Case Studies 7: Historical Tales

In my case study, I examine the interrelation of time and emotions in the still only partially explored historiography Fusō ryakki. The text was probably written at the beginning of the 12th century and presents a general account of Japanese history from the allegedly first human ruler Jinmu (660 BCE) up to Horikawa’s reign in the year 1094. A marked characteristic is its distinct Buddhist and global historical perspective. Further remarkable is the temporal alignment of events according to the Japanese and Chinese time reckoning in combination with the number of years that have passed since the death of the historical Buddha. Another characteristic is the tendency to record negative events, which gave the source its reputation of being written with the intention to promote the perspective of the final Buddhist age of dharma decline (mappō). Yet despite its overall Buddhist appearance, large parts of its narrative are at the same time taken from the six official court historiographies (Rikkokushi) as well as courtier diaries, which reveal a strong interest in courtly affairs. In addition to the already difficult localisation of the Fusō ryakki between the court nobility and the Buddhist clergy, there are numerous other yet unresolved questions regarding the selection of events, the compilation process, the historical perspective and the pluralistic narrative structures.

Courtly chronicles are usually considered to have little narrative value, as they are often limited to a simple registering of single events and repetitive occurrences such as  appointments or courtly and religious ceremonies. In contrast to the private chronicles and courtier diaries, written in Sinitic Japanese (kanbun), historical tales seems to present a much richer and obvious material for the representation of emotions. Even if this is largely true, it is precisely this rather simplistic characterisation that I seek to question in my project study. Even factual event descriptions contain traces of past experiences and value judgements. In case of the Fusō ryakki, the uncertain compiler (or compilers) did not only write an account of factual courtly and monastic events, he or she or even they also inserted excerpts from tale literature and anecdote collections (setsuwa) that contains a greater narrative density. Examples are descriptions of situations and places, hagiographies of eminent monks or courtiers and legends of the origins of temples.

In order to clarify the interrelationships between the various temporal structures and the emotional content comprised in narrative passages, I make use of historical discourse semantics and hermeneutic textual analysis. The focus is on the various concepts and practices of time, which are explored through word field analyses and contextualisations of historical and religious references. Especially concerning the pessimistic historical perspective that has often been attributed to the Fusō ryakki since Hirata Toshiharu’s basic assessment in 1956, expressions of grief, resignation or surprise offer good starting points for examining the scope of emotional temporality in the courtly-clerical memory praxis of the early 12th century.