the Asian Classics
EDITORIAL BOARD
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chairman
Paul Anderer
Donald Keene
George A. Saliba
Haruo Shirane
Burton Watson
Wei Shang
Also by Haruo Shirane
The Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of The Tale of Genji Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Bashō Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identity, and Japanese Literature Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900 Classical Japanese: A Grammar Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600 Classical Japanese Reader and Essential Dictionary Envisioning The Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts
Traditional Japanese Literature
ABRIDGED EDITION
AN ANTHOLOGY, BEGINNINGS TO 1600
Edited by Haruo Shirane
TRANSLATORS
Sonja Arntzen, Robert Borgen, Karen Brazell, Steven Carter, Anthony H. Chambers, Anne Commons, Lewis Cook, Torquil Duthie, Michael Emmerich, Thomas Harper, Mack Horton, Donald Keene, Laurence Kominz, Herschel Miller, Douglas E. Mills, Jean Moore, Ivan Morris, Kyoko Nakamura, Jamie Newhard, Donald Philippi, Edward G. Seidensticker, Haruo Shirane, Virginia Skord, Jack Stoneman, Royall Tyler, Marian Ury, and Burton Watson
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
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
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2012 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-50453-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Traditional Japanese literature, abridged edition : an anthology, beginnings to 1600 / edited by Haruo Shirane.—Abridged ed. p. cm.—(Translations from the Asian classics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-15730-8 (cloth : acid-free paper) ISBN 978-0-231-15731-5 (pbk. : acid-free paper) ISBN 978-0-231-50453-9 (ebook)
1. Japanese literature—To 1600—Translations into English. I. Shirane, Haruo, 1951–PL782.E1T733 2012 895.6’08—dc23
2011047618
A Columbia University Press E-book.
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COVER IMAGE: Attributed to Tosa Mitsuyoshi (1539-1613), detail from Genji monogatari: Kochō (Butterflies), Momoyama period (1573–1615). Six-panel folding screen: ink, color, and gold on gilded paper. (By permission of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Historical Periods and Key Terms
Introduction
Language and Writing
Power and Courtship
Loss and Integration
Sociality
Condensation and Intertextuality
Attachment and Detachment
Performance and Narration
1. The Ancient Period
The Beginnings of Japanese Literature
Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)
The Beginning
Solidifying the Land
Visit to the Land of Yomi
Susano-o and Amaterasu
Susano-o Slays the Eight-Tailed Serpent
Luck of the Sea and Luck of the Mountain
Yamato the Brave
Man’yōshū (Collection of Myriad Leaves)
First Period
Emperor Yūryaku
Your Basket, with Your Lovely Basket
Emperor Jomei
Climbing Mount Kagu and Looking upon the Land
Lady Nukata
On Spring and Autumn
Second Period
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
The Lament for Prince Kusakabe
The Yoshino Praise Poems
The Lament for Prince Takechi
Poems on Passing the Ruined Capital of Ōmi
Poems on Parting from His Wife in Iwami
Poems on the Death of His Wife
The Lament for Princess Asuka
Third Period
Yamabe no Akahito
On Looking at Mount Fuji
Yamanoue no Okura
Dialogue with the Impoverished
On Thinking of Children
Poem on Departing a Banquet
2. The Heian Period
The Emergence of Kana Literature
The Rise of Women’s Writing
Late Heian Kana Histories and Anecdotal Literature
Keikai
Record of Miraculous Events in Japan (Nihon ryōiki)
On the Death Penalty in This Life for an Evil Son Who Tried to Kill His Mother out of Love for His Wife
On the Immediate Reward of Being Saved by Crabs for Saving the Lives of Crabs and a Frog
On Receiving the Immediate Penalty of Violent Death for Collecting Debts by Force and with High Interest
Ono no Komachi
Selected Poems
Sugawara no Michizane
Children
Speaking of My Children
Career
Through the Snow to Morning Duties
Professorial Difficulties
Exile
Seeing the Plum Blossoms When Sentenced to Exile
Autumn Night, the Fifteenth Day of the Ninth Month
In Exile, Spring Snow
Kokinshū (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems)
The Kana Preface
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Travel
Love
Mourning
Miscellaneous Topics
Miscellaneous Forms
The Birth of Vernacular Prose Fiction
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori monogatari)
The Bamboo Cutter
The Suitors
The Stone Begging-Bowl of the Buddha
The Easy-Delivery Charm of the Swallows
The Imperial Hunt
The Celestial Robe of Feathers
The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari)
Journey to the Eastern Provinces
The Imperial Huntsman
Nagisa-no-in
In the Shade of Wisteria Blooms
Rain Test
Deep Grasses
The Road All Must Travel
Sei Shōnagon
The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi)
In Spring It Is the Dawn
The Cat Who Lived in the Palace
The Sliding Screen in the Back of the Hall
Depressing Things
Hateful Things
Rare Things
Embarrassing Things
Things That Give a Hot Feeling
Things That Have Lost Their Power
Awkward Things
Adorable Things
Pleasing Things
One Day, When the Snow Lay Thick on the Ground
This Book
Murasaki Shikibu
The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari)
The Lady at the Bridge
Beneath the Oak
Trefoil Knots
A Boat upon the Waters
At Writing Practice
Daughter of Takasue
Sarashina Diary (Sarashina nikki)
Heian Literati
Literary Essence of Our Country (Honchō monzui)
Yoshishige no Yasutane
“Record of a Pond Pavilion” (Chiteiki)
Late Heian and Early Kamakura Monogatari
The Stories of the Riverside Middle Counselor (Tsutsumi chūnagon monogatari)
The Lady Who Preferred Insects
The Mirror of the Present (Imakagami)
The Progress of Fiction
Collection of Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku monogatari shū)
Tales from India
How the One-Horned Immortal Carried a Woman from the Mountains to the Palace
Tales from China
How Wang Zhaojun, Consort of the Han Emperor Yuan, Went to the Land of Hu
Buddhist Tales from Japan
How a Monk of the Dōjōji in the Province of Kii Copied the Lotus Sutra and Brought Salvation to Serpents
How Kaya no Yoshifuji, of Bitchū Province, Became the Husband of a Fox and Was Saved by Kannon
Secular Tales from Japan
How a Thief Climbed to the Upper Story of Rashōmon Gate and Saw a Corpse
How a Man Who Was Accompanying His Wife to Tanba Province Got Trussed Up at Ōeyama
3. The Kamakura Period
The Samurai and Literature
The Spread of Buddhism and the Way of the Gods
The Aristocracy and Literature
The Priesthood and Literature
Saigyō
Selected Poems
Fujiwara no Teika
Essentials of Poetic Composition (Eiga no taigai)
Shinkokinshū (New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems)
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Mourning
Travel
Love
Recluse Literature (Sōan bungaku)
Kamo no Chōmei
An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut (Hōjōki)
Tales of Awakening (Hosshinshū)
Rengejō’s Suicide by Drowning
Anecdotes (Setsuwa)
A Collection of Tales from Uji (Uji shūi monogatari)
How Someone Had a Wen Removed by Demons
About the Priest with the Long Nose
How Yoshihide, a Painter of Buddhist Pictures, Took Pleasure in Seeing His House on Fire
How a Sparrow Repaid Its Debt of Gratitude
Tales of Renunciation (Senjūshō)
The Venerable Zōga
The Woman of Pleasure at Eguchi
Warrior Tales (Gunki-mono)
The Tales of the Heike (Heike monogatari)
The Bells of Gion Monastery
Kiyomori’s Flowering Fortunes
Giō
The Burning of Nara
The Death of Kiyomori
Tadanori Leaves the Capital
The Death of Lord Kiso
The Death of Atsumori
The Drowning of the Former Emperor
The Move to Ōhara
The Death of the Imperial Lady
Travel Diaries
Lady Nijō
The Confessions of Lady Nijō (Towazugatari)
Book 1
Kenkō
Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa)
Preface
If the Dews of Adashino Never Faded
Leading the Heart Astray
Beautiful Hair, of All Things
A Proper Dwelling
Changing of the Seasons
World as Unstable as the Asuka River
When I Sit Down in Quiet Meditation
To Be Governed by a Desire for Fame and Profit
A House Should Be Built for Summer
Determined to Take the Great Step
Gathering Like Ants
Are We to Look at Cherry Blossoms Only in Full Bloom?
4. The Muromachi Period
The Patronage of the Ashikaga
Zen and Samurai Culture
The Rise of Provincial Culture
Nō Drama
Theatrical Elements
Lady Aoi (Aoi no ue)
Stupa Komachi (Sotoba Komachi)
Pining Wind (Matsukaze)
Atsumori
Shrine in the Fields (Nonomiya)
Comic Theater (Kyōgen)
Delicious Poison (Busu)
Linked Verse (Renga)
Sōgi
East Country Dialogues (Azuma mondō)
Three Poets at Minase (Minase sangin hyakuin)
Muromachi Tales (Otogi-zōshi)
Lazy Tarō (Monogusa Tarō)
Popular Linked Verse (Haikai)
Hobbyhorse Collection of Mad Songs (Chikuba kyōginshū)
Preface
Autumn
Love
Miscellaneous
Mongrel Tsukuba Collection (Inu Tsukubashū)
Spring
Love
Miscellaneous
Hokku
English-Language Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This abridged edition of Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, is the companion volume to the abridged Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900. Like the Early Modern volume, this one was organized and written with several objectives. First was the need to select representative texts and subtexts to present a broader and more complex view of Japanese literature without sacrificing the familiar texts. Throughout the book, in the introductions to each text, in the special introductions to genres and periods, and in the notes and commentaries, I have provided sociohistorical, religious, cultural, and literary contexts.
Most of the texts here have been translated for the first time, and many of the familiar texts have been retranslated specifically for this anthology. I strongly believe in the need for multiple translators, who can bring different voices to the texts. The quality and accuracy of the translations, the notes, and commentary are, of course, my responsibility, and unless otherwise noted, the introductions and commentary were written by me.
I am indebted to the many scholars from North America and Japan who aided me in countless ways. I owe special thanks to Lewis Cook, who helped with the seemingly endless editing and corrections. I am grateful to Sonja Arntzen, Steven Carter, Wiebke Deneke, James Dobbins, Fujii Sadakazu, Mack Horton, Hyōdo Hiromi, Ii Haruki, Imai Masaharu, Kawahira Hitoshi, Donald Keene, Komine Yasuaki, Lawrence Kominz, Konoshi Takamitsu, David Lurie, Matsuoka Shinpei, Okuda Isao, Edward Seidensticker, Shinada Yoshikazu, Tomi Suzuki, Mari Takamatsu, Paul Varley, Burton Watson, Michael Watson, and Yamanaka Reiko. My special thanks to Anne Commons, Torquil Duthie, Linda Feng, Naomi Fukumori, Marco Gottardo, Satoko Naito, Jamie Newhard, Saeko Shibayama, Jack Stoneman, and Akiko Takeuchi. I want to thank the editorial director of Columbia University Press, Jennifer Crewe, who initiated the project, and Irene Pavitt, who did a great job for me at the press.
HISTORICAL PERIODS AND KEY TERMS
HISTORICAL PERIODS
Ancient (to 784)
Jōmon
10,000–300 B.C.E.
Yayoi
300B.C.E.–300 C.E.
Tomb
300–552
Asuka
522–710
Jinshin war
672
710–784
Heian (794–1185)
Heian
794–1185
Medieval (1185–1600)
Kamakura
1183–1333
Fall of the Heike
1185
Jōkyū rebellion
1221
Kenmu restoration
1333–1336
Northern and Southern
Courts (Nanboku-chō)
1336–1392
Muromachi
1392–1573
Ōnin war
1467–1477
Warring States (Sengoku)
1467–1573
Azuchi–Momoyama
1573–1598
Battle of Sekigahara
1600
Early Modern and Modern (1600–Present)
Edo (Tokugawa)
1600–1867
Meiji
1868–1912
KEY TERMS AND GENRES
Japanese
English
chōka
long poem
engi-mono
story of temple-shrine origins
fudoki
provincial gazetteer
gunki-mono
warrior tale
haikai
popular linked verse
hōgo
vernacular Buddhist literature
imayō
modern-style song
jōruri
puppet theater
kagami-mono
vernacular history (mirror piece)
kanbun
Chinese prose (written by Japanese)
kangaku
Chinese studies
kanshi
Chinese poetry (written by Japanese)
katari-mono
orally recited narrative
kayō
song
kikōbun
travel literature
kodai kayō
ancient song
kouta
little song
kyōgen
comic theater
monogatari
vernacular tale
nō
no drama
norito
prayer to the gods
otogi-zōshi
Muromachi tale
renga
classical linked verse
sarugaku
comic mime and skits
sekkyōbushi
sermon ballad
setsuwa
anecdote
tanka
short poem (thirty-one syllables), same as waka
uta-awase
poetry match
uta-monogatari
poem tale