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In the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman ¿gimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Elegant, poetic, and revealing,
In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japan¿s early modern era.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction, by G. G. Rowley
Principal Characters
1. Musashi Moor: From Ages Past Through the Winter of 1690
2. In Traveler’s Garb: 1691, Spring to Summer
3. Ages Past: Summer 1691 Through Spring 1692
4. The Truth of the Buddha’s Law: Summer 1692 Through Spring 1694
5. A Thousand Springs: Summer 1694 to Spring 1696
6. The End of the Year: 1696, Spring Through Winter
7. Spring Pond: 1697, Spring Through Winter
8. Lamp of the Buddha’s Law: 1698, Spring to Autumn
9. From the Shores of Japanese Poetry: Autumn 1698 to Autumn 1700
10. Chinese Robe: Autumn 1700 Through the Fourth Month of 1701
11. Visitors Awaiting Flowers: 1701, Summer to Winter
12. Towering Pine: Winter 1701 to Spring 1702
13. Villa Amid Mountain Cherries: 1702, Spring to Summer
14. Noble Oak: 1702, Summer Through Autumn
15. Hills and Streams: Winter 1702 to Spring 1703
16. Autumn Clouds: 1703, Spring to Autumn
17. Moon of Old: 1703, Autumn to Winter
18. A Tree Deep in the Mountains: 1703, Eleventh Month Through 1704, Third Month
19. A Bond with the Blossoms: 1704, Spring to Winter
20. Celebratory Cane: Winter 1704 Through Spring 1705
21. Mountain of Dreams: Summer 1705
22. Records of Enlightenment: 1705, Autumn Through Winter
23. The Grand Courtier: 1706, Second and Third Months
24. Garden of the Six Styles: 1706, Summer Through Winter
25. House for a Thousand Ages: 1707, Spring to Autumn
26. Two Pines: Autumn 1707 Through Summer 1708
27. Binding Sash: 1708, Autumn Through Winter
28. Blessed Dew: 1709, New Year Through the Second Month
29. Path of the Kindling Cutter: Spring 1709 Through the Eighteenth of the Sixth Month
30. Moon and Flowers
Glossary
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
G. G. Rowley teaches English and Japanese literature at Waseda University in Tokyo. She is the author or translator of several biographies of Japanese women, including An Imperial Concubine’s Tale: Scandal, Shipwreck, and Salvation in Seventeenth-Century Japan (Columbia, 2013) and Autobiography of a Geisha (Columbia, 2003).
Summary
In the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman Ōgimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai for whom she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Machiko assisted Yoshiyasu in his ascent to the rank of chief adjutant to the Tokugawa shogun. She kept him in good graces with the imperial court, enabled him to study poetry with aristocratic teachers and have his compositions read by the retired emperor, and gave birth to two of his sons. Writing after Yoshiyasu’s retirement, she recalled it all—from the glittering formal visits of the shogun and his entourage to the passage of the seasons as seen from her apartments in the Yanagisawa mansion.
In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japan’s early modern era. Featuring Machiko’s keen eye for detail, strong narrative voice, and polished prose studded with allusions to Chinese and Japanese classics, this memoir sheds light on everything from the social world of the Tokugawa elite to the role of literature in women’s lives. Machiko modeled her story on The Tale of Genji, illustrating how the eleventh-century classic continued to inspire its female readers and provide them with the means to make sense of their experiences. Elegant, poetic, and revealing, In the Shelter of the Pine is a vivid portrait of a distant world and a vital addition to the canon of Japanese literature available in English.
Additional text
Beautifully and sensitively translated . . . In the Shelter of the Pine gives us a portrait of a highly-refined, structured and rather formal world, brought to life for us by a learned and delightful guide, who navigates that world with ease and charm.
