English
Tanehiko’s shdhonjidate or dramatic stories differ chiefly from ordinary Japanese novels by the prepon- derance of dialogue over narrative, and by the choice of the ordinary spoken language for the speeches of the characters. They are also more realistic, and vary less violently from actual living manners, than the romantic novel. The great defect of his books is their want of human interest. Like Kioden, Bakin, and the other novelists of the romantic school, Tanehiko accepts implicitly the conventional standards of honour and morality, and deviates little from the types of character which were the common property of the writers of his day. Indeed he carries unreal sentiment and artificial rules of conduct SAMBA 367 to a more fantastic extreme than either of his rivals. Human nature is travestied by him in such a manner as to be no longer recognisable. How can one take any interest in a heroine of fifteen years of age who sets out to travel through Japan in quest of her father’s murderer with the intention of making love to him and thus find- ing an opportunity for putting him to death? Or in the murderer himself, who is a magician with the power of making himself invisible, but who finds no better use for such a gift than to rob unsuspecting travellers? In another work of Tanehiko’s the hero submits patiently to be insulted and beaten in the presence of his inamorata by her temporary owner, and then indemnifies himself by waylaying his enemy in a lonely spot with the inten- tion of assassinating him. It is true that the author tries to save his credit a little by making him, in the first place, discharge his money obligations to his intended victim. It is to be regretted that Tanehiko’s writings should be marred by so vital a defect. They contain many interest- ing glimpses of manners and customs in a state of society which has now passed away, and his style, when not too ornate, is graceful and pleasing. SHIKITEI SAMBA (1775-1822) —his numerous aliases may be omitted—was a native of Yedo. He belonged to the trading class, and in his boyhood was apprenticed to a bookseller. He subsequently opened a book-shop on his own account. His first work was written in 1794, when he was in his nineteenth year. In 1799 he was reported to the authorities by some person who objected to the immoral tendency of his writings. His parents and relatives, alarmed on his account, urged him to give up authorship, but he refused to do so. He-was a prolific writer, Among his numerous publications 368 JAPANESE LITERATURE he is now remembered chiefly by two—the Uzkzyo-furo and the Ukiyo-toko. The Ukiyo-furo was first published in 1809; but the blocks having been burnt, a second enlarged edition was brought out in 1811. The name of this work means “The World’s Bath-house.” It consists of a series of realistic sketches of everyday life, something in the manner of Mr. Anstey’s Voces Populz, a certain unity being given to them by assigning the dialogues to the frequenters of a public bath-house—an institution well known in Japan as a centre of gossip for the neighbour- hood. In the preface Samba protests that he writes in the interests of morality. ‘In bringing up children,” he says, “we give them bitter pills and sweet malt-extract. The Chinese classics resemble the pills, while novels and stories correspond to the sweet stuff. Both convey instruction, though in different ways.” The edifying character of the Uszyo-furo is not very obvious to a casual observer, but it is undeniably amusing. Some Japanese critics rank it even before the Azzakurige. If any one cares to know what subjects are discussed by Japanese of the middle and lower classes when they meet, he will find ample means of gratifying his curio- sity in this work. Here is a conversation between two matrons at the bath-house :— Mrs. A. Well! I have tried lots of servants, but I find that instead of their serving you, it is you who have to serve them. Mrs. B. Really? But I thought the maid who was with you till last year was such an amiable girl. Mrs. A. Yes, and she was bound over to me for a long term ; but as she had a good offer, I married her off and let her go. Mrs. B. That was very nice of you. Mrs. A. The one I have now has such a temper that I don’t know what to do. If I reprove her she gets into a rage and IkKU 369 smashes everything, and if I humour her it makes her so con- ceited. The worst of it is that when I lie down to sleep I cannot get that face of hers out of my mind. Mrs. B. Our hussy Rin is just as bad. She is always putting herself forward, and talking when she is not wanted. So she gets the place to herself, and as soon as she has cleared away the breakfast things she goes upstairs and spends half the day doing her hair. Then, until I tell her to get dinner ready, she is always going out, as she says, to hang out the washing, but really for gossip. There is not a day that she does not excite herself about matters of course, crying and laughing over them, but grudging to take pains with her needful work. She will take up a pail, and with “I am going to fetch water, ma’am,” off she goes to the well, and does not get back for a couple of hours. No wonder! When she is not making a fool of herself with all the young men in the row, she joins girls like herself in abusing the masters and mis- tresses. The other day I wondered what they were talking about, so I slipped behind the outhouse, and there she was praising her last master, &c., &c. The Ukziyo-toko (“The World’s Barber’s Shop”) is of a similar character. Other works of Samba are the Kokon Fiakunin Baka (“One Hundred Fools Ancient and Modern”) and Shyzuhachi Kuse (“The Forty-eight Humours”). : His works had a great popularity and have been often imitated. JIPPENSHA IKKU ( ?-1831) was the son of a petty official of Suruga. His early life was very unsettled. We hear of his holding small appointments in Yedo and Osaka, and his name appears with those of two others on the title-page of a play written for an Osaka theatre. He was three times married. On the first two occasions ‘he was received into families as zrzmuko, that is, son-in- law and heir. In Japan such situations are notoriously 370 ’ JAPANESE LITERATURE precarious and unsatisfactory. “Don’t become an zrz- muko,’ says the proverb, “if you possess one go of rice.” Ikku did not remain long with either of these wives. Very likely his parents-in-law objected to his Bohemian habits and dismissed him. In his third marriage he was careful not to sacrifice his freedom. Ikku’s biographers relate many stories of his eccentricities. Once when on a visit to a wealthy citizen of Yedo he took a great fancy to a bath- tub. His host presented it to him,.and Ikku thereupon insisted on carrying it home through the streets, inverted over his head, confounding with his ready wit the pas- sengers who objected to his blindly driving against them. One New Year’s Day a publisher came to pay him the usual visit of ceremony. Ikku received him with great courtesy, and prevailed on him, somewhat to his be- wilderment, to have a bath. No sooner had his guest retired for this purpose than Ikku walked off to make his own calls in the too confiding publisher’s ceremonial costume, Ikku not being possessed of one of his own. On his return, some hours later, he was profuse in his thanks, but said not a word of apology. When he was engaged in composition he squatted on the floor in a room where books, pens, inkstone, dinner- tray, pillow, and bedding lay about in confusion, not an inch of free space being left. Into this disorderly sanctum no servant was ever admitted. Ikku’s ready money went too often to pay for drink, and his house lacked even the scanty furniture which is considered necessary in Japan. He therefore hung his walls with pictures of the missing articles. On festival days he satisfied the requirements of custom, and pro- pitiated the gods by offerings of the same unsubstantial kind. | IKKU 371 On his deathbed he left instructions that his body should not be washed, but cremated just as it was, and enjoined on his pupils to place along with it certain _ Closed packets which he entrusted to them. The funeral prayers having been read, the torch was applied, when presently, to the astonishment of his sorrowing friends and pupils, a series of explosions took place, and a dis- play of shooting stars issued from the corpse.. The precious packets contained fireworks. Ikku’s first work, exclusive of the dramatic piece above mentioned, was published in 1796 at Yedo, where he had then been settled for six or seven years. Others followed, but it is useless to enumerate them, as their fame has been eclipsed by that of the Azzakurige, the great work with which Ikku’s name is always associated. The Azzakurige was published in twelve parts, the first of which appeared in 1802, the last not until 1822. It occupies a somewhat similar position in Japan to that of the Pickwick Papers in this country, and is beyond question the most humorous and entertaining book in the Japanese language. zzakurzge means “ knee-chest- nut-horse,” the Japanese equivalent for our ‘“shank’s mare.” It is the history of the travels, mostly on foot, as the title indicates, of two worthies named Yajirdbei and Kidahachi along the Tokaido and other great highways of Japan, and of their manifold adventures and mishaps. Yajirobei, Yajird, or Yaji, as he is indifferently called, is an elderly man of the shopkeeper class, whom some Japanese insist on identifying with Ikku himself. There are points of resemblance, but this, like most such identi- fications, is in reality fallacious.