Paper short abstract:

In the shômono, there are some Chinese anecdotes which are modified from originals, and I suggest that these modifications often occur in romance relationships. It is concluded that there are differences in cultures and thoughts between Japan and China on the background to this phenomenon.

Paper long abstract:

Classical Chinese culture or literature has widely influenced Japanese culture and literature. In this research, anecdotes in Chinese historical texts are focused on. A wide variety of anecdotes has been adopted into pre-modern Japanese literary works, or it has impacted on Japanese thought and culture. In this situation, however, the images of anecdotes were not as original as they had been. Japanese own contents have often introduced into adopted anecdotes. In former research, these adoptions are studied mainly based on Japanese literary works. But the import of Chinese anecdotes into Japanese literary works varies from one work to another because of their characters, therefore we cannot consider pure influence of adoption of Chinese anecdotes.

This research focuses on the shômono (the commentaries written in kana on Chinese classic books). Since the shômono is compiled for lectures, it hardly contains editors' rhetorical features. Therefore, modifications in the shômono mean that the editors of the literature consider cited anecdotes in Chinese historical texts as shown in modified versions. In this research, anecdotes in Chinese historical texts are extracted from Kôshi-Kugi (a shômono on Huang Tingjian's poems). I point out there are some anecdotes which are modified from originals, and I suggest that these modifications often occur in romance relationships. It is concluded that there are differences in cultures and thoughts between Japan and China on the background to this phenomenon.

Huang Tingjian, who was the most popular poet among Japanese cultured people in the late middle ages also as Su Shi, strongly impacted on Japanese thought and literature. Kôshi-Kugi is one such example, for the editor Lin Sôji commented on Huang Tingjian's poems by compiling former annotations or shômonos in the late middle ages. In addition, Lin Sôji, who studied Japanese and Chinese cultures while he ran Manjû (traditional Japanese confection) shop, is known as one of the most erudite scholar in the late middle ages. Consequently, it is highly significant to read Kôshi-Kugi because to study this literature is to learn about the peak of Japanese culture in the late middle ages.