The Tale of Matsura Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, Number 9 Center for Japanese Studies The University of Michigan The Tale of Matsura Teika's Experiment in Fiction Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Wayne P. Lammers Ann Arbor Center for Japanese Studies The University of Michigan 1992 Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. © 1992 by the Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 108 Lane Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984 (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Matsura no Miya monogatari. English The tale of Matsura: Fujiwara Teika's experiment in fiction / translated with an introduction and notes by Wayne P. Lammers. p. cm.—(Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies ; no. 9) Translation of: Matsura no Miya monogatari. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-939512-48-3 (alk. paper) I. Fujiwara, Sadaie, 1162-1241. II. Lammers, Wayne P., 1951-. III. Title. IV. Series. PL790.M34E5 1992 895.6'322—dc20 90-42197 CIP A Note on the Type This book was set in Caslon 540, a modern adaptation of a type designed by William Caslon (1692— 1766), greatest of English letter founders. The Caslon face, an artistic, easily read type, has enjoyed two centuries of ever-increasing popularity in our own country. The first copies of the Declaration of Independence and the first paper currency distributed to the citizens of the newborn nation were printed in this type face. Book design by Lisa Jacobs Composed by The Composing Room of Michigan, Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan Printed and bound by Braun-Brumfield, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-939512-48-5 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-472-03817-6 (paper) ISBN 978-0-472-12764-1 (ebook) ISBN 978-0-472-90159-3 (open access) The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This book is dedicated to the memory of Robert H. B rower 1923-1988 Contents List of Charts ix Preface xi Matsura no Mtya Monogatari: A Critical Introduction 1 Chapter One: Fujiwara Teika and Matsura no Mtya Monogatari 3 Chapter Two: The Aesthetic of Yden in a Narrative Context 27 Chapter Three: The Manuscripts and Texts 53 The Tale of Matsura: A Translation of Matsura no Miya Monogatari 55 Book One 57 Book Two 101 Book Three 139 Appendix A: Evidence on Dating Matsura no Miya Monogatari 163 Appendix B: The Authorship of Matsura no Miya Monogatari 173 Bibliography 193 Indexes 201 List of Charts Chart I: External Evidence for Dating 164 Chart II: Internal Evidence for Dating 166 Chart III: The Possible Existence of Different Versions 169 Preface This book derives from my doctoral dissertation, "A Poetic Ideal in a Narrative Context: Fujiwara Teika and The Tale of Matsura {Matsura no miya monogatari)" submitted to the University of Michigan in 1987. I have expanded chapter one to include brief remarks on aspects of the tale left untouched in my dissertation, and have added further elaboration at several places in chapter two. I have condensed former chapters three through six and combined them with the crucial analytical portions of the three original appendixes into two, much shorter, new appendixes; the analysis here supersedes the earlier in several respects but does not affect the essence of the argument. The translation has also seen minor adjustments throughout. The translation is based on Hagitani Boku, ed., Matsura no miya monogatari (Kadokawa, 1970), which is the only edition of the text to supply annotations and a complete modern Japanese translation. Further information on this text can be found in chapter three. My translation and notes owe a considerable debt to Hagitani's work even where I have not provided explicit references; in gen- eral, I have given individual citations only where it seemed particularly impor- tant to underscore my adherence to, or signal my departure from, his reading of a passage. Although I have striven to make the translation readable entirely on its own, without reference to notes, I have also made no effort to minimize the notes either in number or in size. The tale presumes a vast knowledge of prior Japanese and Chinese literature on the part of the reader, and it cannot be appreciated in its full complexity, even by the specialist, without supplemen- tary information close at hand. My hope is that this has resulted in a work more useful to advanced students and specialists of Japanese literature. In Romanizing Japanese I have followed the modified Hepburn system (n rather than m immediately before b, p, and m\ and for Chinese I have used Wade-Giles. All Japanese and Chinese names have been given in their native order, surname first. For Japanese, I have preserved the particle no when it appears between surname and personal name in the translation, but in the introduction and notes I have followed the recent practice of retaining it only after surnames of one or two syllables—thus, Abe no Nakamaro, but Fujiwara Teika. For Chinese personal names and titles of works I have consulted The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (William H. Nienhauser, Jr., ed.) where possible. xii PREFACE I wish to acknowledge with deepest gratitude the generous encouragement and help I received from the late Robert H. Brower in preparing this translation and study. I benefited immeasurably from his learned counsel through many years of graduate study and dissertation research, and had hoped to profit from many more years as I made my way out from under his wing to establish myself as a full-fledged member of the scholarly community, getting to know him better as a colleague and friend and not just as a teacher. His sudden illness and death thus came as a particularly severe blow to me. His critical eye saved me from many an embarrassing mistake in writing my dissertation, and I do not doubt that it would have further improved this book had the manuscript been ready in time for him to review. In hope that what has resulted without benefit of his continued guidance is nevertheless worthy of him, it is to his memory that I dedicate this book. I would also like to thank several other individuals for their various con- tributions: Tsai-fa Cheng, Tse-tsung Chow, and Joseph S. M. Lau for kindly answering questions about matters Chinese; James O'Brien for his invaluable comments on the translation; Robert Danly for his always helpful advice; and my wife Cheryl and son Michael for their patient and understanding support through all the years it has taken to bring this work to completion. Needless to say, I alone must bear the burden of any errors or infelicities that remain uncorrected. Finally, I am most grateful for the support provided this study at the disser- tation stage by grants from the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program and the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan. Matsura no Miya Monogatan: A Critical Introduction Chapter One: Fujiwara Teika and Matsura no Miya Monogatari Matsura no miya monogatari ("The Tale of Matsura," ca. 1190) is a classical Japanese tale or romance that belongs to the same category of courtly fiction as Murasaki Shikibu's unsurpassed masterpiece, Genji monogatari ("The Tale of Genji," ca. 1010). When compared with most of the best-known works of its genre, however, Matsura no miya monogatari stands out in striking contrast: Whereas the typical monogatari is set in the Heian period (794—1185) and in the Japanese capital of that time, Matsura no miya monogatari is set in the period before Japan's first "permanent" capital was established at present-day Nara in 710, and most of its action takes place in China. Whereas the typical monogatari centers almost entirely on affairs of the heart between men and women, nearly half of Matsura no miya monogatari is devoted to politics and government, in- cluding a violent succession struggle with armies marching halfway across China and back. And whereas the typical monogatari is fundamentally realistic, with only minor intrusions of the supernatural, the progress of Matsura no miya mono- gatari depends on supernatural interventions almost from beginning to end. The work is in three maki ("scrolls" or "books"—in this case the latter), but, for purposes of outlining, the plot may be divided into five parts. First comes a sort of prologue, introducing the protagonist Ujitada as a child and in brief order taking him past the usual milestones in the early life of an idealized monogatari hero: he excels in Chinese poetry at the age of seven, demonstrates precocious mastery of musical instruments, undergoes a coming-of-age cere- mony at the age of twelve, receives appointment to three highly demanding offices at the age of sixteen, and then experiences the awakening of first love. Ujitada's hopes in love are stopped short, however, when the mother of the lady who holds his heart captive accedes to the emperor's wish that she send her daughter to court. A short time later Ujitada is appointed deputy ambassador of an embassy scheduled to go to China the following year. The second part tells of Ujitada's early experiences in China, including the immediate and special favor he receives from the emperor for demonstrating his superior talents and great knowledge. On a night away from court, he meets an old man playing the kin, the seven-stringed Chinese koto, or zither,1 and the 1.