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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Soryo No Naka: Saigyo No Shukke To Homososharu Yokkyu To Waka, Jack C. Stoneman Aug 2016

Soryo No Naka: Saigyo No Shukke To Homososharu Yokkyu To Waka, Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

Among the many theories that attempt to explain Saigyo’s (1118-1190) sudden and dramatic transformation from samurai to Buddhist monk at the age of twenty three, the most controversial is what I am terming “the homosexuality theory.” At the time Saigyo, or Sato Norikiyo, as he was known before his tonsuring, left his family and career to become a monk, he was in the employ of Retired Emperor Toba (1103-1165) as a member of the Northern Guard (hokumen no bushi), an elite group of bodyguards and personal companions. According to the homosexuality theory, Saigyo became a monk in order …


Nishi E Yuku Saigyo: Eigoken Ni Okeru Kenkyu To Kyoju (Saigyo Goes West: Research And Reception In English), Jack C. Stoneman Sep 2015

Nishi E Yuku Saigyo: Eigoken Ni Okeru Kenkyu To Kyoju (Saigyo Goes West: Research And Reception In English), Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

This article and bibliography trace the reception of Saigyo in English language scholarship and translations from the mid-nineteenth century to the twenty-first century.


Saigyo No Uchinaru Basho: Saigyoka Ni Okeru Haikai Imajineshon 西行の内なる芭蕉:西行歌に於ける俳諧イマジネーション (The Basho Within: Haikai Imagination In Saigyo's Poetry), Jack C. Stoneman Sep 2011

Saigyo No Uchinaru Basho: Saigyoka Ni Okeru Haikai Imajineshon 西行の内なる芭蕉:西行歌に於ける俳諧イマジネーション (The Basho Within: Haikai Imagination In Saigyo's Poetry), Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

The renowned Saigyo scholar Mezaki Tokue wrote a famous essay called "The Saigyo Within Basho" (Basho no uchinaru Saigyo) in which he traces the influence of Saigyo's persona and poetry on that of Matsuo Basho. The approach of this essay differs as it aims to uncover and recognize the nascent aspects of Basho's poetics in Saigyo's own unique poetics. Certain aspects of Saigyo's approach to traditional waka poetry were in fact harbingers of what Haruo Shirane has termed "haikai imagination," the sort of poetic approach espoused and developed by Basho five centuries after Saigyo.


Why Did Saigyo Become A Monk? An Archeology Of The Reception Of Saigyo's Shukke, Jack C. Stoneman Oct 2010

Why Did Saigyo Become A Monk? An Archeology Of The Reception Of Saigyo's Shukke, Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

Though it is still impossible to know the exact reasons why the samurai and poet Saigyō西行 (1118-1190) became a Buddhist monk in the winter of 1140, there is value in asking the question one more time--not in an effort to find a definitive answer, but to see what answers have been offered and what those answers tell us about the reception of his poetry and persona. His decision to become a monk remains the great mystery of his life, and a central focus of both popular imagination and scholarly inquiry over the last eight centuries. In the process of attempting …


Between Monks: Saigyo's Shukke, Homosocial Desire, And Japanese Poetry, Jack C. Stoneman Oct 2009

Between Monks: Saigyo's Shukke, Homosocial Desire, And Japanese Poetry, Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

Among the many theories that attempt to explain Saigyo’s (1118-1190) sudden and dramatic transformation from samurai to Buddhist monk at the age of twenty three, the most controversial is what I am terming “the homosexuality theory.” At the time Saigyo, or Sato Norikiyo, as he was known before his tonsuring, left his family and career to become a monk, he was in the employ of Retired Emperor Toba (1103-1165) as a member of the Northern Guard (hokumen no bushi), an elite group of bodyguards and personal companions. According to the homosexuality theory, Saigyo became a monk in order …


So Deep In The Mountains: Saigyo's Yama Fukami Poems And Reclusion In Medieval Japanese Poetry, Jack C. Stoneman Dec 2008

So Deep In The Mountains: Saigyo's Yama Fukami Poems And Reclusion In Medieval Japanese Poetry, Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

Examining a set of poems exchanged by the monks Saigyō and Jakuzen, the author argues for their importance as records of a crucial moment in the development of religious reclusion imagery in waka. The author focuses on Saigyō, demonstrating how he created a new poetic space marked by a deepening of the tropes of sōan and yamazato, yielding a previously unarticulated realm of expression for his rigorous ideal of mountain seclusion. As “grass huts” and “mountain homes” became more commonly associated with hermits monks such as Saigyō, many of whom in fact spent the majority of their lives …


Constructing Saigyo: Poetry, Biography, And Medieval Reception, Jack C. Stoneman Oct 2005

Constructing Saigyo: Poetry, Biography, And Medieval Reception, Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

The late Heian-period poet/monk Saigyō (西行1118-1190) has long been considered one of the most talented of Japan’s waka poets. His poetry and his legend have found their place in elite and popular culture, spanning social class as well as multiple fields of cultural production, such as poetry, travel literature, painting, woodblock prints, nō and kabuki, and Buddhist tales, to name a few. This study aims to present the reader with a critical analysis of Saigyō, his poetry, and his legend by answering several key questions. Who was the historical Saigyō that lived from 1118 to 1190? How did he become …