Paper short abstract:

My aim is to outline the close relationship between sex, humour and didactic intention in the sexually-explicit production of Edo period (shunpon).There are two major trends in this production: narrative playful prose texts and didactic manuals, that reworked earlier literature to appeal to readers.

Paper long abstract:

In my paper, my aim is to outline the close relationship between sex, humour and didactic intention in the sexually-explicit literary production of Edo period Japan usually referred to as shunpon.

Until recently the focus of academic studies on the considerable shunpon production has been on pictures. The few studies dedicated to texts of shunpon view them as mere sex tools, or as works with a strong satirical or political intention. It is my contention that, in shunpon, it is important to look at images and text as two parts which together create a whole to fully understand their nature and aims.

So far I have identified two major trends in the shunpon textual production, which are narrative prose texts, mostly playful, and non-narrative didactic manuals. The common trait between these two tendencies is the highly intertextual nature.

In the first case, I argue that sexual parody is used to provoke laughter. Almost all the texts considered as authoritative and canonical (such as Confucian educational works, courtly literature or waka anthologies) have shunpon rewritings, where the humorous effect is achieved by substituting the refined and dignified expressions with trivial sexually-related parts. Particularly, I will show how this mechanism works in the sexually explicit rewritings of Tales of Ise, the Pillow Book and the Tale of Genji, and how the depiction of some of the protagonists of earlier literature changes with the introduction of the sexual parodic element.

In the second case, I examine how notions in sex manuals were taken from medical texts, but often adapted and reworked to meet the need of readers in premodern Japan. Particularly, in several cases sexual health precepts were conveyed using a fictional frame, where protagonists of earlier literary works, who had a reputation for being 'lecherous', teach how to behave in bed, how to make aphrodisiac potions, etc.

Accordingly, my reading is a parodic humorous and educational nature in shunpon that reworks and adapts earlier literature to appeal to readers of the time, with both practical and highly entertaining books.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the interrelations between Edo poetic genres senryū and kyōku, attempts to find where the concept of maekuzuke and the concept of senryū overlaps, and examines whether the term senryū may be expanded on the texts other than those published in Yanagidaru anthology.

Paper long abstract:

Though the senryū poetry is considered very popular during the second half of Edo period, as proved by 167 volumes of Yanagidaru anthology, it was officially defined as a genre in the beginning of the 20th century, when Inoue Kenkabō and Sakai Kuraki started to research this poetry. While the modern period senryū has a name and a definition, it is yet to be determined what Edo senryū's (or old senryū) consist of and which texts should be gathered under the term.

The paper explores the interrelations between Edo poetic genres senryū and kyōku, attempts to find where the concept of maekuzuke and the concept of senryū overlaps, and examines whether the term senryū may be expanded on the texts other than those published in Yanagidaru anthology.

The original Yanagidaru was a collection of cut maekuzuke poems, which were created during the poetic competitions. There are various collections of maekuzuke published synchronically with Yanagidaru, the first anthology of senryū, however these collections are sometimes considered general zappai rather than senryū in particular. It is also unclear how well-established was the term senryū before Meiji Restoration, because senryū and kyōku are used almost as synonyms when referred to late Edo.

The lack of genre theory during Edo period brings out the question if Edo senryū should be even regarded as an isolated genre and not just as a part of zappai. The history of senryū between its birth and the initial time of popularity and the development of late Edo kyōku is usually described as a regressive period, but at the same time it may be the turning point for the independence of a genre that ensured its sustainability.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on Ihara Saikaku's treatment of Buddhist priests in his 1685 anthology Shokoku banashi (Tales from Various Provinces). In most of the text's tales, Saikaku used priests as foil and catalyst, satirizing the clergy within largely lay stories of the mysterious and fantastic.

Paper long abstract:

Ihara Saikaku's 1685 multi-volume anthology, _Shokoku banashi_ or Tales from Various Provinces, contains thirty-five short stories Saikaku had transcribed and edited during his travels in the seventeenth century. Saikaku noted in his preface that among all of mysterious phenomena he had encountered, humans were the twisted ones and that nothing exists outside of our visible world. This statement sets the tone for the remainder of the volume, as each story features an odd but remarkable event that transpired in both well-trodden and tucked-away locales of pre-modern Japan. Despite the work's divergent tales, one point is remarkably consistent throughout: the dual use of priests as a comic foil and narrative catalyst.

This presentation offers a close analysis of Saikaku's treatment of Buddhist priests in a handful of selected tales from the anthology. The lead-off story itself, "The Un-smashingly Successful Complaint," details a dispute between Nara Temples where priests humorously argue over possession of a ritual drum while city magistrate inspectors must reconcile the competing sides. In "The Umbrella Oracle," the only anthology piece published thus far in English, an umbrella is blown away into a remote village untouched by Buddhism only to become the object of worship and unfulfilled amour. Then, "The Lady Carpenters of Unseen Places" relays an account from Kyoto where ladies of the court were haunted by a Yamori gecko from Enryaku-ji Temple. In these accounts and two others--"The Fox's Four Guardian Priests" and "Fake Mustaches in the Month of Frost"--the clergy plays a pivotal and comical role in advancing the plot. Rarely do the priests serve as primary protagonists or antagonists; instead, they reflect if not amplify the more worldly yet unusual dilemmas facing the lay characters. This study thus aims to offer a fresh analysis of Saikaku's satire of pre-modern and early modern Japan.