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- Convenors:
-
Pier Carlo Tommasi
(University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Chie Nakane (Aichi Prefectural University)
Akira Suzuki (RIKKYO univ.)
Send message to Convenors
- Chair:
-
Ganta Kosukegawa
(Ehime University)
- Discussant:
-
Vyjayanthi Selinger
(Bowdoin College)
- Section:
- Pre-modern Literature
- Sessions:
- Friday 27 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
Our panel looks at oboegaki written from the late-16th to early-18th centuries, arguing for the literary significance of texts often glossed as simple battle accounts. The panelists will introduce hitherto undiscussed works and highlight how "warrior literature" was reimagined during this period.
Long Abstract:
Our panel focuses on oboegaki written from the late medieval to the early modern period. Oboegaki are accounts of Sengoku period battles written by warriors themselves, priests (in their entourage), or latter-day writers interested in preserving their stories for posterity. Though many such accounts exist in several daimyo families, they have received very little scholarly attention, especially if one considers that they are one of the major forms of warrior literature during this period.
There are two major reasons to study these oboegaki. This is a period of transition when the military realities of warfare (bu) were being sublimated into literary form (bun). Second, the oboegaki are rhetorically complex, not simply reporting on the facts of the battle, but using narrative techniques to create stylized "war accounts."
Oboegaki therefore provide a productive contradiction for scholars. They showcase bushi (warriors) performing their status role as military experts; at the same time, they are set down during the time that warfare had all but ceased, denying warriors an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise. They therefore are emblematic of the transmutation of active-duty military skills into cultural cachet, military expertise re-purposed as cultural accomplishment. In keeping with these socio-cultural changes, the oboegaki themselves make intertextual references to prior literary works and employ techniques of literary embellishment, self-consciously crafting themselves as artifacts of literary culture. Given these features, the time has come for scholars to reappraise these works as a literary turn of this historical moment.
The panelists will introduce examples of oboegaki from different regions of Japan, many of them yet to be taken up in scholarly presentations, shedding light on why each of these case studies represents "warrior literature" of this period. Taken together, the papers actively engage the theme of this year's Premodern Literature section "Futures of the Past," asking how "literariness" is constructed and received, and considering how the oboegaki look back to the past while constructing a future for a samurai class in transition.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 27 August, 2021, -Pier Carlo Tommasi (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Paper short abstract:
In my presentation, I will turn the spotlight on some lesser-known memoirs written in Western Japan under the auspices of the Mōri family to illustrate what features and functions historiographic narration assumed at the outset of the early modern period.
Paper long abstract:
Like any other practice, the act of recollecting and sharing one's past is always informed by cultural values and politics. This activity happens within a dialectic between experience and expectation, which forces the individual to extract from his memory long-forgotten deeds and words and to render them readily accessible—and exploitable—by the community. Local contingencies, too, may prompt or affect this process of reminiscence, as it was the case during the turbulent years of the Sengoku period and its immediate aftermath. In my presentation, I will turn the spotlight on some lesser-known memoirs (oboegaki) written in Western Japan under the auspices of the Mōri clan to illustrate what features and functions historiographic narration assumed in that particular context.
This region faced its most serious crisis on two occasions: first, the fall of the Ōuchi in 1551 and the clash that ensued between Sue and Mōri families; second, the setback suffered by the Mōri and their retainers after the excruciating defeat at Sekigahara in 1600. These episodes constituted a watershed, compelling those who had rallied under the Mōri banner—now winning, now losing—to change their standards and come to terms with a new reality. Indeed, at this juncture, many veterans began to look back at their exploits and evaluate recent events from the vantage point of their age and status, committing their truth to paper. As a consequence, the past reemerged as an imagined arena of confrontation, where the stakes were a matter of social life and death. Relying on both published and unpublished sources, I will delve into the compositional strategies of such narratives; shed new light on the making of storytelling; and rethink the "future of the past" at the outset of the early modern era.
Akira Suzuki (RIKKYO univ.)
Paper short abstract:
My paper aims at questioning the traditional approach to the study of oboegaki by reassessing the significance of this genre in the history of literature. For this purpose, I will consider a set of case studies from 17th-century Satsuma and Sendai domains.
Paper long abstract:
As Japan entered into the "warless" 17th century, the social order
underwent a major reorganization. Warriors and monks who had fought on the
battlefield during the Sengoku period felt urged to summarize their
experience in the form of memoirs—the so-called "senkō oboegaki" or
personal records of military exploits. So far, scholars have used these
texts primarily as historical sources. However, I argue for the
re-evaluation of such material and its importance to the history of arts
and literature. Even more, I maintain that this genre may capture the
spirit of the times of this period.
In my presentation, I will discuss the literary significance of oboegaki by
analyzing a set written by the Shimazu clan in Satsuma and the Date clan in
Sendai. Specifically, I will focus on how these works attest to the
reception of classical literature and how, in turn, they would later
influence the compilation of history books (shisho), war tales (gunki),
miscellaneous writings (zuihitsu), and so forth. I will also consider
their performative appeal, as their style seemingly sought to capture the
lively words of the war witnesses.
Chie Nakane (Aichi Prefectural University)
Paper short abstract:
In this talk, I will tackle the issue of orality and historiography through the example of Mukashibanashi, a mid-Edo period collection of war anecdotes by Chikamatsu Shigenori. I will also determine the influence of traditional war tales in the re-imagining of Owari domain's past.
Paper long abstract:
Mukashibanashi ("Tales of Long Ago") by Owari-domain military strategist Chikamatsu Shigenori collects the memories of old battles such as the Battle of Sekigahara. According to the author, what motivated him to pick up the brush was the desire to pass down to his comrades and disciples the stories he had listened to in his youth as a page, as he feared those memories would fade away if they were confined to his private notes.
By the first decade of the 18th century, all secret chronicles and records of the domain were either burned or lost, leaving little chance to learn about the past. Shigenori wrote this book with permission from the Lord of Owari, Yoshimichi, on the condition that he would not reveal its contents to other clans. Hence, this work resulted from the process of committing to the page the oral traditions hitherto transmitted and kept secret within a local group of people. As I shall argue in my talk, these writings reveal the literary qualities of oral storytelling made manifest in the written medium. Accordingly, I will re-discuss the genre of memoirs (oboegaki) from this vantage point of storytelling, and explore how traditional war tales—namely Heike monogatari and Taiheiki—served as a reference for describing historical battle scenes.