The Memorial Form of Classical Japanese Prefatory Writing: How It Reflects a Book’s Prestige

Abstract

This paper seeks to answer the following question concerning classical Japanese literature: The style of a preface (jo) that takes the form of a memorial (hyō) and the stylistic closeness or distance to a memorial may be related to the social status of the book to which it is attached. While classical Japanese prefatory writing comprises several forms of preface and memorial, in this paper the form of preface referred to is the shojo accompanying a book—its prefatory text (jobun) or foreword—while the form of memorial referred to is the shinshohyō submitted by a subject of the emperor after the book’s completion. A preface elucidates key aspects of the book it accompanies (by, for instance, describing the book’s structure, providing author information, and stating the book’s significance and intent). A memorial, as Morita Tei states, is “a reflection dedicated to the emperor [of Japan].” Prefaces follow no common writing style, whereas memorials do. Although previous studies have indicated that there are many examples of Japanese prefaces in memorial form, no comparative analyses of such prefaces exist. There are at least four types of book written by the Heian period having either a preface or a memorial: (A) those having both a preface and a memorial, (B) those believed to have originally had both, (C) those having only a memorial, and (D) those having only a preface. Furthermore, books of type D can be divided into three subtypes: (D1) those having a normal preface, (D2) those having a memorial-like preface, and (D3) those also having a memorial-like preface, but of lesser degree than subtype D2. Books having a memorial-like preface include, in subtype D2, Kojiki, Kakyōhyōshiki, and Ōe Chisato shū, and, in subtype D3, National Histories, Ryōun shū, Bunkasyūrei shū, and Keikoku shū. By analyzing the nature of each such preface, it has been found that the lower the book’s prestige, the more faithful the preface is to the style of a memorial; the higher the book’s prestige, the less faithful the preface is to that style