A Manga-translation of Visual Commentary on Tsurezuregusa
X. Jie Yang, University of Calgary

Abstract
In the Edo time, Kenko (1283-1358)'s Trurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness) became a classicalmasterpiece. Numerous volumes of commentary were produced and published, and the entire work wasthoroughly examined and deeply appreciated. Although received rather less attention, among thecommentary there was a significant approach in pictures. Certain commentary books even provided
pictures to most all of the sections in the original title. It did not only enrich the long and abundant visualtradition, but also left us a valuable means to read and understand this medieval classic today. Applying
manga as a visual language, I have translated such visual commentary for today's readers. This paper
gives an overview on the visual commentary and explains the design, the creation and the publication ofthis project.
Keywords
Tsurezuregusa, Nagusamigusa, Tsurezuregusa Esho, visual commentary, 4-panel comics, animated GIF
file

1. Tsurezuregusa and Its Visual Commentary
Kenko (1283-1358)'s Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness) is a masterpiece of classical literaturefrom the Kamakura period (1185-1333). It highly represents the achievement of the intellectuals in themedieval time, provides a window for late readers to look back the social value and thoughts of the time
past.
In the Edo period (1600-1868), from its early time in the early 17th century, Tsurezuregusa
became a title of popular reading. Not only the text of the essay, but also numerous volumes ofcommentary were produced and published, the entire work was thoroughly examined and deeplyappreciated. Among them, although received rather less attention, there was a great approach to Kenko'swriting in pictures. It formed a rather unique path in the development, namely pictures to carry out thestories, situations and visual settings of each section in Tsurezuregusa were first created and published inwoodprint books, then in the next stage, many of those compositions were carefully adapted into othervisual formats, such as scrolls, paper screens, hanging scrolls and sketch books. This group of works,
especially its inner-exchange and literary accomplishment have just started to receive certain academic
discussions in recent years. (1)Under the rapid development of the digital environment, Edo’s commentary books are among thegroup of materials to be digitized and released online for a public use. This provides a huge benefit for
researchers who otherwise would face a difficulty to access to it. The following is a short list of 6
representative titles of Tsurezuregusa’s commentary with pictures and they are available online.

a. Nagusamigusa, Matsunaga Teitoku, 1652. Waseda University Library(https://kotenseki.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/100191549/viewer)b. Tosho Tsurezuregusa Esho, 1690. National Diet Library(http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2536039)
c. Tsurezuregusa Esho, Namura Johaku, 1691. National Institute of Japanese Literature(https://kotenseki.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/200016349/viewer)d. Tsurezuregusa Weiri, Umemura Ichirobee, 1717. Waseda University Library(http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/bunko30/bunko30_e0104/index.html)
e. Ehon Tsurezuregusa, Nishikawa Sukenobu, 1740. National Diet Library(http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2534221)
f. Tsurezuregusa Eiri, Sanboku Injin, 1812. Waseda University Library(http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/bunko30/bunko30_e0106/index.html)

Let us take one example to see how the same story was depicted in these titles. In this case, acomposition from an early publication was basically inherited, meanwhile it was slowly enriched byadding elements from the story into the scene.
The section indiscussion is No. 104. It isan elegant episode of a lovestory. An anonymous court
noble visited a lady in ahidden remote location.
Evoked barks of a dog, hisvisit was met politely by amaid. The servants
accompanied the noble andthe cart carried the journey
were properly arranged, andthe couple spend quiet time
until the dawn. Figure 1
shows the pictures fromeach of the six commentary
titles. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1 Pictures on the section No. 104 (a. Nagusamigusa, v.4, p.7a, b. Tosho
Tsurezuregusa Esho, v.3, p.14a, c. Tsurezuregusa Esho, v.1, p.48b, d. Tsurezuregusa
Weiri, p.62a, e. Ehon Tsurezuregusa, v.2, p.8b, f. Tsurezuregusa Eiri, v.3, p.4a)

The core elements of the composition are the visiting noble and the maid to respond. These twofigures are found in all six pictures. In Nagusamegusa, the earliest version of the commentary, there are adog in the yard and two servants beside a cart out the door. In Tsurezuregusa Esho, the lady appeared at
the far end of the house, even more, a rooster which never appeared at the writing was added to the top of
the door, indicating the arrival of the dawn. This formed the largest version of this composition. However,this development included a different time -- the evening when the noble arrived, and the morning when
he left. This fact made a small picture became complicated. In later time, the rooster disappeared in Ehon
Tsurezuregusa and Tsurezuregusa Eiri.
Tsurezuregusa is formed by a total of 244 sections, some are as short as a few words, and someare extremely long. To this, the Edo commentary provided pictures to about 90% of the sections. In
particular, Nagusamigusa had pictures to 157 sections, (2) and Tsurezuregusa Esho had pictures to 213

sections. These two titles well represent the achievement of visual commentary, and my work of reading
and interpreting of this group of materials set a focus thoroughly on them, Nagusamigusa andTsurezuregusa Esho.

2. A Story of a Priest at the Ninnaji
Section No. 53 in Tsurezuregusa became an enlightening example on the way of visualcommentary to the original writing. First, let us read the entire story. It is comparatively long, but highlyenjoyable.
This story too is about a priest at the Ninnaji. A farewell party was being offered for an acolyte
about to become a priest, and the guests were all making merry when one of the priests, drunkand carried away by high spirits, picked up a three-legged cauldron nearby, and clamped it over
his head. It caught on his nose, but he flattened it down, pulled the pot over his face, and dancedout among the others, to the great amusement of everyone.
After the priest had been dancing for a while he tried to pull the pot off, but it refused to bebudged. A pall fell over the gathering, and people wondered blankly what to do. They tried one
thing and another, only succeeding in bruising the skin around his neck. The blood streamed
down, and the priest's neck became so swollen that he had trouble breathing. The others tried to
split the pot, but it was not easily broken and the reverberations inside were unbearable. Finally,
when all else had failed, they threw a thin garment over the legs of the pot, which stuck up likehorns, and, giving the priest a stick to lean on, led him off by the hand to a doctor in Kyoto.
People they met on the way stared at this apparition with unconstrained astonishment.
The priest presented a most extraordinary sight as he sat inside the doctor's office facing him.
Whatever he said came out as an unintelligible, muffled roar. "I can't find any similar case in mymedical books," said the doctor, "and there aren't any oral traditions either.” The priest had nochoice but to return to the Ninnaji, where his close friends and his aged mother gathered at hisbedside, weeping with grief, though the priest himself probably could not hear them.
At this point somebody suggested, “Wouldn't it be better at least to save his life, even if he loses
his nose and ears? Let's try
pulling the pot off with all ourstrength.” They stuffed straw
around the priest's neck toprotect it from the metal, thenpulled hard enough to tear off
his head. Only holes were left toshow where his ears and nose
had been, but the pot wasremoved. They barely managed
to save the priest's life, and for along time afterwards he wasgravely ill.
Essays in Idleness, P.46-47 (3)Fig. 2 Picture on section No. 53 (Tsurezuregusa Esho, v.1, p.26a, 26b)

This story is formed with four stages. First, the poor priest, in order to cheer up the party, put athree-legged cauldron into his head, but only soon found out that it was impossible to remove it. Then,with help by his colleagues, they visited a doctor in the capital, but had no luck. Now, even his motherappeared, but their voices had difficulty to reach the priest. Finally, someone decided that the life should
matter the most, so they pull out the cauldron in force, to the extreme that “only holes were left to show
where his ears and nose had been”. Nonetheless the priest survived.
Figure 2 indicates how a set of pictures describe the above dramatic development inTsurezuregusa Esho. (Fig. 2)This set of pictures are structured along the progress of theevent, focused on four scenes that took place in the party, the doctor’soffice, the bedside and the temple hall. The four scenes are carefully
divided by wave lines and inserted text, each formed a clear andtelling story moment.
The structure of the pictures, along with its comic touch of thedrawing, gave a hint related in contemporary comics, especially “4panel comics”. Formed with four frames, often with a vertical layout,
this comics style is widely and frequently inserted into newspapers
and magazines. Pictures from Tsurezuregusa Esho have alreadyprepared enough contents, and a simple cut and paste thus easily bringup a fantastic product of a 4-panel comics. The only need is to add atitle to this work. The choice here briefly means “A Drunken Priest”.
(Fig. 3)In Tsurezuregusa Esho, it is possible to find a few more
examples with a similar four-stage composition, such as sections No.
87, No. 115 and No. 162. These three sections all have two small
frames and one big frame, but the big one could be read as two parts
without a clear dividing line.
The temptation to read a set of pictures along the developmentof the described event, and to arrange it based on the layout of themodern comics thus provided a significant path to an approach to thereading, interpreting and presenting the Edo visual commentary tocontemporary readers.

Fig. 3 4-panel comics: “ADrunken Priest”

3. Translation in Manga
Taking 4-panel comics as a template to retell the old pictures opened a new door to the approachof Edo commentary. It soon became obvious that there is no need to limit to those pictures which could beconsidered as four stages. In fact, there is a great possibility to read one scene from different angles andportions, to divide the reading process into a few steps. Specifically, in order to meet the expectations of a
4-panel comics which is highly familiar to modern readers, it is considerable to break a reading into fourstages.
We can take the following section as an example. The section No. 11 states a short experience ofa journey of discovering a hidden hut. The carefully arranged writing described a moss-covered path, awater pipe, chrysanthemum and red maple leaves on a holy-water shelf, then a tangerine tree and aforbidding fence (Refer to Essays in Idleness, p. 11). Nagusamigusa provided the following picture forthis section. (Fig. 4)This picture thoroughly depicted all the elements from theoriginal writing. A reader could follow the main character in themiddle of the scene to walk through from the corner of top-right,
experience a series of discoveries by following the author:
crossing the far path, realized a hidden hut, came cross a holywater shelf as a sign of a residence, and finally realized the fencewith a nameless disappointment. This process was visually
prepared in the picture, and it could be adapted into fourcontinuing frames. The switch of the focuses in each stage
eventually guides the sight for a reader, to interpret the visual
information and to provide an assistance to the understanding of
the picture and the writing. It eventually better assists the readersin the contemporary time. (Fig. 5)
The above approach could be described as a process of atranslation. It is to arrange Edo pictures into a style of moderncomics, in this case it is the style of 4-panel comics, and to invite
readers to apply their knowledge andexperience on that visual media toward
pictures from hundreds of years ago. Here,manga plays a role of an expression tolink classical materials to thecontemporary people. As the concept oftranslation is to apply one language intoanother, such as “to translate in English”,“to translate in French”, thus it is only
natural to create the concept of “totranslate in manga”.
A manga-translation became away to present the visual commentary ofTsurezuregusa to readers today.

Fig. 4 Picture of section No. 11(Nagusamigusa, v.1, p.25a)Fig. 5 Picture of section No. 11, arranged into four frames

4. GIF Moving Picture, a Digital Design
While established the approach to the Edo commentary, the next stage becomes to turn it to solida product, to publish it, and to engage it to real readers. Fortunately, the current digital environment
prepared a practical means for the crucial task in this development: the publication.
The use of a digital platform brought in a number of requirements for the design of the outcomes.
They particularly include a limit of space within a display screen, a seek for a small size in order to savethe resource, and to efficiently apply the feature of a moving display. Based on considerations of all theseconditions, the format of an animated GIF picture became the final choice. Instead to line up four frames
like a common 4-panel comics, the outcome occupies the space of one frame, and keeps turning and toreplacing one frame by the other, rotates in the right order. At the meantime, to enhance the content of thecomics, a highlight was added to each frame. Furthermore, the corresponding text from the original
writing and its translation in modern Japanese are given to each frame.
The make of animated GIF files was arranged with a principle of an easy and efficient creation. In
particular, the preparation of each frame, from cutting off the right portion, providing a highlight andadding text, was entirely done with PowerPoint. Next, combine such frames into one GIF file with a freesoftware, Giam.
A total of 116 sections fromTsurezuregusa were selected andproduced into animated GIF comics,used pictures from Nagusamigusa andTsurezuregusa Esho. The outcomes werepublished along they were produced at
personal accounts at Facebook andTwitter, briefly released two files a weeksince Dec. 2019, and completed on Jan.
14, 2021. (4) In addition, for an easy
access to the entire body of this work, all
GIF files are uploaded into a Facebook
webpage, under the title of “Reading
Tsurezuregusa with VisualCommentary”. (Fig. 6)

Fig. 6 Facebook site: Reading Tsurezuregusa with Visual Commentary(https://www.facebook.com/chushakue/)

At the current time, this set of GIF files are in Japanese only. However, it could be adapted into
other languages. An English version is under a preparation, and the author is looking for possible
cooperation from other languages in the future.

5. Classics in the Contemporary TimeThe long and rich literary tradition left us abundant treasures, they are inviting for discoveries andappreciations. Among them, visual materials belong to a group under less attention, especially those
applied in a process to assist the understanding of old writings, such as visual commentary in thisdiscussion. They tended to be considered as a secondary resource, rarely received academic approach. In
most cases, the very existence of this type of materials was frequently overlooked. Obviously, thissituation has to be changed.
One early step for such a change is to make these unpopular, yet highly attractive materials
accessible for common readers. This requests researchers to jointly contribute their knowledge to translate
and to interpret the materials, eventually lead to a wide reading and deep appreciation. The current“manga-translation” is a small temptation toward this goal.
The journey has just started. The value and the attractiveness of classical works are what
encourage us for a continuing effort, toward a better understanding of the past.

Notes:(1) Shimauchi, Yuko. “The Research of Turezuregusa drawn for the Picture” (in Japanese). Journal of theUniversity of the Air 22 (2005): 132-121. Siode, Kimiko. Shimauchi, Yuko. “The Method ofTsurezuregusa-esho as a Commentary” (in Japanese). Journal of the University of the Air 33 (2016): 158145.
(2) Siode, Kimiko. “On Illustrations of Nagusamigusa: Pictorialization of Tsurezuregusa” (in Japanese).
Memoirs of the Nara University 42 (2014): 264-234.
(3) Keene, Donald (translation). Essays in Idleness, The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko. Columbia UniversityPress, 1998.
(4) The following blog entries in Japanese described a few related topics to this project. “The origin of 4panel comics” (https://note.com/xjieyang/n/n140415115a31), “4-Panel in GIF” (http://emakijapan.blogspot.com/2019/12/gif.html), “Facebook page” (http://emakijapan.blogspot.com/2020/01/fb.html), “Completed 100” (http://emaki-japan.blogspot.com/2020/11/blogpost_21.html), “Reading Tsurezuregusa in pictures” (http://emaki-japan.blogspot.com/2021/01/blogpost_16.html), “A girl in Inaba” (http://emaki-japan.blogspot.com/2020/02/blog-post_22.html), “Demoncat!” (https://note.com/xjieyang/n/n2a01b4a35133).