Hagiwara Hiromichi's 'Genji monogatari hyoshaku': Criticism and commentary on 'The Tale of Genji' (Japan)

This study provides a comprehensive examination of the Genji monogatari hyôshaku (hereafter referred to as the Hyôshaku) with an emphasis on the “General Remarks” presented in the first two volumes of the work. Published between 1854 and 1861 by a distinguished poet and scholar of literature, Hagiwara Hiromichi (1815–63), the Hyôshaku is the last major commentary and criticism on The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari ; ca. AD 1000) from the Edo-period (1600–1868). The techniques Hiromichi employs in his literary analysis are not original to the Hyôshaku, but in selectively drawing from various critical traditions he creates a new approach to interpreting the Genji. In part, he draws upon the interpretive tradition stemming from Confucian scholarship which attempts to interpret the Genji in terms of its moral or didactic qualities. At the same time, he applies an opposing theory developed by scholars of National Learning (Kokugaku). In his “General Remarks” Hiromichi compares these two dominant interpretive theories and demonstrates ways in which both approaches fail to account for the complexity and literary sophistication of the Genji. He then introduces an interpretive approach designed to expose the compositional elements that comprise the Genji. In doing this he borrows from a critical tradition associated with the annotation and interpretation of vernacular fiction in China. The interpretive system he introduces is designed to simplify the complex structure of the Genji and make it possible for the uninitiated reader to readily appreciate the compositional techniques that define the Genji as a masterpiece of literature.