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Awesome Nightfall: the Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō Michiko Yusa Western Washington University, Michiko.Yusa@Wwu.Edu Western Washington University Western CEDAR Modern & Classical Languages Humanities 4-2004 Review of: Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō Michiko Yusa Western Washington University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/mcl_facpubs Part of the Japanese Studies Commons, and the Modern Languages Commons Recommended Citation Yusa, Michiko, "Review of: Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō" (2004). Modern & Classical Languages. 13. https://cedar.wwu.edu/mcl_facpubs/13 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Humanities at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Modern & Classical Languages by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. gage" pictureof Buddhismconstructed by earlywestern Buddhologists, implicitly suggestingthat scholars can extractthis original tradition from later cultural accre- tions.Thus, while Mitchell is by no meansuncritical in his analysisof traditional historicalclaims, he sometimesblurs distinctions between these claims and those whichcan be verifiedby critical historical study. He presents,for example, a concise accountof the scholarly debates surrounding the rise of the Mahayana, but offers the crucialstory of Hui-neng"as is," withno indicationof the important critical schol- arshipon thisnarrative-scholarship that has hada realimpact on thecontemporary understandingofthe history and doctrinesof Ch'an and Zen. Mitchell'schoices in the presentationof moderntrends in Buddhismreflect specificinterests rather than an attemptto accountfor the overwhelming diversity of recentforms of Buddhism.The chapteron modernBuddhist movements in Asia fo- cusesalmost exclusively on those"concerned with the physical, social, and political as well as the mental,emotional, and spiritualdimensions of humanexistence"- thatis, EngagedBuddhism (p. 283). Whilehe explicitlysteers away from discussing "nationalistor fundamentalist" movements, he does mentionthe entanglementof Zen andJapanese nationalism, although he mistakenlyattributes itexclusively to the Rinzaischool. Everytext purporting to be an introductionto Buddhism must face certain built- in challengesowing to Buddhism'slong historyand dazzlingdiversity. Mitchell makesit clear in his introductorychapter that he is focusingprimarily on textsand doctrinalissues. Those whose courses have more of an anthropologicalbent, or who are concernedwith redressing the historicalbias towardtextual accounts of Bud- dhism,will find this approach unsatisfying. If,however, you are in need of a text thatintroduces Buddhist textual traditions or ifyou emphasizephilosophy in your course-and certainlythese should not be neglected-youwould be hard-pressed to finda betterintroduction than this one. Perhapsthe ideal use ofthis book would be in conjunctionwith other works illustrating the anthropologicalfacets of Bud- dhism.All told, this is a workthat does whatit does superblyand is one ofthe best of itskind. AwesomeNightfall: The Life,Times, and Poetryof Saigy6.By William R. LaFleur. Boston:Wisdom Publications, 2003. Pp. ix+ 173. Paper$14.95. Reviewedby Michiko Yusa WesternWashington University A quarterof a centuryago WilliamLaFleur published his book on Saigy6,Mirror for theMoon, which the present work, Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry ofSaigy6, thoughtfully and masterfullysupersedes. In this connection I may mention the philosopher,Nishida Kitaro, whose Zen no kenkyu(An inquiryinto the good) was reprintedin 1936, twenty-fiveyears after its first publication. On thatoccasion Nishida,deeply moved by thethought that his earliestwork was stillbeing read, expressedhis sentiment by quoting the last two linesof one ofSaigyo's poems: 270 PhilosophyEast & West Volume 54, Number2 April2004 270-273 ? 2004 by Universityof Hawai'i Press This content downloaded from 140.160.178.168 on Fri, 16 May 2014 14:16:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Toshitakete matakoyubeshito omoikiya Inochinarikeri Sayano Nakayama Did I everimagine In myadvanced age I shouldcross once again Thismountain pass of Saya-no-Nakayama? Ah,it is all thanks to havinglived a longlife!' (Saigyo composed this poem on going forthe second time to Mutsu,the northern regionof Japan, forty-two years after his first visit there.) As LaFleurnotes, a numberof importantworks on Saigyo'slife and his times have been publishedin Japanin the lasttwo decades,which these offer us more completesketches of his lifeand allow an appreciationof his poetryto a greater depth.In thefirst part of the book, "The Lifeand Timesof Saigyo," the author suc- cinctlyincorporates many of these findings and relatesSaigyo's poems both to his- toricalevents and to his personallife experience (pp. 1-70). The second halfof the book containsLaFleur's translation of over 150 poemsby Saigy6,all of which appearto be takenfrom his earlier book (pp. 73-152). LaFleurshows how Saigy6's life (1118-1190) was closelylinked to thehistorical context.The timewas fastchanging from the inseisystem (political administration runby the courtof the retiredemperor) to the Hogen and Heiji Disturbances,the fiercepower struggle between the Taira and theMinamoto military clans, with the dramaticdemise of the formerand the end of the Heian period.Saigyo's path crossedwith such eminent political figures as Tairano Kiyomoriin 1172 and Mina- motono Yoritomoin 1186. Byjuxtaposing historical events with Saigyo's poems, whichoften bear headnotes describing the circumstances under which he composed them,a full-fledgedbiography of Saigy6 promises to be inthe offing. In the presentwork, LaFleur sketches Saigyo's life in bold strokesand intro- duces newfindings for the English-reading audience, such as thehomoeroticism that dominatedthe courtof the retiredEmperor Toba (1103-1156)-althoughSaigyo himselfdoes notappear to havebeen a memberof this coterie.2 LaFleur also draws our attentionto thefact that Saigy6 practiced religious austerities at Mt. Koyaand Omine (pp. 20-21). Goingbeyond a rathertwo-dimensional image of Saigyoas a nature-lovingpoet of the moon and theflowers, the present study presents a picture ofa mancaught in an impossiblelove affair; a highlyskilled equestrian, archer, and kemari(a sortof kickball)player; and a manwho caused a sensationby renouncing theworld at theyoung age oftwenty-three despite his promising career as an impe- rialguard. Saigyd's mentaland physicalstrength, honed by his mountainasceticism, no doubt was essential in his makingextensive journeys far and wide. We also see thatthe distance Saigyo created fromthe politicalarena by becoming a monkgave him a keenereye to assess the fundamentalpolitical changes thatwere thentaking BookReviews 271 This content downloaded from 140.160.178.168 on Fri, 16 May 2014 14:16:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions place. The fullimport of hispoems, dealing with warfare, emperors, and thecourt, cannotbe understoodwhen separated from the political events of the day, although Saigyohimself maintained his cool objectivityand distancedhimself from them. The tantalizingspeculation that Saigy6 was infatuatedwith Empress Taiken- mon'in,Emperor Toba's consortand EmperorSutoku's mother, is highlyprobable. WhenTaikenmon'in renounced the world and becamea nunin 1142, Saigy6took partin the Buddhistceremony and, togetherwith Fujiwara no Shunzei,composed a seriesof poemson thetheme of the LotusSutra.3 He preservedhis friendships, even afterthe empresspassed away, by exchangingpoems with her former ladies-in-waiting,and therebyhe maintainedhis ties, albeit indirectly,with the court. A symbolicimportance is attachedto the factthat, while he was residingat Futami,near Ise, the center of Shinto worship, Saigy5 heard the news of the tempo- raryrelocation of the imperial court to Fukuhara(1180) and thebreaking out of the hostilitiesbetween the Taira and the Minamoto.And while residingnear the Ise Shrine-thetutelage shrine of the imperialfamily-he bore witness to theshift of politicalpower from the imperial court to themilitary hegemony. By all accounts,it appearsthat SaigyO was a "royalist"and sidedwith the court, scorning the riseto powerof the militaryhouses. Poems he composedat Ise and itsvicinity reveal his ardentsupport of the imperial family. The syncretismespoused by the Shingon sect inthe identification ofAmaterasu with the cosmic Buddha essence, Vairocana-the theoryof honjisuijaku (assimilation of Buddhasand local godsor kami)-seemsto have providedSaigy6 with a perfectjustification for his being a Buddhistmonk and yetremaining a staunchsupporter of the court.Moreover, one getsthe sense that theact ofcomposing poetry was forSaigyO a wayof offering prayer to theimperial rule. In Saigyo'sday itwas believednecessary that for the imperial family to continue to rulethe land,the sacred palace (Saigu)in whichresided the unmarried imperial princessas the "augustcane" to the Sun GoddessAmaterasu, had to be properly maintained.When Princess Junshi, who was servingAmaterasu at thesacred palace, fellill while in officeand died on May 5, 1172, Kuj5 Kanezane,Minister of the Right,wrote in his journal,Gyokuyo: "The kamihave abandonedour country!"4 Saigyoappears to have closelyshared this apprehension for the future of imperial rule,and prayedfor the enduring presence of the kami spirit as theprotector of the imperialfamily. As sketchilyshown above, LaFleur's present book opens up fascinatingand im- portantquestions on manyfronts, and as such
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