Japanese Literature

A Text-Oriented Comparative Study on the Handwritten Manuscripts of Genji-monogatari

Tomoyuki Matsuoka

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 1-11
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_1

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Most text-oriented critics think it necessary to compare a classical text with its different versions to understand what literature was in the age of handwriting. But in so doing they have to adjust differences in form between the original text and its handwritten manuscripts so as to more effectively compare them with each other. When I comparatively studied the “Wakamurasaki” Chapter of Genji-monogatari and that of the Yômei-bunko edition with such formal adjustment, I could clearly see how the original text was modified through the process of handwriting.

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A Utopian Desire in “Muou-no-rigyo”: Kôgi, a Monk Intolerant of Anything “Fresh”

Shinichi Utsui

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 12-23
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_12

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“Muou-no-rigyo” is a unique fantastic tale although the author Ueda-Akinari turned to various sourcebooks in writing it. Its uniqueness can be attributed to the monk Kôgi, an ideal type of character who paradoxically exists everywhere yet nowhere. Kôgi's intolerance of anything “fresh” seems to be anti-Buddhist, but it is actually not so because it comes from his truly religious wish to maintain a pure condition by avoiding fresh food that was then thought to be harmful. Thus one can find a utopian desire in “Muou-no-rigyo,” a pictorial crystallization of an impossible dream.

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A Wise Man's Joke

Kôzô Nishida

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 24-33
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_24

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When you closely read Nansô-satomi-hakken-den, an epic novel by Kyokutei-Bakin, you may soon find how exquisitely the text is constructed. Indeed, with a clever combination of traditional and new themes, the author so naturally puts his own philosophy into the story that it never reads didactically like most philosophical novels. Here I will argue that such immanent reading is indispensable for the acceptance of his work as a novel proper.

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The Viewpoint of the Observer, or Modern Discontinuity: A “Political” Reading of Masuji Ibuse's “Kuchisuke-no-iru-tanima”

Akihiro Takiguchi

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 34-45
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_34

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Masuji Ibuse was severely criticized for his non-political attitude in his early career when proletariat literature saw its heyday. But in a sense he wrote more “radically” than any other contemporary writer. In his short story “Kuchisuke-no-iru-tanima,” for example, the author foregrounded the discontinuous and incoherent nature of modernity, a sort of political gesture to resist the totalitarian attitude implicit in most proletarian writings of the time. Thus he was “radical” literally in the radical sense of the word.

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The Meridian:

The Birth of a Subject Called Kokugo and Hakai

Sôshirô Iwasa

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 46-47
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_46

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Reading:

“The Asuka River Flowing Along Mightily”: The Historical Description of the 118th Song of Nihon-shoki

Takeshi Fukuzawa

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 48-52
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_48

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Reviews:

Bunkyô Kin, Chinese Writings and East Asia

Kôtarô Endô

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 54-55
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_54

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Hiroshi Nishitaya, The Development of Political Novels: Their Literary and Ideological Function in the Beginning of Modernity

Ryôsuke Yamamoto

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 56-57
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_56

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Nozomi Hashimoto, Ichiyô Higuchi's Early Career as a Writer

Takeshi Usami

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 58-59
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_58

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Yuka Furukawa, The “Home” of Naoya Shiga: Housemaid, Bad Girl, and Housewife

Sae Itô

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 60-61
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_60

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Kôji Toba, The 1950s: The Age of Recording

Izumi Nakaya

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 62-63
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_62

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The JLA Divisions:

The Division of Early Modern Literature

Seishi Kazama

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 64-65
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_64

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The Division of New Feminist Criticism

Kaworu Sugai

2011 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 66-67
Published: June 10, 2011
Released on J-STAGE: May 19, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20620/nihonbungaku.60.6_66

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