Conversations with Shotetsu

Abstract

Shotetsu monogatari was written by a disciple of Shotetsu (1381–1459), whom many scholars regard as the last great poet of the courtly tradition. The work provides information about the practice of poetry during the 14th and 15th centuries, including anecdotes about famous poets, advice on how to treat certain standard topics, and lessons in etiquette when attending or participating in poetry contests and gatherings. But unlike the many other works of that time that stop at that level, Shotetsu’s contributions to medieval aesthetics gained prominence, showing him as a worthy heir—both as poet and thinker—to the legacy of the great poet-critic Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241). The last project of the late Robert H. Brower, Conversations with Shôtetsu provides a translation of the complete Nihon koten bungaku taikei text, as edited by Hisamatsu Sen'ichi. Steven D. Carter has annotated the translation and provided an introduction that details Shôtetsu’s life, his place in the poetic circles of his day, and the relationship of his work to the larger poetic tradition of medieval Japan. Conversations with Shotetsu is important reading for anyone interested in medieval Japanese literature and culture, in poetry, and in aesthetics. It provides a unique look at the literary world of late medieval Japan.

A reflection on Ernest Hartmann’s equation between the central image in dreams and the objective correlative in poetry.

“…The second line of the original Japanese text is the same as the title (“The Bridge of Dreams”) of the last chapter of “The Tale of Genji”, an outstanding masterpiece of Japanese literature written in the early 11th century. A waka by Shōtetsu (who lived in the 14th–15th centuries and was a great admirer of Teika) clearly resumed Teika’s representation of a fleeting dream: “No sooner do they bloom/Than the cherry blossoms scatter -/The fleeting dream/Of a night that takes away all doubt/About the white clouds on the peak” (translation by Robert H. Brown: Carter, 1992). Shōtetsu considered this poem as written “in the style of mystery and depth” and indicated “the moon veiled in thin clouds, or the bright foliage on the mountains concealed by autumn mists” as paradigmatic examples of this style.…”