English
From Takasago I set sail In this skiff that lies by the shore, And put forth with the tide That goes out with the moon. I pass under the lee Of Awaji’s shore, I leave far behind me Naruwo, And now I have arrived At Suminoye. (The god of Sumiyosht) appears, and enters into a poetical dialogue with the chorus.) Cuorus. We give thanks for this manifestation ; Ever anew we will worship Thy spirit with sacred dance By Sumiyoshi’s pure moonlight. Cuorus. And now, world without end, The extended arms of the dancing maidens In sacerdotal robes Will expel noxious influences ; Their hands folded to rest in their bosoms Will embrace all good fortune ; The hymn of a thousand autumns Will draw down blessings on the people, And the song of ten thousand years ? Prolong our sovereign’s life. And all the while, i 1 There are in reality three gods. Doubtless only one appears on the stage. 2 Equivalent to our ‘‘ God save the Queen.” 212 JAPANESE LITERATURE The voice of the breeze, As it blows through the firs That grow old together, Will yield us delight. Some or the No have more of dramatic action than the Takasago. Nakamitsu,a piece translated by Mr. Cham- berlain, is one of these. Another example is the Zdsen, of which the following is a résumé :-— ; An inhabitant of Hakosaki, in Kiushiu, informs the audience that under an embargo placed by the Japanese Government on Chinese ships thirteen years before, he had detained a vessel from that country, and made +e owner his cow-herd. The Chinaman’s two sons come to ransom their father. His master gives him leave to go, but just when they are about to sail, two sons born to him in Japan appear and propose to accompany him. Their request is refused by the master, and the father, distracted between his wish to return home with his Chinese family, and his reluctance to leave his Japanese children behind, tries to drown himself. Much appropriate sentiment ensues, which touches the heart of the master, so that he allows all five to depart together. In Doo? a priest appears, and informs the audience that he is about to consecrate a new bell for his temple, the former one having been long agoremoved. He then directs his acolyte to make the necessary preparations, enjoining on him specially to take care that no woman shall be present at the ceremony. A dancing-girl approaches, and proposes to dance in honour of the occasion. The acolyte forgets his instruc- tions, and allows her to do so. She takes the opportunity of seizing the bell by the suspending ring, and bringing KIOGEN Ia it down over her, greatly to the consternation of the priest. He calls together his fellows and relates a legend which explains why women were not allowed to be present :— “A man had an only daughter, who formed a union with a Yamabushi [a sort of lay-priest]. When pressed to marry her, he ran away and hid in the bell of the temple. She pursued him, and came to a river which she could not cross. But the fife of her passion was so _ intense that it changed her into a serpent, in which form she found no difficulty in swimming over. Coming to the temple, the serpent coiled itself round the bell, which was melted by the heat of her passion, the false lover perishing at the same time.” The priest, having told this legend, joins with his col- leagues in reciting with might and main all kinds of Buddhist prayers and invocations, by which the bell is raised to its former position, and the dancing-girl forced to reveal herself in her serpent shape. Involved in flames, she plunges into the adjoining river and disappears. Exeunt omnes. The Kidgen (mad-words) are to the No what farce is to the regular drama. They are performed on the same stage in the intervals between the more serious pieces. They differ from the No in having no chorus, and in being composed in the pure colloquial dialect of the ime, They are even shorter, and of the slightest construction. The following is an example :— “A Daimio sends his servant to the city to buy a talis- man which will work miracles. The servant mects with a swindler, who sells him an object which he calls the Mallet of Daikoku (every blow of which is supposed to produce a piece of gold), telling him a charm by repeat- 15 214 JAPANESE LITERATURE ing which, as he holds the mallet, he can have anything he pleases. The servant returns with his prize. The Daimio asks him to produce a horse. The servant repeats his charm, and declares that the horse is ready saddled and bridled. The Daimio pretends to think his servant the horse, jumps on his back, and rides him about the stage in spite of his protestations.” Fifty of the Kiogen have been published under the title Azdgen Kz, and there is before me a manuscript collection which contains one hundred and fifty of these pieces. BOOK THE SIXTH YEDO PERIOD (1603-1867) BOOK THE SIXTH YEDO PERIOD (1603-1867) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY— TAIKOKI” THE student of Japanese history, in any of its branches, should note well the two dates which stand at the head of this chapter. They mark the beginning and end of that wonderful political organisation known as the Toku- gawa Shogunate. The first is the date of the establish- ment of his capital at Yedo by Tokugawa lyeyasu, and the second that of the abolition of the office of Shogun, and the resumption of sovereign authority by the Mikado after many centuries of abeyance. During this period a. great wave of Chinese influence passed over the country, deeply affecting it in every conceivable way. Not only the constitution of the Government, but the laws, art, science, material civilisation, and, most of all, the thought of the nation as expressed in its philosophy and literature, bear profound traces of Chinese teaching and example. This wave has not wholly subsided even now, but it has ceased to be of importance, except, perhaps, in deter- mining the moral standards of the nation, and 1867 is a 217 218 JAPANESE LITERATURE convenient date from which to reckon the substitution of Europe for China as the source whence the Japanese draw inspiration in all these matters. The latter half of the Muromachi period, coinciding with the second half of the sixteenth century, was a very disturbed time in Japan. The local nobles or Daimios, defying all control by the central government, engaged in continual struggles with one another for lands and power, and a lamentable condition of anarchy was the result. The first to apply a remedy to this state of things was one of their own order, Nobunaga, a man of resolute character and great military capacity. Aided by his two famous lieutenants, Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu, he succeeded in bringing most of the Daimios into subjection, and even deposed the Shogun, although he was prevented by his descent from assuming that title himself. At his death in 1582, the reins of power passed into the hands of Hideyoshi, who completed the work which Nobunaga had begun. Under the titles of Kwambaku (Regent) or Taiko, he was practically monarch of Japan, until his death in 1598. Then Iyeyasu, after a sharp struggle, which ended in 1600 by the defeat of his opponents in the decisive battle of Sekigahara, succeeded to the supreme authority, and caused himself to be appointed Shogun by the puppet Mikado of the day. He was the founder of the Tokugawa (his family name) dynasty of Shoguns, which lasted until our own time. Iyeyasu was probably the greatest statesman that Japan has ever seen. By the organisation of that remarkable system of feudal government under which the nation enjoyed peace and prosperity for two and a half cen- turies, he solved for his day and country the problem, which will occupy politicians to the end of time, of the YEDO PERIOD 219 due apportionment of central and local authority. At no previous period of Japanese history was the power of the Central Government more effectively maintained in all essential matters, although in other respects the Daimios were allowed a large measure of independent action. Under this régime Japan increased amazingly in wealth and population, and made great progress in all the arts of civilisation. As a consequence, the new capital of Yedo rose rapidly to importance. Under the regulation, established by lye- yasu’s grandson Iyemitsu, which compelled the Daimios to reside there for part of the year, leaving their wives and children as hostages during the remainder, its population attained to at least a million, and is believed to have been at one time considerably more. It is not surprising that the enhanced political and commercial importance of Yedo should have brought about a displacement of the literary centre of Japan. Kioto, especially during the early part of the Yedo period, continued to be a place of some literary activity, and Osaka became the cradle of a new form of drama, but Yedo attracted to itself all the principal learning and _talent of the country. For the last two hundred years Yedo has been to Japan for literature what London is to the United Kingdom, or Paris to France. There is another feature of the literature of the Yedo period which is traceable to the improved condition of the country. Authors now no longer addressed them- selves exclusively to a cultured class, but to the people generally. The higher degree of civilisation which was rendered possible by an improved administration and a more settled government included a far more widely extended system of education than Japan had ever known 220 JAPANESE LITERATURE - before. And not only were the humbler classes better educated. They were more prosperous in every way, and | were better able to purchase books as well as to read them. Books, too, were far more easily attainable than before.