Chirizuka Monogatari - Tales of a Dust Mound tr & ed by Yoshiko K Dykstra (2008).pdf

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Chirizuka Monogatari
Tales of a Dust Mound
Translated and Edited
by
Yoshiko K. Dykstra
Contents:
I
II
Introduction to
Chirizuka Monogatari
Translation of
Chirizuka Monogatari
Book I:1-1,1-2,1-3,1-41-5,1-61-7,1-8,1-9,1-10,
1-11, 1-12, 1-13
Book II: 2-1, 2-2, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 2-9
Book III: 3-1, 3-2, 3-4, 3-7, 3-10
Book IV: 4-1, 4-4, 4-7, 4-9, 4-10
Book V: 5-4, 5-5, 5-9, 5-10, 5-11
Book VI: 6-1, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, 6-10, 6-11
III Reference
I Introduction to
Chirizuka Monogatari
Chirizuka Monogatari
1
,
or
“Tales
of a Dust
Mound”, is a collection of sixty-five stories in six books,
mainly about historically celebrated figures, including
emperors, priests, warriors, and mountain ascetics.
According to the brief preface dated 1689, the
unidentified compiler or author gathered notable tales
of the past with thirty-two illustrations to educate young
people. Here I have translated forty one tales with the
illustrations which appear in
Chirizuka Monogatari,
presently owned by Tokyo Daigaku Shiryō Hensanjo.
Most of the translated tales include illustrations
which depict the themes of the tales and help readers
understand the background and the situations of the
stories. I have chosen these forty one stories because I
personally like them and they have the best illustrations.
Examples include the story about Benkei, a popular
hero, humorously depicting his casual and relaxed
personality. Another tale tells how skillfully and
cleverly Sōgi, a celebrated
renga
poet, composed a
poem and fooled a self-conscious man of his physical
defect. Another tale explains how elegantly an emperor
handled his personal frustration, while others tell how
lords and masters should treat their vassals and servants.
1
Chirich
塵
means dust,
zuka
塚
means mound, and
monogatari
is a tale or
story. "Dust"here refers to a humble attitude or a feeling of humility, and also
to these brief tales which may seem as small and insignificant as dust. But when dust is
gathered into a mound, or these seemingly insignificant tales are gathered into a
collection, they may become something meaningful. The reference to dust reminds us
of a popular proverb,
Chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru,
or "Even dust, if gathered, will
become a mountain", meaning, a small effort, if repeated, will produce a great result.
As the author points out in his Preface, over time a mere mound of dust may become a
mountain reaching to the sky.
Lastly, I especially appreciate the tales with poems
depicting aesthetic taste and sensitivity toward nature
and human relationships which are still very apparent in
the
waka
and
haiku
poems of the present-day Japan.
Although the compiler or the author of the
Chirizuka Monogatari
is unidentified, we can assume
his personality, tastes, values, and educational
background through some stories. Tale 1:13 narrates
how he was writing the story two hundred years after
Yoshida Kenkō (1282-1350), the author of a celebrated
collection of essays,
Tsurezuregusa,
or “Random
Notes”. So the author must have been alive during the
Tenbun era, 1532-1554. 5:3 tells how the author
appreciates Shogun Yoshitane for his gentle and honest
personality as if he had known him personally. This
tale suggests that the author was a contemporary of the
shogun who died in 1523 and that he was someone with
high status and was able to associate with the shogun.
Another feature about the author is presented at
the end of 6:11. The tale includes the date, the eleventh
month of the 21st year of Tenbun (1552) sealed by a
member of the Fuji family. Thus, we may assume that
the author was someone called Fuji and was living in
1552.
What kind of person was the author, Fuji? Tale 4:7
describes how as a young man he attended a
sake
drinking party with some noblemen. The story also
suggests that he must have come from a family freely
associating with people of high rank, and that he was
perhaps related to the eminent Fujiwara family. Careful
reading of other
Chirizuka
tales helps us to learn
something more about the author.
His frequent quotations and citations from Chinese
and Japanese works reveal his strong educational
background in classical tradition and writings. His deep
appreciation of poetry is apparent in a number of tales
including 1:1 and 3:7. Various stories about temples
and shrines, for example, 3:4 and 4:1, and his
admiration and respect for the eminent scholarly monks
and priests in 2:2 and 5:5, reflect his religious and
academic values. The tales involving Shogun Ashikaga
Yoshimitsu and Yoshitane and other lords and nobles
contain his comments on the Way of Rulers, while the
stories about faithful warriors such as Kusunoki
Masashige and his son present his concept of the Way
of Warriors. His taste in calligraphy is revealed in 3:1,
while his sense of humor is apparent in 1:12, 2:1, 3:2,
4:7, 4:10, 5:9, 5: 10, 6:1, 6:4, and 6:7.
These comical tales remind us of the varieties of
other collections of humorous tales such as the
Seisuishō
by Anraku Ansaku, published in 1623, and
Kashōki
by Nyoraishi in 1642, and as well as many
similar short tales by the most celebrated townsman
writer, Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693). These humorous
tales tersely describe the commoners’ satirical views on
the life and society of Japan in their time.
As a whole, the tales in
Chirizuka Monogatari
well reveal the author’s views on the lives and outlook
of people from the time of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
(758-811), the oldest historical figure appearing in the
collection, to the time of the contemporary shogun,
Ashikaga Yoshitane (d.1523).

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