Setsuwa (literally, “spoken story”) is a genre of Japanese literature based on oral tradition, spanning a time period from the eighth to the fourteenth century. The stories are brief, stylistically direct, and, although they often involve supernatural characters and miraculous events, are narrated as if they were factual accounts. Setsuwa tend to be amusing, didactic, or a combination of the two, often apparently told and recorded for the sake of expounding upon Buddhist morals. Although all stories belonging to this genre began as oral narratives, the earliest survive only in writing, many in setsuwa collections (setsuwa-sh?) dating back as far as the ninth century.
The Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales offers a sampling of setsuwa from the most prominent historical collections. Burton Watson (known for his translations of Chinese and Japanese works such as The Tales of the Heike and Analects of Confucius) renders the stories into English while editor Haruo Shirane (professor of Japanese Literature at Columbia University) provides analysis. The book is designed to appeal to teachers and students as well as more casual readers. Shirane explains in the preface that he chose the stories based on their “historical importance and impact,” their “ability...to represent the character and function of a particular setsuwa collection,” and their “readability in English and sheer entertainment value” (ix). However, while The Demon at Agi Bridge certainly succeeds as an educational tool, those looking for an entertaining read, with no more than a casual interest in Japanese literature or folklore, are likely to be disappointed.
The book begins promisingly enough with an introduction by Shirane that, despite its brevity, leaves even an uninformed reader with a detailed understanding of setsuwa. In less than ten pages it manages to thoroughly explore the complicated nature and history of these stories, emphasizing their diversity rather than attempting to simplify or generalize. The editor’s enthusiasm for setsuwa is also apparent as he discusses their exciting, fantastic elements and the echoes of their widespread influence throughout Japanese literature.
The rest of the book is devoted to seven different setsuwa collections, many of which will be familiar to anyone with a background in Japanese literature, such as Record of Miraculous Events in Japan (Nihon ry?ki), and Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku monogatari sh?). The book progresses through these collections in more or less chronological order, prefacing each one with a few pages of analysis, and presenting a handful of stories from each one, with the exception of Tales of Times Now Past. Owing to its breadth (the original collection spans thirty-one volumes), Shirane and Watson tackle Tales of Times Now Past in four thematic chapters, each with its own introduction and offering of setsuwa. Watson has translated each story into smooth, perfectly comprehensible English prose, while still managing to retain a sense of its age and the feel of the original Japanese narrative style. Along the way footnotes help to further contextualize the stories without becoming obtrusive, and occasional pieces of artwork from Edo-period woodblock editions of the collections entertain in addition to providing a glimpse of how the setsuwa were once experienced.
It is easy to see how teachers and students of Japanese literature and folklore alike may benefit from this book. Shirane’s analytical segments alone make for an excellent introduction to the genre of setsuwa as well as the historical and cultural background behind the collections. Meanwhile Watson’s translations render the stories readily accessible. Students could read through the entire selection of setsuwa, gaining an appreciation for the evolution of the genre over time and the stories’ remarkable variety, or teachers might find it more useful to approach the book as a guide to some of the most influential setsuwa, supplementing a lesson with individual stories that best exemplify a specific style or theme, or as part of a comparative study with other pieces of folklore. Even if it’s not for educational purposes, readers familiar with Japanese culture will find several interesting surprises. For example, Japanese film or literature buffs may already know that Akira Kurosawa’s Rash?mon (1950) was based on two short stories by Ry?nosuke Akutagawa (“Rash?mon,” 1914, and “In a Grove,” 1922), but how many people can claim to have read the twelfth-century setsuwa on which those stories were based?
Unfortunately, beyond its entertainment value as a learning experience, The Demon at Agi does not for the most part make for an enjoyable read. This is not to say Shirane and Watson have done an unsatisfactory job. On the contrary, I believe they did all they could to make the setsuwa as interesting as possible given the constraints of the book. But the translations are first and foremost faithful to the originals, rather than going out of their way to be palatable to the modern reader, as even a cursory glance at the table of contents reveals. For instance, one setsuwa is entitled “On Ransoming Some Crabs and a Frog and Setting Them Free, She Was Immediately Rewarded by Being Saved by the Crabs” (18), leaving little more to be said in the story itself. Moreover, as previously mentioned, many setsuwa were designed in order to convey moral principles and are therefore somewhat dry, such as “On Receiving the Immediate Penalty of an Evil Death for Collecting Debts in an Unreasonable Manner and with High Interest” (20), which sounds more like a legal treatise than what most envision when they hear the word “story.”
Regardless of the skill of the translator, something is inevitably lost in the transition, and it must be remembered that, at first, setsuwa were experienced orally, in a language and culture more intimately familiar to their intended audience. Certainly several of the setsuwa found in The Demon at Agi are interesting in their own right, and anyone looking to learn more about Japanese literature or folklore will be delighted with this book. Those simply in the market for an engrossing read, however, might try starting with Ry?nosuke Akutagawa.
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[Review length: 994 words • Review posted on October 10, 2012]