Paper short abstract:

This presentation traces the development of the word “furusato” in Heian poetic language and explores the sexual politics that played out in its gendered spaces, through the unifying notion of a “presence of absence.”

Paper long abstract:

In the poetic language of the Heian period, the multiple meanings of “furusato” differ markedly from its use in modern Japanese. From its purported original meaning of “old village,” the word came to implicate the old capital and, later, the residences of women. After the capital was relocated to Heian, and in a society where duolocal marriage (tsumadoikon) was prevalent, courtiers compelled to move to the new capital would sometimes have to leave their wives or lovers behind in the old capital, the “furusato.” In Heian, the poetic associations of the old capital—bleak, countrified, abandoned—were evoked whenever women’s homes were called “furusato,” as they experienced a similar kind of abandonment by courtiers in the wake of the lover’s departure. The Tales of Ise and other Heian literary works helped consolidate this parallel between the deserted, countrified environment of the “furusato” and women’s homes as the backdrop for the courtly (miyabi) pursuit of erotic thrills (irogonomi). The pervasive literary figure of the neglected woman, languishing in her ramshackle house—the pinnacle of erotic conquest for the amorous courtier—also emerges amidst this development. The dilapidated “furusato” is not always portrayed as a site of successful sexual conquest, however; frequently, the word is invoked after stifled attempts at romantic interaction. For example, the unnamed female poet of Gosenshū poem 1006 rebuffs the greeting of a former lover who neglected her for years, cynically comparing her own residence to a crumbling, forgotten “furusato:” “wasurarete toshi furusato no hototogisu nani ni hitokoe nakite yukuran [Why would the cuckoo pass by this old, forgotten village uttering but a single cry?]” Notably, while male poets often imbued their poems on “furusato” with longing and regret, women tended to avail themselves of the word’s sardonic, self-deprecating connotations.

This presentation maps the sexual politics that played out in these gendered spaces onto the emergent poetic associations of the word “furusato” in Heian poetic language. I will argue that, in all its significations, the cohesive notion underlying the poetic associations of “furusato” is the presence of absence; that is, the (often gendered) absence of someone who was once present.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will present the results of an investigation, using critical discourse analysis, into gender-based differences in treatment of poetic topics in the waka anthology, Eikyū hyakushu (1117), to determine whether there is evidence that men and women approached topics differently.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will present the results of an investigation, using critical discourse analysis, into gender-based differences in treatment of poetic topics (dai) in the waka poetry anthology, Eikyū yo nen hyakushu (1117). This collection contains 701 poems on one hundred topics by seven poets, five men and two women.

By this point in waka history, topic was a significant category which provided strictures for poets on suitable diction (kotoba) and conception (kokoro) to be used in the production of their poems. The faithfulness with which poets adhered to these strictures rather than by any demonstrations of innovation or individuality often determined whether a poem was judged to be of good quality.

Nevertheless, men and women view the world differently, with those views shaped by the socio-cultural expectations of types of behaviour and knowledge associated with different genders and roles. For the aristocracy in Heian Japan, these expectations for men and women were rigid, and everyday life and activities differed widely. This would suggest that it would be unusual if male and female poets treated topics identically and differences between men and women’s poetry have been acknowledged since the dawn of waka poetics.

Through an analysis of the diction, and thus the associated conception (imagery and emotional tone) used by the male and female poets in Eikyū hyakushu this paper will determine the extent to which there is evidence for systematic gender-based differences in the treatment of poetic topics, what these are and thus provide a concrete basis for wider analysis of the waka canon.

Paper short abstract:

Pre-modern waka poet, Tachibana no Akemi (1812–1868) in his poems mentions more than 60 varieties of plants and more than 50 varieties of animals (birds and insects included). This papers discusses the poetics of Tachibana: his emotional response and his engagement with natural surroundings.

Paper long abstract:

Pre-modern waka poet, Tachibana no Akemi (1812–1868) was discovered and introduced to a general reader in Japan by Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), haiku and tanka poet himself. Tachibana is well known for the love of makoto (sincerity) in his poems, inspired by Man’yōshū poetic diction, and for introducing new realistic subjects and fresh vocabulary to the waka poetry of 19th century. He composed many rensaku or poetic sequences and among them there are eight poems describing a silver mine in Hida province he visited and saw with his own eyes the conditions of work (which in itself was a novelty, as opposed to composing poems about meisho, famous places, one would not know from his or her own experience). He is probably the most famous for his rensaku titled Dokurakugin or Verses on Solitary Pleasures, being a sequence of reflections on his life, simple pleasures and everyday struggles with poverty.

Masaoka Shiki praised him because “No affectations of natural beauty burden his topics; instead he readily bares his innermost thoughts” (transl. R.K. Thomas), yet his poetry abounds with references to the nature. Actually, it is more than 60 varieties of plants and more than 50 varieties of animals (including birds, at least 20 varieties, 12 or more varieties of insects, and fish) that appear in his tanka and chōka poems. Although it seems that traditional plants like ume, plum, sakura, cherry blossom and matsu, pine, are the most often mentioned, there are also edible plants like rice, bamboo shoots, azuki beans or buckwheat, weeds like smartweed, water dropwort or dayflower. Animals include horses, cows, a cat, a tanuki, snakes or turtles, but it is the insects that might draw special attention: there are rensaku poems about ants and even lice which Tachibana calls his companions.

In this paper I want to analyse his references to specific plants and animals, and discuss Tachibana’s engagement with nature and his emotional response to it.