FOR A COMPLETE AND ELEGANT TRANSLATION OF THE ENTIRE WORK HERE DISCUSSED, SEE

KEENE, DONALD TR. ESSAYS IN IDLENESS: THE TSUZUREGUSA OF KENKO. (COLUMBIA, 1967)

YOSHIDA KENKO: 吉田兼好（1283-1352） FROM A FAMILY OF SHINTO PRIESTS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE KAMO SHRINES IN KYOTO.

REAL NAME: URABE KANEYOSHI.

ZUIHITSU: 随筆
ACCOUNT, IN 244 SECTIONS, OF REPORTAGE ON AMUSING EVENTS OF HIS TIME,
OF HOW MEN AND WOMEN SHOULD LIVE IN THE WORLD, OF STYLES OF WRITING
AND FEELING THAT ARE NEO-CLASSIC, A RETURN TO THE
STABILE SENSITIVITIES OF THE HEIAN ERA.

MAIN POINTS:

HOW TO LIVE WELL IN A WORLD THAT IS GROWING STEADILY WORSE.

TRADITIONALIST - CONSERVATIVE.

RECLUSIVE IN THE MEDIEVAL TRADITION OF CHOMEI AND SAIGYO,

BUT NOT IN RENUNCIATION OF KYOTO AND ALL IT REPRESENTS.

A MONK WITHOUT A MONASTERY.

A COMTEMPLATIVE WITHOUT RELIGION.

THEME:

AESTHETICS (APPRECIATION OF THE BEAUTIES OF) MUTABILITY
WITHOUT FEAR.

HAPPY RESIGNATION.

HAKANASA WITHOUT REGRET.

BEAUTY OF SIMPLE THINGS - THINGS LEFT UNDONE.

"SUGGESTION VERSUS CLIMACTIC EXPRESSION." (KEENE)

LITERARINESS:

COMMAND OF THE LITERARY LANGUAGES OF ALL PREVIOUS

ERAS LEADING TO AESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ON WHAT IS

THE BEST IN JAPANESE CULTURE, AND WHAT IS MERELY

PASSING. STATEMENT OF UNIVERSALS OF CRITICAL

JUDGEMENT BASED ON IDEAS FROM SHINTO, TAOISM,

BUDDHISM, AND HEDONISM.

SAMPLE SECTIONS:

(Special reference to complete translation in

Keene, Donald. Essays in Idleness-The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko. Columbia:1967)

PREFACE - "To while away the idle hours.... (Keene text 231, Keene 2)

SECTION 3-"However gifted and accomplished a young man may be...."
(Keene text 231-32, Keene 5-6)

SECTION 31-"One morning after a pleasant fall of snow...."
(Keene 31-32)

SECTION 32-"About the twentieth of the ninth month...." (Keene 32)

SECTION 55-"A house should be built with the summer in mind...."
(Keene text 238, Keene 50-51.)

SECTION 107-"Few men can give a quick and apt response to a witticism
from a woman." (Keene 89-90

SECTION 137-"Are we to look at flowers in full bloom, at the moon
when it is clear?" (Keene text 239-40, Keene 115-121).