Traditional Japanese Literature
Page 11
My children must be
sore sono haha mo
crying, and their mother too
wa o matsuramu so
must await my return.
[Introduction and translations by Jeremy Robinson]
1. In the ancient period, the correct pronunciation of the male god’s name was “Izanaki,” but in modern times the customary reading is “Izanagi.”
2. Magatama are curved beads, usually with a hole bored through them in order to use in a necklace, made of semiprecious stones.
3. The charm was supposed to make Prince Yamato Takeru’s words come true (that is, that he would indeed return and kill the boar). But it goes awry because the words spoken in the charm are mistaken: the boar is not the messenger but the god himself. It is the misspeaking of the charm that causes Prince Yamato to lose his power.
4. “Seen from the sky” (sora mitsu) is a pillow word for the place-name Yamato.
5. Fujiwara no Kamatari. At this time, though, he would have been known as Nakatōmi Kamatari, since the name Fujiwara was given to him on his deathbed by Emperor Tenchi. This suggests that the heading of the poem dates from later than the poem’s original composition.
6. “Emerging from winter” (fuyugomori) is a pillow word for “spring” (haru).
7. The “high-shining sun prince” (takaterasu hi no miko) was Emperor Tenmu’s title. The poem suggests that in heaven Tenmu was known as the “divine sovereign” (kami no mikoto), and on earth (the “land of rice and reed plains”) he was revealed as the “high-shining sun prince.”
8. Tenmu’s palace, also known as Kiyōmihara.
9. By the descendants of the first “heavenly lord” who came down to earth—that is, Tenmu himself.
10. Tenmu’s son and chosen successor, Prince Kusakabe, referred to in the headnote as the Sovereign Prince Peer of the Sun (Hinami no miko no mikoto).
11. “As if for a great ship” (ōbune no) is a pillow word for “hope” (omoitanomu).
12. In Prince Kusakabe’s mind.
13. That is, his destiny was to accede to the throne.
14. “Firmly builds the palace pillars, … raises high the sacred hall” is a formulaic expression normally used to describe accession to the throne. In this case, however, since what Kusakabe is building is his own temporary burial palace, the purpose of the expression is to describe Kusakabe’s death euphemistically as “accession” to the other world.
15. That is, he does not give the palace courtiers their morning commands.
16. The “moon” is Prince Kusakabe, and the “sun” probably refers to Empress Jitō.
17. Probably Prince Takechi, who died in 696 and for whom Hitomaro also wrote a long banka, which also has been translated here.
18. Empress Jitō (r. 687–697)
19. There is a play on words here between the place-name Yoshino and yoshi (good) and yosu (draw).
20. “Flow unceasingly” refers to both the river and the speaker’s pledge to return.
21. Emperor Tenmu.
22. “Of the eight corners” (yasumishishi) is a pillow word for “our great lord” (waga ōkimi).
23. “Of the evergreen trees” (maki tatsu) is a pillow word for Fuwa.
24. “Of the Korean swords” (komatsurugi) is a pillow word for Wazami.
25. “Descended from heaven” (amoriimashite) suggests that Tenmu is a heavenly god.
26. The [High-Shining Sun] Prince—that is, Emperor Tenmu.
27. This refers to Prince Takechi, who is “appointed to the task” of conquering the realm by his father Tenmu (the “sun prince”).
28. “Emerging from winter” (fuyugomori) is a pillow word for “spring” (haru).
29. The Ise Shrine.
30. Tenmu.
31. Takechi.
32. Takechi, the chancellor during Empress Jitō’s reign.
33. “Striking red” (akanesasu) is a pillow word for “day” or “sun” (hi).
34. “Gem-black” (nubatama no) is a pillow word for “evening” (yū) or, more commonly, “night” (yo).
35. The courtiers.
36. One of the Korean kingdoms. “Chattering” (koto saeku) is a pillow word that probably refers to the foreign languages of the Korea Peninsula.
37. “Fair in the morning” (asa mo yoshi) is a pillow word for Kinoe.
38. This refers to Prince Takechi, who, like Prince Kusakabe in Man’yōshū 1:167, is described as building his own palace of temporary burial, his “eternal palace.”
39. The palace of Mount Kagu seems to have been Takechi’s dwelling in life.
40. According to the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki, the legendary first emperor, known as Emperor Jinmu, reigned from the palace of Kashiwara.
41. “Cords of gems” is a pillow word for Unebi. Unebi is one of the Three Mountains of Yamato (the other two being Mount Kagu and Mount Miminashi), which were in the vicinity of the Asuka capital.
42. Each and every one of the successive sovereigns.
43. “Rich in green” is a pillow word for Nara.
44. In Emperor Tenchi’s mind.
45. “Far from heaven” is a pillow word for “barbarous.” Anywhere far from the capital was also “far from heaven.”
46. “Of the racing rocks” is a pillow word for Ōmi.
47. “Of the lively waves” (sananami no) is a pillow word for Otsu and other place-names in Ōmi. It also is a place-name itself.
48. Emperor Tenchi.
49. Flowing water is a metaphor for time passing. “Though your waters are still” has the connotation of “although time does not seem to pass.”
50. Iwami was a province on the Japan Sea coast, on the west side of present-day Shimane Prefecture.
51. “Whale-hunting” (isanatori) is a pillow word for “sea” (umi).
52. The first half of the poem is an extended preface phrase introducing “my girl.”
53. “Like the dew and the frost” (tsuyushimo no) is a pillow word for “leave” (oku) and implies “since I left her, like the dew and the frost are left on the ground.”
54. A type of short bamboo.
55. “In Tsuno Bay” is a translation of an obscure pillow word, tsuno sawau.
56. Kara appears to be a place on the coast of Iwami; it also was used to refer to the Korea Peninsula. The pillow word “of the chattering voices” (koto saeku) probably refers to the foreign languages spoken in Korea.
57. “Courage failing” is a conjectural translation of the pillow word kimo mukau, which literally means “facing the liver.” Kimo mukau tends to appear in instances when the heart is described as weak.
58. “As if from a great ship” is a pillow word for the name Watari, which means “crossing.”
59. “Wife-hiding” is a pillow word for ya (house/hut), modifying the place-name Yakami. The pillow word also implies that the wife (“my girl”) is hidden behind the mountains and the speaker cannot see her.
60. “Heaven-sent” (ametsutau) is a pillow word for sun (hi).
61. “That soars in heaven” (ama tobu ya) is a pillow word for Karu, which means “light.”
62. “Great ship” (ōbune no) is a pillow word for “hope” (omoitanomu).
63. Here, “gem-gleaming” (tamakagiru) is a pillow word for “rock” (iwa).
64. “Catalpa gem” (tamazusa) is a pillow word for “messenger” (tsukai).
65. “Catalpa bow” (azusayumi) is a pillow word for “sound” or “voice” (oto).
66. This refers to seeing any messenger between two lovers.
67. “Where the birds fly” (tobu tori no) is a pillow word for Asuka. In fact, Asuka (the place) was customarily written with the characters for “fly” and “bird.” In this poem, however, “Asuka” is written with the same characters as those of Princess Asuka’s name.
68. “Like a mirror” (kagami nasu) is a pillow word for “see” (miru).
69. “Where feasts were held” (mike mukau) is a pillow word for the place-name Kinoe.
> 70. Literally, “the green grass of the world.”
Chapter 2
THE HEIAN PERIOD
The Heian period refers to the four hundred years from the end of the eighth century to the end of the twelfth century, when the center of political power was located in Heian-kyō, or the Heian capital (today known as Kyoto), from which the period takes its name. The political beginning of the Heian period can be traced to 781, when Emperor Kanmu (r. 781–806) ascended the throne. In 784, he moved the capital from Heijō (Nara) to Nagaoka and then in 794 to Heian-kyō. The end of the Heian period is usually considered to be 1185, when the Taira (Heike) clan was demolished and Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), the new military leader, established the shugo/jitō system and the Kamakura bakufu (military government) in eastern Japan.
The Heian period can be divided again, both politically and culturally, into three periods: early, middle, and late Heian. The first of these periods extended from the establishment of the Heian capital to the early tenth century through the reign of Emperor Daigo (r. 897–930); the second period lasted from Daigō’s reign to the second half of the eleventh century, the reign of Emperor GoSanjō (r. 1068–1072); and the third period stretched from the latter half of the eleventh century to the establishment of the Kamakura bakufu. The first of these two periods, when the ritsuryō state system continued to function, at least in name, is sometimes regarded as the latter part of the ancient period, and the third period, when the insei, or cloistered emperor system, emerged, as the beginning of the medieval period.
At the end of the eighth century the powerful aristocratic families that had been at the center of the ritsuryō state during the Nara period were gradually replaced by new aristocratic clans. By the mid-ninth century, the ranks of the nobility (kugyō) were dominated by the Fujiwara and Minamoto (Genji) clans. Within them, the northern branch of the Fujiwara eventually prevailed, and in the mid-Heian period, beginning in the latter half of the tenth century, they controlled the throne through the regent (sekkan) system, in which a Fujiwara regent ruled in place of a child emperor. By marrying their daughters to emperors, the Fujiwara became the uncles and grandfathers of future emperors, thereby placing them in the position to be the regents who ruled in place of the child emperor.
The northern branch of the Fujiwara came to the fore first with Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu (775–826). His son Yoshifusa became the regent (sesshō), a title he was officially given in 866 when Emperor Seiwa (r. 858–876) came to the throne at the young age of nine. During the Kanpyō era (889–898), Emperor Uda (r. 887–897), with the aid of Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), who became a major literary figure, managed to hold off the Fujiwara. Uda’s son Emperor Daigo (r. 897–930), with the assistance of the minister of the left, Fujiwara no Tokihira, and Sugawara no Michizane, similarly attempted to return to direct imperial rule. Although this imperial restoration by Uda and Daigo ultimately failed, the Uda/Daigo reigns—often referred to as the Engi (901–923) era—were subsequently considered to be a golden age of direct imperial rule and cultural efflorescence. Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the Kokinshū (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems, ca. 905), the first imperial anthology of native poetry (the thirty-one-syllable waka).
Even though the system of public land ownership gradually fell apart, the ritsuryō state system—with its apparatus of ranks, ministries, and university—continued to operate, at least in name, throughout the Heian period and supported a court-based state system, which emerged at the beginning of the tenth century. One of the major characteristics of this court-based state was the concentration of power in the hands of the provincial governors (zuryō). During the regency period, the nobility in the capital focused most of their attention on court rituals and little on the actual administration of the provinces. Consequently, the central government in the capital, while making the appointments and receiving tributes from the provinces, gradually lost direct administrative control of them, which resulted in increasing chaos there. In 939 two rebellions took place—one led by Taira no Masakado (d. 940) and the other by Fujiwara no Sumitomo—both of which were subdued. Meanwhile, the provincial governors, exploiting their positions as state appointees, gathered more and more wealth and power.
Emperor Daigo and his successor, Emperor Murakami (r. 946–967), managed to avoid Fujiwara regents, but their imperial successors were not so successful. In 967, with the accession of Emperor Reizei, Fujiwara no Saneyori became regent, leading to the institutionalization of the Fujiwara regency, which peaked between 995 and 1027, when Fujiwara no Michinaga (966–1027), the most powerful and successful regent, held sway. Michinaga’s eldest daughter, Shōshi, became the empress and consort of Emperor Ichijō (r. 986–1011) and gave birth to two subsequent emperors: GoIchijō and GoSuzaku. Murasaki Shikibu probably wrote much of The Tale of Genji while serving as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi, while Sei Shōnagon, the author of The Pillow Book, was a lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi, a consort of Emperor Ichijō and Shōshi’s rival.
In the last half of the eleventh century, with the accession of Emperor GoSanjō (r. 1068–1072)—a sovereign who, for the first time in 170 years (since Emperor Uda’s reign), did not have Fujiwara maternal relatives—the power of the Fujiwara regency suddenly declined. The retired emperor, Shirakawa (r. 1072–1086, 1053–1129), who relinquished the throne in 1086, established the retired or cloistered emperor (insei) system, in which the cloistered emperor controlled the emperor and held political power. Retired Emperor Shirakawa, who took religious vows in 1096, thus held control for forty-three years through three imperial reigns.
During the Heian period, the system of public land ownership established by the ritsuryō system gradually broke down, and by the third period, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it was replaced by a system of private estates (Shōen), which became the foundation for a new, village-based society. The samurai, most of whom grew up in these villages, gained military strength, and by the latter half of the twelfth century the Taira (Heike), a military lineage, came into conflict with the cloistered emperors, who until then had controlled the throne. The Taira lineage took over the reins of the court government until they were, in turn, toppled by the Minamoto (Genji), a military lineage based in the east, in Kamakura, thereby bringing an end to the Heian period and ushering in the medieval period.
THE EMERGENCE OF KANA LITERATURE
The first period of the Heian era lasted for just over a hundred years, from 794, when the capital was moved to Heian, to the first half of the tenth century. It was a time marked by the continued prominence of Chinese-based literature and culture and the gradual introduction of native vernacular and cultural forms, particularly the court-based vernacular literature written in kana, the native syllabary, which flourished from the tenth century onward. An example of the Chinese-based literature is the Record of Miraculous Events in Japan (Nihon ryōiki, ca. 822) by the priest Keikai, which was written in Chinese and gives both a Buddhist and a commoner’s view of the world. Continuing this tradition was the most important writer in the early Heian period, Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), a statesman known for his writings in both Chinese poetry (kanshi) and Chinese prose (kanbun). Michizane, who rose to the pinnacle of power before abruptly falling, wrote on topics (student days, professional career, intellectual world, exile) that differed significantly from those found in the later kana writing by women.
The rise in popularity of kana in the late ninth century, particularly in the form of waka, thirty-one-syllable Japanese poems, gave birth to a variety of vernacular literature in the tenth century. Waka became integral to the everyday life of the aristocracy, functioning as a form of elevated dialogue and the primary means of communication between the sexes, who usually were physically segregated from each other. These poems also became an important part of public life, particularly at banquets where the composition of poetry in Japanese or Chinese was required. They often were collected, in either large anthologies, like the Man’y
ōshū and the Kokinshū, or smaller private collections of the works of a single poet. The first imperial waka anthology, the Kokinshū, established the model for Japanese poetry and became the foundation (in both diction and thematic content) for subsequent court literature.
The private waka collections, which included exchanges between the poet and his or her acquaintances, also led to a variety of new genres: (1) poetic travel diaries, such as the Tosa Diary by Ki no Tsurayuki; (2) confessional, semiautobiographical poetic diaries by women, like the Kagerō Diary by Mother of Michitsuna and the Sarashina Diary by Daughter of Takasue; and (3) poem tales (uta-monogatari) centering on the poetry of a particular poet, of which the most famous example is The Tales of Ise, initially based on the poetry of Ariwara no Narihira (825–880), the implicit protagonist. In short, the early tenth century marked the beginning of both vernacular poetry and vernacular fiction, the latter represented by The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori monogatari, ca. 909) and The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari, ca. 947). Not accidentally, the Engi era (901–923) was also the time when the native leaders of poetry in Chinese and of Chinese studies (kangaku)—such as Sugawara no Michizane and Ki no Haseo (845–912)—died, yielding the literary spotlight to Japanese poetry.
The second major period of Heian literature, from the latter half of the tenth century through the first half of the eleventh century, can be said to start with the Kagerō Diary, by Mother of Michitsuna, written in the 970s and marking the beginning of major prose writings by women. The peak of this period comes with the reign of Emperor Ichijō (986–1011), during which The Pillow Book, The Tale of Genji, and the Diary of Izumi Shikibu were written. Although there were important women writers in the ancient period such as Lady Nukata, Lady Sakanoue, and Lady Kasa, all poets represented in the Man’yōshū, they did not have the productivity and quality of those in the mid-Heian period.
THE RISE OF WOMEN’S WRITING