Abstract
Kaidan are tales of the strange and mysterious, supernatural stories often depicting the horrific and gruesome. Many contemporary Japanese regard stories of the kaidan genre as frightening ghost stories. Written stories that fit the kaidan mold have been part of Japanese literature since ancient times, but they were not identified apart from the rest. It was only during the Edo period that these stories were collected, compiled, and published under the rubric of kaidan as kaidan-sha (collections of kaidan). In the middle of the eighteenth century, the production of kaidan literature reached one of its peaks. At the same time, the artistry of kaidan attained a zenith in Kinko kaidan (Kaidan Present and Past) and Ugetsu monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain, 1776), a collection of nine short stories of the supernatural written by Ueda Akinari (1734-1809). By tracing the kaidan-shu from its emergence in the early Edo period up to the appearance of Ugetsu monogatari, this paper will demonstrate how kaidan literature of the Edo period (1600-1867) moves away from the religious and didactic, toward the secular.
Keywords: kaidan-aidan-sha-storytelling-entertainment-Edo Japan
NOTES
1. The term kaidan may remind some readers of Lafcadio HEARt`t's masterful collection of stories entitled Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904). In his Preface, Hearn translates "Kwaidan" as "weird tales" (1904, iii). There is also a striking film entitled Kwaidan directed by Masaki KoBAYASHI (1965).
2. Hanashi (talks) by otogishu were very popular during the Sengoku period (1467-1573). KUWATA Tadachika claims that as hanashi by otogishu frequently refer to military undertakings, their origins lie in the stories told before and after battles. Whatever the context, Kuwata argues, the main purpose of the stories is to unify the thoughts of men of all ranks (1942, 3).
3. A Kyoto bookseller published Kaidan in 1703, forty-one years after the death of Razan, under the title Kaidan zensho. The bookseller/ publisher probably benefited from the popularity of kaidan at the time and printed the work for commercial sale (Fuji 1992, 67). Kaidan zensho is included in YAMAGUCHI 1927.
4. For a history of Botan dom, see MAEDA 1974; TACHIKAWA 1998.
5. This is an influential work for kaidan written in classical Chinese by Qu You (1341-1427) that deals with strange and mysterious materials. Mudan dengji (Tale of Peony Lantern) in Jian deng xin hua is contained in Qu 1962.
6. For a translation of this story, see Mule 1985, 200. 7. Zen aku mukui banashi is included in TAKADA 1989.
8. Various editions of Shasekishu published during the Edo period show that the book was received as a collection of Buddhist sermons or sacred scripture (Mule 1966, 16).
9. Mule writes that "I love tales. I jotted down tales between the training periods. I should refrain, but cannot stop this habit" (1966, 14).
10. Regarding the form of hyakumonogatari kaidankai, Asai Ry6i writes: "On a dark night, one puts a light on an andon (paper-covered lamp stand)." The paper for the andon should be pale-colored. One hundred wicks are placed in a lamp, and every time a tale is told, one wick is pulled out. Gradually the room becomes darker and darker. The pale-color of the andon flickers in the room, and the atmosphere becomes ghostly" (AsAI 1910, 145).
11. For a compact description of the development of printing in English, see the Introduction of KEENE 1976.
12. In accordance with the official policy of the government, the local lords built fief schools, and paid ardent attention to their teaching culture. However, commoners, who were by far the vast majority of the total populace, were generally excluded from the fief schools. The official point of view was that all the samurai and their children had to be literate and well educated. Yet, the samurai class made up only about five or six percent of the whole population (at the end of the Tokugawa period) (DORE 1965, 11 and 179). There were private schools for commoners called terakoya ..., but they were considerably smaller in scale and less formal in content than fief schools. This terakoya education expanded rapidly beginning in the late 1700s, and it is said that there were two or three teachers in every ward in Edo in 1810 (DORE 1965, 253). DORE writes that "gakumon (study, learning) was far from universal among the non-samurai, but it was far from being a rarity either, and among the more wealthy merchants and the headman class of villagers it was a common accomplishment" (1965, 266).
13. YOSHIDA Koichi also suggests that early premodern fiction of the supernatural consists of three types: (1) Japanese native classical tales; (2) Buddhist cause and effect tales; (3) Chinese strange tales (1955, 380).
14. For more detailed information on the literary origins of kaidan, see YAMAGUCHI 1927 and 1933; EBARA 1980.
15. In the Preface to Jian deng xin hua, the narrator states that "Sages wrote Books of Odes, Records, Change, and Spring and Autumn Annals in order to regulate life and the world .... I edited this book to teach people, to encourage the good, punish the bad, pity the poor, and console the less fortunate" (quoted in TACHIKAWA 1979, 8).
16. Kii zotansha ... (Collection of Miscellaneous Strange Tales, ca. 1650s) contains similar stories.
17. See Noda Hisao's "Preface" in TACHIKAWA 1979.
18. "Fan Chu-ch'ing's Eternal Friendship" (John Bishop's translation) is included in Gujin xiaoshuo ... (Stories Old and New, 1620) compiled by Feng Meng-lung (1574-1646). An English translation of "Fan Chii-ch'ing's Eternal Friendship" can be found in John L. BISHOP 1956. Bishop uses the Wade-Giles system in his translation. Except for references to the translations by Bishop, all Chinese transliterations in this paper are given in pinyin.
19. NODA considers that the adaptation of Chinese fiction is conspicuous in the story of Kikka no chigiri and Kibitsu no kama. Buddhist precedents that are discernible in Muo no rigyo, Aozukin, Shiramine, and Jasei no in have elements of a folk tale prototype (1970, 41).
20. IHARA Saikaku writes in his Preface that "The world is big. I toured around the provinces to look for the topics of my stories" (1973, 66).
21. Regarding the theme of Kikka no chigiri, see CHEUNG 1977.
22. In structural terms, there are basically two types of Noh. One is called genzai no (living Noh) in which the shite, the lead actor, is a living person and the drama progresses chronologically. The other type is mugen no (dream Noh). In mugen no, the shite is a ghost or the embodiment of a spirit. The drama progresses to bear the soul of the shite without much regard for a chronological order. In mugen no, a standard scenario is as follows: the shite is a ghost or the embodiment of a spirit. In the first act, the shite appears in the guise of a common villager. A visitor (waki [supporting actor]), usually a travelling priest, meets the villager who, at his request, relates the story of the protagonist. When the visitor's curiosity is kindled, the actor begins to make inquiries. The villager suggests his or her real identity and departs. In the second act, the shire, in his or her true guise, appears, usually in the supporting actor's dream, and expresses his or her innermost feeling.
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NORIKO T. REIDER
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
Copyright Nanzan University 2001