A Study Of Japanese Acceptance Of Chinese Escapist Literature

Consisting of three parts in chronological order, the scope of this study is confined to the time from Nara period to Edo-period.Part 1 addresses Nara-Heian Period-also known as the "dark age of national customs", a period when Japanese tried to learn and absorb Chinese culture. At that time, there was no literati stratum in Japan as in China because there was no material or intellectual condition for that. Nevertheless, there did exist some poems and essays expressing admiring or escaping, but at best, they were only conceptual imitations of Chinese literature.Part II concerns Feudal-Kamakura-muromachi period --- non-peaceful times, when social crisis was very grave, negative thinking thrived, beliefs in pure land were popular, the number of believers in zen Buddhism was increasing, Buddhist fugacity was prevailing. In the poems and essays of five-mountain literature, the impact of zen sect could be found, strong Chinese flavor could be perceived. Monks had a strong tendency for escapism and loftiness. "Houjouki" and "Tsurezuregusa" appeared as the double master pieces of escapist literature in Japanese literature at that time, stimulating the development of Japanese escapist literature, differentiated from Chinese. Or rather, driven by Buddhist fugacity, literature within this period carried little political sense in view of escaping motivation.Part III is about Edo period when Confucianism became Japanese official ideology and Zhu Zi's philosophy became dominant. From this period, strata of scholar-bureaucrat and intellectuals began to emerge in Japanese history. They had the typical features of Chinese intellectuals. In terms of escapism, there were two works making records of escapists, serving as the signposts for subsequent studies. One is "Hontyoutonshi" by Hayashi dokkousai, the other is "Fusou initsuden" by Gensei shounin. But in fact, within this period, the escapists representing the escapism in action gave way to escapism in mind, typical of pastoral style of Chinese scholar-bureaucrat. The accounts of escapists are only false prosperity, to be exact, they are only lightning before death of the escapist literature.In terms of a macro view of the three periods and case studies, conclusions are drawn as follows:Chinese escapist literature is a cultural phenomenon which is continuously evolved; Japanese acceptance of Chinese escapist literature is obviously a dynamic process--- conceptual in Nara-Heian Period, Buddhism-oriented in feudal era, political ideology-connected in Edo period, when literature carried anti-system tints, convergent with Chinese.In addition, the comparative study of the origin of Japanese escapist literature is the thesis statement of this dissertation. Japanese escapist literature originates from three sources:firstly, Chinese Taoist escaping tradition, secondly, Japanese local escapist Buddhism, thirdly, escapist tradition represented by "saints". The third one is the result of the influence of Buddhist fugacity and renunciation. The influence was so big that the typical Japanese escapist culture with heavy religious tint came into being. Of course, among the three, Chinese escapist culture was the main stream and was the most influential, directly shaping and controlling the direction of the development of Japanese escapist culture. But in the process of accepting, many variances were formed, which differentiated a lot from Chinese ones because of the differences between Japan and China in such aspects as civilization level, social configuration, political climate. Concerning this, this study attempts to make analysis and then presents some ideas and viewpoints accordingly.