Paper short abstract:

The aim of the paper is to discuss descriptions of journeys from Kyoto to Kamakura along the Seacoast Road in the medieval Japanese travel diaries (kikō) from the geopoetic perspective, and to show how the accounts can be (re)interpreted in the light of the new research orientation.

Paper long abstract:

"During the Heian period, few among the upper levels of Kyoto society aspired to travel into the provinces, and such travel was usually undertaken only when unavoidable. But with the coming of the medieval age there was a reaction against the overly urban-centered culture of Heian times, and poets and other man […], not content with just imaging what the famous sites looked like, set off on journeys to see them with their own eyes" (P. Varley, Japanese Culture, p. 87). The inhabitants of Kyoto, intrigued by reports about the splendid shogun's capital, usually were in hurry to reach Kamakura, but rarely failed to mention, for instance, the Eight Bridges or Mount Fuji. The travelers inspired by magnificence of the places composed poetry and prose in emulation of their predecessors (cf. D. Keene, Travelers of a Hundred Ages, p. 114). The most noticeable results of such journeys were numerous travel diaries that provide unusually interesting, but also important material for analysis.

The aim of the paper is to discuss descriptions of journeys to Kamakura along the Seacoast Road in the medieval Japanese travel accounts (kikō) from the geopoetic perspective. The author will also attempt to show, how the accounts (especially Kaidōki and Tōkan kikō) can be (re)interpreted in the light of the new research orientation. Since the subject and the methods applied in geopoetics used as an approach enable to explain interactions between literary work and geography - as discussed in the work Geopoetics. Space and place in contemporary theories and literary practices (2014) by Elżbieta Rybicka - they seem to be especially useful in analysis of texts on spaces and places (and Rybicka distinguishes four fundamental aspects within the geopoetical realm: 1. poetological - involves traditional poetics issues which are examined with geographical factor, 2. geographical - deals with categories e.g. the map, the place, 3. anthropological - applies to relations between subject and geographical space, 4. performative - touches upon the problem on performativity of literature with regard to geographic space).