New Book -- The Last Female Emperor of Nara Japan, 749=770

[Ross Bender]

The last female emperor of Nara Japan was Kōken/Shōtoku Tennō, who ruled from 749 to 770, with an interregnum from 758 to 764. She was the last in a series of six ancient empresses regnant in Japan, who ruled, interspersed with male royals, from 592 to 770. These female sovereigns were designated as 'Tennō' in the chronicles, a term normally translated as 'Emperor.' She was a powerful ruler, an adroit politician who overcame three challenges to her rule by male members of the nobility. After her death, female emperors took the throne only twice more, many years later in the 17th and 18th century when the imperial house was completely dominated by the military rulers, the Tokugawa shoguns. This study is a narrative of the period of her reign. It is a companion to my five volumes of translation from the Shoku Nihongi, published from 2015-2016. The book has minimal bibliographic notes and is intended as an introduction for Western readers; scholars may consult my translations for a more detailed account. It is dedicated to Kimoto Yoshinobu, the expert on the Fujiwara in the 8^th century.

Table of Contents

Kōken’s Reign, 749-757

The Junnin Interregnum and the Nakamaro Supremacy, 758-783

The Fall of Nakamaro and the Rise of Dōkyō, 764-766

The Dōkyō Supremacy and the Death of the Empress, 767-770

Appendix 1: Shoku Nihongi

Appendix 2: Imperial Edicts – Senmyō, Choku, and Shō

Selected Bibliography

 Amazon.com: The Last Female Emperor of Nara Japan 749-770 (9798716898776): Bender, Ross: Books

Ross Bender

https://upenn.academia.edu/RossBender

[Philippe Buc]

Cool, Dr. Bender. This medievalist of the West will gladly order the
book! Fitting tribute for all your work on the topic (and these precious
translations).

Philippe Buc

On 07.03.2021 23:38, Ross Bender wrote:
> The last female emperor of Nara Japan was Kōken/Shōtoku _Tennō_,

> who ruled from 749 to 770, with an interregnum from 758 to 764. She
> was the last in a series of six ancient empresses regnant in Japan,
> who ruled, interspersed with male royals, from 592 to 770. These

> female sovereigns were designated as '_Tennō_' in the chronicles, a

> term normally translated as 'Emperor.' She was a powerful ruler, an
> adroit politician who overcame three challenges to her rule by male
> members of the nobility. After her death, female emperors took the
> throne only twice more, many years later in the 17th and 18th century
> when the imperial house was completely dominated by the military
> rulers, the Tokugawa shoguns. This study is a narrative of the period
> of her reign. It is a companion to my five volumes of translation from

> the _Shoku Nihongi_, published from 2015-2016. The book has minimal

> bibliographic notes and is intended as an introduction for Western
> readers; scholars may consult my translations for a more detailed
> account. It is dedicated to Kimoto Yoshinobu, the expert on the
> Fujiwara in the 8th century.
>
> Table of Contents
>
> Kōken’s Reign, 749-757
>
> The Junnin Interregnum and the Nakamaro Supremacy, 758-783
>
> The Fall of Nakamaro and the Rise of Dōkyō, 764-766
>
> The Dōkyō Supremacy and the Death of the Empress, 767-770
>

> Appendix 1: _Shoku Nihongi_
>
> Appendix 2: Imperial Edicts – _Senmy_ō_, Choku, and Sh_ō

>
> Selected Bibliography
>
> Amazon.com: The Last Female Emperor of Nara Japan 749-770

> (9798716898776): Bender, Ross: Books [1]
>
> Ross Bender
> https://upenn.academia.edu/RossBender
>
> --
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> [2].
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y4R8YBM?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
> [2]
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpEM7DBDQDbCjM9e_2rVewBkfK%3DqD%2BKXDUCqnpWYbEqYKg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer

[Alexander Vovin]

Congratulations, Ross! Can't wait to read it.

Sasha

Alexander Vovin
Membre élu d'Academia Europaea
Directeur d'études, linguistique historique du Japon, de la Corée et de l'Asie centrale

ECOLE DES HAUTES ETUDES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES;

CENTRE DE RECHERCHES LINGUISTIQUES SUR L'ASIE ORIENTALE

Membre associé de CENTRE DE RECHERCHES SUR LE JAPON

Laureate of 2015 Japanese Institute for Humanities Prize for a Foreign Scholar

Editor-in-chief, series Languages of Asia, Brill

Co-editor, of International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, Brill

PI of the ERC Advanced Project, AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE JAPONIC LANGUAGES

105 Blvd Raspail, 75006 Paris

sasha...@gmail.com
https://ehess.academia.edu/AlexanderVovin

https://www.edj-vovin.com/

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[Ross Bender]

On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 3:07 AM Philippe Buc <philip...@univie.ac.at> wrote:

Cool, Dr. Bender. This medievalist of the West will gladly order the
book! Fitting tribute for all your work on the topic (and these precious
translations).

Philippe Buc

As a medievalist you may be interested in A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages, from Amsterdam University Press. It covers roughly the years 600-900 and problematizes the concept of "middle ages." My chapter on Japan points out that this period is never referred to as medieval, not even early medieval. Usually "medieval Japan" means roughly 1185 to 1600, although your mileage may vary.

(PDF) Changing the Capitals - Japan - Chapter Five | Ross Bender - Academia.edu

A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages (btpubservices.com) 

 

Ross Bender

[William Farris]

Hello:

       For what it's worth, Marc Bloch in FEUDAL SOCIETY, p. 468, compares Japan's Chinese-style state of 645-900 to the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne et al.  That would make Japan's so-called "ancient age"  古代 into the first part of the medieval period in Europe.  This has always made sense to me.  To me, Japan has no "ancient age".

       Forgive the excursion into periodization!

Wayne 

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[Philippe Buc]

All, medievalists of Europe do not always like "medieval". There is
whole ongoing discussion on "medieval", whether to leave it (pre-modern
being an alternative) or embrace it. I CC a wise German who may want to
give pointers to this debate.

PhB

On 11.03.2021 17:11, William Farris wrote:
> Hello:
> For what it's worth, Marc Bloch in FEUDAL SOCIETY, p. 468,
> compares Japan's Chinese-style state of 645-900 to the Carolingian
> Empire of Charlemagne et al. That would make Japan's so-called
> "ancient age" 古代 into the first part of the medieval period in
> Europe. This has always made sense to me. To me, Japan has no
> "ancient age".
>
> Forgive the excursion into periodization!
> Wayne
>
> On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 9:45 AM Ross Bender <rosslyn...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 3:07 AM Philippe Buc
>> <philip...@univie.ac.at> wrote:
>>
>>> Cool, Dr. Bender. This medievalist of the West will gladly order
>>> the
>>> book! Fitting tribute for all your work on the topic (and these
>>> precious
>>> translations).
>>>
>>> Philippe Buc
>>

>> As a medievalist you may be interested in _A Companion to the Global
>> Early Middle Ages_, from Amsterdam University Press. It covers

>> roughly the years 600-900 and problematizes the concept of "middle
>> ages." My chapter on Japan points out that this period is never
>> referred to as medieval, not even early medieval. Usually "medieval
>> Japan" means roughly 1185 to 1600, although your mileage may vary.
>>
>> (PDF) Changing the Capitals - Japan - Chapter Five | Ross Bender -

>> Academia.edu [1]
>>
>> A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages (btpubservices.com) [2]

>>
>> Ross Bender
>>
>> --
>> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
>> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit

>> www.pmjs.org [3].

>> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
>> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>> Groups "PMJS: Listserv" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
>> send an email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion on the web visit
>>
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpFNjjWqiWtmMOouhOD4LixpYFfv2or46C9ky8uirRRwWg%40mail.gmail.com

>> [4].

>
> --
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> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SM2BPLex3PYU54R93Y7MrzE0L_KvJLQHas7bTTfZcW0A%40mail.gmail.com
> [5].
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1]
> https://www.academia.edu/42204336/Changing_the_Capitals_Japan_Chapter_Five
> [2]
> http://shop.btpubservices.com/Title/9781942401759#:~:text=A%20Companion%20to%20the%20Global%20Early%20Middle%20Ages,insights%20into%20a%20neglected%20phase%20of%20world%20history.
> [3] http://www.pmjs.org
> [4]
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpFNjjWqiWtmMOouhOD4LixpYFfv2or46C9ky8uirRRwWg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=footer
> [5]
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SM2BPLex3PYU54R93Y7MrzE0L_KvJLQHas7bTTfZcW0A%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer

[raji.s...@aoi.uzh.ch]

Dear colleagues,

the problems of the term "medieval" and the baggage that term carries are obvious and well-studied. On the other hand, I find it hard to see any improvement in "pre-modern," if that term is understood to be more than a shorthand to sum up all earlier periods of history, however properly named (and I read the "PM" of "PMJS" in this fashion - so, dear and proud PMJS founders & members, please don't feel distressed by what follows).

Clearly, the term "medieval" is historically connected to the modern myth of a "dark age" from which we were liberated by the renaissance and enlightenment - but medievalists have by now done much to salvage the period from that myth. To my mind "pre-modern" as a replacement (not a mere shorthand) term adds on to the old insults to history by dumping all ages before our glorious modernity into the same category. Ancient, medieval, it's all the same - a dark night where all cows are black. Was there even a history within pre-modernity? And should we think of the pre-moderns as benighted dumbsters or noble savages? Apologies for that term, and the polemic, but to me "pre-modern" also connects to not only conceptually throwing everything in the same basket. Once that is achieved, we can also merge ancient and medieval history (and shrink departments because of synergy effects), or instigate a wholesale replacement of the study of the more remote (and benighted) past by allegedly more important, enlightened contemporary concerns. 
In sum, if anyone on this list can tell me what is good about the term "pre-modern", I'll thank you for relieving me of one of my intellectual allergies&concomitant symptoms. (One symptom being that I get so worked-up that I break with my habit of referencing at least one source when writing to this list.)

Kind regards,

Raji

Prof. Dr. Raji C. Steineck
Professor für Japanologie
Principal Investigator
ERC Advanced Grant Project "Time in Medieval Japan" (TIMEJ)

Asien-Orient-Institut
Universität Zürich
Zürichbergstrasse 4
8032 Zürich
++41+44-634 4085

Neue Publikationen/new publications

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An: pm...@googlegroups.com, "Klaus Oschema" <klaus....@rub.de>
Von: "Philippe Buc"
Gesendet von: pm...@googlegroups.com
Datum: 11.03.2021 18:37
Kopie: "William Farris" <wfa...@hawaii.edu>
Betreff: [PMJS] medieval

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[Paula R. Curtis]

Dear all,

Seeing the periodic (har har) conversation about what is "premodern" or what is "medieval" etc. pop up again, I have decided it might be useful to create another crowdsourced reading list for this as we did with our epidemics/pandemics topic. I started the list based on some of my own go-to teaching sources for medieval, but it would be wonderful to have a more well-rounded list that reflects more international scholarship on the various premodern periods. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ep34DdLi6pic3-OXqpoo_QLMgQRPlNs6fHHrVHsJ0sQ/edit?usp=sharing

All the best,

Paula

PS: Housing these lists in a more permanent place is on our minds, and we will have more to talk about on that front soon!

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--

Paula R. Curtis

Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in History

Council on East Asian Studies

Yale University

http://prcurtis.com/

[Robert Borgen]

I’ve resisted the temptation to comment on the periodization issue until now.  When this list was first created, I posted a message (which is surely somewhere on my computer, although I can no longer find it) objecting, like Raji, to the term “premodern,” since it seems to suggest that Japanese history reasonably can be divided reasonably into two periods:  the most recent century and a half or so vs. the previous millennium and a half or so, a very unequal balance.  Unlike my friend Wayne, I rather like the term “ancient” and am pleased to use it when referring to the Nara, Heian, and even earlier periods.  Accordingly, my previous, now lost, message suggested an alternate periodization scheme:  ancient and post-ancient.  For those of us whose research tends to focus on the former, the latter may seem a bit of a blur.  

I confess I don’t expect my ancient/post-ancient scheme to attract a wide following.  Instead, I’d like to add another reason for following the conventional Japanese practice, imperfect though it surely is, of naming historic periods after places that were centers of political power (which means Muromachi and Edo rather than Ashikaga and Tokugawa).  Although this system may not be meaningful in terms of understanding anything but elite political history, they have the practical advantage of being widely understood.  If I tell friends in Japan or professional colleagues just about anywhere that I study the Heian period, they know what I’m talking about, even if they might prefer some other terminology (“the age of decadent aristocratic exploitation”)?  

Robert Borgen

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[William Farris]

Hi folks:

         I understand why Bob resisted responding to this thread on periodization issues.  I do not wish to speak for him, but I do have a comment.

         When Kristina Troost first brought up this issue, if you will remember, I wrote that I was chagrined.  That's because I think arguments over periodization can be endless and periodization might even be called a non-issue.

         What do I mean?

         As Connie Totman put it, "there are lots of ways to slice and dice history." It seems to me that no one periodization is right or wrong.  It's not a matter of right or wrong.

         Rather, I would point to at least two factors that may determine how history is periodized.  There may be others.

        1)  What kind of history are you writing?  In other words, what is your agenda?  As long as the periodization you employ fits your analysis or your narrative, then it is good.  Not right, but good.

        2)   Who is your audience for your essay? Is it the general public, or other historians of Japan, or world historians? Who is your intended reader?

        Depending on how you answer these questions, periodization may vary considerably.

        As an example:  when I wrote JAPAN TO 1600, I knew that the subject matter would be largely social and economic history and that the audience was "the intelligent layperson."

        I tried to periodize Japanese history to 1600 accordingly.  I may have succeeded or I may have failed.  Perhaps another historian can find a more appropriate periodization.

        I would encourage everyone to think seriously about how they may want to periodize what they write and then act accordingly and not simply follow the received wisdom on periodization.

       I have just two other brief comments:

       1)  It is true that I admire several historians of the Annales School, primarily b/c they think "big picture" and many, like Marc Bloch or Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie, value social and economic history and "history from the bottom up."  Recently, it was written that I follow the "long duree."  To some extent, yes, but my work includes long time periods b/c I think that my audience, usually not simply historians of Japan, will not understand "microhistory" or know how to place it in perspective.

      2)  As for Bob's use of the term "ancient" for Nara and Heian Japan, it can't be called wrong.  Depending upon the criteria that Bob uses, it may be spot on.

      When I wrote that Japan had no "ancient" period, it also may be an acceptable assertion, when Japan is viewed in a world historical context.  To me (and also to Bloch), the Nara state was nothing like the Roman or Han Empire, truly "ancient" states.  Rather, both the Nara state and the Carolingian Empire were modelled on long-gone "ancient" states.  They were "knock-offs."  So both Bob and I have a point, depending upon what and how one looks at history.

      Who said that history is all a matter of perspective?

Wayne 

        

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[Ross Bender]

On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 11:12 AM William Farris <wfa...@hawaii.edu> wrote:

Hello:

       For what it's worth, Marc Bloch in FEUDAL SOCIETY, p. 468, compares Japan's Chinese-style state of 645-900 to the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne et al.  That would make Japan's so-called "ancient age"  古代 into the first part of the medieval period in Europe.  This has always made sense to me.  To me, Japan has no "ancient age".

       Forgive the excursion into periodization!

Wayne 

What? No kodai?? So you would term Japan 645-900 "Early Medieval"? Although I see that in your Japan to 1600 you term the period 600-800 "An end to growth."

I'm looking again at Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850, ed. Karl Friday (Westview Press, 2012.) Friday has an introductory chapter on "Sorting the Past," and Joan Piggott has a lengthy chapter on "Defining 'Ancient' and 'Classical."

Most helpful is the chart on p. 18 -- "Periodization Schemes for Japanese History" showing four possibilities. Only one uses "Ancient,"  for 300-650. One uses "Yamato" for 300-700, another "Yamato Confederation" for 300 to 650, followed by "Ritsuryou State." Another has "Regional Chiefdoms(localized power)" for about 200-600, followed by "State Formation (centripetal forces)."

I suppose you pays your money and you takes your choice, but I'm still attached to the labels I learned in grad school, to wit Ancient, Medieval and whatever comes after Medieval. My dissertation was entitled "The Political Meaning of the Hachiman Cult in Ancient and Early Medieval Japan" and some very serious dudes at Columbia accepted it. 

[Robert Borgen]

Wayne is, of course, right.  And I should have concluded my previous message by noting the Heian period might also be termed “the Age Flourishing Court Culture,” which would more accurately call attention the focus of my own interests.  Of course another advantage of the traditional system is that “Heian” (or “ancient”) allows one to include all aspects of the period, regardless of which may be primary to one’s research. 

Bob

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[Alexander Vovin]

Dear Wayne,

Like Ross I think that there was an ancient period in Japan. First, the Asuka period is very different from Nara. There was no "Sinification" in Asuka, or at least in Early Asuka. Second, I think this Sinification was very superficial, as it did not affect the deeply embedded social structures like the "rank and bone" system. Something very similar is found in Ancient Korea, where the Sinification was much more successful and profound, but it took a very long time to achieve -- probably only by the Yi dynasty when a Confucian-modelled state was finally in situ. A rank and bone system is alien to China with its open social mobility before the last Qing dynasty started to control the country. My two cents.

All the best,

Sasha

Alexander Vovin
Membre élu d'Academia Europaea
Directeur d'études, linguistique historique du Japon, de la Corée et de l'Asie centrale

ECOLE DES HAUTES ETUDES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES;

CENTRE DE RECHERCHES LINGUISTIQUES SUR L'ASIE ORIENTALE

Membre associé de CENTRE DE RECHERCHES SUR LE JAPON

Laureate of 2015 Japanese Institute for Humanities Prize for a Foreign Scholar

Editor-in-chief, series Languages of Asia, Brill

Co-editor, of International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, Brill

PI of the ERC Advanced Project, AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE JAPONIC LANGUAGES

105 Blvd Raspail, 75006 Paris

sasha...@gmail.com
https://ehess.academia.edu/AlexanderVovin

https://www.edj-vovin.com/

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[Elijah Bender]

Hi everyone,

I think Wayne makes some excellent points, which is perhaps not surprising since I learned how to think about periodization from Wayne! We might also consider regional variations when "slicing and dicing" history in different ways. Certain conditions might begin or end along different timelines in different regions. For instance, I'm of the opinion that what we would consider Sengoku historical circumstances within Kai Province last from ca. 1417 to 1569 - so "Warring States" or "war in the provinces" could be said to start earlier and end sooner there than in other provinces perhaps.

As is always the case, your periodization needs to match your argument.

Best,

Elijah Bender, PhD
History Department
Concordia College

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[William Farris]

Greetings:

        Perhaps one question might be: is the scholar's perspective Japanese history?  East Asian history? Or world history?  Having taught both Japanese and world history for 30-odd years, I think that we need all points-of-view.

Wayne

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[Philippe Buc]

As the discussion shows, it all depends what one is focusing on. And as
we all know, in Europe and the US at least, what maintains "medieval" is
that there are professorships devoted to it. Also, different political
histories (the oldest way to cut time, the one which
undergirds"medieval") can lead ultimately to transgressions that then
subvert boundaries beyond politicla history. At Leiden, where I am
moving to, medieval and early modern almost systematically cooperate,
despite the leerstoel being in the one or the other. 1492, 1498, 1517
are not so critical as turning points compared to the Dutch revolt
against Habsburg Spain. This has led to look at all sorts of phenomena
(not only war and politics) across 1000-1800.

Ph

On 12.03.2021 15:57, klaus....@ruhr-uni-bochum.de wrote:
> Dear Philippe, dear colleagues,
>
> I'm not sure if there really was a question here - but I am very
> grateful to know about the "Global Early Middle Ages"! (Fortunately
> it's part of my university's ebook-subscriptions, great!)
>
> As to the question of vocabulary, there are, of course some debates -
> particularly Bernhard Jussen argued for simply eliminating the notions
> "Middle Ages" and "medieval" entirely (as well as the tripartite
> system of Antiquity - Middle Ages - "Modern"), since they did more
> harm than help... This is, of course, by no means really new: Jacques
> le Goff underlined already that Jeanne d'Arc was closer to us than to
> Charlemagne and that it made thus little sense to categorize both of
> them as "medieval". Alas, I can still not see a really useful set of
> notions that would replace the established categories (Antiquity etc.
> ....) in the broader discourse, as far as I can see. "Eufrasian"
> period, as proposed by Michael Borgolte (I'm still not sure if he was
> serious or more tongue-in-cheek) does not sound really tempting - and
> if it was used to replace the "Middle Ages", it would only reproduce
> the basic problem of the tripartite structure anyway...
>
> Personally I simply try to take "Middle Ages" as shortcut for saying
> "sometime between the 5th and 15th century" - but I do see the
> problems that come from the application to non-European cultures, of
> course. At the same time, these problems mainly arise from the fact
> that we try to give the notion some kind of conceptual meaning,
> instead of acknowledging its "void" character (astronomers, for
> example, have no problem with talking about "dark matter", even though
> it's neither dark nor matter...).
>
> But I'm curious to hear about helpful ways out of this conundrum...
>
> All the best from Paris,
> Klaus Oschema
>
> Prof. Dr. Klaus Oschema
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Professor für Geschichte des Mittelalters (insb. des späten
> Mittelalters) /
> Geschäftsführender Leiter des Historischen Instituts
>
> Ruhr-Universität Bochum – Historisches Institut
> Universitätsstr. 150 - GA 4/31, Fnr. 182 - D-44801 Bochum
> klaus....@rub.de
> http://www.ma.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/spaet/
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Philippe Buc <philip...@univie.ac.at>
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 11. März 2021 18:02
> An: pm...@googlegroups.com; Klaus Oschema <klaus....@rub.de>
> Cc: William Farris <wfa...@hawaii.edu>
> Betreff: medieval

[Charles De Wolf]

About how we label time—with apologies for taking up too much here myself:

One need not be a Hegelian or a Marxist to assume that time is going somewhere. The ancients (as it were) famously spoke of degenerating ages: gold, silver, bronze, heroic, and iron. The Jewish prophets and the Christians turn it around and speak of an age of redemption, cf. St. Paul’s tò pléroma toû chrónou ‘the fullness of time’.

Still, one finds oneself assuming that in “pre-modern” times, before all sorts of gadgets were invented, the world was seen as somehow changeless. Of Hermann Hesse’s Narziß und Goldmund, Thomas Mann writes: “(der Roman)…scheint in einer mitteralterlichen Zeitlosigkeit zu schweben.” The keyword here is surely “scheint”: The novel is “historical” enough to include the plague, while appealing, via Hesse’s beautiful language, to many a reader’s love of the “timeless” medieval fairytale.

How we describe large chunks of time is surely arbitrary, partly because we can never really ever be “back there,” but mostly because, unable to know the future, we can only have a limited perspective on our own era.

I wonder whether Japanese young people today still toss around houken-teki (封建的) ‘feudalistic’ to describe their hopelessly mean and old-fashioned parents, usually fathers. (Even when I was still young, I disliked the label, indicative, I thought, of a smugly ill-informed knowledge of history.)

At the beginning of The Tale of Genji, the widowed mother of His Majesty’s beloved, Genji’s mother is described as: いにしへの人のよし , which can be taken to be mean both that she comes from an old family and that she has what comes with that: an old-fashioned view of the world. (René Sieffert translates the phrase “personne d’antique vertu.”) She sees her daughter as one deserving to be treated as an equal to other ladies. Ah, but as a trend-conscious courtier points out in the next chapter, families rise and fall.

So it is quite possible to attribute to Heian-period Japanese a sense of changing times without imagining anyone uttering: “Oh, lighten up, dear! You’re living in the Nara period!”

I say all of this because even though the word modern is hardly “modern,” albeit with changing senses (Shakespeare, for example, uses it in the sense of ‘commonplace, ordinary’), it tends to carry in our time rather heavily “modern” ideological baggage, and so I squirm a bit when I see it used in translations of, uh, pardon me, pre-modern literature.

In the Genji, ima-meki, corresponding rather interestingly to (apparently) outmoded slangish naui of half a century ago, occurs with some frequency. It’s interesting how various translators render the phrase. There’s also ima-yau (今様), which appears, for example, in Chapter 46 (Shii ga Moto), where the aged and reclusive Eighth Prince thinks to himself how splendid it would be (however unlikely) if one of his daughters should marry Kaoru—and draws comparisons: まいて今やうの心浅からむ人をば、いかでかは... Waley: “…for had he shown a disposition to flirt with the girls in the way most modern young men would have done, one would have ceased to feel the same confidence in him.” Royall Tyler’s rendition is surely much to be preferred: “…and I cannot imagine any of the light-minded young men so common nowadays.” René Sieffert: “…et comment lui-même pouvait-il accepter l’un de ces jeunes gens à la mode, à l’esprit superficiel?”

In Chapter 4 (Waka-murasaki), where Genji seeks to take charge of ten-year-old Murasaki, those looking after her react in shock and horror: “あなあ、今めかし...” ! I must say that I like Maria Teresa Orsi’s rendition: “Ah, questi giovani d’oggi!” ‘Oh, the youth of today!” It reminds me very much of a phrase often heard half a century ago in Germany, as uttered by members of a disgusted (and, uh, somewhat forgetful) older generation: “Ach, die Jugend von heute!” (Yes, such a wicked lot!) In the same chapter, a high-ranking prelate describes young Genji as having “blessed with his birth the pitiful Land of the Rising Sun, in this time of degradation,” i.e. 末法. (I must say that if someone were trying to walk off with my ten-year-old grand-niece, I might bit more circumspect in my praise.)

Perhaps the future is not so unimaginable after all. I can well imagine Genji warming up to the モガ of the 1920s, with their bobbed hair and flapper skirts, though I’ll admit that he might find the cigarette smoke a rather odd sort of incense.　

Charles De Wolf

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/53302243-38b6-ec87-d450-bd9a42eda9ca%40cord.edu.

[Michael Pye]

Dear colleagues,
Further to periodisation, I just recently set out my thoughts on it
in the introduction to the history of Japanese religions that I'm
desperately trying to finish off. It wouldn't be quite right to copy
that in here just now, but I wanted to say that I do very much agree
with the approach of having flexibility depending on what you are
talking about, and I apply it. And at the same time, it's probably
helpful to readers (in this case mainly non-specialists I think) to
show how what one is doing fits wth the conventional Japanese
designations.
best wishes,
Michael Pye

Zitat von "'Robert Borgen' via PMJS: Listserv" <pm...@googlegroups.com>:

>>> symbolischen Form <http://www.zora.uzh.ch/188267>

>>> (mit Georg Blind): The Missing Piece in Cassirer's Theory of
>>> symbolic Forms: The Economy

>>> <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40844-020-00191-0>
>>> <http://www.zora.uzh.ch/188267>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----pm...@googlegroups.com <mailto:-----pm...@googlegroups.com>
>>> schrieb: -----
>>> An: pm...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>, "Klaus
>>> Oschema" <klaus....@rub.de <mailto:klaus....@rub.de>>
>>> Von: "Philippe Buc"
>>> Gesendet von: pm...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>
>>> Datum: 11.03.2021 18:37
>>> Kopie: "William Farris" <wfa...@hawaii.edu <mailto:wfa...@hawaii.edu>>

>>> Betreff: [PMJS] medieval
>>>
>>> All, medievalists of Europe do not always like "medieval". There is
>>> whole ongoing discussion on "medieval", whether to leave it (pre-modern
>>> being an alternative) or embrace it. I CC a wise German who may want to
>>> give pointers to this debate.
>>>
>>> PhB
>>>
>>> On 11.03.2021 17:11, William Farris wrote:
>>> > Hello:
>>> > For what it's worth, Marc Bloch in FEUDAL SOCIETY, p. 468,
>>> > compares Japan's Chinese-style state of 645-900 to the Carolingian
>>> > Empire of Charlemagne et al. That would make Japan's so-called
>>> > "ancient age" 古代 into the first part of the medieval period in
>>> > Europe. This has always made sense to me. To me, Japan has no
>>> > "ancient age".
>>> >
>>> > Forgive the excursion into periodization!
>>> > Wayne
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 9:45 AM Ross Bender

>>> <rosslyn...@gmail.com <mailto:rosslyn...@gmail.com>>

>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 3:07 AM Philippe Buc
>>> >> <philip...@univie.ac.at <mailto:philip...@univie.ac.at>> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >>> Cool, Dr. Bender. This medievalist of the West will gladly order
>>> >>> the
>>> >>> book! Fitting tribute for all your work on the topic (and these
>>> >>> precious
>>> >>> translations).
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Philippe Buc
>>> >>
>>> >> As a medievalist you may be interested in _A Companion to the Global
>>> >> Early Middle Ages_, from Amsterdam University Press. It covers
>>> >> roughly the years 600-900 and problematizes the concept of "middle
>>> >> ages." My chapter on Japan points out that this period is never
>>> >> referred to as medieval, not even early medieval. Usually "medieval
>>> >> Japan" means roughly 1185 to 1600, although your mileage may vary.
>>> >>
>>> >> (PDF) Changing the Capitals - Japan - Chapter Five | Ross Bender -

>>> >> Academia.edu <http://academia.edu/> [1]

>>> >>
>>> >> A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages (btpubservices.com

>>> <http://btpubservices.com/>) [2]

>>> >>
>>> >> Ross Bender
>>> >>
>>> >> --
>>> >> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>>> >> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com

>>> <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>

>>> >> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit

>>> >> www.pmjs.org <http://www.pmjs.org/> [3].

>>> >> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org

>>> <mailto:mod...@pmjs.org>

>>> >> ---
>>> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
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>>> >> send an email to pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com

>>> <mailto:pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com>.

>>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpFNjjWqiWtmMOouhOD4LixpYFfv2or46C9ky8uirRRwWg%40mail.gmail.com
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpFNjjWqiWtmMOouhOD4LixpYFfv2or46C9ky8uirRRwWg%40mail.gmail.com>
>>> >> [4].
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>>> > To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com

>>> <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>

>>> > For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit

>>> > www.pmjs.org. <http://www.pmjs.org./>
>>> > Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org <mailto:mod...@pmjs.org>

>>> > ---
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>>> <mailto:pmjs+uns...@googlegroups.com>.

>>> > To view this discussion on the web visit
>>> >
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SM2BPLex3PYU54R93Y7MrzE0L_KvJLQHas7bTTfZcW0A%40mail.gmail.com
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SM2BPLex3PYU54R93Y7MrzE0L_KvJLQHas7bTTfZcW0A%40mail.gmail.com>
>>> > [5].
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Links:
>>> > ------
>>> > [1]
>>> >
>>> https://www.academia.edu/42204336/Changing_the_Capitals_Japan_Chapter_Five
>>> <https://www.academia.edu/42204336/Changing_the_Capitals_Japan_Chapter_Five>
>>> > [2]
>>> >
>>> http://shop.btpubservices.com/Title/9781942401759#:~:text=A%20Companion%20to%20the%20Global%20Early%20Middle%20Ages,insights%20into%20a%20neglected%20phase%20of%20world%20history

>>> <http://shop.btpubservices.com/Title/9781942401759#:~:text=A%20Companion%20to%20the%20Global%20Early%20Middle%20Ages,insights%20into%20a%20neglected%20phase%20of%20world%20history>.
>>> > [3] http://www.pmjs.org <http://www.pmjs.org/>
>>> > [4]
>>> >
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpFNjjWqiWtmMOouhOD4LixpYFfv2or46C9ky8uirRRwWg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=footer
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAMEQgpFNjjWqiWtmMOouhOD4LixpYFfv2or46C9ky8uirRRwWg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>> > [5]
>>> >
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SM2BPLex3PYU54R93Y7MrzE0L_KvJLQHas7bTTfZcW0A%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer

>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SM2BPLex3PYU54R93Y7MrzE0L_KvJLQHas7bTTfZcW0A%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>>
>>> --
>>> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>>> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com

>>> <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>

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>>> To view this discussion on the web visit

>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/5f873115c89cfa4d46b8ffc9c8439f1d%40univie.ac.at
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/5f873115c89cfa4d46b8ffc9c8439f1d%40univie.ac.at>.

>>>
>>> --
>>> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>>> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com

>>> <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>

>>> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit

>>> www.pmjs.org <http://www.pmjs.org/>.
>>> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org <mailto:mod...@pmjs.org>

>>> ---
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>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/OF1AF67649.2A6738F1-ONC1258695.00623AC1-C1258695.0066C3DB%40lotus.uzh.ch
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/OF1AF67649.2A6738F1-ONC1258695.00623AC1-C1258695.0066C3DB%40lotus.uzh.ch?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

>>
>>
>> --
>> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com

>> <mailto:pm...@googlegroups.com>

>> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit

>> www.pmjs.org <http://www.pmjs.org/>.
>> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org <mailto:mod...@pmjs.org>

>> ---
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>> To view this discussion on the web visit

>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/0CDE59EF-E020-40CE-A3C1-9E98DCDA63C0%40ucdavis.edu
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/0CDE59EF-E020-40CE-A3C1-9E98DCDA63C0%40ucdavis.edu?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

>>
>> --
>> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
>> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
>> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
>> ---
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>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAFSdm5SzfoML2DbyAQey%3D_n_0oAs8Nq%3DGcTJJ%2BBPP0e3r7Qo1A%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

>
> --
> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
> ---
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> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/16D1423D-71B2-4BE4-93B5-3C948A202311%40ucdavis.edu.



.................................................................................................................
Professor of the Study of Religions (em.), University of Marburg, Germany

[Ross Bender]

On Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 8:26:52 AM UTC-4 p...@staff.uni-marburg.de wrote:

Dear colleagues,
Further to periodisation, I just recently set out my thoughts on it
in the introduction to the history of Japanese religions that I'm
desperately trying to finish off. It wouldn't be quite right to copy
that in here just now, but I wanted to say that I do very much agree
with the approach of having flexibility depending on what you are
talking about, and I apply it. And at the same time, it's probably
helpful to readers (in this case mainly non-specialists I think) to
show how what one is doing fits wth the conventional Japanese
designations.
best wishes,
Michael Pye

Charles De Wolf's reference to Hegelian and Marxist theories of time reminded me of Hegel's Philosophy of History, an English summary of which I read back in college. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Hegel regarded China as the infancy of the race, signified that its language sounded like baby-talk. India was the dreamy adolescence, Greece and Rome the sturdy youth, and, oddly enough, contemporary Prussia as the maturity of the race.

Arnold Toynbee's Study of History referred to Tang China as the "universal state" in his grand scheme, although if I recall he made some comment about Heian Japan's hothouse decadent culture. The Tokugawa era was Japan's universal state.

Then of course we had Wittfogel's "oriental despotism."

Some have already referred to the Marxist influence on Japanese historian's periodization. I wonder how much influence that still has.

Ross Bender