Monkey, by Wu Ch’eng-en, Translated by Arthur Waley.
“Monkey: A Folk-Tale of China, more often known as
simply Monkey, is an abridged translation by Arthur Waley of the sixteenth-century
Chinese novel Journey
to the West by Wu Cheng'en of the Ming dynasty. Originally published in 1942, it
remains one of the most-read English-language versions of the novel. At the
outset of the novel, Buddha seeks a pilgrim who will travel
to India. The hope is to retrieve sacred scriptures by which the Chinese people
may be enlightened so that their behaviour may accord with the tenets of Buddhism. The young monk Tripitaka volunteers to undertake the
pilgrimage. Along the way, he encounters and frees the Monkey King, and he
and Monkey thereafter recruit Pigsy and Sandy. They liberate a captive princess
and punish her abductor, who has also murdered her father. The father is
resurrected and reinstalled as king. They meet several bodhisattvas and fight fierce monsters,
before finally arriving at Buddha's palace. Whereas previous abridged versions
of Journey to the West retained the original number of chapters
but reduced their length significantly, Waley adopted the opposite approach; he
translated only 30 chapters out of 100 episodes, but did so nearly in full,
omitting mainly the poetry. He is also responsible for inventing the names of
the main characters: Sun Wukong as "Monkey", Tang Sanzang as "Tripitaka", Zhu Bajie as "Pigsy", and Sha Wujing as "Sandy". Journey
to the West may be roughly divided into three parts: first, the
introduction including the origin of Monkey, Tripitaka, Pigsy, and Sandy;
second, the actual journey to the west, which has an episodic nature; and last,
the ending, telling what happens when the pilgrims reach their destination.
Waley chose to translate the entirety of the introductory and ending chapters,
as well as three episodes, each several chapters long, of the journey to the
west.” – Wikipedia. And of course ‘The Journey to the West’ was the inspiration
for ‘Alakazam the Great’ and ‘Dragon Ball’.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Folk Novel. Softcover.
Comrade Loves of the Samurai, by Ihara Saikaku. Translated by
E. Powys Mathery.
“In Comrade Loves of a Samurai, the theme of
homosexual love between the samurai is explored. To the old Japanese such love
among samurai was quite permissible. The sons of samurai families were urged to
form homosexual alliances while youth lasted, and often these loves matured
into lifelong companionships. Saikaku describes Japanese love scenes of all
kinds with a frankness that has made him a favorite with expurgators, but he
discusses different types of love with tenderness and compassion. The Songs
of the Geisha included in this volume is a collection of geisha folk
songs composed to be sung to the accompaniment of the shamisen.” – Google
Books. An aspect of older Japanese culture more to understand for its cultural
significance than to be tittered over in concupiscence. Discreetly illustrated
in woodcut-style.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Cultural Bungholery. Softcover.
Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan.
Translated by Virginia Skord.
“The stories in this collection constitute just a small
portion of a vast body of some four hundred short narratives known as
otogizoshi. They represent a cross section of medieval Japan in its richness
and complexity, a panoply of life teeming with all the possibilities and
contradictions of the age.” – Amazon. I can’t find a precise translation of
‘otogizoshi’; the closest I can find is
“prose narratives written primarily in the Muromachi period (1392–1573). These illustrated
short stories, which remain unattributed, together form one of the
representative literary genres of the Japanese medieval era.” -Wikipedia. They
were not written for an aristocratic audience, but the closest thing in Western
literature I can compare them to is ‘The Canterbury Tales’. Browsed in, not
completely read. Traditional wood-cut style illustrations.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Folk Tales. Japanese. Softcover.
Tales of the Samurai, Retold by James S. de Benneville.
“Originally published in 1915, a masterful retelling of the
great Japanese classic Oguri Hangwan Ichidaiki, the l5th century saga that
follows the life of Sukeshige, the young Lord of Oguri, as he struggles to
restore the fortunes of his noble family amidst the intrigues and battles of
the turbulent Askikaga era. An engrossing saga which embodies all the Samurai
virtues - skill in martial arts, the code, the exploits, etc. - in a Japanese
tale which has survived through the centuries virtually unchanged. James S. de
Benneville was an American author, translator and scholar long resident in
Japan and well known for his superb rendition of Japan's great historic
literary classics.” Except for that idiosyncratic use of quotation marks in the
printing, which is very distracting, so distracting that I haven’t read it. But
it was a bargain! Forty-four black and white illustrations. A Dover reprint.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: ‘Novel’. Softcover.
Myths and Legends of Japan, by F. Hadland Davis. With 32
Illustrations by Evelyn Paul.
“The most popular myths and legends of Japanese culture are
charmingly retold in English in this handsomely illustrated book. Here are
myths of gods, heroes and warriors; legends of Buddha, and of the goddess
Benten and the god Daikoku; tales of the sea and of Mount Fuji; accounts of
superstitions and supernatural beings; observations on the spiritual properties
of fans, flowers, dolls and butterflies and much more. The collection begins
with the early myths of Japan, which the author describes as "quaint,
beautiful, quasi-humorous." These are followed by legends celebrating
early heroes and warriors, and the earliest examples of the Japanese romance, "The
Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Maiden." Many of the legends that follow
reflect a poetic love of beauty and of nature. But as the author points out,
"there is plenty of crude realism in Japanese legend. We are repelled by
the Thunder God's favorite repast, amazed by the magical power of foxes and
cats; and the story of 'Hōïchi-the-Earless' and of the corpse-eating priest
afford striking examples of the combination of the weird and the
horrible." - Goodreads. Dover.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Myth. Legend. Softcover.
Tales of Old Japan, by A. B. Mitford.
“Classic folklore, fairy tales, ghost stories and tales of
the samurai.” A Wordsworth Myth, Legend and Folklore reprint. With
illustrations by Odake. “The member of a distinguished British literary family,
A. B. Mitford traveled widely with his parents as a youth and lived in various
European countries. From 1866-70, he served as an attaché with the British
legation at Edo (Tokyo) — one of the first foreign diplomats to do so. During
his brief stay there, Mitford lived through a period of dramatic and tumultuous
change in Japanese history. A feudal nation on his arrival, Japan had entered
the era of “Westernization” before he left some three years later. During that
time, however, he quickly and thoroughly mastered the Japanese language and
acted as an interpreter between the young Japanese Emperor and British royalty.
Mitford’s famous collection of classic tales (the first to appear in English)
covers an engrossing array of subjects: grisly accounts of revenge, knightly
exploits, ghost stories, fairy tales, folklore, a fascinating eyewitness
account of a hara-kiri ceremony, gripping narratives of
vampires and samurai, Buddhist sermons, and the plots of four Noh plays. A
treasury, as well, of information on most aspects of Japanese life, with
information on locales, customs, and characters, the illustrated volume
delights as it entertains, chronicling acts of heroism, devotion, ruthlessness,
and chivalry that illuminate the island nation's culture.” – Amazon.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Myth. Legend. Softcover.
Monkey: A Journey to the West. A Retelling by David Kherdian.
“Part spiritual pilgrimage, part historical epic, the folk
novel Journey to the West, which came to be known as Monkey,
is the most popular classic of Asian literature. Originally written in the
sixteenth century, it is the story of the adventures of the rogue-trickster
Monkey and his encounters with a bizarre cast of characters as he travels to
India with the Buddhist pilgrim Tripitaka in search of sacred scriptures. Much
more than a picaresque adventure novel, Monkey is a profound
allegory of the struggle that must occur before spiritual transformation is
possible. David Kherdian's masterful telling brings this classic of Chinese
literature to life in a way that is true to the scope and depth of the original.”
– Goodreads. Woodcut style illustrations.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Folk Novel. Retelling. Softcover.
Japanese Tales, Selected, Edited and Translated by Royall
Tyler.
One of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library books. “Here
are two hundred and twenty dazzling tales from medieval Japan, tales that
welcome us into a fabulous, faraway world populated by saints and scoundrels,
ghosts and magical healers, and a vast assortment of deities and demons.
Stories of miracles, visions of hell, jokes, fables, and legends, these tales
reflect the Japanese worldview during a classic period in Japanese
civilization. Masterfully edited and translated by the acclaimed translator
of The Tale of Genji, these stories ably balance the lyrical and
the dramatic, the ribald and the profound, offering a window into a
long-vanished though perennially fascinating culture.” – Goodreads.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Myths. Folktales. Softcover.
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