Ugetsu Monogatari or Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Routledge Revivals) Read online

  Routledge Revivals

  Ugetsu Monogatari

  or

  Tales of Moonlight and Rain

  Ugetsu Monogatari, or Tales of Moonlight and Rain numbers among the best-loved Japanese classics. These nine illustrated tales of the supernatural from eighteenth-century Osaka combine popular appeal with a high literary standard. The author expressed his complex views on human life and society in simple yet poetic language. Akinari questioned the prevailing moral values and standards of his age whilst entertaining his readers with mystery and other-worldly occurrences. This is a reissue of Leon Zolbrod’s definitive English translation of the work, first published in 1974.

  Ugetsu Monogatari

  or

  Tales of Moonlight and Rain

  A Complete English Version of the Eighteenth-

  Century Japanese Collection of Tales of the

  Supernatural

  Ueda Akinari

  (1734-1809)

  Translated and Edited by

  Leon M. Zolbrod

  First published in 1974

  by George Allen & Unwin

  This edition first published in 2011 by Routledge

  2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

  Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

  by Routledge

  270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

  Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

  © 1974 George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

  Publisher's Note

  The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

  Disclaimer

  The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

  A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 0048231169

  ISBN 13: 978-0-415-61877-9 (hbk)

  ISBN 13: 978-0-203-82872-4 (ebk)

  1 Formal portrait of Ueda Akinari, on silk, made in 1786 by Tosa Hidenobu. (Nara, Tenri Central Library.)

  UGETSU

  MONOGATARI

  TALES OF MOONLIGHT

  AND RAIN

  A Complete English Version of the

  Eighteenth-Century Japanese Collection

  of Tales of the Supernatural

  by UEDA AKINARI

  1734-1809

  based on the first woodblock edition of 1776

  with illustrations and an introduction for

  Western readers

  Translated and edited by

  Leon M. Zolbrod

  Professor of Asian Studies

  University of British Columbia

  London George Allen & Unwin Ltd

  Ruskin House Museum Street

  First published in 1974

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers.

  This translation © George Allen & Unwin Ltd 1974

  ISBN 0 04 823116 9

  Not for sale in the United States and Canada. A North American Edition of this book is published by the University of British Columbia Press.

  This is one of the books assisted by the Asian Literature Program of the Asia Society, New York, and has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities Research Council of Canada, using funds provided by the Canada Council.

  UNESCO COLLECTION OF REPRESENTATIVE WORKS JAPANESE SERIES

  This book has been accepted in the Japanese Series of the Translations Collection of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

  Printed in Great Britain

  in 12 point Barbou type

  by W & J Mackay Limited, Chatham

  To Fumiko

  TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD

  Ugetsu monogatari, or ‘Tales of Moonlight and Rain,’ numbers among the best-loved Japanese classics. These nine illustrated tales of the supernatural from eighteenth-century Osaka combine popular appeal with a high literary standard. The author expressed his complex views on human life and society in simple yet elegant and poetic language. At the same time, he wished to entertain his readers with mystery, ghosts, and otherworldly occurrences in the hope that people might pause for thought at a time when men and their institutions had begun to change at an alarming rate.

  Twenty years ago, when I saw Mizoguchi Kenji's movie version, one of the most perfect films in the history of Japanese cinema, I first learned about these tales. Later I lived for a time in northern Japan in a rambling old house, an antiquated blend of Japanese and Victorian architecture. It was said to be haunted by the spirit of a young girl who decades earlier had committed suicide in a third-story tower. Each evening in the winter an old woman would come to my quarters to cook my dinner, and she would spend her idle moments with a paperback version of the tales. ‘What are you reading?’ I once asked her, and by way of reply, she smiled in embarrassment.

  Afterward, I saw a prize-winning film, ‘The Bewitching Love of Madame Pai,’ which had been inspired by one of these tales. Later, again coming into contact with the author's world, I discovered that Akinari had helped to create a form of narrative prose that reminds one of Gothic romances and the ghostly tales of certain English and American writers, such as Hawthorne and James. At one time, as I studied in a tiny cubicle on the eighth floor in Butler Library, I translated portions of two tales. Then I did a tentative version of yet another. Since 1967, in Vancouver, Tokyo, and Kyoto I have worked sporadically on a complete English edition.

  I have done my translation in the belief that we in our world suffer from lack of fantasy. Akinari's universe lies far enough away in time, space, and substance that it will appeal with fresh vigour to modern readers. Experiencing the supernatural as it found expression in an eighteenth-century Japanese collection of tales and discovering how Akinari questioned the prevailing moral values and standards of his age will afford the attentive reader a new dimension in self-understanding. Confrontation with Akinari's tales may suggest an alternative vision of life and help in the search for freedom from the frustrating and smothering effect on human well-being of the combined pressure of a technological society without and a disorganised soul within.

  Many persons and institutions have helped me, and I am pleased to thank some of them in public. I am especially grateful to my colleagues, Michael Bullock, William L. Holland, and Stanley E. Read, for reading earlier drafts of the translation and for making various suggestions. I also wish to thank Blake Morgan Young and Michael-Patrick O'Connor for their useful comments. I thank Hamada Keisuke and Sakakura Atsuyoshi, of Kyoto University - the former for sponsoring my most recent extended stay in Japan, for giving hours of pleasant companionship, and for reading and commenting on my introduction - and the latter for sharing his study with me and for offering timely suggestion
s and advice. I thank Okada Rihei for his help and generosity. He exemplifies the traditions that Akinari upheld. At the age of eighty-one years he travelled to North America to lecture and to learn. Roy E. Teele, editor of Literature East and West, published an earlier version of my translation of ‘White Peak,’ for which I thank him.

  Among the institutions that have helped me, I specifically thank the Canada Council, the Dorothy Killam Foundation, and the University of British Columbia for generous financial support. Without their aid I could not have travelled to Japan, nor could I have prepared the illustrations. I also thank the Tenri Central Library, Kadokawa Shoten, Iwanami Shoten, the National Diet Library, the Kaguwashi Shrine, the Saifukuji Temple, the Suntory Museum of Art, the Tokyo National Museum, the Kyoto National Museum, and the Itsuo Art Museum for their courtesy and cooperation. The Humanities Research Council of Canada has also helped make possible publication of this book.

  I am grateful to Mr and Mrs Tomioka Masutarō for housing me in Kyoto and for photographing Tomioka Tessai's caricature of Akinari. I thank Mrs Betty Greig, Mrs Jackie Irwin, Miss Sheena McDonald, and Mrs Lauryn Purych for their help in typing the manuscript, which at one stage was shuttled back and forth by air across the Pacific Ocean. Last of all, I thank my wife. While the work was in progress she has given birth to three children, and she has also typed several draft versions of the manuscript, beginning with the original hand-scrawled copy. I enjoyed our many conversations about the work, and this book is dedicated to her.

  Leon M. Zolbrod

  Vancouver, British Columbia, and Kyoto, Japan

  CONTENTS

  Translator's Foreword

  INTRODUCTION

  1 Meaning of the Title

  2 Biographical Sketch of Ueda Akinari

  3 Reading Books

  4 The Romance of Travel and the Poetry of Place

  5 Historical Background

  6 Philosophy and Religion

  7 The Art of Fiction

  8 World of the Supernatural

  9 Literary Style

  10 Chinese Influence

  11 Influence of Japanese Classics

  12 Structure

  13 Akinari's Legacy

  14 The Present Edition

  Notes on the Introduction

  UGETSU MONOGATARI

  VOLUME ONE

  Preface

  I White Peak (Shiramine)

  II Chrysanthemum Tryst (Kikuka no chigiri)

  VOLUME TWO

  III The House Amid the Thickets (Asaji ga yado)

  IV The Carp That Came to My Dream (Muō no rigyo)

  VOLUME THREE

  V Bird of Paradise (Buppōsō)

  VI The Caldron of Kibitsu (Kibitsu no kama)

  VOLUME FOUR

  VII The Lust of the White Serpent (Jasei no in)

  VOLUME FIVE

  VIII The Blue Hood (Aozukin)

  IX Wealth and Poverty (Himpuku-ron)

  Notes on the Text

  APPENDICES

  1 Imperial Succession in the Twelfth Century

  2 Alphabetical Index to the First Line of Verses Translated in the Text and Notes

  3 Map of Japan in Provinces

  4 Japanese Literary Sources: Alphabetical List of Selected Titles

  5 Chinese Literary Sources: Alphabetical List of Titles Mentioned in the Introduction and Notes

  6 Seven Representative Tokugawa Collections of Tales of the Supernatural That Preceded Ugetsu monogatari

  Select Bibliography

  Texts in Japanese Consulted for the Present Edition

  Translations into European Languages

  Japanese Secondary Sources

  Western Secondary Sources

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  PLATES

  Part One: Concerning the Author

  1 Formal portrait of Ueda Akinari, on silk, made in 1786 by Tosa Hidenobu. (Nara, Tenri Central Library.)

  2 Self-caricature of Ueda Akinari, inscribed with a light verse (kyōkd). (Tenri; photograph courtesy of Kadokawa Shoten.)

  3 Detail from caricature of Ueda Akinari, by Tomioka Tessai (1836-1924); probably inspired by the above. (Kyoto, Tomioka Masutarō.)

  4 Waka verse, ‘Through all the ages . . .’ in the author's own hand. (Osaka, Fuji Fujio.)

  Part Two: Pictorial Supplement to the Translation

  I WHITE PEAK

  5 ‘Once upon a time I began to journey.’ Saigyō on his travels, from a picture scroll of the Kamakura period, Saigyō mono-gatari emaki, attributed to Tosa Tsunetaka. (Okayama, Ōhara Museum of Fine Art; National Treasure.)

  6 ‘I passed through Naniwa of the falling reeds.’ Painting by Reisei (or Okada) Tamechika (1823-64), ‘Moonlight and Rain.’ (Tokyo, Kosaka Junzō; from Kinsei meiga taikan; Important Cultural Property.)

  7 ‘Here where one may see only the tracks of the wandering stag.’ Painting by Matsumura Goshun (1752-1811). (Hyōgo, Itsuō Art Museum.)

  II CHRYSANTHEMUM TRYST

  8 ‘In the hedges the wild chrysanthemums burst into bloom.’ Painting by Yosa Buson (1716-84), ‘The Pleasures of Autumn,’ from an album made in 1771, in collaboration with Ike Taiga, ‘Ten Conveniences and Ten Pleasures’ (Jūben jūgi). (In the collection of the late Kawabata Yasunari; from Buson ihō; National Treasure.)

  III THE HOUSE AMID THE THICKETS

  9 ‘He left and hurried toward the capital.’ Painting by Yosa Buson. (Formerly in the collection of Mutō Sanji; from Buson gashū.)

  IV THE CARP THAT CAME TO MY DREAM

  10 ‘I travelled on over mountains and through hamlets until once more I found myself by the shores of the lake.’ Right half of paired screens by Yosa Buson. (Formerly in the collection of Yokoe Manjirō, Osaka from Buson meiga.)

  11 ‘ It is our privilege to grant you for a time the shape of a golden carp.’ A pair of paintings by Matsumura Goshun. (Hyōgo, Itsuō.)

  V BIRD OF PARADISE

  12 ‘Let us pass the hours meditating at the shrine of the founder.’ Facing the Lantern Hall, behind which the actual shrine is situated.

  13 ‘When Muzen was crossing the Sanjō Bridge, he remembered about the Mound of Beasts.’ An eighteenth-century view of the area. The Zuisenji temple in the far left is also shown in detail. (From Miyako meisho zue.)

  VI THE CALDRON OF KIBITSU

  14 ‘The men plowed in the spring and reaped in the autumn, and their household grew prosperous.’ Painting by Yosa Buson, ‘Planting and Harvesting in the Countryside,’ paired screens made during the years I754-57. (Kyoto Prefecture, Yano Nirō; from Buson ihō.)

  15 The Kibitsu Caldron. (Okayama, photograph courtesy of Kadokawa.)

  VII THE LUST OF THE WHITE SERPENT

  16 ‘Once upon a time ... in the province of Kii, by the cape of Miwa.’ Scene from a long landscape scroll by Gion Nankai (1677-1751), ‘Pilgrimage to the Three Immortal Shrines.’ (Tokyo National Museum; photograph courtesy of Suntory Museum, Tokyo.)

  17 ‘At Miwa's rugged cape,/ And by the Sano Crossing/No cottage appears in sight.’ (Photograph courtesy of Kakokawa.)

  VIII THE BLUE HOOD

  18 ‘Leaving only ... a skeleton lying in the weeds.’ Painting by Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800). (Hyōgo, Saifukuji temple; photograph courtesy of Tokyo National Museum.)

  IX WEALTH AND POVERTY

  19 ‘So how, indeed, can Hideyoshi last ?’ Sketch for a portrait made by Kanō Sanraku (1559-1635). (Hyōgo, Itsuō; Important Cultural Property.)

  LINE ILLUSTRATIONS

  Part Three: The Ten Original Illustrations from the Text in the Tenri Central Library

  i White Peak: The ghost of the emperor confronts the priest Saigyō

  ii Chrysanthemum Tryst: In one stroke Samon avenges the death of his brother Sōemon.

  iii The House Amid the Thickets: Katsushirō and Grandfather Uruma return to the house amid the thickets to pray for Miyagi's soul.

  iv The Carp That Came to My Dream: Kōgi's spirit departs from the golden carp.

  v Bird of Paradise: At Mt Kōya
the samurai announces the approach of Toyotomi Hidetsugu and his party.

  vi The Caldron of Kibitsu: Shōtarō unexpectedly meets Isora's vengeful spirit.

  vii The Lust of the White Serpent: (I) Manago and Maroya in their human form leap into the cascade and disappear.

  viii The Lust of the White Serpent: (2) Toyoo becomes slightly intoxicated and discovers that the serpent's jealous spirit has entered Tomiko's body.

  ix The Blue Hood: Men returning from the fields flee from the sight of the demon monk.

  x Wealth and Poverty: The spirit of gold comes in the night to discourse with Sanai.

  Part Four: Specimens of the Tenri Text

  xi Volume One, page 1b-2a: Portion of the Preface and the first half-leaf of ‘White Peak.’

  xii Volume Five, page 16b-17a: Final leaf of text of ‘Wealth and Poverty.’

  INTRODUCTION

  Born in the merchant city of Osaka in 1734, Ueda Akinari, the author of Ugetsu monogatari, was a creative figure of unique talent in eighteenth-century Japan. He died in 1809, in Kyoto-at that time the capital of the nation. Dissolving the family business, which he inherited, he became a physician and practised this profession until a young girl in his care died and he decided to give up medicine. He studied and wrote haiku and waka poetry, and he took part in the revival of Japanese scholarship and literature in the late eighteenth century. Although he was closely familiar with Chinese classics, as well as vernacular prose, he remained critical of all manner of pedantry. His preface to the tales dates from 1768, but the book was not published until 1776, jointly in Kyoto and Osaka, and he probably completed his final version around this time.

  A meeting of the famous medieval poet, Saigyō, and the ghost of a former emperor who in a remote time predicted an age of war and turmoil begins the collection. A prophecy in the ninth tale that the leadership of the Tokugawa shogun will bring peace to the realm marks the end. All of the tales reflect real and imaginary events ranging from the seventh to the seventeenth century. Connections between the stories may not be obvious on first reading, but upon closer perusal a total form emerges, indistinctly as a mystic scene in a Chinese landscape and as hauntingly as the supernatural itself.