What is it about?
Translation of a travel diary, Souvenirs for the Capital (Miyako no tsuto 都のつと ca. 1350), by Sōkyū, a lay priest poet active in the mid-14th century. Sōkyū departs from Kyoto and travels northeast into the Tōhokū region as far as Matsushima (near present-day Sendai). Along the way he composes traditional waka poetry, demonstrating particular interest in learning the origins and history of utamakura, or famous place names in the poetic canon.
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Why is it important?
This new translation of the travel diary attempts to draw out more explicitly the historical context in which Sōkyū is working, as well as highlight the ways in which he engaged socially and intellectually with each of the famous places he visited.
Perspectives
I specialize in premodern Japanese literature and visual culture, with expertise in travel writing, poetry, calligraphy, and narrative handscrolls. My research is founded in examining the historical contexts in which works of literature and art were created. In my book project, Aesthetics of Space: Representations of Travel in Medieval Japan, I examine travel journals by ruling elites in the Northern Court of 14th-century Japan, and investigate the acts of traveling to famous places, describing the landscape, and composing poetry to commemorate the event. In travel journals of this time, the journey is an act that constitutes the landscape, and composing poetry is a means of redefining history. Understanding how humans approach and interact with important places, as well as the ways in which the symbolic power of geographical sites are developed at different points in history, will illuminate the relationships between human cultures and the landscapes they create.
Kendra Strand
University of Iowa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Souvenirs for the Capital, Asiatische Studien – Études Asiatiques, January 2017, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/asia-2017-0023.
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