Ihara Saikaku
We will now look at two pieces from one of seventeenth-century Japan’s most famous authors: a figure named Ihara Saikaku, from the city of Osaka. Osaka, during the Edo period (and today), was one of the most populous cities in Japan and a major producer and consumer of popular culture. Osaka is very closely associated with the mercantile class we discussed in our previous session, and one hallmark of literature of the Edo period is an intense interest in the lives of this mercantile class. Saikaku is an excellent example of this: he was born into a wealthy merchant family in Osaka, received a good education, and started his career as a merchant. He gave up his family business as a young man, however, and embarked on a career as a writer: not of fiction, originally, but of a poetic form called haiku that we’ll discuss next session.
Nowadays, very few people read Saikaku for his poetry. He’s better known for his fiction—especially a genre known as ukiyo-zōshi, which is often translated as “tales of the floating world.” Ukiyo is an interesting word, however: the term floating (uki) world (yo) usually refers to the world of the Japanese courtesan, and in particular, the fleeting, impermanent encounters between lovers that we see in a work like Life of a Sensuous Man. Our protagonist in Life of a Sensuous Man is named Yonosuke: literally “man of the world,” and the world we’re referring to is very much the world of the demimonde.
Ukiyo is a homophone, however, with a quite different term: the world (yo) of suffering (uki): a term with very Buddhist connotations. The Buddha himself famously declared that to live is to suffer, and Buddhism teaches us that the world around us is a world of constant suffering that we only escape through good deeds and proper living.
This double meaning is important in Saikaku, because our basic take on “romance” is very influenced by Buddhist ideas—particularly in our first story, which focuses on an illicit romance between Osan and her lover, Moemon. We have a very gendered dichotomy in our two stories, both of which feature a journey of some kind. Consider the dramatic ending of Five Sensuous Women, which includes a flight from the authorities, betrayal, tears, punishment, death, and a stern lecture from the narrator, reminding us not to get attached or tangled up in love during our time in this world of suffering.
Compare this to the end of Life of a Sensuous Man, where our “man of the world” and several of his buddies sail off into the sunset, bound for the mythical Isle of Women, with their ship laden with aphrodisiacs, erotic lotions, sex toys, manuals, etc.
I would argue that Saikaku is, in many ways, a good introduction to the literature and culture of the Edo period as a whole, since he illustrates several of the tensions and paradoxes that we observe in other works.
On the one hand, we’re told that this mercantile class is a parasitic group with no feelings aside from a desire for money, wealth, etc.
On the other hand, some of our most interesting literature focuses on the lives, inner concerns, and inner workings of this group.
On the one hand, we’re told that the world around us is a dangerous place of illusion, temptation, and death, and that love and sex are how we stay mired in this world of suffering.
On the other hand, we’re given stories that glorify the pleasures of sensory indulgence, romance, and material comfort. In sharp contrast to Five Sensuous Women, the story of Yonosuke is a celebration of the good life available to a good-looking, wealthy, sexually virtuosic man at this historical moment.
Some Questions for Consideration:
- Often our interpretation of and expectations toward a work of literature are affected by our understanding of genre. Before learning about the form of ukiyo-zōshi, what “genre” would you say the stories by Saikaku belong to? Are they works of “fiction” as we understand the term today? How does Saikaku make use of other elements, such as poetry, reportage, religious sermons, etc. to craft his account?
- What is the role of the narrator in Five Sensuous Women? How seriously are we supposed to take the moral exhortations that are periodically offered? Does our narrator have any sympathy for Osan’s plight? Is the propagation of morality really the narrator’s highest concern?
- What role does gender play in the two stories you read for today? Is there any way to reconcile the themes and conclusions of Osan’s story with that of Yonosuke?
