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3 results

  • 31 - The late medieval warrior tales: fromSoga monogataritoTaiheiki

  • from Part III - The medieval period (1185–1600)
  • Edited by Haruo Shirane, Columbia University, New York, Tomi Suzuki, Columbia University, New York, David Lurie, Columbia University, New York
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
    Published online:
    05 January 2016
    Print publication:
    17 December 2015, pp 306-310

  • Summary

    Historical writing in Japan was infused with new life and meaning with the appearance of two significant works casting the life and times of Fujiwara no Michinaga against a backdrop of dynastic history: Eiga monogatari and Okagami. Eiga monogatari is a history, yet it is written in kana and from what everyone think of as a feminine perspective. Like Eiga monogatari, Okagami is framed as a dynastic history written in kana, but the two differ markedly in form and narrative voice. Next, Gukansho was, written by Tendai Abbot Jien in 1220, penned just before the Jokyu uprising shook relations between the court and the fledgling Kamakura shogunate in 1221. Gukansho is presented as a history, divided into seven chapters. The first two trace the reigns from Jinmu through GoHorikawa, including lists of the ministers and Tendai abbots who presided during each reign. The chronology is followed by four chapters of narrative analysis of this history.

  • 21 - Introduction to medieval literature

  • from Part III - The medieval period (1185–1600)
  • Edited by Haruo Shirane, Columbia University, New York, Tomi Suzuki, Columbia University, New York, David Lurie, Columbia University, New York
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
    Published online:
    05 January 2016
    Print publication:
    17 December 2015, pp 211-217

  • Summary

    Kokinshu represents the major phase in the evolution of Japanese poetry after the late eighth-century Manyoshu, one whose articulation of self and world would influence Japanese culture for a millennium. Much of the unprecedented nature of Heian waka can be traced back to Uda, whose entourage first developed utaawase and byobu uta, both staples of later court poetry. The authority of the Kokinshu and its poetics was unquestioned in the two imperial anthologies, Gosen wakashu and Shui wakashu, that followed it. Of the anthology's two prefaces, the more commented-on is the Kana Preface and composed by the anthology's chief editor Ki no Tsurayuki. The Mana Preface, which is named after the literary Chinese it was written in by Tsurayuki's scholarly clan-mate Ki no Yoshimochi, was intended for the sovereign. Kinto became the premier arbiter of poetic taste under the patronage of Fujiwara no Michinaga, who encouraged the composition of waka as part of banquets.

  • 23 - Shinkokin wakashū: The New Anthology of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry

  • from Part III - The medieval period (1185–1600)
  • Edited by Haruo Shirane, Columbia University, New York, Tomi Suzuki, Columbia University, New York, David Lurie, Columbia University, New York
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
    Published online:
    05 January 2016
    Print publication:
    17 December 2015, pp 230-237

  • Summary

    Genji monogatari or The Tale of Genji was composed by Murasaki Shikibu around the first decade of the eleventh century. Genji monogatari is divided into two major sections: chapters 1 to 41, which describe the story of Genji and the women in his life, and chapters 42 to 54, which deals with Genji's progeny. The first section is subdivided into: chapters 1 to 33, narrating the rise, fall, and rise again of the young Genji, and chapters 34 to 41, which portray him becoming increasingly introspective and contemplative. The story begins with a love affair between the emperor and Kiritsubo. Captivated by her close resemblance to the late Kiritsubo, Genji's father takes in a new consort, known to as Fujitsubo. The earliest documented evidence of Genji reading is found in the diary of the author herself, which claims that figures like the poet Fujiwara no Kinto, Fujiwara no Michinaga, and the Ichijo Emperor read at least parts of Genji monogatari.