Re:Lost transcription of Tale of Genji chapter found in Japa...
by gwern on Friday October 11, 2019 @05:12PM
(#21228532)
It's amazing that a millennium later, Teika manuscripts are still turning up.
For those not familiar with the context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_no_Teika was a minor aristocrat of a clan specialized in court poetry. He was one of the greatest Japanese poets of all time, a striking accomplishment given his rather ornery personality and the strife-torn times he lived in. Late in life, however, he also became something of an antiquarian, and began spending a great deal of time studying old classics and attempting to restore them: _Genji_, obviously, was one of them, but he also helped study or preserve many others, like the _Man'yoshu_ (already then almost completely unreadable). If you read the textual history sections of translations, it'll be not unsurprising if you happen to see Teika's name come up as involved in the chain of transmission. We are indebted to him for being able to read as much of early Japanese literature as we can.
For those not familiar with the context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_no_Teika was a minor aristocrat of a clan specialized in court poetry. He was one of the greatest Japanese poets of all time, a striking accomplishment given his rather ornery personality and the strife-torn times he lived in. Late in life, however, he also became something of an antiquarian, and began spending a great deal of time studying old classics and attempting to restore them: _Genji_, obviously, was one of them, but he also helped study or preserve many others, like the _Man'yoshu_ (already then almost completely unreadable). If you read the textual history sections of translations, it'll be not unsurprising if you happen to see Teika's name come up as involved in the chain of transmission. We are indebted to him for being able to read as much of early Japanese literature as we can.