Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

After introducing Minamoto no Tamenori's pedagogical/encyclopedic project in Kuchizusami, I will show how the learning of a complex stratified cultural knowledge, expression of diversified worldviews, is also facilitated by clear examples of formulaic texts with a strong illocutionay force..

Paper long abstract

Kuchizusami (Fun by mouth) is a primer intended for memorization, compiled by the scholar-official Minamoto no Tamenori (?-1011) for the pupil Matsuo (then known as Fujiwara no Sanenobu, 964-1001), the first son of Fujiwara no Tanemitsu (942-992). The primer classifies contemporary cultural knowledge needed by young aristocrats into nineteen categories, called kyaku, and two additional sections. Tamenori, also a well-known poet, studied under Minamoto no Shitagō (911-983), an outstanding scholars of his time, and compiled a collection of Buddhist tales, the Sanbō ekotoba (The Three Jewels. Illustrated, late 10th century), and a collection of idioms, the Sezoku genmon (Proverbs of Our Time, 1007).

Sections in Kuchizusami consist of three main types of texts: lists of words, not different from those in Shitagō's Wamyōruijushō (Classified Notes on Japanese Names, 933 ca.); poems in Japanese or Chinese; and comments by the compiler.

In this paper, after introducing Tamenori's pedagogical/encyclopedic project, as explained in the Preface, I will focus on the role of the seventeen poems (seven in Japanese and ten in Chinese) chosen by the compiler. I will show how they facilitate the learning of a complex stratified cultural knowledge, expression of diversified worldviews and expressed also through clear examples of formulaic texts with a strong illocutionay force.

In particular, I will argue how worldviews that are included and thaught in Kuchizusami are those needed for public life, but that are also concerned with the personal well-being of the learner.