topics: |  japanese | fiction | poetry | lit

One is struck time and again by the level of literacy and records being
maintained in the 17th / 18th centuries.  In essence the practice of
broader literacy started in China and Japan and Korea, with the
invention and spread of the printing press.  The European printing press
tradition started much later (possibly influenced via ideas migrating
East-West via the Mongol empire).  However, post-industrial revolution, the
improved printing presses and processes were re-introduced in the orient.

Thus, during the opening period covered in this book, the dominant form
of mass literature were in the form of wood cuts.  The end product -
books primarily based on images - had had a long history.  It was only in
the 18th century, the yomihon (books to be read) emerged, with literacy,
as a popular genre.

The Yomihon style of popular literature [yomi = read; hon=book) are
books to be read, as opposed to be recited or picture-books to be seen.
They incorporate many bizarre elements and were popular in Edo in the
19th c.  They are often written in a elegant style with many allusions
to classical Chinese and Japanese texts.

The Hakkenden, excerpted next, is among the most popular of the genre.

Ch16: Late Yomihon: History and the Supernatural revisited

Satomi Hakkenden (eight dogs of Satomi), 1850

author: Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848) (also known as Takizawa Bakin, b. to a Samurai family in Edo)

from The eight dog chronicles (composed 1814-1842) [Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (lit. Satomi and the eight “dogs”), an epic work of the late yomihon genre published in 106 volumes. It was written over thirty years, towards the end of which Bakin became blind and his daughter-in-law scribed the last parts. wiki: Nansō Satomi Hakkenden ]

 
Yanagawa Shigenobu, cover illustration for Kyokutei Bakin, Eight Dog
Chronicles [Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, 南總里見八犬傳] (early 19th c.)

[Fusehime confronts her father, the samurai warrior Yoshizane, as she is
about to commit suicide.  she has refused to abandon her present dog-husband
for a man he has selected.]

	"Please don't try to stop me. If love goes too far, it turns into
	cruelty. ..."

	Fusehime reached for her short sword, unsheathed it, and thrust it
	into her belly.  She moved the blade sideways, cutting herself open
	in a straight line.  A strange white mist rushed out of the wound.
	Undulating, the mist enveloped the string of 108 crystal prayer beads
	around her neck and lifted them up into the air.  [The string breaks,
	and eight large beads, giving off light and circling, beoome
	dazzling globes of light.] 

	Yoshizane and the others could do nothing to stop her.  A harsh wind
	roared down from the mountains and carried off the eight soul-lights.
		p.496

[The eight beads are born as boys to women in the Edo area.  They all have
inu (dog) in their names, and have a similar birthmark.  They are the eight
heroes of this immense narrative, published as 108 volumes.]

 
fusihime with her dog husband

Plot summary

about the story, from the Tokyo Kabuki Theatre's notes, as cited in
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.in/2011/01/eight-dog-chronicles.html

The Satomi clan is being attacked and its lord offers his daughter Princess
Fuse to the warrior that will bring him the head of the enemy. It is his
loyal dog that kills and beheads the enemy and, saying that her father must
not go back on his word, Princess Fuse goes with the dog.

Nevertheless, the Satomi clan is defeated and one of its loyal retainers
goes to rescue Princess Fuse, shooting the dog, but unfortunately shooting
Princess Fuse as well. The eight crystal beads of her rosary, each engraved
with the Chinese characters of one of the Confucian virtues, goes flying
through the air.

Miraculously, each will be found with a newborn baby. These eight children,
all of whom have the character inu for "dog" in their names, eventually meet
and join together to restore the Satomi clan. The play features all the stars
of the company and follows the adventures of the eight dog warriors as they
meet and gradually join together, leading to a climactic fight on the roof of
a dizzyingly high tower."http://www.kabuki21.com/aout2006.php

---

the original 19th c. volumes from the National Diet library:
(http://www.library.metro.tokyo.jp/Portals/0/edo/tokyo_library/english/modal/index.html?d=33)
 


 
The poster from March 1969 of of the tôshi kyôgen production of "Nansô Satomi
Hakkenden" at the National Theatre.
http://www.kabuki21.com/hakkenden.php