Hōjōki

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The Hōjōki ( Japanese 方丈 記 , notes from my hut ' ) by Kamo no Chōmei (1153-1216) is considered one of three masterpieces in the literary genre of Zuihitsu (miscella literature ). This short but very complex work, which is also considered a masterpiece by Chōmei, was completed in 1212, in the late Heian period and in the early Kamakura period .

The time this record was made was shaped by the decline of court culture in the Heian period, the political turmoil surrounding the Gempei War between the Minamoto and Taira families , the emergence of new structures such as the takeover of power by the aristocracy ( Buke ) and the advance of the Buddhist School of the Pure Land ( Jōdo-shū). The upheavals of that time led to the decline of morals, general uncertainty and fear of the future among people. The Hōjōki describes in a dense essayistic form the end times mood of those days and it interweaves personal fate, historical facts and the loss of religious support into one of the most complex works of the Japanese Middle Ages.

overview

In contrast to the Japanese version, the German version is divided into five sections. Like a diary, the story is told from the first-person perspective . The literary model for the Hōjōki was the prose work "Chiteiki" ( 池 亭 記 , 982) by Yoshishigeno Yasutane ( 慶 滋 保 胤 ).

content

The first, very short and only two-page section provides one of the two basic themes. It is a lament for the transience of things and of life.

“Furthermore, who can explain what a person struggles to create a dwelling for, when it is ultimately perishable, and how this can be such a joy for him? It seems as if the master and the house were arguing about which of the two would pass first ”

In the second section, the reader first learns of the huge natural disasters that occurred during the narrator's 40 years of life. There is talk of a devastating fire in 1175 that reduced a third of the capital Kyōtō to rubble and ashes. The conflagration was followed by a hurricane in 1180 that, like the "wind of the Karama roaring in hell", tore away houses and brought ruin. As if this were not enough misery, the natural disasters were followed by the beginning of political and social decline. After 400 years of continuity and prosperity, the capital was moved from Kyōtō to Fukuhara , with serious consequences for the population. Trying to stay under the protection of the center of power, the people hastily tore down their houses and moved them to the new capital. “Those who said that all these changes were signs of major political turmoil should be right.” The situation became increasingly precarious when droughts and typhoons ravaged the country in 1181–82, leading to hunger and the outbreak of an epidemic. The need led to the breakdown of order, temples were robbed and broken; in the end, more than 42,300 deaths were to be mourned. When the earthquake of the century struck in 1185, everyone was convinced that the end of the world was already underway. In this section of text, Kamo no Chōmei makes a first reference to Buddhism in the midst of the disaster scenario . He tells of Abbot Ryugo, who only cares for the dead by writing the name Amidas on their foreheads in Sanskrit .

In section three, the narrator turns away from the worldly disaster and tells of his own life story. Once with rank and name, he led a comfortable and pleasant life until he was thirty. Taken from his position by political adversity, confronted with the catastrophes described above in the fourth decade of his life, he decided to go on a journey and in the fifth decade of his life to become a disciple of the Buddha. Now that he has reached his 60th year in the presence of the narrative time , he retires to a hut he built himself . The hut and inventory are described in detail, which is significant for the religious and historical reading of the text. Next to a place to sleep are the lotus sutra , a koto , a biwa and the portraits of the bodhisvattva riding an elephant and the amida Buddha in the barren dwelling. The narrator provides an insight into his spiritual and worldly life by telling of the laborious recitation of Nembutsu , the lute song of the Chinese poet Po Chu-i and the Biwa songs Minamoto no Tsunenobu , which he makes his own. He tells of walks to the hut Seminarus, a blind and exiled son of Tennō Daigo and genius of the Biwa game.

The penultimate section is a praise for loneliness and barren lifestyle. "A garment made of wisteria bast, bedding made of hemp linen" and what nature offers as a food gift are enough for the settling narrator. With reference to the "three worlds doctrine", he ostensibly rejects fame and fortune.

The last section, just as short as the first, is less narrative and more doubtful and questioning. In worldly life reviled and failed not to have achieved religious enlightenment, the narrator inquires about the “reasons for his weakness” and doubts the meaning of his existence. A dating note : "Written down by the shami Ren'in on the last day of the month in the second year of Kenryaku (1212) in his hut on Mount Tōyama." Follows and closes the Hōjōki.

Classification in literary history

Historical background

Portrait of Taira no Shigemori, Edo period by Kikuchi Yōsai

The Heian period is mostly associated with the flowering of literature and the aesthetic ideals of the court aristocracy. In reality, however, in the 12th century the court nobility had lost control of the land holdings and thus of its economic self-sufficiency. The Fujiwara family was so strong at the beginning of the 12th century that a new system of government, the Insi system, was established. The Tennō, whose bloodline had been traced back to the gods not least through the historiographical writings, abdicated, retired to a monastery and left the affairs of government to a regent, the Kampaku . This form of government led to tensions and worsening disputes at court, which in 1156 led to a military conflict, the Hōgen rebellion between the Sutoku Tennō and Go-Shirakawa . The latter prevailed with the help of Taira no Kiyomori . In gratitude, Kiyomori received court rank as a member of the sword nobility. It wasn't long before Go-Shirakawa grew tired of his former ally and found new allies in the Minamoto. Another war raged across the country. The Gempei War, at the beginning of which Kiyomori moved the capital in 1180, would last five years and end with the sinking of the Taira in the sea ​​battle of Dan-no-ura .

These events were reflected in the Hōgen Monogatari and the Heike Monogatari of the subsequent Kamakura period. The literature of the Kamakura period is a literature of wars. In particular, the first part of the Hōjōki describes the social effects that resulted from the political turmoil. In addition, this part also serves as a historiographical source by specifying the natural disasters. The theme of transience, as a conditio humana that runs through Japanese literature as a leitmotif , shapes this section of the work with the resulting sadness .

Intellectual history background

Vimalakirti

The catastrophes in which people saw themselves thrown at the beginning of the 13th century reinforced the view that, according to the Buddhist teachings of the Three Ages, one was in the last age, that of decline (Japanese mappō , 末法 ). According to this concept, history is not understood as progress, but as constant decline. This age, which extends to an agonizing 10,000 years, is characterized by a continuous deterioration in the social and political situation. According to the Chinese scriptures, the Last Age is preceded by the “True Age” (Japanese shōbō ), which lasts 500 years, and the “Age of Images” (Japanese zōbō ), which lasts 1000 years. Enlightenment is no longer possible in the last age.

Then there is the theory of the five epochs, according to which the story is divided into five sections of 500 years. The individual phases are characterized by an increasing loss of human skills. The final phase of the decline of the Dharma is the phase of "constant conflict" marked by disregard and ignorance of the teaching. In addition, the "Five Impurities" appear in the Last Age. H. frequent wars and disasters, the spread of false teachings, the increase in desires, the weakening of the human mind and body, and finally the shortening of age.

The monk Genshin reminds in his work "Basis of Redemption" that the most important ideas of Buddhism, transience (Japanese mujō ) and suffering (Japanese ku ) had been forgotten. People had fallen into the mistaken belief that the world was real and so they are now caught in the pursuit of clinging to the ephemeral . In this way they prepared hell on earth for themselves. Deviating from the Tendai and Shigon schools, Genshin argued that only firm trust in the Amida Buddha leads to salvation from samsara , the painful cycle of perpetual rebirth . With this central idea of Jōdo-Shinshū , he also changed the focus of meditative endeavors. The Nirvana is no longer through their own efforts (Jap. Jiriki guaranteed), but it depends on the strength of another (Jap. Tariki ) from. Religious practice is hereby condensed to the sincere prayer of Nembutsu , the formula: Namu Amida Butsu .

In 1175 the monk Hōnen founded the school of the Pure Land based on Genshin . In 1206 Hōnen was banished from the capital at the instigation of the Tendai School, whereupon he preached through the country. When he was allowed to return five years later, in 1211, the new doctrine had already gained a foothold in large parts of the country through his wanderings.

The detailed description of the hut in the third section should also be seen in this context. The Lotus Sutra is the central text of the Tendai School. The incompatibility of the Tendai school and the newly created amidism, which has been accused of heresy, are reflected in the inventory and structure of the hut. Although the narrator emphasizes the lightness of the construction and thus the transience, it has also become an object that he has come to love and to which he feels attached. The torments of the narrative self in Hōjōki stem from an ambivalence that was peculiar to the ideal of seclusion in Japanese tradition. The central question is whether this ideal is an aesthetic one ( mono no aware ) or a religious one? Katō Shūichi sees the development of cultural and aesthetic values ​​as the reason for existence ( raison d'être ) of the aristocracy, which has lost its political ambitions. He also points out the parallels and differences between "Chiteki" and "Hōjōki". While the description of the hut itself is almost identical in both works, the furnishings of the hut in the Hōjōki indicate the differences. In Chiteki, it is still possible to achieve spiritual enlightenment in the hermitage. One found pleasure in the recitation of Nembutsu and the Biwa game in solitude. For the narrator of the Hōjōki, on the other hand, the focus is on Nembutsu, but at the same time doubts arise as to whether it can actually bring about religious redemption.

In the last section, the narrator makes explicit reference to Vimalakīrti. Interestingly, the author of the sutra of the same name spent several years in the solitude and seclusion of a ten foot mountain cave ( hōjō ). This probably inspired Chōmei to the title of his work, although Vimalakīrti otherwise lived contrary to Chōmei and the narrator as a wealthy businessman. The first-person narrator, on the other hand, has moved into ever smaller dwellings parallel to the political decline, parallel to the social disintegration and ultimately also parallel to Chōmei's actual life.

Appreciation / review

Yasuhiko Moriguchi describes in his introduction to an English translation of the Hōjōki the musical quality and use of the Japanese language. This Melopoiia , the melodic art that first brings the verses to their full development, paired with a logopoeia , the art of adding a specific nuance to the actual meaning of the word, also stimulate the Japanese language and thus create an atmospheric and synaesthetic reading experience.

“The book can be read quickly and easily, with around 40 pages being quite short. It is particularly interesting to read because the thinking, the fears, conflicts and the inner turmoil, not only of Chômeis, but also of his entire time, are expressed. In addition to political and social criticism, the work reflects above all the religious-philosophical dilemma of that time: the incompatibility of the newly emerging Amida cult with conventional Buddhist ideas, as well as the connection between aesthetic and religious ideal. "

- Dokusha.de

“The author describes various consequences that he personally drew from the catastrophic experiences of that time. The appeal to change one's life is difficult to overlook. In addition to the choice to live as a hermit, Buddhism plays an essential role in implementing this life plan. One can therefore see Buddhism as an answer to the catastrophes - an essential term here is mujō ( 無常 ). "

- FU Berlin

"It is not an independent intellectual or religious product; it is definitely a mood book borne by the vanities of literature and the necessities of literary technology."

- Revon, Japanese Literature

“The attraction of the Hōjōki lies above all in the simple, exemplary linguistic representation, in the concise summary of the leading Buddhist ideas; in that it gives us an impression of the life, senses and feelings of a typical hermit who had had the opportunity to observe many of the changing fates of human life with their own eyes. "

- Karl Florence

glossary

Mentioned people

Mentioned places

expenditure

  • Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . 2nd Edition. Insel Verlag , Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-458-17527-8 , pp. 99 (translated by Nicola Liscutin).
  • Nelly Naumann , Wolfram Naumann: The magic bowl. Tales of the life of Japanese women, monks, masters and servants. 1st edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv), Munich 1990, ISBN 3-423-11296-4 , notes from the ten feet in the square of my hut, p. 253-266 .
  • Kamo no Chōmei: Hōjōki . Kodansha, Tokyo 1980.
  • 鴨 長 明 : 方丈 記 . Aozora Bunko , June 22, 2004, accessed July 14, 2012 (full Japanese text online).
  • Theomaeus Camoensis (d. I. Kamo no Chōmei): Eremitorium. (PDF; 161 kB) Alexander Ricius, accessed on July 14, 2012 (Latin translation of the Hōjōki).
  • Chapter 3 Medieval Kamo no Chomei (1153-1216). Washburn University , 2012, accessed July 14, 2012 (English version of the Hōjōki).
  • Translations into other languages ​​on the Meiji University website

See also

literature

  • William R. LaFleur: Chōmei as Hermit: Vimalakīrti in the Hōjō-ki . In: The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan . University of California Press, Berkeley 1983, ISBN 0-520-04600-5 , pp. 107–115 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 15, 2012]).
  • Yasuhiko Moriguchi, David Jenkens: Hojoki, Visions of a Torn World . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 1996, ISBN 1-880656-22-1 , pp. 13–28 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

Wikiquote: Kamo no Chōmei  - Quotes
Wikisource: 方丈 記  - Sources and full texts (Japanese)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 池 亭 記 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved July 7, 2012 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ Shūichi Katō : A History of Japanese Literature . Kodansha, Tokyo 1981, ISBN 4-7700-0973-9 , pp. 251 .
  3. ↑ Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . S. 8 .
  4. ↑ Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . S. 11 .
  5. ↑ Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . S. 14-15 .
  6. ↑ Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . S. 19 .
  7. ↑ a b Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . S. 42 .
  8. ↑ Kamo no Chōmei: Notes from my hut . S. 48 .
  9. ^ Paul Adler, Michael Revon: Japanese Literature. History and selection from the beginning to the most recent. Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt, p. 215 (n.d. [1926]).
  10. ↑ 石津 純 道 (Jundō Ishizu): 方丈 記 の 精神 性 (The Religious and Ethical Nature of Hōjōki). (PDF; 1.1 MB) 文理 学部 国語 学 国 文学 研究室 , September 30, 1968, p. 2 , accessed on July 14, 2012 (Japanese).
  11. ↑ Nicola Liscutin: Epilogue to the "Notes from my Hut" . S. 77 .
  12. ↑ Nicola Liscutin: Epilogue to the "Notes from my Hut" . S. 80 .
  13. ↑ Nicola Liscutin: Epilogue to the "Notes from my Hut" . S. 86 .
  14. ↑ Shūichi Katō: A History of Japanese Literature . S. 217 .
  15. ^ William R. LaFleur: Chōmei as Hermit: Vimalakīrti in the Hōjō-ki . In: The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan . University of California Press, Berkeley 1983, ISBN 0-520-04600-5 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 15, 2012]).
  16. ↑ Yasuhiko Moriguchi, David Jenkens: Hojoki, Visions of a Torn World . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 1996, ISBN 1-880656-22-1 , pp. 15–16 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  17. ↑ Alexander Wolf: Notes from my hut ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dokushoka.creeations.de
  18. ↑ Markus Rüsch: "The Chōmei of Today": the lastingly fleeting - The Inu Hōjōki as an example of the processing of catastrophe descriptions and their consequences , announcement at the Free University of Berlin
  19. ^ Paul Adler, Michael Revon: Japanese Literature. S. 230 .
  20. ↑ Karl Florenz : History of the Japanese literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909, p. 322-323 .