


S1: okay thankful. something. okay um, we have a list of names, act eleven, uh we begin with a list of the, supposedly forty-seven. actually if you read the footnotes, forty-six ronin forty-six samurai supposed to be forty-seven, who carried out the attack, and, we get this whole list of names and they're all equated with the Japanese syllabary, the Japanese Kana. uh there're forty-seven Kana. i guess that's a good way to remember how many Kana there are. um, and the original name the real name of this play this particular version, is, uh oh, where's the chalk? there it is... uh, is, it's in the notes uh, Kanadehon, Chushingura uh Kana, remember Kana? is the native Japanese s- uh, syllabary. Kanadehon, and Kanadehon the whole thing is a copybook of Kana. it's a kind of a copybook that people would use for studying Kana. uh and it it's given this name because there are forty-seven ronin, the forty-seven samurai. um and so, it's equivalent to the forty-seven, letters in the syllabary. and so in this beginning of act eleven we get, sort of the list, of all of them, supposedly all of them. the note's kind of interesting it it noted that, the names are in fact different though, they conflict with the names mentioned in act ten. and that was a problem because we had three authors for this particular play and they obviously didn't get all their names, correct with each other. um, okay, in this act, Yuranosuke and his men go to attack Enya Hangan at his castle, and they break in, and they're attacking, and you remember, the samurai of the two neighboring castles and at the at the places nearby hear all the commotion, and they come out to see what's going on. on page one-seventy-five. and they come out and they say <READING> what are all those wild noises coming from your mansion? we hear shouts, swords clashing, the cries of archers. what's going on? is it a drunken brawl? have bandits broken in? or has someone_ has some sudden decree come from the government? our master commands us to find out. narrator. their voices ring loudly. Yuranosuke answers at once. </READING> and remember Yuranosuke is our model of samurai behavior, he's our, ideal samurai here. and he says, in a loud voice h- he doesn't hide from anyone he says, <READING> we are the retainers of Enya Hangan. forty and more of us are fighting with every means at our disposal to avenge our master. i am Oboshi Yuranosuke and this is Hara Goemon, we have no quarrel with Takauji or his brother. nor do we bear any grudge against either Lord Nikki or Lord Ishido. so we promise to do nothing irresponsible. i have ordered our men to take the strictest precautions against fire. so you need have no worries on that account. we only ask, we ask only that you peaceably refrain from interfering. but if you can't turn a deaf ear to what happens in a neighbor's house, and send in reinforcements, we will have no choice but to retaliate with our arrows. </READING> he says we don't have a fight with you. but uh, but if you mess with us if you get in the way we'll kill you too, because, this is, this is what we have to do. and, the narrator says <READING> the men of both houses, hearing this bold proclamation shout back. the samurai say, what superb courage. every man who serves a master should behave as you are doing. call if you have any need of us. withdraw the lanterns. </READING> so they they all applaud and they say hey, great, right on you, kill Moronao there. <SS LAUGH> uh, at least uh, they're not gonna take sides they_ oh this is a good thing uh, vengeance revenge in this case this is what you oughta be doing and, and they praise them as a result, it's kinda interesting. okay. so, they, they take over the castle, they kill lots of people there but at first they can't find Moronao it turns out that he's hiding, he's run away and, and he's cowering in fear hiding but one of them, the narrator on page one-seventy-six says, <READING> Yazama Jutaro Shigeyuki drags in Moronao all but carrying him in his arms. </READING> he finds him. Jutaro says, <READING> hear me everyone, i found him hiding in the wood shed and took him alive. narrator. the others all rush up, bolstered in spirits like a flower touched with dew. Yuranosuke. nobly done. a tremendous feat. but we mustn't kill him hastily. after all he served for a time as a high officer of the government. the proper decorum must be observed, even when killing him. </READING> it's very interesting to note here the, the preoccupation with proper decorum. th- they've come here and they're going to kill Moronao all of this has gone on up to this point. all the sacrifices of, different characters and, uh the woman sold into prostitution and all of these awful things that have gone on towards this end, and now they seem to hold up, now we we can't just cut off his head like that we have to we have to do things properly, um, i think that's very interesting in this text um, i was talking to Jan the other day after class and she said that in some of the discussion sections, i think_ uh at least two of them maybe the other one w- didn't have time um, but but she said that that she discussed with the sections, um differences between uh samurai, ideals in Heike Monogatari, the Tale of the Heike, and Chushingura um, and and the great difference of course is that, during the time of the Heike Monogatari the the world, the world being Japan at that time was, at war, it was a time of war. and so, ways that samurai would distinguish themselves were through, through fighting through killing each other through being the first one into battle, through taking as many, heads, as possible. uh but in the world of Chushingura it's now a world of peace, so samurai have to find different ways to distinguish themselves to be upright, great noble samurai. so in this case it it has still a lot to do with decorum, doing things properly, doing things as they should be done, right. sort of this right sort of attitude. and so in this case Yur- Yuranosuke says, he says <READING> the proper decorum must be observed even when killing him. </READING> the narrator says, <READING> taking him from Jutaro he makes Moronao sit in the place of honor. </READING> this is great they're about to execute him i mean they've broken into his house and they're gonna cut off his head, but first they, have him sit in the primary place of honor, because it is his house, after all, even though they're gonna kill him. v- very nice of them, i suppose. Yuranosuke says <READING> we who are merely retainers of a retainer, have broken into your mansion and performed acts of violence because we wish to avenge our master's death. i beg you to forgive this gross discourtesy, and to give us your head without offering resistance. </READING> first he apologizes. so i'm very sorry we've broken in and committed all this violence now, uh, because it's come to this, you know please um, give us your head, and don't put up a fight <SS LAUGH> cuz we wanna do this, cleanly. um Moronao is a villain to the end. he's not a nice person he's a, a bad guy through and through so the narrator says, <READING> Moronao, master of deceit that he is, betrays no fear. </READING> Moronao, pretends to be a good samurai. he says <READING> i understand. i have long been expecting this. take my head. </READING> he's, seems to, s- says yes yes okay Yuranosuke fine, uh narrator says <READING> he puts Yuranosuke off guard with these words. only suddenly to draw his sword and strike at him. Yuranosuke wards off the blow, and twists Moronao's arm. </READING> and he, wrestles him to the ground and then they cut off his head. uh so finally Moronao doesn't have the dignity of, of a good death because he, he s- betrays himself in a way. he, uh finally betrays the samurai ideal by resisting. he, he resorts to deception, he lies, he tries to cheat his way out of it. uh and he gets his head cut off in the end. okay. uh, next they take the head and they have to offer it now as an offering to the memory of their dead master Enya Hangan and they and they offer incense. and you remember, who's the first person that gets to, gets the, the privilege, of lighting incense first? does anyone remember who this is? yes? 
S2: was it the one who dragged him out of the wood shed? 
S1: no he came second. well it it's, who else? 
S2: well then it was um, wo- 
SU-M: <WHISPERING> Kampei 
S2: <LAUGH> okay Kampei. 
<SS LAUGH> 
S1: Kampei. well it wasn't really Kampei because Kampei is dead, remember. but but Kampei because he died, because of the way that he died he made a great sacrifice for his lord he finally killed himself, you know we had that gut-wrenching, scene, literally. um, uh because of that, Kampei is allowed the the first privilege and so, Kampei's wife's brother, Kampei's brother-in-law Heiemon i- who's a very low ranking samurai offers the first incense. uh in Kampei's name. allowing Kampei to do that even in death then to have this great honor. uh, so they go through this, through through the motions. uh, Wakasono- Wakasanosuke Wakasanosuke shows up at the very end, and he and he comes in and he's in a great fluster and he says Oboshi, at the bottom of page one-seventy-nine <READING> Moronao's younger brother Moroyasu is attacking now at the front gate. if you commit suicide here, people will slander you even in generations to come, saying you were afraid of the enemy. you should withdraw to Lord Enya's family temple, the Komyoji. </READING> he takes for granted that they're all gonna kill themselves. they have to do this. and they knew this from the outset. if they go and behead Moronao they're all gonna have to kill themselves. because they're violating, a rule. it was not an authorized vendetta. uh in the Tokugawa period, it was possible to get authorization, for a vendetta. when we read Mori Ogai, next we're gonna read about that a little bit about, things that happened in those, those cases. if there was a wrongful death, so you could go to the government, and you could petition, the shogun, you could petition the government and say, i wish to have a license to go and kill somebody as a vendetta, and they would grant you that. but these samurai they don't have that, so they're not allowed to do this so they're gonna have to kill themselves. but they don't wanna kill themselves there, because if they kill themselves at the scene of the battle, people will think oh they were afraid of the attacking soldiers. so, so they get ready to withdraw. then we have the final climactic scene. or we already had the climax really but uh, Yuranosuke says, <READING> yes it would be best to end our lives before our master's tomb. we will withdraw as you suggest. i ask that you protect us from the rear. narrator. hardly had he spoken when Yakushiji Jiro and Sagisaka Bannai who must've been hiding in the mansion, suddenly leapt out. Yakushiji and Bannai. curse you Oboshi. we won't let you get away. </READING> remember these are the henchmen of Moronao these bad people who_ that have come up repeatedly in the story. so they jump out, so we have to, they have to be dealt with before this can end. <READING> narrator. they fall on him from left and right but Rikiya parries their thrusts. for awhile they fight together but, seeing his chance, Rikiya strikes with his broad sword and Yakushiji, slashed slantwise through the shoulder, breathes his last. with his necks with a next with his next sweep of the sword, Rikiya lops off Sagisaka Bannai's legs. and he helplessly expires on the spot. </READING> and from the note, you realize that, if you read the footnote that that there's a pun, on Sagisaka Bannai's name. so they even make, make a joke out of this getting his legs cut off, and dying there. <READING> all raise a shout of acclaim, well done, well done. and this praise will be echoed through ages to come for these loyal retainers. a sign his majesty's reign will last forever. we have recorded here their glory, ever renewed like the leaves of the (Damber.) </READING> that's the end, of the play. what are we missing? somebody, does anybody think there's something missing? i did. i got here_ yes, uhuh? 
S3: them, committing seppuku ?
S1: yeah them committing seppuku. why do you think we don't have that? why was that left out? 
S3: it was assumed? 
S1: it was assumed, certainly. mhm 
S3: but in the rest of the story it was always, [S1: mhm ] explained in great detail so the [S1: right ] it was odd that, [S1: right ] this time it wasn't there at all. 
S1: right i th- i thought so. because it, you know we do have sort of this um, needless gore, in other parts of the story too and um, this um real ex- extraneous um detailed descriptions of people killing themselves. we don't get that here. does anybody else, anybody have_ yeah? 
S4: maybe they wanted to end it on, a more happy note. [S1: right ] i mean, seppuku is honorable but i don't think it's ever, a joyous occasion. [S1: right ] and after being there for eleven hours i don't know, [S1: mhm ] maybe people would want, <S1 LAUGH> you know stay all that time just for, [S1: right ] i mean, [S1: right ] not that it's anticlimactic but it's not, necessarily something you leave feeling, happy. yeah 
S1: not a happy ending is it? yeah 
S4: but like, the vengeance and then, over. 
S1: i thought that too. and also there're forty-seven of them so, if we had to give a description of all forty-seven of them committing seppuku, <SS LAUGH> that could be another eleven hours of play. um ri- i thought that's what i thought though, i thought well it's not a very happy ending, and in this case, there's a sorta sense of gloom that yes they are going to all have to kill themselves now. and in, in the ac- the actual historical figures that's what they did. um, but, you know that, it's nice to leave that out because it, it really does end on a sort of victorious happy note. okay. so that's it for Chushingura anybody, any questions comments, (complaints?) okay, let's move on to, Ueda Akinari... alright it's a shame we only have one day on Ueda Akinari because he is, a very interesting writer. uh, eraser hmm. uh oh... well maybe i don't need the eraser. okay 
S5: oh it's on the s- music stand here. 
S1: oh it is. oh there it is okay alright well i'll just use, this (up here) okay Ueda Akinari. Ueda Akinari lived from seventeen thirty-four, to eighteen-oh-nine. so he came, considerably later. he wa- he was, he wrote, you know roughly a hundred years, roughly after Saikaku, and Chikamatsu. uh, Ueda Akinari came somewhat later. Ueda Akinari as you notice from the story, he was preoccupied with the supernatural. with foxes and badgers and snakes, and evil spirits and ghosts. and Ueda Akinari really believed in these things. uh for U- Ueda Akinari this w- this was serious business. this was part of the real world the world that we live in. uh, i- it was very much possible to be deceived by a fox, or by a badger, uh or to have a snake fall in love with you and uh and, and, love you to death. drive you to death. um, for Akinari this this was, real business. uh, Akinari was born in Osaka. uh, he was originally he was an illi- the illegitimate child of a prostitute, uh, but his mother died when he was three years old and he was adopted, by a very prosperous family in Osaka. um, he became interested in literature from when he was young he published his first poetry, uh Hai Tai, um, i don't think you're not_ you don't need to know Hai Tai, i'm not gonna write that on the board. uh Hai Tai when he was twenty-one years old, he published his first poetry, and, when he was in his twenties he came to be an avid reader of Chinese, colloquial fiction. colloquial Chinese fiction. this was fiction that was being written in China, uh in the previous couple of centuries, prior to when it, when Akinari was living. uh and a lot of the stories that he read, a lot of Chinese fiction were, ghost stories. uh these were things that he was interested in, and he started writing his own work, his own fiction when he, uh, entered his thirties. his first work of fiction he wrote when he was thirty-two years old. uh Akinari was first and foremost a scholar. when he, when he chose a profession eventually when he became older, he became first a doctor, and then a scholar. uh practicing medicine, and a scholar of Japanese antiquities of of what's called kokugaku... uh, kokugaku uh or, in English it can be called national learning. kokugaku in the Tokugawa period th- this um, the idea, of it's literally uh, the study of the country, the nation, the nation being Japan, the national learning. uh it was a study of Japanese language, of Jap- Japanese classics Japanese texts. and it was an attempt to, to recover the origins of, of Japan, Japanese history, uh the Japanese language, of Japanese mythology. uh and he became, a a scholar of kokugaku. uh became very interested in this and he wrote many books on kokugaku very serious scholarly works uh, for Ueda Akina- for Ueda Akinari fiction, was just a secondary concern, it was a kind of a pastime. uh, he wasn't all that serious about it. but his his real, pursuit his real, avocation was kokugaku. th- national learning. um, let's see. in seventeen seventy-six, seventeen seventy-six Ueda Akinari wrote, Ugetsu Monogatari which is the work that we're reading for today we're reading two stories from. Ugetsu Monogatari. it's uh in English, Tales, of Moonlight and Rain. Ueda Akinari actually did not write very much fiction in his lifetime. he didn't write very much at all. but this is his most prominent work. and he became famous for this. uh, people generally don't read his scholarship now, his kokugaku works. his more serious, w- uh works of study. but people read his fiction it's still loved today. he he became, a very important writer of fiction. Ugetsu Monogatari, uh, it's actually written, the character, for rain, and moon, and then our characters for monogatari. we've had this before with Heike Monogatari and, Genji Monogatari. uh so it's literally a monogatari, of rain and the moon. uh translated then, by Zolbrod as Tales of Moonlight and Rain. uh, so Ugetsu Monogatari, contains nine stories. we read two of them for today. uh all of these, are, stories about supernatural happenings. about ghosts and foxes, uh bad things that happen to people under mysterious circumstances, and much of this was based on Chinese fiction. uh, his works are not, we can't really call them translations, but they're adaptations of Chinese fiction often. both of the stories that we read today, are, that way they're both adaptations of, Chinese works. um, let's see, the first work we read for today was The House Amid the Thickets. uh, i should add too that that uh, Ueda Akinari was known as a contemporary of Motoori Norinaga. do you all remember Norinaga? who is Norinaga? Mo- i'll write that on the board somebody, even check, if you check your notes from before, you should remember. Motoori... Norinaga. does anybody remember? 
S6: wasn't he a commentator on The Tale of Genji? 
S1: right, that's right he wrote an important commentary on The Tale of Genji. good. he came up with the idea of mono no aware the pathos of things, he said and he used that, as a way of explaining the importance of, of the Tale of Genji. the Tale of Genji allows us to, to understand pathos to understand, sort of the feelings within, different people. and i- and in that way if we can learn to empathize with other people literature has value because it teaches us empathy. that was, that was what Motoori Norinaga thought. Motoori Norinaga's a big scholar at this time. Motoori Norinaga was also, a kokugaku scholar. he uh and he was dedicated to this idea of national learning, and Ueda Akinari was too and they had lots of debates. they carried on sort of written debates um, exchanging, uh polemical treatises with each other. uh and at one point Ueda Akinari criticized Norinaga. because Norinaga said, that there are no such thing, as magical foxes, and badgers, and magical snakes, and ghosts don't come and get people, it's not really real. it's all it's all made up, they're not real. and Ueda Akinari, became furious at that. and he said that's crazy there's irrefutable evidence for it. are you kidding? it's like some people with the U-F-Os now today i- just, becau- with all of the sightings that we have it's undeniable. Ueda Akinari says it's just irrefutable, that that of course they do this. and w- Akinari says, you know Norinaga, the only reason that he doesn't believe in them, is he has never personally been bewitched by a fox or a badger or a snake. and that's his problem. uh but as soon as it happens to him then he'll become a believer, is what he said. okay. um, so we had stories, of these things of miraculous, strange, encounters. things that cannot be explained. um, okay the first story, House Amid the Thickets. how was this by way by the way on the scale of uh, things that we've read? uh, you know hand way up being, very good and way down being, really bad, middle, [S4: eh ] good good? oh we get some high hands. okay. we got_ we had a so so here, <LAUGH> a sorta groan. um, okay. uh he's a lotta fun. i think i think Ueda Akinari's interesting. uh cuz his plots are so interesting they have such interesting twists. uh House Amid the Thickets. okay. House Amid the Thickets, uh, is based on a work of Chinese fiction, by a person named Ch'u Yu, um, and i'm, never gonna ask this on an exam so, this is, just for the heck of it i'm gonna write this down. Ch'u Yu, who wrote in thirteen seventies. just for your information. uh, a person named Ch'u Yu wrote a work of fiction in thirteen seventy-eight. uh that was similar to this tale but but somewhat different and in the original Chinese work, uh the woman, here it's Miyagi, uh the the Chinese woman is left by her husband, and eventually she kills herself she hangs herself. uh, because her husband, doesn't come back, and, um and some people there want to get to know her better and so, she retreats and, ends up hanging herself in order to escape, sort of the unwanted, advances, of some different people. uh, in that case the husband comes back and sees her again, she has a scarf tied around her neck from which she hang herse- hung herself by. and she tells him that that she will in fact be reborn, uh soon the next day as as a baby, a young boy. uh and tells him what village and he goes there and finds the baby and the baby cries and cries until it sees him and then it stops crying when it sees him so we get this strange story of rebirth too that was, that Akinari left out of this for the ghost story. but anyway, but there was an earlier model, in Chinese, that Akinari based his account on. mkay. Akinari's story, is set in, gee, um, Shimosa Province, in the year fourteen fifty-five, i think it begins. uh, so in the fifteenth century. and the account begins, i'm in the coursepack now, at the very beginning, <READING> in the province of Shimosa, district of Katsushika, village of Mama during the Kyotoku Era there once lived a man named Katsushiro. ever since his grandfather's time the family had dwelled here in prosperity, owning many fields and much rice land. but the youthful Katsushiro was lazy. he disliked working the land and regarded such labor as a dreary task. in consequence his wealth declined. his relations had less and less to do with him. eventually he grew ashamed of himself and longed to find some means or other by which he might restore his family's fortunes. </READING> uh immediately we get Katsushiro who's, who's not, a very endearing character he, he's lazy. he doesn't like to work hard. he's squandered his family's money. he's lost everything. he's ashamed of himself now. uh, he needs some get-rich-quick scheme. so he decides that he's gonna he's gonna find something a way to make a lot of money really quickly. uh, Katsushiro knows a person named Sasabe no Soji and they come up with a scheme to to sell Katsushiro's land, uh buy silk cloths, cloth, take it to the capital and sell it. make a big profit. he thinks they're gonna make a lot of money this way, and he decides to leave his wife Miyagi behind while he goes off to to get rich. um, we have to wonder i mean do you all think, does this, the the final, we see what happens to him he ends up encountering a ghost and, does this have like something to do with his character? or 
S4: i was shocked that, [S1: uhuh ] it just, pointed out in the text that seven years had just passed without him even knowing. [S1: right ] <LAUGH> it's like, okay. 
S1: <LAUGH> he's he's, awfully flaky. [S4: yeah ] yeah 
S4: a little ethereal 
S1: right, that's right um, he he allows seven years to go by well anyway he gets ready to depart, mkay uh, i'm again on the first page towards the bottom, and we have a description of his wife Miyagi. <READING> his wife Miyagi, who was beautiful enough to stop any man's eyes, had always taken good care of Katsushiro. but at this decisive moment she disapproved of his purchase of goods and of his projected journey to Kyoto. she did her best to dissuade him, but in the face of his impetuous nature all her efforts were in vain. and so, though deeply distressed by the uncertainty of her own future, she faithfully helped him to get ready. while you're gone i shall have no one to turn to, said Miyagi on their last night before the painful parting. my heart is sure to wander lost among the moors and mountains, and it will be a lonesome time for me. remember me day and night and hurry back. i shall pray with all my heart for your good health. no one knows what tomorrow may bring. be resolute, but still, feel pity for me. </READING> we have this parting speech. she's a, she's an interesting character. she disapproves, you know this is this is a bad idea. you don't_ you shouldn't sell the family land to, to go try and get rich quick in business. this is not, a good idea. uh but he insists, and so she says alright, and she sees him off. uh, he promises to return, and he says i'll be back in the autumn, don't worry, uh, i'll be back soon and he sets off. and she's left alone. uh time goes by, war breaks out, uh Sasabe he's robbed, he tries to make his way home and he's robbed and, loses all of his money and, and he's sick and someone takes care of him and he doesn't get better until the next spring, and he hears about fighting, near his hometown and he decides well, i can't really go home now she's probably dead anyway, so he decides just not to go back and he stays there. seven years, go by. seven years. did anybody see this coming? see nobody knew that Ueda Akinari liked ghosts before did you? you_ so, <SS LAUGH> uh okay so he decides to go back. on, one-ninety-four, the coursepack. page one-twenty-four in, in translation. uh, it gets to be the year fourteen sixty-one. uh and Katsushiro starts wondering what to do. towards the bottom of this last paragraph he says, <READING> i don't know what has become of my wife, who i left in my native village. and by staying these long years in fields that grow, the grass of forgotten love, how can i think of myself as a reliable person? </READING> if you all looked at all the notes there're a lot of notes, i hope you didn't look at all of them. but looked at some of 'em um, th- there're a lot of poetic allusions in the text. so Akinari wrote_ it's a it's a ghost tale but it's a very, it's very finely crafted, it's a very nice ghost tale. uh, so we have this sort of allusion to, grass of forgotten love it's a it's a, poetic kind of word. uh <READING> even though Miyagi may be dead and everything changed, i must at least go and find out and make her a grave mound. </READING> so he decides to set out, in search of his wife. so he goes home. page one-twenty-six, of the translation. towards the middle of the page. <READING> there, by the starlight that showed through a rift in the clouds, he at last recognized the tall pine tree that had been split by lightning. the landmark of his home. joyfully he went toward the house and saw that it had not changed. and he could tell that someone was inside. because through the chinks in the old door he spied gleams of light from a flickering lantern. what if it's a stranger? can it possibly be her? he thought, trembling with anticipation. he approached the door clearing his throat, and as he did so from inside immediately came a voice saying, who is there? true, it sounded aged and decrepit but he knew unmistakably that it belonged to Miyagi. can i be dreaming he wondered? his heart in turmoil, and he shouted, i've come back. it's a miracle that you've survived unchanged living alone in this wilderness. </READING> well we know what's gonna happen uh, it's a miracle s- i thought you were dead but, look at this you're still alive and he's overjoyed, you know fi- finally having come home. <READING> Miyagi recognized his voice and without delay opened the door. she looked black and dirty, with sunken eyes and hair that hung disheveled down her back. he wondered if she were indeed the same person. </READING> m- suspicious, you know there's something strange, about her. she doesn't look, quite human. uh, <READING> when she saw Katsushiro, Miyagi, without saying a word, uncontrollably began to weep. </READING> uh, she weeps and says oh, where have you been? what's happened? and they, they talk and talk uh, and eventually she says on, page one-twenty of the translation at the top she says, <READING> but now that you've come back i'm delighted, and all my reproaches for you are forgotten. i'm very happy now, but you should know that a woman could die of yearning, and a man can never know her agony. </READING> uh, we're gonna find out that, she died. and did she die of yearning? i don't know. why did she come back? 
S4: well i mean the poem she wrote is, i thought it made it pretty clear that she, [S1: right ] died because, of yearning for [S1: right. ] her husband. 
S1: yeah, i guess the poem does make it pretty clear doesn't it? i- in the original Chinese model, in the original Chinese text she kills herself, it's suicide. but here it, it's apparently not. maybe she dies of a broken heart and um, okay, on one twenty-eight, <READING> again she broke into weeping, and Katsushiro took her in his arms and comforted her saying, these nights are the shortest of all. and they lay down together. </READING> so they get to have one more, night of love here. <READING> in the cool darkness the window paper rustled as the breeze whispered through the pines. exhausted from his travel Katsushiro fell into a sound se- sound sleep. around the fifth watch however, when the sky began to grow light, he suddenly became partially aware of the world of the senses. he vaguely knew that he was cold, and groping with his hands he tried to pull up the covers, but his disu- but to his surprise, leaves rustled beneath his touch. and as he opened his eyes a cold drop of something fell on his face. </READING> he wakes up, and, and there's no house. it's_ the house is destroyed. uh he's sleeping, in the ruins of the house i believe right? aroun- surrounded by the house, but there's nothing there. my god what's happened? <READING> he wondered if it were the rain coming in and then he noticed that the roof was gone, as though torn away by the wind. and that it was daybreak, and the pale shining moon of dawn still remained in the sky. all of the shutters to the house were gone, and through spaces in the dilapidated latticework bed there grew high grass and weeds. the morning dew had fallen and soaked his sleeves wringing wet. the walls were covered with ivy and vines, and the garden was buried in tall (matter weed.) the season was still late summer, but the desolation of the house reminded him of autumn moors. Miyagi is not here. where could she have gone? he thought. and finding, upon finding that she no longer lay with him, have i been bewitched by a fox? </READING> as we find out it's not a fox. but in fact it's her spirit. and he finds her grave, in the house. uh where she's died and someone's buried her actually in the house. uh and he finds out that he's slept, with a ghost. um, so watch out. mm. <SS LAUGH> okay. uh he runs into a person by the name of Grandfather Uruma who explains what happened, how she did in fact die waiting for him. and, his heart too is broken. and the story ends, with him composing a poem. uh, about his love for his wife who he abandoned these seven years. uh and the very last lines in the story, <READING> the story of Miyagi and Katsushiro is brought back by merchants from time t- who from time to time have paid visits to that province. </READING> then we're given the origins of the story. this, Ueda Akinari tells us presumably this is a real story. uh we know that this is a work of fiction that Ueda Akinari, sort of crafted this from other sources. uh, but he presents this at least as being, you know a work of fiction. okay, next story. The Lust of the White Serpent. um, this is interesting it's the longest of the works, uh in Ugetsu Monogatari, in Tales of Moonlight and Rain. um, and it's the most convoluted in some ways with the most twists in the plot. it winds here and there back and forth. um, do you all_ i should ask you. you know these stories are similar in some ways to, some of the setsuwa that we read before. Konjaku Monogatarishu remember these stories about, people being deceived by foxes and that kind of thing? um, how would you say they were different? again this is a- another sort of a classic exam type question. hint hint hint. <SS LAUGH> um, ha- hu- what, in what way do you see a story like this as being different? yeah they're dissimilar in many ways. um, 
S6: well these don't have any religious messages. 
S1: uhuh. that's true. it's not preoccupied with a religious message. good. anything else? 
S7: the characters are more developed, [S1: uhuh ] and you see a more complex plot. 
S1: right. characters are definitely more developed. we have real, t- believable characters, and a much more complex plot. uhuh. any of you_ anything else? i see people writing furiously. i said that that... <LAUGH> <SS LAUGH> anything else that yeah. well i i guess uh, okay that's that's good. um, something to think about. they're, they're very different. um, Ueda Akinari, Ueda Akinari is interested in being entertaining. he's he's writing a story that he wants to be read as a work of fiction, as entertainment. he's not trying to teach a didactic uh, anything uh he's not trying to, to present a message. um, so, um it's fiction, and it's crafted it's well developed. okay the, the Lust of the White Serpent, begins, <READING> once upon a time though it matters not exactly when, in the province of Ki by the Cape of Miwa there lived a fisherman named Oya no Takesuke. he was rich in the luck of the sea and took care of many other fishermen who caught all sorts of things, broad of fin and narrow of fin, thus enabling his house to prosper. Takesuke had two sons and one daughter. his first son, Taro, was a simple but hard-working man. and his second child, a girl, had married someone from the province of Yamato, where she now lived. the third child named Toyoo, grew to be a gentle young lad, especially fond of polite accomplishments but with little practical sense. </READING> so again we have um, maybe a flawed character like Katsushiro maybe this uh, leads to his, being dece- did anybody think this? do you think it's, because Toyoo is who he is that he's, deceived by the snake? [S4: mhm ] uhuh uhuh. yeah it could be okay. the father says <READING> if i gave him his share of the inheritance, the father lamented, it would soon pass into other hands. even should another family adopt him to continue their line, i would eventually grow ill from hearing uncomplimentary reports. the best thing to do would be to let him develop in his own way, and become a scholar, or a priest, if he pleases. and for the rest of his life Taro could look after his needs. from then on he made no effort to restrain his son. </READING> um, okay. Ueda Akinari was a scholar. uh this is very ironic here. uh he was a scholar and he, sort of makes a jibe at the profession. uh maybe, since he's so incompetent at everything, and he's such an un- unreliable sort of person, i'll let him become a scholar, cuz that's about all he's good for. um, okay. uh, Toyoo is out in a rain storm, remember and he sees, Manago, a beautiful young woman, and, her maid, Maroya. and the first time he sees them he's out uh, he's out visiting, one of his masters that he's studying with. and it starts to rain and he seeks shelter and it turns out that this beautiful young woman also seeks shelter from the rain. page one-sixty-two. <READING> then strange to relate a sweet voice came from outside saying, please give me some shelter for a little while and a young lady entered. she seemed to be not yet in her twentieth year. she was very beautiful and she had lovely long hair and was dressed in an elegant kimono printed with a pattern representing distant mountains. a pretty maid fourteen or fifteen years old carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth accompanied her. and the pair looked, drenched and bedraggled. when the young woman saw Toyoo, her face flushed with embarrassment betraying her fine breeding. Toyoo felt an impulsive stir of excitement. and he thought to himself, i've never heard of such a splendid lady living nearby. </READING> turns out nobody's heard of her. nobody knows of this, sort of splendid beautiful young woman. um, if you knew that this was in the line of sort of Konjaku Monogatarishu stories i, all of you would immediately say, uh oh, you know watch out this is, there's obviously a problem here. a beautiful young woman who's nob- no one's ever heard of before. um, this could be a problem. uh, a problem that we have in the story, there's a there's a real problem of of reality, versus appearances. um this is really a central sort of, concern. uh, i'm just gonna put this on the board cuz it's so important. appearances versus reality... and it's not just a problem for the characters in the story, it's a problem for the reader. uh in the last story uh, The House Amid the Thickets we had the same problem. um the reader, doesn't know until w- the reader's in the dark, just as much as, as um, oh what's his name? that_ now i'm thinking about Toyoo. just as much as... ah what was our person's name? Katsushiro. Katsushiro doesn't know that it's a ghost that he slept with a ghost until the next morning. the reader doesn't know either, we have no way of knowing. uh, so Ueda Akinari, sort of leads us on, makes us think one thing, and then sort of pulls the rug out from under us. and then shows us no that's not really a_ that's not reality, this is reality. the t- and he tells us that. what's interesting about this story, about The Lust of the White Serpent, is this happens several times. we think we know what what's real what reality is, but we get, constant reversals. so he'll say, no this is actually reality and then a little while later no that's not really true this is reality. so it becomes very confusing, it's hard to tell what, what really is real in the story. okay. uh, Toyoo sees Manago and Maroya he, falls in love with them he, lends them his umbrella. uh his master's umbrella he says here take this umbrella so you don't get wet and they say oh thank you very much and they set off. and he has a dream that night, he has a mysterious dream, on page sixty-three, <READING> Toyoo found himself unable to forget even the slightest detail of Manago's appearance. after a fitful night's sleep toward dawn, he dreamed of visiting her house, the entrance and the dwelling itself looked large and grand, with the shutters tightly drawn and the screens lowered, as though she lived in comfort and elegance. Manago emerged to greet him saying, i couldn't forget your kindness, and i was hoping that you might come. please enter. and leading him inside she served him wine and various fruits until he flel- felt pleasantly intoxicated. she furnished him a pillow and they lay down together. when Toyoo awoke from his dream, he found that it was morning. </READING> so he has this erotic dream about, this woman that he's met that he's loaned an umbrella to. and immediately in the morning he has to go and see her. he sets off to find her. nobody's heard of her. what does he do? this is a problem. finally by chance, he sees her maid. Mayono, uh, uh M- i sorry Maroya. and he sees the maid Maroya and he asks her he says where where does your mistress live? uh he says i want to give you back your umbrella. on one sixty-four she says, <READING> how kind of you. and she smiles. please follow this way. and presently she lead him to an imposing gate in front of a spacious dwelling and said to him, here's where we live. the buildings corresponded in every detail down to the tightened shutters and the lowered screens to the palace he had seen in his dream, and he marveled at this as he entered. </READING> um, presumably he was gonna be a scholar uh, he, should've been reading Konjaku Monogatarishu maybe Tales of Times Now Past and maybe he had, an idea that something, funny's going on here. uh the palace is exactly as he saw it in his dream. well things things move on and we have a rel- revelation Manago tells us she says, guess what? well my husband has died i have no husband i'm husbandless. and in fact as they drink wine and they, they get drunk together, she says, i i would like it actually if you would be my husband now because i'm, without one and i need one. uh, on one-sixty-six, she actually says, she says <READING> after all, if i were not truthful and consequently fell ill, what innocent god might have to endure unjust accusations? </READING> she stresses the importance of truth, being truthfulness. Manago says i have to be, truthful with you because we_ it could have bad consequences if i lie to you. uh of course she's, lying apparently all the while. uh, so she, proposes marriage, and she gives him a sword, a valuable sword and he takes it home. uh, unluckily for Toyoo or maybe in the end luckily, he has an older brother. uh, and his older brother sees the sword and immediately gets angry, cuz he's squandering money on a sword. the brother actually says, on one-sixty-eight, <READING> in the past you've even wasted money on bothersome Chinese books. </READING> uh, a- again this is very ironic. remember Ueda Akinari was a great fan of Chinese, uh contemporary Chinese fiction the Chinese, uh colloquial fiction. um, and i too have wasted, a lot of money on Japanese books so. <SS LAUGH> um, there're some people in my family who might say the same thing. you even wasted money on Japanese books. so, i thought that was pretty funny um, it turns out that the sword is stolen. uh it's been stolen from the shrine, and the family decides to turn their son in Toyoo in, cuz he's a good-for-nothing anyway. he's he's no good he's only fit to be a scholar or a priest. uh so, they turn him in, and the authorities come to question him and he tells them, what he knows and they say okay we'll go search the mansion. uh, on page one-seventy-one they go to look at the mansion to see if what he said is really true. seventy-one <READING> the warriors acknowledged the command and forced Toyoo to lead them to Manago's palace but when the troop arrived there Toyoo discovered that the once imposing pillars of the entrance were rotted. and most of the tiling had fallen and lay smashed. and from the eves dense shinobu grass hung down, altogether lending the place an appearance of being deserted. </READING> strange. it's changed. one seventy-two. <READING> as the warriors opened the shudders to the main hall, a foul stench came forth, overcoming all who were present and causing them to fall back in horror. Toyoo watched speechless and with heavy heart. among the warriors one named Kose no Kumagosh- Kumagashi, a brave and robust soul shouted, come men follow me. and tramping with a loud clatter across the floor boards, he charged forward. a full inch of dust lay accumulated and rat feces were scattered everywhere. amid the ruins there hung curtains behind which a young lady, as still and lovely, uh as as still and lovely as a lotus blossom. </READING> and this turns out to be, Manago. they try to apprehend her and bam <SOUND EFFECT> there's a thunderclap, and she vanishes. disappears. okay. we're gonna find out later, they fi- they realize it was a, it was a fox or a badger or a_ we learn later it's actually a snake. some evil spirit. but she comes back. so now we think we know reality. okay we have, we thought we knew reality now we know reality, but when she comes back she finds Toyoo again. and she gives him an excuse, she says oh let me explain. it all makes sense. actually this was a, a plan concocted by my maid, uh to help scare away the the warriors, the samurai, and my husband stole the sword. so we get this whole explanation so again we have a problem of, what's real and what isn't? mkay we're about out of time today so, i'm gonna stop here continue later. there's a movie tomorrow, Indo-uh Ugetsu, uh showing, it's on the syllabus. Jan's gonna be showing that, upstairs, um, that's by a director named Mizoguchi it's from nineteen fifty-three, and, it's a combination you'll see of the two stories that we read today. Mizoguchi took the two accounts, put them together and reworked them and made a movie out of it. uh, hope you enjoy the movie. that's all. 
{END OF TRANSCRIPT}

