TALES OFMOONLIGHT AND RAINUeda AkinariColumbia Unive.docx

TALES OF
MOONLIGHT AND RAIN
Ueda Akinari
Columbia University Press New York
ta l e s o f m o o n li g h t a n d r a i n
Translations from the Asian Classics
Image has been suppressed
ta l e s
o f
m o o n l i g h t
a n d
ra i n
Ueda Akinari
A Study and Translation by

a n t h o n y h . c h a m b e r s
C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S
N E W Y O R K
Image has been suppressed
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ueda, Akinari, 1734–1809.
[Ugetsu monogatari. English]
Tales of moonlight and rain : a study and translation by
Anthony H. Chambers.
p. cm. — (Translations from the Asian classics)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-231-13912-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 0-231-51124-8 (electronic)

I. Chambers, Anthony H. (Anthony Hood)
II. Title. III. Series.
PL794.8.U3413 2006
895.6'33—dc22 2006015127
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and
durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Frontispiece: Tosa Hidenobu, portrait of Ueda Akinari (1786).
(Tenri Central Library, Nara)
Acknowledgments vii
I n t r o d u c t i o n 1
The Early Modern Period in Japan 2
About the Author 3
Bunjin, National Learning, and Yomihon 8
About Tales of Moonlight and Rain 11
About the Translation 34
Ta l e s o f M o o n l i g h t a n d R a i n 45

p r e fac e 47
B o o k O n e
Shiramine 51
The Chrysanthemum Vow 75
B o o k t w o
The Reed-Choked House 91
The Carp of My Dreams 110
c o n t e n t s
B o o k t h r e e
The Owl of the Three Jewels 121
The Kibitsu Cauldron 139
B o o k f o u r
A Serpent’s Lust 155
B o o k f i v e
The Blue Hood 186
On Poverty and Wealth 202
Bibliography 221

vi c o n t e n t s
Haruo Shirane provided the initial spark by asking me to
translate three stories from Ueda Akinari’s Tales of Moon-
light and Rain for his Early Modern Japanese Literature: An
Anthology, 1600–1900, and then suggesting that I translate
the whole collection. Deborah Losse, Lawrence E. Marceau,
and Donald Richie deserve special thanks for their encour-
agement and suggestions. The College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at Arizona State University provided time for the
work by giving me a year’s sabbatical. Even with time, the
study and translation would have been impossible without
the pathbreaking work of earlier scholars and the compilers
of the marvelous reference works we all depend on. Thanks
go also to my incomparable circle of friends and colleagues,
who sustain me emotionally and intellectually.
Michael Ashby read the first draft and made countless
perceptive comments. I am also indebted to Jennifer Crewe,
Anne McCoy, Irene Pavitt, and the rest of the staff at Colum-
bia University Press. The anonymous readers recruited by
the press offered encouragement, pointed out errors, and
provided valuable advice. Any problems that remain are, of
course, my own responsibility.
AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S
The translation is dedicated to all my teachers, especially,
Ch’en Shou-yi, who introduced me to the study of East Asia;
Makoto Ueda, who introduced me to Akinari; Robert H.
Brower, who tutored me in Japanese court poetry; and Edward
G. Seidensticker, my principal mentor over the years.

viii a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
ta l e s o f m o o n li g h t a n d r a i n
Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari), nine sto-
ries by Ueda Akinari (1734–1809) published in Osaka and
Kyoto in 1776, is the most celebrated example in Japan of
the literature of the strange and marvelous. It is far more,
however, than an engrossing collection of ghost stories.
Japanese scholars regard it, along with Genji monogatari
(The Tale of Genji, early eleventh century) and the stories
of Ihara Saikaku (late seventeenth century), as among the
finest works of fiction in the canon of traditional Japanese
literature. The reasons for this esteem have to do primar-
ily with Akinari’s elegant prose—a model of literary Japa-
nese enriched by Chinese borrowings—and with his subtle
exploration of the psychology of men and women at the
extremes of experience, where they come into contact with
the strange and anomalous: ghosts, fiends, dreams, and
other manifestations of the world beyond logic and com-
mon sense.
Tales of Moonlight and Rain exerted a powerful influ-
ence in the twentieth century. Many novelists—including
Izumi Kyoka (1873–1939), Tanizaki Jun’ichiro (1886–1965),
Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892–1927), Ishikawa Jun (1899–
1987), Enchi Fumiko (1905–1986), and Mishima Yukio
INTRODUCTION

2 i n t r o d u c t i o n
(1925–1970)—were avid readers of the collection. Two of
the tales inspired Mizoguchi Kenji’s cinematic masterpiece
Ugetsu monogatari (1953; known to Western viewers as
Ugetsu), which is widely regarded as “one of the greatest of
all films.”1 Deeply rooted in its eighteenth-century cultural
context, Tales of Moonlight and Rain is nonetheless a work of
timeless significance and fascination.
The Early Modern Period in Japan
In 1603 Japan began to settle into a long era of relative calm
and prosperity after a century of disastrous civil war (War-
ring States period [Sengoku jidai], 1467–1568) and nearly
forty years of gradual pacification and unification (Azuchi–
Momoyama period) under the successive warlord-unifiers
Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–
1598), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616). The Tokugawa
shogunate—the military regime established by Ieyasu—
governed Japan for 265 years, an era that is commonly
referred to as the Edo period, after the site of the shogun’s
capital, or the Tokugawa period. The emperor and the court
continued to hold ultimate, though symbolic, authority in
Kyoto during these years, but real power was wielded by the
Tokugawa bureaucracy until it collapsed in 1868 and the
Meiji emperor moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was then
renamed Tokyo.
Cultural historians refer to the years from 1603 to 1868 as
the early modern period and have divided it into three parts
on the basis of cultural and political developments: early
(1603–1715), middle (1716–1800), and late (1801–1868).2 The

first blossoming of early modern literature came toward the
end of the seventeenth century, particularly with the work of
three major figures: the fiction writer Ihara Saikaku (1642–
1693), the poet Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), and the drama-
tist Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1724).
i n t r o d u c t i o n 3
The period we are most concerned with here, the eigh-
teenth century, can be regarded as the time when Tokugawa
culture reached its high point.3 The stability of the country
under Tokugawa rule (among other factors) made possible
a flourishing of artistic activity by and for commoners, who
previously had enjoyed only limited access to high culture.4
The man now recognized as the outstanding Japanese author
of fiction in the eighteenth century was such a commoner,
Ueda Akinari. By the time he began writing, a good educa-
tion was no longer the monopoly of the court aristocracy, the
samurai class, and the clergy: literacy rates were comparable
to those in Europe,5 and education had spread to large num-
bers of affluent residents of the great cities of Kyoto, Osaka,
and Edo.6 As a commoner, Akinari wrote primarily for an
audience of other well-educated urban residents.
About the Author
Ueda Senjiro was born in 1734 in Osaka, then the commercial
center of Japan.7 Akinari, the name by which he is known, is a
pen name that he began to use in the early 1770s. His mother,
Matsuo Osaki, was the granddaughter of a peasant from Yam-
ato Province who had gone to Osaka to become a merchant;
the identity of his father is not known. In his fourth year, he
was adopted by a prosperous merchant named Ueda Mosuke.
Surviving a severe bout of smallpox that left several of his fin-

gers malformed, the young Akinari had a comfortable child-
hood and received a good education, possibly at the Kaitokudo,
one of the most prominent of the new schools chartered by
the government to provide “an appropriately practical Confu-
cian education” to the children of the merchant and artisan
classes.8 The curriculum would have included the Confucian
canon—the Four Books (Lun yü [Analects] of Confucius, Da
xue [The Great Learning], Zhong yong [The Doctrine of the
Mean],
and Mengzi [Mencius]) and the Five Classics (I jing [The Book
of Changes], Shu jing [The Book of Documents], Shi jing [The
Book of Songs], Li ji [The Book of Rites], and Chun qiu
[Spring
and Autumn Annals])—and Japanese classics, especially waka
(thirty-one-syllable court poems), Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise,
ca. 947), and The Tale of Genji.
Akinari’s earliest surviving literary efforts are haikai verses
included in several collections published in 1753 and 1755.
Although composing haikai (playful, humorous) poetry, an
outgrowth of renga (linked verse), began as an amusing pas-
time, it had evolved into a serious pursuit by the eighteenth
century. Akinari continued to write haikai throughout his
life—even if he did not take it as seriously as did some of his
contemporaries9—and the pursuit brought him into contact
with important literary figures in Osaka and Kyoto, includ-
ing the painter and haikai poet Yosa Buson (1716–1783), and
with proponents of kokugaku (National Learning or Nativist
Study), which emphasized the philological study of ancient
Japanese literature.10

Akinari never made his living as a writer, however. He
married Ueyama Tama in 1760; they enjoyed a happy mar-
riage but had no children. Akinari’s adoptive father died in
1761, leaving to Akinari the family business and the respon-
sibility for supporting himself, his new bride, and his adop-
tive mother, to whom he was devoted. They lost their busi-
ness and all their belongings to a fire in 1771, after which
Akinari turned to the study of medicine, probably under
Tsuga Teisho (ca. 1718–ca. 1794), one of many intellectuals of
the time who combined scholarship, writing, and medicine.
Akinari worked as a physician in Osaka until 1787, when he
retired from medicine and occupied himself with scholar-
ship, teaching, and writing. How he supported his family
during these years is unclear; he may have lived on accumu-
lated savings, and he may have earned some money from
teaching Japanese classics.
Along with his friend Buson and his sometime mentor
Takebe Ayatari (1719–1774), Akinari was a classic example of
the eighteenth-century bunjin—a nonconformist, indepen-
dent artist, typically a painter and writer, who, though not
a member of the aristocracy, devoted himself or herself to
high culture, stood aloof from commercial or political profit,
and felt disdain for the “vulgarity” of contemporary society.11
What the bunjin of the mid-Edo period shared was “avoiding
the ‘vulgar’ (zoku) and placing themselves on heights beyond
the reach of the ‘vulgar.’”12 The bunjin ideal was inspired in
part by the Chinese wen-jen (written with the same charac-
ters as bunjin, signifying a person of letters) of earlier times,
and one aspect of the eighteenth-century bunjin’s avoidance
of vulgarity involved the study of Chinese culture, including

vernacular Chinese fiction. This was true of Akinari.
Akinari’s first works of fiction, however, owe little to Chi-
nese models and much to the ukiyo zoshi (books of the floating
world) tradition of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries, with its typically lighthearted, satirical treatment
of the foibles of ordinary people. Akinari produced two col-
lections of stories in this genre, Shodo kikimimi sekenzaru
(A Worldly Monkey Who Hears About Everything, 1766) and
Seken tekake katagi (Characters of Worldly Mistresses, 1767),
which turned out to be the last significant ukiyo zoshi.13 Aki-
nari quickly turned his attention to other interests.
One of these was National Learning. Akinari had begun a
serious study of the Japanese classics, especially waka, before
1760. A few years later, he studied with Ayatari and then with
Kato Umaki (1721–1777), a disciple of the great nativist scholar
Kamo no Mabuchi (1697–1769). This led him to abandon
the ukiyo zoshi tradition in favor of writing fiction that is far
richer and more serious, as well as treatises on such classics
as Tales of Ise; the Man’yoshu (Collection of Myriad Leaves,
ca.
759), the oldest anthology of Japanese poetry; and the Kokin-
shu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems, 905), the first
imperially commissioned anthology of waka. His studies also
embroiled him in a famous scholarly debate, which contin-
ued over a number of years and on various subjects, with the
most noted of the National Learning scholars, Motoori Nori-
naga (1730–1801)—a confrontation that Blake Morgan Young
has characterized as “a clash between the rustic’s blind faith
and the urbanite’s critical scepticism,” Norinaga, who lived

in Ise, being the rustic.14 Their disagreements ranged from
phonology to mythology. Norinaga’s arguments depended on
his absolutely literal reading of ancient Japanese compendia
of myth and history, while Akinari insisted on a more inter-
pretative, empirical approach.15
Akinari’s studies of ancient Japanese literature merged
with bunjin ideals, especially the avoidance of vulgarity and
the fascination with Chinese fiction, to shape the solemn
beauty of his masterpiece, Tales of Moonlight and Rain. The
nine stories in this collection frequently allude to, quote
from, and borrow words and phrases from Japanese classics
and Chinese fiction and rise above zoku—even though most
of the characters in the stories are commoners—to achieve
the aesthetic ideal of ga (elegance, refinement), which had
been associated with Kyoto court culture.16 No one doubts
Akinari’s authorship of Moonlight and Rain, but he signed
the work with a pen name and never acknowledged that he
had written it. Although the collection is the principal basis
for his fame, he probably would have preferred to be remem-
bered for his waka, his studies in National Learning, and his
expertise in a form of tea ceremony.
As a scholar, Akinari distinguished himself through edit-
ing and publishing works by Kamo no Mabuchi and his cir-
cle. In 1773 he wrote Ya kana sho (or Yasaisho), a commentary
on the particles ya and kana, but for some reason he would
not allow it to be published until 1787, when it appeared
with a preface by Buson. Kaseiden, Akinari’s biographi-
cal study of the great Man’yoshu poet Hitomaro (late sev-
enth–early eighth centuries), apparently was written in 1781.
The astonishing Reigotsu (ca. 1793) was “a comprehensive
work in six sections, one each on the names of Shinto dei-
ties, the names of Japan’s provinces, noted products of the

various regions, poetry, terminology, and systems of kana
orthography,” but only the kana section survives.17 In 1794
he published Man’yoshu kaisetsu, a short study of the ancient
anthology, and in 1800 he began a comprehensive commen-
tary on the Man’yoshu, which, however, he left unfinished.
Kinsa (1804) and Kinsa jogen (1804) bring together favorite
poems from the Man’yoshu, with Akinari’s commentaries
on them.
Akinari also compiled several miscellanies. Two are col-
lections of humorous and satirical stories: Kakizome kigen kai
(New Year’s Calligraphy and a Sea of Changing Feelings, 1787)
and Kuse monogatari (Tales of Eccentricity, 1791; published
1822), whose title parodies Ise monogatari. Tsuzurabumi
(Basket of Writings, 1805–1806), a collection of his prose and
poetry, represents the final stage of Akinari’s serious liter-
ary work, as he saw it; after it was published, he threw all
his manuscripts down a well. Tandai shoshinroku (A Record of
Daring and Prudence) was completed in 1808.18
Akinari wrote waka and haikai verse throughout his adult
life and was one of the most distinguished waka poets of his
time. His personal collection of waka, Aki no kumo (Autumn
Clouds), was completed in 1807. He also distinguished him-
self as an expert in senchado (the Way of sencha), a form of tea
ceremony that employs tea leaves instead of the powdered
tea of the better-known chanoyu ceremony. Seifu sagen (Triv-
ial Words on Pure Elegance, 1794), his treatise on senchado, is
a classic in the field. Pottery implements that Akinari made
for the ceremony survive.19
Akinari did not abandon fiction after Moonlight and Rain.
In 1808 and 1809, he gathered ten of his stories and essays

under the title Harusame monogatari (Tales of the Spring
Rain). The collection is uneven, partly because Akinari
died before he could polish it to his satisfaction, and per-
haps because he wrote more for his own enjoyment than
for publication. The pieces in Spring Rain are less tightly
structured than the stories in Moonlight and Rain, and the
element of the marvelous and strange is relatively unimport-
ant. The language is plainer, and there is much less reliance
on Chinese sources. Perhaps even more than the tales in
Moonlight and Rain, the stories and essays in Spring Rain
attest to Akinari’s studies in National Learning, particularly
in the emphasis he placed on naoki kokoro (true heartedness,
sincerity, guilelessness), which he apparently held to be the
essential nature of the Japanese people. The stories in Spring
Rain represent Akinari’s most important fiction aside from
Moonlight and Rain.20
In 1793 Akinari and his wife moved from Osaka to Kyoto,
where they lived in poverty near the temple Chion-in, on the
east side of the capital. His wife died in 1797. Within a few
months, Akinari, whose vision had been failing for some
time, went blind, but then regained partial vision in one eye.
He continued his writing and scholarship as he moved here
and there in Kyoto, depending on friends for support, until
his death in 1809 on the twenty-seventh day of the Sixth
Month (August 8, in the Western calendar), in his seventy-
sixth year. His grave is at the Buddhist temple Saifukuji, near
the Nanzenji monastery.
Bunjin, National Learning, and Yomihon

The result of Akinari’s synthesis, in Moonlight and Rain, of
a bunjin orientation with the National Learning was a new
genre: the yomihon (books for reading).
The distinction between ga and zoku arose from ancient
Chinese poetics and was embraced by Japanese artists of the
Tokugawa period. As the painter Gion Nankai (1677–1751)
said, “ga is neatness, propriety, elegance; zoku is vulgarity.”21
This analysis was applied to all the arts, including painting
and literature. From the Japanese point of view, elegant liter-
ary genres encompassed Chinese poetry and prose, includ-
ing fiction; Japanese court poetry and linked verse; classi-
cal monogatari, such as Ise and Genji; and no dramas.22 The
traditional ga–zoku aesthetic was modified, however, by
Japanese artists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
from a system that distinguished clearly between the courtly
and the common, into a quest for elegance in realms that
had traditionally been considered vulgar. Thus Basho urged
his students to raise their minds “to an enlightened state,
[and then] return to zoku,” by which he meant “practicing ga
while remaining in the ordinary zoku world of haikai.”23 In
short, “Basho raised haikai poetry, traditionally a zoku form,
to the world of ga, thereby confounding the traditional dis-
tinctions of ga and zoku.”24
The objective of finding elegance in the vulgar dovetails
with one of the goals of the scholars of National Learning,
the “articulation of links between the mythological past, the
recorded history of the aristocratic few, and the daily lives
of common folk.”25 This agenda is related, of course, to the
rising wealth and influence of the urban classes—primar-

ily merchants and artisans—in the early modern period
and their desire to participate in the high culture associ-
ated with the court aristocracy. The consequent blurring of
the distinction between ga and zoku can be seen clearly in
Moonlight and Rain. As a bunjin, Akinari rejected the com-
mon, and all the elegant genres are reflected in Moonlight
and Rain. At the same time, the peasants (zoku) in “The
Reed-Choked House,” for example, are remarkably well
versed in waka (ga), and the inclusion of haikai (zoku) in
the same context as waka and Chinese poetry (ga) in “The
Owl of the Three Jewels” implicitly raises haikai to the same
level of elegance. In Moonlight and Rain, then, peasants and
haikai participate in the aristocratic tradition as Akinari lifts
them—and eighteenth-century Japanese fiction—from the
vulgar realm of ukiyo zoshi to the elegant sphere of court
poetry and monogatari.26
The National Learning agenda is reflected in Moonlight
and Rain in at least two other ways. First, the philological
study of ancient Japanese texts, one of the principal activi-
ties of National Learning scholars, influenced Akinari’s
choice of vocabulary and phrasing so often that a reader is
hard put to count the examples.27 Indeed, the abundance
of archaic words and expressions from, and allusions to,
the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712), the Man’yoshu,
Tales of Ise, the Kokinshu, The Tale of Genji, and other clas-
sics is the main reason that Moonlight and Rain is difficult to
read. The classical lexicon also serves to associate Moonlight
and Rain with court literature. Second, in opposition to the
Confucian emphasis on rationalism, scholars of National
Learning insisted that many things lie beyond the ability of

human beings to understand, analyze, and explain—a belief
that was based on an unquestioning acceptance of Japanese
mythology.28 While Akinari rejected Norinaga’s uncritical
embrace of ancient mythology, he did share the National
Learning scholars’ propensity to “celebrate the mysterious
wonders of life,”29 which takes an especially vivid form in
Moonlight and Rain.
In synthesizing the bunjin aesthetic and National Learn-
ing, Akinari produced a masterpiece in a new genre—the
yomihon, a more serious form of literature than its prede-
cessor, the ukiyo zoshi. The term yomihon comes from the
genre’s characteristically heavy emphasis on the written text,
as opposed to oral narratives and booklets in which illustra-
tions play a central role. The language of yomihon, including
Moonlight and Rain, is elegant, somewhat archaic, and often
full of allusions to Chinese and Japanese antecedents. In
short, the emphasis is on serious reading. The first yomihon
writers were Tsuga Teisho, who probably instructed Akinari
in medicine, and Takebe Ayatari, one of Akinari’s mentors
in National Learning. Teisho’s Hanabusa soshi (A Garland of
Heroes, 1749) is considered the first yomihon. Its prose style
is characterized by wakan konko (a blend of Japanese and
Chinese) and gazoku setchu (a blend of elegant and vulgar).
Like Moonlight and Rain, A Garland of Heroes consists of nine
Why the preface bears the date “Meiwa 5, late spring” (the
Third Month of 1768) has been the subject of considerable
research and discussion, since the preface and the stories
were first published eight years later. There are good reasons
to think that a preface that Akinari had drafted in 1768, as
part of the “Saigyo Stories” project, was followed by eight

years of studying, writing, and revising before the tales in
Moonlight and Rain reached their present form.33 Another
possibility is that Akinari used the date of 1768 so that his
work would appear to be contemporaneous with A Tale of the
Western Hills, the preface of which is dated “Meiwa 5, spring,
Second Month.”34
Moonlight and Rain belongs, of course, to a different
genre—yomihon—from A Worldly Monkey and Worldly Mis-
tresses and, presumably, their planned sequels. Neverthe-
less, the titles of the unpublished works contain tantalizing
suggestions of connections with Moonlight and Rain. First,
both titles—“Tidings from a Cargo Ship in Various Prov-
inces” and “Saigyo Stories: Poetic Sites Bundled in a Dyed
Cloth”—anticipate the prominence of travel in Moonlight
and Rain (in all but the last of the nine tales) and the location
of all the stories in the provinces (as opposed to the great
cities). Second, “Saigyo Stories: Poetic Sites Bundled in a
Dyed Cloth” anticipates Moonlight and Rain in two additional
ways: Saigyo, the beloved poet-monk of the twelfth century,
appears in the first Moonlight and Rain story, “Shiramine”;
and “poetic sites” (utamakura), place-names used frequently
in poetry and listed in handbooks of poetic composition, are
mentioned in almost all the tales, with special prominence
in “Shiramine,” “The Carp of My Dreams,” “The Owl of the
Three Jewels,” and “A Serpent’s Lust.” In short, “various
provinces,” “Saigyo,” and “poetic sites” in the titles of the
unpublished ukiyo zoshi are important elements in Moon-
light and Rain. There can be little doubt that Moonlight and
Rain grew from the germs of “Tidings from a Cargo Ship
in Various Provinces” and “Saigyo Stories.” The resulting

yomihon is a work of far greater psychological depth, narra-
tive sophistication, and historical and philological awareness
than A Worldly Monkey and Worldly Mistresses, and it incor-
porates two new elements: the adaptation of Chinese stories
and the strange or anomalous.
t i t l e
The title Ugetsu monogatari (literally, “rain-moon tales”)
comes from the phrase “misty moon after the rains” in the
preface. It alludes to the no play Ugetsu, in which Saigyo
appears, as he does in “Shiramine,” and in which rain and
the moon are central images.35 Commentators have also
pointed to a passage in “Mudan deng ji” (Peony Lantern),
a story in Qu You’s Jiandeng xinhua (New Tales After Trim-
ming the Lamp, 1378), one of Akinari’s principal sources for
“The Kibitsu Cauldron,” which suggests that mysterious
beings appear on cloudy, rainy nights and in mornings with
a lingering moon. In any case, educated East Asian readers
would probably guess immediately that a book containing
the term “rain-moon” in its title would deal with the strange
and marvelous.
s o u r c e s
Much has been written about Akinari’s use of Chinese and
Japanese sources in Moonlight and Rain—more than sixty
Chinese sources, according to Noriko T. Reider, and more
than a hundred Japanese.36 (For the titles of important
sources, see the introductions to the tales.)
Akinari used his sources in several ways. For some tales—
“The Chrysanthemum Vow,” “The Carp of My Dreams,”
“The Kibitsu Cauldron,” and “A Serpent’s Lust”—he bor-
rowed the story line of a Chinese work, always with signifi-

cant modifications that ease the transition to a Japanese set-
ting. Further, many scenes and situations in the tales echo
those in Chinese or Japanese sources. Examples include the
description of Katsushiro’s house when he returns from
the capital in “The Reed-Choked House,” which echoes the
“Yomogiu” (The Wormwood Patch) chapter of The Tale of
Genji; the depiction of the temple at Yoshino in “A Serpent’s
Lust,” which echoes the “Wakamurasaki” (Lavender) chap-
ter of Genji; and the arrival of Kaian at the village in “The
Blue Hood,” which echoes chapter 5 of Shuihu zhuan (Water
Margin, fourteenth century), attributed to Shi Nai’an and Luo
Guanzhong. Akinari also borrowed words and phrases from
his Chinese sources and from the Japanese classics he stud-
ied, especially the Kojiki, the Man’yoshu, Tales of Ise, and The
Tale of Genji. Finally, he seems to have structured individual
stories along the lines of Chinese tales and in imitation of
the structure of no plays, and the organization of the collec-
tion as a whole seems to be influenced by the no.
Far from trying to hide his indebtedness to Chinese
and Japanese precedents, Akinari …
J A P A N E S E
T
A

L
E
5
P a n t k c o n F a i r y X a l e a n J F o l k l o r e L i t r a r y
P A N T H E O N B O O K S
N E W Y O R K
Copyright © 1987 by Royal! Tyler
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books,
a
division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously
in
Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Originally
published in hardcover by Pantheon Books, a division of
Random House, Inc., in 1987.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Japanese Tales.

(Pantheon fairy tale and folklore library)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Tales—Japan. I. Tyler, Royall. II. Series: Pantheon fairy
tale & folklore library.
GR340.J33 1987 398.2'0952 86-17017
ISBN 0-394-52190-0
0-394-75656-8 (pbk.)
Book design by Susan Mitchell
Manufactured in the United States of America
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
F O R L I Z
C O N T E N T S
A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S XVI
A N O T E O N P R O N U N C I A T I O N xvii
I N T R O D U C T I O N XLX
O A K , M E L O N , G O U R D , A N G E L , F L E A

l. The Giant Oak 3
a. Melon Magic 3
3. The Sparrows' Gifts A
4 The Maiden from the Sky 7
5. The Flea 9
S U R P R I S E S
6. The Little Spicier 9
j. A Flash in the Palace 10
8. Salt Fish and Doctored Wine 10
o,. The Tapeworm's Sad End 14
10. A Toad to Reckon With 15
H A U N T S
11. Better Late Than Early 16
is . The Ravenous Storehouse 17
13. The Grisly Box 18
14. The Bridge 19
15. The Rooted Corpse 22
16. An Old, Old Ghost 23

M O N K J O K E S
17. Syrup 24
18. Not Quite the Right Robe 25
v i i i
27
B U D D H I S T B E G I N N I N G S
aa. T h e E m p e r o r ' s F i n g e r 3 0
a3. J a p a n ' s F i r s t G o l d 3 1
a<f. G y o g i a n d B a r a m o n 33
a5. T h e O l d M a c k e r e l P e d d l e r 3 4
a6. K o b o D a i s h i 3 5
37. T h e K a n n o n in t h e P i n e 37
G O D S
»8. V e r y K i n d o f H i m , N o D o u b t 3 8
a 9 . T h e D o g a n d H i s W i f e 3 9
30. A n O l d G o d R e n e w e d 4 0
31. C o m e t o M y K a s u g a M o u n t a i n ! 4 2

3a. P r i n c e s s G l o r y 46
T E N G U A N D D R A G O N S
33. T h e M u r m u r i n g o f t h e S e a 4 7
34. J a p a n M e a n s T r o u b l e ! 4 8
35. T h e I n v i n c i b l e P a i r 52
36. R a i n 53
37. N o D r a g o n 5 5
P U R E H E A R T S
38. T h i n g s A s T h e y A r e 5 6
3 9 . T h e P o r t r a i t 5 7
40. W h a t t h e B e a n s W e r e S a y i n g 5 7
41. M e r c y 58
4a. A m o n g t h e F l o w e r s 5 9
M U S I C A N D D A N C E
43. F o r L o v e o f S o n g 6 0
44. T h r e e A n g e l s 61
1 9 . T h e N o s e 2 5
20. T w o B u c k e t s o f M a r i t a l Bl iss

at. H o m e in a C h e s t 29
45. G i v e M e M u s i c ! 6 1
46. T h e W e i g h t o f T r a d i t i o n 62
47. T h e G o d o f G o o d F o r t u n e 6 3
48. D i v i n e A p p l a u s e 67
M A G I C
45. B r i n g B a c k T h a t F e r r y ! 67
50. T h e M a n - M a d e F r i e n d 6 8
51. T h e L a u g h i n g Fi t 70
5a. S m a l l - T i m e M a g i c 72
53. T h e Li t t le O i l J a r 7 5
T H E S E X E S
54. A H a r d M o m e n t 76
55. A N i c e M u g o f M o l t e n C o p p e r 7 7
56. T h e Li t t le B o t t l e o f T e a r s 78
57. E l i m i n a t i o n 78
58. B u t S h e C o u l d n ' t H e l p I t ! 8 1

Y I N . Y A N G W I Z A R D R Y
5 9 . T h e G e n i e 8 2
60. O n e F r o g L e s s 8 3
61. T h e S p e l l b o u n d P i r a t e s 8 3
6». T h e T e s t 84
63. M a n ' s Bes t F r i e n d 8 5
R O B B E R S
64. G e n j o 87
65. T h e R a s h o G a t e 8 8
66. T h e Self less T h i e f 89
67. A u t h o r i t y 90
68. T h e W r e s t l e r ' s S i s t e r 92
65. T o S o o t h t h e S a v a g e B r e a s t 9 3
H E A L I N G
70. T h e B u d d h a w i t h L o t s o f H a n d s 9 4
71. T h e P r o t e c t o r Sp i r i t 94
X

72. T h e F l y i n g S t o r e h o u s e 9 5
7 3 . N o R e s p e c t 9 7
7 4 T h e Inv i s ib l e M a n 9 9
E S C A P E S
75. D y e i n g C a s t l e 102
76. T a k e n In 104
77. T h e Sacr i f ice 107
78. T h e L u r e 110
79. J u s t L i k e a B i rd 113
F O X E S
80. E n o u g h Is E n o u g h ! 114
81. T h e L o v i n g F o x 115
82. T o u c h e d in t h e H e a d 116
83. Y a m S o u p 118
8 4 T h e E v i c t i o n 122
A S C E T I C S
85. I n c e n s e S m o k e 124
86. T h e B le s s ing 125

87. A n o t h e r F l y i n g J a r 126
88. T h e W i z a r d o f t h e M o u n t a i n s 127
89. An A w f u l Fa l l 130
90. T h e R i c e p o o p S a i n t 131
O D D I T I E S
91. W h a t t h e S t o r m W a s h e d I n 132
92. S e a D e v i l s 133
93. T h e D a n c i n g M u s h r o o m 134
9 4 T h e B e s t - L a i d P l a n s . . . 135
9 5 . Rea l F l a m e s a t Las t ! 136
96. T h e P a i n t e d H o r s e 137
G O L D E N P E A K A N D T H E O M I N E M O U N T A I
N S
97. A M o d e l D e m o n 137
98. T h e R i v e r o f S n a k e s 138
99- T h e W i n e S p r i n g 1 3 9
100. V e r y H i g h in t h e M o u n t a i n s 1-41
101. T h e G o d o f F i r e a n d T h u n d e r 1 4 4

102. T h e G o l d o f G o l d e n P e a k 1 4 9
T U R T L E S A N D A C R A B
103. T h e T h u n d e r T u r t l e 1 5 0
104 T h e C a t c h 151
,o5. T h e G r a t e f u l T u r t l e 1 5 2
106. U r a s h i m a t h e F i s h e r m a n 1 5 4
107. T h e G r a t e f u l C r a b 1 5 6
D E S I R E
«o8. Y o u n g L u s t 1 5 7
. o 9 . T h e P r e t t y G i r l 1 5 8
no . M e s m e r i z e d 1 5 9
111. R e d H e a t 1 6 0
11a. L o v e s i c k 1 6 2
P A R A D I S E
u3. G o n e , B o d y a n d Sou l 1 6 3
114. P a r a d i s e in t h e P a l m of t h e H a n d 1 6 4
u5 . N o C o m p r o m i s e 1 6 5
6 . T h e F a i l u r e 1 6 8

117. L e t t e r s f rom P a r a d i s e 1 6 9
118. N o t E x a c t l y t h e L a n d o f Bliss 171
T E N G U , B O A R , A N D B A D G E R
119. O n e Las t S h o w e r o f Pe t a l s 1 7 2
iao. I n s p i r i n g , U n f o r t u n a t e l y 1 7 3
131. N o Foo l , t h e H u n t e r 1 7 4
122. T h e H a i r y A r m 1 7 6
»23. E x p e r t H e l p 1 7 6
H E A L I N G I I
124 R ice C a k e s 1 7 7
u 5 . A M e m o r a b l e E m p r e s s 1 7 8
x i i
L O V E A N D L O S S
139. A B e l o v e d W i f e , a B o w , a W h i t e B i rd 185
i 3 3 . T h e F o r s a k e n L a d y 188
i 3 3 . S h e D i e d L o n g A g o 190
S N A K E S

135. T h e S n a k e C h a r m e r 193
136. T h e T u g - o f - W a r 194
1 3 7 . A s D e e p A s t h e S e a 195
138. W h a t t h e S n a k e H a d i n M i n d 196
1 3 9 . R e d P l u m B l o s s o m s 198
R O B B E R S I I
140. T h e E n i g m a 199
141. W a s p s 2 0 0
143. W i t h o u t E v e n a F i g h t 202
.43. T h e T e m p l e Bell 2 0 3
144. T h e D e a d M a n W a k e s 2 0 5
145. C o w e d 2 0 6
L O T U S T A L E S
.46. T h e B l o o d y S w o r d 2 0 7
Ug. A P l e a f rom H e l l 2 0 8
148. T h e V o i c e f rom t h e C a v e 209
149. I n c o r r i g i b l e 2 1 1
150. T h e P i r a t e ' s S t o r y 2 1 5

151. A Li t t l e L e s s o n 2 1 7
130. T h e U n k n o w n T h i r d
131. An I m a g e in a F l a m e
186
187
134. I S a w It in a D r e a m 191
u 6 . Q u i t e a S t i n k 181
i a 7 . T h e M a s t e r 182
138. A S i m p l e C u r e 184
B O Y S
i5a. H e r o i c P a t i e n c e , A l m o s t 2 1 8
i53. T h e P o t - H e a d e d D e m o n 2 1 9
154 R i o t o u s L i v i n g 2 2 0
155. T h e B o y W h o L a i d t h e G o l d e n S t o n e 221
156. C h e r r y B l o s s o m s 224
P A R A D I S E I I
1 5 7 . T h e T h i r s t for P a r a d i s e 224

158. T h e C h a n t i n g S k u l l 2 2 5
1 5 9 . T h e N i c e Li t t le G o d Sa i l s A w a y 2 2 6
160. T h e U n e a r t h l y F r a g r a n c e 2 2 8
A T w i n g e of R e g r e t 2 2 9
Y I N - Y A N G W I Z A R D R Y I I
.62. D a d d y , W h o W e r e T h o s e P e o p l e ? 230
.63. T h e C u r s e 2 3 1
164 T h e H a r m l e s s H a u n t 232
165. I n t h e N i c k o f T i m e 2 3 3
166. A s t r i d e t h e C o r p s e 2 3 5
D E M O N S
167. T w i n l e a f 2 3 6
168. N o N i g h t t o B e O u t C o u r t i n g 2 3 7
169. L u m p Off, L u m p O n 2 3 9
170. T a k e a G o o d L o o k ! 2 4 1
P L E N T Y
171. C h e r i s h - t h e - A g e d S p r i n g 242
172. T h e B o t t o m l e s s S a c k 2 4 2

1 7 3 . T h e Sol id G o l d C o r p s e 244
174 A F o r t u n e f rom a W i s p of S t r a w 2 4 6
i 7 5 . " D o g ' s H e a d " Si lk 250
x i v
176. A V e r y S u r p r i s e d B o d h i s a t t v a 251
177. T h e A w a k e n i n g 2 5 2
,78. T h e Li t t le G o d ' s Big C h a n c e 2 5 8
179. P i o u s A n t i c s 2 5 8
180. T h e R e p r i e v e 262
W A T E R
181. T h e W a t e r Sp i r i t 264
182. T h e M a s t e r o f S t r e a m s a n d Fa l l s 2 6 5
183. T h e D r a g o n C a v e 2 6 6
184 G o l d from t h e D r a g o n Pa l ace 2 6 7
, 8 5 . T h e P o n d G o d T a k e s a Wi fe 2 6 9
C L O S E D W O R L D S
.86. T h e Isle o f M a n a n d M a i d 2 7 0

187. T h e S n a k e a n d t h e C e n t i p e d e 271
188. T h r o u g h t h e W a t e r C u r t a i n 274
189. C a n n i b a l I s l a n d 281
H A U N T S I I
190. N o N o n s e n s e ! 282
191. Q u i t e a Bit of N o n s e n s e 2 8 3
192. O n e M o u t h f u l 2 8 3
193. S u d d e n l y , H o r s e D u n g 284
» 9 4 T h e M o n k i n W h i t e A r m o r 2 8 5
D R E A M S
i 9 5 . L i t t l e W h i t e H a i r s 2 8 6
,96. T h e M a n W h o S to l e a D r e a m 2 8 6
.97. T h e B u d d h a - O x 2 8 7
198. T h e F a l c o n e r ' s D r e a m 290
,99. P o v e r t y 2 9 2
O D D P A T H S T O S A L V A T I O N
S C A R E S A N D N I G H T M A R E S

aoo. T h e N i g h t m a r e 2 9 2
201. T h e D o u b l e 2 9 4
202. B e w i t c h e d 2 9 4
T h e F u n e r a l 2 9 6
T h e G r i n n i n g F a c e o f a n O l d W o m a n 2 9 7
F O X E S I I
ao5. F o x A r s o n 2 9 8
ao6. T h e F o x ' s Ball 2 9 9
207. S i n g e d F u r 3 0 0
ao8. N o t R e a l l y a T r e e a t All 3 0 3
209. T h e W h i t e F o x : F o u r D r e a m s 3 0 4
B E Y O N D T H E R U L E S
a.o. T h e Te l l t a l e F i s h 3 0 5
an. A T a s t e for F i s h 3 0 5
aia. T h e P r o m i s e 3 0 6
ai3. T h e J e l l y f i s h ' s B o n e s 3 0 7
314. T h e S t i n k i n g H u t 3 1 0
P A R E N T A N D C H I L D

ai5. B e G o o d t o Y o u r M o t h e r a n d F a t h e r ! 3 1 2
a.6. He l l i n B r o a d D a y 3 1 3
217. T h e O l d W o m a n o n t h e M o u n t a i n 3 1 5
ai8. M o t h e r 3 1 6
219. P e r i l o u s G r a t i t u d e 3 1 7
aao. T h e U g l y S o n 3 1 9
S O U R C E S A N D N O T E S 3 2 1
T H E W O R K S T H E S E T A L E S C O M E F R O M 3 2 5
T A L E S C L A S S I F I E D B Y S O U R C E S 3 2 7
B I B L I O G R A P H Y 3 3 1
I N D E X 3 3 3
A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
J o h n D o w e r i n t r o d u c e d m e t o P a n t h e o n a n d s
o b e g a n t h e b o o k . S u s a n
Ty le r , m y wife , r e a d a n d r e r e a d m y d ra f t s , c o n t
i n u a l l y m a k i n g s u g g e s -
t i ons ; d i s c u s s e d c o u n t l e s s q u e s t i o n s o f fo rm

a n d c o n t e n t w i t h m e , a l w a y s
of fer ing w i s e a n d w e l l - i n f o r m e d a d v i c e ; a n d
k e p t m e g o i n g w i t h b a t c h e s
o f c o o k i e s . W e n d y Wolf, m y ed i to r , w a s a l w a y s
q u i c k a n d he lpfu l . H o w
c a n I t h a n k t h e m e n o u g h ?
A N O T E
O N
P R O N U N C I A T I O N
J a p a n e s e i s e a s y t o p r o n o u n c e . T h e c o n s o n a
n t s w o r k w h e n s p o k e n just
a s t h e y a r e w r i t t e n i n th i s b o o k . T h e v o w e l s s
o u n d r o u g h l y a s i n I ta l ian.
E a c h sy l lab le in J a p a n e s e g e t s e q u a l s t r e s s ( q
u i t e un l ike I t a l i an) a n d in
p r i n c i p l e e a c h v o w e l i s a s e p a r a t e sy l lab le . F
o r e x a m p l e , t he n a m e T a d a i e
i s p r o n o u n c e d t a h - d a h - e e - a y .
O ' s a n d U s w i t h a m a c r o n o r l o n g m a r k o v e r t h
e m ( 6 o r u ) a re
s u p p o s e d to las t t w i c e as l o n g as p la in o n e s — the

d i f ference b e t w e e n sOf t
a n d s O f a . F o r e x a m p l e , t h e n a m e S o o i s p r o n o
u n c e d , no t " S u e , " b u t
m o r e l ike " S O , O m a g n i f i c e n t o n e , I h a v e a h u
m b l e s u g g e s t i o n . "
A few n a m e s , l ike U r i n ' i n , h a v e an i n t e rna l a p o s
t r o p h e w h i c h the
r e a d e r c a n i g n o r e s ince i t h a r d l y affects p r o n u n
c i a t i o n .
I N T R O D U C T I O N
T h e s e t a les f rom m e d i e v a l J a p a n a r e b y t u r n s c
u r i o u s , t o u c h i n g , d i s t u r b -
ing, funny , g r o s s , a n d s u b l i m e . N o d o u b t t h e y
will g ive e v e r y o n e w h o
r e a d s t h e m a d i f fe ren t i m p r e s s i o n , b u t I t h i n k
first of h o w civi l ized t h e y
a r e . T h e r e h a v e n e v e r b e e n b e t t e r losers t h a n t
h e Pa l ace G u a r d s i n n o . 8 ,
w h o l a u g h w h o l e h e a r t e d l y a t t h e i r o w n awful
d i s c o m f i t u r e ; a n d n o w a r -
r io r w a s e v e r w i s e r t h a n t h e h e r o o f n o . 6 7 . M o
s t p e o p l e i n t h e s to r i e s

a r e q u i c k t o l a u g h o r c r y b u t s l ow t o kill o r seek r
e v e n g e , a n d t h e i r g o d s
( w i t h a few local e x c e p t i o n s ) a r e k i n d .
N e a r l y all t h e s t o r i e s c o m e from ta le co l lec t ions p
u t t o g e t h e r b e t w e e n
a b o u t A . D . 1100 a n d 1350, t h o u g h the ear l ies t ( n o .
106) w a s w r i t t e n
d o w n in t h e e a r l y 7 0 0 s a n d t h e mos t r ecen t ( n o . 2
0 9 ) i n 1578. M o s t tell
a b o u t t h i n g s t h a t h a p p e n e d i n t h e t w o c e n t u r
i e s b e t w e e n 8 5 0 a n d 1050,
a c lass ic p e r i o d in J a p a n e s e c iv i l iza t ion.
T H E W O R L D O F T H E T A L E S
N o w a d a y s w e a s s o c i a t e ta les m a i n l y w i t h c o u
n t r y p e o p l e . N o d o u b t
v i l l agers to ld t a les in J a p a n a t h o u s a n d y e a r s a g
o too , b u t i f t h e a r i s t o c -
r a c y h a d no t b e e n e q u a l l y fond o f s to r ies , t h e o n
e s i n th i s b o o k w o u l d
n e v e r h a v e b e e n w r i t t e n d o w n . P e o p l e ' s ideas
a b o u t t h e w o r l d t h e n w e r e
r a t h e r d i f fe ren t f rom o u r s , a n d from t h o s e o l t he
m o d e r n J a p a n e s e . I t i s

t r u e , for e x a m p l e , t h a t fox lo re still s u r v i v e s in J
a p a n , a n d tha t pos se s s ion
by fox sp i r i t s is still a fac to r in a v e r y few pe op l e ' s l
ives; b u t i t h a s b e e n
a l o n g t i m e s ince s o m e o n e l ike a r e g e n t c o u l d e
n c o u r a g e s u c h g o i n g s - o n
as t h o s e in n o . 4 7 . T h e r u m o r o f a m o d e r n p r i m
e min i s t e r p r a c t i c i n g fox
mag ic w o u l d b e t o o w e i r d t o m a k e s e n s e .
E v e n t i m e w a s d i f fe ren t t h e n . D a y a n d n igh t w e
r e each d i v i d e d in to
six " h o u r s ' ' w h i c h e x p a n d e d a n d c o n t r a c t e d
a s t he s e a s o n s t u r n e d . S i n c e
t h e c a l e n d a r w a s l u n a r , i n s t e a d o f so l a r l ike t
h e m o d e r n w o r l d ' s , t h e
" m o n t h s " fo l lowed t h e m o o n ' s p h a s e s . T h a t i s
w h y in th i s b o o k I u s e t h e
w o r d " m o o n " i n s t e a d o f " m o n t h , " for a " m o o n
" a n d a so la r m o n t h a r e
no t t h e s a m e . T h e N e w Y e a r c a m e s o m e t i m e i n
o u r F e b r u a r y , a s i t still
d o e s i n t h e C h i n e s e c a l e n d a r t o d a y .
T h e r e w a s n o fixed r e f e r e n c e p o i n t i n J a p a n e s
e h i s to ry c o m p a r a b l e t o

X X
t h e b i r t h o f C h r i s t o r t h e H e g i r a . I n s t e a d , t h
e flow o f t h e y e a r s w a s
d i v i d e d i n t o " y e a r p e r i o d s , " w h i c h m i g h t r a
n g e in l eng th from a y e a r o r
t w o t o a b o u t t w e n t y . Y e a r p e r i o d s d id no t c o r
r e s p o n d t o t h e re ign o f a n
e m p e r o r o r t o a n y t h i n g else e a s y t o d e s c r i b e ,
a n d t h e y cou ld s ta r t o r s t op
a t a n y t i m e . E a c h h a d its o w n n a m e : for e x a m p l
e , S h o t a i ( 8 9 8 - 9 0 1 ) a n d
E n g i ( 9 0 1 - 9 2 3 ) . N o . 171 tel ls h o w Y o r o ( 7 1 7 - 7
2 4 ) go t its n a m e . T h e
p e o p l e i n c h a r g e o f d e c i d i n g y e a r p e r i o d s , a
n d o f all m a t t e r s r e l a t ing t o
t h e c a l e n d a r , w e r e t o p y i n - y a n g d i v i n e r s (
see b e l o w ) l ike t he K a m o n o
T a d a y u k i o f n o s . 162 a n d 165 . Of c o u r s e , all d a t
e s i n th i s b o o k h a v e been
c o n v e r t e d t o t h e m o d e r n W e s t e r n c a l e n d a r .
P e o p l e ' s n a m e s , t h e n a s n o w i n J a p a n , w e r e w
r i t t e n w i t h t h e s u r n a m e

first , b u t t h e y w e r e a lit t le d i f ferent in o t h e r w a y s
from the i r m o d e r n
c o u n t e r p a r t s . F o r e x a m p l e , t h e full n a m e o f t
h e r e g e n t i n no . 47 i s Fuji-
w a r a no T a d a z a n e . " F u j i w a r a " i s h is family o r c
lan n a m e ; " n o " i s a
p a r t i c l e l ike t h e F r e n c h <)e o r t h e G e r m a n von;
a n d " T a d a z a n e " i s his
p e r s o n a l n a m e . I n o t h e r w o r d s , F u j i w a r a n o
T a d a z a n e m e a n s " T a d a z a n e
o f t h e F u j i w a r a [ c l a n ] . " S imi l a r n a m e s a r e M
i n a m o t o n o Y o r i n o b u ( n o .
6 7 ) a n d T s u n e z u m i n o Y a s u n a g a ( n o . 130) . N a
m e s like t h e s e h a v e a b o u t
a s m u c h m e a n i n g a s o u r s d o — usua l l y r a t h e r l i
t t le.
T h e n a m e s o f B u d d h i s t m o n k s a n d n u n s a r e d i
s t inc t ive . I n t h e s e s to r ies
a m o n k h a s o n l y o n e n a m e , u sua l l y t h e o n e h e a
c q u i r e d o n e n t e r i n g
r e l ig ion . B u d d h i s t n a m e s of ten h a v e s o m e sor t o
f f o r t una t e m e a n i n g . I n
n o . 1 0 1 , for i n s t a n c e , D o k e n ( " W i s e a b o u t t h
e W a y " ) r ece ives i n a v is ion

t h e n e w n a m e N i c h i z o ( " S u n - s t o r e " ) . M o n k s
' n a m e s s o u n d q u i t e differ-
e n t f rom l a y m e n ' s n a m e s , a l t h o u g h b o t h a r e w
r i t t e n w i t h C h i n e s e c h a r -
a c t e r s , b e c a u s e t h e y a r e p r o n o u n c e d a c c o r d
i n g t o en t i r e ly different
p r i n c i p l e s .
T H E C A P I T A L A N D T H E P R O V I N C E S
T h e c e n t e r o f J a p a n , a b o u t t h e y e a r 1000, w a s "
t h e C a p i t a l " : t h e c i ty
n o w k n o w n a s K y o t o . I t s p r a n g u p i n 794 w h e n
the e m p e r o r m o v e d t o
t h e s i te f rom N a r a ( see b e l o w ) , a n d for c e n t u r i e
s w a s p rac t i ca l ly t h e on ly
c i ty i n t h e l a n d . A m o n g its r o u g h l y 100 ,000 i n h a
b i t a n t s , t h o s e w h o
" r e a l l y m a t t e r e d , " b o t h m e n a n d w o m e n , p r o
b a b l y n u m b e r e d n o m o r e
t h a n a few t h o u s a n d , b u t t h e y g a v e a so r t o f g l o
w to all t h e res t . T h a n k s
t o t h e m t h e C a p i t a l , s e e n f rom t h e p r o v i n c e s ,
w a s a sor t o f P a r n a s s u s :
t h e h o m e of e l e g a n c e , wi t , r o m a n c e , l e a r n i n

g , t he a r t s — in sho r t , of all
c iv i l i za t ion . T h e r e s t o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n c o n s i
s t e d o f t he l o w e r a r i s t o c r a c y
a n d of f ic ia ldom, s e r v a n t s o f m a n y d e g r e e s , c r a
f t smen , p e t t y m e r c h a n t s ,
g u a r d s , p r i e s t s , B u d d h i s t m o n k s o f v a r i o u s
k i n d s , e tc . T h e r e s eems also
to h a v e b e e n a tw i l igh t z o n e , no t o u t s t a n d i n g l
y l a rge , o f a s s o r t e d ne ' e r -
d o - w e l l s a n d t h i e v e s . G o v e r n m e n t i n c o m e c
a m e from d w i n d l i n g c r o w n
l a n d s ; t h e a r i s t o c r a c y l ived off t h e i n c o m e
from t h e i r g r o w i n g p r i v a t e
e s t a t e s ; a n d re l ig ious i n s t i t u t i ons p r o s p e r e d
from p i o u s d o n a t i o n s a n d
from t h e i r o w n l a n d h o l d i n g s . N o t h i n g l ike a m
i d d l e c lass d e v e l o p e d unt i l
c e n t u r i e s l a t e r .
T h e s t r e e t s o f t h e C a p i t a l w e r e laid o u t i n t h e s
a m e r e g u l a r g r i d p a t t e r n
a s t h e C h i n e s e cap i t a l o f t h e t i m e . ( M o d e r n K
y o t o i s still p a t t e r n e d th i s

w a y , a l t h o u g h n o n e o f t h e b u i l d i n g s m e n t i o
n e d i n t h e s e s to r i e s s u r v i v e . )
T h e ma jo r e a s t - w e s t a v e n u e s w e r e n u m b e r e d
( F i r s t A v e n u e , S e c o n d
A v e . , e t c . ) , w h i l e t h e n o r t h - s o u t h o n e s w e r
e n a m e d ( E a s t O m i y a A v e -
n u e ) . S m a l l e r , i n t e r m e d i a t e s t r e e t s w e r e a l
so n a m e d ( H o r i k a w a S t r e e t ) .
T h e c e n t r a l n o r t h - s o u t h t h o r o u g h f a r e w a s S
u z a k u A v e n u e . I t b e g a n a t
t h e S u z a k u G a t e , t h e c e n t r a l g a t e i n t he s o u t h
wal l o f t h e p a l a c e c o m -
p o u n d , a n d r a n d o w n t o t h e R a s h o G a t e , t h e c e
n t r a l , s o u t h e r n g a t e i n t o
t h e c i ty itself. T h e f lu te -p lay ing d e m o n o f n o . 167 l
ived h igh in t h e
s t r u c t u r e o t t h e S u z a k u G a t e , a n d t h e R a s h o
G a t e s h e l t e r e d t h e e q u a l l y
mus ica l d e m o n - t h i e f of n o . 64.
N a t u r a l l y t h e I m p e r i a l P a l a c e o c c u p i e d a c o
m m a n d i n g pos i t ion in t h e
c i ty . L o c a t e d a t t h e n o r t h e n d o f S u z a k u A v e n
u e , i t w a s ac tua l ly a
c o m p l e x o f b u i l d i n g s i n s ide a l a rge , r e c t a n g u

l a r w a l l e d c o m p o u n d t h a t
o c c u p i e d a b o u t t h r e e h u n d r e d a c r e s . W i t h i n
t h e c o m p o u n d w e r e seve ra l
h u n d r e d b u i l d i n g s i n c l u d i n g t h e e m p e r o r ' s
p e r s o n a l r e s i d e n c e ( in a s u b -
c o m p o u n d o f its o w n ) , t h e v a r i o u s hal ls o f g o v
e r n m e n t , a n d m a n y o t h e r
s t r u c t u r e s e i t h e r func t i ona l o r c e r e m o n i a l . N
o . 59 , for e x a m p l e , s t a r t s
w i t h a s c e n e of g e n t l e m e n a r r i v i n g a t t h e pa l
ace , a p p a r e n t l y for a counc i l
t o be he ld n e a r t h e G r e a t H a l l o f S t a t e . In n o .
207 , a w a r r i o r o f t h e
Pa l ace G u a r d a r r a n g e s t o m e e t h i s co l l e agues by
a ga t e a t t h e n o r t h e a s t
c o r n e r o f t h e p a l a c e c o m p o u n d , w h i l e a t t h e
nex t ga t e s o u t h l u r k s t h e
d a s t a r d l y t o a d o f n o . 10.
R i v e r s f low on e i t h e r s ide o f K y o t o , eas t a n d w e
s t . To t h e eas t i s t h e
K a m o , w h i c h e v e r y v i s i to r h a s s e e n . R ive r s
ide Pa l ace ( K a w a r a - n o - i n ) ,
w h e r e R e t i r e d E m p e r o r U d a m e t t h e g h o s t ( n
o s . 190, 191) , w a s o n t h e

w e s t b a n k o f t h e K a m o . T o t h e w e s t f l o w s t h e
d e e p e r K a t s u r a R ive r ,
w h e r e t w o ho ly m e n ( n o s . 116, 161) c a m e t o grief.
T h e c i ty lies in a ba s in s u r r o u n d e d on t h r e e s ides
by m o u n t a i n s . T h i s
m a k e s i t m i s e r a b l y ho t i n s u m m e r , w h i c h i s w
h y t h e e m p r e s s w a s w e a r i n g
" a n e a r l y t r a n s p a r e n t g o w n " w h e n t h e h e r m i
t first g l i m p s e d h e r i n n o .
125. L a d i e s of ten d r e s s e d t h a t l ight ly in s u m m e r
, a t leas t in p r i v a t e . To
t h e n o r t h w e s t r i ses M o u n t A t a g o , w h e r e a n o t
h e r h e r m i t h a d his false
v is ion ( n o . 121) ; to t h e n o r t h s t r e t c h e s a r a n g e
w h e r e a m a n m e t a
x x i i
m o u n t a i n g o d in t h e fo rm o f a w h i t e d o g ( n o .
129) ; a n d to t he n o r t h e a s t
t o w e r s M o u n t H ie i , w h e r e all s o r t s o f c u r i o u s
t h i n g s w e n t o n ( n o s . 3 3 ,
3 4 , a n d o t h e r s ) .

A b o u t t h i r t y mi les s o u t h o f K y o t o i s N a r a , w h i
c h b e c a m e J a p a n ' s first
" p e r m a n e n t " cap i t a l i n 7 1 0 . ( B e f o r e t h e n t h e
imper ia l r e s idence h a d
m o v e d e v e r y t i m e a n e m p e r o r d i e d . ) N a r a a p
p e a r s often i n t he se ta les
b e c a u s e t h e e i g h t h c e n t u r y w a s s u c h a c ruc ia l
p e r i o d in t he d e v e l o p m e n t
o f J a p a n e s e c iv i l iza t ion , a n d b e c a u s e t h e re l ig
ious ins t i tu t ions f o u n d e d
t h e r e r e m a i n e d i m p o r t a n t l a t e r o n . Toda i j i , n
o d o u b t t he s ingle mos t
f a m o u s B u d d h i s t t e m p l e i n J a p a n a n d a m u s t
for e v e r y tour i s t , a p p e a r s
i n n o s . 2 3 , 24 , a n d 2 5 ; w h i l e t h e g r e a t S h i n t o s
h r i n e o f K a s u g a ( n o s . 3 1 ,
4 5 ) still p r e s e r v e s t h e m u s i c a n d d a n c e t r a d i t
i o n h o n o r e d by hell itself i n
n o . 4 6 .
T h e r e s t o f J a p a n c o n s i s t e d o f s ix ty-s ix p r o v i
n c e s , w h o s e n a m e s a n d
b o u n d a r i e s w e r e d i f fe ren t f rom t h o s e o f t h e m
o d e r n J a p a n e s e pre fec-
t u r e s . T h o s e m e n t i o n e d m o s t often a r e t h e o n e

s c loses t t o t h e Cap i t a l ,
l ike O m i a r o u n d t h e s o u t h e r n e n d o f L a k e Biwa ;
Y a m a t o , w h e r e N a r a i s
l o c a t e d ; a n d H a r i m a , w h i c h i n c l u d e d the si te
o f m o d e r n K o b e . F o r a
c o u r t i e r , t h e e n d s o f t h e e a r t h w e r e r e p r e s e n
t e d b y the n ine p r o v i n c e s o f
K y u s h u , s u c h a s H i z e n , w h e r e N a g a s a k i e v e
n t u a l l y g r e w u p ; a n d M u t s u
a n d D e w a i n t h e far n o r t h o f H o n s h u . O f t h e s tor
ies t h a t t a k e p lace i n
t h e s e m o r e r e m o t e r e g i o n s , m a n y invo lve v i s i
to rs from t h e C a p i t a l o r
p e r s o n s b o u n d for t h e C a p i t a l .
E M P E R O R S , M I N I S T E R S . O F F I C I A L S ,
S E R V A N T S
T h e g r e a t n o b l e s o f t h i s c o u r t - c e n t e r e d w o r
l d , m e n w h o s e b i r t h d e s t i n e d
t h e m for t h e t o p r a n k s a n d p o s t s i n t h e g o v e r n
m e n t , f igure p r o m i n e n t l y
in t h e t a l e s . N a t u r a l l y t h e e m p e r o r h a d a specia
l au ra , e v e n for t he
m e m b e r s o f t h e nob i l i ty ; b u t i t i s t o u c h i n g to g

l impse ( n o s . 32 , 67 ) h o w
i m p r e s s i v e e v e n a p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n o r c o u l
d look in his o w n p r o v i n c e .
P r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n o r s w e r e a p p o i n t e d a n d
sen t ou t from t h e Cap i t a l ,
a l t h o u g h s o m e t i m e s ( n o . 8 ) t h e y s t a y e d i n t h
e Capi ta l a n d h a d the i r
p r o v i n c e s r u n by s u b o r d i n a t e s on loca t ion . D a
z z l i n g i n the h i n t e r l a n d , a t
c o u r t t h e y i m p r e s s e d n o o n e b e c a u s e t h e y c a
m e t o o low i n t h e official
h i e r a r c h y . A spec ia l p rov inc i a l pos t , h o w e v e r ,
w a s tha t o f v i c e r o y of
K y u s h u . T h e v i c e r o y w a s n o r m a l l y o f c o n s i d
e r a b l e r a n k , b u t n o o n e
c o v e t e d h i s office s ince K y u s h u w a s so far a w a y .
In fact, a p p o i n t m e n t a s
v i c e r o y o f K y u s h u c o u l d a m o u n t t o ex i le . F u j
i w a r a n o Y a m a k a g e ( n o .
105) s e e m s no t t o h a v e m i n d e d t oo m u c h , b u t S u
g a w a r a n o M i c h i z a n e ' s
a p p o i n t m e n t as v i c e r o y o f K y u s h u m e a n t his
downfa l l a n d led to his

b e c o m i n g a vengefu l g o d ( n o s . 101 , 103) .
T h e e m p e r o r w a s o f c o u r s e s u p p o s e d t o ru le J a
p a n , a n d t h e s e s to r i e s
a s s u m e t h a t he rea l ly d i d . B u t i t i s r e m a r k a b l e
h o w often, in J a p a n e s e
h i s to ry , rea l p o w e r h a s b e e n he ld no t by t h e f igure
w i t h t h e g r e a t t i t le,
bu t b y s o m e o n e w h o i s olficially his s u b o r d i n a t e .
T h e g r e a t s h o g u n w h o
unified J a p a n in 1600 af ter a c e n t u r y o f w a r leg i t
imized his p o w e r w i t h
t he fiction t h a t h e w a s r u …

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