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- Convenor:
-
Haruo Shirane
(Columbia University)
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- Stream:
- Pre-modern Literature
- Location:
- Torre B, Piso 2, Sala T7
- Sessions:
- Friday 1 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
Short Abstract:
In premodern Japan the human world coexisted with other worlds, of the dead, of gods, of nature. How did one cross the borders between these worlds? The panel shows the significance of border-crossing and the language and tropes associated with border-crossing in poetry, prose, and performance.
Long Abstract:
One of the major features of premodern Japanese cosmology was the coexistence of the everyday human world with various other worlds: that of the dead, the world of gods (kami), the sphere of buddhas, the realm of nature (animals, plants, mountains, waters), and the provinces, which were radically different from the capital and the court. Crossing the borders between the world of humans and those other worlds represented a major shift. Some major literary figures such as Saigyo, the medieval waka poet, became known as cultural border-crossers. How then were those borders represented? How did one cross those borders? What kind of poetry, prose, or performance did these border-crossers produce?
As Kaneoka Rie argues, two key words in understanding the representation of topographical borders was hashi and saka, with hashi representing a vertical bridge (rather than the horizontal bridge) and saka indicating a border rather than a slope (as it does today). Hirano Tae shows that classical poetry (waka) became a major means of communication between humans and deities, with kami and buddhas sending oracles in the form of waka, and humans making offerings in the form of poetry and kagura uta (sacred chants performed before the god). Yoshino Tomomi examines the rhetoric and tropes used by Saigyō, showing how his poetry directly addresses and anthropomorphizes nature, ultimately taking the viewpoint of nature and revealing a sympathetic perspective of the other. Haruo Shirane, in his role as discussant, will note the key role of performers (storytellers, actors, dancers) as a key intermediary between humans and gods, buddhas, and the spirits of the dead, as a means of prayer (of summoning and asking for blessing), of welcoming and entertaining, of consolation and pacification, and of expulsion and purification. By looking at a range of key genres (prose, poetry, and performance), the panel will show the nature of these premodern borders as well as the significance of border-crossing and the language and tropes associated with border-crossing.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 1 September, 2017, -Paper short abstract:
It is believed that Japanese gods are engaged in the practice of waka, and many messages from the gods have been transmitted in the form of waka, called takusenka (oracle poems). My paper will explore various oracle poems between different realms.
Paper long abstract:
It is said that the Japanese gods were the first to recite the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable waka. According to the kana preface to the Kokinshū (ca. 905), during the age of the gods, the songs did not have a fixed number of syllables, but when it came to the age of humans, Susano-o no mikoto was the first to recite the 31-syllable waka. Ever since then, it is believed that Japanese gods are engaged in the practice of waka, and many messages from the gods have been transmitted in the form of waka, called takusenka (oracle poems).
One early example of takusenka may be found in section 117 of the Ise monogatari (latter half 10th c.) as an exchange between an emperor and the god Sumiyoshi Myōjin. Among the imperial poetry collections, the third anthology, Shūishū (ca. 1005), was the first to include two takusenka. In the fourth anthology, Goshūishū (1087), a sub-section of poems involving gods, referred to as jingi (lit. "gods of heaven and earth"), appears in the miscellaneous section, containing two pairs of poems between gods and humans. The seventh imperial anthology, Senzaishū (1187), contains an independent section for jingika ("god poems"). A large number of takusenka were also included in Kiyosuke's poetic treatise Fukuro no sōshi, completed slightly before. Shortly after that, the practice of offering poems to the gods became increasingly prevalent. The eighth imperial anthology, Shin Kokinshū (1205), includes as many as 13 takusenka at the beginning of its jingika section. Perhaps in conjunction with the practice of poetic offerings, interest arose in how the gods responded through takusenka.
The belief that gods and humans are able to understand each other via poetry can also be observed in the kagura uta (sacred chants performed before the god）passed down in the kagura tradition at various locales in Japan. In the Buddhist tradition, buddhas and bodhisattvas also employed poems as oracles. My paper will explore these types of poetry between different realms.
Paper short abstract:
I argue that two key words in the understanding of the representation of topographical borders in the ancient period were hashi and saka. In my paper I trace the historical evolution of the word hashi as a type of boundary and show how and why it underwent various changes during its history.
Paper long abstract:
The Umisachi/Yamasachi legend in the Nihon shoki tells about the marriage between the heavenly god Hoori and the daughter of the sea god, Toyotamabime. Toyotamabime goes on land for childbirth, accompanied by heavy wind and waves. This expression may have been used to portray Toyotamabime as the mighty daughter of the sea god. However, in the Hikohohodemi no mikoto emaki, believed to have been produced during the late Heian period, Toyotamabime is portrayed as arriving on land via a "bridge" connecting the two worlds.
Why did such a change occur? During ancient times, the word "hashi" was not only used to refer to horizontal bridges (橋), connecting the banks of a river, but also to vertical bridges, i.e. ladders (梯子). The word hashi appears in the "Amanohashidate" anecdote in the surviving fragments of the Tango fudoki, the "Yasohashi" anecdote in the Harima fudoki, and poem 13:3245 in the Man'yōshū, which expresses the desire for a "heavenly bridge" (amahashi) that leads to the moon. These are mostly of the vertical ladder type, a majority of which connect heaven and earth. There are almost no examples of the horizontal hashi .
In fact, during ancient times, the word used to indicate boundaries is saka. For example, in the Nihon shoki, "Yomotsu hirasaka" serves as the boundary between the Ashihara no nakatsu kuni and Yomi no kuni. In Man'yōshū 9:1740, "Poem Composed on Mizue no Urashimako," the other world that Urashimako arrives at is also called unasaka. Thus, unlike its modern counterpart (which means "slope"), during ancient times, the word saka was used to indicate boundaries (sakai), not necessarily slopes, and a place where one receives divine messages.
However, from the Heian period onward, the horizontal hashi came to be used to indicate the boundary with another world, such as the Maiden of Uji Bridge in the poem Kokinshū 14:689. In my paper I trace the historical evolution of the word hashi as a type of boundary and show how and why it underwent various changes during its history.
Paper short abstract:
Saigyō , the medieval waka poet, is known as a cultural border-crosser. Then how is the "border-crossing" achieved in Saigyō's poetry? I will explore some rhetorical devices as they relate to the multidimensional "border-crossings" that are characteristic of Saigyō's poetry.
Paper long abstract:
The 12th-century poet Saigyō (1118-1190), who has had not only a huge impact on Japanese literature, is readily able to cross various boundaries through his poetry: between this-world and the other world, between the living and the dead, dream and reality, the courtly and the lowly, the sacred and the profane, gods and buddhas, past and future. How is this "border-crossing" achieved in Saigyō's poetry? I will argue that there are two important rhetorical devices: apostrophic expressions and what we might call analogical expressions. In the Sankashū, Saigyō's personal poetry collection, there are two poems composed upon looking at the pine tree standing in front of his hut during his ascetic seclusion in Sanuki. In the first poem: "O pine tree, may you endure for a long time to come and mourn for my afterlife, for there is no one who would remember my footprints and miss me" (1358), Saigyō appeals to the pine tree as if with a human, asking it to mourn for him during his afterlife. In the second poem: "If it became too hard for me to live in this hut and I ended up drifting away from here, would this pine tree be left all on its own?" (1359), Saigyō wonders what would happen to the pine tree, viewing the world from the position of the pine.
These apostrophic and analogical tropes centered on nature are a common feature in waka. For example, the speaker entreats the wind to stop blowing while the blossoms are at their peak, or wonders why the flowers are in such a hurry to fall. However, in Saigyō's case, he brings his emotions as close as possible to nature, viewing nature as his "friend" (such as with the pine tree), thereby crossing the boundary between the world of humans and that of nature. In the similar ways, Saigyō traverses the boundary between the realms of the living and the dead. This presentation will explore these techniques as they relate to the multidimensional "border-crossings" that are characteristic of Saigyō's poetry.