Anthology of Japanese Literature Read online

  ANTHOLOGY OF

  JAPANESE LITERATURE

  ANTHOLOGY

  OF JAPANESE

  LITERATURE

  * * *

  From the Earliest Era to the Mid-nineteenth Century

  COMPILED AND EDITED BY DONALD KEENE

  TUTTLE Publishing

  Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore

  Donald Keene, one of the foremost Western authorities on Japanese literature, is widely regarded as America's pre-eminent cultural ambassador to Japan. Presently University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, he has written and translated over fifty books. The winner of numerous literary awards and prizes, including the Order of the Rising Sun, and the Kikuchi Kan, Yamagata Banto, Japan Foundation, Tokyo Metropolitan, Fukuoka, and Yasushi prizes, Professor Keene was the first non-Japanese to receive the Yomiuri Literary Prize for the best work of literary criticism in Japanese (in 1985 for Hyakudai no kakaku) and was awarded the Nihon Bungaku Taisho (Grand Prize of Japanese Literature) for the same work. In 1986, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1990 was elected as a foreign member of the Japan Academy.

  TO ARTHUR WALEY

  UNESCO COLLECTION OF REPRESENTATIVE WORKS

  Japanese Series

  This book has been accepted in the Japanese Series of the Translations Collection of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

  First published in 2006 by Turtle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd by special arrangement with Grove Press, Inc., New York

  www.tuttlepublishing.com

  Copyright © 1955 by Grove Press, Inc. All rights reserved

  Illustration by Japanese Gallery, London

  ISBN 978-1-4629-0342-9 (ebook)

  First Tuttle edition, 1956

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  NOTE ON JAPANESE NAMES AND PRONUNCIATION

  Japanese names are given in this book in the Japanese order: that is, the surname precedes the personal name. Thus, in the name Matsuo Bashō, Matsuo is the family name, Bashō the personal name. However, Japanese usually refer to famous writers by their personal names rather than by their family names and this practice has been observed in the anthology.

  The pronunciation of Japanese in transcription is very simple. The consonants are pronounced as in English (with g always hard), the vowels as in Italian. There are no silent letters. Thus, the name Ise is pronounced "ee-say."

  The Japanese words used in the text are those which have been taken into English and may be found in such works as the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

  PREFACE

  It can only be with diffidence that this first anthology of Japanese literature in English is offered to the reading public. I cannot recall ever having read a review of an anthology of European literature which did not point out glaring omissions and inexplicable inclusions—this in spite of the comparatively long tradition of such anthologies. How much less likely it is, then, that the present volume will escape such criticism!

  A word must therefore be said as to what principles guided the compilation of this book. It is, first of all, an anthology of Japanese works which translate into interesting and enjoyable English. No matter how important a work may be in the original, if it defies artistic translation I could not include it. Secondly, the selection is as representative of all periods of Japanese literature as is consonant with the above caveat. Thirdly, the anthology is as representative as possible of the different genres of Japanese literature—poetry, novels, plays, diaries, etc.—although, again, it must be borne in mind that in Japan, as in every other country, these various genres have not progressed uniformly. There is, for example, much great dramatic literature from the Muromachi Period but very little quotable poetry.

  The length of a selection is not necessarily an indication of the relative importance of the work from which it is taken. It is easier to make extracts from certain types of writing than from others.

  One rather unusual feature of the anthology is the inclusion of a limited number of works written by Japanese in the classical Chinese language. Just as Englishmen at one time wrote poetry and prose in Latin, so Japanese wrote in Chinese, with the difference, of course, that while they were writing there was still a country called China where the classical language was constantly being developed.

  As I have noted, the translations in this book are meant to be literary and not literal. For example, names of persons, titles, and places not essential to a story have sometimes been omitted in the interest of easy reading for Westerners not able to absorb large quantities of Japanese proper names. Puns, allusions, repetitions, and incommunicable stylistic fripperies have also been discarded whenever possible. Extracts have been made with the intent always of presenting the given work in as favorable a light as possible, even though it might at times be fairer if the book were presented as rather uneven.

  There are many objections to the practices cited above, and I am aware of them. But I think it highly important that this first anthology of Japanese literature have as wide an appeal as possible. For those interested in more literal versions of Japanese works, there are at least two scholarly books of recent years designed to meet their needs: "Translations from Early Japanese Literature" by E. O. Reischauer and J. K. Yamagiwa and "The Love Suicide at Amijima" by D. H. Shively. Both of these books give translations of complete texts; all allusions, wordplays, etc., are explained; and words which have been supplied by the translator are enclosed in brackets.

  In presenting the anthology I have, for the sake of convenience, divided the literature into political periods: Ancient, Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, and Tokugawa. However, this division is to be considered as little more than a convenience; it is obvious that a change of regime did not instantly produce a new literature, and it is sometimes indeed difficult to decide to which period a given work belongs. But, just as "eighteenth-century literature" has a meaning for us in spite of the qualifications we may make about its appropriateness as a general term, so "Tokugawa literature" makes enough sense for such a division to be made.

  It will be noted that a majority of the translations in this book have never before been printed. Some of them have been made especially at my request, and at some urgency when the translators were engaged on other projects. I wish therefore to take this opportunity of thanking them all for their collaboration.

  As far as my own translations are concerned, I should like to thank first Professor Noma Kōshin of Kyoto University, under whom I have studied for two years; D. J. Enright and Carolyn Bullitt for help with the poetry; Hamada Keisuke and Matsuda Osamu for their useful suggestions on translations; and Edward Seidensticker for having read over my translations, pointing out the infelicities.

  Acknowledgments are also due to: The Asiatic Society of Japan for the "Kojiki"and oth
er works published in their Transactions; Professor Doi Kōchi and The Kenkyūsha Publishing Company for "The Diary of Lady Murasaki" and "The Sarashina Diary"; Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai for the "Man'yōshū"; Kenneth Rexroth for "100 Poems from the Japanese"; A. L. Sadler for "The Tale of the Heike"; Dr. Sakanishi Shio for "The Bird-Catcher of Hades" and poetry by Ishikawa Takuboku and Yosano Akiko; G. B. Sansom for "Essays in Idleness"; Thomas Satchell for "Htzaktirige"; Yukuo Uyehara and Marjorie Sinclair for "A Collection from a Grass Path" (University of Hawaii Press) ; Arthur Waley and George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., for "The Tale of Genji," "The Pillow Book," "The Lady who Loved Insects," "Atsumori," "The Damask Drum," and "The Uta"; Columbia College Oriental Studies Program, Columbia University, for "Kūkai and His Master" and "Seami on the Art of the Nō"; and Meredith Weatherby and Bruce Rogers for "Birds of Sorrow."

  Mr. Seidensticker, Mr. Watson, and I were in receipt of grants from the Ford Foundation during the period when the book was being prepared, and wish to express our thanks to the Foundation, which is not, however, responsible for the contents of the book.

  Thanks are also due the Japan Society, Inc. for their cooperation in the production of the book.

  Muhinju-an, Kyoto

  CONTENTS

  19 Introduction

  ANCIENT PERIOD [TO 794 A.D.]

  33 Man'yōshū

  54 The Luck of the Sea and the Luck of the Mountains

  59 Kaifūsō

  HEIAN PERIOD [794-1185]

  63 KŪAKAI: Kūkai: and His Master

  67 The Tales of Ise

  76 Kokinshū

  82 KI NO YDUTSYUKI: The Tosa Diary

  92 Poetry from the Six Collections

  97 THE MOTHER OF MICHITSUNA: Kagerō Nikki

  106 MURASAKI SHIKIBU: Yūgao (from "The Tale of Genji")

  137 SEI SHŌNAGON: The Pillow Book

  145 MURASAKI SHIKIBU: Diary

  156 THE DAUGHTER OF TAKASUE: The Sarashina Diary

  162 Poetry in Chinese

  167 Ryōjin Hishō

  170 The Lady Who Loved Insects

  KAMAKURA PERIOD [1185-1333]

  179 The Tale of the Heike

  192 Shinkokinshū

  197 KAMO NO CHŌMEI: An Account of My Hut

  213 Tales from the Uji Collection

  224 The Captain of Naruto

  MUROMACHI PERIOD [1333-1600]

  231 YOSHIDA KENKŌ: Essays in Idleness

  242 The Exile of Godaigo

  258 SEAMI MOTOKIYO: The Art of the Nō

  263 PLAN of the Nō Stage

  264 KAN'AMI KIYOTSUGU: Sotoba Komachi

  271 SEAMI MOTOKIYO: Birds of Sorrow

  286 SEAMI MOTOKIYO: Atsumori

  294 SEAMI MOTOKIYO: The Damask Drum

  301 The Bird-Catcher in Hades

  305 Busu

  312 Poems in Chinese by Buddhist Monks

  314 Three Poets at Minase

  322 The Three Priests

  TOKUGAWA PERIOD [1600-1868]

  335 IHARA SAIKAKU: What the Seasons Brought to the Almanac-Maker

  354 IHARA SAIKAKU: The Umbrella Oracle

  357 IHARA SAIKAKU: The Eternal Storehouse of Japan

  363 MATSUO BASHŌ: The Narrow Road of Oku

  374 MATSUO BASHO : Prose Poem on the Unreal Dwelling

  377 MUKAI KYORAI: Conversations with Kyorai

  384 Haiku by Bashō and His School

  386 Chikamatsu on the Art of the Puppet Stage

  391 CHIKAMATSU MONZAEMON: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki

  410 EJIMA KISEKI: A Wayward Wife

  416 JIPPENSHA IKKU: Hizakurige

  423 TAKIZAWA BAKIN: Shino and Hamaji

  429 Haiku of the Middle and Late Tokugawa Period

  432 Waka of the Tokugawa Period

  436 Poetry and Prose in Chinese

  Short Bibliography

  ANTHOLOGY OF

  JAPANESE LITERATURE

  INTRODUCTON

  Japanese literature has about as long a history as English literature, and contains works in as wide a variety of genres as may be found in any country. It includes some of the world's longest novels and shortest poems, plays which are miracles of muted suggestion and others filled with the most extravagant bombast. It is, in short, a rich literature which deserves better understanding and recognition.

  It is not the purpose of this brief introduction to give a history of Japanese literature1 ; I shall attempt instead to trace some of the developments linking the works included in this anthology. Most of the selections are prefaced by introductory remarks giving specific information on details of composition, etc., and it is hoped that the reader will consult them as the occasion requires.

  The earliest surviving Japanese book is the "Kojiki," or "Record of Ancient Matters," completed in 712 A.D. It is clear, however, that there were books before that date, as well as a considerable body of songs and legends such as are found in every country. Some of this oral literature is preserved in the "Kojiki" and elsewhere, but much of it must certainly have perished, in view of the failure of the Japanese to develop independently a means of recording their language. It is interesting, if essentially fruitless, to speculate what course Japanese literature might have taken if the Japanese had devised their own script or had first come in Contact with a foreign nation which had an alphabet. It was in fact the widespread adoption of Chinese culture, including the wholly unsuitable Chinese method of writing, which was to determine the course of Japanese literature over the centuries.

  In the Ancient Period, if so we may designate Japanese history up to the establishment of the capital at Kyoto in 794, the important works, such as the "Kojiki" and the "Man'yōshū," or "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves," still show comparatively little Chinese influence, and may with some justice be termed examples of "pure" Japanese literature. The "Kojiki" opens with the Creation and continues until the seventh century of our era, moving from a collection of sometimes engaging myths to an encomium of the Imperial family, particularly of the line of the ruling sovereign. In its early sections the "Kojiki" has something of the epic about it, but because it was a compilation of different sorts of material and not a single long story (however complex) known and recited by professional poets, it lacks the unity and artistic finish of a true epic and tends to break down into episodes of varying literary value.

  The "Man'yōshū," on the other hand, needs no apologies. It is one of the world's great collections of poetry. It can never cease to astonish us that Japanese literature produced within the same century the pre-Homeric pages of the "Kojiki" and the magnificent artistry of the "Man'yōshū." The latter owes its reputation mainly to the genius of a group of eighth-century poets, notably Hitomaro, Yakamochi, and Okura. The period when the majority of the poems were being written rather resembled the Meiji era, when the introduction of Western civilization led to a tremendous explosion of pent-up Japanese energies in every field. In the eighth century the gradual diffusion of Chinese civilization produced a similar result. Within the "Man'yōshū" itself there are traces of Chinese influence which become quite apparent in the later poems, but there can be no doubt of the book's essential Japaneseness: what inspired the poets were the mountains and the sea of the Japanese landscape, and their reactions were fresh, Japanese reactions, not echoes of Chinese example.2 "Countless are the mountains in Yamato"; "In the sea of Iwami, By the cape of Kara, There amid the stones under sea"; "And lived secure in my trust As one riding a great ship"—these are truly Japanese lines in their imagery and evocation.

  If Chinese influence is relatively small in the "Man'yōshū" there is another eighth-century collection which is almost purely Chinese in its inspiration. This is the "Kaifūsō," or "Fond Recollections of Poetry," an anthology of poetry written in Chinese by members of the Japanese court. It was to be expected that Japanese poets writing in Chinese should have adhered closely to Chinese models, and some of the verses of the "Kaifūsō" are no more like original Chinese poems than Latin verses written by schoolboys to
day are like Horace. Why, it may be wondered, did Japanese choose to write poetry in a foreign language which few of them could actually speak? The answer is to be found partly in the prestige lent by an ability to write poetry in the difficult classical Chinese language, but partly also in the Japanese belief that there were things which could not be expressed within their own poetic forms. This was less true in the age of the "Man'yōshū," when the poets enjoyed greater liberty than was to be known again in Japan for more than a thousand years, but even from the seventh century there are examples of parallel poems written in Japanese and Chinese which show what the poets thought to be the essential differences between the two mediums. The following were both written by Prince Ōtsu (662-687) shortly before his execution:

  Today, taking my last sight of the mallards

  Crying on the pond of Iware,

  Must I vanish into the clouds!3

  The golden crow lights on the western huts;

  Evening drums beat out the shortness of life.

  There are no inns on the road to the grave—

  Whose is the house I go to tonight?4

  The former poem, from the "Man'yōshū," is purely Japanese in feeling; the latter, from the "Kaifūsō," not only uses Chinese language and allusions but attempts to give philosophic overtones lacking in the simple Japanese verse. This distinction between the content of poetry written in Japanese and in Chinese became of increasingly great importance. In the Muromachi Period, for example, Zen priests expressed their religious and philosophic doctrines in Chinese poetry. In the late Tokugawa Period many patriots who found that they could not adequately voice their burning thoughts within the tiny compass of a Japanese poem turned to poetry in Chinese. The function of Chinese poetry, from the time of the "Kaifūsō" almost until the present, has been principally to convey thoughts either too difficult or too extended for the standard Japanese verse forms—when, of course, it was not merely an instrument for the display of erudition.