pmjs logs for December 2004 [CORRECTED 2005/01/21]. Total number of messages: 33

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* speaker, Sogi, Konishi (Lewis Cook, Janine Beichman)
* Lotus sutra (David Pollack, Robert E Morrell, Michael Watson, William Londo, Thomas Howell)
* Kwannon/Kannon (Ingrid Parker, William Wetherall, James Guthrie, Charles DeWolf, Iyanaga Nobumi, Ingrid Parker, Aileen Gatten)
* Pre-AAS Panel of the Early Modern Japan Network: "Autobiographical Writings in Early-Modern Japan and Ryukyu," 2nd notice (Philip Brown)
* CFP: the Seventh Annual Buddhist Studies Graduate Student Conference (Jessey Choo)
* terms for offices (Michael Watson, Todd Brown, Joly Jacques, Joan Piggott, Michael Wachutka)
* noh and kendo (Eric Rath, Michael Watson)
* History position, Oberlin (Michael Watson)
* Wang Yi-t'ung (Matthew Stavros, Charlotte von Verschuer, Rokuo Tanaka)
* London kenkyukai - announcement & call for papers (Michael Watson)
* Honcho suikoden (Ivo Smits)
* Ishikawa Onako (Meredith McKinney)
* NEW! UM Center for Japanese Studies Electronic Publications (Bruce Willoughby, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney)
* Now Available (Bruce Willoughby)
* Harvard-Yenching Library Travel Grant Announcement 2004-2005 (Adam L. Kern)



Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 04:55:08 -0500

From: "Lewis Cook" <lc...@...thlink.net>

Subject: Re: speaker, Sogi, Konishi


Janine Beichman writes:


> I found a citation for washu, speaker, 話主 on p. 228 of Konishi

> Jin'ichi's Sougi 宗祇 published by Chikuma Shobou 筑摩書房 in 1971 as

> vol. 16 of the Nihon Shijin sen 日本詩人選 series. Without explanation,

> Konishi just says, of a link from MInase Sangin, that the speaker is a

> traveller, 話主は旅人で . <snip>


I appreciate this reference, and though I'm not sure how significant it is per se, the topic does raise interesting questions.


There is a clearly stated rule (it is not one of the codified Rules of renga composition but is something which turns up frequently enough in medieval renga-ron) to the effect that any given link in a renga must observe unity of 'point of view' (hence, there must be only one implied speaker, or persona, in a given verse).


This may seem to go without saying, given the constraints of no more than 17 syllables per link, but the admonition was made explicit, often enough with examples of violations, because there in fact were amateurs willful (or adventurous, or klutzy, your choice) enough to try to squeeze two distinct speakers, or personae, into one link, thus ruining the ideal unity of point of view. (Why this should have been an ideal is a separate question; I gave an informal paper on the above rule to a reading group in Yokohama a couple of decades back, but didn't reach much of a conclusion..)


Another (uncodified but widely understood) rule of medieval renga was that apart from the hokku, and the waki only insofar as it was linked to the hokku, and perhaps the final verse, the implied speakers in all of the verses of a hyakuin renga were fictive, as a matter of definition, partly just because they were constrained by rules of composition from anything as gauche as 'self-expression.'


The combined effect of these two rules (or either of them, for that matter) was that there should have been no risk of conflating the speaker of a given link in a renga hyakuin (excepting with limits the hokku, etc.) with any other entity (an embodied poet-person, e.g.). The speaker was always an impersonification (nothing new with renga -- think of all those heartfelt elegies of Hitomaro 'expressing' the inward-most feelings of persons he had likely never met, etc.)


> Konishi, as I said already, was influenced by

> New Criticism (yes, I know it's no longer new, but that is what it is

> called) when he worked with Brower and Miner on what became Japanese

> Court Poetry. Perhaps he had also read some New Criticism before. In any

> case, I believe the term first becomes a basic one in English language

> literary criticism in the mid-20th century and that Konishi's use in

> Sogi may be the earliest use of the term in the current sense of the

> word in criticism written in the Japanese language.


I don't see how references to Konishi or New Criticism have much of interest to do with distinguishing the 'speaker' of a lyric poem from anything else. Konishi argued, characteristically, that every insight the New Criticism claimed had been anticipated some six or seven centuries earlier by the poets of the SKKS era (see his essay "The Age of Criticism" in the "kaisetsu" to his edition of _Roppyakuban utaawase_, Yuseido, 1976). You can imagine well enough what this is meant to imply.


One minor, inevitably didactic comment: the term the New Critics preferred here was not "speaker" but "persona," which (the etymology is disputed) seems to derive from the word for a mask as used in a dramatic performance. Ezra Pound reintroduced this term in 1909 (I believe) in the title of his second published book (_Personae_): not an innovation, rather a corrective against late Romanticist confusions of 'speaker' and 'poet' (author, etc.) The distinction between 'speaker' and speaker can be traced back to classical Greek dramatic criticism (when the chorus spoke "on behalf of" the actor, more or less as Hitomaru spoke on behalf of his clients?) and is not a product of New Criticism.


Lewis Cook


Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 07:29:25 -0500

From: David Pollack <poll...@...l.rochester.edu>

Subject: Re: Lotus sutra


William Bodiford wrote:

> I have meet lay people who regularly chant the Lotus (in Japanese yomi-kudashi) as their Buddhist

> practice. Priests in temples (i.e., the literate members of premodern society) were even more likely to

> chant the Lotus (in bo-yomi) on a regular (if not daily) basis.


i shall have to display my biased ignorance here: i've always simply assumed that priests and monks would have chanted the lotus sutra (indeed any sutra) in bouyomi while the masses would have known it in yomikudashi (i'm thinking of all the meditating gaijin who can do a decent imitation of the hannya shingyou). but i'd be interested in hearing more about the availability of sources in different periods for reading the lotus in yomikudashi, and whether there were illustrated versions of mass-produced yomikudashi materials (in stark contrast to the heike noukyou sort of elite productions at the other end of the cultural spectrum). i also wonder if anyone has studied how much of the populace in different periods might have been expected to know at least parts of the sutra in bouyomi, or at least to recognize it. again my assumption is that it would be comparable to what the european masses generally knew of the various parts of the latin mass without actually speaking latin - there would obviously be a large gap between passive recognition and active production. my final assumption (for the moment) is that there was a large corpus of popularizing materials readily available in the edo period for popular religious texts that would have "interpreted" such works rather than "merely" reproduced them, in whatever form, and that knowledge of the lotus sutra would have "trickled down" into popular culture through such media rather than through more direct (unmediated?) contact. you know, a man's ability to produce a nice convincing quote to clinch a sweet proposal to share a lotus pad in the western paradise, or better yet, right now? i somehow doubt that would all that have come straight from the theater.


david pollack


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 15:10:57 -0600

From: "Robert E Morrell" <rober...@...sci.wustl.edu>

Subject: Re: Lotus sutra


Was there not always in Japan "a large corpus of popularizing materials readily available in the edo period for popular religious texts that would have "interpreted" such works rather than "merely" reproduced them," and not only in the Edo period?


Buddhist setsuwa (from as early as the _Ryouiki_), the later otogizoushi, kanazoushi, and even fragments of court poetry which became commonly known (kuraki yori uraki made; shou ja hitsu metsu esha jouri. . .) even to the present day, would have provided about as much information about the Lotus and other religious texts (Skill Means, etc.) as most people needed. Sooner of later the general ideas of the Seven Parables (shichiyu) -- "Burning House", "Hidden Jewel", etc., and their implications) would likely have become part of the common vocabulary. What more did one need? For that matter, how many Christians have read the Bible from cover to cover and know more than the Sermon on the Mount, and the stories of Christmas and the Passion -- if that much?


bob m


Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 17:31:50 -0500

From: Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>

Subject: Re: Fwd: Lotus sutra


It is perhaps worth mentioning in connection with the bouyomi/yomikudashi question that both readings can occur consecutively in the same "text"--at least this is the case of Noh like "Morihisa" or "Ro-Gio" that quote from the Lotus Sutra. When there is a quotation in "bouyomi" there is very often a gloss: "kono bun to ippa" 此文と謂つぱ or "kono bun to gotoku wa" 此文の如くは is followed by the same quotation in an expanded yomikudashi reading.


David Pollack wrote:


i've always simply assumed that priests and monks would have chanted the lotus sutra (indeed any sutra) in bouyomi while the masses would have known it in yomikudashi (i'm thinking of all the meditating gaijin who can do a decent imitation of the hannya shingyou)


Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 05:31:06 EST

From: Ingrid Parker <INGP...@....com>

Subject: Kwannon/Kannon


Dear members,


I would be grateful for some clarification on the standard, current spelling of "Kwannon" or "Kannon." My copy editor balks at my "Kwannon" as hopelessly outdated.


If both forms are acceptable, I would prefer to use whatever is most representative of Heian pronunciation. My thought was that the Chinese Kuan-yin probably accounts for Kwannon, and this might have been more likely to have been preserved in the 11th and 12th centuries.


Many thanks,


I.J.Parker


Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 14:14:24 -0800

From: Thomas Howell <thowel...@...thlink.net>

Subject: Re: Lotus sutra


On Dec 1, 2004, at 4:29 AM, David Pollack wrote:


i've always simply assumed that priests and monks would have chanted the lotus sutra (indeed any sutra) in bouyomi while the masses would have known it in yomikudashi (i'm thinking of all the meditating gaijin who can do a decent imitation of the hannya shingyou). but i'd be interested in hearing more about the availability of sources in different periods for reading the lotus in yomikudashi


Lotus Sutra editions with Japanese readings (kundoku) provide some indirect evidence of the desire to have the LS read through all classes of society, as do the compliation of ongi, pronunciation dictionaries.


There are a number ofl examples of printed versions of LS with kundoku, the earliest 1080.


One of 1387 was printed or sponsored by Dou-kenyaku-saikoji (lit."Frugal and pure householder of the Way?") and has the following colophon by the Rinzai zen monk Gidou Shuushin (1325-1388, studied with Musou soseki)


"This Lotus Sutra with Japanese notes(kunten) appended, is for this country's monks and laypeople, men and women, including wives of the household (kamado no onna)and travelling merchants (akindo), all those who do not yet understand Han pronunciation.When one translates Han words into Japanese glyphs, or further, takes Siddham sounds(bongo) and translates these into Han words, although the sound and written glyph may resemble each other or be different, the meaning of the dharma is overall the same. What's more, only when the sutra speaks with Japanese glyphs, the kana of common speech, can all people be brought into the Way. Saikoji (the layman sponsor of this edition) does not disparage kana in discoursing on the ultimate truth, therefore, he puts into circulation this kunten sutra. If there is a person who does not take up this in their hand and continually recites it, then the Layman will have thrown away the merit of creating this block-carved edition."


Kazuma says it was printed three times, which attests to demand for it. (Source: Kazuma Kawase, "kana-sho no myouhou renge kyou" in Shoshigaku no kenkyuu, p 117 on)


As for whether the LS was really studied by readers (besides being recited for ritual purposes), the change in organization of ongi may provide a clue. The earlier ongi produced in Japan glossed kanji page by page of the LS starting with the first page (maki ongi), but starting with late Heian, the Hokkekyou-on was organized like a character dictionary. Later versions arranged kanji in i-ro-ha order. This suggests people were not simply opening the LS to page one and looking up pronunciations in order to recite the page, but were reading sections out of order and trying to understand the meaning of those sections.


As for a good example of how well and widely known the content of the LS was, recall the following example from Tale of the Heike:


On the morning after Kiyomizu was burnt, before the great gate a fuda was put up, with this (quote from LS Fumonkyou) "The fire-resisting lake, where is it?" ("If Kannon, the deity of Kiyomizu, has the ability to turn a fire pit into a harmless lake, why didn't this happen and save the temple?") And the next day, a fuda was put up with this answer (another quote): "This is it, the mystery of the endless kalpas." ("The benefits of Kannon surpasses human knowledge in its endless kalpas, but since this is something human beings did to each other, what could Kannon do?")

No one knows who put these up, but they were most provocative.


I have given explanatory glosses to the quotes, but one assumes they weren't needed then. People knew the sutra backward and forward.


Tom howell


Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 20:42:20 -0500

From: "Philip Brown" <brown....@....edu>

Subject: Pre-AAS Panel of the Early Modern Japan Network: "Autobiographical Writings in Early-Modern Japan and Ryukyu," 2nd notice


"Autobiographical Writings in Early-Modern Japan and Ryukyu," a panel

sponsored by The Early Modern Japan Network, will be presented on the

first day of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), March 31, 2005

(Thursday) from 2-5. The panel theme and paper abstracts appear below.


"Autobiographical Writings in Early-Modern Japan and Ryukyu"


Theme:


Autobiographical writings are potentially rich sources that shed light

on the relationship between self and society, prevailing social values,

and viable modes of personal, political, and intellectual expression.


This panel examines autobiographical writings in Japan and Ryukyu during

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Through close readings of

specific works by men and women of various social strata, the

participants seek to situate autobiographical expression in a social,

political, and rhetorical context, and to explore its uses and

limitations. Bettina Oka explores autobiography as a means by which

Tokugawa Japanese women represented themselves. Gregory Smits examines

autobiography as a rhetorical device for advancing political agendas

among elites in the Ryukyu Kingdom and Tokugawa Japan. Through the

autobiographical writings of a brothel owner, Elizabeth Leicester

demonstrates the possibility for autobiography to give voice to the

political views of non-elites. Through a close, comparative reading of

two of Takizawa Bakin's autobiographical works, Glynne Walley reveals

Bakin's choices in the development of his authorial persona. The papers

provide new historical insight on a variety of social groups, all of

whom resorted to autobiographical writings to give voice to their

multivalent views.


Papers:


1. Bettina Oka, "Finding a Voice: Tokugawa Women and Autobiography."


There is a long tradition in Japan of expressing oneself in an

autobiographical style, yet the genre's production by writers of either

gender in the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) remains generally unexplored.

In particular, while the diary literature of the Heian period (794-1185)

is well known as a genre of women's writing, we tend to overlook those

works written by Tokugawa period women. As ever more writings by these

women come to light, the often-claimed gap of almost one thousand years

between representations of the female self in the Heian period and

modern times is becoming increasingly problematic.


This paper introduces and compares various autobiographical texts that

reflect a conscious process of self-representation by women. By

correlating the autobiographical accounts of the philosopher Tadano

Makuzu (1763-1825) with the works of Shingaku teacher Jion-ni Kenka

(1716-78) and writer Iseki Takako (1785-1844), I will illustrate the

problems inherent in this genre. While all these authors share gender as

a common element, the form of their literary activity distinguishes

them, as does their social status. Western critical theories on women's

autobiography that suggest the inscription of gender and genre into

political discourse can contribute to a more sensitive reading of texts

such as those written by Tokugawa women. With questions about their aims

in writing and what kind of strategies these women use, a thorough

reading will give us a glimpse of how Tokugawa women portrayed and

created themselves within their particular social environment.


2. Gregory Smits, "Autobiography as Allegory: /Sai On's Jijoden/."


Sai On (1682-1761) was the Ryukyu Kingdom's most influential politician

and political theorist. He advocated a distinctive variety of

Confucianism as means of clarifying Ryukyu's ambiguous political status

and solving what he regarded as the kingdom's most vexing social and

economic problems. Sai On's Confucianism placed an unusually heavy

emphasis on the power of individual agency. Late in his life, Sai On

wrote a brief autobiography, the first such work to appear in Ryukyu.

Although ostensibly a straightforward account of his life and career,

Sai On's autobiography is actually a more complex text that served the

rhetorical function of reinforcing his overall political agenda. This

paper examines the allegorical elements in Sai On's autobiography and

compares his rhetorical approach with that of select eighteenth-century

autobiographical writings by Japanese writers.


3. Elizabeth Leicester, "Memoir of a Pimp: The Use of Historical

Rhetoric as Political Commentary in the /Watatsuya Sei'eimon jikki/"


Watatsuya Sei'eimon (1804-1865) was the adopted son of a Kanazawa

brothel owner who spent his life working in the prostitution and theater

industries in the first half of the nineteenth century. The sometimes

prodigal son of a family of neighborhood officials, he wrote a memoir,

compiled as the /Watatsuya Sei'eimon jikki/, which recounts his

experiences and travels in the entertainment trades. And late in his

life, he erected a monument to seven outcastes executed for an 1858 rice

riot in Kanazawa. Sei'eimon's memoir has been used as a source of

information about prostitution in the 1820s, but it also demonstrates

the political and historical consciousness of a provincial townsman

living at the margins of respectable society. The autobiographical form

here blends the genres of history-writing, literary self-representation,

and political commentary. The structure of the text follows a codified

form of prostitution histories, provides candid comment on ulterior

motives and sullied policies of government officials, and provides an

intimate narrative of the fluidity of movement and contact among

dominant and semi-legitimate social groups. This paper explores the

multivalent levels of historical and literary representation through the

autobiographical text and historical context of this dubious figure,

focusing on his self-representation as a historical actor, his political

commentary, and his position as an associate of outcaste rebels

enshrined in legend.


4. Glynne Walley. "'An Idiosyncrasy of My Ilk': Takizawa Bakin's Two

Accounts of His Journey of 1802


In 1802, journeyman gesaku author Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848) traveled

the To^kaido^ to the capital on one of his rare trips outside of Edo.

His experiences on the road furnished the material for two

autobiographical writings. The first was /Kiryo manroku/, a diary-style

travelogue that he finished in the winter of 1802. This was not

published until 1885, although it seems to have had at least limited

circulation in manuscript form during the author's lifetime. Bakin

himself compiled selections from this diary into a miscellany which was

published in 1804 as /Saritsu udan/ and reprinted in 1848 under the

title /Chosakudo^ issekiwa/.


This paper will explore the gaps between the two works. /Kiryo manroku/

has received attention as a source of biographical information on Bakin.

This paper will seek to understand it as a work of crafted prose (and

occasional poetry). I will then examine the choices Bakin made when

selecting episodes to rework for /Saritsu udan/. In the process, I will

address issues such as Bakin's interest in and self-censorship regarding

politically dangerous subjects, his attitude toward his craft as a

writer of gesaku, and his fashioning of an authorial persona through the

compilation of /Saritsu udan/.


Discussant: Harold Bolitho

-- 

Philip Brown

Department of History

Ohio State University

230 W. 17th Avenue

Columbus OH 43210

TEL: +1 614 292 0904

FAX: +1 614 292 2282


Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2004 16:36:53 -0500

From: "Jessey J.C. Choo" <jc...@...nceton.EDU>

Subject: Re: CFP: the Seventh Annual Buddhist Studies Graduate Student Conference


Please forward to those who are interested. Thank you.


This is a reminder that the December 15 abstract submission deadline for the 2005 Buddhist Studies Graduate Student Conference is approaching.

This conference will be held at Princeton University on April 22-24.lease submit abstracts of your work to bs...@...nceton.edu.

Below is the original call for papers, which outlines the aims and format of the conference.


Original CFP: the Seventh Annual Buddhist Studies Graduate Student Conference


Princeton University is pleased to announce the Seventh Annual Buddhist

Studies Graduate Student Conference, to be held on April 22-24, 2005. The

aim of this conference is to provide a forum for exchange and

cross-fertilization among current graduate student research projects related

to Buddhism. Twelve student papers (twenty minutes in length) will be

presented, each followed by comments from a faculty respondent. One session

will be allotted for a more informal discussion of methodological currents

in the field of Buddhist Studies. It is hoped that the combination of

graduate student peers and a diverse panel of faculty respondents will offer

presenters both critical and productive discussions of their work.


As in years past, there will be no explicit theme; however, we hope that

presenters will address the challenges of shifting paradigms and changing

disciplinary landscapes facing a new generation of scholars of Buddhism.

Toward this end, we encourage submissions reflecting a wide range of

subjects, methodologies, and disciplines including, but not limited to,

religious studies, history, anthropology, art history, area studies,

literature, and philosophy. Additionally, we seek to represent a diversity

of geographic regions relevant to the study of Buddhism.


Graduate students interested in presenting papers at the conference should

submit an abstract of 250 words or less to bs...@...nceton.edu no later than

December 15, 2004. Adobe PDF or MS Word format is preferred.


Funding will be available to help defray the transportation costs of

graduate students who are presenting at the conference. Limited financial

assistance may also be available for other graduate student attendees, as

determined on a case-by-case basis. Lodging for presenters and a limited

number of non-presenters will be arranged by the conference organizers.


For more information please visit our website at www.princeton.edu/~bsgsc.


Conference-related inquiries should be directed to Stuart Young at

shyo...@...nceton.edu.




Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 13:42:41 -0600

From: Eric Rath <er...@...edu>

Subject: [pmjs] noh and kendo


Dear Colleagues,

I am trying to track down a journal article and my source for it
provided only a partial bibliographic reference. Unfortunately, I
have been unable to locate this journal by interlibrary loan. I am
wondering if there is anyone out there who might know more about this
journal. I am glad to take responses off of the list. Here are the
specifics:

Journal: Gekkan kend=F4 Nihon. The Kendo Nippon monthly.
1-7 (perhaps vol. 1 number 7?)
Date: 1976
Title: Nougaku to kendou (Noh theater and kendo) Author: Omote Akira

I appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Eric Rath
University of Kansas
er...@...edu



Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 20:11:20 +0000

From: "James Guthrie" <rcg...@...mail.com>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: Kwannon/Kannon


Kwannon is generally regarded as being outdated, not unlike using "wo" instead of "o." According to Hepburn Romanization kannon would be correct in the modern sense and this is probably what your editor is referring to. Do you want to preserve the "Kwannon" pronunciation for a particular reason?
Best,
James Guthrie
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 17:22:14 -0500
From: Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>
Subject: [pmjs] Re: noh and kendo

I was successful with a Webcat search for the kanji title "Kendou nihon":
http://webcat.nii.ac.jp/cgi-bin/shsproc?id=AN10081538
Some forty-one Japanese universities have runs of the journal.

Michael Watson

On 2004/12/06, at 14:42, Eric Rath wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

I am trying to track down a journal article and my source for it
provided only a partial bibliographic reference. Unfortunately, I
have been unable to locate this journal by interlibrary loan. I am
wondering if there is anyone out there who might know more about this
journal. I am glad to take responses off of the list. Here are the
specifics:

Journal: Gekkan kendou Nihon. The Kendo Nippon monthly.
1-7 (perhaps vol. 1 number 7?)
Date: 1976
Title: Nougaku to kendou (Noh theater and kendou) Author: Omote Akira




Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 18:57:10 -0800 (PST)

From: Charles DeWolf <cmdew...@...oo.com>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: Kwannon/Kannon


Allow me to add to William Wetherall's comments on
Japanese phonology.

1. As we all know, the ya-gyo has/had no symbol for ye
(or for yi). Yet we also know that ye did indeed occur
in Japanese. How do we explain this?

Students of phonology would normally assume that e is
a less "marked" sound than ye and that normally when
neutralization of e and ye occur in a language, the
result is e, not ye. Likewise, the labiovelar glide w
is more likely to be lost than to be added. (English
speakers quaintly pronounce the word question with a
w, whereas more progressive French speakers have
sensibly eliminated it.)

In the history of Japanese, however, it appears that
in regard to ye, the unmarked form yielded to the
marked form. Historically, there is a strong tendency
in Japanese towards palatalization, as can be seen in
such words as kyou < kyeu < keFu 'today'.

wa-gyo we and a-gyo e had already been neutralized, so
that all instances of we wound up as ye, e.g. Webisu >
Ebisu > Yebisu, as in the beer, wen > en > yen, cf.
Sino-Korean won ('circle'). By the time Edo was on the
map, it was Yedo, hence the early romanized spelling,
rendered Jedo by a distant relative of mine back at
the beginning of the 19th century.

2. In both Genji Monogatari and Konjaku Monogatari,
reference is made to the famous go master, known by
his priestly name K(w)anren. When I translated a story
about him that appears in the latter work, I decided
to include the labiovelar glide. I agree that where a
name is alive and well, it should be represented as it
is now pronounced, though I suppose that in the case
of Yebisu Beer, the extra y helps to sell it, even
though it costs more yen.

Charles De Wolf (phonologically doomed to be Doof)



Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 13:56:21 +0900

From: Iyanaga Nobumi <n-iya...@....bekkoame.ne.jp>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: Kwannon/Kannon


Hello,

On Dec 6, 2004, at 9:49 AM, William Wetherall wrote:

Some Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa speakers may actually have said "gwaikoku" and the like -- just as some singers today articulate the object marker "o" approximately as it is written in wa-gyo "wo". But most probably said "gaikoku".

I knew a Christian priest born in Meiji (he passed away some 10 years ago, at 90 or older), who used to pronounce "kyookwai" in the ceremonies. In ordinary conversation, I didn't remark this particularity of pronunciation.

Best regards,

Nobumi Iyanaga
Tokyo,
Japan



Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 07:18:47 EST

From: Ingrid Parker <INGP...@....com>

Subject: [pmjs] Kwannon/Kannon


My thanks for the responses by William Wetherall and James Guthrie. I suspected as much. This book (and the series) was first begun in the mid-eighties. I saw that both spellings were in use and probably just arbitrarily chose Kwannon -- though I may have thought of Kuan-yin. Since then the Kannon spelling has appeared in all scholarly books. I am not sure about the "English affectation" bit. My assumption is that Lafcadio Hearn (and others) would have tried to transcribe what they heard and that suggests that the pronunciation may have changed.

As for William Wetherall's question about why I wish to preserve Kwannon: Well, I don't have very strong feelings about it but I may be stuck with it because I have used it up to this point. However, a better reason would be that it is closer to Heian pronunciation than the modern one. No hope of that?

Again, I appreciate the answers very much.

I.J.Parker



Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2004 08:48:10 -0500

From: "William Londo" <...@...ealbox.com>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: Lotus sutra


Maybe this thread on the Lotus Sutra is exhausted, but I thought I'd mention I taught a course at the University of Illinois a couple of years ago on the Lotus Sutra in Japanese history (though it wasn't called that exactly). We started by quickly reading through the Lotus Sutra and then just worked our way through the evolution of Buddhism in Japan with an eye toward places where the Lotus Sutra figured prominently in one way or another. I used parts of the Tanabe edited volume, which sad to say is now out of print. The course website lives on at http://ealc.lang.uiuc.edu/wfl/ealc450/, though the links to the readings no longer work.

Regards,
Bill Londo



Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:25:35 -0500

From: Aileen Gatten <agat...@...ch.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: Kwannon/Kannon


On Tuesday, December 7, 2004, at 07:18 AM, INGP...@....com wrote:

As for William Wetherall's question about why I wish to preserve Kwannon: Well, I don't have very strong feelings about it but I may be stuck with it because I have used it up to this point. However, a better reason would be that it is closer to Heian pronunciation than the modern one. No hope of that?

I.J.Parker

Your question is difficult to answer because we can't say for sure how "Kannon" was pronounced in the Heian period. Out of curiosity, I checked Ikeda Kikan's concordance, "Genji monogatari taisei," for occurrences of "Kannon" in "Genji" and how the word is written there in kana.
There are 3 instances, 2 in the 53rd chapter, "Tenarai," and one in the 54th and final chapter, "Yume no ukihashi." The first instance is written "kuwan-on" くわんおん, with no manuscript variants, and the other two are written "kuwan-won" くわんをん, again with no variants. (In all cases, the Kannon referred to is that of Hasedera.) Since the earliest "Genji" manuscripts date from the late Heian-early Kamakura periods, these are probaby fairly accurate representations of how "Kannon" was "spelled" in the 12th century.
The problem is that some or all of the kana would not have been pronounced in the same way as they are today. (I once heard an actor reading from the "Yugao" chapter in a reconstructed Heian pronunciation, in which "yuugao" --Heian orthography "yufugaho" ゆふがほ-- was pronounced "yufungafo" with a big accent on "fun.") If you wish to approximate Heian pronunciation, you can play with the "Genji" versions, but this may confuse readers who are used to "Kannon." "Kwannon" seems to be post-Heian. You may be best off with "Kannon."
Aileen Gatten



Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 23:02:13 +0000

From: Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>

Subject: [pmjs] terms for offices


Dear Colleagues,

James Vardaman (Waseda)--not a pmjs member--has asked me about appropriate translations for two historical terms that appear in the book he is currently translating: Umehara Takeshi's _Minasoko no uta: Kakinomoto Hitomaro ron_.

If you happen to know, how would you translate
小錦下 and 朝集使? I have been able to find most of the classical language in the Princeton Companion and other books on that period, but these two have me stumped. I know that the first is the equivalent of Fifth Rank and the second is some kind of
post that would require attendance at the morning delivery of orders at court, but if there is a more felicitous translation, I would love to have it

Koujien gives an entry for the second term, reading it choushuushi.

Suggestions anyone?

水底の歌ム柿本人麿論 / 梅原猛著 (1973)
http://webcat.nii.ac.jp/cgi-bin/shsproc?id=BN01524658
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4101244022/



Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 17:26:30 -0700

From: Todd Brown <jtbr...@...rizona.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: terms for offices


I don't have _Koujien_ handy and don't recall having encountered the term
_choushuushi_ before, but if _Daijirin_'s definition is accurate,
"Governor's Liaison to the Great Council of State" might fit the bill.

The other term is one of the "cap ranks" in the revised system implemented
in 664, according to _Nihongi_. Aston simply translates it literally ("lower
lesser brocade"), for whatever that may be worth.

Todd Brown
University of Arizona



Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 12:58:24 +0900

From: "M.Joly Jacques" <jacques.j...@...e.fr>S

ubject: [pmjs] Re: terms for offices


Francine Herail must have published some kind of list of rank terms at the Heian Court with
their French translation. I think you could look at her bibliography.
Jacques Joly



Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 22:14:41 -0800

From: Joan Piggott <joa...@...il.usc.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: terms for offices


Hello to all,

Regarding, 小錦下 and 朝集使:

In my <The Emergence of Japanese Kingship> on page 86 there is a figure comparing rank systems from that of Suiko's era up to that of the Taihou era. While the Taika 3 (647) rank system included ranks that I translated as "Greater Brocade" and "Lesser Brocade," the Tenchi 3 (664) rank system added three steps: upper, middle, and lower. So 小錦下 (shoukinge) should be a rank from Great King Tenchi's court that might be translated as "Lesser Brocade, Lower (Step)." I remember discussing the translations of these various ranks with Prof. Takehiko Yoshimura of Meiji University before publication, and we agreed that there was room for uncertainty. Indeed Yoshida Takeshi (<Taikei Nihon no rekishi 3: kodai kokka no ayumi>, p. 50) takes the "kin" character as a reference to the color gold, which he thinks adorned the court hats worn by those of this rank. He would probably vote for a translation like "Lesser Gold, Lower (Step)." As the figure also shows, Lesser Brocade rank in the Taika 3 system and at Great King Tenchi's court was the equivalent of the later Taihou Fifth Rank.

The choushuushi was one of the four types of emissaries who carried reports or special tributary offerings from a provincial headquarters or the Daizaifu to the capital on an annual basis. In particular, such agents carried reports evaluating officials' service to be used by the Council of State, the Ministry of Defense, or the Ministry of Personnel. The office first appears in the historical record in 648, and in Nara times one of the provincial governing staff (kami, suke, jou, sakan) typically served. In Heian times lesser members of the provincial government staff were appointed to it.

In French, Francine Herail wrote a book about the four types of provincial agents, entitled <Yodo no tsukai>, published in 1966. She has probably given the choushuushi a French translation--I can check for it when I go into the office tomorrow.

A useful compendium of information on these ritsuryo posts, other than the <Kokushi daijiten>, is Abe Takeshi's <Nihon kodai kanshoku jiten>,Takashina shoten, 1995. For choushuushi therein, see page 398. But I still find the <Kokushi daijiten> the most useful place to go for such information.

Best,
Joan Piggott
--
Joan R. Piggott
Gordon L. Macdonald Professor of Pre-1600 Japanese History &
Director of the Project for Premodern Japan Studies
History Department
University of Southern California
Social Sciences Bldg.
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034



Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 07:44:57 +0000

From: "Michael Wachutka" <michaelwachu...@...mail.com>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: terms for offices


A very good and highly recommended further source (in German) of information on those early government posts and administrative offices from the 8th to the 10th century, based on the Kugyo^ bunin 公卿補任 is:

_Japanische Regierungs- und Verwaltungsbeamte des 8. bis 10. Jahrhunderts_.
Edited by Gerhild Endress and Hans A. Dettmer

Part B (576 p.), published in 1995 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), has lists of the different offices etc.

Part A (379 p.), published in 2000, contains an introduction to the textual history of the kugy^o bunin, its various editions, an index etc.

Best wishes,

Michael Wachutka



Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 13:03:57 -0500

From: Matthew Stavros <mstav...@...nceton.EDU>

Subject: [pmjs] Wang Yi-T'ung


Dear Members,

I'm wondering if anyone might know Wang Yi-T'ung, the author of the 1953 Harvard-Yengching Institute study "Official Relations Between China and Japan, 1368-1549."

I am unable to find any substantial information on him in the usual places (not even Google!), but I suspect I would do better if I know the Chinese characters for his name.

I would be interested in contacting him if possible but would be just as happy to know if he has published any subsequent studies on premodern Japanese-Chinese relations.

Any information would be appreciated.

Matthew Stavros



Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 18:16:20 +0000

From: Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>

Subject: [pmjs] London kenkyukai - announcement & call for papers


Dear Colleagues,

Robert Khan and I are organizing a "pmjs kenkyukai" to be held this month in London. The workshop will focus on gender representation in premodern and early modern Japan. The program will include both formal papers and presentations of work in progress. There is still room in the program for additional talks. If you are interested in presenting, please contact us.

Here are details:
Place: SOAS, University of London (Room 116)
December 21 (Tuesday), 1-5 p.m.
December 22 (Wednesday), 1-5 p.m.
The annual pmjs bonenkai will be held after the end of the Tuesday session.

Contact: Robert Khan <r...@...s.ac.uk>, Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>

Provisional program:

** December 21 (Tuesday)

Alan Cummings (SOAS), [talk on current research, title TBA]

Drew Gerstle (SOAS), "The Male Construction of the Female Body: Kabuki's Onnagata"

Gustav Heldt (Bard College, NY), "The Kana Preface of the Kokinshu"

Robert Khan (SOAS), "Fragments of Lost Loves: What the surviving poems of the Sumai Monogatari may tell us about Kamakura novels, sumo, and same-sex love"

Michael Watson (Meiji Gakuin University), "Noh heroics: how non-canonical plays represent men at war"

** December 22 (Wednesday)

Program to be announced. Applications welcome.

So that we can get an idea of numbers, we would also like to hear from anyone wishing to attend the workshop and bonenkai. Responses off-list, please, to the undersigned.

Robert Khan <r...@...s.ac.uk>
Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>



Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:17:02 +0000

From: Michael Watson <wat...@...eijigakuin.ac.jp>

Subject: [pmjs] History position, Oberlin


Japanese History

The History Department and East Asian Studies Program at Oberlin College
invites applications for a full-time non-continuing position beginning
first semester 2005-06. Applicants may be specialists of any period of
Japanese history, but should be willing to teach broadly from ancient
times to the present. The candidate will teach five courses, including
a two-semester introductory survey of Japanese history.
Further information: www.oberlin.edu/history and www.oberlin.edu/eas. To
assure consideration, send letter of application, C.V., graduate
academic transcripts, and at least three letters of reference to:
Heather Hogan, Chair, Department of History
10 North Professor Street
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, 44074
By February 1, 2005.
(Fax) 440-775-6910



Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 14:08:16 -0800

From: Joan Piggott <joa...@...il.usc.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Wang Yi-t'ung


Hello,

Our colleague in Paris, Prof. Charlotte von Verschuer (<versc...@....jussieu.fr>), asks me to post the following, relative to a recent question on pmjs:


Hi, this is on Wang Yi-t'ung:
I last saw his translation of Loyang Qielanji:
A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang, Princeton, 1984, 332 pages.
Charlotte von Verschuer

Best to all, and happy holidays!

Joan Piggott
--
Joan R. Piggott
Gordon L. Macdonald Professor of Pre-1600 Japanese History &
Director of the Project for Premodern Japan Studies
History Department
University of Southern California



Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 13:22:27 -1000

From: Rokuo Tanaka <ro...@...aii.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Re: Wang yi-t'ung


Our main library, Hamilton Library, keeps the following book. Perhaps
it can be loaned by way of ILL system:

Main Author: Yang, Hs'an-chih, d. 555?
Uniform Title: Lo-yang ch'ieh lan chi. English
Title: A record of Buddhist monasteries in Lo-yang / by Yang Hs'an-chih ; translated by Yi-t`ung Wang.
Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1984.
Description: xxii, 310 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Series: Princeton library of Asian translations
Subject(s): Temples, Buddhist China Luoyang Region (Henan Sheng) Early
works to 1800. Monasteries, Buddhist China Luoyang Region (Henan Sheng) Early works
to 1800. Lo-yang shih Region (China) Description and travel Early works to
1800.
Other Name(s): Wang, Yi-t'ung, 1914-
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 0691054037
Location: UH Manoa: Hamilton Asia
Call Number: BQ6345.L65 Y3613 1984

Best wishes for the Season.
Rokuo Tanaka


Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 16:30:13 +0100
From: Ivo Smits <i.b.sm...@....LeidenUniv.nl>
Subject: [pmjs] Honcho suikoden

An undergraduate student of mine is considering writing a paper on Takebe Ayatari's 建部綾足 "Honcho^ suikoden" 本朝水滸伝.
The problem: he cannot really find any material in English or other European languages.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

My student does know of, for example, Inge Klompmaker's book on Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e series (Hotei Publishing).
Unfortunately, a copy of Lawrence E. Marceau's "Takebe Ayatari: A Bunjin Bohemian in Early Modern Japan" (Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2004) hasn't yet arrived here. Does that deal with "Honcho suikoden" (I should hope so)?

Any help is greatly appreciated,
Ivo Smits

******************************************
Dr Ivo Smits
Centre for Japanese and Korean Studies
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Tel +31 - 71 - 527 2545 (dir.) / 2539 (secr.)
Fax +31 - 71 - 527 2215
E-mail: i.b.sm...@....LeidenUniv.nl (日本語もどうぞ)




Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 21:14:22 +1100

From: Meredith McKinney <mered...@...idwood.net.au>

Subject: [pmjs] Ishikawa Onako


A friend has asked me what I know about the 7th century Manyoshu poet Ishikawa Onako. I know next to nothing beyond the fact that she existed. I gather she's mentioned as an intriguing person by Ebersole, but is there any more information available about her (preferably in English, so my friend can source it directly)? Or anyone willing to share what they know about her offline?
Meredith McKinney




Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 13:48:22 -0500

From: "Adam L. Kern" <adamk...@....harvard.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Harvard-Yenching Library Travel Grant Announcement 2004-2005


Apologies for cross-posting.

Harvard-Yenching Library Travel Grant Announcement 2004-2005

From: Jessica Eykholt <eykh...@....harvard.edu>


TRAVEL GRANT PROGRAM

HARVARD-YENCHING LIBRARY

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

The Harvard-Yenching Library is pleased to announce its travel grant
program for the 2004-2005 academic year. The purpose of the grant is to
assist scholars from outside the metropolitan Boston area in their use of
the Harvard-Yenching Library's collections for research. There will be
fourteen grants of $400 each (four each in Chinese and Korean studies, and
six in Japanese studies) to be awarded on a merit basis to faculty members
and to graduate students engaged in dissertation research. Priority
consideration will be given to those at institutions where there are no or
few library resources in the East Asian languages, and no major East Asian
library collections are available nearby. Each grantee will also be
provided with the privilege of free photocopying of up to 100
sheets. Please note that the awards must be used before August 1, 2005.

Applications for the grant, including a letter, a brief description of the
research topic, and an estimated budget, should be addressed to the
following by January 3, 2004.

James K. M. Cheng
Librarian
Harvard-Yenching Library
2 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

jkch...@....harvard.edu

Tel: (617) 495-3327
Fax: (617) 496-6008



Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:55:29 -0500

From: Bruce Willoughby <...@...ch.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] NEW! UM Center for Japanese Studies Electronic Publications


University of Michigan
Center for Japanese Studies Electronic Publications

The Center for Japanese Studies Publications Program is pleased to announce a wide variety of online materials in searchable, downloadable formats.

A single search (simple, boolean or proximity) can find terms in all the publications on the site. You can read the books page by page, as text or image scans. Or you can download a pdf of the entire text. There is no charge to read our books, and we will soon make these books available on paper through print-on-demand as well.

Our Electronic Publications come in three flavors:

Michigan Classics Online

Michigan Classics Online breathes second life into important books that have gone out of print. Books are chosen through peer review, and they will be published here as opposed to the Classics Series when they lack the potential for undergraduate classroom use. If you know of any deserving titles that should be back in print but are currently unavailable, we would be happy to take your recommendations.

CJS Faculty Series

Interested CJS Faculty members edit their own series, reprinting important books, journals, and archival materials. Our first faculty member to create a series is AbMark Nornes. It includes the reprints of two classic histories of Japanese film by Donald Richie and No‘ Burch (the latter with a new introduction by Harry Harootunian of NYU). There is a collection of production records from the first film production about the atomic bombings, and a massive collection of books, journals, pamphlets, posters, handbills, and movies (!) from the prewar proletarian film movements.

Out-of-Print Books Online

>From 1951 until 1979 the Center published Occasional Papers in Japanese Studies and the Bibliographical Series. These were out of print. In addition, a number of Michigan Papers in Japanese Studies are now out of print. We have here made these available in searchable and downloadable formats. Other books not published by the Center for Japanese Studies are also available. If you would like to make your out-of-print book available, please contact the Center's Publications Program.

Come see what new at CJS Pubs:
http://websvcs.itcs.umich.edu/cjs/publications/electronic.php


Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 13:47:44 -0500 (EST)

From: Bruce Edward Willoughby <...@...ch.edu>

Subject: [pmjs] Now Available


Japanese Painting and National Identity: Okakura Tenshin and His Circle

by Victoria Weston

xvii + 322 pp., 27 color plates, 53 black-and-white illustrations
ISBN 1-929280-17-3 (cloth), $65.00
Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, No. 45

Japanese Painting and National Identity is the first monograph in English
to address the art and philosophy of a group of Meiji painters regarded by
many as seminal figures in the development of modern Japanese painting.
Lead by the outspoken and widely published art critic Okakura Tenshin,
this group, including artists Yokoyama Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan, Hishida
Shunso, and others, wrestled with the vexing problem of how to modernize
traditional media, methods, and styles while keeping the results
authentically Japanese. Yet they saw themselves not just as artists but as
servants of the nation. Their task, they believed, was to give expression
to the vitality of Meiji Japan while also helping to shape public opinion
at home and abroad. Okakura's circle of painters chose themes purposefully
redolent with what they identified as Japanese cultural values; they
experimented with painting techniques based on tradition yet revitalized
through innovation. How they came to this mission, their training, their
philosophical objectives, and the works of their constant invention are
the subject of this book.
Japanese Painting and National Identity will be of interest to
academics and museum professionals, as well as those who study Japanese
culture and politics, Asian art, and cross-cultural currents connecting
Japan to the West in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth
century.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruce E. Willoughby, Executive Editor
Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan
1085 Frieze Building, 105 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285
e-mail address: ...@...ch.edu | phone: 734/647-1199 | fax: 734/647-8886



Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 17:28:50 -0600

From: emiko ohnuki-tierney <eohnu...@...c.edu>

Subject: Re: NEW! UM Center for Japanese Studies Electronic Publications


Hi--greetings of a voice from the past. I have enjoyed the news about you in the CJS newsletter.


I have been trying to identify the original title of Amino Yoshihiko's book which David Howell has translated. No response from Tonomura or CJS. Can you help me?


Many thanks. Emiko (Ohnuki-Tierney)



Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 09:05:54 -0600
From: emiko ohnuki-tierney <eohnu...@...c.edu>
Subject: Re: NEW! UM Center for Japanese Studies Electronic Publications

I looked into the website before I wrote my email. No Amino on the website. So, guess I am out of luck. Emiko

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