GPJS GPJS

International Graduate Program in Japanese Studies, Tohoku University

My IntegrationGPJS Staff Interviews

The power to overcome
challenging problems,

the strength to survive

— all of it is found in
literature.

14
Graduate School/Faculty of Arts and Letters
Tohoku University, Professor

YOKOMIZO Hiroshi

Uncovering courtly narratives after The Tale of Genji.

I spent my undergraduate and graduate years at Waseda University. Upon receiving my bachelor’s degree at the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, School of Education, I entered the Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. My impressions of the two Schools were distinctly different. The School of Literature accumulated prodigious students whose main weapons were sense and intuition. Their ability to discern the essence of the work or predict the narrative development was unrivalled. On the other hand, the graduates from the School of Education were mostly aspiring educators who took a down-to-earth approach and excelled in empirical research.

Proceeding from the School of Education to the Graduate School of Literature, I absorbed the best of both research cultures. Since I took a position at the Graduate School of Arts and Letters, I have had multiple opportunities to cooperate with external departments and organizations, first and foremost as a contributor to the International Graduate Program in Japanese Studies (GPJS). I come across researchers with stances and approaches very different from my own; that I enjoy these interactions despite all the differences is likely due to my experiences as a graduate student.

Our Department of Japanese Literature is dedicated to indiscriminate research of all literature (arts and letters) from ancient times until today. I perfectly understand that works of any period are appealing in their own way. This is why I always try to look at the student’s chosen object of study through their eyes, their sphere of interests, and to engage with it proactively and enthusiastically, even when the work of question is far removed from my own area. I most likely fostered this attitude at the School of Education, getting immersed in works from various periods as I explored the tradition and history of Japanese literature.

My study of classical Japanese literature started with a graduation thesis on Wagami ni tadoru himegimi (The Princess in Search of Herself, 1259–78). A pseudo-classical tale (a term for fiction from Kamakura to the early modern period that focused on the lives of the Heian aristocracy) composed in the 13th c., Wagami ni tadoru himegimi is a rare case that features an empress as a protagonist. I had wondered since my high school years if The Tale of Genji (early 11 c.) was the only courtly tale ever written. Studying Wagami ni tadoru himegimi, I learnt that numerous other works followed The Tale of Genji for two, no, three hundred years after its creation. Some of those were great works of art; yet, the common public today hardly recognizes their very existence. I wish to unearth such buried masterpieces and make it widely known that the history of courtly narratives continued well into the 12th, 13th, and even 14th centuries. This ambition led me into graduate school, and it continues to drive my research today.

Developing classical literature studies in an interdisciplinary direction.

One branch of classical literature studies concerns itself with the research on lost tales. We now know about two hundred stories lost to history: only the title or some fragments remain. Researchers have been employing various sources to reconstruct these stories and trace cultural circumstances around them. Tohoku University holds a vast collection of scattered manuscript pieces. Still more can be found all around Japan. Instead of letting our imaginations run wild based on the few fragments at hand, we should gather as many as possible and thus form a more precise image of the work. With archival work thriving at present, quite many of these manuscript pieces have been digitized and catalogued.

Furthermore, mastering AI technologies may open the way to discoveries beyond human capacity. I hope that such advanced research will help us learn who created those tales and through what means, who read them and why. In other words, we might finally be able to reconstruct the historical and cultural background of courtly narrative fiction.

Deciphering some remaining text is, of course, one of the greatest pleasures in the study of classics. Still, I believe that the long history of the text is also rich in drama and it is just as exciting to explore the background of its creation and its intended readership, or the journey it has made after leaving the author’s hands. The Tale of Genji, too, more than once tottered on the brink of extinction as it weathered countless wars. But always someone recognized its cultural value and strived to restore it to its former shape and pass it on to the next generation. This is how this monumental work of fifty-four volumes has survived to this day.

In recent debates around the origins of The Tale of Genji, the interest has shifted from the personal work of Murasaki Shikibu as an isolated author to the text’s connections with other literature of the period or the analysis of the contemporaneous Heian court society. Scholars now focus on the practical aspects of the novel’s creation, including, for instance, the impact of the all-powerful statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga. This new approach borders on sociological inquiry. I expect that from now on the research on Japanese classics will take an interdisciplinary turn, borrowing not only from sociology but also from aesthetics and history. These new trends, too, underscore the significance and appeal of GPJS, which brings together researchers in humanities and social sciences.

Drawing the attention of Japanese literature researchers overseas.

My current duties include working with the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS), the world’s greatest association for scholars studying Japan; I have also participated in the Association’s triennial conferences. The greatest defining feature of EAJS is its focus on Japan, and it has been a place of meeting and exchange for veteran and young scholars alike. These exchanges have proved that many people wish to know how Japan, this East Asian island country, has cultivated such a rich literary tradition and developed it into distinctly “Japanese” literature.

And yet, my involvement with EAJS also left me somewhat dissatisfied. There was little opportunity for us to speak with foreign students studying Japan. Thus I decided to mobilize GPJS to learn about their interests and endeavors. Since 2017, I have organized student-centred workshops almost every year, bringing Tohoku University students to various universities in Europe. Besides providing an opportunity for direct exchange, this initiative has inspired some foreign students to join the Department of Japanese Literature.

Some of these exchange students come to our department wishing to study The Tale of Genji; at the same time, more and more these students are eager to find and introduce works still unknown in Europe. This is a very happy development. Furthermore, students join us because they are fascinated by the court culture of the 10th-11th centuries, quite unique even by global standards. They are eager to know what shaped the culture where court ladies debated with men, composed works of fiction, and enthusiastically exchanged opinions on different matters. This interest drives them to study genres such as female diary literature.

The main purpose of GPJS is to give us an opportunity to go beyond Japan and engage in a dialogue with overseas scholars. I myself have sometimes wondered whether a foreigner can deeply engage with Japanese literature: after all, they grew up in a different culture, possess a different background, and must lack the specifically “Japanese” sensibility. However, a scholar of true talent can understand Japanese fiction just as well as a native reader; moreover, they can draw on their own national sensibilities and values, offering interpretations not evident to a Japanese reader. It is my earnest hope that GPJS allow our students to meet such researchers.

The key to solving current problems lies in the past.

One of the announced goals of GPJS is to address “issues in contemporary society.” There are various ways to search for an answer to a problem. One of the strongest points of GPJS is that it gathers leading researchers from different fields and allows them to propose solutions from their own disciplinary standpoints. Personally, I always try to maintain a research perspective that connects the distant past with present times. Contemplating our past with contemporary issues in mind, we realize that some of these already existed long ago. Then we can study how our predecessors tackled and overcame these problems. In doing so, we may discover ways and strategies applicable nowadays.

Contemporary issues are not limited to global-scale calamities such as disasters or wars. There are also universal challenges inherent in human life such as old age or illness. We can learn how people of the past perceived and dealt with such challenges in the course of their lives. Literature can provide us with all sorts of relevant materials: after all, the habit of writing things down developed ages ago.

People in some faraway places can gather the will to live from the creations of Japanese literature. Translations should work just as well as original texts. Some issues may seem irrelevant at first glance, yet they frame every individual life, including ours. When facing a difficult problem, we can find the strength to live on in stories. Here, I believe, lies the power of literature.

Profile
  • Completed the doctoral program in Japanese Literature at the Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, in 2003. Received the Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (PD). Worked as a research associate at Shinshu and Waseda Universities and as a senior lecturer at Shumei University before being appointed to his current position at Tohoku University.
    Co-editor for the book Taketori Monogatari emaki [The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter Picture Scroll] (Benseisha Publishing, 2007) as well as edited collections Opening Classical Japanese Literature to the World: Presentations at EAJS (Benseisha Publishing, 2022) and Chūsei ōchō monogatari no shintenbō: jidai to sakuhin [New Prospects on the Development of Courtly Narrative fiction during the Medieval Period: Times and Works] (Kachosha, 2023.) Authored the book Ōchō monogatari ronkō: monogatari bungaku no hazakaiki [Discussing Medieval Court Tales: Monogatari Literature in Transition] (Benseisha Publishing, 2023).
  • Main Fields of Research: Classical Japanese Literature
  • Tohoku University Researcher Profile