© Midorikawa/Watson
"Did I dream it? Was it real? Intertexuality in Ise monogatari and Genji monogatari"
Prof. Machiko Midorikawa (Waseda University)
Medieval and early modern commentaries on Genji monogatari discuss the use of techniques that would now be termed forms of "intertexuality." Scholars have long studied the influence of the Ise monogatari on Genji monogatari. Some well-known examples are found in the "Waka Murasaki" chapter, which makes use of phrases taken from section 69 and other parts of the older poem-tale collection. Section 69 is the episode in which the mukashi otoko (Narihira) breaks a strict religious taboo in having sexual relations with the Ise Priestess. The "Waka Murasaki" chapter draws on this episode in the depiction of Genji's forbidden relationship with his step-mother Fujitsubo.
Beyond the purely literary links between the two texts, we must also consider the possible influence of gossip that spread about Narihira's relations with the Priestess. It was rumoured that a son was born of the brief encounter. Early writings hint at this, while later Ise commentaries even identify the child by name. I will argue that we must look beyond simple verbal links and examine more closely the historical and cultural context for clues about the texts emerged and were interpreted.
Machiko Midorikawa is an invited researcher of the Institute of Classical Japanese Studies, Waseda University, where she received a doctorate in 2005. Her monograph Genji monogatari eiyaku ni tsuite no kenkyū (2010) was awarded the Twelfth Murasaki Shikibu Research Award. Journal publications include “In between interpretation, commentary, and literature: the aesthetic sense in English translations of the Tale of Genji” (2024), “A World of Indirectness: Notes Toward a Study of Characterization in the ‘Tale of Genji’” (2022) and “Shifting Words from Monogatari to Shōsetsu: The Translation of Internal Speech in Japanese Literature” (2014).
"Flowing Sands: The Tripitaka Monk in Medieval Japan"
Prof. em. Michael Watson (Meiji Gakuin University)
The Chinese monk Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602–664) made the long and dangerous journey across central and western Asia to India and returned sixteen years later with hundreds of sutras and other Buddhist texts. His Chinese translations of many sacred texts reached Japan in the Nara period, together with factual records of his journey. Fictional representations of his pilgrimage became widely disseminated in different genres, most famously in the Ming-period novel Journey to the West. In this talk we will examine an earlier Japanese work, a nō play that is recorded as having been staged in 1432. Daihannya 大般若 ("The Great Wisdom Sutra") fell out of the performance repertoire for centuries before being revived in 1983. The play has most recently been performed in 2022 at the Yakushiji in Nara, a Hossō-sect temple with a long and close connection to the historic Xuanzang. While translating the play, we were able to study the DVD recording of a performance given in 2006.
Known in Japan as the Tripitaka or "Three Treasures" Monk (Jp. Genjō Sanzō Hōshi), Xuanzang is typically represented in Heian and early medieval art with a sutra case on his back. The pilgrim's statue is often paired with the figure of a sinister supernatural being who wears a necklace of human skulls. These iconographical details are present both in the surviving texts of Daihannya and in modern stagings of the play. Just a few decades before the play was written, the imperial court in Japan commissioned calligraphers and painters to make a magnificent picture scroll that illustrates many of the dangers that Xuanzang faces, but not the incident dramatized in the play. On his outward journey to India, the pilgrim finds his way blocked by the Pamir Mountains and a wide river ("Flowing Sands"). This is guarded by a weird figure ("Deep Sands") who reveals that he has met the pilgrim often in past lives, killing him each time. This time he relents and lets the pilgrim pass, presenting him with a scroll of the Great Wisdom Sutra. Heavenly Maidens and Dragon Gods open a path across the river for the monk to continue his journey. After discussing aspects of sources, structure, style and language, we will talk about the difficulties of doing research on non-canonical nō plays that have been revived for contemporary performance.
Michael Watson is Professor Emeritus at Meiji Gakuin University. Trained at the University of Oxford (DPhil 2003), his research has focussed on medieval Japanese war tales and nō drama, with an interest in both canonical and non-canonical plays. He is a contributor to and co-editor of two volumes, Like Clouds or Mists: Studies and Translations of Nō Plays of the Genpei War (2013) and A Companion to Nō and Kyōgen Theatre (2025). He has published articles on narratology, Heike monogatari, and translation history.
The lecture will be held in person. Location: LMU Japan Center, Seminar Building by the English Garden, Oettingenstr. 67, 80538 Munich, Room 151.