English
” The principal of this establishment was also an author, and in that capacity signed himself JIsHO (spontaneous laughter). Associated with him was a writer who styled himself Kiseki. Kiseki was a broken-down tradesman of Kidto, the heir of a long line of shopkeepers who had amassed wealth by the sale of a kind of sweetmeat or cake. Such part of their sub- stance as had descended to him he wasted in riotous { { JISHO AND KISEKI "303 living, and was at last compelled to resort to authorship for a subsistence. At first Kiseki allowed his works to be published in Jisho’s name; but as their popularity became established, he insisted on his own name also appearing on the title-page. Ultimately author and publisher quarrelled, and Kiseki opened an independent establishment, where a good number of his works were brought out. Some go so far as to say that Jisho never wrote anything, but that the books which bear his signa- ture were in all cases really the work of Kiseki or other needy authors, whom he paid for their services. What- ever may have been the relations between them, the two names Jisho and Kiseki are constantly associated by the Japanese, just as we speak of Erckmann-Chatrian or Besant and Rice. Kiseki died about 1736, in his seventieth year, and Jisho in 1745, at an advanced age. In a preface to his last published work, the latter commends to the favour of the public his son Kisho and his grandson Zuisho, who were authors of writings of a similar character to those for which the Hachimonjiya had acquired its reputa- tion. One of these, printed in 1746, contains a catalogue of one hundred and three publications of this notorious press. The names of a considerable proportion are sufficiently indicative of their character. They are por- - nographic novels, tales, or sketches. Even when the title is a harmless one, the reader after a few pages is pretty sure to find himself introduced to one of the Kuruwa or brothel-quarters of Kidto or elsewhere, and the manners and customs of these places furnish a large part of the subject-matter. There is a reason, if not an excuse, for the prevailing choice of this unsavoury topic by Japanese writers of 304 JAPANESE LITERATURE fiction during the Yedo period. There was no social intercourse to speak of between men and women of the better class. Whenever reasons of economy did not stand in the way, the women lived a very secluded life, seeing no men but their near relations, Their marriages were arranged for them, and romantic attachments were extremely exceptional. The manners and customs of the respectable classes of society were therefore not a promising field for the writer of fiction. He preferred the freer atmosphere of the Kuruwa, to which pretty gardens and handsome buildings, with the showy educa- tion and gay costumes of their inmates, lent a superficial appearance of elegance and refinement. The element of romance in the lives of these women was perhaps small, but it existed, and it was far more natural to credit them with romantic adventures and passions than their more immaculate sisters. And if the novelist’s description of these places as the home of wit and jollity, and the natural resort of all young men of spirit and fashion, had a tendency to corrupt public morals, it is also to be remembered that the class of readers whom he addressed were not particular in these matters. It was a case of populus vult corrumpi, et corrumpitur. The most famous of the Hachimonjiya publications is a work entitled Kezsec Kintanki (1711). Jisho’s name appears on the title-page, but it is probably one of those which were really written by Kiseki. It is not a novel, but a debate on a subject of which I must renounce the attempt to give an idea. In so far as mere words go, there are more objectionable works, but the whole atti- tude of the author is profoundly immoral. What is specially unpardonable 1s his irreverent use of terms borrowed from the Buddhist religious vocabulary, and JISHO AND KISEKI 305 the scandalous way in which here and elsewhere the great names of Japanese history are dragged by him through the mire. Its humour, however, is undeniable. A somewhat less objectionable work is the Oyajz' Katagi or “Types of Elderly Men,” by Jisho and Kiseki. It is a series of racy, lifelike sketches of “The Gourmand,” “The Devotee,” “The Valetudinarian,” “The Patron of Wrestlers,” with others which need not be specified. This was followed by a number of similar works, such as Musuko Katagt (“Types of Youths”), Vedat Katagi (“Types of Merchants’ Assistants”), Musume Katagi (“Types of Girlhood”). The last-named work has a preface, which makes what I have no doubt is a sincere profession of the most unexceptionable moral aims. The Kokusenya Minché Tathetki, by Kiseki, is a version, with variations, of Chikamatsu’s well-known play. The practice of novelising dramas is more common in Japan’ than the reverse process. As has been already explained, there is far less difference between these two forms of composition than in European literature. The Fariu Gumpat Uchiwa is a romance of the olden time, related in the Hachimonjiya manner. Other romances are the Shdnin Gumpai Uchiwa (Kiseki, N. D.), Furiu Satkat Suguri, and Fiuriu Tokat Suzurt. It is not easy to discover in the works of these writers passages which are suitable for quotation in these pages. The following is an outline of a story from the Zen-aku Mimochi Ogi, or “Good and Evil Conduct Fan,” a series of moral tales, signed by Jisho and Kiseki :— “ PIETY HAS ITS REWARD” There was once an ink-maker of Nara, named Kuro- suke (Blackie), tolerably well off, but not rich. He was 306 JAPANESE LITERATURE a very pious man, and went every day to the shrine of Kasuga, near that city, to pay his devotions. One day, as he went to make his usual morning prayer, he meta white-haired man in the garb of a Shinto priest, who told him that on his way home he would find a reward of his piety at the great Torii (Shinto archway) leading to the shrine. He accordingly found there a purse of fifty gold kobans. He took it home, intending to advertise it, and so give the loser an opportunity of making a claim. Meanwhile Kurosuke heard a sound of great lamentation which proceeded from the house of a neigh- bour. It appeared, on inquiry, that the father of the family had gone security for a friend who had absconded, leaving him lable for a sum of one hundred rios. It was totally impossible for him. to raise this amount. The creditor offered to take thirty, but even this sum was far beyond his means. His daughter (the experienced reader of Japanese novels knows what is coming) then offered to let herself be sold to a Kuruwa in order to provide the needful money, and an establishment of this kind, far away in Chikuzen, was selected, so as to lessen the family disgrace as much as possible. It was the lamentation at her approaching departure which had drawn Kurosuke’s attention. He concluded that with the gift of the gods he could not do better than release this unhappy household from their difficulty. . So he paid the thirty rios, and returning home, deposited the balance of the money in the domestic shrine and went about his business. Now his wife, of whom he had made a confidante, was a foolish woman. She took it into her head that her husband had stolen the money. Full of this idea, she must needs let their landlord know of her suspicions. And so from one to another the matter ae eae JISHO AND KISEKI 307 became public property. Kurosuke was arrested, and although he told the true story over and over again, nobody believed him. The authorities directed that he should be detained in custody until the loser of the money should appear to corroborate his statement. At last the original owner came forward. She was a young widow from a distance, who had meant it for the erection of a stone lantern in front of the shrine, in memory of her deceased husband, and on her relating the circum- stances of its loss, Kurosuke was at once released. He obtained the magistrate’s permission to divorce his wife for her treacherous conduct, and married the widow. They adopted the young girl who had been saved from a life of shame, and were happy and prosperous ever after, leaving children and grandchildren who handed down | their name. This true story is told to this day as an example of the saying that “ piety has its reward.” The Hachimonjiya continued its activity until the end of the eighteenth century. Meanwhile other houses had : sprung up, first at Kioto and subsequently at Yedo, to supply the public demand for literature of this kind. Their publications, known as share-bon, or witty books, were of so outrageous a character that the Government © at last (in 1791) interfered, and visited both authors and publishers with severe but not unmerited punishment. Non ragtoniam ai lor. With all their faults, Jisho and Kiseki must be pro- nounced the truest representatives for their time of the characteristic qualities of the Japanese national genius. They fill an important place in the history of Japanese literature, continuing the tradition of Saikaku by their graphic and humorous descriptions of real life and manners, while they far excelled him in culture and 308 JAPANESE LITERATURE literary ability. They have been called realistic writers by some native critics, and when we think of the extrava- gant and unreal romances so much in vogue at a later period, they must be admitted to have considerable claim to the title. But in fidelity to the facts of everyday life and actual human nature, unsophisticated by superfine Chinese ethical notions, they fall short of some of their — successors.