Samurai Lovers, ‘Samurai Beasts’
Warriors and Commoners in Ihara Saikaku’s Way of the Warrior Tales
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12352131 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Gundry, David J Gundry (University of California, Davis, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 151-168 |
| Publication date | 2015-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Japanese Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1037-1397 • E-ISSN: 1469-9338 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10371397.2015.1067135 |
| OpenAlex | W2128666560 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
As portraits of the samurai written by a prosperous chōnin, the warrior tales of Ihara Saikaku shed light on the dialectic between the Tokugawa status system and the period’s de facto, wealth-based social hierarchy, as well as on commoner attitudes toward the samurai. With its competing portrayals of samurai heroism, cowardice and outright villainy, and depictions of homosexual love affairs crossing the lines of status group and rank, Saikaku’s collection of samurai vendetta tales Budō denraiki (1687) is especially instructive regarding these issues and has broad implications for the ongoing debate over the extent to which, if at all, one can discern criticism of Tokugawa feudalism in Saikaku’s fiction. This essay demonstrates that Way of the Warrior’s narrative stance toward the samurai is a blend of admiration for the bravery, cultural attainments and style of the samurai with frustration at the limits placed on commoners by a status system based on samurai supremacy and contempt for those samurai who do not live up to the ideals of the warrior ethos. Furthermore, it argues that the collection as a whole implies that even some admirable aspects of this ethos are obsolete in the peaceful, mercantile society of its day
Admiration · Art · Art history · Contempt · Ethos · Literature · Political science · Portrait · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy
Friends, Acquaintances, Pupils and Patrons
Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan
Wondrous Brutal Fictions
Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan
Economic Thought in Early Modern Japan
Purloined Letters
Crossing Boundaries in Tokugawa Society
In the Company of Men
The Chrysanthemum and the Fish
Sumptuary Regulation and Status in Early Tokugawa Japan
Male Colors
Tales of Samurai Honor. Saikaku's Buke Giri Monogatari
Saikaku and the Narrative Turnabout
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |