An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750-1850

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2013

An Edo Anthology

Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750-1850

Edited by: Sumie Jones and Kenji Watanabe
With contributions by: Faith Bach , Mark Borer , Caryn Callahan , Robert Campbell , Joel Cohn , Alan Cummings , Chris Drake , Valerie L. Durham , William J. Farge , Bettina Gramlich-Oka , Howard Hibbett , Sumie Jones , Adam Kabat , Adam L. Kern , Sara Langer , Andrew Markus , Dylan McGee , Christopher A. Robins , Timon Screech , William Ferguson Sibley , David Sitkin , John Solt , Roger K. Thomas , Charles Vilnis , Jason Webb and Ellen B. Widmer

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824837761

Overview
Contents

About this book

During the eighteenth century, Edo (today’s Tokyo) became the world’s largest city, quickly surpassing London and Paris. Its rapidly expanding population and flourishing economy encouraged the development of a thriving popular culture. Innovative and ambitious young authors and artists soon began to look beyond the established categories of poetry, drama, and prose, banding together to invent completely new literary forms that focused on the fun and charm of Edo. Their writings were sometimes witty, wild, and bawdy, and other times sensitive, wise, and polished. Now some of these high spirited works, celebrating the rapid changes, extraordinary events, and scandalous news of the day, have been collected in an accessible volume highlighting the city life of Edo.

Edo’s urban consumers demanded visual presentations and performances in all genres. Novelties such as books with text and art on the same page were highly sought after, as were kabuki plays and the polychrome prints that often shared the same themes, characters, and even jokes. Popular interest in sex and entertainment focused attention on the theatre district and “pleasure quarters,” which became the chief backdrops for the literature and arts of the period. Gesaku, or “playful writing,” invented in the mid-eighteenth century, satirized the government and samurai behavior while parodying the classics. These entertaining new styles bred genres that appealed to the masses. Among the bestsellers were lengthy serialized heroic epics, revenge dramas, ghost and monster stories, romantic melodramas, and comedies that featured common folk.

An Edo Anthology offers distinctive and engaging examples of this broad range of genres and media. It includes both well-known masterpieces and unusual examples from the city’s counterculture, some popular with intellectuals, others with wider appeal. Some of the translations presented here are the first available in English and many are based on first editions. In bringing together these important and expertly translated Edo texts in a single volume, this collection will be warmly welcomed by students and interested readers of Japanese literature and popular culture.

Author / Editor information

Jones Sumie :

Sumie Jones, a specialist in eighteenth-century comparative literature and Edo arts, is professor emerita of East Asian languages and cultures and comparative literature and a residential fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the recipient of the 2018–19 Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize for lifetime achievement as a translator, presented by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University.Watanabe Kenji :

Kenji Watanabe, an expert in Edo-period literature and society, is professor emeritus of Rikkyo University and academic dean of the Jiyugakuen College, Tokyo.Jones Sumie :

Sumie Jones, a specialist in eighteenth-century comparative literature and Edo arts, is professor emerita of East Asian languages and cultures and comparative literature and a residential fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the recipient of the 2018–19 Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize for lifetime achievement as a translator, presented by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, Columbia University.Kern Adam L. :

Adam L. Kern is professor of Japanese literature and visual culture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.Screech Timon :

Timon Screech is professor in the history of art at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.Sumie Jones (Editor)
Sumie Jones, a specialist in eighteenth-century comparative literature and Edo arts, is professor emerita of East Asian languages and cultures and comparative literature and a residential fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University.

Kenji Watanabe (Editor)
Kenji Watanabe, an expert in Edo-period literature and society, is professor emeritus of Rikkyo University and principal of Rikkyo Niiza Middle and High Schools.

Reviews

Koji Kawamoto, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo:
Today's Japan Cool has its origin in the Edo period, where parodies were the norm, far more prized than the originals, while art-forms and genres merely existed to be crossed over and intermingled. Writers and readers easily swapped their roles; poets, novelists, artists, and musicians constantly worked together and/or trespassed into each other's territory. As yet, few of the literary masterworks of this intriguing culture have been translated into foreign languages due to the intrinsic difficulty of the job. This book is the fruit of over thirty years' group work by top-class specialists who know Edo best but love it even better.

Paul Gordon Schalow, Rutgers University:
This anthology brings together the best and most important translations of late Edo texts into a single volume that synthesizes the work of a generation of scholars in the field and will likely inspire another generation to follow. It provides readers with an engaging, highly accessible, and thematically organized entry into the varied genres and authors of the period.

Richard Bowring, Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge:
Anyone who wishes to soak up the atmosphere of Japanese urban life in those marvellous years before Edo became Tokyo need look no further than this anthology. Designed around six thematic categories, the book leads us right to the heart of the colorful, the earthy, the comic, the scabrous world of what in the mid-eighteenth century was in all likelihood the largest city in the world. A special strength of this collection is its successful attempt to capture one of the most remarkable aspects of popular literature of the time: the visual excitement of the woodblock printed page. A superb teaching resource that puts Edo within reach of the classroom.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: The Production And Consumption Of Literature In A Flourishing Metropolis Sumie Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Notes For The Reader Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
I. Playboys, Prostitutes, And Lovers
Seki The Night Hawk Yamaoka Matsuake Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
“A Lousy Journey Of Love: Two Sweethearts Won’T Back Down” Hiraga Genna Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
At A Fork On The Road To Hiring A Hooker Umebori Kokuga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Intimations Of Spring: The Plum Calendar Tamenaga Shunsui Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
II. Ghosts, Monsters, And Deities
One Hundred Monsters In Edo Of Our Time Baba Bunkō Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Rootless Grass Hiraga Gennai Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Thousand Arms Of Goddess, Julienned: The Secret Recipe Of Our Handmade Soup Stock Shiba Zenkō Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
The Monster Takes A Bride Jippensha Ikku Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
Epic Yotsuya Ghost Tale Tsuruya Nanboku Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
III. Heroes, Rogues, And Fools
Playboy, Grilled Edo Style Santō Kyōden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Osome And Hisamatsu: Their Amorous History—Read All About It! Tsuruya Nanboku and Sakurada Jisuke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
The Tale Of The Eight Dog Warriors Of The Satomi Clan Kyokutei Bakin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
The Tale Of The Eight Dog Warriors Of The Satomi Clan: The Death Of Funamushi Kyokutei Bakin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
Eight Footloose Fools: A Flower Almanac Ryūtei Rijō Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	282
Benten The Thief Kawatake Mokuami Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
IV. City And Country Folks
Mr. Senryū’s Barrel Of Laughs, Edo Haikai Style Karai Senryū Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
“The Housemaid’s Ballad” And Other Poems Dōmyaku Sensei Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
In The World Of Men, Nothing But Lies Shikitei Sanba Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
The Floating World Barbershop Shikitei Sanba Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
Tales From The North Tadano Makuzu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	377
V. Artists And Poets
On Farting Hiraga Gennai Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391
The “Peony Petals” Sequence Yosa Buson and Takai Kitō Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	400
Peasants, Peddlers, And Paramours: Waka Selections Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	413
Icicle Teardrops And Butterfly Wings: Popular Love Songs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	430
VI. Tourists And Onlookers
Comparisons Of Cities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	443
Songs Of The Northern Quarter Ichikawa Kansai Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	465
Outlandish Nonsense: Verses On Western Themes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	477
An Account Of The Prosperity Of Edo Terakado Seiken Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	480
Source Texts And Modern Editions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	493
List Of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	499
Permissions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	505
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	507
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	509

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 532
Illustrations
- Other: 104 illus., 5 in color

eBook

Published: February 28, 2013
ISBN: 9780824837761