by Donald Keene
Waka make use of many sophisticated rhetorical and poetic devices, and some familiarity with these is crucial to the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the Tales. These include literary punning (kakekotoba), in which a word can be a simple pun, part of a phrase in which every word is a pun, or one whose meaning varies depending on whether it is read as the continuation of what precedes it or as the beginning of what follows; prefaces (jokotoba), where an initial segment of a poem serves as a ‘preface’ to a word introduced later in the poem; and associative words (engo), which are clusters of semantically related words embedded within a poem. Pillow words (makura kotoba), epithets used as conventional embellishments, are also important: for example, ‘raging’ (chihayaburu) is often paired with ‘gods’ (kami). Waka poetry also delights in poems with hidden words (mono no na no uta), as, for example, in Episode 98 of the Tales, where ‘pheasant’ (kiji) is concealed within the poem and also relates to the tale’s narrative, in a which a pheasant is presented with a poem as a gift. These important poetic devices, and others, are discussed at greater length in the glossary (see here), with many specific examples being cited in the commentary to individual episodes.
Composition of the Tales and Connection with the Kokinshū
The composition of the Tales was a long and convoluted process and has been the subject of intense debate for centuries. It is generally accepted that it was written by several authors over a period of up to a hundred years. Some of it was written as early as the end of the ninth century, and from then on the work grew gradually, until it reached its current form.
One theory regarding its composition is that the Tales was autobiographical, originally penned by the hero, Narihira. As the oldest episodes were almost certainly written during his lifetime – Narihira died in 880 – there is a strong possibility that he was indeed the author. However, the only pieces that can be ascribed to him with reasonable certainty are the thirty poems that are also attributed to him in the Kokinshū anthology. Other poems attributed to Narihira in the Tales are not necessarily composed by him.5 Some scholars conjecture that Narihira composed the episodes with material he adapted from Chinese tales, and if this hypothesis is correct, then he can be credited as the inventor of the poem-tale genre that constitutes the narrative structure of the Tales.
Another theory related to the composition of the Tales is one advanced by Minoru Watanabe, the distinguished Tales scholar, which focuses on groups of poets active in the early Heian period who participated in salons and who may have taken a special interest in political outliers of the day. It is not clear why Narihira was chosen as its representative poet, but stories may have circulated among the salon members about a hero very much like Narihira, who shunned politics and societal norms to pursue ideals of love and beauty, and these stories eventually coalesced to form the core of the Tales.
Yet another theory about the authorship of the Tales has it that it was written by the renowned poet Lady Ise (born c.875), thus offering an explanation for its title. In medieval Japan, these two hypotheses were often combined, assigning original authorship to Narihira and further expansion to Lady Ise, a view that is no longer held. Yet another theory suggests that the poet and courtier Ki no Tsurayuki (872–945) was the author or partial author.
The Tales appears to have evolved in two distinct stages. In the first, a nucleus of around twenty episodes was composed, which appears to have served later as source material for the Kokinshū (completed c.905).6 That anthology includes several poems from the Tales, along with lengthy headnotes that closely resemble the prose parts of the episodes. In length and style, these headnotes are unlike others in the Kokinshū, suggesting that the Tales was in existence, in some form or other, before the Kokinshū was compiled and that parts of the Tales were incorporated in the Kokinshū with minimum editing. Conversely, it is clear that some episodes in the Tales (Episode 25, for example) were composed around poems that appear in the Kokinshū, suggesting that these tales must have been written after the Kokinshū. All this indicates that the Tales was written not in one but in multiple stages and that its interaction with the Kokinshū was complex, in some cases serving as a source text for it, in others drawing on it for material.
The core episodes provide the nexus of the overall narrative of the Tales. Later episodes were then added by other poets, who copied the style of the original episodes. Ki no Tsurayuki, the principal compiler of the Kokinshū, may have been the author of some of these. Because the poets Minamoto no Toru (822–95) and Shitago (911–83) feature in them, they have also been suggested as possible additional authors, but no one knows for certain.
The final version of the Tales may have been compiled by Minamoto no Shitago or by someone close to him. The reason why this is thought to be so is that in one episode (no. 39) ‘Shitago’ is mentioned without honorifics. Because nobles at the time did not use honorifics when referring to themselves or to an individual to whom they were related, this may signify that either Shitago was writing about himself or that someone closely connected to him was the author.
Episode 11 offers a few clues about the expansion of the Tales as it mentions the most recent of the historical figures to appear in the collection, Tachibana no Tadamoto. Tadamoto’s name appears in records from the mid tenth century, and it is likely that when a secret love affair of his became known someone wrote Episode 11 based upon it. This would date the episode’s creation to some time in the second half of the tenth century, and one can deduce from this that the expansion of the collection continued until at least then.
While the composition of the Tales has generally been regarded as occurring in two stages, pre- and post-Kokinshū, in the 1970s the renowned scholar Yoichi Katagiri posited a ‘three stage’ theory to explain the complex evolution of the work. According to Katagiri, between the original pre-Kokinshū Tales and the final version we know today was an intermediate stage, consisting of the original core episodes plus poems taken from Narihira’s poetry collection, the Narihirashū, the extant versions of which contain roughly half the poems of the modern Tales. However, recent research shows that the Narihirashū was most probably compiled after the Tales, and Katagiri’s theory is no longer seen as valid. The Narihirashū was edited to give the impression of having been composed by Narihira, and the prefaces to the poems appear to have been deliberately changed from those in the Tales. Moreover, as research on the Narihira collection has progressed, it has become clear that the author of the collection did not merely place Narihira’s poems one after the other, but attempted to create a coherent fictional world. So Narihira’s poetry collection was most probably created after his death by someone else. It was common practice at the time to compile collections of poems by poets who had not left one themselves. Collections created in this way include the poems of Henjo (816–890) and Ono no Komachi (mid ninth century).7 These works were deliberately created to appear to be autobiographical, with prefaces added to poems that originally bore none.
As to the title of the Tales, perhaps the most credible theory is that it was named for Episode 69, in which the hero attempts to have an affair with the priestess of the Ise Shrine. This story is likely to have seemed the most impressive to readers at the time because of its scandalous content. Kensho and Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, both twelfth-century poets, report the existence of versions of the Tales that started with Episode 69, suggesting contemporary editors considered the episode to be highly important.8
Depicting the Hero
One of the central preoccupations of the Tales is the depiction of the hero, Ariwara no Narihira. There is only one historical record concerning his life – an entry in the Nihon sandai jitsuroku (True History of Three Reigns), the last of the six official histories compiled during the Heian period. According to this entry, he died on the twenty-eighth day of the fifth month of 880 at the age of fifty-six, so his birth is calculated to have been in 825. He was the fifth son of Prince Abo, son of Emperor Heizei (r. 806–9). His mother, Princess Ito,
was the eighth daughter of Emperor Kanmu (r. 781–806), thus making Narihira a grandson of emperors on both sides of the family. The Tales attempts to depict Narihira as being from a fallen family, but it is important to remember that this is partially a fictional construct because he was in fact of the most noble lineage.
What dramatically altered the course of his family’s and therefore own his fate, however, was an incident involving his father that took place in 810. The consort of the retired Emperor Heizei, Fujiwara no Kusuko, aided by her brother Nakanari, tried to restore Heizei to the throne. The attempt failed, and as a result Nakanari was executed, Kusuko committed suicide and Narihira’s father, Abo, was sent into exile. Though later pardoned, Abo was reduced to commoner status, and Narihira and his brothers were thus removed from the imperial family. At the time, neither members of the imperial family nor commoners had surnames, only noble families. Following a petition by their father, the family was granted the surname ‘Ariwara’ shortly after Narihira was born, thereby giving them at least noble standing, although not restoring them to imperial status. These events cast a cloud over the life of Narihira and his clan, and Narihira was obliged to seek fame through literature, rather than politics, as might have been expected for someone of his lineage. They were also to exert a profound impact on the themes in the Tales, for the sense of belonging to the losing side of history informs every aspect of the work.
Because Narihira had lost his imperial status, he served in the bureaucracy as a commoner. He was an official (kurōdo) in the Chamberlain’s Office under both Emperor Ninmyo and Emperor Montoku, and developed a close friendship with Montoku’s son, Prince Koretaka. He also served as the Chief Equerry of the Right (migi no uma no kami – see Episodes 77, 78, 82, 83, etc.), supervising the care of the imperial horses, and as a captain of the Imperial Guard (chūjō – see Episodes 97 and 99). Later he rose in rank during the reign of Emperor Seiwa (r. 858–76), and eventually became head of the Chamberlain’s Office under Emperor Yozei (r. 876–84). He was also made acting governor of Sagami (modern-day Kanagawa) and Mino (modern-day Gifu), although it is unclear whether he actually went to either province. His rank and achievements were relatively modest in comparison with his eldest brother, Yukihira, who became a Middle Counsellor (chūnagon) in 882 and attained the very prestigious senior third rank, effectively making him a member of the senior nobility. (For more details on all the individuals named here, see Appendix 2, here.)
Though the standard view of Narihira is that he lived on the periphery of high society, others argue that his promotion was quite normal for the time and for someone of his age, and his not reaching the rank equivalent to his brother’s was simply because he did not live long enough; yet others posit the view that his possible affair with Takaiko, the future Empress of the Second Avenue (see here), could have prevented him from advancing in office for a period of time in his youth. Narihira and Takaiko certainly knew each other and she thought highly of him, and many early commentators describe a romance taking place before she entered the palace to become the consort of Emperor Seiwa and mother of the future emperor, Yozei, though it is unclear whether the affair actually took place.
The entry in Nihon sandai jitsuroku describes Narihira as being ‘beautiful of body and appearance, having no respect for convention, without much learning, but skilled at composing Japanese poetry (waka)’.9 Contemporary scholars tend to interpret ‘without much learning’ to mean that Narihira had not studied deeply enough, if at all, the Confucian classics, which were essential reading for Heian-period male aristocrats, and though that may have been true, Narihira was clearly knowledgeable in other areas of Chinese culture such as literature and poetry. Since he was selected to attend envoys from the kingdom of Balhae (in northern Korea and Manchuria) in 872, he would certainly have needed to know literary Chinese. Moreover, a perusal of the Tales (Episodes 1 and 69, for example) suggests that Narihira was widely read in the Chinese literature available at the time.
Many of the details of Narihira’s life come from the Kokinshū and the Tales, and, given the nature of these sources, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Despite the scarcity of information, we know that Narihira was both a fine-looking military man (he served as an imperial guard) and a great poet, which made him one of the earliest examples of what later became a much admired prototype in Japanese culture: a hero who combines military prowess and literary talent. He also came to be regarded as the archetypal poet-lover of the period, thanks to his combination of elegance, beauty, sophistication, kindness and poetic brilliance. Indeed, the ability to love well, in both romance and friendship, and to compose superior poems, are the key attributes of the persona of Narihira, attributes that feature repeatedly in the Tales, helping to unify the work as a whole.
In his role as ideal lover, Narihira has multiple partners, but we are not meant to think of him as a playboy. This may seem contradictory, but in each episode the hero appears to be entirely devoted to his beloved. And Narihira may not have actually had all the affairs he is depicted as having in the Tales; his adventures can also be read in part as a literary game of showing the hero in every kind of romantic entanglement in order to enhance his image as perfect lover, generous man and poet supreme. Thus the Tales can be read as examples of how the hero would respond in a representative situation, rather than seen as a strictly factual account.
Narihira is often also depicted in terms of his isolation, an important factor in his development as a poet. As Junzo Karaki points out, he is one of the first prototypes of the lonely outsider who would often appear in later Japanese literature.10 Narihira’s intrinsic sympathy for those on the losing side, the difficulties of his involvements with women of higher rank, and his exquisite poems on the seasons are all informed by the poignancy of a man on the periphery of society.
Narihira’s brilliance as a poet is acknowledged in several places in the Tales. He is often bestowed with the honorary role of composing poems of celebration by emperors and other dignitaries, and many of his poems display deep thought and poetic originality. This originality can be seen, for instance, in his unusual representation of the moon in the poem in Episode 88, which opens with the surprising admission that the poet tends not to admire the moon, before developing into a witty but profound lament on encroaching old age.
In the preface to the Kokinshū the editor, Tsurayuki (who incidentally was a distant relative of Narihira), offers a famous critique of Narihira’s poetic skills, noting that he was a poet of too much emotion (kokoro) and too few words (kotoba). Narihira’s style is compared to a flower whose petals have already withered but whose fragrance lingers. There is a tendency among commentators of all periods to see this as criticism, but Tsurayuki is, in fact, praising Narihira’s poems and claiming that they have a subtle lasting beauty. The fact that Narihira was selected as one of only six poets to be reviewed in the preface is itself a clear indication of how much he was admired, and Tsurayuki also included two poems by Narihira in his Tosa nikki (Tosa Diary; 935).
Narihira’s fame grew over time. In the early eleventh century, the poet-critic Fujiwara no Kinto included Narihira in his Sanjūrokuninsen (Selected Verse of Thirty-six Poets) a further testament to the high regard in which he was held. About two hundred years later, the great poet and editor Fujiwara no Teika – whose edition of the Tales became the standard one – places him among a handful of outstanding contributors to the ‘way of poetry’ (uta no michi or kadō) in his Kindaishūka (Superior Poems of Our Time).
Despite all this, it must be kept in mind that the portrayal of Narihira as a poet in the Tales is partly fictional and that not all the poems ascribed to him are actually by him. The original readers of the poems would have been aware of this. The idea that the Tales consistently presumes that Narihira was ‘the man’ who composed each poem was a deliberate fiction perpetrated by a succession of compilers and editors in a tongue-in-cheek manner for the amusement and entertainment of their audience. However, later re
aders may not have known who wrote the poems and assumed that they were all by the real Narihira. So there was a gradual change in perception: first, that the hero was the fictional Narihira; then, wrongly, that the hero was the real Narihira.
Love in the Tales
The comprehensive treatment of love is a main theme in the Tales, and one of the elements that makes it a work of greatness.11 All kinds of love are portrayed: reciprocated and unrequited; between males; between generations and individuals of different rank; between the sophisticated hero of the capital and the simple countrywoman. Other depictions of love include a woman leaving a man (Episodes 60 and 62); incestuous love (Episode 49); an old woman’s love (Episode 63); hinted-at infidelity (Episode 13); an amusingly tolerant view of infidelity (Episode 43); and young and passionate love (Episode 36). The love between a lord and his vassal is depicted in Episodes 82 and 83, while the love of friends is the theme of Episode 16, and filial love is described in Episode 84, which focuses on the hero’s devotion to his mother, Princess Ito.
One of the key manifestations of love is the forbidden variety, a theme later developed in The Tale of Genji as one of the chief engines of the narrative. Forbidden love is the basis of Episodes 4 and 5, in which the lady beyond the hero’s reach is the Empress of the Second Avenue, and also Episode 69, in which the hero is depicted as having the briefest of affairs with the emperor’s daughter. Other examples include Episodes 73 and 93.