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This paper explores how Ryūtei Tanehiko transformed annotational knowledge of The Tale of Genji into a creative resource for composing Inaka Genji, focusing on his manuscript Ryūtei zasshū, which features excerpts from the Kogetsushō, and illustrated Genji commentaries from the early Edo period.

Paper long abstract

This presentation examines how Ryūtei Tanehiko(1783–1842) closely read The Tale of Genji through Kitamura Kigin’s annotated edition Kogetsushō and transformed the acquired knowledge into a creative resource for composing his bestselling Nise murasaki inaka Genji. To explore the relationship between Tanehiko’s philological essays and his literary works, I focus on Ryūtei zasshū, the manuscript notebook in which he excerpted and organized annotations from Kogetsushō.

The presentation first analyzes how Tanehiko used various annotations that he excerpted in Ryūtei zasshū from the Usugumo through the Fujibakama chapters of Kogetsushō in the creation of volumes 28 to 38 of Inaka Genji. Tanehiko showed a strong interest in the annotation of Kogetsushō concerning matters such as relationships among characters, their ages, and the timing of events, and he incorporated his own knowledge of these issues into the text of Inaka Genji. The configuration of characters in the work and the relationships of events across the volumes are clearly reorganized within the text as the result of philological examination based on the various annotations presented in Kogetsushō.

The presentation further argues that annotational knowledge also served as the creative resource of illustrations in Inaka Genji. The illustrations of Inaka Genji were strongly influenced by the visual models of Yamamoto Shunshō’s Eiri Genji Monogatari, an illustrated popular edition of The Tale of Genji published in the early Edo period. At the same time Inaka Genji exhibits pictorial designs that differ from those found in Eiri Genji Monogatari and other early Edo period popular commentaries and digests of The Tale of Genji. This presentation argues that such differences arose because Tanehiko conducted close textual examination of The Tale of Genji by consulting annotations in Kogetsushō and other commentarial works such as Genji Monogatari Tama no Ogushi, and then reflected the results of this philological investigation in the Inaka Genji illustrations. In this way, while referring to the visual conventions of the popular illustrated editions of The Tale of Genji, Tanehiko devised scene compositions in response to textual revisions and new interpretations of The Tale, thereby creating a mode of expression distinctive to Inaka Genji.

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Tsuboi Yoshichika, a self-made authority on court manners in mid-Edo-period Kyoto, pursued critical and empirical investigation of court customs. His research extended to textual criticism of Heian kana literature and his use of literary texts as informational sources prefigured antiquarian inquiry.

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This presentation traces the life and work of Tsuboi Yoshichika (or Yoshitomo, 1657-1735), a self-made authority on court manners (yūsoku), whose investigations led him to produce his own commentaries on Heian kana literature.

Tsuboi was born a farmer’s son in Kawachi. In 1685, after unsuccessful attempts to serve daimyo, he became a courtier’s retainer in Kyoto, where he undertook the study of court manners. Court customs had fallen into obscurity in the medieval chaos and efforts at restoration were still tentative; the daijōsai was not restored following a suspension of over two centuries until shortly after Tsuboi’s arrival in Kyoto. In this environment, Tsuboi rejected the exclusivist, hereditary approach of court scholars and pursued a rigorous method grounded in textual criticism and empirical examination of sources. By his mid-thirties, he was recognized as an authority on court customs and began producing texts, particularly on the court rank-office system and court attire. His expertise led to an invitation in 1725 from the shogunal government under Tokugawa Yoshimune to advise on court customs and lend rare books from his personal library.

The study of court customs developed conjointly with the study of Heian kana literature, making Tsuboi’s engagement with literary annotation a natural extension of his research. In 1696, he published an enlarged version of Genji nannyo shōzokushō, adding his own notes to a compilation of medieval commentaries on court attire in The Tale of Genji. Several topical commentaries on Genji followed, and in 1729, he published the first-ever annotated edition of Murasaki shikibu nikki, in which he corrected the received text through textual criticism and provided sparse but solid notes. The same year, Makura no sōshi shōzokushō, his commentary on a score of phrases from The Pillow Book, was published as an appendix to a reprint of Kitamura Kigin’s (1624–1705) Shunshoshō. This short volume exemplified Tsuboi’s interest in using classical texts as sources of information about Heian court practices.

Tsuboi thus laid the foundation of yūsoku studies as a critical antiquarian investigation. Although primarily text-based, his method shaped later scholarship and contributed to the eventual material restoration of court customs.

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Kitamura Kigin’s Shunshoshō (1674), an annotated edition of The Pillow Book, provides extensive glosses about court attire, conveyances, hierarchies, and rituals. This study argues that the Shunshoshō could thus be read as an encyclopedia of Heian court life.

Paper long abstract

Kitamura Kigin’s (1624–1705) Shunshoshō (Spring Dawn Commentary), published in 1674, stands as a seminal annotated edition of The Pillow Book (c. 1000) by Sei Shōnagon. Its profound influence on the reception and interpretation of The Pillow Book persisted well into the twentieth century, shaping scholarly and popular understandings alike. Among the numerous annotated editions produced by Kigin, the Shunshoshō is particularly distinguished by its methodological approach: unlike his annotated editions of The Tale of Genji and The Tales of Ise, which incorporate quotations from earlier commentaries, the Shunshoshō relies exclusively on Kigin’s original glosses.

The annotations within the Shunshoshō may be systematically categorised into four principal types. First, Kigin addresses textual variants and editorial matters, clarifying discrepancies among different manuscript traditions. Second, he elucidates the literal meanings of words and grammatical structures, ensuring accessibility for contemporary readers. Third, and most significantly for the present discussion, Kigin provides detailed explanations concerning the biographies of historical figures, the broader historical and cultural context, and literary sources quoted or evoked within The Pillow Book. Finally, he analyses the work’s structure and stylistic features, offering insights into its literary composition.

The focus of this study lies primarily on the third category, with particular attention to Kigin’s extensive glosses on the historical and cultural background of the Heian court. His annotations encompass a wide array of subjects, including court attire, modes of conveyance, hierarchical structures, and ritual practices. Through this meticulous commentary, the Shunshoshō effectively functions as an encyclopaedia of Heian court life, serving not only as a guide to the text but also as a proto-companion for antiquarian research. In doing so, Kigin’s work bridges the temporal and cultural divide, rendering the intricacies of the Heian period accessible to later generations.

This study examines Kigin’s antiquarian approach by quantifying the prevalence of historical and cultural annotations within the Shunshoshō. I will identify the sources cited by Kigin, and analyse how these annotations interact with the commented text. The investigation will seek to demonstrate how Kigin’s commentary not only clarifies the text but also constructs a comprehensive framework for understanding Heian court life.

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Late Edo literati extended the method of annotation used for the classical texts to early- modern popular literature. They not only produced playful works parodying commentaries on the classics but also conducted serious textual research on the early Edo popular works, including practical books.

Paper long abstract

Late Edo literati extended the method of annotation used for classical texts to the world of early modern popular literature. Firstly, the annotation format - dividing pages into two sections, with the bottom allocated to the texts and the top to headnotes - was applied to popular works of the gesaku genre in the late eighteenth century. For instance, Ōta Nanpo (1749-1823) published an anthology of comic Sino-Japanese poems (kyōshi), titled Tsūshisen shōchi (1783), which was a parody of the title, poems and page design of Tōshisen shōko (1764), one of the annotations for Tōshisen (Selected Tang Poems), titled. Santō Kyōden’s (1761-1816)’s Hyakunin-isshu waka hatsuishō (1787) was also a parody of the form of annotations on Hyakunin-isshu (The one hundred poets, one poem each) as well as a deliberate distortion of the original poems’ interpretations. In these works, annotations were merely for appearance; the authors playfully added mocking or sophistical explanations to words and phrases.

On the other hand, Nanpo and Kyōden conducted serious textual research into popular literature from a few generations earlier. They were known for sharing an interest in antiquarian texts from the early Edo period and had collaborated in compiling Takao-kō (Study on the Courtesan Takao) and Ukiyo-e rui kō (Study on the Kinds of Ukiyo-e). The National Diet Library houses a manuscript titled Sasachimaki (Trivial Notes from the Chimaki Library), which is a record of passages that Nanpo extracted in 1811 from as many as 44 publications from the seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries, including popular novels and practical books. He often added bibliographical information to the entries, as well as notes on words or quotations from the related sentences seen in other contemporary texts.

In addition to Nanpo’s comments, Kyōden and Ryūtei Tanehiko (1783-1842) added their thoughts or comparable information. Although Sasachimaki itself is not an annotation on a single work, what they did here was the same kind of academic activity as scholars who penned commentaries on classical literature. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how Nanpo and his colleagues conducted scholarly examinations into older popular publications.