On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

On the Study of Early Modern Elegant
Literature

Suzuki Ken’ichi
On 21 November 2014, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to talkabout my past research at the Research Center for Science Systems affiliated tothe Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. There follows a summary of mytalk.
（1）Elucidating the distinctive qualities of early-Edo 江戸 literature, with a
special focus on “elegant” or “refined”（ga 雅）literature, such as the poetry
circles of the emperor Go-Mizunoo 後水尾 and the literary activities of Hayashi
Razan 林羅山 .

The importance of the study of “elegant” literature
・Up until around the 1970s interest in the field of early modern, or Edo-period,literature concentrated on figures such as Bashō 芭蕉，Saikaku 西鶴，and
Chikamatsu 近松 of the Genroku 元禄 era（1688 1704）and Sanba 三馬，Ikku, and the literature of一 九，and Bakin 馬 琴 of the Kasei 化 政 era（1804 30）
this period tended to be considered to possess a high degree of “common” or“popular”（zoku 俗）appeal. This was linked to a tendency, influenced bypostwar views of history and literature, to hold in high regard that aspect of earlymodern literature in which “commoners resisted the oppression of the feudal39On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

system.” But when considered in light of the actual situation at the time, there canbe no doubt that ga literature in the form of poetry written in both Japanese（waka 和歌）and Chinese（kanshi 漢詩）, with its strong traditions, was a majorpresence in terms of both its authority and the formation of literary currents ofthought. By taking into account the coexistence, conflict, and merging of ga andzoku literature, it ought to be possible for us to fully respond to the richness ofearly modern literature.

Distinctive qualities of early-Edo literature
・The Ōnin 応 仁 war（1467 77）resulted in an enormous severance of culturaltraditions. Thereafter cultural endeavours only barely continued through theactivities of the court poetry circles of the emperor Go-Kashiwabara 後 柏 原，theliterary circles

centred on Gozan 五山 temples, and linked-verse poets, and there were few literary achievements during the Sengoku（rengashi 連歌師）
戦国 period. But with the advent of the Edo period new cultural traditions wereformed as the distinctive features of ga-zoku and a publishing culture came to thefore.
・A distinctive quality of literature in the early Edo period was the establishmentof a circuit, as it were, characterized by the rehabilitation of the classics and therevival and strengthening of the “elegant,” the emergence of the “popular,” andthe dissemination and penetration of education through publishing. During theperiod centred on the Kan’ei 寛永 era（1624 44）, there was encouragement ofscholarship and poetic composition in the poetry circles of Go-Mizunoo in thearea of native Japanese literature, while in the field of Chinese learning theinfluence of Confucian studies undertaken by scholars of Chinese learning centred
on Hayashi Razan expanded. This corresponded to the rehabilitation of theclassics and the revival and strengthening of the “elegant.” Set over against therevival and strengthening of the “elegant,” there emerged the “popular.” The40

On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

breadth of culture expanded through the educational character of kanaz shi 仮名
草子 and the tepid style of the Teimon 貞門 school of haikai 俳諧 and ky ka 狂歌，both forms of poetry. Through developments in printing technology there
were added the dissemination and penetration of education through publishing,
distinctive of the early modern period.
The circuit formed by these three factors was subsequently further expanded
and refined and continued to exist as the basic pattern for the spread of important
ideas and culture in society during this period.（Suzuki 2013b）

Go-Mizunoo’s court poetry circles
・The emperor Go-Mizunoo（and his son the emperor Reigen 霊 元）engaged inmuch lively literary activity, in which the Nakanoin 中院 family played an
important auxiliary role.（Suzuki 1996）
・For understanding the historical position of Go-Mizunoo, importance should be
attached to the significance of his feelings of admiration for the emperor Go-Toba
後鳥羽and the way in which he made reference to Go-Kashiwabara’s
management of his poetry circles. In connection with the latter in particular, thefact that the poetic style of Sanjōnishi Sanetaka 三条西実隆 was regarded as astandard in early-Edo poetry circles is important.（Suzuki 1996）

The life of Hayashi Razan, a scholar of Chinese learning
・On account of Razan’s connections with Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康，theretends to be a focus on the first half of his life, including the incident concerning
the inscription on the bell at the temple Hōkōji 方広寺，the publication of theSuruga 駿河 editions of Chinese works, and the partitioning of the Suruga
Library. But light also needs to be shed on his forties and fifties, during the Kan’ei
era and later, so as to gain a grasp of his lifetime achievements.
・Razan tends to be taken up in connection with politics and intellectual thought.
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On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

But he himself was quite fond of indulging in the spirit of elegance and refinement
associated with the arts, and his literary achievements were also considerable.
・There is evident in Razan’s activities too a stance characteristic of “knowledge”
in the early-Edo period, namely, bringing together large quantities of informationthat can be broadly subsumed under “general learning,” substantiating it withcorroborative evidence, and making it accessible to large numbers of people
through the culture of publishing. These activities may be valued for theircomprehensive, evidence-based, and educational qualities.（Suzuki 1999, Suzuki
2012）（2）Analysis of poetic expression, with a special focus on how the traditional
fields of waka and kanshi changed in the early modern period and on
comprehensively reconsidering the history of early modern poetry.

Modes of expression in waka
・The majority of waka poems by emperors and court nobles in the early modernperiod were composed by stringing together phrases used in earlier poems. Insteadof rating such poems poorly on account of their lack of individuality, they ought
to be recognized for having contrived to create novelty by skilfully combining
traditional poetic phrases. The keyword here is tsuzukegara つづけがら .
（Suzuki 1996; Suzuki 2004a; Hayashi, Hiroki and Suzuki 2007）
・When seeking to bring novelty to their waka, emperors and court nobles of theearly modern period endeavoured to utilize phrases from Chinese poems written
by Chinese, which had not been done previously.（Suzuki 1996）

Modes of expression in kanshi
・It is evident that when writing about historical subjects in kanshi poets based
themselves on shared images meant to be followed by many people while at the42On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

same time adding their own originality.（Suzuki 2004a, Suzuki 2011）
・It is necessary to survey the expressions used in Japanese kanshi from before
the Nara 奈良 period down to the Meiji 明治 era.（Suzuki 2013a）

Examination of polysemy
・In the case of short poems, there are in instances in which severalinterpretations may arise, and the reader’s position becomes clear depending on
which interpretation he or she chooses. Furthermore, even if the diversity ofinterpretations is in the end not resolved, the poem’s value is not reduced becauseof this. Rather, one can sense a plenitude in the diversity of interpretations.
（Suzuki 2007）

Writing about living spaces
・The distinctive qualities of Edo poetry become clearer when one introduces theperspective of poetic modes of expression for describing people’s living spaces.
By paying attention in particular to “insect cages,” one’s attention is drawn not
only to insects chirping in the fields but also to insects in cages. Here there is agaze directed not at singing of nature itself but at understanding nature in relation
to human everyday life.（Suzuki 1998）

Connections with painting
・During the early modern period pictorial elements infiltrated widely into
society and everyday life. Deeper connections with the pictorial emerged in waka
too, a typical example being poems about paintings that were inscribed in blankspaces in paintings（gasan 画賛）. Previously the subject matter of waka had
tended to become fixed on account of a waka-type sense of beauty, but it
expanded through gasan, and poetry also learnt pictorial composition and a senseof colour.（Suzuki 1998）
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On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

・Words permit diverse interpretations. Paintings, on the other hand, present a
concrete world together with a powerful impression. During the early modern
period, when interactions between poetry and painting existed in various forms
not limited to gasan, there emerged a culture of a high order in which words andimages elevated each other.（Suzuki 1998）（3）Reinterpreting the nature of Japanese literature by retracing the history of thereception of the classics and the history of their commentaries, with a special
focus on distinctive qualities of the reception of the classics and commentaries
during the early modern period.

The significance of studying the history of the reception of the classics and thehistory of their commentaries
・The classics have been assimilated by various works of literature andinterpreted through many studies right down to the period in which we live today.
For example, the period when the Genji monogatari 源氏物語 was composed is
not directly connected to the present day, and there has been a history of thereception of and commentaries on the Genji monogatari during the Kamakura 鎌倉，Muromachi 室町，Edo, and modern periods, with the current reading of theGenji monogatari being founded on this accumulated history. Consequently, there
is a need to situate the meaning of our present-day reading of the classics in thelong flow of time by apprising ourselves of the situation in the intervening
periods.

The reception of modes of expression found in classical works
・The section on Akutagawa 芥川 in the Ise monogatari 伊勢物語 is anespecially well-known section of this work, and it entered widely into earlymodern literary expression.（Suzuki 2001）
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On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

・Distinctive qualities of classical literature come to light when one takes up only
the opening sections of works such as the Genji monogatari, Heike monogatari 平
家物語，Taketori monogatari 竹取物語，Makura no s shi 枕草子，and Oku nohosomichi おくのほそ道 and elucidates the earlier expressions on which they arebased and the influence they exerted on the genesis of literature in later times. Key
terms are commonality and individuality. A distinctive quality of classicalliterature is that by relying on language and a sense of beauty possessing acommonality that moves many people it is conversely able to allow its
individuality to shine through.（Suzuki 2006）
・The reception of the classics in the Edo period and the study of this by us today
can in its entirety be called the “study of the appreciation of classical literature inthe Edo period.” The aim of this is to comprehensively explore the value that
individual works of literature from the ancient through to the medieval periods
had for early modern literature and also the significance that this has for us living
today.（Suzuki 2011）
・How was the literature of the past received in the early modern period? The
literature of the ancient period was given authority by scholars of national learning, but there was a tendency for their abstract ideas to generate a（kokugaku 国学）
momentum of their own, and the literature of the ancient period cannot be said tohave been fleshed out to the same degree as Heian 平安 literature. Medieval
literature had an enormous influence on drama, popular fiction（gesaku 戯作）,and witty verse（senry 川柳）of the early modern period, but it cannot be said
to have had sufficient elements of “elegance.” By comparison, the literature of theHeian period has the highest level of elements of “elegance.” Yearnings for Heian
court culture remained deep-rooted in the early modern period, and theseyearnings were centred in particular on the Genji monogatari, Kokin wakash 古今和歌集，and Ise monogatari. In addition, if literary expression as a whole
prior to the early modern period, centred on Heian court culture, may be45

On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

characterized as “elegant,” then the foundations of early modern literature could
be said to have been produced by setting the “popular” against this.（Suzuki2011, Suzuki 2003, Suzuki 2004b）

Commentaries on classical works
・In the medieval period there was a shift from a secretive or esoteric stance to anevidence-based stance. During an age of strife and bloodshed Kyoto was laidwaste, the culture of the court nobility spread to the provinces, and in conjunction
with these developments the classical studies undertaken by linked-verse poets
were also enriched. It was a time when men such as Ichijō Kanera 一条兼良，Sōgi 宗祇，Sanjōnishi Sanetaka, and Kiyohara Nobukata 清原宣賢 were active.
・During the early modern period a comprehensive marshalling of medieval
scholarship was carried out by Kitamura Kigin 北村季吟 and others, and there
was established a commentarial “format” that sought to make visible the world ofa work of literature by means of headnotes and interlinear glosses. A breakaway
from the idea of the secret transmission of interpretations was prompted by thespread of the culture of publishing. Points worthy of special mention include theevidentialism of Keichū 契沖，the appreciative approach of Kamo no Mabuchi
賀茂真淵，and the structural grasp of works by Motoori no Norinaga 本居宣長 .
・In the modern period there were advances in more detailed historicalinvestigations.
・While the classical studies of Keichū and later scholars have been highly rated,the marshalling and three-dimensional presentation of past achievements byKitamura Kigin in particular is of great historical significance.（Suzuki 2014,Suzuki 2010b）（4）Other topics
Savouring the culture of Edo46

On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

・Distinctive features of Edo culture become clearer by focusing on buckwheat（soba 蕎麦）, which has since the second half of the eighteenth century been
regarded as a food item symbolic of the regionality of Edo, and investigating how
it was received with reference to the Ch shingura 忠 臣 蔵 legend, ukiyoe 浮 世 絵，haikai, senry , and rakugo 落語 .（Suzuki 2010a）
・A wealth of literary images associated with place-names can be gleaned fromthe many illustrated guidebooks（meisho zue 名 所 図 会）and similar works thatwere produced during the early modern period.（Suzuki 2004a, Ichiko andSuzuki 1996〜97, etc.）

Conceptualizing the history of Japanese literature
・Up until now there have appeared many accounts of the history of Japanese
literature, and there are several that have come to be regarded as standard
reference works. Many of these list works and authors in chronological order andpoint out the characteristics of each period. It ought to be possible to construct ahistory of literature that differs from these past accounts by establishingapproaches such as “animals” and “astronomical phenomena” so as to add
freshness to such accounts.（Suzuki 2011〜13, Suzuki 2014〜15）

References
Suzuki1996

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Kinsei dōjō kadan no kenkyū 近世堂上歌壇の研究（Kyukoshoin 汲古書院、1996）（new ed 2009）
Ichiko and Suzuki1996〜97

Ichiko Natsuo 市古夏生 Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一（ed）,Shintei Edomeishozue 新訂

江戸名所図会（Chikumashobo 筑摩書房、1996〜97）

Suzuki1998

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Edo siika no kūkan 江戸詩歌の空間（Shinwasha 森話社、1998）
Suzuki1999

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Hayashi Razan nenpukou 林羅山年譜稿（Perikansha ぺりかん社、1999）
Suzuki2001

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Isemonogatari no Edo 伊勢物語の江戸（Shinwasha 森話社、2001）
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On the Study of Early Modern “Elegant” Literature（Suzuki Ken’ichi）

Suzuki2003 Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴 木 健 一（ed）, Genjimonogatari no hensoukyoku:Edo noshirabe 源氏物語の変奏曲─江戸の調べ（Miyaishoten 三弥井書店、2003）
Suzuki2004a Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Edo shiikashi no kousou 江戸詩歌史の構想（Iwanamishoten 岩波書店、2004）
Suzuki2004b Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一（ed）, Yoshitsune densetsu:hanganbiiki shūtaisei
義経伝説

判官びいき集大成（Shogakkan 小学館、2004）

Suzuki2006 Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Shitteru kobun no shiranai miryoku 知ってる古文の知らない魅力（Koudansha 講談社、2006）
Suzuki2007

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Koten shiika nyūmon 古典詩歌入門（Iwanamishoten 岩波書店、2007）
Hayashi, Hiroki and Suzuki2007
SuzukiHayashi Tatsuya 林達也 Hiroki Kazuto 廣木一人

Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Muromachi waka heno shōtai 室町和歌への招待（Kasamashoin 笠間書院、2007）
Suzuki2010aSuzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Fūryū Edo no soba 風流

江戸の蕎麦（Tyuokoronshinsha 中央公論新社、2010）
Suzuki2010b Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一（ed）, Edo no chi:kinsei tyūshaku no sekai 江戸の「知」─近世注釈の世界（Shinwasha 森話社、2010）
Suzuki2011

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Edo kotengaku no ron 江戸古典学の論（Kyukoshoin 汲古書院、2011）
S u z u k i 2 0 1 1 〜1 3

SuzukiKen’ichi 鈴木健一（ed）, Ty ō j ū t y ū g y obungakushi:kedamono. tori. mushi. uo 鳥獣虫魚の文学史

no獣、 鳥、 虫、 魚（Miyaishoten 三弥井書店、2011〜13）Suzuki2012 Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴 木 健 一，Hayashi Razan 林 羅 山（Mineruvashobō ミ ネルヴア書房、2012）
Suzuki2013a Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Nihon kanshi heno shōtai 日本漢詩への招待（Tokyodōshuppan 東京堂出版、2013）
Suzuki2013b

Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一（ed）, Shintō suru kyōyō:Edo no shuppan

bunkatoiu kairo 浸透する教養─江戸の出版文化という回路（Benseishuppan 勉誠出版、2013）
Suzuki2014 Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴木健一，Koten tyūshaku nyūmon:rekishi to gihō 古典注釈入門─歴史と技法（Iwanamishoten 岩波書店、2014）
Suzuki2014〜15 Suzuki Ken’ichi 鈴 木 健 一（ed）, Tenkū no bungakushi:taiyō tsuki hoshi.
kumo yuki kaze ame 天空の文学史（Miyaishoten 三弥井書店、2014〜15）48

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