Conversations with Shotetsu (Shotetsu Monogatari) MICHIGAN MONOGRAPH SERIES IN JAPANESE STUDIES NUMBER 7 CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Conversations with Shotetsu {Shotetsu Monogatari) TRANSLATED BY ROBERT H. BROWER WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY STEVEN D. CARTER 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 48109-1290 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 Shotetsu, 1381?-1459? [Shotetsu monogatari. English} Conversations with Shotetsu = Shotetsu monogatari / translated by Robert H. Brower ; with an introduction and notes by Steven D. Carter, p. cm. — (Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies : no. 7) Translation of: Shotetsu monogatari. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-939512-43-2 I. Brower, Robert H., 1923-1988. II. Carter, Steven D. III. Title. IV. Series. PL792.S55S4813 1992 895.6'124—dc20 90-2433 CIP A Note on the Type This book is set in Garamond type. Jean Jannon designed CIitP in 1615, but credit was mistakenly given to Claude Garamond (ca. 1480-1561), an early typeface designer and punch cutter, probably because it resembles his work in refining early roman fonts. It is an Old Style typeface, a group of typefaces first developed for printing and characterized by their small x-height and oblique stress. Composed by The Composing Room, Grand Rapids, Michigan Book design by Lisa Jacobs Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, Inc., Dexter, Michigan Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-939512-43-0 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-472-03815-2 (paper) ISBN 978-0-472-12762-7 (ebook) ISBN 978-0-472-90157-9 (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/ CONTENTS Preface vii Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 Translation: Conversations with Shotetsu 59 List of Characters for Names and Terms 165 Bibliography 201 Index 209 PREFACE For a year or so before his untimely death in February of 1988, Robert Brower was working on a translation of the late medieval poetic miscellany, Shotetsu monogatari, following upon his earlier translations of Fujiwara no Teika's Maigetsusho and Fujiwara no Ta- meie's Eiga no ittei. As was always his way, he labored diligently at his desk, even after illness made an already formidable project more onerous. Sadly, however, death took him before he was able to complete his task. When he realized that he would not be able to finish the manuscript, Professor Brower, knowing that I had become well acquainted with Shotetsu and his works through my own research, asked me to do it in his stead. I was happy to comply with his request, both because of my great affection and respect for him and because of my interest in Shotetsu, whom I consider to be one of the finest of all classical Japanese poets. This book, then, is a collaborative effort. The translation of Shotetsu monogatan itself is largely Professor B rower's work, which I have modified only slightly, and then chiefly in the case of the poems. The notes, on the other hand, represent my contribution in the main; and the introduction, except for a few pages that Professor Brower had typed up in rough form, is also mine. For the sake of consistency, I have used Professor Brower s format for the translation of poems throughout the manuscript. Likewise, I have used his translations for titles and terms, relying upon his earlier works for reference. Needless to say, any mistakes that remain in the manu- script are solely my responsibility. viii PREFACE For editorial assistance I wish to thank Edward Peng and the managing editor of the Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, Bruce Willoughby. Steven D. Carter October, 1989 ABBREVIATIONS GR [Shinko] Gunsho rutjil. Comp. Hanawa Hokinoichi. 2nd ed. 24 vols. Tokyo: Meicho Fukyukai, 1977— 78. GSIS Goshuishu, in SKT 1. GSS Gosenshu, in SKT 1. Gyokuyoshu, in SKT 1. Robert H. Brower and Earl Miner. Japanese Court Poetry. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961. KKS Kokmshu, in SKT 1. MYS Man'yoshu, in SKT 2. NKBT Nihon koten bungaku taiket. 102 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1958-68. NKBZ Nihon koten bungaku zenshu. 51 vols. Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1970-76. NKGT Nihon kagaku taikei. Comp. Sasaki Nobutsuna and Kyusojin Hitaku. 4th ed. 10 vols., 5 supplemen- tary vols. Tokyo: Kazama Shobo, 1977—81. ABBREVIATIONS NST Nihon shiso taikei. Comp. Hayashiya Tatsusaburo et al. 67 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1970—82. SCSS ShinchokusenshU) in SKT 1. SG Shut guso, in SKT 3. SGSIS Shingoshuishu, in SKT 1. ShokuGSIS Shokugoshuishu, in SKT 1. ShokuGSS Shokugosenshu, in SKT 1. ShokuKKS Shokukokinshii, in SKT 1. SIS Shuishu, in SKT 1. SKS Shikashu, in SKT 1. SKKS Shinkokinshu, in SKT 1. SKT Shinpen kokkan taikan. 5 vols. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1983-86. SM Shotetsu monogatari. Ed. Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, in NKBT65. SSZS Shinsenzaishui in SKT 1. ST Shikashu taisei. Comp. Wakashi Kenkyukai. 8 vols. Tokyo: Meiji Shoin, 1973-76. SZKKS Shinzokukokinshu, in SKT 1. SZS Senzaishu, in SKT 1. ZGR Zoku gunsho ruiju. Comp. Hanawa Hokinoichi and Hanawa Tadatomi. 3rd rev. ed. 71 vols. Tokyo: Zoku Gunsho Ruiju Kansei-kai, 1974-1975. Introduction FOREWORD For students of waka, the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries have always been dismissed as a particularly dreary period. Never- theless, even in the 1400 and 1500s, which the literary histories often characterize as "the age of renga," or linked verse,1 the classical thirty-one syllable poem continued to be written on every conceiv- able occasion. Every major renga master was at the same time a waka poet; his knowledge and skill in the composition and poetics of linked verse were based upon a rigorous initial training in the ideals, techniques, conventions, and traditions of classical poetry. In this sense, it is not at all surprising that the supreme master of renga, the great Sogi (1421—1502) himself, should have felt it necessary to undergo the "Initiation into the Secrets of the Kokinshu"2 in order to 1. Renga, or "linked verse," began to be composed increasingly from the thirteenth century by court waka poets, who would often gather in a small group after a particularly tense and formal poetry contest {uta-awase) and compose a linked poem in a lighter, more relaxed frame of mind. What began as a kind of game, however, gradually developed into a serious art, almost on a level with traditional waka. This transformation was effected largely by the wholesale adaptation of waka conventions to the linked verse form. Also, the common lengths of chains of linked verse—particularly the form in one-hundred links, called the hyakuin—were derived from the waka sequences, especially the hundred-poem sequence or byakushu, which had become extremely popular during the course of the twelfth century. For an account of the development of linked verse, see Carter 1987. 2. Kokin denju, the passing on from master to disciple of certain "secrets" concerning the reading or interpretation of the first and most influential of the twenty-one imperial anthologies, Kokinshu ("Collection of Ancient and Modern Times," 905) and other early works. The "secrets," a mixture of the most obvious facts with patent inanities (such as the names of the "three trees and three birds" and the like), were transmitted either orally or by means of slips of paper {kirigami denju). Modeled upon esoteric Buddhist and Shinto rituals of transmission, kokin denju was regarded with the utmost seriousness from the late fifteenth century on and became one of the chief ways to legitimate inherited family or school traditions of poetic authority and expertise. — 3 4 CONVERSATIONS WITH SHOTETSU give legitimacy to his status as an authority on literary matters and teacher of linked verse. Indeed, there is much to suggest that Sogi's frustrated wish was to be a legitimate waka poet himself.3 This leaves the question of whether Sogi and his cohorts saw something in the waka of their day that scholars since have not; and the answer would seem to be yes. For while many poets of that age were satisfied with vain repetitions of familiar lines, a few intrepid individuals still managed to approach the old form with vitality and artistic purpose. Among these, most prominent was Shotetsu (1381—1459), author of the poetic miscellany Shotetsu monogatari, or "Conversations with Shotetsu," translated here. Sogi and his teacher Shinkei (1406—75) are very explicit in their praise for Shotetsu, to whom they give credit not only for the excellence of his own poetry but also for the inspiration he gave to practitioners of their own genre of linked verse.4 But, perhaps be- cause he came at the very end of a tradition and thus appeared nowhere in the twenty-one imperial anthologies (chokusenshu) that have always been considered as the primary texts of court poetry, Shotetsu was largely neglected in later years. Indeed, during the Edo period (1603—1868), when scholars busied themselves with the col- lation and analysis of virtually all of the other great texts of the court tradition, Shotetsu's work, if considered at all, was generally dis- missed as an aberration of interest only for its eccentricities and hardly a proper object for emulation. As one eighteenth-century pedant put it, "Secretary Shotetsu's poems showed skill; but his style was bad."5 One wonders whether this resistance came about partly because of the obstacle presented by his personal collection of poetry, Sokonshu, "Grass Roots," which, containing over 11,000 poems, no doubt proved a daunting challenge to any scholar who wanted to study more than the works of one poet in a lifetime.6 For whatever 3.