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Paper short abstract:

Hirata Atsutane’s (1776-1843) ‘Amazing Tales of the Hermit World’（1821）contributed to popular imagery of strange worlds of late Edo. This supposed interview with a boy taught by a Tengu master is examined: a survivor from unseen hidden worlds gaining special status as witnessed of the unseen.

Paper long abstract:

The Edo period in Japan witnessed a surge of records of overseas adventures or ‘strange stories (奇聞)’, including interviews with sailors who survived drifting overseas (漂流譚) or compilations of bizarre anecdotes such as the famous ‘Bag of ears’ (耳袋). These incredible stories often took the form of being related through direct interviews with people experiencing the abnormal. These fortunate survivors, returnees from strange worlds, were supposed to possess a special vital energy. This paper examines how Hirata Atsutane’s (1776-1843), ‘Amazing Tales of the Hermit World’ [仙境異聞]（1821）contributed to the popular imagery of such strange worlds as part of the epistemology of late Edo. In Hirata’s dichotomy, this world is defined as ‘the apparent world (顕事arawa goto)’ , while the other as ‘the hidden world’ (幽事 kakuri goto). Common belief presumed that the unseen world was regarded as a sanctuary from the seen world, however in Senkyo Ibun Hirata offers the unseen as containing more ‘empirical prestige’. Those who returned from the unseen hidden world gained a special prestige as witnesses of the unseen. The empirical attitude of Hirata’s intellectual salon was shared both in philosophical and scientific circles. The Tengu boy, under the apparent influence under them, declared frequently the priority of actual observation. Asked about the cartography of earth and stars, ‘with laughter he answers, you are wrong, because your knowledge comes from books you read. I have not read but actually seen them close up.’ Odd stories were enjoyed regardless of the types or genre of narrative, whether fiction or non-fiction. The consumption of such discourses was widespread among all social classes, encouraged by a popular imagination with intense curiosity towards the unusual.