Abstract:
This work comprises an in-depth study of wz/ca poetry by Muromachi poet-monk Shotetsu (1381- 1459) included in his poetic treatise Slwtetsu Monogatari (ca. 1448). His compositions are appreciated in the context of his own life experience and the external environment in which he lived, with particular emphasis placed on understanding and attempting to resolve the apparent paradox existing between Shotetsu’s detached, rarified, highly aesthetic poetry and the turbulent age in which he lived, a contradiction which appears to challenge the prevalent theory of the essential contextuality of all literature. Chapters describing Shotetsu’s life and the historical, political, social, cultural and spiritual currents of his era constitute the first part of this dissertation, providing a detailed picture of the ‘context’. The second part of the dissertation is dedicated to an analysis of Shotetsu’s poetry as described above. An overview of Shotetsu’s poetry is provided, in which we attempt to explain the thematic and imagistic range of his poetry in terms of the poet’s simultaneous exercise of both conservatism and innovation. The role ofyugen (‘mystery and depth’) and its interchangeability withyoen (‘ethereal beauty’) in Shotetsu’s poetic is singled out for particular discussion in view of its paramount importance to Shotetsu. A detailed annotated translation with interpretation of all poetry by Shotetsu contained in Shotetsu Monogatari follows. The dissertation concludes with an evaluation in which we determine the extent to which we believe a contextual interpretation can be applied to Shotetsu’s poetry.
