Appraising Genji: Literary Criticism and Cultural Anxiety in the Age of the Last Samurai

CHAPTER TWO. Hagiwara Hiromichi: Masterless Samurai and Iconoclastic Scholar

Chapter Two HAGIWARA HIROMICHI: MASTERLESS SAMURAI AND ICONOCLASTIC SCHOLAR 27 Hagiwara Hiromichi was born in 1815 and died in 1863, less than five years before the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the beginning of Japan’s modern era in 1868. His contributions to the literary arts of premodern Japan are extraordinary in many ways, but the failure of the modern literary establishment to embrace his greatest achievement makes the story of his life’s work all the more compelling. His approach to literature exemplifies the dynamic spirit of a period in which intellectual, social, and commercial interests converged to transform and transcend century-old traditions. His commentary on The Tale of Genji draws upon a variety of disciplines and interpretive traditions to deliver this complex classical text, once a sacred treasure of the aristocracy, into the hands of an avid and sophisticated popular readership. He was not the first to use commentary and criticism to promote Genji’s importance as a work of narrative fiction, but he was the first to clearly articulate and consistently implement such a goal with a broader readership in mind.To appreciate the significance of Hiromichi’s accomplishments, we must begin with a brief examination of the social and intellectual milieu from which he came. The Edo or Tokugawa period (1600–1868) is commonly associated with economic, social, and cultural developments resulting from an extended period of stability, urban growth, and commercial expansion. Improvements in literacy rates and standards of living generally accompanied these changes.The inhabitants of major urban centers benefited most directly from the economic and social gains of the Edo period. For those fortunate enough to live in major urban centers, the most concentrated site of this cultural dynamism, many traditional distinctions of class and social hierarchy lost the sense of sanctity they had held in earlier periods. Art, entertainment, and intellectual inquiry became much more pluralistic in nature as a result. However, these gains did not come without a price. Tokugawa rule was established through military domination. For over 250 years, fifteen successive heads of the Tokugawa clan vigilantly guarded the title of Shogun through absolute control. Loyalty to the Shogun, and by extension obedience to one’s social superiors, was highly valued under a pax Tokugawa that rested precariously on the unstable 28 APPRAISING GENJI foundation of military dominance and political paranoia. Beginning in 1635, domainal lords were required to alternate residence between their local domains and the capital on a regular basis under a system called sankinkōtai. The alternate attendance system not only forced domainal lords to spend a significant portion of their time under the watchful eye of the Shogun but also generated the kind of traffic that created a pressing need for the expansion and standardization of trade, transportation, legislation, and commerce on Figure 1 Genji monogatari hyōshaku 1854 First page of the “Kiritsubo” chapter MASTERLESS SAMURAI AND ICONOCLASTIC SCHOLAR 29 a nationwide level. During the Kyōhō era (1716–1736), under the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune, currency, legislation, and arbitration all underwent national standardization to facilitate administration by centralized Shogunal governance.1 Reforms promulgated during this era also prohibited the publication of “works containing obscene or unorthodox material, erotica,... works in which the true name of the author and publisher are not clearly indicated, and those depicting the Shogunate.”2 The promulgation of censorship laws designed to shield the Shogunate from unflattering portrayals in print is a testament not only to the length to which the Shogunate was willing to go to protect itself from possible criticism but also to increases in literacy and the consumption of literature across various social classes in Japan at the time. The merchant class benefited most from these developments as samurai interests turned from military dominance to the cultivation of cultural sophistication and material comforts. Domestic stability and the emergence of an economy that integrated all of the major commercial sectors of the nation combined to produce a flood of cultural and artistic accomplishments and innovations by the Genroku era (1688–1704). Not all segments of Japanese society were buoyed aloft by the tides of change. Members of the warrior and aristocratic classes were bound by codes of honor and Confucian ethics prohibiting their direct participation in commerce. As they clung to social status and failed to capitalize on emerging economic developments, their financial base shrank relative to...