A HISTORY OF JAPANESE LITERATURE VOLUME ONE The Archaic and Ancient Ages A history of Japanese Literature VOLUME ONE THE ARCHAIC AND ANCIENT AGES (By Jin'icfii KonisHi TRANSLATED BY Aileen Gatten AND Nicholas Teele EDITED BY Earl Miner PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright O 1984 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be found on the last printed page of this book ISBN 0-691-06592-6 (dothbound). 10146-9 (limited paperback edition) Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The publisher and author wish to thank the Japan Foundation for its support This book has been composed m Linotron Sabon Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey TO THE MEMORY OF Sir George Sansom CONTENTS List of Tables and Illustrations ix Author's Preface xi Author's Acknowledgments xiii Editor's Foreword xv General Introduction 3 Aims and Methods 3 Japanese Literature Defined 9 Special Characteristics · Japanese Literature as Part of Asian Literature · Yamato Literature and Non-Yamato Literature The Method of Periodizing 52 Equivalences of Periods and Cultural Regions · Indices of Periodizing · Periods of Asian Literary History PART ONE THE ARCHAIC AGE: FROM CHAOS TO DIFFERENTIATION Chapter 1. Primeval Chaos 81 Preliterary Times 81 The Spiritual and the Incantatory 94 Chapter 2. Toward the Differentiation of Genres 111 The Course of Lyric Poetry 112 The Works, Their Transmission, and Their Reception · Old and New Strata The Course of Narrative 156 The Works, Their Transmission, and Their Reception · Old, Middle, and New Strata Stories of the Gods · Stories of the Royal House PART TWO THE ANCIENT AGE: THE AGE OF KOTODAMA Chapter 3. The Character of the Ancient Age 203 Kotodama as an Ideal 203 Awareness of Ga and the Literati's World 212 Chapter 4. The Works, Their Reception, and Their Transmission 227 Methods and Aims of the Works 227 Methods and Circumstances of Reception 236 Forms of Transmission 243 Transmission of Waka · Transmission of Setsuwa viii CONTENTS Chapter 5. The Definition of Genres 266 From Song to Waka 266 Court Song and Provincial Song' Recognition of Poetic Qualities in Waka Verse-Prose and Prose in Narrative Mode 295 PART THREE THE ANCIENT AGE: THE FIRST STAGE Chapter 6. The Study and Composition of Chinese 309 Composition on the Chinese Model 309 An Approximation of a Poetic Circle 315 Chapter 7. Waka Expression 324 The Rise of Ga and the Fall of Kotodama 324 The World of Hitomaro 337 The Exaltation of Kotodama Contact with Ga Chapter 8. Setsuwa Expression 365 From Oral to Written Narrative 365 The World of Yasumaro 369 PART FOUR THE ANCIENT AGE: THE SECOND STAGE Chapter 9. The Composition of Poetry and Prose in Chinese 377 The Formation of a Poetic Circle 377 Individual Expression 384 Chapter 10. Waka Composition 393 From Kotodama to Ga 393 Poetry of Those at the Capital 405 Chapter 11. Setsuwa Composition 418 From Setsuwa to Monogatari 418 Reality and Unreality in Setsuwa 425 Chronological Table 431 Bibliography 439 Finding List for Japanese Poems 457 Index 461 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS TABLES 1. Classification of Ryukyuan Literature 39 2. Events in Chinese and Japanese History 66 3. Redating of Early Japanese History 193 MAP Ryukyu Archipelago 37 FRONTISPIECE A young lady under a flowering tree (8th century screen painting). Known as "The Lady with the Feathered Robe," although the feathers have disappeared. In the Shosoin (Royal Household Museum, Nara). By courtesy of the Royal Household and Kodansha publishers, Japan FIGURES 1. Ainu Yukar 36 2. Correspondence of Periods in East Asian Literatures 76 3. Mayunganashi (Okinawa) 97 4. Haniwa (clay image) of a Mourning Man 126 5. Ancient Stage in Doi's Reconstruction 131 6. Higi of Ancient Palace 158 7. Kojiki manuscript 259 8. Hokke Gisho manuscript 312 Figures 3, 4, 7, and 8 by courtesy of Kodansha publishers, Japan AUTHOR'S PREFACE This first volume of A History of Japanese Literature initiates a planned series of five. It deals with the Archaic and Ancient Ages, and subsequent volumes will follow—with exceptions that must be mentioned—in chron­ ological order. Because this account of Japanese literature is comparative and because it defines Japanese literature to include Ainu and Ryukyuan literature, discussions of the "ancient" periods of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Ainu, and Ryukyuan literatures refer to conceptual elements. In other words, what is ancient in Chinese literature is taken to predate what is ancient in Japanese, and what is ancient in Japanese predates what is ancient in Ainu and Ryukyuan. For comparative and conceptual purposes, a volume on ancient Japanese literature must therefore refer to different years of Western reckoning for each of the literatures dis­ cussed. This is explained in detail in the General Introduction, but it is also a matter of sufficient importance to require explicit mention here. In this and subsequent volumes chronology will also be violated for interpretive and comparative purposes. In this volume such violation is relatively small, amounting to little more than comparison of the poetry of the Man'yoshu (interpreted in terms of the age in which it was written) with some modern interpretations (based on modern criteria). Since some of the modern interpreters of the Man'yoshu were themselves poets who wrote with the poetry of that collection as an ideal, it has seemed nec­ essary to clarify the difference between their understanding and the actual historical and poetic nature of the Man'yoshu. This should pose no prob­ lems for readers of this volume, although examples in later volumes may prove to be more radical. These departures from chronology literally considered owe something in my thought to T. S. Eliot's ideas as expressed in his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Of course, he did not have Asian literature in mind, and his ideas have required considerable adaptation to be useful for my purposes. In order to avoid possible misunderstandings, it has seemed best to make clear matters that might possibly confuse readers. If I dwell on them here, the chief reason is that this is the first volume. As the Contents show, the main account of the Archaic and the Ancient Ages is here divided into four parts, consisting in all of eleven chapters. The aim is to recover as much as is now feasible from long-distant times and to present it in intelligible order guided by the historical principles introduced at the outset. Although this work is obviously a history, it has often seemed necessary not merely to relate and describe but also to analyze and evaluate. In such instances, my criteria will be explicit. XIl AUTHOR'S PREFACE To save space, I have adopted two means of annotation. In the text there are parenthetical references—by author's name, date of work, and volume or page numbers—to works cited in the Bibliography at the end. By such means I can cite my indebtedness to others and direct readers who desire to explore a specific matter without unduly cluttering the page. On the other hand, more explanatory matters are handled in foot­ notes. Further matters of importance are referred to in the dedication, my Acknowledgments, and the Editor's Foreword. J. K. The Library of Congress Washington, D.C. May 1982 AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks above all to the late George Sansom, who effected the scholarly bond between Earl Miner and myself. If Sir George had not generously invited me to Stanford University in 1957, this work would probably never have come into being. The considerable and still undisclosed efforts made at that time by Professor Donald Keene in connection with my visit to Stanford are also the object of my unforgettable gratitude. I have, in fact, benefited twofold from Professor Keene, in that he also gave me the direct motivation for writing this work. During my two years at Stanford, I learned a great deal from Earl about literary criticism. This, together with what he taught me in later years, plays a vital role in this work. Yet I would hardly have been able to comprehend Earl's instruction without the presence, at that time, of Robert H. Brower, then at Stanford. It is thanks to Bob that I was able, despite my poor English, to master difficult critical theories over a rel­ atively short time. Those years at Stanford, blessed by good friends, were the finest of my life. There was further cause for gratitude in the warmth and cordiality given by Professor John D. Goheen to my family and me, as well as in the kindness of the late Professors Arthur F. and Mary C. Wright, of Professor Thomas C. Smith, and of Professor Nobutaka Ike. The gracious academic life I enjoyed through their good offices became an important if indirect impetus in the writing of this work. Since then I have visited the United States six times. Each time my desire has grown stronger to publish a work in English on Japanese literature. Spurred on by Professor Keene, I decided to write the volumes of this envisioned history, and in 1980 I was able to conduct a short period of research at Princeton University.