The Cultural Tradition of Japanese Poetry
JapanÆs poetic tradition has always been closely tied to JapanÆs cultural traditions. Perhaps the best example of this is the literary and cultural history of Murasaki ShikibuÆs ôTale of the Genji.ö ôGenjiö is a text of authority in Japan because it is considered required reading for all aspiring artists. However, there is no actual original text. Rather, the ôauthoritativeö text was edited from various versions of the story, and most Japanese artists learned the story through digests. Nonetheless, ôGenjiö represents what Haruo Shinare calls the ôintertextualityö of Japanese literature, which is also evident in contemporary poetry, such as that of Machi Tawara. ôGenjiö stands as the ôauthoritativeö cultural ideal that a continually modernizing Japanese culture has transformed, and sometimes subverted.
ôSoft powerö is evident in artwork when the artist and the viewer understand and respond to the work by applying various internalized values and cultural experiences. For example, Shirane argues that Japanese classical poetry and vernacular romance û monogatari, the category into which ôGenjiö falls û have often been called merely subjective and emotive artforms, based on nineteenth century Romantic literary philosophy (93). This philosophy viewed such ôlyrical expressionö as a creative, individual invention that did not refer to or incorporate other artistic or cultural texts or ideas (Shirane 93). Shirane disagrees, however, arguing that many Japanese literary forms did, in fact, incorporate variations of former texts and literary traditions.
For example, Shirane explores ShunzeiÆs poem ôSenzaishuö (82). On a first reading, the poem may appear to be only an emotive expression of loss or longing. But Shirane performs an analysis of the poem that reveals its reference to other Japanese texts and cultural experiences. This reading, however, requires ...