The Catalpa Bow


Book Description

This classic work describes shamanic figures surviving in Japan today, their initiatory dreams, ascetic practices, the supernatural beings with whom they communicate, and the geography of the other world in myth and legend.




The Catalpa Bow


Book Description




The Catalpa Bow


Book Description




Mad in Translation


Book Description

Even readers with no particular interest in Japan - if such odd souls exist - may expect unexpected pleasure from this book if English metaphysical poetry, grooks, hyperlogical nonsense verse, outrageous epigrams, the (im)possibilities and process of translation between exotic tongues, the reason of puns and rhyme, outlandish metaphor, extreme hyperbole and whatnot tickle their fancy. Read together with The Woman Without a Hole, also by Robin D. Gill, the hitherto overlooked ulterior side of art poetry in Japan may now be thoroughly explored by monolinguals, though bilinguals and students of Japanese will be happy to know all the original Japanese is included.--amazon.com.




The Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds (2 vols)


Book Description

For the monumental Poetry Competition in Six Hundred Rounds (Roppyakuban uta’awase), twelve poets each provided one hundred waka poems, fifty on seasonal topics and fifty on love, which were matched, critiqued by the participants and judged by Fujiwara no Shunzei, the premiere poet of his age. Its critical importance is heightened by the addition of a lengthy Appeal (chinjō) against Shunzei’s judgements by the conservative poet and monk, Kenshō. It is one of the key texts for understanding poetic and critical practice in late twelfth century Japan, and of the conflict between conservative and innovative poets. The Competition and Appeal are presented here for the first time in complete English translation with accompanying commentary and explanatory notes by Thomas McAuley.




Noh Drama and The Tale of the Genji


Book Description

The Japanese noh theater has enjoyed a rich, continuous history dating back to the Muromachi period (1336-1573), when virtually the entire repertoire was written. Some of the finest plays were inspired by the eleventh-century masterpiece of court literature, The Tale of Genji. In this detailed study of fifteen noh plays based upon the Genji, Janet Goff looks at how the novel was understood and appreciated by Muromachi audiences. A work steeped in the court poetry, or waka, tradition, the Genji in turn provided a source of inspiration and allusion for later poets, who produced a variety of handbooks and digests on the work as an aid in composing poetry. Drawing on such sources from the Muromachi period, Goff shows how playwrights reflected contemporary attitudes toward the Genji, even as they transformed its material to suit the demands of the noh as a theatrical form. This book includes annotated translations of the plays, many of them appearing in English for the first time. The translations are preceded by essays covering the history of each play and its use of Genji material. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.




Handbook of Historical Japanese Linguistics


Book Description

This volume will be the first full-length exploration in any language of the details of the history of the Japanese language written by experts in the different subfields of linguistics. Overall, while including factual and background information, the volume will focus on presenting original research of lasting value. This includes presenting the latest research on better studied topics, such as segmental phonology, accent or focus constructions, as well as both introducing areas of study which have traditionally been underrepresented, such as syntax or kanbun materials, and showing how they contribute to a fuller understanding of all of the history of Japanese. Chapter titles Introduction Part I: Individual Periods of the Japanese Language Section 1: Prehistory and Reconstruction Chapter 1: Comparison with other languages (John Whitman, NINJAL) Chapter 2: Reconstruction based on external sources: Ainu, Chinese dynastic histories, and Korean chronicles (Alexander Vovin, University of Hawai'i at Manoa) Chapter 3: Reconstruction from the standpoint of Ryukyuan (Thomas Pellard, CNRS) Chapter 4: (Morpho)phonological reconstruction (Teruhiro Hayata) Chapter 5: Morpho(phono)logical reconstruction (Bjarke Frellesvig, University of Oxford) Chapter 6: Towards the accentual reconstruction of Japanese (Akiko Matsumori, NINJAL) Section II: Old Japanese Chapter 7: Word order and alignment (Yuko Yanagida, University of Tsukuba) Chapter 8: What mokkan can tell us about Old and pre-Old Japanese (Takashi Inukai, Aichi Prefectural University) Chapter 9: Eastern Old Japanese (Kerri Russell) Section III: Early Middle Japanese Chapter 10: Morphosyntax (Yoshiyuki Takayama, Fukui University) Chapter 11: Varieties of kakarimusubi in Early Middle Japanese (Charles Quinn, The Ohio State University) Chapter 12: Linguistic variation (Takuya Okimori) Section IV: Late Middle Japanese Chapter 13: The morphosyntax of Late Middle Japanese (Hirofumi Aoki, Kyushu University) Chapter 14: Late Middle Japanese phonology, based on Korean materials (Sven Osterkamp, Bochum University) Chapter 15: Phonology, based on Christian materials (Masayuki Toyoshima) Section V: Modern Japan Chapter 16: The social context of materials on Early Modern Japanese (Michinao Morohoshi, Kokugakuin University) Chapter 17: Meiji language, including what sound recordings can tell us (Yasuyuki Shimizu) Chapter 18: Syntactic influence of European languages on Japanese (Satoshi Kinsui, Osaka University) Part II: Materials and Writing Section VI: Writing Chapter 19: Old and Early Middle Japanese writing (James Unger, The Ohio State University) Chapter 20: The continued use of kanji in writing Japanese (Shinji Konno, Seisen University) Chapter 21: History of indigenous innovations in kanji and kanji usage [particularly: kokuji and wasei kango] (Yoshihiko Inui) Chapter 22: From hentai kanbun to sorobun (Tsutomu Yada) Section VII: Kanbun-based Materials Chapter 23: Kunten texts of Buddhist provenance (Masayuki Tsukimoto, Tokyo University) Chapter 24: Kunten Texts of Secular Chinese Provenance (Teiji Kosukegawa) Chapter 25: Vernacularized written Chinese (waka kanbun) (Shingo Yamamoto, Shirayuri Women's University) Chapter 26: Early modern kanbun and kanbun kundoku (Fumitoshi Saito, Nagoya University) Chapter 27: A comparison of glossing traditions in Japan and Korea (John Whitman, NINJAL) Chapter 28: Influence of kanbun-kundoku on Japanese (Valerio Alberizzi, Waseda University) Part III: Broader Changes over Time Section VIII: Lexis/Pragmatics Chapter 29: History of basic vocabulary (John Bentley, University of Northern Illinois) Chapter 30: History of Sino-Japanese vocabulary (Seiya Abe and Akihiro Okajima) Chapter 31: The history of mimetics in Japanese (Masahiro Ono, Meiji University) Chapter 32: The history of honorifics and polite language (Yukiko Moriyama, Doshisha University) Chapter 33: History of demonstratives and pronouns (Tomoko Okazaki) Chapter 34: History of yakuwarigo (Satoshi Kinsui, Osaka University) Chapter 35: 'Subject-Object Merger' and 'Subject-Object Opposition' as the speaker's stance: 'Subjective Construal' as 'a fashion of speaking' for Japanese speakers (Yoshihiko Ikegami, University of Tokyo) Section IX: Phonology Chapter 36: Syllable structure, phonological typology, and outstanding issues in the chronology of sound changes (Bjarke Frellesvig, Sven Osterkamp and John Whitman Chapter 37: Sino-Japanese (Marc Miyake) Chapter 38: Development of accent, based on historical sources, Heian period onwards: The formation of Ibuki-jima accent (Makoto Yanaike, Keio University) Chapter 39: The Ramsey hypothesis (Elisabeth De Boer) Section X: Syntax Chapter 40: Generative diachronic syntax of Japanese (John Whitman, NINJAL) Chapter 41: On the merger of the conclusive/adnominal distinction (Satoshi Kinsui, Osaka University) Chapter 42: Development of case marking (Takashi Nomura, University of Tokyo) Chapter 43: Loss of Wh movement (Akira Watanabe, University of Tokyo) Chapter 44: Development of delimiter/semantic particles (Tomohide Kinuhata) Chapter 45: Electronic corpora as a tool for investigating syntactic change (Yasuhiro Kondo, Aoyama Gakuin/NINJAL) Part IV: The History of Research on Japan Chapter 46: Early Japanese dictionaries (Shoju Ikeda, Hokkaido University) Chapter 47: The great dictionary of Japanese: Vocabulario ... (Toru Maruyama, Nanzan University) Chapter 48: Pre-Meiji research on Japanese (Toru Kuginuki) Chapter 49: Meiji period research on Japanese (Isao Santo)




The Ise Stories


Book Description

Ise monogatari is one of classical Japan’s most important texts. It influenced other literary court romances like The Tale of Genji and inspired artists, playwrights, and poets throughout Japanese history and to the present day. In a series of 125 loosely connected episodes, the Ise tells the story of a famous lover, Captain Ariwara no Narihira (825–880), and his romantic encounters with women throughout Japan. Each episode centers on an exchange of love poems designed to demonstrate wit, sensitivity, and "courtliness." Joshua Mostow and Royall Tyler present a fresh, contemporary translation of this classic work, together with a substantial commentary for each episode. The commentary explores how the text has been read in the past and identifies not only the point of each episode, but also the full range of historical interpretations, many of which shaped the use of the Ise in later literary and visual arts. The book includes reproductions from a version of the 1608 Saga-bon printed edition of the Ise, the volume that established Ise iconography for the entire Edo period (1600–1868).




Kojiki


Book Description

Written by imperial command in the eighth century, The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters is Japan's classic of classics, the oldest connected literary work and the fundamental scripture of Shinto. A more factual history called the Nihongi or Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) was completed in A.D. 720, but The Kojiki remains the better known, perhaps because of its special concern with the legends of the gods, with the divine descent of the imperial family, and with native Shinto. Both works have immense value as records of the development of Japan into a unified state with a well-defined character. Indeed, even the mythological aspects were accepted as fact throughout most of subsequent Japanese history--until the defeat and disillusionment of the nation in 1945. This classic text is a key to the historical roots of the Japanese people--their early life and the development of their character and institutions--as well as a lively mixture of legend and history, genealogy, and poetry. It stands as one of the greatest monuments of Japanese literature because it preserves more faithfully than any other book the mythology, manners, language and traditions of Japan. It provides, furthermore, a vivid account of a nation in the making. The work opens "when chaos had begun to condense, but force and form were not yet manifest, and there was nought named, nought done &ellipse;" It recounts the mythological creation of Japan by the divine brother and sister Izanami and Izanagi; tales of the Sun Goddess and other deities; the divine origin of Jimmu the first emperor; and the histories of subsequent reigns. Epic material is complemented by a fresh bucolic vein expressed in songs and poetry. This famous translation by the British scholar Basil Hall Chamberlain is enhanced by notes on the text and an extensive introduction discussing early Japanese society, as well as The Kojiki and its background. Important for its wealth of information, The Kojiki is indispensable to anyone interested in things Japanese.




Man’yōshū (Book 1)


Book Description

Book one of the Man’yōshū (‘Anthology of Myriad Leaves’) continues Alexander Vovin’s new English translation of this 20-volume work originally compiled between c.759 and 785 AD. It is the earliest Japanese poetic anthology in existence and thus the most important compendium of Japanese culture of the Asuka and Nara periods. Book one is the seventh volume of the Man’yōshū to be published to date (following books fifteen (2009), five (2011), fourteen (2012), twenty (2013), seventeen (2016) and eighteen (2016). Each volume of the Vovin translation contains the original text, kana transliteration, romanization, glossing and commentary.