DOCSLIB.ORG

Kibi’S Adventures in China (Kibi Daijin Nittō Emaki): Japanese Consciousness of Foreign Powers and a Secret Code

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kibi’S Adventures in China (Kibi Daijin Nittō Emaki): Japanese Consciousness of Foreign Powers and a Secret Code University Press of Colorado Urban Institute Chapter Title: The Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China (Kibi daijin nittō emaki): Japanese Consciousness of Foreign Powers and a Secret Code Book Title: Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan Book Author(s): Noriko T. Reider Published by: University Press of Colorado, Urban Institute. (2016) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1g04zg4.7 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms University Press of Colorado, Urban Institute are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan This content downloaded from 128.112.109.90 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:15:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 3 The Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China (Kibi daijin nittō emaki ) Japanese Consciousness of Foreign Powers and a Secret Code in paRt 1 We saW an outstanding band of warriors, Raikō, Hōshō, and Raikō’s shitennō, beat cannibalistic oni and a monstrous earth spider that went against imperial authority. But an oni can be a helper of impe- rial Japan, and so can a spider. In Kibi daijin nittō emaki (Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China, end of the twelfth century), Minister Kibi escapes from captivity in China with the help of an oni, a spider, Japanese divinities, and his own magical skills. Kibi no Makibi (695–775) is a historical fgure, famous for his depth and breadth of scholarship and administrative skills—he was one of only two scholars promoted to the position of minister of the right (Miyata, Kibi no Makibi 3). Scholars and priests take prominent roles in dealing with oni, especially before the rise of the samurai in the late twelfth century. While using a historical fgure as its protagonist, the Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China (hereafter Minister Kibi’s Adventures) is clearly fctional, like the previous two stories, Shuten Dōji and Tsuchigumo zōshi (Picture Scroll of an Earth Spider). Kibi’s erudition and talents had given rise to various legends; by the beginning of the twelfth century he was considered a great magico-religious fgure—the ancestor of Japanese Onmyōdō (the Way of yin-yang).1 When this larger-than-life scholar is portrayed in Minister Kibi’s Adventures against a fctional hostile Chinese court—a lone offcial envoy of small Japan against the powerhouse of imperial China that wants to kill him—Kibi no Makibi becomes a symbol of Japan. Minister Kibi’s Adventures reveals a myth of Japanese diplomacy as well as augmenting the position of Kibi no Makibi as the Japanese ances- tor of Onmyōdō. DOI: 10.7330/9781607324904.c003 89 This content downloaded from 128.112.109.90 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:15:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 90 Part II: Scholars the illustRateD stORY OF MinisteR kibi’s aDventuRes in china Minister Kibi’s Adventures dates back to the end of the twelfth century. The scroll was created at the proposal of Cloistered Emperor GoShirakawa (1127–92, reigned 1155–58). The scroll was originally kept at Rengeō-in Temple, built in the Cloistered Emperor’s residential compound called Hōjūji Palace, alongside Ban dainagon ekotoba (Illustrated Story of the Courtier Ban Dainagon, late twelfth century) and Hikohohodemi no Mikoto emaki (Illustrated Story of the God Hikohohodemi, late twelfth century), both commissioned by Cloistered Emperor GoShirakawa. Currently, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston owns Minister Kibi’s Adventures. Minister Kibi’s Adventures had led a checkered life until it landed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932. According to the entry on the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month of 1441 in Kanmon nikki, Prince Fushiminomiya Sadafusa’s (1372–1456) diary, Shin-Hachimangū Shrine of Matsunaga Manor in Wakasa Province (present-day southwestern Fukui prefecture) had this work, together with Ban dainagon ekotoba and Hikohohodemi no Mikoto emaki. The owners changed several times between 1441 and 1732, when the work is found in the possession of Kyoto merchant Miki Gondayū. ownership changed a few more times after 1732, then an osaka antique dealer, Toda Firm, made a successful bid to buy Minister Kibi’s Adventures on June 14, 1923, at the price of 180,900 yen. No one in Japan was willing to buy this treasure from the dealer for a long time, possibly because of the aftermath of the Great Earthquake of Kanto in 1923. Finally, nine years later in 1932, Tomita Kōjirō (1890–1976), the MFA’s curator of Oriental art, purchased the scroll through the intermediary of the Yamanaka Trading Company. Interestingly, the MFA’s purchase of the scroll led directly to the strengthening of Japanese laws against exporting important cultural prop- erties. When Minister Kibi’s Adventures was sold to the MFA, it was on one scroll that measured 32.0 cm by 24.5 m. In 1964, however, the scroll was cut into four parts and sent to Japan for repair and maintenance. The Japanese specialists made the parts into the present form of four scrolls. As the year coincided with the Tokyo olympics, in commemoration of the olympics Minister Kibi’s Adventures was made public for the frst time in Japan at the Tokyo National Museum (see Komatsu Shigemi, Kibi daijin nittō emaki 3: 94–108, 166; Kanda 10–11; Kuroda, Kibi Daijin nittō emaki no nazo 38–52). The scrolls went back to Japan for exhibit four more times, in 1983, 2000, 2010, and 2012–13. Regarding the painter(s), Tokiwa Mitsunaga (late Heian period) or someone close to him has long been considered the creater, but a recent This content downloaded from 128.112.109.90 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:15:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China 91 postulation is that a number of painters familiar with Tokiwa Mitsunaga’s style did the work (Kanda 11; Bosuton Bijutsukan Nihon bijutsu no shihō 243). The calligrapher is unknown. PLOt summary Of the illustRateD stORY OF MinisteR kibi’s aDventuRes in china Minister Kibi no Makibi arrives in China as a Japanese envoy to Tang. Upon his arrival, however, he is taken by the Chinese court, which is jealous of Kibi’s skills and intelligence, to a tower where prisoners frequently die over- night. Earlier, Abe no Nakamaro (698–770), who was also sent to China as a Japanese envoy to Tang, was starved to death in the same tower and turned into an oni. The oni, that is, Abe no Nakamaro’s dead spirit, wants to hear news about his descendants in Japan but cannot get any informa- tion because whenever he approaches someone in the tower, the person dies of fear upon seeing him (oni). Makibi, undaunted, tells the oni about Nakamaro’s descendants. In return, the grateful oni informs Kibi no Makibi about China. The following morning, Chinese offcials are astonished to see Kibi alive. They give Kibi no Makibi four challenges: (1) understand- ing Monzen (Wenxuan, Selections of Refned Literature),2 (2) learning go (igo), a board game,3 (3) deciphering the poem “Yabatai” (see the section of Komine, “Yabatai-shi” no mori, about “Yabatai”), and (4) living life without food. After Kibi outsmarts all the challenges with the oni’s help, his own skills, and the aid of Japanese divinities, he has the oni bring an old sugoroku set (board, dice, and a tube) and Kibi hides the sun and the moon in the tube. He threatens the Chinese court that unless it lets him return to Japan, China will remain dark. The Chinese let Kibi return to Japan. COnDitiOn Of the illustRateD stORY OF MinisteR kibi’s aDventuRes in china Minister Kibi’s Adventures lacks the opening written section and all the text after the frst two challenges, that is, Kibi’s understanding of Monzen and his winning a go game. Fortunately, the rest of the story is known from “Kibi nittō no kan no koto” (Kibi’s Adventures While in China) of Gōdanshō (The Ōe Conversations, ca. 1104–8),4 the source of Minister Kibi’s Adventures. Many illustrations after the second challenge are also missing, except for such scenes as the Chinese scholars writing down the “Yabatai” poem, an urgent discussion about the disappearance of the sun and the moon, and the diviners arriving at the palace. These illustrations are, according to This content downloaded from 128.112.109.90 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:15:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 92 Part II: Scholars Kuroda Hideo, pasted in the wrong locations, that is, illustrations are out of order plot-wise because of an error or miscommunication during the scroll making (or possibly repair). When the illustrations are correctly placed, the picture-story progresses more smoothly and rhythmically (see Kuroda, Kibi Daijin nittō emaki no nazo).5 the histOriCaL CharaCters kibi no Makibi, the minister According to Shoku Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan, Continued, 797), an imperially commissioned Japanese history text, Kibi no Makibi is one of only two students sent abroad who became famous in China (Aoki, SNKBT 15: 459).6 He is also celebrated as one of only two scholars who reached the position of minister of the right in Japanese history (Miyata, Kibi no Makibi 3).7 His father is Shimotsumichi no Kunikatsu (?–?), a minor offcial from Bitchū Province (present-day Okayama prefecture); his mother is from the Yagi family.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Katsushika Hokusai and a Poetics of Nostalgia
    ACCESS: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EDUCATION 2015, VOL. 33, NO. 1, 33–46 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2014.964158 Katsushika Hokusai and a Poetics of Nostalgia David Bell College of Education, University of Otago ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This article addresses the activation of aesthetics through the examination of cultural memory, Hokusai, an acute sensitivity to melancholy and time permeating the literary and ukiyo-e, poetic allusion, nostalgia, mono no aware pictorial arts of Japan. In medieval court circles, this sensitivity was activated through a pervasive sense of aware, a poignant reflection on the pathos of things. This sensibility became the motivating force for court verse, and ARTICLE HISTORY through this medium, for the mature projects of the ukiyo-e ‘floating world First published in picture’ artist Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai reached back to aware sensibilities, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2015, Vol. 47, No. 6, subjects and conventions in celebrations of the poetic that sustained cultural 579–595 memories resonating classical lyric and pastoral themes. This paper examines how this elegiac sensibility activated Hokusai’s preoccupations with poetic allusion in his late representations of scholar-poets and the unfinished series of Hyakunin isshu uba-ga etoki, ‘One hundred poems, by one hundred poets, explained by the nurse’. It examines four works to explain how their synthesis of the visual and poetic could sustain aware themes and tropes over time to maintain a distinctive sense of this aesthetic sensibility in Japan. Introduction: Mono no aware How can an aesthetic sensibility become an activating force in and through poetic and pictorial amalgams of specific cultural histories and memories? This article examines how the poignant aesthetic sensibility of mono no aware (a ‘sensitivity to the pathos of things’) established a guiding inflection for social engagements of the Heian period (794–1185CE) Fujiwara court in Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • Heike Legacies
    Mikael Adolphson, Anne Commons, eds.. Lovable Losers: The Heike in Action and Memory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015. 284 pp. $55.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-4675-6. Reviewed by Naama Eisenstein Published on H-Buddhism (January, 2016) Commissioned by Erez Joskovich (Department of Philosophy Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) The close relationship of religion and politics and had the power to give new life to fgures al‐ in medieval Japan is well known and studied. In most forgotten by history. this new publication several scholars examine the Lovable Losers is the result of a four-year calculated combination of religious politics and process, beginning with an international confer‐ faith in Taira no Kiyomori’s (1118-81) rise to pow‐ ence in 2011 focusing on the Heike family and er. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, this book their cultural legacy. The discussions from that may not seem relevant to scholars of Japanese conference echo in the book even for those who, Buddhism at frst, but it is precisely that nature like me, were not lucky enough to participate in it. that exposes just how deeply embedded was Bud‐ The common ground of the chapters is laid out in dhism in premodern Japan. Kiyomori has been a well-written introduction, which surveys the immortalized as a temperamental and selfish chapters and clarifies the intentions and aims of tyrant, but from Lovable Losers he emerges a the writers, unifying twelve different papers into sharp leader, who understood well the religious, one coherent book. The book has two parts: the political, and social workings of his time, as well first focuses on the Heike and their activities dur‐ as how to use and adapt them.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Reflections on Japanese Religion and Its Relationship to the Imperial System
    Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1990 17/2-3 Some Reflections on Japanese Religion and Its Relationship to the Imperial System Joseph M. Kitagawa Autobiographical vs. Biographical Perspectives and Inner vs. Outer Meanings It is an irony of history and also probably a riddle beyond our normal comprehension and logic that a nation like Japan, which boasts rather sophisticated learning, technology and “enlightened civilization,” opted in the modern period (more particularly between 1868 and 1945) to legitimize its national identity and spiritual and physical well-being by means of a mythology-ridden imperial system. On the other hand, we must acknowledge the plain fact that Japan’s configuration of religion, national identity，and imperial system is no more puzzling or bizarre than other examples like the Dalai Lama of Tibet, believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokite^vara, or the allegedly “infallible” Roman papacy. All of these cases demonstrate the intimate relationships that exist between our “autobiographical” and “biographical” understandings and affirmations of experience, and between the “inner” and “outer” meanings of given historical phenomena. Thus, more often than not, the insider “autobiographically” affirms the self-authenticating “inner meaning” of his or her community or tradition. Indeed, to quote G. van der Leeuw on the meaning of “community” to the insider: 130 Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 11/2-3 [It] is something not manufactured, but given; it depends not upon sentiment or feeling, but on the Unconscious. It need be founded upon no conviction, since it is self-evident; [people] do not become members of it, but “belong to it” (1964, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Character
    - ijj. _ TRtrONG e*i HOC sir PHAM TP HO CHI MINH HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION Qlj TAP CHI KHOA HOC JOURNAL OF SCIENCE ISSN. KHOA HOC XA HQl VA NHAN VAN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES 1859-3100 Tap16,S6 7 (2019): 15-25 Vol. 16, No. 7(2019)- 15-25 Email: tapci)ikhoahoc%hcmue.edu.vn; Website. http:/Ackh.hcmue.edu.vr Research Article LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE'S IDENTITY OF EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES IN "CHINESE CHARACTER CULTURAL SPHERE" IN THE ANCIENT AND MIDDLE AGES Phan Thu Van Ho Chi Minh City University of Education Corresponding author: Phan Thu Van -Email: [email protected] Received: April 18. 2019; Revised' May 21. 2019; Accepted: June 10, 2019 ABSTRACT Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese literature all used Chinese characters, received Chinese literary influence, and tried to create national writing based on Chinese characters' application. In this article, I will delve into the issue of influential language, literature and literaty genres within the Chinese character cultural sphere, while also detailing the specific nature and temperament of the developmental process in regards to each country's literature Keywords: identity. East Asean literature, Chinese character cultural sphere (iH^X'fbS). 1. Introduction Chinese characters are the root of Han culture and are considered the fifth largest invention of the Chinese nation. The four oldest types of scripts that have ever appeared in the world are: the Egyptian script, the Sumerian script, the Babylonian script and the Chinese script, but only Chinese characters are still alive today, all the others are now dead languages.
    [Show full text]
  • Kosztolányi Dezső Japán Versfordításai
    Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem Bölcsészettudományi Kar DOKTORI DISSZERTÁCIÓ KOLOZSY-KISS ESZTER KOSZTOLÁNYI DEZSŐ JAPÁN VERSFORDíTÁSAI Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskola Vezetője: Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernő egyetemi tanár Összehasonlító Irodalomtudomány Program Vezetője: Dr. Szegedy-Maszák Mihály egyetemi tanár A bizottság elnöke: Dr. Györffy Miklós CSc., egyetemi tanár Hivatalosan felkért bírálók: Dr. Angyalosi Gergely CSc. Dr. Székács Anna PhD. A bizottság titkára: Dr. Kappanyos András PhD. A bizottság további tagjai: Dr. Hidasi Judit CSc., egyetemi tanár Dr. Ferber Katalin PhD. Témavezető: Dr. Szegedy-Maszák Mihály MHAS., egyetemi tanár Budapest, 2010 1 I. FEJEZET KOSZTOLÁNYI DEZSŐ, A FORDÍTÓ Bevezetés „Fordítani nem lehet, csak átültetni, újrakölteni.”1 Az irodalom művelőinek, a költőknek, íróknak fontos szerep jut a társadalomban, s pontosan meg tudjuk határozni az irodalomtörténész és az irodalomkritikus helyét is. A műfordító azonban mintha kimaradna e felsorolásból. A közvélemény – melyet semmiképpen sem ajánlatos értékformáló mérceként beállítani – még a mai napig is azt a véleményt osztja, miszerint annak a műfordítónak, aki prózát fordít, egyben írónak is kell lennie, és nem nevezhető „igazi” műfordítónak az, aki lírát annak ellenére fordít, hogy önálló kötete valaha is megjelent volna. Sokat változott az idők folyamán a műfordítói szerep, maga a fordítás a szakfordítás szinonimájává vált, melyről sokaknak egy gyári munkához hasonló mechanikus folyamat jut eszébe. Amíg azonban egy tolmácstól elvárható, hogy folyékonyan beszélje az
    [Show full text]
  • ©Copyright 2012 Sachi Schmidt-Hori
    1 ©Copyright 2012 Sachi Schmidt-Hori 2 Hyperfemininities, Hypermasculinities, and Hypersexualities in Classical Japanese Literature Sachi Schmidt-Hori A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2012 Reading Committee: Paul S. Atkins, Chair Davinder L. Bhowmik Tani E. Barlow Kyoko Tokuno Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Department of Asian Languages and Literature 3 University of Washington Abstract Hyperfemininities, Hypermasculinities, and Hypersexualities in Classical Japanese Literature Sachi Schmidt-Hori Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Associate Professor Paul S. Atkins Asian Languages and Literature This study is an attempt to elucidate the complex interrelationship between gender, sexuality, desire, and power by examining how premodern Japanese texts represent the gender-based ideals of women and men at the peak and margins of the social hierarchy. To do so, it will survey a wide range of premodern texts and contrast the literary depictions of two female groups (imperial priestesses and courtesans), two male groups (elite warriors and outlaws), and two groups of Buddhist priests (elite and “corrupt” monks). In my view, each of the pairs signifies hyperfemininities, hypermasculinities, and hypersexualities of elite and outcast classes, respectively. The ultimate goal of 4 this study is to contribute to the current body of research in classical Japanese literature by offering new readings of some of the well-known texts featuring the above-mentioned six groups. My interpretations of the previously studied texts will be based on an argument that, in a cultural/literary context wherein defiance merges with sexual attractiveness and/or sexual freedom, one’s outcast status transforms into a source of significant power.
    [Show full text]
  • Powerful Warriors and Influential Clergy Interaction and Conflict Between the Kamakura Bakufu and Religious Institutions
    UNIVERSITY OF HAWAllllBRARI Powerful Warriors and Influential Clergy Interaction and Conflict between the Kamakura Bakufu and Religious Institutions A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY MAY 2003 By Roy Ron Dissertation Committee: H. Paul Varley, Chairperson George J. Tanabe, Jr. Edward Davis Sharon A. Minichiello Robert Huey ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a doctoral dissertation is quite an endeavor. What makes this endeavor possible is advice and support we get from teachers, friends, and family. The five members of my doctoral committee deserve many thanks for their patience and support. Special thanks go to Professor George Tanabe for stimulating discussions on Kamakura Buddhism, and at times, on human nature. But as every doctoral candidate knows, it is the doctoral advisor who is most influential. In that respect, I was truly fortunate to have Professor Paul Varley as my advisor. His sharp scholarly criticism was wonderfully balanced by his kindness and continuous support. I can only wish others have such an advisor. Professors Fred Notehelfer and Will Bodiford at UCLA, and Jeffrey Mass at Stanford, greatly influenced my development as a scholar. Professor Mass, who first introduced me to the complex world of medieval documents and Kamakura institutions, continued to encourage me until shortly before his untimely death. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to them. In Japan, I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to Professors Imai Masaharu and Hayashi Yuzuru for their time, patience, and most valuable guidance.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Japan: a Cultural History by Professor Mark J
    R E S O U R C E S T H E G R E A T C O U R S E S Understanding Japan: A Cultural History By Professor Mark J. Ravina Produced by The Great Courses (Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company/Smithsonian, 2015) Twelve CDs with printed guidebook, six DVDs with printed guidebook, or download with digital guidebook Reviewed by Eric G. Dinmore While serving as President of the American Historical Association, William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin- Madison delivered one of the most inspiring addresses in years at that organization’s 2013 annual meeting in New Or - leans. Rather than promote an emerging subfield or present from his impressive original research, Professor Cronon used his time to focus on deep concerns he held about the diminished profile of professional historians in public life and the decline in public funding for history. To counter these trends, he urged his audience members to “come back from the cutting edge,” avoid “self-referential in - sider language,” and persuade the wider public of history’s importance and fascina - tions. Further, he reminded his fellow historians of the importance of good storytelling and passionate undergraduate teaching as keys “to keep asking what the past means and why ordinary people should care about it.” Professor Cronon called upon professional historians to join forces with other storytellers, including journal - ists and filmmakers, and to embrace the digital revolution as an opportunity to (re)connect their research with the concerns of outsiders. 1 Since well before Professor Cronon’s AHA presidential address, Mark Ravina of Emory University has worked hard to connect the uninitiated with the field of Japan - ese history.
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese Demon Lore Noriko T
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 1-1-2010 Japanese Demon Lore Noriko T. Reider [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Cultural History Commons, and the Folklore Commons Recommended Citation Reider, N. T. (2010). Japanese demon lore: Oni, from ancient times to the present. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Japanese Demon Lore Oni from Ancient Times to the Present Japanese Demon Lore Oni from Ancient Times to the Present Noriko T. Reider U S U P L, U Copyright © 2010 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322 Cover: Artist Unknown, Japanese; Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China, Scroll 2 (detail); Japanese, Heian period, 12th century; Handscroll; ink, color, and gold on paper; 32.04 x 458.7 cm (12 5/8 x 180 9/16 in.); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, by exchange, 32.131.2. ISBN: 978-0-87421-793-3 (cloth) IISBN: 978-0-87421-794-0 (e-book) Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free, recycled paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Reider, Noriko T. Japanese demon lore : oni from ancient times to the present / Noriko T. Reider.
    [Show full text]
  • Fusō Gobusshin Ron
    FUSŌ GOBUSSHIN RON - ENGLISH TRANSLATION – - Fascicle 1 - Translation Treatise on Japan's Protecting Buddha's and Gods - Preface. Anciently, the Great Priest Furi Qisong1 (1007-1072) hid himself near the West Lake for thirty years. Broadly he perused the instructions from Lu2, widely he searched the Indian scriptures, and he wrote down [his findings] in Fujiaobian 輔教編 ("Compilation in aid of the Teaching") and Fei Han 非韓3 ("Refuting Han [Yu]"), thirty chapters in all. He came to the aid of the teachings of Śākya[muni, which] were already on the verge of collapsing. I was forced to withdraw4 to the village Nanmoku,5 [where] I 1 Song Mingjiao dashi is the Chinese priest Furi Qisong 佛日契嵩, a.k.a. Mingjiao-dashi. (N.B. The Japanese pronunciation of the name 契嵩 is "Kaisū.") Amongst other things, he was an exponent of the sanjiao heyi 三教合一 ("Unity of the Three Teachings"). Bussho kaisetsu daijiten lists six titles under his name. 2 The words "the instructions of Lu" are evidently opposed to the words "Indian scriptures," i.e. Buddhist texts. The same applies to the seven loci one can find through the "SAT Daizōkyō Text Database"; here, too, the words are opposed to zhufen 竺墳, (six times) and shidian 釋典 (one time). The term evidently refers to the Confucian corpus (perhaps to Lunyu?). The compound is not listed in Morohashi, 3 Both in Fujiaobian (3 fasc.) and in Fei Han, Qisong takes a non-exclusivist position towards Confucianism and Taoism. N.B. For the change of the characters in the titles, see Honkoku, note 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Folktales and Other References in Toriyama's Dragon Ball
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repositori d'Objectes Digitals per a l'Ensenyament la Recerca i la Cultura Folktales and Other References in Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Xavier Mínguez-López Valencia University, Spain ELCIS Group [email protected] Departament Didàctica de la Llengua i la Literatura Avgda. Tarongers 4 46022 València Tel. ++34 605288430 Published in Animation: an Interdisciplinary Journal, 9(1). 2014 Abstract: The aim of this article is to show the relationship between Japanese folktales and Japanese anime as a genre, especially how the intertextuality with traditional tales and myth subvert its conventional use. To meet this goal I have used Toriyama’s successful Dragon Ball series, which has enjoyed continued popularity right from its first publication in the 1980s. I analyse the parallelism between Dragon Ball and a classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West, its main source. However, there are many other folkloric references present in Dragon Ball connected to religion and folktales. The author illustrates this relationship with examples taken from the anime that correspond to the traditional Japanese Folklore but that are used with a subversive goal which makes it a rich source for analysis and for Literary Education. Keywords: animated TV series, anime, Dragon Ball, Japanese animation, Japanese folktales, Japanese religion, literary education, myth, narrative, subversion, Toriyama Corresponding Author: Xavier Mínguez López, Departament Didàctica de la Llengua i la Literatura, 1 Universitat de València Avgda. Tarongers 4, 46022 València, Spain. Email: [email protected] Pop culture is too pervasive, rampant, eclectic and polyglot to be unravelled and remade into an academic macramé pot holder[...] It's a cultural gulf defined by differences in view of how cultures are transforming and mutating through transnational activity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Earliest Societies in Japan
    CHAPTER 1 THE EARLIEST SOCIETIES IN JAPAN Japan's oldest extant chronicles, the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki, de- scribe the trek of Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko no Mikoto from south Kyushu to the Yamato plain accompanied by hand-chosen clan (uji) heads. He is referred to by later historians as the first emperor, posthu- mously called Jimmu. At every step he was opposed by well-entrenched people whose conquest often required ingenuity and guile. The degree of their decimation seems to have been determined by the degree of their physical abnormality. For the bulk of his adversaries, the killing of their chiefs was all that was needed to bring them into line. But in extreme cases, such as the Tsuchigumo (earth spiders) who were people too primitive even to have responsible chiefs, pockets had to be elimi- nated by a process that was not completed until at least the time of the ruler Keikd, sometime in the fourth century A.D. When the physical and social differences were too great, it seems that assimilation was inconceivable and neighborly relations impossible. These stories may look at first like an unnecessarily candid admis- sion of the presence of other peoples, as the Eight Island Country of Japan was implicitly created for the enjoyment of the descendants of the Sun Goddess (Amaterasu). But by stressing the existence of oth- ers, the chosen were sharply distinguished from the undeserving, and the Yamato people could legitimately place themselves at the top of a scaled social ladder. The right to rule was therefore not predicated on prior occupation or existing status but on the act of divine creation.
    [Show full text]