The Road to Komatsubara: A Classical Reading of the Renga Hyakuin (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

Carter attempts to reconstruct the'classical'reading of renga (linked verse) using extant rulebooks from the time, approximating in every way possible the manner in which it was read in its own time and place. The result is a rare glimpse into the literary conssciousness of the medieval Japanese that seems paradoxically modern in its insistence on the final indeterminancy of poetic meaning.Includes a full translation of the 1501 rulebook along with an annotated translation of a solo renga sequence composed in 1492 by Shōhaku's teacher and mentor, Sōgi. CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1. INTRODUCTION 2. THE EVOLUTION OF LINKED VERSE AS A POETIC GENRE 3. THE RULES OF COMPOSITION SHOHAKU'S RENGA RULEBOOK OF 1501 4. READING BY THE RULES THE BASIC OPERATIONS OF A RULE-BASED INTERPRETATION 5. THE ROAD TO KOMATSUBARA RENGA AND THE RENGA MASTER IN AN AGE OF STRIFE 6. SOGI'S SOLO SEQUENCE OF 1492 7. A FINAL WORD APPENDIXES Apppendix A Appendix B Notes Glossary A Glossary B Bibliography INDEX TO SHOHAKU'S RULEBOOK OF 1501 INDEX TO FIRST LINES OF POEMS GENERAL INDEX