Travelers of a Hundred Ages

Travelers of a Hundred Ages is a nonfiction work on the literary form of Japanese diaries by Donald Keene, who writes in his Introduction that he was introduced to Japanese diaries during his work as a translator for the United States in World War II when he was assigned to translate captured diaries of soldiers; he found them moving enough that he continued to study that genre. Keene's book takes the form of self-contained long chapters (originally published as independent essays in Japanese in Asahi Shimbun) that deal with a single diary, each of which is valuable in its own right as a literary work [1] This treatment is especially apparent when Keene writes of Matsuo Bashō's travel diaries, such as The Narrow Road to the North, or provides a window into an author's life, such as in the case of Fujiwara no Teika's Meigetsuki ("Chronicle of the Clear Moon").

Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as Revealed Through 1,000 Years of Diaries
First edition
AuthorDonald Keene
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
SubjectJapanese diaries and literature
GenreAcademic
PublisherHenry Holt and Company, Inc.
Publication date
1989
Media typeTrade paperback
Pages468 (1st edition; including index)
ISBN0-8050-0751-2 (1999 Columbia University Press edition: ISBN 0-231-11437-0)
OCLC18835736
895.6/803 19
LC ClassPL741.1 .K44 1989

There are variant versions of Travelers of a Hundred Ages; the original English version published by Henry Holt deals with diaries between the 850s CE and up to c. 1850, while the Japanese version has a continuation that brings the time span up to c. 1925, in addition to certain chapters that were omitted from the Holt edition "because it seemed unlikely that they would interest readers outside Japan".[2] An expanded edition was later published by Columbia University Press in 1999.

Thematically, the essays are grouped by historical period. Names are given Japanese-style, family name first.

Contents

"Heian Diaries"

Diaries of the Kamakura Period

  • Chronicle of the Bright Moon, by Fujiwara no Teika
  • The Diary of Minamoto Ienaga, by Minamoto Ienaga
  • The Visit of the Emperor Takakura to Itsukushima, by Minamoto no Michichika
  • The Ascension to Heaven of the Late Emperor Takakura, by Minamoto no Michichika
  • Journey Along the Seacoast Road, by anonymous
  • The Diary of the Priest Shunjo, by Shunjo
  • A Journey East of the Barrier
  • Fitful Slumbers, by Abutsu
  • The Diary of the Waning Moon, by Abutsu
  • The Diary of Asukai Masaari, by Asukai Masaari
  • The Diary of Lady Ben, by Ben no Naishi
  • Diary of Lady Nakatsukasa, by Nakatsukasa no Naishi
  • The Confessions of Lady Nijō, by Koga Nijō
  • Account of the Takemuki Palace, by Hino Nako

Diaries of the Muromachi Period

  • Account of a Pilgrimage to the Great Shrine of Ise, by Saka Jubutsu
  • Gifts from the Capital, by Sokyu
  • Reciting Poetry to Myself at Ojima, by Nijō Yoshimoto
  • Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi, by Ashikaga Yoshiakira
  • The Visit to Itsukushima of the Lord of the Deer Park, by Imagawa Ryoshun
  • A Source of Consolation, by Shōtetsu
  • Journey to Fuji, by Asukai Masayo
  • Journey to Zenko-ji, by Gyoe
  • Account of Fujikawa, by Ichijō Kaneyoshi
  • Journey to Shirakawa, by Sōgi
  • Journey Along the Tsukushi Road, by Sōgi
  • Account of Sogi's Last hours, by Socho
  • Account of Utsunoyama, by Socho
  • Socho's Notebook, by Socho
  • A Pilgrimage to Yoshino, by Sanjonishi Kin'eda
  • Journey to See Fuji, by Satomura Joha
  • The Diary of Gen'yo, by Gen'yo
  • Choshoshi's Journey to Kyushu, by Kinoshira Choshoshi

Diaries of the Early Tokugawa Period

Bashō's Diaries

  • Exposed in the Fields
  • A Pilgrimage to Kashima
  • Manuscript in My Knapsack
  • Journey to Sarashina
  • The Narrow Road of Oku
  • The Saga Diary

Diaries of the Later Tokugawa Period

  • Journey to the Northwest, by Kaibara Ekken
  • Travels of Gentlemen Emissaries, by Ogyū Sorai
  • The Frolic of the Butterfly, by Yamazaki Hokka
  • Diary of the Nagasaki Border Guard, by Nagakubo Sekisui
  • Diary of Kokan's Trip to the West, by Shiba Kōkan
  • Journal of a New Era, by Ōta Nanpo
  • Bakin's Diaries, by Takizawa Bakin
  • The Diary of Iseki Takako, by Iseki Takako
  • The Uraga Diary, by Sakuma Shōzan
  • The Nagasaki Diary, by Kawaji Toshiakira
  • The Shimoda Diary, by Kawaji Toshiakira

References

  1. "... but, as far as I know, only in Japan did the diary acquire the status of a literary genre comparable in importance to novels, essays, and other branches of literature that elsewhere are esteemed more highly than diaries." pg 1, Introduction of the Holt edition.
  2. pg xi of the 1st Henry Holt edition, Preface.
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