Translations and Psychoanalytical Interpretations of Selected Tales from Konjakumonoga Tari-Shu
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
TRANSLATIONS AND PSYCHOANALYTICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF SELECTED TALES FROM KONJAKUMONOGA TARI-SHU by AKEMI TAKIZAWA B.A., The University of British Columbia, 1996 B.Ed., The University of British Columbia, 1997 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEBREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Asian Studies) We accept thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA May 2002 © Akemi Takizawa, 2002 UBC Rare Books and Special Collections - Thesis Authorisation Form Page 1 of I 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 or .her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoil/thesauth.htmi 5/20/02 ABSTRACT I have translated and analyzed eight selected episodes from Konjaku Monogatari- Shu (believed to have been compiled around 1120 A.D.). The common themes of these episodes are how sexuality and gender relations are explicitly and implicitly expressed. I have chosen psychoanalytical approaches (mainly Freudian) to look closely at these episodes through the Konjaku author(s)/compliler(s)'s perceptions in order to better understand the plight of women in the late Ffeian period. In the male/female relationships portrayed in the episodes, women are often depicted as obedient and submissive to their husbands and lovers. If a woman exhibited more assertive behaviour however, it was seen as a force working against a harmonious marriage. Thus, marriage as depicted in the episodes is presented as a miserable relationship in which women are trapped. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Table of Contents Abbreviations Introduction 16:38 How a Man in Kii Province Did not Believe in Buddhism and Received Earthly Retribution 16:38 Analysis 20:10 How a Palace Guard, in the Reign of the Emperor Yozei, Travelled to Collect Gold. 20:10 Analysis 20:37 How Parents, Blinded by Treasure, Had Their Daughter Killed by an Ogre 20:37 Analysis 27:22 How Ki no Tosuke, of Mino Province, Saw a female Spirit and Eventually Died 27:22 Analysis 31:34 About 'Chopstick Grave' in Yamato Province 31:34 Analysis 24:9 A Doctor Cured the Woman Who Was Raped by a Snake 29:39 A Snake That Saw a Woman's Vagina Had Lust for Her Crawling Out of a Hole, but Was Killed by a Blade 29:40 The Snake That Saw a Monk's Penis While He Was Snoozing, Swallowing His Semen, and Died 24:9, 29:39, 29:40 Analysis Conclusion Bibliography iii ABBREVIATIONS NKBZ Nihon Koten Bungaku Zenshu NBJJ Nihon Bukkyo Jinmei Jiten KDJ Kokushi Daijiten KKJ Kadokawa Kogo Jiten IKJ Iwanami Kogo Jiten NKSJ Nihon Kodai Shizoku-jinmei Jiten KD Kogo Daijiten NZJ Nihon Zokushin Jiten B^mmm iv Introduction Konjaku Monogatari-shu (hereafter referred to as Konjaku) is believed to have been compiled around 1120 A.D., as suggested by Ikegami Jun'ichi in his book Konjaku Monogatari-shu no Sekai: Chusei no Akebono.1 This was a few decades after the Retired Emperor Shirakawa began his cloister government and when its political power was at its peak. According to Kunisaki Fumimaro, it was Shirakawa who ordered Konjaku complied as a textbook for his officers' education, under his new governmental system. Konjaku, for the most part, teaches its readers Buddhist lessons and morals, and that is the basis for the hypothesis that its author/compiler(s) had a profound understanding of Buddhism or were (a) Buddhist monk(s). Some argue that Minamoto no Takakuni (1004-1077)3 was the author of Konjaku based on citations in literary works such as Yakumo misho and the official document Honcho Shoseki Mokuroku that the author of both Uji Dainagon Monogatari and Ujishui Monogatari,4 was Takakuni.5 There is, however, no evidence to prove that Uji Dainagon Monogatari is identical to Konjaku or that the former is the origin of the latter. Conversely, Konno Toru claims that the author could not be Takakuni or any one of his contemporaneous aristocrats because of a number of obvious errors in the text that any aristocrat would not have made.6 Thus the answer to the question of authorship remains a mystery. The Konjaku author/compiler(s) put together more than one thousand stories, many of which had been passed down in oral tradition, with some chosen from 7 8 antecedents such as Nihon Rydi-ki and Sanbo Ekotoba. Both Nihon Ryoi-ki and Sanbo Ekotoba are collections of Buddhist stories, and two-thirds of the tales contained in Konjaku are about Buddhism. Others appear to be myths, actual incidents such as murders and robberies, and rumours. Each story ends with either a Buddhist moral or the author/compiler(s)'s impression of it. The author/compiler(s) concludes each story with a comment such as that women are jealous beings, or that one should not be greedy. In this way, even uneducated people could understand and follow Buddhist teachings. As well, these stories represent fragments of the social, political, emotional, and most importantly for the purpose of this paper, psychological life of the people of those days. Bruno Bettelheim applies psychoanalysis to typical Western fairytales and points out to his readers psychoanalytical interpretations of each of his selected tales.9 He maintains that fairy tales help children's psychological development. Contrarily, Maria Tatar states that there are two interpreting communities to fairly tales, namely children and their parents, and every retelling and/or reinterpreting of a tale done by adults is recreating the tale according to their own agenda. She opposes Bettelheim's psychoanalytical interpretation of stories by claiming that "[the stories that he chose to analyze] could be harnessed into service to support Freudian oedipal plots that position the child as transgressor whose deserved punishment provides a lesson for unruly children."10 This challenge notwithstanding, I will use Bettelheim's psychoanalytical approach in this paper to look at selected episodes from Konjaku to reveal what each episode could possibly mean on an unconscious level, so that one might be able to have some insight into the patriarchal society in which the author/compiler(s) lived, as reflected in the episodes written. I will also not neglect pertinent historical and socio- cultural background of that time, as Tatar points out, as these tales are analyzed. The Konjaku author/compiler(s) chose certain stories, and each was told in a particular way by which he consciously as well as unconsciously decided to tell it. Laura Mulvey points 2 out that "film reflects, reveals and even plays on the straight, socially established interpretation of sexual difference."11 In the late Heian period when there were no films available, story telling must have played a similar role. Surprisingly, some stories contain details that one can easily visualize, such as a woman's body and clothing. Some stories from Konjaku might have had a similar effect on its readers as modern films do on their audience. A few scholars, though, doubt the validity of the application of psychoanalytic methods of analysis to non-European cultures. One of them is Miyamoto Tadao. He offers, in his article "The Japanese and Psychoanalysis," several reasons why psychoanalysis has not yet taken root in Japan, focusing on its incompatibility with the Japanese psyche.12 He claims that Japanese society is matriarchal, not patriarchal, as was the case where psychoanalysis originated. Thus, there is no strong conflict between a child and his/her father, and therefore the Oedipus complex has no place to sprout. The second reason Miyamoto presents is that there are not as many sexual restrictions or constrictions in Japan as in the West. He further notes, "homosexual desires are given abundant opportunities for satisfaction in Japan."13 His last reason is the ambivalence of the borderline between "the conscious (ego) and the unconscious (id)" for the Japanese. He argues that there is no need to be psychoanalyzed if one's id surfaces as in the Japanese personality. There are other scholars who tend to agree with psychoanalysis being applied to the Japanese, but who insist on a few necessary modifications. Kosawa Heisaku, who was one of the early psychoanalysts in Japan, studied in Vienna for a year, and visited Freud twice during his stay there. His article, "Two kinds of guilty consciousness (Ajase 3 Complex)" proposes a theory for the Japanese, which he termed the Ajase complex,14 to replace Freud's Oedipus complex.15 Kosawa claims in his article that there are two kinds of guilty consciousness in children, namely "Zaiaku-Kan (sense of guilt)" and "Zange- shin (penitent heart)" found in Jodo-shin-shu,16 whose thought might be closer in the Japanese psyche than in a Christian-based European psyche.17 Children, in Kosawa's theory, develop a sense of guilt after committing some wrong. Then, as they are forgiven, a higher sense of guilt is recognized, which Kosawa identifies as a penitent heart.18 Okonogi Keigo summarizes Kosawa's theory of the Ajase Complex as being based on the mutual forgiveness between a mother and her son, such that it leads them to a restoration of oneness. This feeling of forgiveness can be found in day-to-day life in Japanese society, which contrasts with the Western patriarchal concept of punishment and expiation.19 Freud's Oedipus complex however, is based on the concept where a fear of castration, which represents punishment for incest and patricide, rules one's behaviour in a society.