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A Presentation of the Poet Ikkyu with Translations from the Kyounshu "Mad Cloud Anthology."

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A Presentation of the Poet Ikkyu with Translations from the Kyounshu A PRESENTATION OF THE POET IKKYU WITH TRANSLATIONS FROM THE KYOUNSHU "MAD CLOUD ANTHOLOGY." by SONJA AHNTZEN B.A., University of British Colombia, 1966 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF M.A. in the Department of Asian Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1970 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of -/\f^A h) 'bTUfolES The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ABSTRACT This thesis presents a resume of the traditional biography of the Japanese Zen poet, Ikkyu Sojun and translations with commentaries of a selected number of poems from the Kyounshu, "Mad Cloud Anthology,", a eollection of Ikkyu's Chinese poems. The Ky5unshu consists of one thousand and sixty Chinese poems, some with prose introductions and diary-like descriptions of the circumstances surrounding their composition. Thus, the Kyounshu,aside from its wealth of poetry, philosophy, and historical interest,is also a valuable source of biographical information about the poet himself. There are some difficulties inherent in this study. To begin with? it involved research in two languages, Japanese and classical Chinese. Secondly, the subject range of Ikkyu's poetry is very large; it includes the whole of Zen literature, the Mahayana Sutras, the classics of Chinese poetry and Chinese history as well. Although biographical information about Ikkyu in Japanese is fairly substantial, textual criticism and commentary for his poetry is extremely limited, thus, one is sent often without a chart to the maze of first sources seeking allusions. This, coupled with the very subjective nature of the poetry itself - with Ikkyu, originality tends to make for obscurity - makes the unraveling of sources a thorny problem sometimes. Thus, it is no wonder that few attempts have been made by scholars, even in Japan,to write commentaries for these poems. To my knowledge, this is the first attempt to translate into English and give commentaries for this large number of poems from the Kyounshu?although,compared to the total number of poems, this is still few indeed. This thesis thenjis really- preparatory work for a more complete translation of the Kyonnshu which could well) and will, I hope, constitute the subject of a Ph.D. thesis. Having outlined the difficulties inherent in the subject of this thesis, it would be well to point out in what ways this study is of particular interest. To begin with, the field of kanbun, literature in Chinese written by Japanese writers, has been relatively untouched in so far as translations into English are concerned; thus, to some extent these translations are an opening up of new territory in Japanese Literature. Secondly, Ikkyu's voice is an unusual one in Japanese poetry. Japanese poetry has been so closely associated with a contemplative appreciation of nature, delicate and restrained emotions, suggestion rather then statement, and a subtle sense of nuance, qualities rather constant throughout the development of uta, renga and haiku. However, it is with some interest then, that one greets a poet such as Ikkyu in whose poetry these qualities are quite absent. Ikkyu's poetry seldom seems to be the product of quiet reflection; rather his poems have the quality of being written in the heat of the moment; strong and sometimes violent emotions,, defiance, anger, passion, remorse, love, are boldly expressed. Ikkyu's poetry also tends, because of his own eruditeness; to be quite intellectual poetry which would lean toward the extremely abstract were it not for his strong personal voice which is ever-present. In short, Ikkyu's poetry is very individualistic in a culture which has never put a high store on individuality. Thus it is, that Ikkyu adds a new dimension to our conception of Japanese poetry. OS ) Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 II. Historical Background 4 III. Biographical Information & Comment 9 IV. Philosophical Poems 25 V. Critical Poems 69 VI. Love Poems 83 VII. Footnotes 115 VIII. Bibliography 120 (ill) I. Introduction Ikkyu is practically unknown as a literary figure. Legends that grew up around him in the Tokugawa period were passed on to succeeding generations of children for entertainment's sake^so Ikkyu is well-known by name in Japan today, but as a poet, he is totally ignored. Thus,it is not strange that in the Vest he should hardly be known at all. The greatest reason for his obscurity as a poet, both in Japan and the West, is the fact that he wrote his most important work in kanbun, that is Chinese. As Japan had no system of writing before contact with China, it was only natural that educated peopleAshould write in Chinese; indeed; the ability to read and write Chinese constituted the only literate education possible, Even after a phonetic system of writing had evolved from the use of Chinese characters, still, a greater part of any person's education consisted of learning to read and write Chinese. This was true right up to the Tokugawa period, and no one thought it strange. Thus, a great number of Japan's most gifted and intelligent men, including most of the great monks, wrote in Chinese. However, in the Tokugawa Period with Motoori Norinaga, a movement against Chinese language and learning "took mo• mentum. The great scholar Motoori Norfcaga was the first scholar in Japan to apply himself to things purely Japanese, his great work being the elucidation of the earliest Japanese History, the Ko.jiki, on the basis of which he drew conclusions about Japanese language and Japanese sensibility. He too was the first to claim the uta, waka, and it's related forms as the only true Japanese poetry, all the poetry written in Chinese being only imitations. He also criticized Buddhism for being 2 a Chinese religion and, thus, not suitable for the Japanese soul which found its true fulfillment in Shinto. These ideas caught on and spread quickly, especially when Japanese identity was newly threatened from the outside by confrontation with the West. Thus, by the time Western scholars became interested in Japanese Literature, it was a firmly entrenched idea that the only Japanese Literature was literature written in Japanese, which in poetry means the waka, uta, renga and haiku. So it is that the overwhelming number of translations into Western languages are of these forms. This, coupled with the decline among Japanese people of the ability to read Chinese after the opening to the West and the necessary rush to acquire Western learning, has removed the enormous store of Japanese Literature written in Chinese farther and farther away from the reach of most people in Japan as well as in the West. Western interest in Zen and other forms of Buddhism has, however, initiated some work in the rediscovery of kawbun literature. Such is the case with this thesis, for it was my own interest in Zen and Buddhism in general that led me to choose Ikkyu's poems as a subject for translation. It should be noted at this point that Ikkyu did not write all his work in Chinese. There is a mass of material in Japanese which is attributed to him^but, of that, very little is considered to be actually his. A collection of Doka, "Poems of the Way," that is, waka written on common religious themes, which has been translated into English by R. H. Blyth,* is perhaps the most surely Ikkyu's. Bukigun, a religious allegory which tells of a battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell^is less certainly Ikkyu's. After that, all the rest has been attributed to one or more other monks as well and so is likely not Ikkyu's. The 3 Kyounshu is really the only work of Ikkyu which expresses his unique personality) and also the only work which contains definite personal references, dates and diary-like descriptions of noteworthy events in Ikkyu's life. It is, therefore, the most interesting. The Kyounshu, "Had Cloud Anthology*1 is a collection of 1060 poems written in Chinese. Some of the poems have date a, but most of them do notj> So it is very difficult to know during which period of Ikkyu's life they were written. In the Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho and Ikkyu Osho zen^hu they are divided into jo kan and ge kan."first scroll ""second scroll," and it is assumed that these correspond to an early and a later i^eriod in Ikkyu's life. The Yamato Bunka[lfaikan edition of the Kyounshu. the text of which I have used most extensively since it is the most recent and comprehensive edition of the Kyounshu, does not maintain this division but keeps basically the same order in its arrangement of the poems. A detailed commentary to the whole of the Kyounshu has never been done. The Yamato BunkejKaikan edition concerns itself only with the establishment of the text. The commentary in the Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho is cursory to say the least. I am indebted, however, to Professors Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka 2 Skirt who have provided, in the periodical Kokubungakuy detailed commentaries for over a hundred poems of the Kyounshu.
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