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Optical Allusions Brill’S Japanese Studies Library Optical Allusions Brill’s Japanese Studies Library Edited by Joshua Mostow (Managing Editor) Caroline Rose Kate Wildman Nakai VOLUME 40 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/bjsl Optical Allusions Screens, Paintings, and Poetry in Classical Japan (ca. 800–1200) By Joseph T. Sorensen LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover illustration: Detail of Tōji Mountains and Waters screen, 11th c., Kyoto National Museum. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sorensen, Joseph T. Optical allusions : screens, paintings, and poetry in classical Japan (ca. 800-1200) / by Joseph T. Sorensen. p. cm. — (Brill’s Japanese studies library ; 40) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-21931-1 (hardback : acid-free paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-23151-1 (e-book) 1. Japanese poetry—Heian period, 792–1185—History and criticism. 2. Literature in art. 3. Screen painting, Japanese—History. I. Title. PL733.1186.A65S67 2012 895.6’1009—dc23 2012014310 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.nl/brill-typeface. ISSN 0925-6512 ISBN 978-90-04-21931-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-23151-1 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. For Fred Romagnolo Mentor, Teacher, Friend CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................ ix Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ xi Introduction: Thinking with Pictures ...................................................... 1 The Image and the Origins of Poetry .................................................. 2 Experience and Ekphrasis ....................................................................... 6 Painting and Poetic Essence ................................................................... 13 Optical Allusions: Image and Code ..................................................... 17 The Paths of Japanese Screen Poetry ................................................... 22 1. Screens and Poems, Contexts and Images ........................................... 31 Folding Screens in Japan ......................................................................... 31 Screens and Their Contexts .................................................................... 40 Early Painting-Poems in Chinese .......................................................... 45 Early Poems on Paintings in Japanese ................................................ 63 2. The Efflorescence of Screen Poetry ........................................................ 79 .Inscription and Perspective ................................................................... 79 Tsurayuki and Screen Poetry: Layered Perspective and Ekphrasis ...................................................................................................... 90 Mitsune and Screen Poetry: Sense and Sensibility ........................ 107 Lady Ise and Screen Poetry: Persona and Narrative ..................... 123 Reading, Viewing, Composing ............................................................... 140 3. The Dai Is Cast ........................................................................................... 149 Topical Convention vs. Lyric Expression ........................................... 149 Early Dai: Visual Perception and Direct Experience .................... 154 Folding Screens and Visual Topics ...................................................... 173 Screen Painting and Poetic Topic Development ............................ 182 Visual Thinking and Perceptual Cycles .............................................. 192 4. Politics and Precedence .......................................................................... 201 Screen Poetry and Shōshi’s Court Entrance of 999 ........................ 202 Screen Poetry and Ninshi’s Court Entrance of 1190 ........................ 222 viii contents Conclusion: Poetic Conception, Poetic Vision ..................................... 239 Appendix A: Screen Poems Predating Kokinshū (905) ...................... 255 Appendix B: Translation from Tales of Times Now Past .................... 257 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 263 Index ................................................................................................................... 281 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures 1a: Tōji Mountains and Waters screen (Senzui byōbu), 11th c., Kyoto National Museum ............................................................ 34 1b: Detail of Tōji Mountains and Waters screen .................................... 35 2: Jingoji Mountains and Waters screen, 13th-c. copy of 11th-c. original, Tokyo National Museum ........................................... 35 3: Frequency of screen poem composition, ca. 870–1170 ................... 80 4: Seaside dioramas (suhama) from a 17th-c. wood-block print ............................................................................................................... 167 5: Perceptual cycle with poetic topics ...................................................... 194 6: The Fujiwara House (abbreviated) ....................................................... 203 7a and b: Participants in the 1190 Screen Poems for Ninshi’s Court Entrance ........................................................................................... 227 Tables 1: Best-represented Poets in Kokinshū (ca. 905) .................................... 108 2: Topics in The Poems for the Palace Screen of Monthly Activities (Engi rokunen dairi tsukinami byōbu uta; 906) ............... 183 3: Timeline for the court entrance of Shōshi (999 [Chōhō 1]) .................................................................................................... 207 4: Timeline for the court entrance of Ninshi (from Kanezane’s diary Jade Leaves for the years 1189–1190 [Bunji 5–6]) ................................................................................................. 229 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to H. Mack Horton, Gregory Levine, and Susan Matisoff for their guidance, both academic and personal, during my years at the University of California at Berkeley and in the many years since. I am grateful to Watanabe Yasuaki and Kimishima Aki for steering my research at an early stage during my time at the University of Tokyo. I would like to thank my colleagues at the University of California at Davis who commented on portions of the manuscript: Robert Borgen, Michelle Yeh, and Mark Halperin. I also received valuable feedback from Miriam Wattles of the University of California at Santa Barbara and several other participants at a workshop of the Japanese Arts and Globalization multi- campus research group. The Japan Foundation generously funded my ini- tial research in Japan, and my department, dean’s office, and committee on research at U.C. Davis have supported me with the time and funding necessary to see this book through to press. I am especially indebted to Joshua Mostow of the University of British Columbia who not only commented on the entire manuscript, but also saw me through a number of difficult junctures since this project began. Melissa McCormick of Harvard University offered much needed advice and direction for which I am grateful. The manuscript is greatly improved thanks to the painstaking efforts of my editors Katherine Lawn Chouta and Patricia Radder, as well as several anonymous press readers. In the end, nothing would have been possible if not for my wife Miki, my daughters Maia and Emi, and family friend Fred Romagnolo. INTRODUCTION THINKING WITH PICTURES What is ‘screen poetry’ (byōbu uta 屏風歌)? Screen poetry is best under- stood as the product of a performative and cooperative event that involves poetic composition, a painted image, and the calligraphy that binds them together. Throughout most of the Heian period (794–1185), there were strong ties among the three arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting, just as in Tang China (618–907), where they were collectively known as the ‘three perfections’ (Ch. sanjue, J. sansetsu, 三絶).1 Japanese poets of the classical period generally regarded their screen compositions as their most prestigious commissions, as evidenced by the prominent placement of those poems in personal collections (shikashū 私家集). Moreover, the reception and appreciation of screen poems show their significant role in the lives of Heian nobility. Milestone events for important members of court society—coming-of-age rituals, birthdays, weddings, enthronement rites, and court entrance ceremonies—were commemorated
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